 MP3 Insider: Ten reasons to love Microsoft Windows Media Player 11 - CNET reviews: "In its internal studies, Microsoft determined that libraries of 10,000 tracks or more are now typical rather than the exception to the rule. Thus, WMP 11 is engineered to handle not only thousands but also millions of tracks" -- News.com Well according to news.com Microsoft will release their Windows Media Player 11 beta on Wednesday. Hot Donkey. Deftly marketed with this exciting news is a big push for Urge, Microsoft's answer to iTunes. This is to be expected of course, they don't really make any money off of WMP11 and stand to make a lot of money off of Urge. While I have played around with Windows Media Player 11 already (and really like it) both with a Vista beta and at CES earlier this year, I haven't really been able to put it through the test as the Vista betas have not been stable enough for me in the past to import my large mp3 library. But you can bet that on Wednesday (assuming news.com is right) I'll be downloading that sucker and trying it out in the more stable XP environment. Apparently news.com originally was out with news that WMP 11 was released this morning but has since changed their story to Wednesday. There are rumored copies to be floating around out there in internetland though.  News.com gives 10 reasons why you might love WMP11 and while I skipped over all the inspired by iTunes/deft music store integration mumbo jumbo, it is reason number two (hard core performance) that I'm most excited about. I will have a more detailed write up once I download it and play around with it on Wednesday but this is indeed good news! Update: Jupiterresearch analyst Michael Gartenberg has an excellent write up on the new WMP11. He's actually pretty impressed with the Urge music service.
Wednesday, Microsoft will launch the beta version of Windows Media Player 11 for XP (WMP 11), which includes the embedded Urge music service from MTV Networks. Additionally, iRiver today launched an updated version of the U10, called the Clix, and it's now the poster player for the new WMP 11/Urge universe.
Call it the vastly improved Microsoft digital music universe.
There's no doubt that WMP 11 and Urge are a dynamic duo. The two are linked at a genetic level, offer modern and thoughtfully designed interfaces, and have the kinds of useful features that one should expect in a fast-maturing digital music world. Throw in the Clix and a host of other Windows Media devices--MP3 players, smart phones, and PVPs--that mesh well with this system, and suddenly you have a compelling iPod/iTunes alternative.
So far, the infant do-it-all jukebox is not without its faults, which includes no built-in networking for WMP 11 and some bugginess (it is, after all, in beta mode), but I am impressed with the combined effort--one that offers hope to the many pieces of the Windows Media universe. Here are my 10 reasons to love WMP 11:
- 1. Inspired by iTunes
Cleaning up the interface was the most critical mission for the developers. Microsoft admitted that emulating Apple with clean visual design was paramount to the future success of WMP. While WMP 10 was functional and packed with features, the interface and thus the user experience were horrible. WMP 11 relies more on album art (and stacks of albums) and less on text. Photo and video thumbnails, more open space, a light background, thoughtfully designed menu buttons, and a tight, glossy look give Windows users a media jukebox they can actually be proud of. As the Microsoft product manager stated to us: "We guarantee a good user experience." So far, so good.
- 2. Hard-core performance
In its internal studies, Microsoft determined that libraries of 10,000 tracks or more are now typical rather than the exception to the rule. Thus, WMP 11 is engineered to handle not only thousands but also millions of tracks (or video or photo files). You'll notice this in the noninterrupted speed of scrolling through thousands of tracks, instant and categorized search results, background file transcoding, and obviously, the lack of hiccups in playing back media. Obviously, this performance takes a hit if you're using the bare-minimum hardware (233MHz, 64MB of RAM), but I can assure you there's a powerful engine underneath the pretty exterior.
- 3. Deft music store integration
Microsoft finally sees the importance of creating a seamless jukebox-music store experience. It is one of the core factors for the success of iTunes and its music store. WMP 10 included access to Napster, Rhapsody, and other content sources within the jukebox itself, but the experience was fragmented, buggy, and poorly branded. Urge feels like a primary feature of WMP and includes dedicated music folders that are in tune with the rest of the jukebox.
