Windows Media Player 10 cannot rip MP3's

[Ioman]

So I was reading the Windows Media Player 10 newsgroup today and it appears that WMP 10 cannot rip music to MP3 format unless an external encoder is installed. What the point of using WMP to rip music if you are only stuck with WMV file types?

Anyone know if this is true?

[ECA]

Sounds REAL probable...KNOWING MS. They are cutting OPTIONS, and asking us to PAY for it.

[llbbl]

<scarcasm>
We should all be using WMV anyways because its a far superior technology. All we care about is pretty GUI's and ease of use, there is no value in community written MP3 utilities.

[llbbl]

I have used this in the past and have been very pleased with it.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/cdexos/

Anyone else like this program?

[ECA]

NOW that MS has us/we hooked, it can do anything it wants...
Its another FREE part of Windows, such as IE, that has NO customer service, no support and they can do ANYTHING they want with it.
If you REALLY look at windows, ALL you get is the OS...NOTHING ELSE is covered.

[Ioman]

Turns out that WMP 10 can rip music to MP3. Apparently these were isolated incidents of people having trouble with it.

[senoryoshio]

I vote dBpowerAMP for ripping to a variety of formats...WMP10 is nice and all, but nothing sufficient to supplant BSPlayer as my video player of choice. Sorry, just my $0.02

[llbbl]

Turns out that WMP 10 can rip music to MP3. Apparently these were isolated incidents of people having trouble with it.

minor correction in your statement

people = idiots

:D

[llbbl]

I been using realplayer to listen to music at work .. /gasp .. lol


PS: dang plz send money to usual address ...



lol ... just kidding .. but I really am using it

[Matt8441]

I can't get it to work either. It used to work fine, then when I updated, it doesn't work. It asks me to go to the WMP help file about MP3s, then tells me I have to buy the proper software. So I tried reverting back to WMP 9. No luck. Now the option for MP3 is completely gone. Anyone know what I can do to re-enable MP3 ripping?

[dang]

Tecknogeek, it's on it's way...

Actually, I'm leaving RealNetworks. My last day there is Oct. 1st. I use RealPlayer to do all my ripping. However, if you want mp3 above 96kbps, you have to pay for it. This isn't because real is being stingy. It's the same reason MS makes you pay for ripping mp3s above 96kbps: licensing fees.

Companies have to pay Thomson for each user that enables HBR (High Bit Rate) ripping. This equates to anything over 96 Kbps. As you can imagine, if you have hundreds of thousands or millions of users (Both Real and MS have millions of users using their players) that ends up adding up to quite a pretty penny for Thomson. To avoid having to pay for each user that just downloads the software without any intention of ever using it to rip cds, companies have stopped shipping the ability to rip HBR out of the box, and instead require some way of "upgrading" your software to enable it. That way they can actually track who they have to pay for.

I just checked windows media player 10, and it looks like they are only offering mp3 ripping through 3rd party plugins for the player. Their plug-ins site (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/9Series/GettingStarted//Personalization/Plugins.asp) had 3 different plug-ins available. (scroll halfway down the page to "MP3 Creation Plug-ins") The 3 different creators of the plugins are CyberLink, interVideo and Sonic.

Pricing is as such:
CyberLink (http://www.gocyberlink.com/english/products/powerdvd/winxp_plugin.asp): $9.95
interVideo (http://www.intervideo.com/products/custom/ms/windowsxp/media_pack.jsp): $9.95
Sonic (http://www.cineplayer.com/mp3/default.asp?from=http://www.microsoft.com): $9.99

(click above links to go to their purchase page directly)

So, that's your answer. After upgrading to XP Service Pack 2, your windows media player got updated. The update removed the free mp3 ripping functionality that it had before and requires you to purchase a plug-in.

[llbbl]

purchasing a plugin sucks!

[ECA]

REALLY.....
....REALLY....?
REALLY???

And WHY dont I want to UPDATE my DirectX, or ANY of my MS software??? Hmmmm....

ANd there is NO complaining, because ITS FREE SOFTWARE... YOU decided to USE THERE SOFTWARE OVER other SOFTWARE out there, and THEY decide what you are getting with it.

1. they give you a GREAT piece of candy.
2. in the background they IMPROVE the QUALITY/driver/coatings.
3. you Keep buying it, because it keeps getting better.
4. They CHANGE the recipe
5. YOU Get the NEW one and find it LACKING and CANT get the OLD one anymore.
6. THEY give you an OPTION to BUY the driver/candy coating you LIKED so much...

Standard BUSINESs practice, and MS Strangle HOLD.

[Matt8441]

Never mind that. It turns out it had to be at a better quality. Before I updated, my songs were all 56kps, but now it needs to be 192kps...

[dang]

ANd there is NO complaining, because ITS FREE SOFTWARE... YOU decided to USE THERE SOFTWARE OVER other SOFTWARE out there, and THEY decide what you are getting with it.


Actually, you are paying for it when you purchase Windows. It's not actually "free". It's part of the purchase price.

[ECA]

NO it aint...
Esp AFTER you Update it... UNLESS you PAY for it, You get nothing. AND then do you get updates, MAYBE. For 1 year AFTER purchase you will get THEYRE updates for free, for FULL version.
Otherwise its NOTHING. You get DEMO/Broken version.

[edxsubscribe]

Fix for the mp3 ripping error
"Cannot rip the files
Windows Media Player cannot rip (copy) the track from the CD because no compatible MP3 encoder is installed on your computer."

Brute force reinstall. Crude but it works:

Step 1: Run Regedit and delete (rename registry as MP3 Encoding-old)HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MediaPla yer\Settings\MP3Encoding

Step 2: Control Panel/ Add and Delete Programs. Delete all programs with WMP in title. Select ADD/remove windows compnents and uncheck WMP.

Step 3: Go the microsoft website. Download and install WMP 10.

I don't know exactly which of these steps was the real fix but the reinstall installed a new HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\ Settings\MP3Encoding
with the settings that WMP 10 needed to work.

I had encoders installed on WMP 9 which may have screwed up the WMP 10 install.