Microsoft is rolling out a brand-new media player on Windows 11, to all Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel.
Simply named Media Player, the program can play all your local music and videos, with a design that matches the Windows 11 aesthetic.
It's essentially an upgraded Windows Media Player, although the two program will exist separately. But the big question is whether anyone will use the new Media Player. Let's explore.
The History of Windows Media Player
Confusingly, when Windows Media Player launched in 1991 on Windows 3.0 with Multimedia Extensions, it was called Media Player.
Naturally, the program evolved with each new iteration of Windows, eventually becoming known as Windows Media Player. It grew to support more video formats, DVD playback, music visualization, and media streaming.
Many used it for its ability to rip and burn CDs and DVDs. If you wanted to transfer songs from a CD to your computer, chances are you used Windows Media Player.
The software's last big update was Windows Media Player 12 in 2009, for Windows 7. It was replaced by Groove Music in Windows 8, though still included in that operating system and all future versions as an optional feature.
Introducing Media Player for Windows 11
Now, as announced on the Windows Blog, Groove Music is being retired on Windows 11. In its place will be a new program called Media Player.
Media Player is rolling out to Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel. This is how Microsoft tests features before releasing them to the public.
According to Microsoft, it "designed the new Media Player to make listening to and watching your multimedia content more enjoyable on Windows 11". It features a playback view that showcases album art and artist imagery. The entire app fits perfectly with Windows 11 and its rounded corner aesthetics.
For now, Media Player's focus is purely on the offline experience of managing and playing your local music and videos, though Microsoft welcomes your feedback on features you'd like to see via the Feedback Hub.
If you currently use Groove Music to manage your music collection, this will migrate to Media Player. It will also automatically integrate content from the music and video files on your computer, though you can manually specify other folders too.
Microsoft is aware of some existing issues, like broken playback from network locations, and bugs editing album metadata or sorting library content with accented characters. Future updates will focus on new ways to browse your media and manage your play queue.
Will Anyone Use Windows 11's Media Player?
While the new Media Player replaces Groove Music, the traditional Windows Media Player will remain available in Windows Tools.
But this all begs the question: will anyone actually use Windows 11's new Media Player?
For the average PC user, perhaps. Since Media Player will come with Windows 11, and likely be the default player, many will find themselves using it without consciously choosing to.
For others, they've been using one of the many other great free media players—most likely VLC Media Player, which is one of the best media players period. It's free, open source, supports most video codecs out the box, is in constant development, and is available for Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android.
It's unlikely that this group will convert to a new media player, especially one that is in its infancy and lacking many of the features they'll be used to. But perhaps, in time, Windows 11's Media Player will become a worthy competitor. Shedding the baggage of Windows Media Player and Groove Music is a good start.