Windows Media Home > Windows Media Player 11

Storing your entire digital media collection in Windows Media Player 11 has many great benefits, but what about options for enjoying your digital media library away from your computer? New devices like the iriver clix and the Creative Zen Vision:M offer a great experience when teamed with Windows Media Player 11, helping you stay connected with your music, video, and pictures no matter where you are. Check out more great devices.

Simplified device setup
New sync features
Going mobile
Share it
Creating custom CDs

Simplified device setup

Syncing portable devices with Windows Media Player 11 is as simple as 1-2-3. Windows Media Player 11 now features a smart, easy-to-use wizard that guides you through device sync after connecting a device for the first time. You can simply connect one of the more than 100 Windows Media-enabled devices and Windows Media Player 11 will automatically recognize it and allow you to customize the name of the device. The Player then defaults to the Sync tab with an icon of your device, enabling quick and easy syncing of content. You can either choose to drag content to the Sync list or set up a permanent sync relationship using Auto Sync.

With Auto Sync, content syncing is automated in the background once the device is connected, ensuring that you always have the latest content on your device. Learn more about syncing.

New sync features

Cool new portable device features were added to Windows Media Player 11. The Sync tab includes several new enhancements that simplify the portable device experience, including a new device capacity meter and the ability to explore the contents of your device using the same Instant Search and visual navigation that you find in the Library view.

Browse from device

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.

Shuffle Sync

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.

Reverse Sync

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.

Guest Sync

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.

Sync Gauge

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.

Help icons and troubleshooting

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

New help icons attach visual alerts next to content when a known issue with protected content is about to take place. These alerts appear before syncing and burning of protected content, which pre-empts sync and burn errors. Each icon is interactive, providing clear solutions, with links to available online sources to correct incompatibility or rights issues.

Going mobile

But portable audio devices aren't the only options for enjoying music, video, and pictures on the go. As flash storage capacity increases, the mobile phone has grown in importance as a portable media device. With Windows Media Player 11, you also receive a great sync experience with a host of mobile phones, including Windows Mobile-powered devices and other Windows Media-enabled phones, such as the Nokia N91, a mobile jukebox phone with room for thousands of songs (with 4 gigabytes of storage).

Nokia N91

Share it

The new Media Sharing feature of Windows Media Player 11 lets you enjoy the contents of your Windows Media Player library from anywhere in your home. If you have a home network (wired or wireless), you can use Windows Media Player 11 to stream the contents of your library to networked devices. For example, if you have an Xbox 360 or other digital media receiver (DMR), you can use Windows Media Player to stream music and pictures from your computer to that device. This even works with music that you've downloaded from online music stores and services. For more information, see Digital Media at Home.

Roku Soundbridge

Xbox 360

Creating custom CDs

Burning custom CDs is one of the benefits of having a large digital music library. The Burn tab in Windows Media Player 11 has been enhanced to make this experience even better.

When you insert a blank CD into your PC, a capacity meter will appear in the Burn list, the same gas gauge as is used for device sync. As you drag and drop items into the Burn list, the meter will adjust accordingly. This helps you to better manage the work of getting the most music into your custom mix.

Gas gauge

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.

Disc spanning feature

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.

Burning data CDs

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.

 Back to top