Mobile Media Player 10 Bizzare (and HUGE) Memory Usage

FrinkTL · 01-09-07, 08:20 AM

I have noticed some interesting memory behavior of Media Player (beyond the fact that it is a memory [RAM] hog).

I ran a test (Source data below) that seems to confirm that it exhibits a predicible, cyclic memory usage pattern. Can anyone else confirm these findings and, if so, provide some insight into what the heck it's doing and why?

This data was collected while playing 96bit per second MP3 files from a nearly full 512MB SD card. The media player was set to shuffle.

Methodology:

Media Player was in Shuffle mode
I used the standard Memory Application that comes with the OS to track the amount of free memory to track the amount of memory consumed by the application (with no other applications open).
I monitored the Memory application while songs were played and logged the amount of free memory once the number stopped changing.

Conclusions:

1. The first interesting finding is the amount of memory the application consumes in building what I can only assume is its internal playlist. I have to assume this because Media Player no longer (since the last 2 versions) allows user-configured playlists. This assumption is also based upon the difference between the free memory reported immediately after opening the application but before starting playback (26.08MB) and the amount of memory after the first second of playback (7.23MB).
Meaning: I can only think of a couple of possibilities as to a cause for this.
a. One is that it Media Player is building a playlist in memory or
b. it is pre-loading into memory a set number of the next x songs in the playlist.
I'm inclined to think it is NOT the latter, since within 10 seconds of detaching the SD card, Media Player stops playing. The first option isn't all that much more pleasant since it would seem to imply that the playlist isn't being stored in Flash memory but instead is using the much more scarce RAM (problematic when I'm trying to play half a gigabyte of files).

2. The memory is allocated and deallocated in a very predictable pattern. At start, it grabs all but 6-9MB of RAM. Then, as each song play is completed, it releases on average about 3MB of memory (varies according to the MP3 file size). It continues this 4 times, until free memory reaches approximately 20MB. With the start of the 5th song, Media Player drops the free memory amount back down to the single digits and begins repeating the same pattern. The data clearly shows that whatever it is doing, the memory usage pattern is as reliable as addition.
Meaning: I have no idea. Whatever it is doing, it keeps repeating it.

Source Data: (in attached Word doc.)

I look forward to hearing from someone soon. Sorry this is so long and technical, but it kind of has to be...

Eric12341 · 01-09-07, 11:56 AM

ill have to check that out next time i run WMP , ive never noticed that before as one time i ran WMP,PIE,and AIM all at the same time with no problems.

FrinkTL · 01-09-07, 12:19 PM

Originally Posted by Eric12341

ill have to check that out next time i run WMP , ive never noticed that before as one time i ran WMP,PIE,and AIM all at the same time with no problems.

I'm not saying I'm experiencing a problem per se, but the high points of memory usage (low points in free memory) turn out to be a bad time to try to start other programs, such as a large digitally protected Microsoft Reader eBook. I usually like to read and listen to music at the same time.

I just need someone to corraborate my observations. That, and my obsessive-compulsive nature needs to know what the heck Media Player is doing and why it is doing it that way. It may even be that this only happens on "Shuffle" mode, too; I'll have to try that to see.

Thanks!

halfpint · 01-10-07, 01:00 PM

I use Mortplayer because its memory usage is low - worth a try:

http://www.aximsite.com/boards/showthread.php?t=140481

linuxcrazyman · 01-10-07, 01:02 PM

Can I update MP? I have MP 9

FrinkTL · 01-11-07, 07:34 AM

Originally Posted by FrinkTL

...The memory is allocated and deallocated in a very predictable pattern. At start, it grabs all but 6-9MB of RAM. Then, as each song play is completed, it releases on average about 3MB of memory (varies according to the MP3 file size). It continues this 4 times, until free memory reaches approximately 20MB. With the start of the 5th song, Media Player drops the free memory amount back down to the single digits and begins repeating the same pattern...

I just thought I'd post that in continued testing running standard (NOT Shuffle) mode, the memory usage was the same as when running in shuffle mode. Interestingly, if I switch play modes while a song is still playing the free memory jumps right back up to approx. 20MB. Then, as soon as the next song starts playing, free memory works its way back down to the single digits before it stops dropping.

It appears that the player is either doing some sort of bizarre - and blatantly unnecessary - song caching or building a playlist in memory. My conclusion? I doubt it is a playlist. How could a playlist (even for 4 GB of songs - I'm only using 512MB - take up 20MB of memory? A playlist is just a Binary/TEXT file, and that would mean the playlist was 20 MILLION characters long - for just 5 songs. I just can't believe that even Microsoft could be that bad at math.

That leaves the pre-cache idea. I suppose that it is possible, but just as blatantly unnecessary and pointless. Within 5 seconds of disconnecting the SD card, the player stops, so only caching the next 5 seconds worth music would make any sense. Why would you need to cache more than that anyway (an SD card doesn't skip like a personal CD player might)? Also, 20MB for every (only) 5 songs, seems like a LOT of memory. At approx. 3MB per file (for MP3 @ 96bps), that totals only 15MB; what's the other 5MB for?

It just doesn't make any sense! Any ideas?