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[JimH]

I'd like to discontinue the 32-bit version.

For a number of years, we've provided both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of MC.

Both run on a 64-bit version of Windows, only 32-bit MC runs on 32-bit Windows.

Most machines have run 64-bit Windows for a while.

You can see what you have in Control Panel > System.  On Windows, I typed "Windows Version" in the start search window and got it.

Any objections or advice? 

Thanks.

[craigmcg]

I don't have any 32 bit hardware left so I'd be fine with dropping any new versions of 32 bit but it might be more customer friendly/consistent with other software to drop 32 bit support for the next version/MC31.

My two cents

[mojave]

Since 64-bit versions have been around since Windows XP Pro x64 (April, 2005) I say get rid of the 32-bit version. I've been using x64 since Vista was released 15 years ago.

[atreides]

64 bit onwards and forwards.  32 bit software seems dead to me.

[comox]

I support dropping 32 bit.

[marko]

Please, please don't do this. JRiver owns the Playing Now plugin (see my signature here) and it will not work on 64bit MC. It is an itegral part of my MC experience and has been for many many years.

I'm happy for you to drop the 32bit MC, so long as you can make that plugin work with 64bit MC.

[Awesome Donkey]

Yes, I agree with Marko here. Make sure that most if not all the JRiver plugins and components it uses are updated and working for the 64-bit version first before dropping support for 32-bit. I suspect there's some users out there who use VST and other plugins that are available as 32-bit only, so it may bring in some new reported issues once it happens. There's probably some DACs out there with only 32-bit ASIO drivers too, so that could also bring more reported issues.

Maybe as part of the transition, instead of dropping 32-bit builds outright while this deep in the MC30 development cycle, perhaps, only do 32-bit builds every so often to cover the "stable" version for the rest of the MC30 development cycle? Then when MC31 comes outright drop 32-bit builds?

But yeah, making sure the plugins JRiver has like Playing Now work in 64-bit first is vital before dropping 32-bit, IMO. There's probably other little things within MC (and not external VST plugins or drivers) that work in the 32-bit version that don't work (or don't work fully) in the 64-bit version, might be a good idea to make sure there's parity there before doing this. Gotta make the changeover as smooth as possible, or else it's going to bring a lot of complaining.

[mojave]

I suspect there's some users out there who use VST and other plugins that are available as 32-bit only . . .

Maybe JRiver could support JBridge which allows 32-bit VST plugins to run in a 64-bit host.

[zybex]

Please, please don't do this. JRiver owns the Playing Now plugin (see my signature here) and it will not work on 64bit MC. It is an itegral part of my MC experience and has been for many many years.

I'm happy for you to drop the 32bit MC, so long as you can make that plugin work with 64bit MC.

Where is that PlayingNow plugin? I can't find it. It's not on the plugins download page, and all google links seem to point to expired domains or redirect to MC front page.
Also, your sig image says "last played 56 days ago", are you sure it's working?

Edit: Or is this the Player->Playing Now->Scrobble 'Listening To' menu option?

[Striker]

I'd like to discontinue the 32-bit version.

For a number of years, we've provided both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of MC.

Both run on a 64-bit version of Windows, only 32-bit MC runs on 32-bit Windows.

Most machines have run 64-bit Windows for a while.

You can see what you have in Control Panel > System.  On Windows, I typed "Windows Version" in the start search window and got it.

Any objections or advice? 

Thanks.

I paid for v30.  I cannot give up the 32 bit version as my HomeAutomation system and screens rely on the PlayingNow plugin which only works on the 32 bit MC version.

Basically, I have the PlayingNow plugin write out a file with info about the current and next track on startup and track change which my HA system reads and displays on screens all over my home.

If there is another way to obtain this info from MC without polling using MCWS then maybe I could give up the PlayingNow plugin.  The PlayingNow plugin does many things, but this is all I use it for.

Not having the PlayingNow plugin (or something else to do the same thing) would eliminate a major "feature" of my HA system.

[PLAYING_NOW]
DURATION="6:11"
TRACK="2"
ARTIST="Griffin, Mike"
ALBUM="1998 Harley In The Rain"
SONG="You'll Know"
PLAYCOUNT="35"
GENRE="Blues"
GENRE_ALL=" Blues "
YEAR="1998"
NEXT_ARTIST=" Griffin, Mike "
NEXT_ALBUM=" 1998 Harley In The Rain "
NEXT_SONG=" Get Outta My Life "
NEXT_RATING=" 4 "
RATING="5"
LASTPLAYED="2022-04-12 20:23"
DATEIMPORTED=" 2021-10-22 13:06 "
SOURCE="wav"
FILETYPE=" flac "
[END]

[Striker]

Please, please don't do this. JRiver owns the Playing Now plugin (see my signature here) and it will not work on 64bit MC. It is an itegral part of my MC experience and has been for many many years.

