Media Player 9 is definitely a more mature and feature rich product than previous versions of Microsoft's famous media application. In particular it shines in terms of audio and video playback quality, something that Jeff Harris - Group Program manager for Windows Media Player is keen to point out: "It was our number one priority to improve the users playback experience...."
While Windows Media Player 9 visually has an improved look and better media-management skills it does have one let down - It won't let you make audio tracks in the MP3 audio file format, unless you pay for a third-party plug-in! Whilst this will definitely not break the bank at around US $9.95 for the plug-in. It would have been handy for many folks who still enjoy enjoy the MP3 audio format, to have included it for free! A link on the Windows Media Player 9 "Options" panel brings you to a Web page offering various vendors MP3 plug-ins that are currently for sale.
Having said that, MP3 audio is a 10 year old format and there ARE better audio file formats to record your favourite CD tracks onto your computer - namely Microsoft's NEW Windows Media Audio 9 (WMA) file format. Microsoft would rather their own audio format was used to create your digital music content! (By the way they have done the same with Video too... now they are pushing the new Windows Media Video 9 (WMV) file format, instead of the older AVI or the direct competitor to Windows Media Video 9 - the new MPEG-4 file format.)
The MP3 niggle aside, I still think that it makes good sense to upgrade to Windows Media Player 9, particularly if you own Windows XP. The most attractive goodies in the new Windows Media Player 9 are reserved for Microsoft's flagship desktop operating system. The technical guys at Redmond explain this is because Windows Media Player 9 is a core component of the XP operating system and is designed to work with other core media components of XP. (Older operating systems like Windows 98 and Windows 2000, just don't have the digital media capabilities for Windows Media Player 9 to exploit.)
Windows Media Player 9 - Codec's
If you do own Windows 98, Windows ME or Windows 2000 then Windows Media Player 9 is sill worth the upgrade for the new media management capabilities alone. Combine this with the new and improved 9 series file formats (WMA & WMV) that give you the potential for better sound and video quality and I think these two reasons alone warrant the upgrade to your system. Be warned though it is around a 10 Mb to 13 Mb download depending on your operating system!
Windows Media Player 9's codec's are explained below. However, it is worth noting that if you like your current version of the Windows Media Player, but wish to listen to music and watch videos created in the new Windows Media Series 9 file formats. You can simply download the Codec's from the Main Windows Update Website. The package is about 900 Kb installs without a PC re-boot. You will then be able to access all the great new Windows Media content being created on the web right now!
I have just mentioned the new file formats that Windows Media Player 9 uses by default, and will explain them in more depth in a moment. However another technology associated with digital content are "Codec's". For those unfamiliar with the term "codec", it is essentially a way to "compress" the data so it can be stored then then "uncompressed" when you come to listen (or view) the data. For example in the case of movies created using digital camcorders. The footage is usually stored on a MiniDV tape and then put onto a computer for editing. Well for every second of your home video it would require 25Mb of disk space!!! And it is the same for when you record a CD onto your computer, without codec's you would need very large hard drives... So that's why we use codec's.
ALL media players use codec's, and each company uses their own proprietary Codec technology to create their media players default, and preferred, audio file format.
For example the Real One player from Real Networks uses the "Real Codec" within the media player. This is used to create digital files from the contents of your CD in the current series 8 Real Audio (RA) file format. (It also contains the codec's for creating WAV and MP3 audio files too, although again to get CD quality MP3 audio files you have to pay for a plug-in.)
Windows Media Player 9 - Audio File Format
Windows Media Player 9 is part of a family of products that Microsoft call Windows Media Series 9. The new player uses the new series 9 Windows Media Audio file format .WMA to record your CD's to the computer. But when creating files on your hard drive using the Windows Media 9 Audio Codec, there are THREE choices depending on the quality of WMV file you wish to create.
These are:
Windows Media Audio - At it's best data rate this option will take up around 86Mb of Hard Drive per CD
Windows Media Audio (Variable Bit Rate) - At it's best data rate this option will take up around 155 Mb per CD
Windows Media Audio Lossless - At it's best data rate rate this option will take up around 411 Mb per CD.
So which do you choose?
I largely miss the first option and use the second, the Windows Media Audio (Variable Bit Rate). This makes a great library of tracks from my CD collection and then gives excellent quality playback on my XP machine using the Windows Media Player 9.
The last option is really for the true "audiophile" - someone who really appreciates a good recording. This option is good enough to archive your entire CD collection in as it compresses with NO loss of quality. However, for most folks you are really not going to hear a great difference between option 2 and 3, and you also do not want to use up all that valuable extra disk space...
