Media Player Classic

Media Player Classic is a free program that lets you watch DVDs and listen to CDs on your computer. Though the newer official versions of Media Player are included in modern computers, you might prefer the simple design and ease of use of the classic version.

Watching discs on your computer is sometimes a chore because you never know if your built-in DVD player can support the format of the discs that you want to watch. Some of the newer media players also limit what you can do with those discs and will keep you from making changes to the audio and video settings. There are even media players that cannot support the subtitles found on certain discs. With Media Player Classic, you can watch discs from around the world on any computer with a disc drive.

This media player supports more than 30 file formats, including both popular and less popular formats like WAV, WMA, AIF and SND files. It also has a simple user interface that puts all the buttons that you need to use in convenient locations around the screen. As it looks so much like the media players designed by Microsoft over the years, you'll find that you instinctively know how to use it right off the bat.

Though you can let the media player instantly come on after loading a disc in your computer, you may also change the settings and keep the player from turning itself on until you double click the icon and launch the program. Once a disc starts playing, the program will show you a small window that has buttons on the bottom for skipping or going back to a previous chapter, pausing, stopping, fast forwarding or rewinding the video. You can also adjust the speaker volume from a button below the viewing screen.

To reach some of the more advanced features, you must access the settings menu from the tool bar at the top. This lets you change the size of the screen, the controls that you see on your screen and even where you save the program on your computer. In addition to DVDs, the program can also play compact discs, discs that you burned and video files saved on your computer. Media Player Classic is a free program that is similar to Windows media players but comes with some new and impressive features.

Pros:

• Lets you listen to CDs and watch DVDs on your computer
• Works with more than 30 video and music file formats
• Can play Quick Time and Real Player videos
• Plug-ins let you listen to popular radio stations
• Plays some foreign discs and supports subtitles

Cons:

• Screen and tool bar looks somewhat outdated
• Limits what you can do with your videos
• Sound may not reach the high volume that you need
• Requires plug-ins and extensions for some services
• Is too similar to other media players