[MPlayer-users] Walmart music download service & MPlayer

[D Richard Felker III]

On Wed, Jan 07, 2004 at 06:12:03AM +1000, R G Cottrell wrote:
> [Automatic answer: RTFM (read DOCS, FAQ), also read DOCS/bugreports.html]
> D Richard Felker III wrote:
> 
> >[Automatic answer: RTFM (read DOCS, FAQ), also read DOCS/bugreports.html]
> >On Wed, Jan 07, 2004 at 04:14:45AM +1000, R G Cottrell wrote:
> > 
> >
> >>[Automatic answer: RTFM (read DOCS, FAQ), also read DOCS/bugreports.html]
> >>Has anybody had success using MPlayer to play .wma files downloaded from 
> >>Walmart's music download service?  (And not just the test file that you 
> >>can download for free.)
> >>
> >>If so, how did you do it?
> >>
> >>I guess I'm running foul of the DRM in the paid-for files.  If I force 
> >>   
> >>
> >
> >Yes, that would be my guess too. Next time don't buy DRM'd files. 
> >
> Okay, tell me how I can buy non-DRM'd files (and run them) from my Linux 
> box.

Buy a CD, use iTunes and decrypt the files once you get them, or
download plain unencrypted mp3 files from the place of your choice. :)

As for "I guess I'm running foul of the DRM in the paid-for files",
that's the whole point of DRM, and why you should do everything you
can to _oppose_ DRM rather than buying it.

> Well, that's one attitude you can take.  Another is that a legal means 
> of downloading
> music files is of value to Linux users, and MPlayer _claims_ to be able 
> to play files
> intended for Windows Media Player 9, which Walmart supports.

Legal and good are not the same. Quite often they're the opposites.

Perhaps you'd like us to make MPlayer crack your WMA files for you, so
it's illegal to use too? MPlayer does not advertise being able to play
any DRM'd files, and there's not much interest in adding support,
since (a) DRM files are not found in the wild, so support for them
isn't needed, and (b) the developers don't feel like putting
themselves in legal risk by cracking DRM when the only benefit is to
people who ignorantly use DRM music-download services rather than the
many free alternatives.

> Another thing I noticed - when trying to play a .wma file I get the lines:
> 
> ==========================================================================
> Requested audio codec family [ffwmav2] (afm=ffmpeg) not available.
> Enable it at compilation.
> Opening audio decoder: [dmo] Win32/DMO decoders
> 
> I checked ./configure --help and found no reference to ffwmav2, afm, or 
> ffmpeg.
> I guess that the "enable it at compilation" advice is optional, since it 
> does find a
> Win32 codec and try to use it.  Perhaps the trouble is that the codec it 
> tries to use
> is the wmadmod.dll when it should be using the wma9dmod.dll.

This is a wma8 file, not wma9. And your mplayer was miscompiled
without libavcodec, or with an intentionally-crippled libavcodec. Read
the README before compiling.

Rich