Microsoft formally released Windows Media Player version 10 last night. Simultaneously launched with the new MSN Music service. The new player boasts a new, simplified and much cleaner user interface. Broader device support and built in links with some of the largest on-line music retailers out there.

Crucially though. Does it work with the Handheld PC? We asked that question during the beta of the news player and were pleasantly surprised to find that it was fully compatible with both H/PC Pro and HPC2000.
Unfortunately in the final release the support is no longer quite so broad. While the new Synchronisation engine is able to correctly identify and encode using a profile that the H/PC Media Player can use (Something Both version 8 and 9 were unable to do). The support is only for devices connected via USB. There is no serial support.

This is a disappointment for us and many users of older devices which lack the ability to sync over USB. However for Windows XP users with USB enabled devices this is a worth while upgrade. You can read our overview of the beta release below.

View: Microsoft Windows Media