Windows Media Player 11 and IE7

Been playing around lately with two of Microsoft's new software releases, Windows Media Player 11 and Internet Explorer 7. As much as I dislike Microsoft software, I actually enjoyed beta testing WMP11 and IE7.

I am a WMP user because I run Windows Media Center from the PC and the Xbox, so if I want to stream my media from the PC to the Xbox, I am "forced" to organize my music and videos in WMP. I do have iTunes installed, but we only use that when we update the iPod. As far as WMP11 goes, it's impressive because it actually helped me organize my stuff better than how I put it together before. Especially useful is the two clicks it takes to obtain album art, way easier than in past versions. Plus, it has a streamlined interface that looks clean and uncluttered.

As for Internet Explorer 7, I just wanted to see how it compared to my browser of choice, Firefox 1.5. While it copied a lot of features from Firefox (tabbed browsing, mainly), I like the RSS feed availability on the left pane, and again, the streamlined and uncluttered feel of the new browser. But, being that I am always concerned about security, my main browser will still be Firefox. Plus, I like supporting the small guy.

Overall, both WMP11 and IE7 are worth the download. Bear in mind that both products are still in beta 2 versions.