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[Alban]

Hi,

I have just upgraded my main system to MC 10 having been running on 9.0 fine since it was released.  Trouble is, I have 3 other machines around the house that I want to upgrade, but they're all Windows 98 (not SE).  But It seems that the MC 10 installer doesn't work on Win98:

"The Media Centre Install Wizard cannot run on this version of Microsoft Windows.  Media Centre 10 requires Windows 98SE, Windows 2000, or later. Setup will now abort."

Is there a different installer available for windows 98, or is MC10 just not compatible with 98?

The main reason for me upgrading is that I am getting the "Saving Database" dialogue box continually appearing on on of my (underpowered) laptop.  Trouble is, there are no changes being made to the database, as I am just using it to stream music to my stereo - but the system activity stops MC playing the track for 30 seconds which as you can imagine is pretty annoying every 5 mins.

So guys, what can I do?  Find an installer for 98 and hope that MC10 fixes the problem, or try and find an old version of MC that maybe doesn't do the saving of the database (20k+ files).  Upgrading all 3 machines to XP or 2000 is out of the question.  I am at a bit of a loss here....help!

TIA

Alban

[Alex B]

How about finding an upgrade disk to W98SE.
It was almost free back then.

[KingSparta]

try a newer version of MC 10 in the mC thread, there was some problems loading MC on windows 98, i think they fixed them. current version i think is 10.0.127

[Matt]

MC requires Win98 SE, so the only real choice is to upgrade your OS.

A lot of newer APIs are only available with SE and later, so it became too difficult for us to still support Win98 non-SE.

Sorry we don't have a better answer.

[Alban]

Thanks for the prompt response!

Unfortunately, as you can imagine it's not the answer I wanted to hear.  As I said, upgrading the OS on all machines is out of the question (time, cost and hassle factors).

So the only path I have open to me is to downgrade the version on the laptop to a version of MC or MJ that doesn't have the "saving database" problem that so many people have complained of (unless there's a service release of MC9 that fixes this).
I will see if I can grab the last version of MC 9 and, but if that doesn't fix it, I have a couple of questions:

1)  What is the most suitable version of MC or MJ (which does not have the saving database issue) for me to just stream music from my box running MC10 - it doesn't need to have any of the nice features - just want to play music.
2)  Is it possible to stream music from MC to MJ?
3)  Would it make any difference If I was to stop the streaming and run the music from a network share instead?

Thanks again

Alban

[Alex B]

About upgrading: From Win98 to Win2k or WinXP is a big step. From Win98 to Win98SE is a small one. When I upgraded to 98SE I paid about $20 for the official CD. I suppose that you could buy a second hand CD from someone who does not use the OS/license anymore. There must be millions of them out there.

In my opinion Win98 SE was the best version in the Win95, 98, 98SE, ME series. And there were some significant improvements over Win98.

Answers:
1) and 2) You cannot use MJ8 client to connect MC10 Media Server. They are different. I am not sure if you can use MC9.1 client. As far as I remember the system was not radically changed during the MC10 development period. I may be wrong with this. I have always used the same version in all PCs.

3) You can use your network share directly. You should set options to not update tags (to avoid accidents). You can use MJ 8 for simple playback and you can do playlists with the "client". You do not get any information about changes from the MC10 PC. You must do library updates and import new files with the "client".

[Alban]

Ok, to confirm (after testing) my questions and Alex's answers:

I can stream music from MC10 to MC9.1

It makes no difference if I run the laptop from a network share or through media server - it still has the breaks in service due to the Saving Database.

However, I am still stuck withe the Saving Database issue!  I don't actually understand what is being saved?  I have one machine with a library of 20k songs, sitting idle, streaming music to a laptop which is sending the music to the stereo.  Neither of the machines are doing anything else, and neither of the other two machines on the network are making any changes to the MC database in any way.  So what is happening and why is it necessary in this case?

It seem that the only option for me now is to try MJ8 on the laptop and run it off a network share - which is a shame because streaming is so much neater.  If this doesn't work, I will have to use some sort of lightweight mp3 player such as winamp on the laptop, but this would irk me greatly after having told so many of my friends that MJ / MC is the ONLY jukebox to have and they are wasting their time with anything else!

Is there a registry setting I can turn off Saving Database with?

BTW Alex, I appreciate your comments on upgrading the OS, but this is putting the cart before the horse.  This combination used to work fine with MJ8 and I had many months of trouble free usage.  I dutifully upgraded to MC9 and then MC10 to support the development of the package, I really don't use the additional features.  The Saving Database became an issue in MC9 as far as I remember, and I am loathed to move back to MJ8, but if that's what it takes, then that is what I'm going to have to do.

BTW, It would have been nice to get some sort of warning that MC10 would not run on Win98 too

Alban

[Matt]

Just a note that getting large metadata out of your library like notes and lyrics will improve the save speed on slow machines.

[Alban]

Thanks, I have read this on other threads, but I have no lyrics and no notes in the db.

Could someone explain what it is that is being saved and why it needs to be saved in this situation please!

Thanks

[JimH]

The library itself gets saved periodically.  The interval has lengthened as this has become a problem for people with large libraries or slow drives, so different versions of MC handle this problem differently.

You might try setting up a new library (file/library manager) and importing just a few entries.  You can then share that library to test.  You'll need to change the entry you use in Media Server and re-share it.

The advice to upgrade Win98 is good.

[Alban]

AAARRRRGGGHHH!

Just found that my laptop was actually running win98SE so I upgraded it to MC10 expecting the problem to go away......IT'S WORSE!!!

I am now getting a break in service 3-4 times per track, which I think you'll agree renders the system unlistenable.

Could we Pleeeeeaaaasssseeee have an option to disable the saving of the db or at least make the period between saves customiseable.  I really dont need the database saved as the laptop is streaming off my main box where the data is kept.  Hell, if the laptop dies, and I lose some recently played / number of times played type info, then I'm not worried - at least I can listen to the darn thing.

I'm running out of things to try here....and patience!

Alban

PS I am using MC10.0.116

[Robert Taylor]

Alban,

Ahy don't you run Media Server on the machine where the files are, and just run MC as a client streaming from the server?

That way, the client doesn't even have a database to worry about. The flipside is that playing now info doesn't get saved back to the database (yet...)

[Alban]

That is exactly what I am doing.

Unfortunately, it the client DOES have a database in this situation (which I think makes sense).  I am arguing that it is not neccessary to continually save this database.