Dvdplay: Fun

For those who grew up with Windows 98, ME, and XP, typing dvdplay into the "Run" dialog box (Windows Key + R) was like whispering a secret password to a digital genie. It launched the official Microsoft DVD Player—a barebones, gray-windowed application that did exactly one thing: played DVDs. But why was it "fun"? The answer lies not in the software itself, but in what it represented. In the early 2000s, most new computers came pre-loaded with "bloatware"—trial versions of CyberLink PowerDVD or WinDVD. These apps worked fine, but they were slow, cluttered with splash screens, and always nagging you to buy the full version.

dvdplay wasn't a feature. It was a friend. And sometimes, the most fun you can have with technology is remembering how far it’s come—one clunky, secret-filled command at a time. dvdplay fun

So, you’d type dvdplay , and Windows would cheerfully inform you: "No DVD decoder found. Please install a DVD decoder." The hunt for a free, working decoder became a game in itself. You’d scour download sites (risking your family PC with spyware) to find that one tiny codec file that would finally make the gray window show video. When the movie finally played, it felt like a triumph of DIY computing. Typing dvdplay today on Windows 10 or 11 does nothing. The command is a ghost. But the "fun" of dvdplay wasn't really about the software—it was about a moment in time when media wasn't instant. You had to work for it, even if that work was just typing a 7-letter command. For those who grew up with Windows 98,

Before Netflix queues, before Plex libraries, and before the infinite scroll of YouTube, there was a shiny silver disc and a whirring optical drive. For millions of early 2000s PC users, watching a movie on a computer wasn't as simple as clicking a thumbnail. It was a ritual involving software decoders, region codes, and one strange, forgotten command: dvdplay . The answer lies not in the software itself,

For a teenager in 2003, finding that secret felt like hacking the Pentagon. It was harmless, analog-era mischief. You’d call your friend on the landline and say, "Dude, go to Run, type dvdplay , then hold Ctrl+Alt+Shift and click 'About'." It was a shared digital secret before Reddit threads and Discord servers. Let’s be honest: half the fun of dvdplay was how often it didn’t work. Click the shortcut? Nothing. Why? Because Windows XP didn’t include a native MPEG-2 decoder due to licensing costs. You needed to install a third-party decoder (often from that bloatware you uninstalled).

Then you discovered dvdplay . Suddenly, a clean, minimalist, no-nonsense player appeared. No ads. No skins. No registration keys. Just a play button, a seek bar, and your movie. The fun was in the efficiency. You felt like a power user, bypassing the corporate clutter to get straight to The Matrix or Shrek . The real "fun" of dvdplay , however, was its hidden personality. Microsoft knew the player was basic, so they hid a secret about it. If you opened the "About" dialog box while holding down a specific key combination (usually Ctrl+Alt+Shift and clicking the logo), the standard copyright text would scroll away to reveal the names of the actual developers—or, in some versions, a cheeky message.

SPSS Statistics procedure to create an "ID" variable

In this section, we explain how to create an ID variable, ID, using the Compute Variable... procedure in SPSS Statistics. The following procedure will only work when you have set up your data in wide format where you have one case per row (i.e., your Data View has the same setup as our example, as explained in the note above):

Click Transform > Compute Variable... on the main menu, as shown below:

Note: Depending on your version of SPSS Statistics, you may not have the same options under the Transform menu as shown below, but all versions of SPSS Statistics include the same option that you will use to create an ID variable.

computer menu to create a new ID variable

Published with written permission from SPSS Statistics, IBM Corporation.

You will be presented with the Compute Variable dialogue box, as shown below:

'recode into different variables' dialogue box displayed

Published with written permission from SPSS Statistics, IBM Corporation.

Enter the name of the ID variable you want to create into the Target Variable: box. In our example, we have called this new variable, "ID", as shown below:

ID variable entered into Target Variable box in top left

Published with written permission from SPSS Statistics, IBM Corporation.

Click on the

button and you will be presented with the Compute Variable: Type and Label dialogue box, as shown below:

empty 'compute variable: type and label' dialogue box

Published with written permission from SPSS Statistics, IBM Corporation.

Enter a more descriptive label for your ID variable into the Label: box in the –Label– area (e.g., "Participant ID"), as shown below:

participant ID entered in 'compute variable: type and label' dialogue box

Published with written permission from SPSS Statistics, IBM Corporation.

Note: You do not have to enter a label for your new ID variable, but we prefer to make sure we know what a variable is measuring (e.g., this is especially useful if working with larger data sets with lots of variables). Therefore, we entered the label, "Participant ID", into the Label: box. This will be the label entered in the column in the Variable View of SPSS Statistics when you complete at the steps below.

Click on the

button. You will be returned to the Compute Variable dialogue box, as shown below:

Published with written permission from SPSS Statistics, IBM Corporation.

Enter the numeric expression, $CASENUM, into the Numeric Expression: box, as shown below:

Published with written permission from SPSS Statistics, IBM Corporation.

Explanation: The numeric expression, $CASENUM, instructs SPSS Statistics to add a sequential number to each row of the Data View. Therefore, the sequential numbers start at "1" in row , then "2" in row , "3" in row , and so forth. The sequential numbers are added to each row of data in the Data View. Therefore, since we have 100 participants in our example, the sequential numbers go from "1" in row through to "100" in row .

Note: Instead of typing in $CASENUM, you can click on "All" in the Function group: box, followed by "$Casenum" from the options that then appear in the Functions and Special Variables: box. Finally, click on the button. The numeric expression, $CASENUM, will appear in the Numeric Expression: box.

Click on the

button and the new ID variable, ID, will have been added to our data set, as highlighted in the Data View window below:

data view with new 'nominal' ID variable highlighted

Published with written permission from SPSS Statistics, IBM Corporation.

If you look under the

column in the Data View above, you can see that a sequential number has been added to each row, starting with "1" in row

, then "2" in row

, "3" in row

, and so forth. Since we have 100 participants in our example, the sequential numbers go from "1" in row

through to "100" in row

Therefore, participant 1 along row

had a VO₂max of 55.79 ml/min/kg (i.e., in the cell under the

column), was 27 years old (i.e., in the cell under the

column), weighed 70.47 kg (i.e., in the cell under the

column), had an average heart rate of 150 (i.e., in the cell under the

column) and was male (i.e., in the cell under the

column).

The new variable, ID, will also now appear in the Variable View of SPSS Statistics, as highlighted below:

variable view for new 'nominal' ID variable highlighted

Published with written permission from SPSS Statistics, IBM Corporation.

The name of the new variable, "ID" (i.e., under the

column), reflects the name you entered into the Target Variable: box of the Compute Variable dialogue box in Step 2 above. Similarly, the label of the new variable, "Participant ID" (i.e., under the

column), reflects the label you entered into the Label: box in the –Label– area in Step 4 above. You may also notice that we have made changes to the

and

columns for our new variable, "ID". When the new variable is created, by default in SPSS Statistics the

column will be set to "2" (i.e., two decimal places), the

will show

and the

column will show

. We changed the number of decimal places in the

column from "2" to "0" because when you are creating an ID variable, this does not require any decimal places. Next, we changed the variable type from the default entered by SPSS Statistics,

, to

, because our new ID variable is a nominal variable (i.e., a

variable) and not a continuous variable (i.e., not a

variable). Finally, we changed the cell under the

from the default,

, to

, for the same reasons mentioned in the note above.

Dvdplay: Fun

SPSS Statistics

SPSS Statistics procedure to create an "ID" variable

Referencing