Question about Windows Media Player, iTunes, and hidden processes...

[Azalie]

Windows media player 11 for me, uses 17MB ram..

Where as iTunes uses anywheres from 50-70MB ram..


My friend says iTunes is lighter on system resources.. runs faster, better, because windows media player has "hidden processes" which take up more memory than itunes does.

I find iTunes' bundled Ituneshelper, etc. to be a waste of systerm resources cuz theyre ALWAYS open. He says "They dont use hardly any"


So does windows media player /really/ have secret hidden processes?

is tunes really ligher on system resources?

Thanks~

[mjc]

WMP, like IE, is deeply tied into Windows itself, so it is hard to say that if the 'hidden' processes are truly that or just reusing the parts of Windows it needs.

RAM usage alone is not a good measure of total resoruces used, though. A program can have 20 'processes' open, taking up RAM and all but one them can be 'idle' while a similar program can have ten open, taking up less RAM, but only five are idle...which one uses less resources?

It is true that by doing being 'bundled'/tied to the OS it seems to present a smaller 'footprint', but in reality, most full blown media players (and browsers, too..haven't tried Chrome) have about the same overall footprint.