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Topic: WMP Tag Plus - MPEG4, Vorbis and FLAC metadata support for WMP (Read 517165 times) previous topic - next topic
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WMP Tag Plus - MPEG4, Vorbis and FLAC metadata support for WMP

Reply #275
No, for the moment, the only thing that's new in the beta is the fix for lossless M4A in WMP 12. I have also noticed that APE support was added to TagLib, but I haven't extended WMP Tag Plus yet to make use of that support. The next major release, WMP Tag Plus 2.0, will support the APE format.


Wow, that's great. Hope it'd be released soon. Thank you for the amazing work!

WMP Tag Plus - MPEG4, Vorbis and FLAC metadata support for WMP

Reply #276
Hello Tim and all the WMP Tag Plus users here in the forum,

first of all thanks for developing the Plugin. I have just recently started to archive my CD collection and chose FLAC as a lossless format. I have also successfully installed all codecs and your plugin necessary for playing the files and displaying/editing the Tags in WMP. Everything works out fine - apart from one thing: WMP does not display the cover artwork for the FLAC files and does not allow to add artwork (there is an error message displayed when trying to add an image, that it is not possible to add cover art while files are played from the album ... although there is no file playing after all). So I have added cover artwort successfully using MP3tag, but still the artwork is not displayed in WMP (although I reset the library of WMP).

I would very much apprechiate any ideas how to solve this problem!

WMP Tag Plus - MPEG4, Vorbis and FLAC metadata support for WMP

Reply #277
Yes, that error message is a known limitation of the current version and is caused by the fact that WMP Tag Plus doesn't really support album art yet. Such support is planned for the next major release. In the meantime, you should be able to add album art by manually placing it as a Folder.jpg file in the album folders.

WMP Tag Plus - MPEG4, Vorbis and FLAC metadata support for WMP

Reply #278
Yes, that error message is a known limitation of the current version and is caused by the fact that WMP Tag Plus doesn't really support album art yet. Such support is planned for the next major release. In the meantime, you should be able to add album art by manually placing it as a Folder.jpg file in the album folders.



O.k. thanks for your quick reply - I will use the workaround and will wait for the next major release. Cheers!

WMP Tag Plus - MPEG4, Vorbis and FLAC metadata support for WMP

Reply #279
Hello Tim and all the WMP Tag Plus users here in the forum,

first of all thanks for developing the Plugin. I have just recently started to archive my CD collection and chose FLAC as a lossless format. I have also successfully installed all codecs and your plugin necessary for playing the files and displaying/editing the Tags in WMP. Everything works out fine - apart from one thing: WMP does not display the cover artwork for the FLAC files and does not allow to add artwork (there is an error message displayed when trying to add an image, that it is not possible to add cover art while files are played from the album ... although there is no file playing after all). So I have added cover artwort successfully using MP3tag, but still the artwork is not displayed in WMP (although I reset the library of WMP).

I would very much apprechiate any ideas how to solve this problem!

It may not suit you but the following does what I want.

WMP12 has built-in support for accessing and using the MPEG4 tags (atoms) in AAC files which have the .m4a file extension. Apple Lossless (aka. ALAC) files use exactly the same file format, file extension and tags (atoms) as AAC files. It is possible to get WMP12 to play Apple Lossless files via a DirectShow filter based on my original idea and written by Milenko Mitrovic. Thanks to Tim and his WMP Tag Plus plugin, it is now possible to get WMP12 to accept Apple Lossless files and add them to the proper music section of the WMP library. As WMP12 can already understand MPEG4 tags it can therefore (and does I have confirmed this) read the tags and embedded artwork in Apple Lossless files.

As a result WMP12 can use Apple Lossless files in a completely seemless manner with no fiddling necessary. Apple Lossless files can be used in Foobar, WinAmp, DBPowerAmp, XBMC, Plex, VLC, and many other applications plus of course iTunes. They also work in Microsoft Media Center which uses WMP as the engine (again I have confirmed this).

So, if your goal is only to have the music in a lossless format with full integration in WMP12 (or earlier) Apple Lossless will do the job perfectly. If however you need to share it with a streaming box like the NetGear Entertainer, or XBox360, or PS3 it might not be suitable for you. Apple Lossless does however work with Sonos, Logitech, and Roku devices.

While initially WMP12 made life with Apple Lossless impossible by deliberately routing the files to the 'other' section, thanks to Tim it is now even better than earlier versions of WMP as it can now read the embedded artwork as well as the text tags and does now reside in the proper music section of the library.

WMP Tag Plus - MPEG4, Vorbis and FLAC metadata support for WMP

Reply #280
Just the head's up: are you managed to start working on FLAC cover support? (I hope your master's thesis went well!)

WMP Tag Plus - MPEG4, Vorbis and FLAC metadata support for WMP

Reply #281
Yes, I'm currently working on WMP Tag Plus 2.0, including FLAC cover support.

Master's thesis went well and I graduated  I am going to start working soon, so that will probably slow down progress a bit.

