March 8th, 2009
Internet remote media streaming in Windows 7
We have our music spread over multiple devices from MP3 compatible mobile phones to iPods. Microsoft are a step closer to solving this problem by integrating two new features into Windows Media Player: a cloud-based remote control and Internet streaming of your media library.
It’s unclear as to how this will work, but you can either bet it will have something to do with Windows Home Server or something to do with Live Mesh and Windows Azure. Windows Home Server already has an ability to log in remotely to access files, but this wouldn’t be as effective as using Live Mesh or an application built on Windows Azure. We simply do not know yet.
Considering most students use iTunes to allow easy access to their music on their iPod, this could well be a iTunes-killer. On the other hand, this new feature isn’t part of Windows 7 as such; it’s part of Windows Media Player 12, the next version of Microsoft’s multimedia player. So regardless of which Windows 7 edition you have, you should still have this option - in theory.
So although we don’t know how we’ll be able to access the media from remote locations, the feature is still there. You can see from the screenshots below:
As most students will be familiar with computer games, many of those will have an Xbox. A good portion of my friends refuse to come out on a Friday night because they’re playing a game on Xbox Live. Nevertheless, this will be another useful feature for house parties - having music in one room whilst blasting it out over the airwaves in the next.
By linking in your Windows Live ID with your Windows account, as you can in later builds of Windows 7, it’ll let you associate your media library with your Live account. Presumably from here, at some point will be a service where you can access your media through the web. If this isn’t the case, you should be able to use the Stream button in any other Windows Media Player 12 to sign in with, and listen to your media.
I feel this will be a massive benefit to students, as well as those who work in offices and are bored senseless. Allowing media to be streamed over the web will surely ease those hours of dull revision and studying in the university library.
Who knows - maybe some smartarse will write an application which enables this on non-Windows mobile phones too.
Zack Whittaker, the youngest in the ZDNet network, is a British student at the University of Kent, Canterbury, where he studies BA (Hons) Criminology and Social Policy. His insight into the next-generation is unique and first-hand, sharing his knowledge of the here and now but more so what's next and how to get there.
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