Windows Media Player 11

"I recently had the pleasure of visiting the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Wash. to experience Windows Media Player 11 for Windows Vista.

While there, I got a hands-on, close-up look at the coolest new Media Player features. I spent time exploring the streamlined interface; I downloaded music from the upcoming MTV Networks music service URGE; and I spent hours customizing views, album art size, and song lists. Media Player 11 had everything I had hoped the new version would and more, as well as just about everything I'd read from the wish lists of community newsgroup posters in the past. It didn't take long to figure out that this was a total makeover of the last version.

Some of the unique features of Media Player 11 are a deeply integrated music library for both online and offline content, a new and improved interface, the ability to connect to additional hardware easily, and integrated, easy-to-use tools for following the process of any task (downloading music, burning CDs, synching music, or streaming video, just to name a few). Media Player 11 has a new integrated feel, too-one that makes online, network, and offline content indistinguishable.

Many of the improvements are due to the redesigned interface, which includes helpful shortcuts on the menus and menu bars, simplified trees and an improved and advanced media library. There are now Back and Forward buttons, giving Media Player a web-browser feel; a lightning-fast WordWheel search tool for getting through the library; and Xbox 360 support. And I'm just getting started! In this article, I'll introduce the features I found most exciting, and features you're going to love when you get your hands on Media Player 11.

Reliability, ease of use, and hardware support
Windows Media Player 11 is by far the most reliable, easy to use, and complete music experience available. In my time with it, I found it to be extremely dependable. It's fast too, and it reminded me of expensive Internet jukeboxes normally found only in nightclubs and bars. As with those high-end players, the line between what's actually on the jukebox and what comes from the Internet is nearly indistinguishable. Media Player 11, in my opinion, is the best jukebox I've ever experienced.