Wii Photo Channel Gets Downgraded This December
Nintendo in their infinite wisdom has decided to remove MP3 support from the photo channel.
The Wii console will replace MP3 compatibility with the ability to play AAC files, which provide a greater sound quality than an MP3 of the same size. This new compatibility will work with MP4 audio files in the .m4a format. Additionally, you can now choose to have the songs play back in a random order.
But all is not lost, you’ll be able to replace the channel icon! Wooo… or something.
Personalize your Wii Menu by making one of your favorite digital images from an SD memory card as the Photo Channel icon.
Why would Nintendo make this really strange move?
Is it licensing issues?
On a related note, if you want Photo Channel MP3 support buy a Wii now and don’t upgrade to v1.1.
*For Wii Console owners without the AAC file compatibility, you can download the updated version of the Photo Channel from the Wii Shop Channel starting in early December 2007. Please note that once you download the updated Photo Channel (ver 1.1), you will no longer be able to play MP3 format music files.
Additionally, consumers who purchase a Wii console with the updated Photo Channel (ver. 1.1) already installed will not be able to install the previous version to support MP3 playback.
Via Nintendo.Com
November 13th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
i didnt even know wii had mp3 or not
November 13th, 2007 at 4:18 pm
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November 13th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
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November 13th, 2007 at 4:28 pm
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November 13th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
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November 13th, 2007 at 4:55 pm
Wonder how it will affect sales of wii as compared to them infringing copyrighted mp3’s if they had kept the format… figures, we want figures!
November 13th, 2007 at 6:22 pm
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November 13th, 2007 at 7:24 pm
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November 13th, 2007 at 10:10 pm
>Wonder how it will affect sales of wii
Oh, please. Do you actually think there is a single person on this planet who bought a Wii to use the mp3 player?
November 13th, 2007 at 10:43 pm
This is an *UPGRADE*, not a downgrade. They’re replacing MP3 (MPEG-1 audio) with AAC (MPEG-4 audio).
It’s a similar audio codec that provides much higher quality at similar bitrates. There is no downside here.
I understand why they’re dropping MP3 support. Both MP3 and AAC require licensing fees to produce devices that can decode them. Rather than paying TWO sets of fees, they’ve decided to continue paying one set of fees and just swap out MP3 for the newer (better) codec.
In short, the article title is completely incorrect.
November 13th, 2007 at 10:45 pm
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November 13th, 2007 at 11:11 pm
They should’ve put .ogg as well.. I can see what you’re saying about AAC being the superior format so actually it’s an upgrade.. But like with VHS vs Beta sometimes it isn’t the best tech that wins, just the most widely adopted and everyone already has all their songs in mp3.
That said I agree with that other guy, who in their right mind would buy a Wii to use as an mp3 player pfft
November 13th, 2007 at 11:11 pm
Adam, adding AAC support is an upgrade. Taking away MP3 support is a downgrade. At the least, it’s a bad look - what gives, Nintendo, your sissy console can only store the instructions for processing a single codec? You’re so poor/tight that you can’t afford two sets of licensing fees?
November 13th, 2007 at 11:54 pm
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November 14th, 2007 at 12:07 am
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November 14th, 2007 at 1:43 am
Losing mp3 support is a stupid move. Leave it to Nintendo to hamstring themselves. They make several good moves and then they make several bad ones. The fact is only a tiny number of people use any audio format other than mp3. Anyone can argue until they’re blue in the face about how mp4 is superior to mp3 all they want, it still doesn’t change the fact the just about everyone who has digital music files has them in mp3 format. All the other formats are like the Saturns of the digital music world. Interesting but who cares.
On the other hand, seriously who buys a Wii for digital music support? of all the things that Nintendo could have done to improve the Wii, this is what they come up with? This is like a Sony level of stupidity move.
November 14th, 2007 at 2:21 am
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November 14th, 2007 at 2:27 am
Oh, the Wii has MP3 support?
Never knew, never really cared. It’s got no HDD so I just stream all my music from my laptop using miimusic if I want it.
www.miimusic.com for the free DL.
You could also use Orb, but I prefer miimusic as it streams over your LAN, rather than through another server, so it’s a lot faster than Orb.
November 14th, 2007 at 2:38 am
Just one question. Who plays MP3’s on the Wii anyway… I think it might be a figure of 0.01%, but probably less, so who cares. Maybe their creating a music channel as we speak, unlikely, but we don’t know. Anyway, I would call this hardly newsworthy.
November 14th, 2007 at 2:44 am
i admired nintendo for the wii new tech and stuff but sincerely they are walking backwards now. Start from the lack of HD, the lack of demo downloads, no dvd playback and now this mp3 stuff….
November 14th, 2007 at 5:50 am
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November 14th, 2007 at 8:13 am
Who really cares? My only curiosity about this is whether Excite Truck will still play mp3’s. If it doesn’t I will simply have to use db poweramp to convert the tracks for my sd card. I have never used my Wii to simply listen to music.
November 14th, 2007 at 6:36 pm
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