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The latest Windows Media Player, version 10.0, is a solid and comprehensive media-management program that will please anyone who uses a wide variety of audio and video formats and portable devices. At one end, it integrates compatible music stores and movie-download services, including the new MSN Music Service. At the other end, it syncs with more than 75 portable devices, according to Microsoft. In between are a bunch of feature enhancements, most notably the ability to rip songs to MP3 (no more plug-ins), as well as manage and display photos. The app still isn't as user-friendly as Apple's iTunes, and it works with only Windows XP, but it is a significant and worthwhile update. Upgrading to Windows Media Player 10.0 is a fairly painless process. Including the necessary restart of your computer, it takes less than 10 minutes to have the jukebox up and running. The player then automatically imports any media and playlist information from the previous version; the time this takes varies, depending on the size of your media library.
We really like this version's new, streamlined interface, even though you'll need a little time to learn its ins and outs. Gone is the menu box that appears by default around version 9.0 when you move your mouse just outside its bounds. To access menu options, simply left-click the Access Applications Menu button (indicated by the upside-down triangle at the top left of the window) or right-click anywhere along the top edge of the jukebox. Microsoft also moved the function tabs from the left side of the player to the top for easier navigation and lightened the background hues of the main viewing panes, opting for iTunes-like color-coding that makes it much easier to browse through songs. Some of the function tabs also have updated names such as Rip, Burn, and Sync. Plus, in addition to offering Mini-Player mode, the latest Windows Media Player will shrink down to just control buttons while you have it open on your desktop (previous versions would still show parts of the viewing panes).
Our favorite enhancement, however, is the addition of a third viewing pane, which you can alternately assign as the Now Playing List, the Burn List, or the Sync List; the last two are useful for keeping track of what you have going on in the background. In Now Playing List mode, the two buttons at the bottom let you directly burn or sync your current playlist.
Windows Media Player 10.0 is packed with plenty of features, including everything offered by version 9.0 and some useful extras.
The most notable new feature is the Digital Media Mall, which gathers several online media stores and services within a single interface and offers a virtual one-stop shopping environment for digital entertainment. The test app we were given included only MSN Music, Napster 2.0, and CinemaNow, but the platform is open for development so that other services can easily be incorporated.
By launch, Microsoft plans to work with 6 services in the United States and 25 worldwide, including Musicmatch, Music Now, Wal-Mart Music Downloads, OD2, and Virgin Mega (France). For people who like to get their content from several different online services but don't like to clutter their hard drives with the proprietary jukeboxes required to buy or listen to tracks (as is the case with Napster, Musicmatch, and Music Now), this feature could make Windows Media Player a must-have. But don't expect to get off completely download-free; we had to download and install a 9MB plug-in to use Napster within the player's interface.
Windows Media Player 10.0 offers driverless support and seamless integration for a long list of portable devices, though iPod users still have to stick with iTunes or, for the time being, RealPlayer. If you own one or several compatible players, you won't have to install the proprietary software for each portable device, resulting in less software clutter and more disk space. The program also lets you set up a manual or automatic sync for each device.
