According to Thomas hardware article (Will try to post link in my nest reply from iPad), we should be able to upgrade to Win 8 Pro from Win 8 for free when installing free Win media center. I am out of luck because I already paid for 2 of Win 8 pro versions- wish I knew earlier.
 
My question is this: do I want to install Win 8 Media center? I do not plan to watch movies on my DAW. I also heard- in earlie versions of Windows with media, many users had severe problems with DAW. I remember many posts were to make sure not to buy Win version with Media, and better to have "Home" then "media". Microsoft offers free upgrade to Media Center till the end of January, so if I want it, I better hurry up- after Jan 31 it will not be free. But I am afraid- it will interfear with Sonar. (I think I heard about problems with media center from Yamaha forums couple years ago- may be Vista times). Should i install it? Thank you.

Link to article http://www.tomshardware.c...ro-free-key,19259.html

Yeah, the main thing Win8 Media Center brings is the ability to play DVDs. MS removed that ability from the regular Media Player in Win8. I have MC installed and don't have any problems, and haven't seen any problems reported by DAW users. Even if you don't think you'll play DVDs on your DAW, you never know if you might need to play a training video, view a performance video, etc., down the road.

The main problem with the free Media Center was that they contracted a third party to distribute the serial numbers, and it was totally screwed up at the beginning. Some people were waiting weeks for their serial numbers, others never even received them. Now that the rush is over, the system seems to be working better. Also, I would think that MS would have fixed the hole that allowed using the MC serial to upgrade to Win8 Pro by now. That was discovered back in November.

  I use VLC Player. It's free unless you care to donate. It works great in Windows 8. I can even play my DVD/DTS audio disks which is something you couldn't do with WMP.

Yep, VLC is a good freebie.

MS removed that ability from the regular Media Player in Win8.

What? Why would they do that? Man that company peeves me off sometimes. The media player that came with 7 is next to useless as it is. What a joke. Yet another reason for me to avoid Win 8. Maybe next time I need a heavy duty system I'll have the cash for a Mac. Hopefully Cakewalk will start coding that way. PCs are starting to lose any ground they had over Apple... because they're trying to BE Apple and failing miserably. Lame.

All you need is an MPG CODEC that you can download free on the web and you can play DVDs on Windows Media Player. Its no big deal. 

Beepster

MS removed that ability from the regular Media Player in Win8.

What? Why would they do that? Man that company peeves me off sometimes. The media player that came with 7 is next to useless as it is. What a joke. Yet another reason for me to avoid Win 8. Maybe next time I need a heavy duty system I'll have the cash for a Mac. Hopefully Cakewalk will start coding that way. PCs are starting to lose any ground they had over Apple... because they're trying to BE Apple and failing miserably. Lame.

Beepster - take a deep breath.  Windows has removed things in the past due to legal requirements from battles with various litigants, like the EU, among others.


They HAD to pull out things like Windows Movie Maker from automatically being included in the install, to satisfy anti-trust lawsuits in the past, and I would imagine this has happened again here.  For the Movie Maker, they moved it to still being free, just requiring a separate download - bundled with Live (or whatever they called it).


And, I happen to like Windows 8.  I have had zero crashes or issues, and things run smoothly.


It's going to be ok - :)

Bob Bone

@bob... Fair enough but it's not just that. MS has always been kind of a necessary evil to me but they eventually put out something useable and reasonable. This Win 8 move has me worried though. I hate to say it because I know a lot of you guys are really digging it but I kind of hope it flops and they come back to basics with the next release or at least have a dual release where the crusty change fearing curmudgeons like me can keep doing things the way we're used to doing them. 

IDK... I think I'm just cranky today. MS is always a good target for my impotent rage. ;-p 

Beepster

MS removed that ability from the regular Media Player in Win8.

What? Why would they do that? Man that company peeves me off sometimes. The media player that came with 7 is next to useless as it is. What a joke. Yet another reason for me to avoid Win 8. Maybe next time I need a heavy duty system I'll have the cash for a Mac. Hopefully Cakewalk will start coding that way. PCs are starting to lose any ground they had over Apple... because they're trying to BE Apple and failing miserably. Lame.

I don't know what to say to you except it really is not an issue. The ability is still there with a simple free down load. Further there are a number of media player type programs out there that can be used along side MP. Also I use extra codecs that again are free that give Windows complete audio and video compatibility. There is nothing to get upset about. I should mention you get more than one media player with Windows 8 anyway. 

You loose nothing going to Window 8. However you gain a lot.