The life of Windows Media Player spans several Windows and for a good stretch of time, it was will fully used for playing media files. It is also available in the freshly released Windows 8, although Microsoft has introduced nothing new in it since version 12, which is delivered in Windows 7 as well. Let's see about Windows Media Player 12 For Windows 8.

Because of the antitrust ruling against Microsoft, the company is now forced to ship the operating system without Windows Media Player in some countries. In this case, you can download the component separately and add it to the system.

In need of major updates for the past years, the application has remained stuck in time, while user needs have increased constantly.There is an initial configuration process, which can be swiftly skipped if you decide to run the application with the recommended settings. These include making WMP the default player, downloading usage rights and details about media automatically, as well as sending usage information to Microsoft.

On the other hand, customizing the settings involves a pretty time-consuming process, considering today’s standards, especially if you decide to pick the file types you want to be played by Media Player.

The Good

It can still render some of the most common video formats out of the box and, if you get the right codecs, you can expand the list.
You get to adjust the audio quality through the equalizer and the SRS WOW effects, as well as rip Audio CDs and burn media files to disc. It includes DLNA support.

The Bad

Lack of support for DVD video is quite a disadvantage these days, for any media player on the market. Also, you need to install codecs in order to play some known video formats, like MKV.

The Truth

The shiny new Windows recently delivered by Microsoft brings to the table improvements across the board, but there are some areas in which the Redmond-based company has failed to move the needle. Media Player is the perfect example, having lost all contact with the current reality.
Some of its features might have been surprising a few years ago but, at the moment, they mark it as outdated software that doesn’t quite fit the“modern”tag applied toWindows 8.