The Lossless Audio Blog » Media Center Edition 2005 with Flac, Ogg, Ape & WavPack.

Media Center Edition 2005 with Flac, Ogg, Ape & WavPack.

Posted on December 22nd, 2005 in Media Center Edition (MCE), FLAC, Windows Media Player (WMP), Guides.

Windows Media Center Edition and the player that powers it Windows Media Player, do not provide native support for lossless formats like FLAC, APE or WavPack. The only built-in support is for WMA Lossless. But by using one of the two FLAC/Ogg Directshow Filters and the WMPTSE plugin you can not only play your FLAC files but they can also be added to the WMP/MCE library with support for meta data. Currently this guide works for Windows Media Player 9, 10 and 11 and MCE 2004 and 2005. For further explanation of WMPTSE settings check out the WMPTSE Wiki page.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Download and Install one of the FLAC Directshow Filters. These filters allow you to play FLAC files in Windows Media Player. The most popular being the Illiminable Directshow Filter.

Illiminable Ogg Directshow Filter

Core Flac Directshow Filter

2. Download and Install WMP Tag Support Extender: This plugin allows Ape, MPC, WavPack, OptimFROG, AAC, Flac and Ogg (read only) tags to be used in Windows Media Player and added to the library in Windows Media Center Edition. Be sure to use the latest version.

WMP Tag Support Extender

3. Configure the WMPTSE Plugin: Open WMP and go to Options. Click on the Plugin-Ins Tab and then choose the Background category. Then make sure there is a check in the box for the WMPTagSupportExtender Plugin and choose Properties.

Once in the Properties you can configure how the plugin refreshes the media library as well as additional Read/Write options. There is also a Refresh Now button for refreshing your library.

4. Open MCE/WMP and add new files to your library. This is accomplished within WMP by opening Options > Library Tab > Monitor Folders and then adding your folders. Better results are obtained by adding your media to the monitored folders than dragging and dropping files into WMP. You may also need to click the Refresh NOw button.
5. Enjoy!

6. For further explanation of WMPTSE settings check out the WMPTSE Wiki page.

Windows Media Player Settings & Tips

Tags

MCE uses the tag AlbumArtist for the Album Title. To improve the viewing of your tags in MCE you’ll want to add a AlbumArtist tag to your files. Both Foobar’s Masstagger and MP3Tag can be used to add a tag field or you can use the Album Art Fixer utility that we recently posted about to add the AlbumArtist field.

WMPTSE
*WMP 11 Users - WMPTSE does work with WMP 11 but you may need to register the WMPTSE .dll for it to work properly.

To register WMPTSE:
Open a command window and paste in: cd C:\Program Files\piPOol\Windows Media Player Tag Support Extender then register the dll by pasting the following text in: regsvr32 WMPTagSupportExtender.dll

WMP 11 Settings
Library > More Options > Privacy >Enhanced Playback and Media Experience

Display media information from the internet

Update music files by retreiving media info from the internet

LIBRARY > Library Automatic Media Information updates for files.

Retrieve Additional Information from the Internet

Rename music files using rip music settings.

Rearrange music in rip music folder, using rip music settings.

CLEARING WMP DATABASE

To delete your WMP database:
Paste the following text into the Run box and delete the databases found. You can then have WMP rescan your folders for meda files:

%userprofile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Media Player