Windows Media Player 11 Released

Windows Media Player 11, the latest update to Windows’ built-in digital media application, offers minor improvements, such as better graphics, improved search, and more ways to synchronize content with portable devices. However, the product faces an uncertain future as Microsoft turns its attention to its newer Zune products, which do not use the Windows Media Player.

Cleaner Interface, More Sync Options

Ten months after introducing the beta at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show, Microsoft has released Windows Media Player 11 for Windows XP SP2. The Player will also come with Windows Vista, which will be available to consumers in early 2007.

Unlike the last two updates to the Player, both of which included updates to the underlying Windows Media platform, version 11 focuses primarily on user interface enhancements, along with a few other minor improvements.

User interface. The most noticeable difference in Windows Media Player 11 is the user interface, which features a cleaner design reminiscent of Apple’s popular iTunes digital media application. Submenus for each of the main menu options make many features more accessible, and a left-side navigation pane shows only music categories (e.g., artists, albums) by default, hiding less-used menus for TV and video and reducing clutter. Graphic elements are more prominent—for example, “stacks” of album covers appear when scrolling through groups of albums (for a sample, see the illustration “Album Stacking“), and when a compatible portable device is attached to the PC, users see an image of that device and a taskbar representing how much space is available on it.