Windows Media Player 11 in Windows 7

Microsoft recently released Windows Media Player 11; currently available for Windows XP Service Pack 2, it also distributes with Windows 7.

Windows Media Player is more than a pretty new interface; it is easier to manage and is an overall improvement on Windows Media Player 10 (which was light years beyond the previous version). The improved interface, shown in Figure 1, makes media exploration easier than ever before. The layout is certainly more logical than in past versions of Windows Media Player.

Some of the new features in Windows Media Player 11 include:

1) Media Library: It displays content graphically using a thumbnail. This is a change from previous versions, which used category trees.

2) Improved CD-burning capabilities: You can now see how much CD space remains when preparing a CD for burning.

3) The ability to rip audio CDs to WAV format.

4) The URGE music store: It is now part of Windows Media Player 11.

FIGURE 1: Windows Media Player 11 has a cleaner interface and, by extension, more easily navigated library.