---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER FOR MACINTOSH VERSION 6.3 README FILE
June 2000
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(C) 1999-2000 Microsoft Corporation, all rights reserved.
This document provides late-breaking information or other information that supplements the Microsoft(r) Windows Media(tm) Player for Macintosh(r) documentation.
=========
CONTENTS
=========
1.0 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
2.0 PRE-INSTALLATION
3.0 INSTALLATION
3.1 QuickTime
3.2 Browser Issues
3.3 Outlook Express and Internet Explorer
4.0 SUPPORTED FORMATS
5.0 SUPPORTED CODECS
5.1 Video Codecs
5.2 Audio Codecs
6.0 CONFIGURING THE PROXY
7.0 KNOWN ISSUES
7.1 Double-byte character set file names
7.2 Help
7.3 Membership Authentication
7.4 Playback
7.5 Windows Media Rights Manager
7.6 Virtual Memory
7.7 Multicast
8.0 PEER-TO-PEER SUPPORT
9.0 LEGAL NOTICE
=====================
1.0 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
=====================
Minimum:
* PowerPC Macintosh, 601 processor or later
* System 7.6.1 or later
* Open Transport 1.1.2 or later
* QuickTime(r) 3.0.2 or later
* 32 megabytes of RAM - 10 megabytes free for Windows Media Player
* 15 megabytes of free hard drive space for installation
* 256-color display
The Minimum requirements are for playing audio, and video with a low frame rate (less than 4 frames per second). To play video files with a higher frame rate, please use the Recommended system requirements.
Recommended:
* PowerPC Macintosh, 180 megahertz (MHz) 603e processor or later
* MacOS 8 or later
* 16-bit color display
NOTE: Microsoft strongly recommends upgrading to MacOS 8 or later due to improvements in Open Transport. Microsoft also strongly recommends upgrading to Internet Explorer 5.0. You'll need to reinstall Windows Media Player after upgrading to Internet Explorer 5.0 so that the plug-in will be placed in the appropriate directory.
==================
2.0 PRE-INSTALLATION
==================
Before installing Windows Media Player 6.3 for Macintosh, remove older versions of the software from your system.
>>>To uninstall Windows Media Player for Macintosh Beta 3, Windows Media Player for Macintosh 6.3 Beta, or Windows Media Player for Macintosh 6.3 Beta 2:
Drag the Windows Media Player folder to the trash.
>>>To uninstall Microsoft Media Player for Macintosh Beta 2:
1) Drag the Microsoft Media Player folder to the trash.
2) In the Preferences folder, delete the Microsoft Media Player Prefs file.
3) In the Extensions folder, delete the following files:
Acelp.net Decoder 05.0 kbps
Acelp.net Decoder 06.5 kbps
Acelp.net Decoder 08.5 kbps
Acelp.net Decoder 16.0 kbps
Mpeg Layer - 3 Audio
MPG4
VivoActive G723 Decoder
Voxware Sound Component v1.5
4)Reboot.
Note: Make sure to empty the trash after deleting the files.
===============
3.0 INSTALLATION
===============
-----------------
3.1 QuickTime
-----------------
The QuickTime PowerPlug extension must be enabled for the Windows Media Player to install. If the install fails without an error, verify that QuickTime PowerPlug is in the Extensions folder and enabled.
-----------------------
3.2 Browser Issues
-----------------------
This version of Windows Media Player installs a plug-in that launches the player application when a Web page is encountered that contains embedded Windows Media content. If you have different versions of the same browser on your computer and want the plug-in to work with each version, run Windows Media Player setup again and select the additional browser when prompted.
There is a known issue that if you are using Internet Explorer 4.5 to view Web pages, links in those pages with filenames greater than 27 characters that use the EMBED tag will not launch Windows Media Player . To fix this, please upgrade your browser to Internet Explorer 5.0. You'll need to reinstall Windows Media Player after upgrading to Internet Explorer 5.0 so that the plug-in will be placed in the appropriate directory.
In Internet Explorer 4.5 and 4.01, hyperlinks in Web pages that use the "mms://" protocol within the EMBED tag will not launch Windows Media Player. Netscape will launch Windows Media Player from "mms://" protocol links within the EMBED tag, but has problems with direct mms links. To play content that uses this protocol, from the File menu, select Open Location and type the link address.
You may experience problems opening links to content with Internet Explorer 4.01. We recommend upgrading your browser to Internet Explorer 5.0 or downloading the link to your computer. You'll need to reinstall Windows Media Player after upgrading to Internet Explorer 5.0 so that the plug-in will be placed in the appropriate directory.
