Rather, on selecting the category in the left panel, the contents will appear on the right, in a graphical manner with thumbnails featuring album art or other art depicting the item-a departure from textual presentation of information. The Media Library no longer presents the media items such as albums and artists in a tree-based listing. There was another large revamp with version 7, with a new user interface and increased functionality. Media Player 2, like its predecessor, was also a wrapper - this time around DirectShow. This player was an evolution from the ActiveMovie Control, providing a richer and more intuitive user interface. Perian extends QuickTime support for many popular types of mediaĪ wrapper was provided for users in the form of the ActiveMovie Control, allowing users to play media files on their computer.
In Microsoft released ActiveMovie, a new way of dealing with media files and streaming media which the original Media Player couldn't handle. Windows has had a media player since version 3.
Windows Media Player replaced an earlier piece of software simply called Media Player, adding features beyond simple video or audio playback.
