Windows Media Player 11

Publisher's description of Windows Media Player

view larger

Windows Media Player 11 for Windows XP offers great new ways to store and enjoy all your music, video, pictures, and recorded TV. Play it, view it, and sync it to a portable device for enjoying on the go or even share with devices around your home all from one place.

Simplicity In Design: Bring a whole new look to your digital entertainment. More of the Music You Love: Breathe new life into your digital music experience. All Your Entertainment in One Place: Store and enjoy all of your music, video, pictures, and recorded TV. Enjoy Everywhere: Stay connected with your music, video, and pictures no matter where you are. Check out the new Media Sharing feature.

See more CNET content tagged:

Microsoft Windows Media Player,

Windows Media,

media player,

digital media,

music

Editor's review of Windows Media Player

The latest iteration of Windows Media Player adds a lot of useful bells and whistles, succeeding in many ways as a competitor to iTunes for Windows. A tree-style file directory makes it easy to find the music you want quickly, and a simple search box gets you where you want to go immediately. A five-star rating system lets you rate your music, then organize it by rating, so it's easy to group your favorite songs. Drag-and-drop functionality and a handy Create Playlist button take any confusion out of the process of making your own playlists. Creating the perfect mix CD is equally as easy--simply drag and drop songs into a Burn List in the right panel, then click Start Burn to finish. Ripping was reasonably fast on our test machine, and the program let us pick our preferred bit rate and audio file type.

The biggest new feature in WMP11 is the ability to sign up with paid music and video services. Without registering, we were able to browse various sites and compare prices among services including XM Radio--all from the Windows Media Player interface. We like the new, cleaner look, and the back and forward buttons make it easier to navigate. The ability to sort music by year released makes for some great reminiscing. Overall, we think the latest Windows Media Player offers almost everything you need for every type of media, making it a solid choice for an all-in-one jukebox.

User reviews of Windows Media Player

• Average user rating: out of 824 votes
• Your rating: Write your own review

This software version | All versions

• [+] Expand review

  Windows Media Player

  Good player

  by: andeyejah on 27-Aug-2007 03:57:31 AM

  Pros: Great and easy to use.I think you need to update this oage as it works with vista now.I have it for 2 mths on vista and works great.

  Cons: Can't play dvx for that i have gom player which is also very good.

  Was this review helpful? Yes | No (6 of 7 users said yes)

  Flag for offensive content Reply to this review (0 replies)

• [+] Expand review

  Windows Media Player

  Improved speed, better GUI, your friend :)

  by: GezaGabriel on 22-Nov-2006 06:30:34 AM

  Pros: These are my first opinions. I found it quite easy and well organized how my musics are ordere at the library.

  Improved known features: it's loading time; device searching time.

  Burning option allows the users to create a cd with more music by downgrading the files' quality (fe. from 195 to 32Kbps).

  Parental control: i know it mightn't be too difficult to get over this (most cases the kid is an admin...), but easy to use to avoid accidents :).

  AC3 had no problem with wmp11.

  It can remember previous network settings (i had wmp10).

  Pretty nice_to_follow GUI.

  That built-in BUY button is quite funnny :D.

  Wmp 11 could play a cd without problems while playing spellforce 2 demo, while some other titles weren't able to produce full playback (fe. WinAmp).

  Finally, it's much easier to use ONE application to watch a video file then easily switch back to the playlist.

  Eats more memory than i expected but i think this is acceptable next to an excellent playback.

  Cons: 14 minutes, including installation and restart's shut down time.

  It'll forget if you previously had any mp3 setting for encoding.

  At burning options you don't see real speeds, only texts (fast, slow, etc.).

  Performance's help takes me to troubleshooting help.. I wanted to learn more about vide acceleration functions.

  Library's sharing got one checkbox... why have they created a new box for this? Shareing uses 6 - i don't think the help is good - ports, udp 1900 and 2869 TCP weren't added to firewall rules.

  It'll have some problems with older visualizations and it had with one at me.

  Was this review helpful? Yes | No (7 of 15 users said yes)

  Flag for offensive content Reply to this review (2 replies)

• [+] Expand review

  Windows Media Player

  Stick With 10 For now

  by: Superknown on 14-Nov-2006 08:10:15 PM

  Pros: 11 Looks Sharp and is one of the best sounding players to date. I like the EQ effects and sometimes the WOW blows me away

  Cons: I use Rhapsody and everytime I try to go to 11 it gives me problems. DRM is a pain in the but, and also using Zen the album art doesnot come through. I used to never use WMP but I;m getting there. Fix the DRM BS though

  Was this review helpful? Yes | No (9 of 14 users said yes)

  Flag for offensive content Reply to this review (3 replies)

• [+] Expand review

  Windows Media Player

  I liked the look and feel of it

  by: QuentinTarantino on 31-Oct-2006 06:04:44 AM

  Pros: As always Free!

  I loved this player but!

  Cons: I had to uninstall as it was eating into my virtual memory and it was slow opening.Shame, but thats how it is I suppose.

  Was this review helpful? Yes | No (13 of 22 users said yes)

  Flag for offensive content Reply to this review (1 reply)

• [+] Expand review

  Windows Media Player

  A big improvement

  by: T.i.P. on 01-Nov-2006 01:52:29 PM

  Pros: I like the new black look. I like that you can see album art. I like how the album information is near the art and not stretched out along with the other information in a single line. The layout is nice, especially the play, pause button being right in the middle, and very large.

  The back and forward buttons are a nice touch as well.

  Cons: Everything takes a few moments to figure out with the new layout.

  Was this review helpful? Yes | No (11 of 16 users said yes)

  Flag for offensive content Reply to this review (0 replies)

Submit your review for Windows Media Player:

You must be 13 years of age or older to submit personal information to CNET Networks. In compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998, CNET Networks does not accept name and e-mail address information from users who are under 13 years of age.

All submitted ratings and written comments become the sole property of CNET Networks, Inc. (CNET) and may be used at CNET Networks' sole discretion. Ratings and written comments are generally posted within two to four business days in batch groups, not in real time. However, CNET Networks reserves the right to remove or refuse to post any submission for any reason. You acknowledge that you, not CNET Networks, are responsible for the contents of your submission.

CNET Networks is not responsible for the content of the publisher's descriptions or user reviews on this site. We encourage you to determine whether this product or your intended use is legal. We do not encourage or condone the use of any software in violation of applicable laws. CNET Download.com does not sell, resell, or license any of the products listed on the site. We cannot be held liable for issues that arise from the download or use of these products.