WMP Tag Plus - MPEG4, Vorbis and FLAC metadata support for WMP

Reply #282
Yes, I'm currently working on WMP Tag Plus 2.0, including FLAC cover support.

Master's thesis went well and I graduated  I am going to start working soon, so that will probably slow down progress a bit.


Congratulations on your degree and job!  And good job for WMP Tag Plus 2.0!

WMP Tag Plus - MPEG4, Vorbis and FLAC metadata support for WMP

Reply #283
Hello Tim and everyone,

Feel a bit thick here.

Excited about the ALAC handling of the 1.3 beta, but when I install the file WMPTagPlus-1.3-Beta2.exe from http://bmproductions.fixnum.org/links/?linkid=2, the Properties window for the plugin only shows FLAC, Vorbis and WavPack under the Formats tab, and not MPEG4.

If I reinstall the released 1.2 version instead, then MPEG4 appears correctly but obviously the 'Other' filing problem remains!

What am I doing wrong?

Sameer

(System is Windows 7 x64 if that makes any difference.)

WMP Tag Plus - MPEG4, Vorbis and FLAC metadata support for WMP

Reply #284
This confused me initially as well. The answer is that WMP12 in Windows 7 can already read MPEG4 meta-tags including embedded artwork. Therefore The WMPTagPlus plugin does not need to include the ability to read MPEG4 tags - doing so would be wasteful duplication. All WMPTagPlus does for MPEG4 files i.e. ALAC files is trick WMP12 in to thinking they are the same as AAC files and hence they now show up in the correct music section of the WMP library.

You will still need to have installed the ALAC codec to let WMP12 actually play the Apple Lossless files.

I came up with the idea behind the Apple Lossless codec, and it was then written (based ony my approach) by Milenko Mitrovic. this worked for years in WMP in Windows XP and Vista but Microsoft sabotaged it in Windows 7. Tim has now in his plugin provided a workaround to get things working fully again. In fact things are now better than ever since embedded artwork now works as well. Apple Lossless will also work in Media Center with this solution.

Heres hoping Microsoft do not break things again in Windows 8.

WMP Tag Plus - MPEG4, Vorbis and FLAC metadata support for WMP

Reply #285
Excited about the ALAC handling of the 1.3 beta, but when I install the file WMPTagPlus-1.3-Beta2.exe from http://bmproductions.fixnum.org/links/?linkid=2, the Properties window for the plugin only shows FLAC, Vorbis and WavPack under the Formats tab, and not MPEG4.

John is right: the new ALAC support in the beta is completely separate from the existing tag support. In the beta, this ALAC support isn't advertised anywhere yet, it 'just works'

Another small change in the beta is that it doesn't install the MPEG-4 support anymore on Windows 7. This is because it's not needed there anyway and can only conflict with the built-in MPEG-4 support. As said, this change doesn't affect ALAC support whatsoever.

WMP Tag Plus - MPEG4, Vorbis and FLAC metadata support for WMP

Reply #286
I have a chronic problem where WMPTP is disabled somehow.  WMP12 on Win7 SP1 x86_64.  I'll enable the plugin, and it'll stay enabled for awhile, but it somehow gets silently disabled.  Can't pin it down to any action I'm doing or system context.  Has anyone else had this problem? 
-Alan

WMP Tag Plus - MPEG4, Vorbis and FLAC metadata support for WMP

Reply #287
Do other plug-ins also get silently disabled together with WMP Tag Plus? WMP automatically disables all plug-ins when it's not closed properly (e.g. because of a crash), so that's a possible cause.

Another possibility is that WMP Tag Plus gets disabled after running Media Center (which is always 64-bit) or the 64-bit version of WMP, because there only is a 32-bit version of the plug-in. I have already come across a similar issue, but haven't experienced the plug-in getting disabled yet.

WMP Tag Plus - MPEG4, Vorbis and FLAC metadata support for WMP

Reply #288
Had expected to see a crash message from WMP if that was happening, and haven't... Don't have any other plugins installed/enabled there, so no basis of comparison.  This is on a machine dedicated to Windows Media Center, so I usually don't open WMP (except to re-enable the plugin).  Running whatever is the default version of WMP that would be set up and run as part of the 64bit install, including WMC.

WMP Tag Plus - MPEG4, Vorbis and FLAC metadata support for WMP

Reply #289
Please make sure that the plug-in is enabled in WMP, close WMP, start Media Center, close it, and start WMP again. Is the plug-in still enabled then?

Also, note that WMP Tag Plus won't be active in Media Center at all since Media Center on Windows x64 is 64-bit, which WMP Tag Plus doesn't support.

WMP Tag Plus - MPEG4, Vorbis and FLAC metadata support for WMP

Reply #290
I recall in an earlier post, someone had mentioned that 32-bit WMP is the default even on 64-bit systems, and you had to run the 64-bit version explicitly. 

At any rate -- stopped WMC and checked WMP.  Plugin had gotten disabled again.
Re-enabled plugin, re-entered WMC, and cycled through a few menu items (including the music library).  Quit WMC and rechecked WMP -- plugin was still enabled.

