After a long wait and prolonged beta testing Microsoft has finally released Windows 7, touted as the ultimate next generation OS. Apart from fixing the performance and security glitches of its predecessor Vista, the new OS has also been shipped with a spanking new media player. Windows media player 12 sports several new playback and network sharing features that are supposed to give the users thrilling multimedia experience. It has got a cool and sleek looking interface.
The library feature of Windows 7 exists in WMP 12 as well. Therefore, the application will search for music files in a virtual folder named music library. It is actually a folder consisting of various user made folders placed in the hard drive. The OS deals with music consolidation in this case, in lieu of the media player itself. WMP 12 also has a video library that is identical to the music library. The major improvement in the video playback department is that WMP12 features native support for popular and widely used video formats like h264 and Xvid. The users no longer need to use third party codecs for playing those files on their computers.
WMP 12 also supports sideshow even though it should not be compared to a standalone photo organizer. If you have a number of digital media players syncing them with WMP 12 is a cakewalk. The users find media browsing in their home or office network a cumbersome will love the network sharing features of WMP12. Streaming music and video over a home network is fairly easy and straightforward. It works perfectly with the editions of Windows Vista too.
It seems that Microsoft has concentrated on improving the video handling capabilities of WMP 12 more than the audio. In a Windows 7 based PC, the users can take the help of hardware decoding. It means that WMP 12 can utilize the graphics card for video playback while the majority of media players still consume CPU resources for the job.
With WMP 12, creating a playlist and adding files to it is as easy as it gets. Thereafter, one can send the playlist to portable media players as well as MTP devices. If a media player does not recognize a particular audio file, WMP tries to convert it. Usual features like CD ripping, Internet radio and TV recording are all there in the application. Even if one does not use WMP, he can benefit from it if he possesses a MTP player. The MTP drivers in a PC are handled by WMP.
However, Microsoft has given the application a real boost in the performance section. Earlier versions of WMP earned brickbats from the users for their resource guzzling nature. Surprisingly enough, WMP 12 consumes less CPU resources. In fact, running the application on low speed net books would not be a problem. It is likely to find favor with those Windows users who prefer third party media players like VLC player or Win-Amp. From the early tests, WMP 12 has emerged a winner and with gradual penetration of Windows 7 worldwide it is likely to grab a major user base.
