Windows Media Player 11 for XP due by end of June

Digital media 1 Minute

What’s missing from Windows Media Player 11?

CNET is reporting that Microsoft plans to release an updated version of Windows Media Player for Windows XP within the next couple of months. It’s the same code, more or less, that will go into Windows Vista when it’s released at the end of this year:

Microsoft is on track to release a Windows XP version of Windows Media Player 11 before the end of June, the company confirmed last week.

Microsoft has been uncharacteristically tight-lipped about the XP incarnation. The company briefly demonstrated it at the Consumer Electronics Show in January but has said little since. Microsoft has said the XP version won’t have all the features of its Vista sibling, but the company won’t say which features will be excluded. The company also has yet to offer a public test version of the software.

What’s missing? A Microsoft document that was briefly available for public download last week has some answers – and raises a few new questions:

When running on Windows XP, the following Windows Media Player 11 features are not available:

  • Playing content (including DRM) on your PC from another PC or device
  • Viewing content from the Vista Media library on other PCs or digital devices, such as Tivo
  • Playback of High Value video content
  • Shell integration with Windows Media Player
  • Content Indexer change notification to sync My Music and WMP library
  • DVD Fullscreen playback enhancements
  • DRM Transcode
  • High quality video streaming over home networks
  • Media foundation for playback

A lot of the missing features are related to streaming DRM-protected content from a PC with Media Center features to other devices, especially modern extenders like the Xbox 360. Based on screen shots I’ve seen, the XP version of WMP 11 will have the much-improved interface of its Vista sibling. Will it be able to handle extra-large media libraries as quickly as the Vista version? Stay tuned.

Published by Ed Bott

Tech journalist. Author of 25+ books. ZDNET Contributing Editor since 2006. Contact info: https://edbott.com/contact-me/

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4 thoughts on “Windows Media Player 11 for XP due by end of June”

  1. Pingback: » Media Player 11 Expected This June  InsideMicrosoft - part of the Blog News Channel
  2. Pingback: Windows Media Player 11 Updates at MSTechToday

  3. I myself won’t upgrade to Vista ’till late 2008 so I’m looking forward to this XP release of Windows Media Player 11. I love it, I have all my music and videos organized in it and it’s been great for me.

    This summer won’t be bad for my software expectations……Firefox 2.0 and WMP 11.

  4. I have alot of respect for the Windows Media Player 11, but the one thing I do not understand is it’s unbelievable inability to play your protected content already saved to your hard drive. What the hell is that all about? I am not happy that I have to find my old original cd’s and re-copy them. That was the reason I copied them in the first place. This is clearly a flaw that a long time Windows Media Player user is not to happy about!!!!!!!

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