How to get Windows Media Player on a Mac

[ejw24]

New to Mac - how can I load windows media player on my new macbook?  I downloaded the file from downloads.com but can't open it - do I need an installer or something?  Or how can I convert .wmv files to play on Quicktime??  Thanks for the help!

[gojira]

Flip4Mac.com

Download the WMV Components for Quicktime.

[Le Pirate]

New to Mac - how can I load windows media player on my new macbook?  I downloaded the file from downloads.com but can't open it - do I need an installer or something?  Or how can I convert .wmv files to play on Quicktime??  Thanks for the help!

download a program called flip4mac. then you can play .wmv files in quicktime.



I'm not sure you can run WMP on a mac, and I can't think of any reason you would want to  

[derby]

New to Mac - how can I load windows media player on my new macbook?  I downloaded the file from downloads.com but can't open it - do I need an installer or something?  Or how can I convert .wmv files to play on Quicktime??  Thanks for the help!

straight from the horse's mouth:  http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/flip4mac.mspx

(yes, i know flip4mac isn't a microsoft product.)

[derby]

I'm not sure you can run WMP on a mac, and I can't think of any reason you would want to  

you can, but it's 2 versions behind and, as a posted above, microsoft even points you to flip4mac as an alternative.

[gojira]

On the topic of quicktime playback, perian is also very helpful. It'll allow you to play FLV files, among a bunch of other formats, through quicktime player ... FLV is the format of youtube/liveleak/etc videos (if you download and save them on your mac).

[ejw24]

download a program called flip4mac. then you can play .wmv files in quicktime.



I'm not sure you can run WMP on a mac, and I can't think of any reason you would want to  

Thanks for the help everyone, glad to know I don't have to use WMP!

[Rameses]

I also just found an add-on for firefox called DownloadHelper that makes it really easy to download videos from youtube and other similar sites.

[darylbowden]

VLC is the best video player I have found for any platform.  It's free and I've never found a video file it can't play.  Perian and QT pro are also nice tho.

[gojira]

VLC is the best video player I have found for any platform.

+1

The only downside is that VLC does not cache the video files and therefore cannot scrub the video smoothly nor go frame by frame at all. Quicktime, however, does these with no problems.

My only peeve with QT is why, oh why, it has no playlist option after all these years. 

[TiNi]

Flip4Mac 

ok geeks... (i say that with respect)
QT ---> a DVD format for replay on stand alone DVD player.

i'm using toast titanium for the encoding...
any tips?

[Monstermash]

There's a very simple solution to getting PC programs to work on a Mac. Don't buy a make the beast with two backsing Mac! 

IMO Apple is the biggest culprit of monopolization in the market today. Nothing they make is compatible with anything else. Just by a PC and be done with it.

[Rameses]

There's a very simple solution to getting PC programs to work on a Mac. Don't buy a make the beast with two backsing Mac! 

IMO Apple is the biggest culprit of monopolization in the market today. Nothing they make is compatible with anything else. Just by a PC and be done with it.

[darylbowden]

There's a very simple solution to getting PC programs to work on a Mac. Don't buy a make the beast with two backsing Mac! 

IMO Apple is the biggest culprit of monopolization in the market today. Nothing they make is compatible with anything else. Just by a PC and be done with it.

That's pretty funny seeing as this Mac I'm typing on has Win XP (2 installs), Win 2000 and Ubuntu Linux as well as Apache and of course OS X.

However, to the OP, if you wanna make sure that your computer is compatible with Monstermash's (and I assume he's talking about application files because EVERY important document file type is cross-platform compatible unless you use CAD, in which case you can run XP on a VM [cost: $45 whopping dollars] and STILL have full access to everything), you should definitely take his advice and buy a PC, 'cause he seems to know what he's talking about.  

[Monstermash]

That's pretty funny seeing as this Mac I'm typing on has Win XP (2 installs), Win 2000 and Ubuntu Linux as well as Apache and of course OS X.

However, to the OP, if you wanna make sure that your computer is compatible with Monstermash's (and I assume he's talking about application files because EVERY important document file type is cross-platform compatible unless you use CAD, in which case you can run XP on a VM [cost: $45 whopping dollars] and STILL have full access to everything), you should definitely take his advice and buy a PC, 'cause he seems to know what he's talking about.  

dude, my response was kind of tounge in cheek but i do really hate Apple and everything that goes along with them.

They are WAY to expensive and don't come with shit unless you spend even more money. You can buy a PC for half the money that will kick the living shit out of it. At least if you buy a pc you can find most any program you need as a download for free. Thats not really possible from what I've seen of the Apple.

Yes you can run pc programs and OS on the Apple but why bother? As I mentioned above, the macs are too fracken expensive for what they are. If you listen to Apple sales reps they tell you how much better they are than the PC. Oh really? Whats makes them so much better? They come with the same processor, DVD RW drive (if you spend the extra money for it), the same memory (again if you spend the extra money for it), and the same LCD display and they don't come with shit for installed programs unless you pay extra for them. They then go on to tell you that they don't break. Ummmm....yeah......OK 

I have a friend who bought one only to have dead pixles within a week of ownership and then Apple proceeded to tell him it wasn't covered under warranty because it was "only a few pixles". Huh?? After many hours on the phone with their so called customer support dept. we finally got them to cover it. To me thats just BS. The thing is less than a week old, if there is ANYTHING wrong with it, it should be covered under warranty. Then the new replacement wouldn't run out of the box and had to be taken back to the Apple store for the tech dept to fix. It still doesn't run right. I wouldn't give you 12 cents for an Apple.