There is also a series 9 codec for Voice eg Radio broadcasts and Advertising. Series 9 also brings us the worlds FIRST codec for creating digital surround sound on the web! Neither of these codec's can be used to record audio within Windows Media Player 9. But of course the new media player can be used to listen to audio content created using these new audio codec's! Something no other player can do at the moment!
Windows Media Player 9 - Video File Format
Although you can not create content in the Windows Media Video (WMV) file format from within Windows Media Player 9, much of the content in the WMV file format will start to be created using the series 9 codec. Because this codec is part of the new media player, you are up and running the moment you open the video on your PC (or even Pocket PC.)
Like the WMV file format, there are also several options available when encoding video into the WMV file format. Microsoft realise that not all situations are going to use video playback in the same way. Therefore they allow for the video to be "compressed in slightly" different ways to obtain better results for video that is played on a PC, video that is watched directly over the internet and many other different situations. These video codec's are: Windows Media Video 9, Windows Media 9 Professional and Windows Media 9 Screen.
As a consumer, when you watch video in these different ways Windows Media Player 9 understands how the video was "compressed" and so will "decompress" the data very efficiently to deliver your entertainment on the screen. One such program that you can use to create video content yourself is Windows Movie Maker 2 for XP. It to has the 9 series audio and video codec's built in and will take care of all the codec decisions for you based on the type of content you want to crate. For example creating a video for a CD will be handled differently to creating a small video clip to be streamed from the internet.
Windows Media Player 9 - Media Management
Many of the new features in Windows Media Player 9 are designed to make organizing, managing (now called "smart management"), and playing your libraries of CD tracks, downloaded music, and videos easier. Auto Play lists, which work off your songs' ID3 tags to create lists of music, let you easily switch up your tunes depending on your mood. For example, you can create play lists of tracks that you generally listen to at night, put together the best songs for a road trip, play tracks you only listen to at night by female artists or literally anything else you want.. Windows Media Player 9 lets you rate songs on a 1 to 5 star scale, so you can create automatic play lists made of your favourite tunes. The program even remembers which songs you play often and which you hardly play at all, and it automatically organizes your library based on those preferences! A very neat and useful feature.
If you find you can not seem to keep tabs on all your tracks, then Windows Media Player 9 makes it easier to manage libraries of CD songs, downloaded music, and videos. For example, when you delete a media file from the library, you can choose to have it removed from your hard drive at the same time. You can also rename batches of tracks ripped from "Unknown Album" by "Unknown Artist", using information (called "Meta Data") automatically grabbed from a special information website on the the Internet.
And if you tend to be overly meticulous about tagging your files, you will definitely appreciate the advanced tag editor, which lets you view and edit more than 35 fields of info, so you can add photos, videos, and even synchronized lyrics. We've already seen players that offer a composer tag, telling you who wrote the piece (good for classical-music fans), but Microsoft even offers a conductor tag, letting you know who conducted the orchestra - a great bonus for classical music fans).
If you use an older OS, you'll enjoy the Smart Jukebox features, but the big guns--such as the advanced tag editor, the ability to add lyrics to a file and synchronize them with a playing song, Video CD playback, auto play lists, volume levelling, and cross-fading--are available in only the XP version. Still, you will love how much easier it is to organize music files with version 9, and I think that the ability to synchronize playback with the lyrics is an excellent idea, even if it does threaten to turn every party into a karaoke night!
Windows Media Player 9 - Conclusion
Windows Media Player 9 loads more quickly than its predecessors, especially for streaming media using a new technology called fast start. I like to play my videos full screen and so the ability to access the controls panel from full screen is a welcome choice, something that is lacking in the Real One player! From the Media Guide tab, you can check out entertainment and news video clips, some of which are encoded especially for Windows Media Player 9 codec's. The new option to put the player into mini mode and have it sit on your task bar is a brilliant feature in my opinion.
Another cool new feature I tried out was the "Rename and Re-Group" feature. Basically I had a load of WMA files on my PC. After I ran Windows Media Player 9 I switched on the this feature and it then searched my PC and found the files then grouped by artist and album - Fantastic.... This saved be a couple of hours at least!
Windows media Player 9 is not perfect BUT it does offer great features, is ahead of the other major players from Real Networks and Apple, and demonstrates Microsoft's commitment to digital media on its XP operating system. Remember too, you can always download just the 9 series codec's if you want to keep your current player for now!
http://www.updatexp.com/windows_media_player_9.html
