Every person in everyday life will certainly encounter the concept of a player. Usually, there are no special questions about such household devices or computer programs. However, in relation to the software, it will be necessary to give some explanations to the term “player”. This is necessary solely so that each user understands the essence of the purpose of such software in different situations. Separately, the topic of the correct installation and use of programs of this kind will be raised.
Player - what is it in a general sense?
Let's start with the simplest thing - understanding what kind of device or program it is. In fact, that "iron" that the software player - this is the most ordinary player.
In everyday life, such devices are used to listen to music, watch videos or images.
Software players are designed for almost the same thing, but the difference is that they have several more features in terms of recognizing modern multimedia formats, which in some cases is achieved by installing additional codecs and decoders. It is impossible to install such components on the “iron” analogues. In addition, some software applets can act exclusively as unique add-ons for browsers (Flash Player, for example), they themselves do not have their own interface, as such, and run exclusively in the context of other applications (web browsers).
Windows Player and similar programs
As you know, Windows of any generation has its own player, which is used to play multimedia content. This is the most common Windows Player (Windows Media Player).
It is used by default. However, far from always this program, in comparison with similar applications, looks as functional as possible.
Firstly, Windows Player may not play some media formats without installing additional codec packs. Secondly, playback of the same SWF files is not always supported.
For them, it is advisable to use the "native" development of Apple in the form of a QuickTime player, which, in addition to its direct purpose, is very often used in the work of some programs, for example, for processing audio or video.
Some more interesting programs for Windows-systems look like players like VLC, KMPlayer, WinAMP, AIMP and the like. They have more settings, and they can boast higher playback quality, not to mention the ability to install and connect additional FX-plugins or organize (organize) their own collections.
Finally, players of such a plan cannot usually be used to play media content located on Internet sites (with the exception of resources with music or video collections). This is where the additional extensions installed in browsers apply.
"Adobe Flash Player": installation, use and update issues
The most common add-ons are Flash Player from Adobe Corporation and Shockwave Player from Macromedia. They are used to play audio, video and graphics on the Internet. The first is more popular, although, if you look, both of these add-ons are full counterparts.
Install these applets is not difficult. When you activate multimedia playback, they turn on automatically. The biggest problem is that they need to be updated in a timely manner.
Updater constantly starts with the system, searches for new versions of the add-in and informs the user about the need to install them. If this component is disabled at startup, the user will receive a similar message when trying to access media content on the Internet.
But the update itself is somewhat unusual. The fact is that this is not an update. The process is more likely to install a new version over an old one. The user simply downloads the installation file to his computer, and then performs the installation on his own. And the old modification is not always deleted. And this can provoke software level conflicts. Therefore, in some cases it may be necessary to uninstall old modifications, and only then install a new one. But the installation distribution at the end of the installation is deleted automatically.
Finally
In general, based on the foregoing, we can conclude that the player is the most common means of playing multimedia content of any format. And software players are a cut above their "iron" counterparts, although they are far from always equivalent in their capabilities and use.