I'm a huge fan of Windows Media Player, so much as to the way that it's always the first program I start up when playing on my computer. I'm thinking about upgrading to Windows Media Player 11 but have no idea if it's a good idea. I remember I did upgrade to the beta version of 11, but it was downright horrible and buggy. Should I do so now that 11 is in it's official release (..and probably a lot more stable)?

(..please don't recommend winamp and itunes, I hate using them.)

hells no
i don't even use mine anymore.

get "media player classic"
it's an open source light program and plays almost everything without bogging down your system

http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/video_players/media_player_classic.cfm

Media Player Classic doesn't bog down your system because it doesn't offer any features apart from simple playback of your files. There are no library functions, no functions to rip or burn media files, playlists have to be written by hand, and no marketplace. Media Player 11 is more like Microsoft's solution to iTunes. I actually prefer it over iTunes, though. It seems to tax my system less than Apple's software, I just wish Microsoft made it interface better with media devices (particularly their own devices, it's kind of silly that the Zune won't interface with Media Player at all).

I still use winamp 2.whatever I'm old school like that. I use VLC player sometimes, but I've got everything just in case I can't play a file in winamp.

marine
I still use winamp 2.whatever I'm old school like that. I use VLC player sometimes, but I've got everything just in case I can't play a file in winamp.

EXACTLY!

That's precisely what I do! Well, I don't use VLC... But yay for Winamp 2! ...You do need all the other stuff just in case, but NOT Realplayer (eryuck!). Mplayer classic with the Realplayer filter handle that (it handles Quicktime files as well), and just in case I have Jet Audio to do Realplayer stuff as well- for a comercial player it's also good for a lot of general stuff that the other's don't always do: it handles optional subtitle selections in movies really well, Ogg files, Realplayer files etc.

Media Player 11 is fine, and itunes is ok, but the whole "media centre" aspect pisses me off! I'll handle my OWN ripping to mp3, CD burning, music buying, and music libaraies thanks very much! I WILL NOT do that through a crappy all-in-one program that might do things to my music and vids I don't know about, or just do it plain badly or second rate... Use a good burning program, a good ripping program, organise my own muics and vid lists etc.

But to adress the subject... Media Player 11 works alright. It still doesn't support as many formats and codecs as I'd wish, but I haven't noticed any bugs or crashes. As far as I'm concerned, the best thing about it is that the default "skin" is nice and dark instead of bright and light. :)