This is true, from THG news. And for me, it's the final straw. First, they're gonna implement such stringent anti-piracy policies that I won't be able to make 10 hardware changes without re-registering (I do more than this in a month, and it's an international number in the UK), and now this! So what they're saying is that it won't play MP3's, and Winamp won't work.

Well I'm not upgrading. I suppose next they'll discontinue support for all their other operating systems. Do they actually want anyone to buy this piece of {insert gratuitous word of choice here}!

deltree c:\windows
loadlin





~ I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully ~

I am totally in agreement with you..MP3 is not only associated with Napster or Peer-to-peer. But some of my favorite games use MP3 files. So I won't be able to use them. Also XP will not support MP3 players like MusicMatch and will not support burning MP3's to CD's. Sounds like the Music industry is paying them off if you ask me.

Microsoft also will not support USB devices so if your joystick or hardware must use USB...Forget it. Microsoft wants to persue their own kind of connection bus.

If this is all true...I'm not upgrading and i'll learn Linux. It's open source so they arn't going to screw around with anti-piracy crap. And future versions of Linux are supposed to be more user friendly. Microsoft is aiming this anti-piracy campaign right at the average user and the home PC user and that is not their biggest problem with piracy.

Accually you are safe for now if you stay with Windows 2000 because Win2k is the same kernal used for XP. Microsoft is scrapping their Windows 9x/DOS/ME kernal. But their NT kernal will still be around for quite some time.

Now they sound like a monopoly. They are going to force us to use only their media players and force us to use only their technologies that they think is against piracy. Don't fear that much though because there are alternatives to MP3 being developed including Dolby's ACC files which sound even better than MP3's. Technology is like life...it will develop to overcome barriers.

Don't rely heavily on hear-say... I'm sure this is just some more anti-MS propoganda... how would other 'third-party' programs be affected by media player's settings? I'm suprised many people are falling for this crap... I won't believe it till I try it myself on the final product...

If you read MS's comments, they only refer to their own program being affected by this. And by the time the product goes retail (it's not even RC yet) I'm sure they'll change their ways within their own MeidaPlayer as well...

I wouldn't worry too much about the registration thing either... I'm sure hacks will be avaiable right at release time...

That is why I said if it is true. I think Microsoft is making some big mistakes about all this stuff if it is true. Some of it doesn't even make much sense from a business point of view.

Yes I am sure there will be hacks availiable for the piracy code. If a hacker can break into Microsoft's servers and screw everything up and get out without being caught...I'm sure they can break a piracy code. In fact if you want my honest opinion...This Microsoft anti-piracy campaign is going to encourage piracy and you will see it on a rise. I think they are combatting this in the wrong way and it may backfire on them. I mean, look what happened when they tried to shut-down Napster; look how many services their are now. It's like turning on a light and all the roaches in the middle of the room scatter...You won't be able to kill them all. In otherwords...the situation has spread out and grown. This will cause hackers to go through and break down their software to find out how it works and publish codes on the internet. I thought that was what they wanted to prevent?

With the decisions they are making...They are going to make a lot of people angry and if these rumors are true; I imagine they would back off a little before the final version, especially with all the controversy it is now attracting.

Oh, there's absolutely no doubt a few 14-year old kids will have XP cracked wide open during this beta phase. But it's just the general idea of msft pulling this....

Ever read the book '1984'?

Even without any beta XP (BP, UP, whateverP) "testers" I can tell you that .MP3 file does not sound as nice as .WMF one with the same bit rate compression on any Windows you take.

"Beta testers of Windows XP have reported that third-party MP3 tools do not function properly on the platform"

As far as this thing goes it is not true in most cases. I am using WinAmp (and some other) on Whistler->XP for a year now, no changes in sound quality at any point you can take, and this is the same PC and the sound card and the speakers (headphones).


Post, we'll do the "search"...

Well it looks like this MP3 thing was a rumor. Sean Alexander (Production Manager for Microsoft) is making the rounds in the media and trying to put the rumor to rest. Windows XP is supposed to be specifically optimized for multimedia and MP3 technology will be a big part of that. However, because XP is in beta...the players and the compression files don't operate correctly right now. That however should be fixed in the final version.

What XP is doing is that it will only let you rip an mp3 at a certain rate with Windows Media Player. However a 3rd client software may be able to optimize the system to rip faster. XP encourages the use of .WMA files instead of .MP3. And that is where the rumor began. The OS is aimed at .wma and not mp3 which ME was aimed at.

Bottom line...XP WILL support MP3's but it will perfer WMA's. I guess you can't trust the Wall Street Journal for reliable information.