🚀 go-pugleaf

Doc wrote:
> I had a question about my M-Audio Audiophile 2496. It's running
> under XP Media Center. M-Audio replied that they don't support any
> of their hardware with this O/S.
>
> The card works like a champ as far as I can tell. Their response
> is "this doesn't mean you won't experience full functionality but
> we don't support it".
>
> ??
>
> Do they know whether their card works with this O/S or don't they?
> Can someone clarify what the rationale behind this is?  Is there
> something fundamentally different about the way XP MCE is designed
> that it's wholly unlike other versions of XP and just happens to
> have the same look as the other versions?
>
> Anyone experience weird problems with XP MCE that other versions
> don't cause? Everything I've ever run on it runs fine, including
> older versions of things that aren't certified for it such as
> Soundforge 5 and Cakewalk Pro Audio 8.

Shenan Stanley wrote:
> Can you download drivers for Windows XP Professional?
>  Same thing.  Windows XP Media Center is basically Windows XP
> Professional with the Media Center components
> and lacking a couple of domain related features...
>
> Hardware manufacturers seem to pick and choose like this to save
> their support time.

Patrick Keenan wrote:
> Unfortunately, XP Pro drivers don't seem to solve the problems
> between  MCE and audio recording gear, unless they're part of a
> clean XP Pro install. And those components are what cause the problems 
> with recording,
> [Windows Media Center Components]
> and that is why virtually no audio interface (as opposed to
> soundcard) manufacturer supports MCE.
>
> The same kinds of problems exist with tablet editions of Windows XP.
>  I think you'll find that the problems between MCE and audio
> recording hardware and software are rather more fundamental than
> this, and that the manufacturers are NOT "picking and choosing" in
> this case "to save their support time".    Instead, they are trying
> to save their customers from a bad experience.
>
> These manufacturers, like M-Audio, DigiDesign, Presonus, Line 6, 
> Steinberg, produce gear primarily intended for multitrack audio
> recording and production.
>
> They're faced with an OS that has a variety of services that
> in-house testing and  customer experience has shown to prevent
> audio recording hardware from functioning properly.    Their gear
> just does not work reliably under MCE.
>
> Virtually *none* of the manufacturers of real audio interfaces or
> audio recording software support MCE.     They can't fix it.
>
> If you've just spent hours recording a performance, only to find it
> ruined and rendered worthless by clicks and pops and dropouts you
> eventually find were actually introduced by OS services, this is
> far beyond a matter of saving support time.
>
> It's a matter of ensuring reliable, predictable operation, and that
> has been demonstrated as being too often unavailable with MCE.


Interesting and informational response, Patrick.  I appreciate it!

-- 
Shenan Stanley
     MS-MVP
-- 
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html