- 4. Content choices
In addition to Urge, you can access Napster, Rhapsody, CinemaNow, and many other audio and video sites. In short, while these stores aren't as tightly integrated with WMP 11 as Urge (and they don't even exist in the version of WMP 11 that you download from Urge), they offer choice. iTunes-like video integration could be much tighter, and this should come soon, though Media Center Edition owners probably don't care.
- 5. Networking
While WMP 11 doesn't have built-in networking--one of the few flaws of this version--you can still stream content to devices such as the Xbox 360 using a separate piece of software. Microsoft promises that soon you'll be able to communicate with other PCs, set-top boxes, and devices from within the program itself--and stream DRM content to those devices.
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Let me know what you think about WMP 11.
6. Two-way street
Without third-party software or other techniques, you can transfer content only one way on an iPod--that is, from iTunes to iPod. But WMP 11 allows you to transfer (automatically if you like) files from your portable device back to WMP 11. Dubbed reverse sync, this function is especially nice for digital images or video that you capture or transfer to the device or for songs that you purchase over the air.
- 7. Device-friendly
Microsoft has added neat tricks to the mix, including the hyped-up gas gauge, which gives you a visual indicator of how much space you have left on your portable device. The gas gauge also helps during the CD-burning process. Also, when you connect any MTP player, an image of the player will show up in the sync area. The Creative Zen Vision:M works particularly well within WMP 11. Other players, such as the iPod, will still show up in the left-hand navigation pane. Also, Microsoft has tightened up the specs for PlaysForSure (now 2.0) and has implemented them in the new iRiver Clix.
- 8. Fill in the blanks
WMP 10 utilized text-based databases for identifying files without correct ID3-tag metadata. WMP 11 uses audio-waveform matching--called advanced audio fingerprinting--which helps fill in missing data such as album names, artists, and album art automatically. This feature worked well in my testing of some generically tagged MP3s.
- 9. Cool tricks
Dig a bit deeper, and you'll find some awesome features, such as CD spanning, which queues up subsequent discs when the current CD is filled to the max, as well as ripping to WMA Pro, Microsoft's 5.1 or 7.1 surround format.
- 10. Microsoft's new ecosystem
Part of the iPod's success is that it has solid, easy-to-use software behind it. The iTunes-iPod relationship is often referred to as an ecosystem. WMP 11 gives WMA devices--and there's a boatload of them--a place to call home. Those who've been using the historically frustrating WMP for years just got an amazing upgrade and a sneak preview of the full Windows Vista version.
James Kim is a senior editor for CNET Reviews.
Michael Gartenberg | May 15, 2006, 02:42 PM
It was first announced back before CES but today, I can start talking officially about my experiences with the new URGE music service being released jointly by Microsoft and MTV. Rather than wait until Vista ships next year, Microsoft and MTV have gone ahead and released the first version of URGE this week. Closely tied to Windows Media Player 11, URGE will formally go into a public beta on Wed. and you can sign up for a free two week trial of the service. Here's what you can expect. The download for WMP 11 was fairly small, about 22mb and installed without issue (although if you're using it on a MacBook, please let me know). When you install, you're asked if you want to also install URGE as a default choice (you can select from other services as well but URGE is the real story here). Once you're installed and set up your account you start to see how some of the changes made to WMP 11 work well. The whole experience is less cluttered and far more streamlined (sort of like that other music player from that other company in Cupertino). The UI borrows heavily from Vista but doesn't feel out of place. Overall, all my playlists were imported but clearly WMP and iTunes metadata don't play well. Some of my album art didn't show at all, some was just gone in both places. Several CDs were split as if they were two or three different disks, even though they were tagged correctly and worked fine in iTunes. Don't get me wrong, it was nothing major but if you're going to have both of these programs managing your music, expect some issues.
