Mp3 player on a floppy? Help!
 

I know, this is sacrilege to ask stuff like this...

My husband can only use a media player that fits on a floppy at his job. They won't allow anyone to install software on the computers, for security issues, but they can use any program off a floppy disk. They had several disks floating around with... um... I don't remember the name of it now... but anyway, some of the disks are missing now, and the ones that they still have don't work. We tried downloading that proggy again, and put it on a floppy, and he took that to work, but it didn't work either.

So, here's the question. Is there ANY mp3 player that will fit on a floppy? He's stuck listening to cd's right now, and having to change the cd every 45 minutes or hour or whatever. I know, whine whine, but it's a pain for him because he's so busy all day; plus it means he can only listen to one band at a time basically, unless we start burning some mix cd's.

<edit> Yeah, lemme clarify, just in case... it needs to RUN off a floppy, I don't mean just the installer. It cannot be installed onto a hard drive </edit>

Er, Winamp 2.80 standard: 1.24MB

;)

[edit] Oh no, hang on, you mean run from a floppy... hrmmm. What's the minimum stuff WA 2.x needs to run? You could probably cut out a lot of extraneous crap...[/edit]

Seems strange they wont allow programs to be installed, yet allow people to use floppys. A floppy is the perfect size for a virus.

Unless im mistaken, winamp (or any similar program) needs to be installed, meaning it wont work in a floppy drive. If theyre using windows on their pc's then wouldnt it be easier to just burn a bunch of mp3's to cd and use media player??

They're not using Windows, I don't think. I'd have to ask him. Can you make a playlist on Media Player anyway? I never use it, so I have no idea.

Yeah, I don't know what the whole deal is about not letting them install stuff. I guess they assume nobody is dumb enough to put a virus on for fear of getting caught (let's just say it could mean huge trouble for that person). But in that case, I don't know why they can't install programs. I think it's basically a question of how much junk they allow on there- they only want specific programs on the computers or something.

You could always buy a LS120 Super Disk floppy disk.
Holds 120MB.
CompUSA has a 3-pack for $40.00.

Well... being able to play mp3's isn't worth THAT much lol. Do they run in a regular floppy drive? If they had zip drives, we could just use that, since we have one here, but I don't think they do. And we'd use a cd, but... apparently there's only one cd drive per computer.

This is coming from a place that makes them use a $10 mouse, so I guess we can't expect much LOL. *shakes head sadly and sighs*

He may just be stuck with having to play cd's.

What's the consensus on Media Player? Can you make a playlist, or do you have to choose a diff mp3 each time?

I've never been a big fan of media player, but i know 7.0 and mpxp can have playlists.

So... you would be allowed to have mp3s on the computer, but not programs? That is so weird!

What you could do, since you do have a cd-drive, just burn a cd with mp3s and winamp on it (if I remember correctly, there is no need to install Winamp... the only thing the installer does, besides decompressing the files, is doing some stuff in the registry for file-association, but you don't need this). So, just copy a version of Winamp on a CD, add some mp3s to the CD too and you should be set to go?

Or, if you have another operating system, get another program instead of Winamp. :P Not sure what programs though, since I only use WA3.

Good luck!

No, he can't have mp3's on the computer, only on a cd. They are not allowed to add any files or programs to the computers. It's just a big security issue with them.

I forgot about the Winamp problem... I believe he's not allowed to use it because of the issue with Winamp sending user information back to the site. There is NO WAY the program is allowed to do this.

It's a really sticky situation with security, that's why we're having such a hard time finding a proggy that will work.

Any more suggestions? Please?! Heh.

coolplayer?
http://sourceforge.net/project/showf...group_id=31900

his site is under construction.

Coolplayer, that's it.

That's the proggy they've been having problems with. So no, doesn't work.

I'm getting really confused with all this.
He can bring mp3's on a disk to work, but there's no player on the computer,
to play the mp3's.
Is that what you're saying?

coolplayer should run off anything...

maybe there's no permission to execute programs outside the ones installed?

Papadoc- Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. Basically the only software they have, as far as I know, is the software they use for their jobs. They are not allowed to install any other software. They aren't even allowed to bring their own mouse in (like I said, he's using a $10, two-button mouse, and it's driving him nuts). I think it's mostly an issue that a lot of software sends user info back to a website. And like I said, there is NO WAY they are going to let anyone do that.

