What's New in Windows Media™ Player 9 Series?
With over 120 new features in Windows Media™ Player 9 Series, there’s a lot to explore and something exciting for everyone.
We tried to fit this list into a Top 10 but there were too many to mention. So here’s our baker’s dozen list of what’s new in Windows Media Player 9 Series:
1. Fast Streaming- get instant-on, no-interruption streaming for broadband users, effectively eliminating buffering time when connected to a server running Windows Media Services 9 Series. For dial-up users, the new player dramatically improves streaming responsiveness and reliability. (All supported OS versions)
2. Mini-Player & Full Screen Audio Modes- frees up space on the desktop, making it easy to control playback of music and video from the taskbar or via full screen controls. (Windows XP version)
3. New audio effects including Crossfading & Volume Leveling- Crossfading enables you to create radio-style transitions in your playlists by overlapping song endings and beginnings. Volume leveling minimizes the volume difference in playlist items by equalizing the volume.(All supported OS versions)
4. Queue-It-Up- instantly add new music to your current playlist queue with one click. (All supported OS versions)
5. Variable Speed Playback- slows down or speeds up playback of audio or video without changing the pitch and tone of the audio—perfect for quickly getting through a long video segment, or for aiding comprehension. (Windows XP version)
6. Info Center View for WMA and MP3 Files- view artist details, ratings, lyrics, related news and radio stations, and even discover downloads and videos in the Now Playing window. (Windows XP version)
7. Advanced Tag Editor for WMA and MP3 files- supports over 35 media information tag types, including pictures, lyrics, mood, comments, and even synchronized lyrics. (Windows XP version)
8. Smart Jukebox Organization- Features including file and folder monitoring keep your library in sync across multiple folders, drives, even networked PCs. (Windows XP version)
9. Auto Info- Automatically add or fix album details such as composer, year, genre, and album art for your existing WMA and MP3 collection. (All supported OS versions)
10. Auto Playlists- enables the creation and editing of smart mixes that automatically update to reflect new additions or changes to your Media Library. You can also edit and personalize over 20 presets or add your own. (All supported OS versions, creation and editing of Auto Playlists on Windows XP)
11. High performance CD burning- lets you easily and quickly burn audio CDs with Volume Leveling. Burn music and video content as data on a CD-R for backup or playback in Windows Media-compatible DVD players, car stereos and portable CD players. (Audio CD burning on all OS versions, audio CD burning with volume leveling and data burning on Windows XP)
12. Support for Windows Media™ Audio and Video 9- Windows Media Audio and Video 9 offer breakthrough audio and video quality at any bitrate, with a 20% boost in quality compared with Windows Media Audio and Video 8. New audiophile-grade features such as WMA VBR, WMA Professional (24-bit, 96khz, 5.1+ channel), and WMA Lossless deliver unparalleled quality and flexibility. (All supported OS versions)
13. 5 Types of Plug-ins- For maximum personalization, a new plug-in model makes it easy to add audio and video effects, new UI features, rendering formats, skins, and visualizations to your player. (All supported OS versions)
Notes
For more information on any of the above features, please click Tools, then Options, and select Help.
For more details on Windows XP-specific features, please select the “Special Features” topic in Help.
