Today Microsoft shipped a test version of Media Player 11 which will be out for Windows XP later this year and ship with Vista. First impressions have been good particularly in the navigation and search because of the new library database. It also fixed the annoying issue I had synchronising content to my SmartPhone where it would end up as a postage stamp in the middle of the screen. It is a little premature for a review, but it’s well worth taking a look at simply because IMO the experience is much better than Media Player 10.

It should be noted though that the improved library performance does not cross over from Media Player into Media Center. Vista will be the first version of Media Center to take advantage of WMP11 properly because it is being built with it in mind. This beta will only install on the 2005 Edition of Media Center and not 2002 or 2004. You must also pass Windows Genuine Advantage to install it.

Find out more
http://microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/11/default.aspx

Download
http://microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/download/download.aspx