Why should the same application play both audio and video? Because they're both "media"? Why not throw pictures into that mix, so that WMP is the default carrier of your JPEG's and everything else.
Apple made this mistake with Quicktime (integration of picture support). Picture support in a media player generally only works well if the player can act as a browser to browse the directory of pictures, present them in a slideshow format, or just use them for ad content, etc.
Audio and Video, however, do go together. WMP provides one app for utilizing and managing both. Why bother with separate applications (Quicktime, DVD Player, iTunes) when I can have all the functionality in one app? Apple is slowly realizing the benefits of integration. Maybe, in time, their 3 apps will evolve into one. BTW, for a good implementation of integrated picture/audio/video support, look no further than Windows XP MCE (until Longhorn or MCE2's release).
iTunes focusses on music organization first, task later. Given that the ID3 tags in iTunes govern the locations of the files in their respective hierarchial folders (when whenever you change one, the song name or appropriate artist/album folder sees a change as well), the basic structure of the files is always intact.
This can also be accomplished in WMP:
(From WMP Help: mk:@MSITStore:%WINDIR%\Help\wmplayer.chm::/htm/player_overview_medialibrary.htm )
Monitor Folders
Click to specify which folders you want the Player to monitor for changes to digital media files. Changes include files being added, deleted, moved, or renamed. The changes to the digital media files in the monitored folders are reflected in Media Library immediately.
Rename and rearrange music using media information
Specifies whether music files in your My Music folder are automatically renamed and rearranged when updated media information is obtained for the files. The music files are automatically reorganized in Media Library based on the updated media information.
And by the way... Though I don't particularly care about them, it is absurd to think that WMP even comes close to the orgasm that is iTunes' OpenGL visualizations.
Visualization quality/experience has nothing to do with API and everything to do with the visualization developer. Like sphbecker, I haven't seen any iTunes visualizations that can't be accomplished with WMP (a lot faster too). Resolution does have much to do with perceived quality since the default WMP vis res is 320x240. This can give the appearance of blockiness/jaggedness in some configurations. The res can be increased from the options menu.
Orgasm? Come now (pun intended), this is nothing but premature exaggeration. ;-)
This post was edited by n4cer on Friday, May 02, 2003 at 04:22.
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