Windows Media Player is the well-known application that Windows operating systems come bundled with in order to provide users with one of the most effective ways of playing and managing multimedia files.

The first thing you'll notice when opening Windows Media Player is that the interface is especially tailored to help you organize your media easier. The libraries are well structured and give you quick access to music, videos and pictures, as well as recorded TV shows or network locations that contain multimedia files.

Searching is quite fast, while the ''Back'' and ''Forward'' buttons provide a bit more control when playing multimedia files and organizing the library files in the same time. Plus, the Windows Media Player comes with support for additional devices, including Xbox360.

Besides playing videos and music, the application offers a convenient way of synchronizing portable devices, like MP3 players, with the music libraries stored on your computer. Simply connect the gadget to your PC and Windows Media Player will do the rest.

The software also includes a dedicated function for burning audio discs with minimal effort. You can create burn lists with all the songs you want to put on a CD and then insert the disc to have the compilation written in a few minutes.

Windows Media Player offers you a set of enhancements designed to help you fully enjoy movies and music alike. There are options for crossfading and auto volume leveling, a graphic equalizer for easily adjusting the sound frequencies, SRS WOW effects and even three Dolby Digital profiles.

For video playback there are also some settings you can adjust, namely those regarding brightness, contrast, hue and saturation. The list of supported formats is impressive and although some types of music files are not recognized by default, they can still be played, provided that the necessary codecs are installed on your system. 

All things considered, Windows Media Player remains a good choice for those looking for an easy to use multimedia player that integrates seamlessly with the operating system. It offers more than simple playback functionality and certainly deserves at least a try.