Black Boxes:
Microsoft Windows Media Player 10

by Jim Mikles
Digital Editition March 2005

Microsoft's latest media player offering, Windows Media Player 10, should bring a sigh of relief to anyone who's ever wrestled with the installations, iterations and upgrades required to get most previous players working the way most people want them to work--easily and reliably.

Released in fall 2004 for use only on Windows XP, and sporting a new streamlined design and tons of integrated functionality, Windows Media 10 is an all-in-one player that demonstrates an understanding of how most people want to manage their digital media on their desktops and in their portable devices. And we're talking more than just audio.

Windows Media Player 10 was released in conjunction with the launch of the MSN Music Store and a new line of portable players generically called Portable Media Centers which are currently manufactured by Creative Labs, Rio and Samsung (and soon to be offered by others you would expect). With a going price tag of around $500 and yet-to-be-seen mass appeal, these players are still squarely in the early adopter category.

But if the theory proves out that, along with their audio, people will want to take their television programs, JPEG photo images and who knows what else with them, Windows Media Player 10 is designed to be the software library and media player hub of a completely Microsoft-driven integrated media environment. Not only does Windows Media Player 10 conveniently incorporate playing, ripping, burning and cataloging digital music into the player, it supports a wide array of video as well, such as TV recorded to a PC-based personal video recorder, MPEGs downloaded from the Internet, slideshows created from your digital stills or video from your camcorder.

Add to that the player's HDTV support functionality (as long as your computer hardware supports it as well), and you've got a complete package that competes well with RealPlayer and QuickTime, and has the added benefit of seamless integration into the XP operating environment.

Installation
Like a lot of software these days, Windows Media Player is only available via download. It took about a minute to download the 12MB file over a high speed Internet connection and installation took about 2 minutes, including accepting all the requisite licensing agreements. Estimated download time via dial-up was 55 minutes, but downloading digital media is hardly efficient on dial-up anyway, so if you're stuck with dial-up, you might be better off keeping the player you already have.

After you configure the privacy options, which deal with automatic license acquisition for downloaded media and installation, URL caching and some other odds and ends, it's ready to run.

Experience
The first thing you notice is that the interface is completely different from your old Windows Media Player. Windows Media Player 10 functionality revolves around buttons for Now Playing, Library, Rip, Burn, Sync and Guide.

Rip and burn are exactly what they say: tools to rip audio from your CD collection and burn to create compilations and burn them to a blank disc. They function as advertised and it is no big deal to anyone who has done it before, but it is a huge convenience to be able to handle these functions right through your media player.

The library is also a simple tool, but it acts as the media-management brains of the application and allows you to catalog and sort your collection, including music, TV, and "other media," such as photo JPEGs, etc. Anytime you rip, download, upload or otherwise acquire digital media, it is cataloged in the library. When you are ready to listen, burn, play or otherwise do something with it, it's right there at your fingertips. Again, this is pretty obvious functionality that does what it says, but it's so convenient to have all your media and media manipulation tools in one place it bears particular kudos.

When you are ready to take your media on the road, the sync function allows you to sync the media player with your portable player.

Windows Media Player 10 acts as a content portal, a media player and a media management system and it's well integrated to give you a decently intuitive experience. If anything, it tries to do so much through so few buttons that there's a good amount of exploring required to get your hands around the whole thing. Functions that were originally on the front panel in version 9 are now hidden deeper in the menu system. But once you explore a bit, it's not difficult to figure out, and it's fun to do--so why not?

Whole Enchilada, Except the Apple
Integrated with the player's functionality are built-in links to a dozen different online music stores, including Napster, Audible.com, XM Radio and Musicmatch. Of course, the new MSN Music is set up as the default service. At.99 cents a slice, the model is a copy-cat of Apple's iTunes pay-per-song model.

Microsoft (and everyone else) apparently learned what consumers really want when iPod and iTunes rocketed to the top of the charts with its 99 cent-per-song iTunes music store integrated with its hip iPod portable player. Today, most experts would agree that Apple still has the edge in the "hip" factor, but Windows Media Player is more ubiquitous and is cool enough that it stands to possibly sneak up and overtake Apple (again).

The only media format that is not compatible with Windows Media Player 10 is Apple's proprietary AAC music format. You can still shop at iTunes for MP3s, but it's not one of the integrated options and we don't expect that to change anytime soon.

Jim Mikles is a freelance technology writer and digital culture enthusiast.

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