No IE 5 plugin for Window Media Player 7.1

[MamaMoose]

I just installed WMP 7.1 but I could not find a plugin for Internet Explorer 5. I did find plugins for Netscape (at least they had the Netscape icon)!!! Further when I try to download a .wmv movie within IE, I get a massive amount of characters that appear in the IE window, but no downloaded file.

I checked  File Helpers in IE preferences and found a 10  helpers all entitled "Windows Media" followed by an indented line that has a grayed out icon then the text "Windows Media Pliugin". Each of these helpers  was for a different extension MIME type. When I checked the edit window for each helper, Application was followed by a greyed out generic icon and both  File Type and File Creator boxes contained ?????.

Just below these 10 helpers, were another set of 10 helpers, each of which was called  "Windows Media File".  The extension MIME types were identical to those for the Windows Media set. Following each of the Windows Media File helpers was an indented line that had a Windows Media Player icon follwed by the text " Windows Media Player 7" The icons were not greyed out. When I checked the edit window, the application was indeed Windows Media Player 7 while the file types are ASF_, ASX_, or WMF. The file creator in each case is
Ma01.

I am totally confused as to what I am doing wrong since I cannot seem to download a .wmv (or similar) file when in Internet Explorer 5. Does it make snse to delete the 10 helpers titled Windows Media?

By the way, I have a dual 1 GHz system with OS 9.2.2 and 1.5 GB of RAM.

I apologize for my long winded description of the problem. Thanks for any help or suggestions.

[kelly]

So what good is it.  

Issue playing files with a .wmd extension

Currently, the Player may not play all digital media files packaged in a Windows Media file with a .wmd extension.

Windows Media Player 7.1 for Mac Readme

Reviews.

http://www.macupdate.com/reviews.php?id=3829

[atjurhs]

WMP is by far the biggest piece of crap application that I've ever tried to run!

90% of the time that I try to run a WMV file on it, I either get a bunch of garbeled computer puke of just the audio but no video.  

I've read all the known issues with it and have tried repeatedly to get it to run.  I know I can't count on Micro$haft to fix it!  It's been 13 months since they last posted a version of it.  Even small-time casual developers can make OSX Apps that work.  Why can't Billy's Boys?   WMP is certainly a testament to their programming abilities!

I am hoping that a future version of QT Pro will have the ability to run these files.

Does anyone know of any other App that will run these files on OSX?