Microsoft has plans to spice up the music player in Windows Vista. The idea of the software enhancement will be to offer better synching with portable devices, whilst also making it easier to scroll through long libraries of music. The software will also be highly integrated with Urge, a new subscription and download music service co-developed by Microsoft and MTV Networks which is intended to be an iTunes killer.
With the new media player, consumers will be able to "reverse sync," meaning they can send content from a digital device to a PC. That will allow users to transfer pictures taken with their camera phone, or music purchased on a wireless device.
Another change is the ability to alter protected music and video files to change their quality level. With the new software, protected Windows Media files can be converted to smaller file sizes for playback on mobile devices, where there is less need for very-high-quality video files.