MS Media Player 10 - Beta Overview

I downloaded the Windows Media Player 10 Beta, and here's a little description of it:

Version tested: Windows Media Player 10 Technical Beta - 10.00.00.3473 - 12MB Disk Space, around 15,000K Mem.

OS: Windows XP Home Service Pack 1 Build 2600

Installation
Painless as with most MS products. Automatically creates a system restore point.

Privacy Options
Enhanced Playback Experience
- Retrieve media information from the internet for CDs and DVDs (option checked by default)
- Update my music files by retrieving additional media information from the internet (not checked)
- Acquire licenses automatically for protected content (not checked)

Enhanced Content Provider Services
- Send unique Player ID to content providers (not checked by default)

Customer Experience Improvement Program
- I want to help MS software and services even better by sending Player usage data to MS (not checked by default)

History
- Save file and URL history in the Player

The Help function has an extended section on Privacy options.

Privacy Statement

Has links to the general Privacy statement and the Privacy statement for enhanced media experience.

File Types
wma, wmv, asf, dvr-ms (MS Recorded TV Show), DVD, CD, mp3, avi, wav, mpeg, midi, aiff, au

More Options
- Add a shortcut to the desktop.
- Add a shortcut to the Quick Launch bar (default).


Upon first opening of the player:

SCREENSHOT, with the Color Chooser option

Top menu:
The Menu is located on top instead of on the left. Menu items:
Now Playing, Quick Acces Panel, Library, Rip, Burn, Sync, Guide, Online Stores.

Now Playing: Same as in previou versions. Visualisations seem to be the same as well.

Quick Acces Panel: Quick access to your CD drive(s); your music sorted by artist, album, genre; playlists; radio stations.

Library to create and manage your playlists: Takes a long time for the player to scan and import all your music...

Rip

Burn: has an option to copy protect music :D

Sync: To synchronize to portable device

Guide: The WindowsMedia.com guide

The player also comes with an option to use Parental Controls.

Online Stores: MP10 comes with two "built-in" online stores: CinemaNow for movies, and Napster for music.
Napster needs no introduction, and here's a link to CinemaNow (looks nifty with options to stream, download, or download-to-buy movies - even better than NetFlix: you don't have to get up to get your mail anymore).

On playing:

Graphic Equalizer: 31Hz to 16KHz. Pretty powerful option.

Media Link for E-Mail: Allows you to send someone an email with the link to the media you're playing (doesn't work on local files, of course).

Play Speed Settings: Allows you to set the speed of your media (from 0 to 2.5 the speed... interesting).

Quiet Mode: Difference between loud and soft sound - Medium or Little.

SRS WOW Effects: The SRS TruBass and WOW Effects from previous versions.

Video Settings: Hue, Brightness, Saturation, Contrast.

Color Chooser: Make any color the color of the player... neat!

Crossfading and Auto Volume Leveling

All by all, the new Media Player looks and feels stable (although it's still only a beta), and adds a few interesting features to the player.

Hi Negative

Nice Screenshot of Windows Media Player 10. But what about DRM? Wouldn't have a bad mouth taste with DRM isntalled on your computer? I would because they take away the right of you when you buy a song you want to play it everywhere and burn it as many times as you want for Backups. My other point which I find funny is that it looks kind of Apple iTunes.

DRM indeed is built into WMP10. It's an obvious attempt of MS to go after iTunes (hence the CinemaNow- and Napster-built-ins... it's obvious that there are going to be more suppliers in their "mall" than just those two). For now, it's still difficult to tell what exactly that DRM is going to be like... it's all there, but the true extent of it will probably only be clear when the alpha is released...

Thats true because then Computer freaks can take it apart and have a look at it.

Hmm, still ugly, still tons of wasted space I will stick to jetaudio which plays ALL formats (realcrap, dvd, mov....), is free, borderless windows, and isn't an all round pest. I really don't understand why people use windows media player all it means is you need another player (or two if dumb) for other formats. Or is there a way to play all other formats with the win media player? Mplayer still rules but i have read it is not near as good on win32 so i have not bothered on that platform. God bless those wonderful Hungarians mplayer guys:) ....ramble...ramble..disjointed thoughts .....

The only difference between Media Player and JetAudio (as far as file format support goes), is that Media Player doesn't support Real Media where JetAudio does. Media Player does support mov-files (up to version 2.0), dvd,... who needs Real crap anyway... .
And as far as I can tell, JetAudio is a 14MB download, too :)

Here's a list of what Media Player supports.

I've always found Media Player (with the DivX codec pack) the fastest player for any media (although I use the licensed MusicMatch for music, because of the enhanced features).