The real fun comes when you start using URGE. As part of the URGE install, you download the entire catalog of 2.5 million songs to your computer. That makes searches quick (although the beta nature of the software was clear with a few performance glitches here and there). What's nice is that if you're subscribed to the portable download service, you can simply create a playlist for sync and the songs will download by themselves and then sync over to your device. URGE is also clearly targeted for music discovery, Most artists allow you create a feed that is automatically downloaded and updated with music by and similar to the chosen artist. I easily set up a bunch of feeds and albums to sync for the road and it worked flawlessly. This feature really shows off the powerful nature of the subscription model and offers some nice innovation for discovering new music (after all, navigating through two million tracks can be daunting). One of the biggest issues that subscription services have had is that no one has taken the time to explain the benefits of the model to consumers who have simply never had the ability to rent music in this fashion before.
Now all this is fine but what about when you want to take music on the road? URGE and WMP 11 work with any "Plays for Sure" labeled device. (That is, any device that actually supports subscription downloaded content, so read the fine print on the box carefully.) I've been using a 2gb iRiver Clix, the follow on the U10 (iRiver seems to be learning something about branding). It's about the size of a box of matches and has a nice flash based UI. It can also play back video and some flash based games but I mostly have been using the music features. This is one of the devices that will be showcased with URGE and it's a nice player. I do prefer devices that are a little thinner (makes them more pocektable) and with higher capacity so I plan on hooking URGE up with a Sandisk Sansa E series, which comes in 4 and 6 gig capacities and has a look very similar to the iPod nano (in fact, the Sandisk line across the board is extremely well done and while it lacks the iPod brand and total elegance of Apple's offering, they're great designs and good values). Windows Mobile devices that are running WMP 10 will also work with URGE, I had no problem loading a few CDs onto the Star Trek phone I've been using.
So overall, how does WMP 11/URGE combo stack up against the iPod/iTunes? Well, if you're looking at it from the music store perspective, it's hard to see how this combination bests Apple in any way. While Microsoft talks about the value of the platform, most consumers are too busy listening to their iPods to listen to the message. In terms of a music subscription services, URGE shines. The onboard catalog of music, combined with great editorial content and new innovations like music feeds make this service really stand out from the pack. Add in a good portable device and you start to see how the market can potentially shift over time to a new model. Right now, a lot will come down to marketing. Microsoft still lacks a spokesperson who can deliver the message across and while URGE and WMP 11 are tightly integrated, there's still not a great story being told about device integration and branding. It may not be enough to remove Apple from king of the digital music world but it very well has the chance to expose the market to the benefits of subscription services and that in and of itself is a pretty big thing. But don't take my word, download the app on Wed and take a spin for yourself for two weeks.
URGE would be cool if...
I downloaded one of the leaked copies of Windows Media Player 11 so that I could take a peek at URGE, the new music download service from Microsoft and MTV (and VH1 and CMT).
After spending a few minutes with it, it is definitely slicker than I expected. The search results, for example, change as you type. So as I typed "possum dixon" into the search box, WMP11 kept refining my results. That's kind of cool.
It also features several purchase options from buying songs for $.99 up to an all-you-can-eat download plan for $14.95. Plus, because it is MTV, you can watch music videos for songs for free (at least, I think they're free. I watched "Dancing Shoes" from Arctic Monkeys and wasn't prompted for payment). In a nutshell, if you've used iTunes, you know what to expect from WMP11 and URGE.
The big problem, though, is that URGE doesn't support iPods (not a surprise considering who built it). So unless you own one of the three compatible players (or unless you want to ditch your iPod and buy one so you can try URGE... OK, stop laughing.), you can't use it.
It makes me wonder why MSFT and MTV would waste... er, spend so much money building something that a relatively small number of people can use. It's not like they're adding some killer app that people will be willing to switch for. |
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