While Mac user would prefer that all streaming message on the World Wide Web was encoded in a QuickTime format , the realness is that Windows Media streams are n’t going to go anywhere . What has perish somewhere — if you consider “ oblivion ” a name and address — is Microsoft ’s Windows Media Player for Mac .
Microsoft never put much time and technology into the Mac product — or keep it on a par with the Windows version , for that subject . Still , it was our connexion to a huge amount of content out there that was n’t available in QuickTime . ( Some masses have had luck with theVLC media playerbut it does n’t work all the time . )
Even worse than a neglected product is a discontinued one , and that ’s what happened to the Mac interlingual rendition of Windows Media Player . But as luck would have it , Microsoft waited untilFlip4Macentered into a “ when they place upright up , we ’ll stand down ” quid pro quo understanding , dropping the price of their plugins from $ 10 to free to allow QuickTime to diddle back streaming and local Windows Media content . ( Microsoft even hosted the downloads . ) The one missing piece was that Flip4Mac ’s Windows Media Components scat only on PowerPC - based Macs — the plugins turn down to even install on an Intel Mac — and since Microsoft never created a Universal Binary interpretation of WMP ( and now never will ) , user of the new Macs have been left in the cold .
This job was of special interest to my fellow Christopher Breen when he wrote about using the Mac mini as a multimedia system centerfield , which became a feature article in our September 2006 issue . Without a aboriginal plugin , Mac drug user wanting to make a Mac mini the brains of their amusement centers were out of luck when it issue forth to fiddle Windows Media - encoded net tuner flow , video recording streams , or local movies .
As can often materialise in the magazine publication business , right after our issue strike the street , a answer appear . The newly released Flip4Mac 2.1 adds native livelihood for Intel - based Macs ( as well as other improvements ) , meaning that one roadblock to plop a mini next to your goggle box is gone .
As editors , we ’re somewhat humiliate when new information comes alongafterwe’ve publish something . But as Mac users , we ’re well-chosen that Flip4Mac made that portion of the article out - of - date .
