Windows Media Player 10

I've long NOT been a big fan of the windows Media Player. There were better options for a music player such as Winamp. For watching streaming video, Apple Quicktime or Real Player videos looked smoother and loaded faster. And for ripping mp3's, the MusicMatch Jukebox was an affordable choice as it was one of the few free and legal mp3 creation programs out there. MusicMatch in the free version limited ripping to 5x, and 10x in their latest version. I wasn't even sure if the media player should be embedded in the windows operating system years ago. If you never downloaded MusicMatch, be aware that Windows Media Player 10 may be a better choice. This is based on that Windows Media Player now can rip mp3's at full speed, with no speed limit. There used to be a plug in to enable this (in the Plus pack), but now it is included. Of course it defaults to the less popular wma (windows media audio) standard (in standard, variable bit rate, and lossless variations), but it can do mp3's now at 128 to 320 kbps if selected under tools. I've used it and they sound the same as done with other programs. Why did Microsoft do this after years of pushing wma? My personal guess is Apple's aac (audio associated codec) is gaining popularity, and Microsoft is looking to slow their popularity. Isn't it great when the titans battle and the consumer wins?

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/mp10/default.aspx