Trying to view some video clips off comedy central ... tried firefox ... nothing ... opera ... nothing ... ie 5 ... "you need WMP9 blah blah blah..."

cut a long story short I don't want wmp 9 clogging up my pc... can I just download the codecs somewhere?

You can download the latest version 9.0 codecs for video/audio playback for use with Windows Media Player 6.4 from here. You'll want the package called 'Codec Installation Package for Windows Media Player 6.4'.

Incidentally, to save having to install the full players for RealAudio and QuickTime, Goggle for 'Real Alternative' and 'QuickTime Alternative' respectively.

Thanks for the advice

Unfortunately I already tried both of your suggestions (I love both QTA & RPA) unfortunately for the WM9 codecs to be detected on many sites, they require wmp 6.4 to be installed alongside Media Player Classic (fair enough) but some sites it would appear need the full WMP9 in order to work at all.

So after hours of frustration I gave up and installed WMP9 (it is so bloated it is unbelivable). Fortunately I have an uninstaller program, so if I do decide to remove it at a later date I can clean it all up instead of the mess the MS uninstall process leaves behind.