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[ddapriori]

Media Center 17 changes file types "flac" and "mp3" to "media center file" in directory listings making it impossible to sort flac from mp3 under XP.  When, how and WHY does MC 17 do this and how can it be undone and stopped.  l have a whole library system built on registered Window file types and MC 17 has just ruined that.  What can I do? 

[ddapriori]

BTW, all of this MC jargon and complications are just very time consuming, complex, hard to access.  Something is just out of control in this MC environment and I think it's actual consumer usability.

[Jong]

The same happens on W7 and I have to say I agree, it is unwanted.

I still want to know the file I have is a jpg, or mp3 or mkv, whether I am launching them with MC or not. In fact, since, when im using MC, I normally launch my files from within MC, not using Explorer, I have turned off MC file association for just this reason. It's a small irritation, so small I hadn't mentioned it. But I can't think why anyone thought renaming them all "media Center file" was a good idea!

[rick.ca]

Yes, it seems it's been an issue for some since the beginning of time, and is independent of Windows version. In Media File Icons in Windows 7 it was discussed at length, and I think we identified what needed to be done. In File Type in Windows Explorer "Media Center File", Matt seems to acknowledge the necessary solution, but nothing has been done yet.

[JimH]

In Tools/Options/Filetypes, uncheck any file types that you don't want MC to "own".  You will still be able to import them and play them from within MC.

[Jong]

Jim, yes, as you can see from the linked discussions that is what a lot of us are doing. Still, it does not explain the very un-user friendly way MC currently takes ownership of files. What possible advantage could it possibly be to change the file description for everything from video to images to audio to simple "Media Center file". Apart from anything else, these are NOT "Media Center files", even if the user chooses to play them back using MC. They ARE jpgs, mkvs, mp3s etc.

I definitely vote for leaving the file descriptions at their default values and have some appropriate icons for each media type.

[JimH]

We make decisions all the time that are subject to intense scrutiny by users like you.  We try to listen to your objections, but in the end, we have to decide what to do.  We don't open every aspect of the program to constant change (since users often don't agree).

The problem you mention might be handled better, but that applies to hundreds of aspects of the program.  If we stopped and made changes every time someone pointed out a minor flaw or controversial decision, we would not get much done.

So we like to hear what you think, but we make the decisions and we set our own priorities.  Or to say it another way, we have bigger fish to fry.

[Jong]

Yeah, I get it. In fact, as I said in my first post, I considered it too minor to mention before as I could simply not use file association with MC. But, still, it is currently badly implemented (IMHO!). Something to bear in mind if/when you ever revisit that bit of code 

[rick.ca]

We make decisions all the time that are subject to intense scrutiny by users like you...

This has nothing to do with the issue at hand (which I suspect you've not taken the time to review). It's not about making a choice between competing legitimate options. MC is not registering it's file associations properly. There is no workaround other than to accept some loss of normal Windows functionality. Matt as much as acknowledged the problem and the necessary solution, but didn't follow through—and then nothing more was said about it.

It seems to me things like this are best done right in the first place. The effort to do so surely pales to insignificance compared to ongoing user annoyance and the time wasted on semi-annual discussions about it. If you disagree, you could at least spare us the latter by informing users of your decision to not fix this.

[Jong]

It's not about making a choice between competing legitimate options.

I agree, there is no potential for user disagreement here.

[Ancient_Audiophile]

This situation is broken in other ways.

The above linked threads by the Beta Team point out that if a file type is successfully associated with MC, it doesn't work very well, because MC has very poor support for file type associations.

However, I've discovered that if the user has manually changed a file association in the past, then even if you want to associate it with MC and it says "yes" in the file type association column, it is not associated with MC.

This is with Vista and I seem to remember that MS did some changes to the file type system at that point.   There have also been two more OS releases since those changes.

So, it is not a big deal (like glynor, I'm going to just not use the file associations at all), but it no longer works right on any level, and should be queued for a complete revision after all the more major priorities are finished.