Free microsoft windows media software for windows

"I recently had the pleasure of visiting the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Wash. to experience Windows Media Player 11 for Windows Vista.
While there, I got a hands-on, close-up look at the coolest new Media Player features. I spent time exploring the streamlined interface; I downloaded music from the upcoming MTV Networks music service URGE; and I spent hours customizing views, album art size, and song lists. Media Player 11 had everything I had hoped the new version would and more, as well as just about everything Id read from the wish lists of community newsgroup posters in the past. It didnt take long to figure out that this was a total makeover of the last version.
Some of the unique features of Media Player 11 are a deeply integrated music library for both online and offline content, a new and improved interface, the ability to connect to additional hardware easily, and integrated, easy-to-use tools for following the process of any task (downloading music, burning CDs, synching music, or streaming video, just to name a few). Media Player 11 has a new integrated feel, too-one that makes online, network, and offline content indistinguishable.
Many of the improvements are due to the redesigned interface, which includes helpful shortcuts on the menus and menu bars, simplified trees and an improved and advanced media library. There are now Back and Forward buttons, giving Media Player a web-browser feel; a lightning-fast WordWheel search tool for getting through the library; and Xbox 360 support. And Im just getting started! In this article, Ill introduce the features I found most exciting, and features youre going to love when you get your hands on Media Player 11.
Reliability, ease of use, and hardware support
Windows Media Player 11 is by far the most reliable, easy to use, and complete music experience available. In my time with it, I found it to be extremely dependable. Its fast too, and it reminded me of expensive Internet jukeboxes normally found only in nightclubs and bars. As with those high-end players, the line between whats actually on the jukebox and what comes from the Internet is nearly indistinguishable. Media Player 11, in my opinion, is the best jukebox Ive ever experienced.
Enhanced, user-friendly interface
The Media Player 11 interface makes finding the media you want easier than ever. The complicated (and sometimes convoluted) trees that once appeared in the Media Player Library are gone. Now when you select a category from the Library, the content in that category appears off to the right instead of under the category on the left. Finally, no more long album and artist listings that scroll into infinity!
With the trees gone, Media Player 11 is easier to navigate than any of its predecessors. There arent any lines between the trees, album information, or CD cover art, and the default album art view now shows album art and track information in the center of the screen. All of this makes finding the information you want a lot easier.
Along with enhanced views, the buttons at the top of the interface contain new shortcuts. Some of my favorites include adjusting format and bitrate on the fly for CD ripping, and switching back and forth from audio to data settings for CD burning. With these new shortcuts, youll spend more time viewing and listening to your media, and less time managing it.
Finally, I love the new playback controls at the bottom of the screen. Theyre large and easy to use, and intuitive enough for anyone to easily operate. No more fumbling around trying to click those small controls from the old Media Player, and no more awkward scrambling for the mute button when your boss enters the room. "
by Joli Ballew
Related article - Microsoft announces Windows Media Player 11

By creating a specially malformed ASF file and inducing a user to play it, an attacker could overrun the buffer, with either of two results: in the simplest case, Windows Media Player 6.4 would fail; in the more complex case, code chosen by the attacker could be made to run on the user?s computer, with the privileges of the user. The scope of this vulnerability is rather limited. It affects only Windows Media Player 6.4, and can only be exploited by the user opening and deliberately playing an ASF file. There is no capability to exploit this vulnerability via email or a web page.

However, the patch eliminates additional vulnerabilities. Specifically, it eliminates all known vulnerabilities affecting Windows Media Player 6.4 ? discussed in Microsoft Security Bulletins MS00-090, MS01-029, and MS01-042 ? as well as some additional variants of these vulnerabilities that were discovered internally by Microsoft. Some of these vulnerabilities could be exploited via email or a web page. In addition, some affect components of Windows Media Player 6.4 that, for purposes of backward compatibility, ship with Windows Media Player 7, and 7.1. We therefore recommend that customers running any of these versions of Windows Media Player apply the patch to ensure that they are fully protected against all known vulnerabilities.

Windows Media Player for Windows XP includes components of Windows Media Player 6.4, but they are not affected by the ASF buffer overrun or by any of the other vulnerabilities discussed in the security bulletins listed above. However, the version 6.4 components that ship with Windows Media Player for Windows XP are affected by some of the newly discovered variants of these vulnerabilities. Rather than installing this patch, however, we recommend that customers install the 25 October 2001 Critical Update for Windows XP.

Windows Media Services 9 series for Windows Server 2003 is an industrial-strength platform for streaming live or on-demand audio and video content over the Internet or an intranet. Use Windows Media Services to configure and manage one or more Windows Media servers that deliver your content to clients.
Windows Media Services 2008 for Windows Server 2008 is an optional supplement to Windows Server 2008. In Windows Server 2008, the Streaming Media Services role (which includes the latest version of Windows Media Services) and remote administration tools are not included in Server Manager. To obtain the new features and tools available in Windows Media Services for Windows Server 2008, such as the built-in WMS Cache/Proxy plug-in, you must obtain and run the appropriate Streaming Media Services role installer file on the updated platform.
These Microsoft Update Standalone Package (MSU) files install either 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) versions (as noted in the file names) of:
- Windows Media Services and the rest of the Streaming Media Services role in Server Manager, on "full" installations of Standard and Enterprise editions of Windows Server 2008
- The Streaming Media Services Server Core role, on "Server Core" installations of Standard and Enterprise editions of Windows Server 2008
- The Windows Media Services snap-in for Microsoft Management Console (MMC) on a computer that is running the Business, Enterprise, or Ultimate edition of the Microsoft Windows Vista operating system