Take 1: MediaMaster
When I first started blogging, I used to start the titles with “Take (insert number here)”. I did this in hopes of ensuring that I’d take more than one look at certain products - but, it did end up getting on my nerves, and I’m pretty sure some readers might’ve been steamed. I restarted this tradition - but only for products that I know I’m going to take more than one look at. On with the story.
photo credit: charlottel
MediaMaster is a free music-streaming service. Basically, you sign up, upload your music onto their servers (which could take a while), and then can play them anywhere with an Internet connection. It’s not the only music-streaming service out there, but it’s definitely one of the more interesting ones - it’s got album art, unlimited storage, and a bunch of other interesting features that I haven’t gotten around to using yet.
I’ve got a desktop at my house - with the decent speakers - and a laptop that I use. The laptop is much newer, and thus, I use it most often. However, the sound quality on the laptop kills me with its tinniness, so much so that I almost considered buying a second set of speakers. However, I decided to just upload my music to MediaMaster, then play it on my desktop computer. Sure, it’s not environmentally friendly, but it’s a valid solution - and better than wasting my money on a second set of speakers.
I’m not sure that everyone can find an interesting use for MediaMaster like I did, but if you are lacking a personal media player, want to blast some of your favourite tunes at work, or want to play your music on a better set of speakers connected to a different computer, then MediaMaster is for you. Try it out!
photo credit: acidcookie
Oh yeah, I did think of disconnecting the speakers from the desktop and connecting it to the laptop - but then every time I switched computers, I’d have to reconnect the speakers again! What kind of life is that? I’m put in the same situation when I have to disconnect my desktop monitor to attach to my laptop for a dual monitor setup which I like, but is way too much of a hassle to do on a daily basis.
The View is On
So, you just bought your new media center PC and you’ve got Vista pre-installed. Great, now you’re stuck with the two Vista programs - Windows Media Player 11 or Windows Media Center. Not that there’s anything wrong with them, except they can get extremely boring and extremely dull. Why can’t there be an iTunes for Windows - that actually works (don’t get me started on how incompatible iTunes is with Windows, just take a look at those black squares when iTunes loads on your PC and tell me you don’t see anything). Well, friend, today is your lucky day.
ViewOn actually is a customizable iTunes with a Windows twist - it works on WPF, Windows Presentation Foundation. Now I’m going to be honest and tell you right now that I had absolutely no idea what WPF was when I first started writing this article, so let me find you a more reliable explanation.
Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) is the code-name of the presentation (user-interfaces) sub system in Windows Vista programming model and is used to create user interfaces.
Source: http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/Blogs/BlogDetail.aspx?BlogId=211
WPF is actually pre-installed in Windows Vista, but I was required to download .NET 3.0 framework in order to get this thing to work properly. Which then leads us to wonder…
Microsoft .NET Framework is a software component that is a part of Microsoft Windows operating systems. It has a large library of pre-coded solutions to common programming problems and manages the execution of programs written specifically for the framework. The .NET Framework is a key Microsoft offering and is intended to be used by most new applications created for the Windows platform.
The download and installation of the .NET 3.0 framework actually took a while. I’ll advise you against installing it during the hours where you are most productive and instead start it up before you sleep or something. But that’s just for impatient people like me, haha.
ViewOn isn’t exactly the most nimble media player available. It’s actually pretty darn sluggish sometimes, probably because it’s kind of processor and graphic-intensive. If running Windows Vista on your PC is already bogging you down, I wouldn’t recommend getting ViewOn, and probably getting something lighter like WinAmp.
Why do I put up with the sluggishness then? Because of its customizability. Crackers, it can be customized so that its colours suit your flavour and its graphics are sized to your preference. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but it actually makes the experience much better for me, personally.
I would definitely have put up with ViewOn even with its sluggishness if it weren’t for so many things wrong with it.
- It’s buggy, but it’s still in beta. Maybe I’ll try the final version.
- Its radio stations don’t work - which is partly why I downloaded it. Again, with the beta issue.
- The darn album art I worked so hard to collect doesn’t freaking work on ViewOn. What’s the point of the Coverflow-like feature if I have to go around collecting all that stuff again? Sorry, but that killed it for me. I quit ViewOn with the knowledge that getting album art on ViewOn will definitely not be as easy as it was on Windows Media Player 11 or iTunes because there simply wasn’t the database for it. Snickers.
Yeah, right. .NET 3.0 took a heck of a long time (like a whole hour, haha), ViewOn is sluggish, and there’s no album art! I don’t know which presses my cider more. And it’s beta software, which I once took an oath against - but for the sake of interest, I decided to break it just this once. So take my word, and don’t install it on your computer. It might look interesting, but it’s really not that great - it gets old, fast.
But if you know that you won’t be able to sleep until you actually tried it because you’re just like that, you can get it here.
Of course not! There are many various media players out there still waiting to be tested - and trust me, dMb will have a look to see which one reigns supreme!
Oh yeah, it’s purple. So what, a straight guy can’t like purple? Besides, it reminds me of the Zune - which is uber-nice but a bit thick. Great for playing digital media though (you knew I’d have to throw that in there).
