Multiple instances of WMP?

[joel]

I don't have vista yet. Is it possible to use multiple instances of windows
media player at the same time in vista? For example, at work I often like
listening to music or internet radio playing in the background but then I
may want to play a video in the foreground but I don't want my existing
media player to be disturbed while I watch the video for a short time. Just
curious.

By the way, does WMP still minimize to the task bar (mini-player mode) or
does it minimize to the sidebar instead?

Thanks.

 

[Puppy Breath]

I can't open multiple instances in build 5308.

It minimizes to a small set of taskbar controls like in XP.

 

[=?ISO-8859-1?Q?=22Sc=F8tt_Lovegrove_=5BScottIsAFoo]

I'm not on my vista box right now, so can't verify if it's there or not,
but you could always open the video using mplayer2.exe which is normally
found in the media player folder in program files.

Scøtt
Live Messenger FAQs - http://wlm.scottisafool.co.uk/

 

[Andre Da Costa [Extended64]]

Yeah, but thats WMP 6, I think Joel is looking for the ability to watch
multiple videos with WMP 10 or 11. This is not possible in build 5365. Also,
I don't see the point, you can't watch two videos at the same time, you
would be confused, you brain wouldn't be able to concentrate on both. So, I
think its this way for reason. Unless you plan on using WMP for surveilance,
and you still you would not be able to watch all of the videos at the same
time.
--
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Andre
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""Scøtt Lovegrove [ScottIsAFool]""

 

[Mike Williams]

Yeah, but thats WMP 6, I think Joel is looking for the ability to watch
multiple videos with WMP 10 or 11. This is not possible in build 5365. Also,
I don't see the point, you can't watch two videos at the same time, you
would be confused, you brain wouldn't be able to concentrate on both. So, I
think its this way for reason. Unless you plan on using WMP for surveilance,
and you still you would not be able to watch all of the videos at the same
time.

The OP didn't want to watch two videos at one time. He wanted to have
one instance stopped in the background (perhaps so a movie or playlist
wasn't disturbed) yet be able to switch to another piece of media on an
adhoc basis. I think that was perfectly understandable (and desirable).

 

[joel]

I can't open multiple instances in build 5308.

It minimizes to a small set of taskbar controls like in XP.

Thanks for the info.

you could always open the video using mplayer2.exe

Good point. I remember hearing that suggestion even for XP, but I think I
gave up on it because the interface is so incredibly old.

Right now in XP, I can listen to audio from an embedded WMP in IE and have
the full version of WMP open at the same time. Maybe that is possible
because one is the ActiveX control and the other is the regular .exe
application. I don't know much about the sidebar yet, but maybe it is
possible to use the WMP ActiveX control in the sidebar, leaving the full
application still available. Or perhaps I could use a 3rd party player in
addition to WMP, but I like using WMP. Oh well...

 

[joel]

The OP didn't want to watch two videos at one time. He wanted to have one

instance stopped in the background (perhaps so a movie or playlist wasn't
disturbed) yet be able to switch to another piece of media on an adhoc
basis. I think that was perfectly understandable (and desirable).

You have the right idea. I do multimedia development work, so it is common
for me to have music playing in the background as general ambience. However
in the course of the day I may need to play an .avi video file I just
rendered from Adobe After Effects (which may not even have audio to it) or
something like that. The background music would just continue or I could
mute it. Maybe that isn't a common usage scenario, but that is how I would
like to do it!

Actually, I have noticed sometimes that if I am in the middle of a playlist
of audio in WMP and then open an .avi from windows explorer and then close
WMP and come back, sometimes it will reload my playlist where I left it. So,
maybe the real solution is for MS to beef up that feature so that a playlist
can be continued where it left off after being interrupted by playing a
separate file click on from windows explorer...

 

[Mike Williams]

You have the right idea. I do multimedia development work, so it is common
for me to have music playing in the background as general ambience. However
in the course of the day I may need to play an .avi video file I just
rendered from Adobe After Effects (which may not even have audio to it) or
something like that. The background music would just continue or I could
mute it. Maybe that isn't a common usage scenario, but that is how I would
like to do it!

Actually, I have noticed sometimes that if I am in the middle of a playlist
of audio in WMP and then open an .avi from windows explorer and then close
WMP and come back, sometimes it will reload my playlist where I left it. So,
maybe the real solution is for MS to beef up that feature so that a playlist
can be continued where it left off after being interrupted by playing a
separate file click on from windows explorer...

I'll file a bug request along these lines, quoting your scenario if you
don't mind.

 

[Zack Whittaker]

Nope, not possible - but I'm working on a workaround )

--
Zack Whittaker
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» Vista Knowledge Base: www.vistabase.co.uk
» This mailing is provided "as is" with no warranties, and confers no
rights. All opinions expressed are those of myself unless stated so, and not
of my employer, best friend, Ghandi, my mother or my cat. Glad we cleared
that up!

--: Original message follows :--

 

[John Jay Smith]

Some programs cannot be run in 2 instances.. like
outlook express, media player, msn messenger (although there are polugamy
patches for messenger).

there must be a way. but it might involve hacking the registry or files.....

 

[Mike Williams]

Some programs cannot be run in 2 instances.. like
outlook express, media player, msn messenger (although there are polugamy
patches for messenger).

there must be a way. but it might involve hacking the registry or files.....

I believe you can use scripted controls in multiple browser instances
(which doesn't help the casual user), but otherwise WMP was changed
after v8 or 9 to prevent multiple instances.

 

[joel]

I'll file a bug request along these lines, quoting your scenario if you

don't mind.

That would be great, thanks!

Nope, not possible - but I'm working on a workaround )

That sounds good too!

For the average user I can see benefits to limiting WMP to one instance (to
simplify use of the software), but for multimedia development there are
times when being able to run multiple instances of the player would be
helpful to enhance productivity. Maybe there could be an option to enable
multiple instances.

I'm really looking forward to Vista and hopefully also the transition to
native 64-bit support for content creation software from companies like
Adobe. Best Regards.