Windows Media Player is an integral component of any Windows operating system. Even after the initial installation of the system on a computer or laptop, it is installed by default by the media player (audio and video). However, many users of Windows-systems, to put it mildly, do not like it because of limited capabilities and malfunctions. Apparently, such users simply did not fully understand everything that this player is capable of .
Windows Media Player: Key Features
Let's start with the fact that the player itself combines enough features. He can not only play multimedia content.
Among the main tools, it is worth noting a clear system for organizing playlists, quickly extracting tracks or recording music to optical or USB media, sorting collections, searching for the necessary material on the Internet, editing information ID3 tags, connecting additional modules as plug-ins for audio processing, creating and use of visualization tools and much more.
All this is good, but there are also disadvantages. For example, the “Media Player” for “Windows 7” is completely inadequate in opening some files, such as clips with the DAT extension. Yes, indeed, such files can also apply to databases, and you have to open them in the player manually. But the main thing is that the Windows Media Player is initially focused on the "native" Windows formats (WMA, WMV), and for the rest, support is simply stated.
Player Issues
In addition, this player does not always behave adequately during playback. For example, if there are titles on the DVD, the player may not play them or produce some awkward set of unreadable characters. This is due to the fact that in it initially there is no support for the necessary codecs and decoders.
However, the problem is solved quite simply by installing K-Lite packages (it is best to choose Mega Pack for installation), in which you immediately need to specify the use of associations. After that, however, the original player can be deactivated, and the system will display a message stating that the standard application has been reset. Why it happens? Yes, only because when installing the package in the system (unless, of course, the user checked this item) the player is additionally installed in the form of the Classic version.
Windows Media Player Classic: hidden features
Previously, it was not necessary to separately install the classic version of the player. She was already present in the system, although it was hidden from the user's eyes. Why this happened is not known for certain. But, apparently, Microsoft was just trying to update its core development, which, unfortunately, turned out to be much worse than the classical one.
The main advantage of the classic player is that it not only recognizes absolutely all available formats (although you have to open them manually), but in comparison with the original player, it consumes at least half as much resources. Why is that? The blame, as it turns out, is the graphical shell (in Windows XP when using the original “Windows Media Player” there is such a slowdown that the loading of system resources reaches peak values, and playback occurs with a constant interruption of sound or the appearance of squares on the image).
What to use for multimedia playback?
As it is already clear, if not to speak about third-party programs, it is better to give preference to the classic version of the player, which can be installed during the installation of a set of codecs and decoders. Thus, it is possible to reduce the burden on the use of system resources, and to achieve the ability to play any multimedia content known today.