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Microsoft have released the beta version of Windows Media Player 11 for Windows XP. You can download the beta from microsoft.com now.
On first glances, this is a familiar program with a few tweaks here and there and a sleeker redesigned interface. We love the black, and whether an everyday music listener or a hardcore audiophile, you'll be able to use WMP11 to do what you want... {more}
There are a lot more options available from the top navigation (similar to WMP10). The new dropdown menus from Now Playing, Library, Rip, Burn and Sync are very comprehensive and cover pretty much all of the applications features. Within two or three clicks of anywhere you can add music to your library, burn your current CD, refresh your plugged in device list, change the bitrate of your rip or choose your visualisation. It is the instant access to everything which makes WMP11 great to use. I don't envisage a situation in normal usage where you'll have to go Tools/Options anymore, you just don't need to - in WMP10 you did have to go in to change a few things here and there.
Classic menus (File/Edit/Tools etc) are now always hidden, but can be easily accessed through the right click context menu. Also added are some back/forward buttons which work throughout the entire program, so you can easily head straight back to where you were just like on a Web Browser. The good old play/pause/next/previous/stop buttons have been centred in a nice hub in the bottom of the player, and are accessible from every page you go on. The volume slider is next to it, as well as quick and easy buttons for shuffling and repeating. There is a new status area in the bottom left which shows a thumnail of the album art, playing status or a mini equaliser
Under the hood, it isn't that much more than a redesigned interface. Don't expect this program to exactly revolutionise the way you listen to music or watch movie clips, and don't expect to instantly forget about iTunes or Winamp. This is simply a 'better' Windows Media Player.
Some good improvements are in this program. The search bar filters down the results as you type (typical of Windows Vista). The album art is much more prominent, and a good visual cue of what's there, along with the new view around it. Playlists are simply drag+drop anything into the pane on the right. There is also a nice status bar to show how full CDs are, which is easier than going into My Computer or translating numbers.
There are some bad points to the beta that I'm using. The volume slider is a little sticky.. slow to respond to dragging. The seek slider (that shows how far through the track you are) is tiny, and its trail isn't very visible. Also, the album art thumnails are pretty big, and a pain in the neck when trying to quickly browse the library. Its taken me twenty minutes to figure out how to revert to the good old detailed list view (Hint: it's next to the search bar). The same goes for the playlist pane (which is a little blue arrow to the right of the scroll bar).
You have to bear in mind these things could change before, and knowing Microsoft, quite a bit is likely to be changed. Microsoft also have a different version planned for integration into Windows Vista, which will connect with Media Centre and have a whole host of extra gadgets and maybe a few surprises for us then.
Overall, the changes are for the better, it is a good decent media player, and great to use once you've found all the buttons. However, Microsoft really need to pull out all the stops and begin adding new features again, before their rivals completely take over the field. Suggestions from me include (secure) streaming media out from your PC to others who connect to you, and better codec support and downloading new ones - or at least telling us WHY that .avi file won't play. Keep going MS, you're on the right track here.
On first glances, this is a familiar program with a few tweaks here and there and a sleeker redesigned interface. We love the black, and whether an everyday music listener or a hardcore audiophile, you'll be able to use WMP11 to do what you want... {more}
There are a lot more options available from the top navigation (similar to WMP10). The new dropdown menus from Now Playing, Library, Rip, Burn and Sync are very comprehensive and cover pretty much all of the applications features. Within two or three clicks of anywhere you can add music to your library, burn your current CD, refresh your plugged in device list, change the bitrate of your rip or choose your visualisation. It is the instant access to everything which makes WMP11 great to use. I don't envisage a situation in normal usage where you'll have to go Tools/Options anymore, you just don't need to - in WMP10 you did have to go in to change a few things here and there.
Classic menus (File/Edit/Tools etc) are now always hidden, but can be easily accessed through the right click context menu. Also added are some back/forward buttons which work throughout the entire program, so you can easily head straight back to where you were just like on a Web Browser. The good old play/pause/next/previous/stop buttons have been centred in a nice hub in the bottom of the player, and are accessible from every page you go on. The volume slider is next to it, as well as quick and easy buttons for shuffling and repeating. There is a new status area in the bottom left which shows a thumnail of the album art, playing status or a mini equaliser
Under the hood, it isn't that much more than a redesigned interface. Don't expect this program to exactly revolutionise the way you listen to music or watch movie clips, and don't expect to instantly forget about iTunes or Winamp. This is simply a 'better' Windows Media Player.
Some good improvements are in this program. The search bar filters down the results as you type (typical of Windows Vista). The album art is much more prominent, and a good visual cue of what's there, along with the new view around it. Playlists are simply drag+drop anything into the pane on the right. There is also a nice status bar to show how full CDs are, which is easier than going into My Computer or translating numbers.
There are some bad points to the beta that I'm using. The volume slider is a little sticky.. slow to respond to dragging. The seek slider (that shows how far through the track you are) is tiny, and its trail isn't very visible. Also, the album art thumnails are pretty big, and a pain in the neck when trying to quickly browse the library. Its taken me twenty minutes to figure out how to revert to the good old detailed list view (Hint: it's next to the search bar). The same goes for the playlist pane (which is a little blue arrow to the right of the scroll bar).
You have to bear in mind these things could change before, and knowing Microsoft, quite a bit is likely to be changed. Microsoft also have a different version planned for integration into Windows Vista, which will connect with Media Centre and have a whole host of extra gadgets and maybe a few surprises for us then.
Overall, the changes are for the better, it is a good decent media player, and great to use once you've found all the buttons. However, Microsoft really need to pull out all the stops and begin adding new features again, before their rivals completely take over the field. Suggestions from me include (secure) streaming media out from your PC to others who connect to you, and better codec support and downloading new ones - or at least telling us WHY that .avi file won't play. Keep going MS, you're on the right track here.