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Windows Media Player 11, codenamed Polaris, features many changes. The Media Library is now presented sans the category trees which were prominent in the earlier versions. Rather, on selecting the category in the left pane, the contents will appear on the right, in a graphical manner with thumbnails - a stark departure from textual presentation of information.

Other features include:

Stacking - Stacking allows graphical viewing of how many albums you have in a specific category of music. The more items you see in a stack (category), the larger the pile.
Word Wheel - Searches and displays results as characters are being entered, without waiting for Enter key to be hit. . Results are refined based on further characters that are typed.
CD Burning - CD Burning now shows a graphical bar showing how much space will be used on the disc.
URGE - The new music store from Microsoft and MTV networks is integrated with the player.
Global Status - Global status shows a broad overview of what the player is doing. The information presented include status information regarding buffering, ripping, burning and synchronization.
Although a firm release date for Windows Media Player 11 has not been announced as of yet, an unsourced article claims that Microsoft is planning a Public Preview Beta of Windows Media Player 11 for Windows XP on 17 May 2006 with a final release coming in June 2006. Please note that Windows Media Player 11 for Windows XP was leaked on to the net on 12 May 2006. Windows Media Player 11 will also be included in Microsoft's upcoming Windows Vista operating system when it is released in late 2006 (for businesses) or early 2007 (for consumers); the Vista version will include some features not found in the XP version, though Microsoft hasn't said what those features will be. However, as a result of a European antitrust ruling, Microsoft will also be required to produce "Windows Vista N" editions which do not include Windows Media Player for the European Union market.

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