Windows 7 Media Center – Music Library

The music library, a place where an HTPC application can live or die. Microsoft has managed to keep the music library in good health with a few needed tweaks but has failed to take it to the Olympic level.

Let me start by saying I think Microsoft has really shined with their music library. All of the possible sorts you would want are their including auto-generated playlists of what music you listen to the most. Navigation has improved significantly with the Turbo-scroll option, making it a lot easier navigate through a large library.

The visualizations got a nice addition in the form of a music wall and picture wall. This animation will be a love it or hate for most people. If you get motion sick, avert your eyes ;).

The revamped "more information" screen continues to the music library. The improvement isn’t huge but it does flow a bit better in my mind and gives easy access to actions you can perform.

I can’t say much about albumn art at this time as I have yet to confirm if they are moving to higher resolution cover art or if they are sticking with the lower 200X200 artwork. So far it looks like they are sticking with the lower res artwork but I have seen a few bits of info to indicate they are moving to better covers.

There are a couple of things I would like to see improved on the Music Library.

• Add support to add your own podcasts and radio stations
• Integrate the Zune Marketplace, it is coming 

I hope you enjoyed the second Windows 7 video music and all. Stay tuned for future videos.