How Windows Media Player Is Better Than iTunes.

Microsoft’s vaunted Windows Media Player turned version 11 just in time for Halloween. Only a launch on April Fool’s Day would be cooler.

Here’s a list of what’s better about Windows Media Player when compared to Apple’s iTunes.

Unfortunately for most Mac users, I’m forced to compare iTunes on Windows to Windows Media Player on Windows.

Microsoft killed further development of Windows Media Player on the Mac. Why?

Was Apple’s competition too much for Redmond? That’s what I think.

Running on my Sony Vaio with Windows XP Pro, Windows Media Player (WMP) hasn’t crashed once in a day of use.

That makes it better than the latest version of iTunes 7 which was buggy from the gitgo.

WMP (I’m just tired of typing out Windows Media Player) has a whole new design; vibrant colors contrast with iTunes’ platinum plastic.

Elegance is a dish best served forgotten at Microsoft.

iTunes 7 is familiar, handy, logical, easy to navigate, even with more complexity.

WMP remains difficult to figure out where you are, what you’re doing, what you should do next. Score one for iTunes.

Microsoft promotes WMP’s Fast Access To Settings as if a drop down menu is something new.

Ditto with the Universal Back and Forward Buttons. What a great idea, though it’s years late in arriving.

Guess what? WMP’s Revamped Playback Controls are, well, uh, revamped. Look familiar? There’s probably a reason photocopiers sell so well to Microsoft.

WMP has that familiar black background which displays media; music, album covers, movies, etc. Familiar? Uh, can you say iTunes 7?

Score a few more for Apple’s ubiquitous media player, Mac or Windows.

Score one for WMP’s ability to store music, video, pictures, and recorded TV. Hey, iTunes does that, right?

Yes, but iTunes doesn’t record the TV shows from your TV. iTunes makes you pay.

iTunes wins on organizational structure of media, as WMP is typical Windows, and more complex to find and use what you’ve stored and want.

Score another for Windows as WMP works on more media players than Apple’s iTunes which connect only to iPods. Of course, iPods are 70-percent of the market.

How about Microsoft’s media store? iTunes is more popular but… well, there’s no but.

Microsoft’s Zune Marketplace isn’t out yet, neither is the Zune media player.

URGE is out and looks, well, a little like iTunes Store. There’s all that color and black background again. Score again for Apple.

Enough already. This really isn’t a contest. Microsoft’s Windows Media Player isn’t much competition for iTunes, even if iTunes is buggy.

URGE isn’t much competition as a media store—music, movies, TV, whatever—iTunes has what? 70-percent of the market share? 80-percent?

The only thing I like about WMP is that it hasn’t crashed yet after more than a full day of use. That’s the only thing I’ve found that’s really, truly better than iTunes 7.

Mac users, rejoice! The new Windows Media Player is only available for Windows XP. Hmmm… you could buy a new Mac, buy Parallels to run Windows, and run the new Media Player on your Mac.

Or, not. Why bother? Have you tried the new Windows Media Player? Am I right or wrong? Is it better or worse than iTunes?