To simplify the Windows Media Player interface, the classic menus are now turned off by default, but still accessible by right-clicking anywhere on the Player's frame.

Right-click or click the down arrow that is assigned to each activity tab (Now Playing, Library, Rip, Burn, and Sync) to reveal menu options that are relevant to each respective tab. This new feature offers quick access to the most common Player settings.

Navigating Windows Media Player is now easier than ever with back and forward buttons located in the top-left corner. Simply flip back and forth between the various screens to retrace your steps or get back to a previous task.

The new playback controls are easier to find and use and feature improved repeat, shuffle, and full-screen options.

With just one click, you can change the look of the area in the lower-left corner of the Player to a thumbnail view of playback status, album art, or an equalizer.

Discover new music
Designed for music lovers

Discover new music

Many of the great stores you know in Windows Media Player 10 are available in this version of the Player. To find your store, just click the Browse all Online Stores option on the Online Stores tab. See a list of stores available in Windows Media Player 11.

All of the features you loved about the Windowsmedia.com Guide in previous versions of the Player are still available in Windows Media Player 11. The Media Guide offers free music videos, movie trailers, and quick access to online radio stations. To access the Guide, just click the Online Stores tab, and then click Media Guide. Use the Radio Tuner (link in the right column of each page) to easily search for stations around the world.

Do you have CDs that you want to copy into your Windows Media Player library? No problem. Windows Media Player 11 makes ripping your entire music collection fast and simple.

Designed for music lovers

The navigation for the library remains in the left pane, but a number of improvements have been made to help with organization, layout, and flow. Music now has its own focused view, with a simple list showing artists, albums, songs, genres, years, and ratings. You can add additional items to this list by right-clicking Library in the navigation pane and selecting Show more views.

Enjoying digital music shouldn't mean giving up your album art. Delivering a more visual experience, Windows Media Player 11 uses album art throughout the library, renewing a physical connection with music and providing you with a much easier reference when browsing through Artist, Album, and Song views.

Albums that share the same characteristics (Artist, Genre, Year, and so forth) are shown in "stacks," providing you with a visual reference that mimics a "stack" of CDs or records.

With the increased emphasis on album art, Windows Media Player 11 also ensures that missing album art isn't a problem. Most album art can automatically be populated in the background using the advanced audio fingerprinting capabilities in Windows Media Player 11.

Large libraries with fast performance are great, but what happens when you only remember part of a song title or you want to immediately jump right to the music you are looking for? Instant Search allows fast access to your digital music collection. Just type in the track, album, artist, or a keyword—or even part of a name—and let Instant Search do the work for you. Results are returned with each keystroke, narrowing down the choices as you type, and providing lightning-fast response time, regardless of the size of your library.

With large digital music libraries, tracks usually come from a number of different places, with varying levels of accurate media information (metadata). It's often hard to ensure all of your tracks are tagged appropriately. In addition to automated metadata tools that run in the background, Windows Media Player 11 now includes audio waveform matching that builds on existing media information features and precisely pinpoints the exact album information for your tracks.

You can still create playlists by dragging songs or albums into the List pane, but Windows Media Player 11 includes two new options for creating and saving playlists. The Create Playlist link in the navigation pane provides one-click access to creating playlists. Simple save and naming capabilities in the List pane provide intuitive playlist creation right at your fingertips.

Each category now has its own list view in the navigation pane that is tailored to best sort and organize content. For example, just as the Music view offers the appropriate Artist, Album, and Song options, the Pictures view offers Date Taken, Rating, and so forth; the Video view offers Actors, Genre, and so forth; and the Recorded TV view has Series, Actors, and so forth. Other new features available in the music library, such as thumbnail and stacking views, and Instant Search capabilities, extend to each media category, providing a simple, uniform experience across Windows Media Player 11.

Simplified device setup

New sync features

A device icon in the left navigation pane appears when a device is connected and allows browsing of all device content using the Library pane. Just like navigating content in the local library, you can browse device content using album art views, scrolling and Instant Search.

With just one click, the new Shuffle Sync feature can calculate your device capacity and fill the device with a random sampling that is weighted toward the highest-rated content in your library.

The new Reverse Sync feature allows you to transfer digital media captured on your device back to your PC. Content, such as a photo captured on a phone or camera or music purchased over the phone can easily be transferred from a device to the Player library.

Do you find yourself juggling multiple Player libraries between your home and work computer? The Guest Sync feature offers a great solution for keeping your device current with selections from multiple PCs.

A gauge appears in the Sync pane next to content when device syncing begins, providing a visual estimate of how much room is available on the device. Content download status is also shown in the bottom-left corner.

Windows Media Player 11 provides a much more transparent sync and management experience with protected content.

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Creating custom CDs

When burning a CD, a gas gauge icon, similar to the one that appears when you sync a device, provides a visual estimate of the remaining space on a CD.

If you want to burn a larger amount of items than will fit on one disc, the new disc-spanning feature in Windows Media Player 11 queues up the next disc when you reach maximum capacity on the first disc. This provides an intuitive way to burn multiple custom CDs on the fly while providing the opportunity for last-minute reordering of content. After the first disc is finished burning, your disc drive opens and you are prompted to insert the next disc.

Switching from burning Redbook audio CDs to data CDs provides an easy way to back up your entire music collection. Simply click the arrow on the Burn tab and click Audio CD or Data CD