So it isn't just the process of running WMC that is shutting it off.  While in WMC, I've indexed my music library (which is half FLAC rips), so I know that the combo works.  It just won't stay working...
-Alan

WMP Tag Plus - MPEG4, Vorbis and FLAC metadata support for WMP

Reply #291
Just FYI

I have an x64 system and indexing my FLAC files works here via WMC

No idea on why your plugin falls out...

WMP Tag Plus - MPEG4, Vorbis and FLAC metadata support for WMP

Reply #292
I recall in an earlier post, someone had mentioned that 32-bit WMP is the default even on 64-bit systems, and you had to run the 64-bit version explicitly.

That's true for WMP, but for Media Center, the situation is different.

Quote
So it isn't just the process of running WMC that is shutting it off.  While in WMC, I've indexed my music library (which is half FLAC rips), so I know that the combo works.  It just won't stay working...

Which version of WMP Tag Plus do you have installed? Do you still get the problem with the latest 1.3 Beta version?

WMP Tag Plus - MPEG4, Vorbis and FLAC metadata support for WMP

Reply #293
Don't know.  Just installed the beta, enabled the plug-in.  Will advise.
-Alan

WMP Tag Plus - MPEG4, Vorbis and FLAC metadata support for WMP

Reply #294
Nope, didn't help... checked back a day later running WMP, plugin had gone disabled again.

WMP Tag Plus - MPEG4, Vorbis and FLAC metadata support for WMP

Reply #295
Then I'm afraid that I have no clue about what's causing this. You will probably have to do some experimenting yourself to find out what exactly triggers the silent disabling of the plug-in. Without this crucial information, there's no way for me to further investigate this.

To quickly find out if the plug-in is still disabled, launch Regedit and navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\UIPlugins\{CBD7AB87-2A5A-4466-B31E-61D9A782D6AA}. If the Running entry is set to 1, the plug-in is enabled. You can press F5 there to refresh.

WMP Tag Plus - MPEG4, Vorbis and FLAC metadata support for WMP

Reply #296
Hello Tim,

I hope you still read this. Only discovered your amazing work a week ago! Ended my nightmares with FLAC usage and WMP11 on Vista

Anyway, I have a new laptop..

Windows 7 (64 bit).
I installed WMP 11 because of how awful WMP 12 is.

Problem now is my WMP 11 install will not load your WMP Tag Plus plug-in.

My WMP11 is installed in C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player
The old WMP12 is installed in C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Media Player

I feel during the install, the logical installation path I should select for the plug-in is C:\Program Files  but it does not show up in Options, Plug-in in my WMP11
I also uninstalled, then installed it in C:\Program Files (x86)  but it still didn't show up in WMP11 .. I uninstalled it again.

I even uninstalled codecs (the xiph ones) and have no other plug-ins of any kind installed for WMP.

WMP Tag Plus 1.2 <--- this is the version I am attempting to use, as I did successfully on my former laptop.
WMP 11.0.6001.7000
Windows 7 Home Premium - Service Pack 1 - 64 bit

Please help.
What should I do? I am even open to completely obliterating WMP12 from my system to eliminate that as a distraction. I kept it around 'just in case'.

Thanks in advance!!!!

UPDATE : I did end up obliterating WMP12 from my system (after setting a system restore point first).

Now when I run your Tag Plus installer, it pops up a small message saying it cannot find a version of WMP 11 or higher on the system, etc...

Getting closer in a roundabout kind of way?

WMP Tag Plus - MPEG4, Vorbis and FLAC metadata support for WMP

Reply #297
I'm afraid that using WMP Tag Plus in WMP 11 on Windows 7 is completely untested and unsupported. However, it looked like you installed the 64-bit version of WMP 11. WMP Tag Plus is only compatible with the 32-bit version (which is located in the Program Files (x86) folder).

WMP Tag Plus - MPEG4, Vorbis and FLAC metadata support for WMP

Reply #298
OK so with all the haphazard risk of doing all this downgrading, hack here and there, I've got this WMP 11 64 bit to work on my 64-bit Windows 7 laptop and play flac files happily all day long.

I can not see online a forum describing how to get WMP 11 32-bit version onto a 64 bit Windows 7 machine, so I can only beg shamelessly.. are you going to make a WMP Tag Plus that works on WMP 11 64-bit ?

What would it take to persuade you..?

Beg, grovel, lots of smiles.. virtual cakes..

Please?

WMP Tag Plus - MPEG4, Vorbis and FLAC metadata support for WMP

Reply #299
Sorry, but no. Making a 64-bit version would require *significant* efforts and would take about a half year of work (combined with my full-time job). And as I previously stated:

Quote
Besides, I need to make a trade-off between the possible new features in WMP Tag Plus. Should I work on cool features (like album art support), or on features that will get noticed by only a small percentage of users (such as an x64 version)? Obviously, I prefer investing my valuable time in the first option.

Also, please refer to my previous post. Your scenario is unsupported anyway. Why not just run 32-bit WMP 11 in Windows 7's (virtualized) XP Mode?