The Windows Media Player also known as WMP is a Microsoft media player and viewer that forms part of the Windows operating system. It supports Windows Media codecs such as Windows Media Video (WMV), Windows Media Audio (WMA), and Advanced Systems Format (ASF) as well as WAV and MP3 files. -> Read full review
Date Added: 2012-12-14 16:37:41
Works on: Microsoft Windows, Windows Mobile, Mac OS, Mac OS X, Palm-size PC, Handheld PC, Solaris
Visit: Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player is owned by: Microsoft
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Total Visits: 11538
Tags: Media Players, Software
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Windows Media Player: Review
Pros
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Cons
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In this reviewIntroduction |
Quick Verdict - WorldTVPC Rating: |
Introduction
Windows Media Player is becoming popular with PC users because it is possible to use it as is. And since it comes with all PCs, it is also convenient not to mention free to use for Windows users. The versions made available continue to improve with upgrades and it’s certainly worth taking a look at.
Media Library
Windows Media Player uses the library feature that allows it to search a user’s hard drive for all the media files they are storing on their computer. By default it looks for files found within the music library folder. The music library folder is actually a virtual folder created by the user by pointing Windows Media Player to all folders that are holding their files. Although all of your files are not in one place, the software will use the operating system to make all media files appear as if they are all in the same folder. Once the media player is directed to all of your files correctly, all of your multimedia files can be browsed from within the player. Windows Media Player can be completely customized to have file specific information included in the side bar. Information included may be year, composer, album, and genre. For videos specific information can include actors. This folder option is one of the best features of Windows Media Player. Virtually any multi-media file can be picked up by this software.
Music Playback
Users can expect music play back to be very smooth and seamless. Music files can be played in the background as you work in other software programs with no trouble. The playback screen can run behind other windows or minimized and will run just as smoothly. Older version of Windows Media Player had some difficulties switching between screens, but it seems as if Microsoft has worked out most of those bugs; no skipping will take place when moving between windows. Music can be played with a visual background displayed as an equalizer. SRS WOW settings can be found in a separate box but you may find sound distorted if these settings are used too much. There are several different options a user can choose from that will allow them to burn music CDs that can be played in any CD player.
VideoPlayback
Windows Media Player supports many new video formats including Xvid as well as other video files. Play back for these new file formats runs very smoothly. There is some difficulty running video in the background as Windows Media Player will enter playback mode and users will notice the video playing in a slim window. Perhaps this will be fixed in the future. Windows Media player is now able to use the graphics card in Windows for situations where it’s needed. There are some programs that require use of the CPU. This means Window Media Player can run video that would normally have difficulty running if not for enough hardware resources. This is a major plus! GPU accelerations is working very nicely in the newer versions of this player.
Playlists
Playlists are a big hit in Windows Media Player. The new version allows playlist creation to be very easy. Creating playlists is as simple as dragging files to your newly created lists. The lists can be synced to other devices by simply dragging to the sync option and following instructions. There will be no issues with syncing. Every file will be synced flawlessly even if the player can’t read the file. However, syncing may be handled better by third party software. It may be easiest to sort files thoroughly before bringing them into Media Player.
Verdict
Windows Media Player has undergone many changes since the first version was introduced. Its performance is more than acceptable and there are plenty of features to pit this software program against the likes of any other. Most of the bugs that users were plagued with in previous version are now long gone. Those bugs have been replaced with new features and improved performance. The organization capabilities and playback quality is outstanding. Even daily users will be hard pressed to find many issues with this program. With the ability to play music, watch videos, burn music CDs, and organize multimedia files Windows Media Player will most likely satisfy all users with little need for third party software. In fact, we would go so far as to say the quality performance of this program rises above all other out-of-the box programs normally packaged with Windows. We feel users will be very pleased with this package and find little need to use other packages to handle their multi-media. The only thing missing in this package is podcasting capabilities. As soon as that is added to Windows Media Player, it really will be a complete package that all users will be thrilled with.
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