Windows Media Player 11 Beta for Windows XP

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ljbade

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#7893 19-May-2006 08:30

I just downloaded this beast from Microsoft at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/11/default.aspx.

I have to say it is a big improvement. Almost everwhere I look there is a new feature, and old ones are nice and fast.

The new black glass Vista really pops out amonst all the ugly Windows XP themed programs!

As soon as I finished installing it and ran it the Library stated to download song and album infor for all my ripped songs. Only took 2-3 seconds for it to get all the infor including album photo. This ment that alll my songs where allready sorted into their various places. From the looks of things as long as you stick music under the 'My Music' folder WMP will automatically pick it up.

When you insert a new CD WMP downloads it's album info almost instantly, ready to be ripped.
By the way there are new rip formats so now you can do WAV, MP3, WMA, WMA Pro, WMA VBR.

The four tabs at the top do a good jop of replacing the old menu (you can still turn it on though).

I say it is very decent beta to use for normal use as it is rather stable. Beats the IE 7 Beta for sure.

freitasm

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#36082 19-May-2006 09:12

For people here running Windows Vista (the last couple of builds): this is already built-in, and this download is only for Windows XP.

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bradstewart

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#36086 19-May-2006 11:31

Hmmm will have to download this onto my XP install.

I wonder if this has a built in DVD decoder like the vista version does. Probably not.

The only annoyance i have with WMP11 is you cannot have the same layout of your media library like WMP10 has. I liked the way everysong took up one row and all its info was in columns. Now closest you can get is a list which has a title at the start of every section, like artist or letter if sorted by name. It takes up more and you get less songs displayed. Not sure if anyone knows what im saying here but that doesnt really matter.

I do love the new interface, though if it retains the vista glass look its going to look a bit silly in XP. Have to check it out before i pass too much judgement.

Super

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#36210 21-May-2006 01:14

I dontloaded the leaked version 1st, and the URGE function didnt work properly, so i downloaded the oficial version the next day. i found the new interface confusing at first, but got used to it, i think the ipod intergration is completely stupid, you cant actualy play the music synced, so whats the point?. i use iTunes as my music jukebox, (i spent hours ripping my cds music to .m4a) and have no intention to go back to windows media player. I find the libary view annoying and i dont want to have to scroll all the way past the album art, so the search function is useful.