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When Microsoft entered the MP3 player race, the corporate giant simply added MP3-playback capabilities to the sound arsenal of Windows Media Player. The result plays MP3s and a wide variety of other audio and video formats.
Microsoft also whipped up a new music-compression format to compete with MP3. Dubbed WMA, or Windows Media Audio, by Microsoft creative titans, the new version is half the size of MP3 files, reducing download time.
The WMA format is incompatible with MP3, however, and sometimes you can't freely copy it because it contains a rights-management system for copyright holders.
The version of Media Player that's bundled with Windows 98 sometimes can't play MP3s. If this is the case, you need to download a newer version of Media Player. The free program is available at Microsoft.
- Media Player is a convenient, albeit awkward, freebie, but it isn't nearly as configurable as Winamp.
 | - Owners of portable MP3 players sometimes use the WMA format because the files are usually half the size of an MP3 file. That's because MP3 must generally be formatted at 128 Kbps for near-CD quality sound, whereas WMA sounds nearly the same when formatted at 64 Kbps. That makes the files half the size, so twice as many files can be stuffed into a portable MP3 player. However, keep in mind that not all players can handle the WMA format.
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