Over the past few months there have been a slew of vulnerabilities reported and patched in the Apple QuickTime Player-Plug-in application. QuickTime ships with Apple iTunes when people install that application onto their computers, and millions of other folks install QuickTime to play .mov videos and mp3 files in their browsers. That means that tens or hundreds of millions of computers have QuickTime installed, and knowing the way a lot of people (don't) think about security updates, a large percentage of them are outdated and vulnerable versions of the application. In my previous blog post I revealed six new extremely critical vulnerabilities in Apple's QuickTime Player-Plug-in, revealed in early March, 2007. If you are thinking there has to be a better way to play mp3, .mov and other QuickTime file formats, without leaving your computer open to takeover from exploits against the Apple QuickTime Player, read on.
QuickTime Alternative will allow you to play QuickTime files (.mov, .qt, .3gp and other extensions) without having to install the official QuickTime Player. It also supports QuickTime content that is embedded in webpages. If you browse with Firefox and load a page that has embedded .mp3 or .wav music you have probably seen a yellow notice bar appear telling you that you need to install a missing plug-in to play content on that page. It usually refers to an embedded sound file that normally plays automatically in Internet Explorer and the recommended Firefox plug-in is almost always Apple QuickTime. The QuickTime Alternative satisfies that missing plug-in problem and will automatically playback embedded audio files, after you configure it to do so.
I have been using a free alternative to the QuickTime Player-Plug-in for several years, through various updates. It plays all of the file formats that the official player handles, when configured to play them, more securely than the Apple version. The free QuickTime Alternative player is available from free-codecs.com, on this page. Click on the Download link then look through the list of files for the most recent version, for your operating system. At the time I wrote this the newest version was 1.78, released on March 7, 2007. The alternative player is updated to remain compatible with the file types handled by QuickTime, and is not vulnerable to the same exploits as the official player is. The underlying application behind the QuickTime Alternative is called Media Player Classic, which is updated every time the alternative QuickTime player is updated.
If you decide to install substitute the alternative player you must configure it to handle the file types you want it associated with, as the default player. Details for doing this are in my extended comments.
Also available for free download is a Real Media Alternative Player. Real Alternative will allow you to play RealMedia files without having to install RealPlayer/RealOne Player.
If you are going to replace the Apple QuickTime Player you must first uninstall it, reboot, then install the alternative player, and configure it. This is where a lot of people get confused and complain that they installed it but still get that missing plug-in notice in Firefox. Ya gotta configure it to associate it with your chosen file types, Pilgrim. Note that uninstalling the old version and installing the new version both require Administrator privileges, since files are written to the system and local machine branch of the Registry.
When you are installing the alternative QuickTime Player it will usually offer to open the configuration utility, but a lot of people miss this step and click on Finish instead. No problem, just go to Control Panel and open the QuickTime Applet, with the large blue "Q" icon. QuickTime Preferences will open. Go through the various tabs to verify that it has located the correct audio devices, and will playback content in browsers, select your streaming speed, or leave it on automatic, choose whether you want Instant On and a System Tray icon, then make you way to the File Types tab.
Under File Types you must select the file formats you want your player to handle by default. This is where mistakes can be made that make it look like a failed installation. Here are my selections (yours can vary), for the associated formats for the QuickTime Alternative:
First, click on the "Use Defaults" button. This associates the typical QuickTime file types, but not .mp3 or .mp3 playlists. Under the File Types group click on the check-box for "MP3 - MPEG layer III movies and streams" and place a checkmark in it. Click Apply. Decide if you want to be notified if other applications modify these associations (check box), then click OK, to exit the configuration window. See note below.
UPDATE:
After upgrading to the QuickTime Alternative 1.78 and configuring it to play mp3 files in Firefox, I discovered that it reports itself as the same version as the official QuickTime Player, 7.1.5, and worse, that it plays mp3 files by opening them in a blank browser window, forwarded from the page you were visiting, just like the Apple QuickTime player does. Right clicking on the player shows it to be Adobe QuickTime 7.1.5. I don't know what is going on with that, but I chose to re-associate MP3 files in Firefox with Windows Media Player, or Media Player Classic, both of which open the player as a pop up application. Previous versions would create the player on the page where the link or embedded sound file was, and not replace the page with a new one, or require a pop up player. I'll post more information when I see changes in this behavior.
If you are using Firefox and install the QuickTime Alternative Player, and do not want MP3s to open in a different page, do not check the box for MP3 in the File Types configuration options. Instead, let your default MP3 player handle MP3s. If you already made that selection, open your Firefox options, Content tab, and modify the program that plays MP3 files.
Close and re-open your browser(s) and visit a website that has embedded audio and it should now begin to play or load in the QuickTime alternative player, without an complaints that you need a missing dad-gum plug-in from Apple.
One thing I discovered when upgrading from a previous installation of free codecs and Media Player Classic is that you must first uninstall all old Codec packs, Media Player Classic, Quicktime or Real alternative players, via Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs, then reboot, then reinstall the new versions of the above. Failure to do this will certainly lead to a broken installation and crashes of the QuickTime configuration utility. If you see a codec pack listed from free-codecs it probably contained Media Player Classic, and possibly the QT alternative. If you don't uninstall the old codec pack you will have a broken installation of the QT or Real alternative player. You can get the newest codec paks from http://www.free-codecs.com/Codec_Packs.htm
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