We’ve all used it at least one time before…it’s Windows Media Player and it is yet another improved item in Windows 7. Although it is still very similar to previous versions of Media Player, the new player has been given a subtle face-lift and has also added improvements to make handing media a little easier. One thing that I noticed right out of the box, was media player’s ability to play more media formats. The first thing most of us do with a fresh copy of Windows Media Player is to download all the video and audio codecs that we’ll need. Media Player now supports more codecs than previous versions offered in Windows (e.g. Divx & Xvid). Other changes include: playback controls to the live thumbnail preview, improved performance in playback, file previews and the ability to add jumplist items to the taskbar icon. In this overview of the new Windows Media Player, we will briefly review some “how to’s” and review some of the new features.
I’ll probably get hammered in the comments section, but i’m not an iTunes user, so I rely mostly on Windows Media Player for just about everything. From arranging playlist, playing video, syncing my mp3 player and managing my media, Windows Media Player 12 does a great job across the board. Everybody is different when it comes to managing these tasks, so which player to use, whether iTunes, Winamp or other players, it will always come down to preference. I’m used to Windows Media Player and prefer it to iTunes and others. Windows Media Player 12 is hardly perfect, but I believe that Microsoft, like many other areas, have taken a step in the right direction with the new version.
Windows Media Player 12
One thing that will certainly hit you when you first open the latest version is that Windows Media Player 12 looks a bit different. Microsoft has split the library and media management from the Now Playing view. You can still scroll through the playlist in the Now Playing view, but to work with the media library, you will need to toggle between the button on the bottom-right corner of the Library View and top left-hand corner in the Now Playing view to move between the two views.
Now Playing
Features specifically created for Windows 7 include: playback controls on the preview when rolling over the media player icon on the taskbar and jumplist support. I have found jumplist, in general, to be a big help and time saver, but this is especially the case in WMP 12. If most users are like me, they often go through phases where they’ll listen to a few songs over and over again for a period of time, then switch to a different set. With jumplists, those previously played media files are saved and can even be pinned to the jumplist by selecting the Pushpin icon to the right of the selection.
Preview & Jumplist
One new feature that has been added to WMP 12 is Song Preview. I haven’t found this particularly useful, but some users may. You can view Song Preview by hovering over the song title while in Library View.
File Preview
We will be covering network and remote features for WMP 12 in the future, but hopefully this brief overview of Windows Media Player 12 helps. Why do you think it is that Media Player hasn’t been adopted as an all-in-one player like some others out there?