As far as Coolplayer goes, it USED to work. Something weird is going on with it, and he can't get the computer to run it right. I'll have to ask him exactly what the problem is. He's at work right now, so I realize I'm a little vague, but I can't ask him anything lol.

<edit>Aeroe- He has permission to run other programs, as long as they are not installed on the hard drive. So, he's allowed to use anything that runs off a floppy.</edit>

Thanks for all the suggestions so far, guys. Keep 'em coming, we'll work something out.

Mmm, well, like he said, they use to have a disk with a mp3 player and then they had a cd with mp3s... but, well, I think the person has to do some more research first for what is and what isn't allowed to run, because winamp still works, even when you don't send the usuage statistics stuff.

[edit]Alright, I guess the disks are messed up then with coolplayer? So just copy coolplayer (I don't know that program, but if I read the above posts right, you can just burn it on cd) to a CD with mp3s and you'll have a mp3 + player CD which you can use (just about) everywhere! :) So, don't put the installer on the CD, put copy the installed program to the CD! That should work, shouldn't it?[/edit]

I thought Winamp automatically sent user info? I really don't know anything about that aspect of Winamp. Can anyone clear it up for me?

winamp doesn't have to be installed, just download winamp light install and then copy over the contents of the installed Winamp directory to disk and play a way, you won't have file associations so you will need to use Winamp to open the mp3's.

Nope, you can click "Don't bother me again" and "Cancel". :) Try installing winamp yourself.

I've never seen it come up with a screen where I need to click "don't bother me again" but that may be because I always choose "no internet connection" for the sole purpose of not getting stuff like that.



Can you absolutely swear that it will not send information unless we let it? It could get him in huge trouble, so I don't want to take chances.



Lol KXRM, first you tell me it doesn't need to be installed, then you tell me to install Winamp Lite? :) I assume you mean it doesn't need to be installed on the hdd?

Why can't your husband just put the player on a CD-R(W)? He could even put the MP3s on the CD, too.

That's what I'm trying to explain to her! :)
And yes, if you don't use the mini-browser and select that you don't have an internet connection, I'm pretty sure it won't send anything! Check with someone else though for 100% certainity.

We may end up doing that (putting one on a cd), I have no idea why he couldn't. There may be something I'm missing. But the issue still stands- will Winamp send any user info without his knowing about it?

Install winamp on yer home computer

Copy the C:\Program Files\WinAMP\ dir to the floppy

Run the winamp.exe from the floppy. should work fine.

It won't send any info if he chooses that he doesn't have an internet connection. there's no information that Winamp would send that might encroach upon their security, but it won't matter either way as long as you specify that no connection is available.

You should be able to install the program (choosing the correct option), and then copy it to a disk.

P.S. If he's going to have to carry the MP3s on a CD, he might as well put the player on the same CD.

We were wondering if it would fit on a floppy.. I don't have a copy of Winamp2 on my computer anymore, so I can't check.. (Wa3 RC1 all the way for me, baby, yeah!)

<edit> Okay, I'm editing that whole thing because I got a straight answer lol. So we're sure it won't send info as long as he chooses "no internet connection"? I'm going to suggest that he just puts it on a cd, I'm not sure why he didn't mention that he could do that, I think he just assumed that since Coolplayer was on a floppy, that any proggy he used needed to be on one.</edit>

<edit2> What exactly DOES Winamp send, as far as user info, anyway? Just curious. Is there something that explains all that?</edit>

:) Finally, it's over. Just try it. :)

get James MP3 Player. a 550 kB standalone MP3 player.

Not as good as winamp, but it will do its job.

here is a barebones winamp 2.8 (991kb)

http://spookyz.virtualave.net/Winamp.zip

Yeah, what does Winamp send? What are other common programs that do this? I would rather not tell everyone what I am listening to, or looking. [not that I have anything to hide ;)]

ok, heres a real compact edition of 2.80. it will play mp3 and cds. i've set it to use no internet connection and report no user stats. it should check in at about 928kb, well within the realm of a floppy.

Get it Here