Winamp 5.08e released

[CraigF]

case in point, your argument is against DRM, not aol/microsoft/etc. same thing could happen with itms.

[Burnett]

Re: It's not as easy as not upgrading.

Originally posted by ArcCoyote
...
Boycott WMA.

When I bought a MP3-Stick, some time ago, the man wanted to tell me, that WMA is a lot better than MP3!!!

[Kado]

I never used wma and I have no intentions of start using it!
I always get the latest version of Winamp! So if it is Winamp 5.08e... So be it!
The only thing I change in Winamp it self is it's splash screen!

[d3x7r0]

Originally posted by Kado
I never used wma and I have no intentions of start using it!
I always get the latest version of Winamp! So if it is Winamp 5.08e... So be it!
The only thing I change in Winamp it self is it's splash screen!

LOOOOL Now There's some splash screen LMAO

It's a pity some people come arround here just to talk crap (pardon my french). If they don't like winamp they don't have to use it

[nybergh]

Does this WMA "controversy" (haha, the www is a hysterical place) affect Winamp's ability to play WMA files with DSP?

edit: and tell the guys at aol's marketing departement that I want another of those free mp3's soon. This Silvertide song has been bundled for ages.

[DJ Egg]

Basically, if you need to play any drm-protected WMA's, then you will need to install 5.08e Full.

If you don't have any drm wma's, then you can uncheck "WMA Support" in the installer options, thus keeping in_wm.dll and wmahelp.dll from 5.08d and earlier
(or you could just backup in_wm.dll and replace it after installation).

First time users will need to install 5.08d first (see link in first post in thread) to obtain the previous versions of the WMA Support files, and then uncheck WMA Support in the installer for all future upgrades.

This way, you will still be able to use alternate output plugins and dsp/fx plugins for unprotected wma's.

Hmm, maybe we should zip them up and post a link somewhere...?


Alas, this is the price you pay for buying into proprietary protected formats, especially when there are so many alternate methods available.

This is also the price that all Winamp users have to pay due to some idiots posting "Napster DRM crack with Winamp" articles all over the net.

There's heaps of software available for capturing any audio going through the soundcard and saving it to file, eg. Total Recorder, Virtuosa, Messer, SoundForge, Audacity, TuneBite, Creative Recorder, etc etc, which is all the Output Stacker workaround did. It's not exactly anything new.... :/

Microsoft saw it as a breaking of their WMA license agreement, and there was nothing that Nullsoft could do about it except to comply.

The license agreement states that Winamp should not be able to be used for converting their beloved WMA format into any other format.

Hopefully, this will further deter people from purchasing crippled DRM formats.
So, afaict, it's a good thing.

It's just a shame that users who've got any non drm wma's and listen to mms:// streams also have to suffer as a consequence . . . not to mention if they're using older systems with Win95/NT4 and can't use DirectSound Output (ie. stuck with waveOut Output only), or if they'd been using any alternate Output Plugin previously (eg. SqrSoft, A3D, KB5.1, etc) . . . though as stated above, there is no need for those users to install the updated WMA support components.

[DrO]

billyvnilly: see my edit to the start of the thread but yeah, effectively this change does mess up the basic system requirements if windows media is to be played. if not then it's the same as is already stated. bit of a shit basically and personally i think that they should have locked the output to out_wave (like it was before the restriction was lifted) as well as out_ds *shrugs*

-daz

[DJ Egg]

Yup. The minimum system requirements for WMA playback are now:
DirectX v8.0a or higher (9.0c recommended)

Basically, this is because DirectSound Output requires DX v8.0a or higher to work.

Effectively, this now means that there is no support for WMA on WinNT4
which only supports up to DirectX Media 6.

Win95 users will need to upgrade to DX v8.0a.
(Win95 supports no higher version than this).
Note that even microsoft no longer provides a download for 8.0a, and also no longer supports Win95.

But then again, there was no official support for Win95 or NT4 before anyway, heh.

Again, this only applies to playing back drm-protected wma's with the new in_wm.dll from Winamp 5.08e. Playback of any non-protected wma's does not require the new dll, and therefore older systems/OS'es will still be supported.

[nybergh]

I have no DRM protected WMA:s and I've been using the direct show filter for playing WMA:s for some time. What I do is that when I'm about to add some WMAs to my libary I disable the direct show filter handling of WMA, which means the crippled WMA plugin is activated to collect the metadata from the WMA: s. When the files are in the database, I put the direct show filter back on.

This doesn't happen very often, WMA is dreadful, but I have some downloaded rare bootlegs and stuff only in WMA

[priestlyboy]

Lol, you can ALWAYS use if you have the software for it.. Record windows sound output with the "What You Hear" option in your Record Audio Playback and turn off all noises on your computer *which i do defaultly* and record WMAs that way.

I never done it for WMAs though since I despise them but I thought I'd make some noise :P.

/Ieremiou

[ujay]

@ priestlyboy.
The changes have nothing to do with preventing you converting DRM files, they are there purely to cover AOL's ass. That is, the recording now needs to be done after the signal has left Winamp, not before.
Personally I think AOL has made a bad choice in the way it has been implemented and the output could just as easily have been tied to both DirectSound and wave output. Maybe I'm wrong.

UJ

[DrO]

Originally posted by ujay
Personally I think AOL has made a bad choice in the way it has been implemented and the output could just as easily have been tied to both DirectSound and wave output. Maybe I'm wrong.

i think the same as well as i mentioned a few posts up

-daz

[newb2k]

Yeah, boycott DRM-shit in every possible way!
I still cant believe why anybody buys music & itunes and other stores....

but back to winamp: does this limitation only work with napster-wma or with wma @ all?

what about drm-wma made by friends unable to use mp3-compatible rippers, is there any change in using these files (with old and new version, i did not test it yet, just like 2 know)

Another questions: has AOL(Time Warner) anything to do with winamp/nullsoft directly?
on some pages it sounds like AOL "updated" the drm on their own?!

regards

[DJ Egg]

No, Tag Loomis made the changes, one of the only two coders currently left on the Nullsoft team.

As explained above, this has nothing to do with AOL, Nullsoft, Winamp...
The changes were made under strict orders from Microsoft,
because their WMA License Agreement states that Winamp cannot be used to convert their beloved WMA format into any other format.

Again, I think it's already been explained above, but to expand a bit further....
The changes made apply to all wma files (whether drm or not), and to no other format. If you try to play a wma file with any other Output plugin selected, you will get a pop-up box saying "please use DirectSound Output to play Windows Media content".

If you keep in_wm.dll from v5.08d or earlier, then you will still be able to use alternate output plugins with non-drm wma files (and naturally, you won't get that error message box).

If you've got drm-protected wma files, then you need in_wm.dll v2.04 from Winamp 5.08e to play them, otherwise they will be unplayable.

This is because the previous remote/online licensing acquisition has been revoked, and therefore Winamp will no longer be able to acquire the drm licences unless the new in_wm.dll and wmahelp.dll are present.

However, I'm not sure if this also applies to local content, ie. wma files encoded by WiMP with "copy protect music" checkmarked in the options. Though if it does, then all I can say is that it serves those people right for not unchecking that option first, and also for ripping to WMA in the first place. Sad, but true. :/

[iron2000]

So e build is basically a WMA fix?
If so I'll skip this one too.