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The next update of Windows Media Player might push you to get Windows XP--especially if you'd like the audiophile-quality music and multichannel movie surround sound available only under Microsoft's latest operating system.

Windows Media Player 9 Series for Windows XP, due by year's end as a free download, supports new Microsoft encoding for 5.1- and 7.1-channel digital recordings, which Microsoft asserts sound superior to standard stereo CDs. Such recordings aren't widely available now, but music labels may offer special editions--for a price, and with copyright protection. Another new encoding algorithm improves compression on standard stereo WMA files.

You can burn WMA files to a CD within WMP 9, but you still need a third-party add-on to rip or burn MP3s. A new tag editor simplifies changing file information on downloaded music. WMP 9 can automatically build playlists based on your ratings or even your listening habits. Also new: a cross-fading feature that blends a song into the next, and an autoleveling feature that eliminates sudden volume changes between tunes (usable when burning CDs, too).

Online functions include links to music subscription services--Pressplay in the beta form, with more options in the final version--plus a new Internet radio tuner and media guide. The new Info Center View has album art, artist information, discographies, links, photos, and more. But the player gets the data from an online service that captures your PC's IP address, which could interest music labels seeking to identify potential pirates. Microsoft promises not to release the data, but representatives couldn't say what the company would do if subpoenaed.

Like version 8, WMP 9 supports DVD playback through a third-party decoder supplied with most DVD drives. On PCs with a video output, WMP 9 can even generate interlaced video for display on regular TV sets.

A separate edition of WMP 9 without most of these features will run on older versions of Windows, all the way back to Win 98 SE. Regardless of the OS, WMP 9 needs at least a 233-MHz Pentium II PC with 64MB of RAM, 30MB of hard disk space, a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive, a sound card, and speakers or headphones.

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