Ken Savage Making IT in Massachusetts

What’s New with Windows Media Player 11

Windows Media player 11 looks very different to earlier versions of windows media player. This is because it has been designed with Windows Vista in mind. At this time it is not certain if Windows media player 11 will be available before Windows Vista is released. The application does function perfectly fine within Windows XP, but the GUI design does make it look a little out of place.

The New GUI has been designed with the Windows Vista appearance very much in mind. I understand the application will be sinkable when the final version is released.

Windows media player 11 has an entire interface tab dedicated to connection to portable devices. It is clear that Microsoft still have keen plans and ambitions when it comes to the Apple iPod dominated world of portable media.

Microsoft have long been involved in the software side of portable MP3 players such as the iRiver and Zen media devices. This clear and simple to use interface will certainly make it a lot easier to link up your portable media to the PC. Microsoft will see this as a clear way to entice users to the recently revamped MSN music store. Portable media has proven to be a huge market in recent years.

Windows media player 11 also makes it a lot easier to rip your conventional media from CD form to MP3 format. Microsoft have introduced their Digital rights management into Media player 11 and you can use this to control the distribution of your media. It is interesting to note you can check a ox to have windows ignore your reproduction of music. It is however recommended that you use this feature to control how many copies you can make of your original purchases.

Windows media player still retains it’s well knows interface and usage when it comes to creating and managing play lists. The application will also keep your song data up to date my downloading the latest information from the web as you add new music to your collection. Te system also attempts to automatically file your music into genres although I found this to be far from perfect, or perhaps everyone has a slightly different option on how music should be sorted.

There is however one very important feature that I feel is missing. Media player still doesn’t support pod casting. This is one feature that couch truly turn media player into a truly useful tool.

Media player 11 still continues to support minimising to the familiar compacted version with the basic controls available.

There are certainly areas that I feel need to be improved, for example I believe it uses a lot of system resources when simply playing MP3’s. Another annoyance is the close button, because by default the application runs in full screen mode, when you go to close the app it is very easy to miss the button and it then becomes a drag icon. I know this is very minor but it is annoying.

Windows Media Player 11 still isn’t perfect like the original WinAmp but it is a step in the right direction.