WMP 11 Beta

[Fry]

Has anyone downloaded windows media player 11 beta?
If so, what is it like, any different to 10?

[Will.Spencer]

Here's what Wikipedia has to say:

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

Windows Media Player 11 is the upcoming version of the player, which will be available for Windows Vista as well as Windows XP. Currently, the player is an open, public beta. This new version features many changes. The Media Library is now presented without the category trees which were prominent in the earlier versions. Rather, on selecting the category in the left pane, the contents will appear on the right, in a graphical manner with thumbnails - a departure from textual presentation of information. Views for audio, video, pictures and record TV are separate and either can be chosen at one time, from the navigation bar. Entries for pictures and video show their thumbnails.

Other features include:

• Stacking - Stacking allows graphical representation of how many albums are there in a specific category or folder. The more items there are, the larger is the pile.
• Word Wheel - Searches and displays results as characters are being entered, without waiting for Enter key to be hit. Results are refined based on further characters that are typed.
• CD Burning - CD Burning now shows a graphical bar showing how much space will be used on the disc.
• URGE - The new music store from Microsoft and MTV networks is integrated with the player.
• Global Status - Global status shows a broad overview of what the player is doing. The information presented include status information regarding buffering, ripping, burning and synchronization.
• Improved synchronization features for loading songs onto PlaysForSure-compatible MP3 players. WMP11 supports reverse-synchronization, by which media present on the handheld device gets replicated on the source machine.
• Support for ripping audio CDs to WAV format.
• Streaming content to Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) enabled receivers, over a network.
• Integrated web-browsing support to browse online music stores.
• Microsoft has released a public beta of Windows Media Player 11 for Windows XP (excluding Media Center editions before 2005), codenamed Polaris, on May 17 2006 . The beta was distributed to the press a few days earlier for review purposes. Windows Media Player 11 will also be included in Microsoft's upcoming Windows Vista operating system when it is released in late 2006 (for businesses) and early 2007 (for consumers); the Vista version will include some features not found in the XP version. As a result of a European antitrust ruling, Microsoft will also be required to produce "Windows Vista N" editions which do not include Windows Media Player for the European Union market.

The License Management tool available in previous versions of Windows Media Player has been removed from version 11. This affects online music services such as Wal-Mart Music Downloads that do not have a system for deauthorizing and reauthorizing secure DRM protected content. This prevents users of those music download services from backing their licenses up and restoring them to another computer via Windows Media Player 11.

[Fry]

Ok.. all those things I have no idea about
It does seem to LOOK good though, which is a positive. Im just wondering if it runs even heavier/slower than WMP 10

[dhruvd]

Yeah i have it !
I don't find anything special in it...! Everything is nearly same for me !
Also i could not find any Skin for it ..!

10 is a better version !

[Fry]

Probably because its a beta, there are no skins made for it yet.
Once its fully released you'll see skins, I dont really use skins though, the movie still looks the same

[darviria]

Why do you need a media player to look good? If you're listening to music, surely you don't sit staring at the player? If you're watching a video, you're likely to have it maximised and wouldn't want any form of graphics around it?

The new WMP is just too resource hogging, Media Player Classic is ok. The best media player I've found for windows is Fusion Media Player, it's tiny and uses hardly any resources.

As for song management and stuff...the only reason this is needed is that Windows Explorer is pants, if you get a decent file manager you don't need any song management in your media player. I mean Explorer can't even split the window to view two or more folders at once :lol:

[Fry]

I agree. Media Player Classic and Quicktime Alternative are 2 great pieces of software and I use them instead of WMP most of the time.