---------------------------------------------------
3.3 Outlook Express and Internet Explorer
---------------------------------------------------
To avoid some known problems, it is strongly recommended that if you are using Outlook Express 5.0 and/or Internet Explorer 4.5, you should upgrade these applications from the Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/mac/download/en/default.asp. This will upgrade Outlook Express 5.0 to Outlook Express 5.02 and Internet Explorer 4.5 to 5.0. You'll need to reinstall Windows Media Player after upgrading to Internet Explorer 5.0 so that the plug-in will be placed in the appropriate directory.
====================
4.0 SUPPORTED FORMATS
====================
-Windows Media Player 6.3 for Macintosh plays back only Windows Media content.
-The largest supported display size is 400 x 400.
===================
5.0 SUPPORTED CODECS
===================
The following codecs are supported:
------------
5.1 Video
------------
MPEG4 v2
MPEG4 v3
MPEG4S
JPG (Illustrated Audio)
------------
5.2 Audio
------------
WMAudio v1
WMAudio v2
Acelp.net
Voxware MetaSound
MPEG 2 Layer 3
======================
6.0 CONFIGURING THE PROXY
======================
If you are accessing Windows Media content through a proxy server, you will have to configure Windows Media Player for your proxy to play content being streamed via the HTTP protocol.
>>>To configure the proxy for Windows Media Player:
1. On the Edit menu, click Preferences.
2. Select Use a proxy for HTTP streaming.
3. Enter the name of your proxy server and the port number. If you do not know what to enter, contact your network administrator.
===============
7.0 KNOWN ISSUES
===============
---------------------------------------------------
7.1 Double-byte character set file names
---------------------------------------------------
Windows Media Player for Macintosh does not support connecting to double-byte character set (DBCS) file names.
To display DBCS correctly, Microsoft strongly recommends upgrading to MacOS 8 or later, or installing the Text Encoding Converter (TEC),
which can be obtained from Apple at http://developer.apple.com/sdk/index.html.
-----------
7.2 Help
-----------
The Windows Media Player Help system installs Help Web pages into the same folder as the application. If you move the application out of this folder, it will not be able to find these Help pages. To work around this, you can create an alias to Windows Media Player and place this alias anywhere you like. To create an alias, select the Windows Media Player icon in the Finder, then, from the File menu, click Make Alias.
---------------------------------------
7.3 Membership Authentication
---------------------------------------
This version of Windows Media Player does not support streams that require membership authentication.
----------------
7.4 Playback
----------------
Audio and video may lose synchronization for several seconds.
Because Windows Media Player renders video based on key frames, you may experience several seconds of no video until a key frame is found. This will also occur if the player window is overlapped by another window.
When playing audio-only content, the video display area of the player remains visible.
The Seek bar slider does not always operate correctly in this version of Windows Media Player for Macintosh.
--------------------------------------------------
7.5 Windows Media Rights Manager (DRM)
--------------------------------------------------
The Windows Media Rights Manager, a digital rights management (DRM) application, lets content authors deliver songs, videos, and other media over the Internet in a packaged, encrypted file format. In order to take advantage of the DRM, at minimum, you must install Internet Explorer 4.01 with Service Pack 1. However, Microsoft strongly recommends installing Internet Explorer 5.0. You'll need to reinstall Windows Media Player 6.3 after upgrading to Internet Explorer 5.0 so that the DRM plug-in will be placed in the appropriate browser directory.
Be sure to obtain your license before closing your browser. If you close your browser before the content has finished downloading you will need to reconnect to the site and download the content again.
------------------------
7.6 Virtual Memory
------------------------
Virtual memory must be enabled on the client computer so that Windows Media Player functions properly. To enable and set virtual memory, select Memory from the Control Panels menu.
-----------------
7.7 Multicast
-----------------
This release of Windows Media Playerfor Macintosh does not support multicasting.
======================
8.0 PEER-TO-PEER SUPPORT
======================
You can find answers and share information at the Windows Media Player 6.3 for Macintosh newsgroup located at microsoft.public.windowsmedia.player.mac. In order to participate in the newsgroup, you will need a newsgroup reader or Internet browser.
==============
9.0 LEGAL NOTICE
==============
Information in this document, including URL and other Internet Web site references, is subject to change without notice and is provided for informational purposes only. The entire risk of the use or results of the use of this document remains with the user, and Microsoft Corporation makes no warranties, either express or implied. The example companies, organizations, products, people and events depicted herein are fictitious. No association with any real company, organization, product, person or event is intended or should be inferred. Complying with all applicable copyright laws is the responsibility of the user. Without limiting the rights under copyright, no part of this document may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), or for any purpose, without the express written permission of Microsoft Corporation.
Microsoft may have patents, patent applications, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property rights covering subject matter in this document. Except as expressly provided in any written license agreement from Microsoft, the furnishing of this document does not give you any license to these patents, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property.
(c) 1999-2000 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Microsoft, MS-DOS, Windows, Windows NT, and Windows Media are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S.A. and/or other countries.
Macintosh, Power Macintosh, and QuickTime are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc.
This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group.
The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.