News
Mediafour releases XPlay 2.0 Beta
By Dennis Lloyd
Publisher, iLoungeGoogle+
Published: Tuesday, February 24, 2004
News Categories: Windows Software
XPlay 2 provides a variety of new features, including compatibility with Audible files, AAC files, and even automatic WMA-to-MP3 conversion. XPlay 2 is also much faster than the original XPlay, has improved support for international characters, displays album art, supports play counts, and has a greatly-enhanced interface under Windows XP.
XPlay is well-known as the first product to provide Windows connectivity for iPods, and as the only product ever to provide Windows integration for Mac-formatted iPods. XPlay is also the only way to use iPods with older versions of Windows, including Windows Me and Windows 98SE.
Press Release
West Des Moines, IA (24-February-2004) — Mediafour Corporation today announced the release of XPlay 2 Beta 1, the first public prerelease of the new version of its popular Windows software for iPod users.
XPlay 2 provides a variety of new features, including compatibility with Audible files, AAC files, and even automatic WMA-to-MP3 conversion. XPlay 2 is also much faster than the original XPlay, has improved support for international characters, displays album art, supports play counts, and has a greatly-enhanced interface under Windows XP.
“We’ve gotten a lot of great feedback from users about how they want to use their iPods, and what they’d like to see in XPlay,” said Mediafour president Brian Landwehr. “XPlay 2 is coming along very well, and addresses many of the requests we’ve received—especially from users who have large collections of WMA files.”
XPlay is well-known as the first product to provide Windows connectivity for iPods, and as the only product ever to provide Windows integration for Mac-formatted iPods. XPlay is also the only way to use iPods with older versions of Windows, including Windows Me and Windows 98SE.
XPlay provides a powerful drag-and-drop interface that makes transferring music to and from the iPod quick and simple. XPlay is also the only product that enables Windows users to use both Windows- and Mac-formatted iPods. It is available for online purchase and at stores nationwide at a suggested retail price of $29.95. Anyone interested in experimenting with XPlay 2 Beta 1 can download it from www.mediafour.com/downloads/beta/xp
Requirements
Use of XPlay 2 Beta 1 requires Windows XP, 2000, Me, or 98SE, any model Apple iPod, and an available FireWire or USB 2.0 port, depending on iPod model.
About Mediafour Corporation
Based in West Des Moines, IA, Mediafour Corporation has become recognized worldwide as a leader in cross-platform computing solutions with MacDrive 5, software that enables Windows users to read and write Mac-formatted media. Mediafour can be reached by phone at 515-225-7409, on the Web at www.mediafour.com, or via email at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
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1
Well…They didn’t add the capability to transfer songs back to the iPod with the correct filenames restored. I wrote to them several times about this. They are not receptive to any suggestions or criticism of their product. I won’t be upgrading my Xplay when the final is out…I’ve found a better alternative…ANAPOD and that great little Freeware utility SHAREPOD…
Posted by DaveI on February 24, 2004 at 10:26 AM (PST)
2
I meant back to the PC (From ipod to PC)...
Posted by DaveI on February 24, 2004 at 10:27 AM (PST)
3
Awful hard to compete with iTunes
Posted by gilatrout on February 24, 2004 at 12:15 PM (PST)
4
“only product ever to provide Windows integration for Mac-formatted iPods”
Why on earth would you want this? Just format the ipod for windows. The mac can handle it beautifully, and you don’t need add-on software to use it with windows.
Sorry. Not impressed. I only see two benefits of this over itunes… the wma conversion (lossy^2, fun), and it works on windows 98, which iTunes apparently does not.
Posted by JC on February 24, 2004 at 12:21 PM (PST)
5
JC, I believe what they meant by that was that XPlay was the first piece of software released that allowed Mac iPods to be used with Windows. This was when iPods were still Mac-only.
Posted by dter on February 24, 2004 at 1:07 PM (PST)
6
It is always hard to compete with “free”, unless youoffer a better product with more features and/or easier integration or pan-platform support.
Opera browser is a good example of a $30 product that manages to compete quite well for many years now with IE. Smaller, sleeker, works great on phones and mobile devices, renders pages well.
It’s good that there are companies who are not afraid to improve on iTunes and try to earn money doing so.
i do think, though, that comparing xPlay for $30 and Media Center for $40, you get a lot more for your $40.
Posted by competition on February 24, 2004 at 1:07 PM (PST)
7
“XPlay is also the only way to use iPods with older versions of Windows, including Windows Me and Windows 98SE.”
Er, not quite: what about JR Media Center 9 or 10 and Ephpod….
Gotta love press releases.
Adam
Posted by ashawley on February 24, 2004 at 6:08 PM (PST)
8
Here’s value to consider: XPlay lets me sync to Windows Media Player playlists. WMP has much better autoplaylist functionality, including smart automatic ratings based on how often I choose to listen to a song. Windows Media Player will also “listen” to music directories for me. With these features plus XPlay, managing the music on my iPod becomes a lot more “automatic.”
Posted by rci on February 24, 2004 at 7:44 PM (PST)
9
I dont know about you guys, but I love Xplay. It lets me synch my ipod with my computer without any in your face programs like itunes. I personally dont want itunes rearranging all my music to whichever way it likes. I never have too deal with Xplay excecpt for the 10-30 seconds it synchs with my ipod. I am not saying it is perfect, but it sure is not as bad as all you guys are making it seem. Plus, from my trial with itunes (I dont know if they have changed it or not) it is difficulty to synch it with muic that is not in your library. I do not know about you, but I dont want every song I listen to on my ipod. Xplay lets you choose tre files and folders it synchs with.
Posted by kyle v on February 25, 2004 at 4:37 AM (PST)
10
one word for you Kyle V: EphPod. I don’t even use iTunes.
Posted by billy on February 25, 2004 at 5:30 AM (PST)
11
stick with iTunes, it came with the iPod and its free. Unless you have a mac edition iPod on a windows PC then there is not need to pay extra for software you don’t need, to me it seems like paying for a new iPod battery to be installed in the iPod when you just purchased the iPod unit.
Posted by itUnes on February 25, 2004 at 9:07 AM (PST)