Windows Media Player 11 for XP Review

Ok, my first impression while downloading is… DAMN this is a huge file. 22.9 Mb to be exact. So it took me about 2 and a half hours to download. Now, the installation took a while, but it went smoothly, and gave me 2 options to use WMP 11: Express, and Custom. Naturally, I like things done Fast, SO, I choose the Express use.

The GUI is really nice. The glossy look portrays a look of vista, while the 3-D graphics blow the old WMP out of the water. Remember how WMP 9 and 10 had the “File – Edit – etc…” menu that appeared when you pause over the area with your mouse pointer? That’s gone. , now you have to right-click and choose “Show Classic Menus”. Now it has a small arrow under the “Now Playing – Library - Rip - Burn - Sync | Online Store” that give you… basically the same options, but not quite. The action buttons (IE: Play/Pause, previous, next, etc…) are centered. And when pressed, obtain a nice florescent-blue-ish color. Over all, it’s nice.

Playing the music took me a while to figure out… until I read. You don’t have to, but you can Drag and Drop the tracks onto the “Now Playing Window” to create a play list. You COULD right click the now playing toolbar and select “Show Classic Menus” and use the old File > Open, or just right click and choose File > Open. But this new way is better. Speed-wise, Microsoft’s Media Division has really kicked it up. It’s almost as fast as Nullsoft’s Winamp (Now it’s owned by Microsoft, but retains the same kernels). It loads pretty fast, but loading tracks take about 2 or 3 seconds. That’s the only real down-side I can find.



My recommendation:


Overall score: 6/10
Why?: It’s not the best, lags a bit. Lacks the menus that the power users remember and love. Kind of like how we don’t like the new control panel layout.

Pros:

Users will like the GUI
Mini-Mode is more compact
Faster that WMP 9 and 10
Drag and Drop

Cons:

VERY little visualization to choose from
Slower that Winamp
Lacks the ease of the other WMP versions
Large file size (22.9 Mb)

If it’s a MUST, upgrade, otherwise… I wouldn’t suggest using it. Unless you want the bragging rights (“Did you get WMP 11 yet? I did!”). So if you want the long download on dial-up, go ahead, but for me – I’ll stick with the older versions. Microsoft, I’m sorry to say it, but you let me down.


Contact:

Rob
Admin@FadeproofOnline.com

Thanks for the review. I Still survive with Windows media Player 9 and don´t want to change it because I use it only for few things. Normally I Use Winamp or VLC.

was thinking of reviewing wmp11 beta myself ... for me it was <3 at first sight.

right the main points id love to point out are:

• the new navigation with album covers
• the new black interface
• "album stacks"

now, first of all the new media player has a better library than the previous version. i mean ALOT better. if you have ever sorted your music in windows explorer in the "larger folders" it defeats the point of doing this anymore. as you can see in the screenshot, album covers are now displayed in the player itself - these can be disactivated of course.

problem 1 - as with wmp10 the library creates "repeats" of albums - you will know what i am talking about if you used wmp10. however, wmp has a "find album info" feature and also now gives you the option to edit the id3 tags and defeat this problem. not to say it isnt DAM ANNOYING!

the black interface looks sweet too - and can be changed in colouration.

album stacks can be seen in the screenshot - when you have more than one album by the same artist it creates a spiral effect, which i think is QUALITY -

in response to rob's post above ... no it doesnt lag. WMP remains the FASTEST player (built for XP and vista) - that includes iTunes.

Another thing i would like to add is unlike iTunus - WMP does not promote new songs to buy constantly!!!!

i love this new version of WMP and intend to use it until 12 is released !!!!

9/10 - the library glitches annoy me ; (