While Media Player 9.0 isn't perfect, it does feature enough improvements to make it a recommended upgrade from older versions.
After months of prepping, Windows Media Player 9.0, part of Redmond's new Media 9.0 Series that was once code-named Corona, is officially in beta, and to our eyes and ears, it looks and sounds better than earlier versions. The player now loads more quickly--especially when it's playing streaming media-- and crunches native Windows Media formats so that they're smaller and sound smoother. Version 9.0 also makes great strides in the usability department. But while this player is meaty, it's hard to give it a ringing endorsement. Microsoft insists on calling Media Player a platform instead of a product ; the company deliberately leaves holes (no native MP3 encoding or DVD playback) for plug-in vendors to fill, which may mean hidden costs down the line for a supposedly free player. Still, there's enough here that current Media Player fans should migrate when the final product ships later this year.
Snappy, on-the-fly playlists
Version 9.0 looks very similar to its predecessors but offers much more in the way of jukebox features. You can now shrink the player so that controls appear on the Windows taskbar, and you can access videos, album info, or eye-candy visualizations from an optional window that's nice for background work. Can't seem to keep tabs on all your tunes? Windows Media Player 9.0 makes it easier to manage libraries of ripped CD tracks, downloaded music, and videos. For example, when you delete a media file from the library, you can also remove it from your hard drive at the same time. You can even rename tracks ripped from Unknown Album by Unknown Artist en masse.
And it's much easier to create on-the-fly playlists. Thanks to the new Auto Playlist feature, you can automatically compile playlists based on broad characteristics. In three clicks of the mouse, for example, you can queue up tracks that you haven't heard lately or put your favorite songs into a list that will fit perfectly onto an audio CD. And if you want to patronize music- subscription services such as Pressplay, you need only click the Services tab, which sits neatly among the Now Playing and Media Library buttons. But do we really need to earn Microsoft any more kickbacks?
Better playback
Media Player 9.0 advances playback quality, too. You can now choose to rip CD audio tracks at variable bit rates; older versions used standard (or constant) bit rates, which requires larger file sizes to produce the same sound quality. Additionally, you can set up radio-style cross-fading between tracks and ensure that all of your songs play back at the same volume, a feature that is thankfully carried over into Media Player's Copy To CD function. Video playback benefits from a new process known as video smoothing --Player 9.0 automatically corrects choppy 15-frame-per-second or slower video, provided you're running Windows XP and have enough processing power.
Still needs work
But despite improvements, Media Player 9.0 retains some of the annoying problems that plagued previous versions. Unless you purchase third-party plug-ins from, say, Ravisent, InterVideo, or CyberLink, this player can't encode CD audio tracks in MP3 format or play back DVDs. Also, the default Media Player setting for copying CD tracks to your hard drive remains to "protect" them, a euphemism for pumping your tunes full of copy-protection info so that it's impossible to play them on other computers. You can turn off the protection, but it's not the easiest setting to find--come on, Microsoft, cut us some slack! And although version 9.0 supports plug-ins for any video or audio codec, the player can't handle Real or QuickTime formats. You may be able to get that support down the line, but since Microsoft sees its player as a platform provider, don't expect to get such functionality for nothing.
Clearly, by embedding rights-management features in the Windows Media file format and prominently touting services such as Pressplay, Microsoft is courting the approval of the music industry and content providers. But does it matter? There are just enough tasty morsels here to get you to upgrade from dusty, older versions. And, although Media Player 9.0 doesn't have the universal file format support à la RealOne Player Plus, it's free and works considerably better than before.
Windows Media Player 9.0 Beta
Company: Microsoft
Price: Free
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