I recently obtained a shiny new laptop running Windows 7, and consequently windows Media Player 12, and I went to do some research on making my MP3 player, a Philips GoGear Jukebox HDD1835/37, work with the new software.
The first thing I found was a warning (using the <marquee> tag, no less) that Media Player 11 would cause problems, and recommending that users stick with version 10 "or the Software that your product came with."
Going a little further into the FAQ, I found a page about Vista containg this helpful nugget of information:
The Microsoft operating system usually comes with a set of software files which allow the operating system to recognize and control the functionality of portable device and those software files are known as native drivers. Windows Vista will also include native operating system support for some Philips products while others will require you to acquire software from Philips.
As software may not be available for some or all of the players, it is recommended to keep your existing Windows version and install Windows Vista in a dual boot configuration in order to retain the functionality of your player.
Let that sink in for a moment: Rather than take responsibility and release updated drivers, Philips is telling people to create a dual-boot system. Do you know how hard it is to create a dual-boot system? Maybe it's not a big deal for the more experienced, tech-savvy users, but for the average end user it's one of those things you just don't do on your own. You can easily ruin computers by messing with that stuff.
It's bad enough that Philips doesn't seem to care about legacy support. (To that effect, the FAQ for my player hasn't even been updated to say anything about Windows 7 or Media Player 12.) But I can't understand why Philips would tell people to make radical changes to their system rather than just trying to get them to buy a newer GoGear. What do you think?
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