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[Marty3d]

I was bored with my local music so I thought I'd try web media....and I shouldn't!

The interface...nah I wont go there! But anyway, I tried some different radio stations with mostly different errors returned.

1. I thought MC had native support for real media? A few stations wanted me to install Real player...NO WAY IN H*** (self censored)

2. Some other stations added a bunch of (i suppose) streams to my playing now and browsed them automatically. All well, except:

2A. one stream played in half the tempo

2B. Got several "Media Center encountered errors while trying to play the last several files. Please make sure that the path in  the Media Jukebox library points to the right location".

3. Some stations just started the playing now, with whatever was in playing now before I clicked the station.


Conclusion: I don't know if it's just me, but I don't believe the experience was intended to be like this. I'm sorry to be this rude, but the Web Media do not remotely stand up to the quality proven in other areas of MC. I guess what makes me sad is that streaming radio is so common that MC really should be able to handle it in a more mature way...or?

Sorry for pulling out the chainsaw, guys! You know I love you!
/Martin

[Marty3d]

Oh, did I forget to mention 4) Some stream batches producing annoying staggering sound when clicking 'Next' 5) MC sometimes exiting when when clicking 'Next'?

[JimH]

Nice report, Martin.  What version?

[Marty3d]

Thanks Jim...and again, sorry for being all negative, I was just so surprised...

MC version .162

Microsoft Windows XP  Workstation 5.1 Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
AMD Athlon 1007 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 261 MB, Free - 62 MB

Internet Explorer: 6.0.2800.1106 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2800.1106 (xpsp1.020828-1920)
Shell32.dll: 6.00.2800.1145 (xpsp2.021108-1929)wnaspi32.dll: 4.71 (0001) , ASPI for Win32 (95/NT) DLL, Copyright © 1989-2002 Adaptec, Inc. / Aspi32.sys: 4.71 (0001)

Ripping /   Drive F:   Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer   CD Type:Auto   Read speed:Max
 Drive G:   Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer   CD Type:Auto   Read speed:Max
 Digital playback: Yes /  Use YADB: Yes /  Get cover art: No /  Calc replay gain: Yes /  Copy volume: 32767
 Eject after ripping: No /  Play sound after ripping: No  

Burning /  Drive F: PLEXTOR  CD-R   PX-W1210A   Addr: 1:0:0  Speed:12  MaxSpeed:12  Use MJ Engine:Yes
 Test mode: No /  Eject after writing: Yes /  Direct decoding: Yes /  Write CD-Text: No
 Use playback settings: No /  Normalization: None

[JimH]

The interface...nah I wont go there! But anyway, I tried some different radio stations with mostly different errors returned.

1. I thought MC had native support for real media? A few stations wanted me to install Real player...NO WAY IN H*** (self censored)
[/quote]
I agree the interface could be improved.  MC supports Real formats by using the Real playback engine.  Real keeps playing with it, hiding it sometimes.  In the FAQ, there is a link to a RealPlayer that works pretty well, but it is a moving target (as is Microsoft).

2. Some other stations added a bunch of (i suppose) streams to my playing now and browsed them automatically. All well, except:

I don't understand.

2A. one stream played in half the tempo

Don't know.  Streaming is interesting.

2B. Got several "Media Center encountered errors while trying to play the last several files. Please make sure that the path in  the Media Jukebox library points to the right location".  

Could be a bug.  Please provide a link.

3. Some stations just started the playing now, with whatever was in playing now before I clicked the station.

Sure.

Conclusion: I don't know if it's just me, but I don't believe the experience was intended to be like this. I'm sorry to be this rude, but the Web Media do not remotely stand up to the quality proven in other areas of MC. I guess what makes me sad is that streaming radio is so common that MC really should be able to handle it in a more mature way...or?

If you will provide specifics, we'll check.

Streaming is, in general, unreliable.  I think the main reason may be that Microsoft and Real are competing to make each other look bad.

We know it's a problem.  We don't know what to do about it.  Suggestions are welcome.

[Marty3d]

2. Some other stations added a bunch of (i suppose) streams to my playing now and browsed them automatically. All well, except:  


"I don't understand."

Here's some images to illustrate what I did:

1. Selecting PLAY for WOLF RADIO.


2. Previous action adds these 8 streams to playing now.

Coming up with more info/thoughts later on.

/Martin

[dbett]

I also experience number 3.  I am running the latest release version - 9.0.161.

I get the same result whether I choose play from a search result list of stations or add the station to my favorites before selecting play.  

I even tried clearing the now playing list.  It still would jump to the last song that was playing.