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Which is the best Media player of all?

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CIOL Bureau
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Windows RPC Update

Once again Microsoft has had to patch their previous Windows RPC (Remote

Procedure Call) update. href="http://www.microsoft.com/security/security_bulletins/ms03-026.asp"

target="_secure1">MS03-026 has been superseded by href="http://www.microsoft.com/security/security_bulletins/ms03-039.asp"

target="_secure1">MS03-039 issued September 10, 2003. The new patch

resolves the existing RPC/Port 135 vulnerability, as well as the RPCSS

Service dealing with RPC messages for DCOM activation. The latter can

allow arbitrary code execution as well as cause denial of service

attacks due to incorrect handling of malformed messages.

RPC is a Windows protocol used for inter-process communications that

allow program running on one computer to seamlessly access services on

another. More information on the ports used by it are href="http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windows2000serv/reski

t/tcpip/part4/tcpappc.asp " target="_secure1">available here.

Following on the RPC/DCOM theme, Steve Gibson's href="http://www.www.grc.com/dcom/" target="_secure1">DCOMbobulator

(29 kB, Windows, free) helps identify, and prevent, any possible

DCOM/RPC problems. The utility tests if DCOM is enabled. And you can

choose to block it or leave it open if your company/cable Internet

network so requires. The utility can also check if Port 135 is in an

open or closed state.

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Legion of the Sued

Would you believe that I have never downloaded music from the Net. OK

less lying required here. Yes, I have downloaded free MP3 files from

Amazon as well as from several (non-defunct) band sites that were (once)

offering live recordings for free. Many listeners hate live stuff. But

my ears have learned to tune out the static. Especially after listening

to live Elvis recordings. As well as the (seminal?) href="http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Venue/8313/discography/a_19.htm" target="_blank">Beatles Live at the Hollywood Bowl where the

female fans’ shrieks actually overwhelm John, Paul, George and

Ringo!

But I disagree with target="_rant1">Tim Luoma on why MP3 are better than a CD

collection. I haven't managed to break any of my CDs yet. But I do lose

valuable albums with increasing regularity -- fallout of a disorganized

teen in the house. Or discover said album with multiple scratches that

cause tracks to skip. Or worse, the CD to develop a permanent stutter.

Either way a dead loss.

Yet I don't plan to rip my CDs to MP3. Without a laptop I'd only be able

to listen on the PC. Portable MP3 players don't thrill me either. So I

guess I'm not joining the legions of the sued sometime soon by the RIAA

or by their running dogs in India. Not that I help add to their coffers

as the general quality of music today isn't to my liking. Bar maybe

Elephunk by Black-Eyed Peas or href="http://www.dobiegray.com/KRACKER.htm" target="_rant1">Drift Away

by Uncle Kracker. Or Seal's new album href="http://www.bandbuilder.com/seal/player.php"

target="_blank">Heavenly. As well as some of the free href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/468646/ref=m_mh_mn_d

d/104-2144487-5259107" target="_down1">Amazon music downloads are

interesting but you need to be a registered user to download any tracks.

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Musical Junx!

So target="_rant1">why should I pay for 11 songs that I don’t like and 1 good one.

Metallica's Saint Anger is a case in point that's one long fuzzy noise

from start to finish. In the olden days of vinyl, we had the seven-inch

single with 1 song track a side. Or the 10-inch aka EP (extended play)

which managed to cram in 2-3 tracks a side. There was a brief period of

madness with cassette singles and CD singles, but these just never took

off. And you can still get 12-inch singles used by DJs and Clubs.

So which is best media format and ergo the best player. With multiple

competing formats including non-backward compatible digital rights

management schemes I think MP3 and WMA are the future of audio online.

With href="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/9series/player.aspx"

target="_medpla">Windows Media Player as the winner.

Unlike its predecessors, WMP 9 isn't a resource hog except when running

visualizations. And resource use peaks at about 23 MB with the included

skin. Minimizing the player drops resource use to about 4 MB. WMP 9 also

includes almost all the audio, and video codecs you'll ever need for

digital media formats. Unfortunately precious few href="http://www.wmplugins.com" target="_medpla">free add-ins.

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However, once you have successfully registered and downloaded Windows

media files (WMA) then close runner-up href="http://www.ultraplayer.com/" target="_medpla">Ultraplayer

seems a better playback tool. I have an ancient pair of powered speakers

dating back to 1992 with just volume and balance controls. Yet, these

deliver richer, full-bodied sound with Ultraplayer than with WMP 9 with

both the built-in equalization enabled and disabled!

Unfortunately, resource-wise Ultraplayer is a system hog. And consumed

nearly 15 MB maximized and about 13.5 MB minimized to the System Tray!

This resource use is not a problem with 128 MB or more installed RAM

systems, but can cause slowdowns and lockups with lower memory

computers.

But the lightest MP3 player (and mp3Pro encoder) is the free href="http://www.mp3prozone.com/download.htm" target="_medpla">Thompson

MP3PRO player. Even though its equalizer only kicks-in for mp3Pro

media. It's extremely minimal interface disguises a very powerful client

with a tiny resource footprint of about 2 MB when maximized or

minimized.

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Freeware Alert!

MyIE2 has been incrementally upgraded again this week to href="http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail.php3?fid=1029407732"

target="_frees">0.8.2003. I've been using it and find is a lot

faster than before at rendering pages. Or accessing sites. Other new

features include extended mouse gestures, an ability to support other

applications DDE calls when MyIE2 is running so that you can pipe all

requests to open URLs to this browser. It also supports scripted IE

plug-ins. I also recommend a clean install instead of over-writing your

existing copy. I usually backup my entire folder. Then install a fresh

and update my proxy, URL alias, Function Key shortcuts later.

The past week has seen a lot of action with Opera 7.20 Betas. The latest

build number tested by me is 3114 (Opera 7.20 Beta 11) released Friday,

September 12, 2003. The complete list of updates, and a download link

are available href="http://my.opera.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=30318"

target="_frees">here. Besides the obligatory bug fixes, Beta 11

displays (unregistered users only) a generic selection of ads or you can

choose to view Google text ads (less intrusive) and make Google your

default search engine too. Again I suggest uninstalling any existing

Beta versions before installing the new Beta build.

Popcorn too has been updated to v1.5 Beta 3 that's a bug-fix release.

The new build is much faster than previous versions. And sending a mail

using the built-in composer too is a lot faster. What still hasn't

improved is Popcorn's ability to gracefully recover from a broken

connection (common on dial-up access). And the only way to stop the

application is to terminate it.

G Menon href="mailto:imfr&#

101;eloading@Phr

;eaker.net?su&#<br /> 98;ject=column-&<br /> #102;eedback">Clic</p> <p>7; Here to Ema</p> <p>5;l Me</a></p> </p> <p><b> Disclaimer: These views are Govind Menon's and CIOL does not necessarily subscribe to the same </b></p></p>

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