I'm happy for you to drop the 32bit MC, so long as you can make that plugin work with 64bit MC.

+1000

See my prior post... my HomeAutomation system NEEDS the PlayingNow plugin.

[_mulder]

I have used pretty much exclusively 64 bit version since it became available. I do not need 32 bit support.

[Awesome Donkey]

Wait, I seem to recall the PlayingNow plugin wasn't developed and released by JRiver, was it? If so, that's potentially bad if the developer has long disappeared without any chance of updating it for 64-bit MC. Same for any other 32-bit only plugins that basically have no chance at being updated to 64-bit.

Just brainstorming here, so please don't mind me too much, but maybe there's a way the MC devs can put in a wrapper or something that allows 32-bit plugins like PlayingNow to work in 64-bit MC?

[Striker]

Wait, I seem to recall the PlayingNow plugin wasn't developed and released by JRiver, was it? If so, that's potentially bad if the developer has long disappeared without any chance of updating it for 64-bit MC.

Marko said above that JRiver bought the rights to the PlayingNow plugin.

[Awesome Donkey]

Oh, did they? If so, they should be able to develop and release a version working for 64-bit MC, yes? Maybe if everyone asks Matt really, really nicely...

[Striker]

Oh, did they? If so, they should be able to develop and release a version working for 64-bit MC, yes? Maybe if everyone asks Matt really, really nicely...

I remember PlayNow was shareware and I paid for it in 2007.  And I would pay for it again if needed to get a 64 bit version of PlayingNow.

The only thing holding me back from going to the MediaCenter 64 bit version is the PlayingNow 32 bit plugin.

[marko]

ditto just about everything Striker said.

Where is that PlayingNow plugin? I can't find it. It's not on the plugins download page, and all google links seem to point to expired domains or redirect to MC front page.

Here's why you can't find it. Bob removed it ten years ago because the original developer required payment, and while the system took the cash, the license stopped arriving.

Also, your sig image says "last played 56 days ago", are you sure it's working?

It's working, and has been for over a decade, really, really well. The info shows what's currently playing, and that one was last played 56 days ago. Once playback begins, the plugin auto uploads an updated image via FTP. All that info is derived from the library. It can be anything you like.

We should move the plugin chatter to another place though. I'll go dredge up an old thread
This one should cover it: https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,99483.0.html

[zybex]

Thanks Marko.
So did MC buy the rights/code or not? It doesn't seem so if the plugin had to be removed because licenses were still being paid to the original author.

It seems to me that keeping 32-bit alive for the sake of a dead 10-year old plugin is the wrong reason. Keeping it alive for other plugins such as VST is sensible though. A 64-to-32 wrapper might be a solution, though that's not always trivial to do.

[syndromeofadown]

Windows 11 does not have 32 bit versions. Windows 10 will be gone in 2025. Why not wait until Microsoft drops 32 bit support so any negative feedback can be redirected their way.

I personally have no use for 32 bit versions. I have one device remaining running 32 bit windows because Dell failed to update the firmware to allow 64. This device is old, slow, and not used for anything. It will not be missed.

[mattkhan]

clearly it's got a finite lifespan no matter what anyone does but what does the plugin even do? One might think jriver would have reimplemented that functionality in MC if it were generally desirable

[marko]

Thanks Marko.
So did MC buy the rights/code or not? It doesn't seem so if the plugin had to be removed because licenses were still being paid to the original author.

It seems to me that keeping 32-bit alive for the sake of a dead 10-year old plugin is the wrong reason. Keeping it alive for other plugins such as VST is sensible though. A 64-to-32 wrapper might be a solution, though that's not always trivial to do.

As part of our agreement, we've purchased the PlayingNow plug-in and plan to include it in a future version of Media Center (no details yet).

Welcome, Jamie.

[joshhuggins]

Yes please don't lose 32bit until Playing Now is supported / included in 64bit!  :'(

It's the only reason I am still running the 32bit builds, would hate to lose that.

[joshhuggins]

Windows 11 does not have 32 bit versions. Windows 10 will be gone in 2025. Why not wait until Microsoft drops 32 bit support so any negative feedback can be redirected their way.

