I have never been a fan of any other media player. Now that 11 is here, I am jumping for joy. I hope.

Unless you've been burying your head in the sand, Windows Media Player 11 beta has been a long time coming. For me and many, one of the most anticipated software releases this year. With iTunes dominating and with Winamp still around Windows Media Player has taken a beating as well as the usual boys berating Microsoft products.

Still, there are enough realistic people with a good sense of reality and know a good thing when they see it, to keep Microsoft’s media player 11 alive. Whilst I am not pro Microsoft, and not Anti-Microsoft, I do understand that all software has flaws. This gives clarity when reviewing their software.

Microsoft has offered this beta for all to use and test. Though we benefit from some good software treats, we have become a large beta testing environment for software companies, i.e. NVIDIA’s Nforce and Forceware drivers. These are prime examples of how this method benefits all.

This is great, but always in the back of my mind are the vulnerabilities and conflicts associated with any beta software. I was always a bit wary of NVIDIA’s method when they started it many moons ago, but now I appreciate the wealth of information this provides.

Windows Media Player 11

Still a reasonable size, the download is 22.9 megabytes. If you visit the windows media player web site there is a wealth of information well presented in the now more common Vista theme.

From the Microsoft web site;

“When designing Windows Media Player 11, we looked at the needs of a wide range of users—from people who are just getting started with digital media to discriminating audiophiles with very large collections on their PCs. By incorporating this feedback into the design process, we made some significant changes to the Player to deliver a simpler, more visual way to navigate music, video, and other digital media and further improve the overall experience.”

Ok, so after downloading just run, and the setup takes you through the following,

I never actually had any errors, though this still popped up. No other errors after and none when running. I assume this is just a glitch in the installer! Should I be worried? Anyway, on to the next screenie.

Of course! (I wait for a day without this rubbish)

I chose the "Custom" option.

At this point everything's looks very Media Player 10. I would assume that they have just lumped the old installer with the newer application. This works ok, and means more people can install without any issues.

Next, I finally get to use it!