Windows Media Player 12 for Windows XP

Windows Media Player 12 is the latest Media Player offering by Microsoft. The player ships as part of the Windows 7 operating system. Although Microsoft hasn’t officially made this version available for the Windows XP users, there are a couple of tweaks that can make the Media Player 11 work as well as Media Player 12. We will get to that at the end of this article.

What makes Windows Media Player 12 better?

There is a marked improvement in the user interface. The player is brighter and intuitive. It is also lighter and thus more responsive than the previous versions.
Some of the new features that stand out in the new version are:

• Completely new library management system that separates the Now Playing and the Library view. This ensures smooth library management and manipulation.
•  The Now Playing mode consists of the playlist currently being played and videos, visualizations.
• Support for wider range of formats and playback options. The Media Player 12 recognizes a missing codec, searches and installs them for you automatically.
• Popular new formats like AAC, H.264 can now be played thanks to the feature mentioned in the previous point.
• You can browse through your iTunes music library which is a good feature if you have bought songs from the iTunes store.
• The song preview option is good when browsing for songs. Hover over a particular song and you can listen to a 15 second clip.

Although there are plenty of good features, there are a few features that are still missing and would have come handy.

Disadvantages of Windows Media Player 12 for Windows XP

• No native support for FLAC (lossless audio format) files.
• The visualization option is a little choppy on slower systems.

How can I get the new Windows Media Player 12 for Windows XP?
As mentioned earlier, Microsoft does not provide this version of the player for XP. Nevertheless, you can download this tweaked version created by a DeviantArt use. Since this version is not officially supported, the risk of installing it on a computer is squarely on the user. The player has most features that we talked about in this article. You can download the player here: http://hameddanger.deviantart.com/art/Windows-Media-Player-12-for-XP-182145760.