I personally have no use for 32 bit versions. I have one device remaining running 32 bit windows because Dell failed to update the firmware to allow 64. This device is old, slow, and not used for anything. It will not be missed.

Windows is not 32 bit but they will be supporting 32 bit programs for a loooong time. 

[Awesome Donkey]

Oh, that's good if JRiver owns it, hopefully they can do something about it to fix it for 64-bit builds.

In fact this could be used as an opportunity to port it to and/or make sure it works on Linux and macOS.

[eve]

Windows is not 32 bit but they will be supporting 32 bit programs for a loooong time. 

Yeah, to be clear just because the OS itself no longer has a 32bit version going forward, doesn't mean that you wont have backwards compatibility with 32bit applications, probably forever. At a certain point, Microsoft will have their own Rosetta anyways if they decide Windows on ARM has a future. They did an AMAZING job on the X86 > PPC translation for Xbox backwards compatibility on the Xbox 360. Any major unilateral switch in the desktop computing industry away from x86-y solutions, whether to ARM or something smart like RISC-V will hinge on that kind of backwards compatibility.

I'm not opposed to you guys dropping support for 32bit obviously but I'm not the user who would be affected by such a change. The only thing I would suggest is that discontinuing new 32bit builds for JRiver coincides with a version increment (so MC31, MC32 etc) thus not 'technically' affecting current customers licenses.

[syndromeofadown]

Windows is not 32 bit but they will be supporting 32 bit programs for a loooong time.

Valid point, but if 32 bit MC gets discontinued, those people running 32 bit windows will not be able to install any future versions. These people should be a lot fewer in a couple years.

I guess the question is how many people are actually running a 32 bit operating system, and how many have hardware that is only capable of running 32 bit. With the exception of a couple weird devices I have been using 64 for for around 15 years, and those weird devices were actually capable of 64 but they were crippled by the manufacturer.

I like the idea of being able to run MC on anything. If microsoft actually abandons windows 10 there will be a lot of perfectly fine hardware unable to upgrade to windows 11. Billions of machines? Surely hundreds of millions. I am guessing that when this happens JRiver will stop supporting windows 10 too.

With the looming planned obsolescence of so many computers I like the idea of holding out as long as possible before having to abandon hardware. If keeping 32 bit MC gives some people a couple more years on their hardware, then I say keep it. For now.

[mwillems]

Valid point, but if 32 bit MC gets discontinued, those people running 32 bit windows will not be able to install any future versions. These people should be a lot fewer in a couple years.

I guess the question is how many people are actually running a 32 bit operating system, and how many have hardware that is only capable of running 32 bit. With the exception of a couple weird devices I have been using 64 for for around 15 years, and those weird devices were actually capable of 64 but they were crippled by the manufacturer.

I like the idea of being able to run MC on anything. If microsoft actually abandons windows 10 there will be a lot of perfectly fine hardware unable to upgrade to windows 11. Billions of machines? Surely hundreds of millions. I am guessing that when this happens JRiver will stop supporting windows 10 too.

With the looming planned obsolescence of so many computers I like the idea of holding out as long as possible before having to abandon hardware. If keeping 32 bit MC gives some people a couple more years on their hardware, then I say keep it. For now.

Not to sound like a broken record, but most of those old systems that can't run Win 11 can definitely run Linux. MediaCenter is running pretty great on Linux these days.  Just saying 

[jmone]

FWIW - 32-Bit Windows is now well under 1% market share
https://www.pcbenchmarks.net/os-marketshare.html

[mattkhan]

I'd like to discontinue the 32-bit version.

What does maintaining a 32 bit version cost?

[pschelbert]

Hi
I use 32Bit VST Plug-ins, so I will need 32Bit JRiver.

By the way I use Windows 64Bit.

Peter

[joshhuggins]

I would also suggest looking at your download logs (if you have some) to see if it's just marko, myself and a handful of others downloading the 32bit builds. If so, then I would agree it probably would make sense to drop the 32 bit builds if it is a pain to keep it going on your end. Maybe create a poll on why users are using 32bit builds, if it's for 32bit plugin support vs 32bit OS support. I would be interested in the results just for fun.

If that's the case, I would humbly ask to try to port over Playing Now into the 64bit build (you know, just for marko ) since you own that code now (or open source it?). If there is any other major features or plugins that would stop working, then maybe give the plug-in devs some time to re-work their code. Like maybe announce it during the v30-v31 cycle that it will be dropped with v32 depending on your timeframes. I don't use any other plug-ins myself so I can't say if that would affect a lot of users or devs. In anycase, a little heads up would be appreciated I am sure.