Fundamentals of Programming the Microsoft® Windows Media® Platform (Pro-Developer) (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Windows Media is a complete programming platform that can be used to create a wide variety of digital media options for your home, school, or..." (more)
Key Phrases: radio station application, simple server application, master playlist, Visual Basic, Private Sub, Windows Server (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Learn how to develop and deliver ultrafast, ultracool digital media solutions using the powerfully enhanced Windows Media 9 Series platform. Created by a digital media on Microsoft s Windows Media team, this guide walks you through platform architecture architecture and components providing inside insights, real-world programming scenarios, and reusable code samples to help power your own streaming media solutions. You get step-by-step instructions on how to create applications to encode Windows Media files and streams, serve and receive audio and video streams, create customized players, and even build a complete broadcasting system your own Internet radio station.Discover how to: Develop 20 complete applications that use Windows Media to create, distribute, and play digital media over the Internet Create a custom version of Windows Media Encoder to convert MP3, WAV, AVI, and other multimedia files to the Windows Media format Program the server that runs on Windows Media Services to publish files on demand, broadcast unicast streams, and multicast to all listeners at once Develop unique UIs for Windows Media Player using banners, borders, embedded Web pages, and the skin programming language Add the Player to a Web site and a Web site to the Player Make the encoder, server, and Player work together to create end-to-end multimedia applications Build an Internet radio station with dynamic playlists that respond to listener requestsGet sample programs, music files, utilities, and more on CDCD features: Programs and forms for all the book s examples Sample music files to encode, serve, or play Essential Windows Media utilities, including Windows Media Encoder Complete Windows Media 9 Series Jumpstart CD contents, including demos of multichannel audio, high definition video, and fast streaming Fully searchable eBook

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Microsoft Press (October 22, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735619115
• ISBN-13: 978-0735619111
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 7.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #878,678 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

73 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A great dissapointment, November 18, 2003

By	Christopher R. Cox (UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book should really be called "Automating Windows Media Applications using Visual Basic", because this topic forms the majority of the content. Unfortunately, automation isn't really what most serious Windows Media developers, myself included, are interested in or need information on.

The core technology behind all Windows Media programming is called the Windows Media Format SDK: it is this library that powers all encoding applications including the Windows Media Encoder, Windows Media Services, Windows Media Player, parts of DirectShow, and manipulation of Windows media files themselves. Getting to grips with this vast library and its complexities is the real task facing professional developers on this platform. Unfortunately this doesn't get much more than cursory mention in the first chapter.

The bulk of the book concentrates primarily on automating Windows Media Encoder (using the Encoder SDK), a small, higher-level subset of Windows Media functionality. I can't honestly see why you'd want to write a Visual Basic application that uses the Encoder SDK as the Windows Media Encoder application itself is already up to the job. There is also a section on Windows Media Player, but again this focusses on higher-level automation and "skinning" of the player rather than looking at how you might receive Windows Media streams directly into your own application.

In addtion to all this, the author's decision to concentrate solely on Visual Basic, even though most "automation" developers have switched to .NET by now, and more serious Windows Media developers are confined to C++, diminishes the usefulness of this book even further. The book feels more like an extended magazine article rather than a serious reference book, and I could only really recommend it to Visual Basic hobbyists who are fiddling with Windows Media technology for fun.

Receiving this was such a shame, especially as the publication that accompainied it in my order was the excellent "Windows Media Resource Kit", which is an essential for any Windows Media professional, developer and administrator alike.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Dissapointed, September 4, 2007

By	S. Bartlett (New Zealand) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Why why why would someone write a book of this nature based off Visual Basic ? C++ is by far the most prevalent and useful language for the vast majority of people who would be programming. This wouldn't be so bad if they concentrated on the concepts and steps, instead of describing every line of Visual Basic in excruiating detail.

Apart from the language issue, this book wasn't much use to me. That being said - it was much better then the companion book I also purchased " MS Windows Media Resource Kit", which was just a high level overview.

0 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the book!, January 3, 2007

By	Dale Graham (Jupiter, FL USA) - See all my reviews

If you are interested in programming for Windows Media, this book is VERY helpful. The examples given do not all work in VS 2005, but VS 2005 can self correct most of the coding differences. Buy this book!