Do you remember the hard-shell Windows Media Player? It has been completely overhauled for Windows 11 and is being rolled out to Windows Insiders.

Microsoft is launching a new media player on Windows 11 to all Windows Insider members in the developer channel.

Simply named Media Player, the program can play all your local music and videos, and its design conforms to Windows 11 aesthetics.

It is essentially an upgraded Windows Media Player, although the two programs will exist separately. But the biggest question is whether anyone will use the new media player. Let's explore it.

Confusingly, when Windows Media Player was launched on Windows 3.0 with multimedia extensions in 1991, it was called a media player.

Naturally, the program evolved with each new iteration of Windows and was eventually called Windows Media Player. It gradually supports more video formats, DVD playback, music visualization and media streaming.

Many people use it to rip and burn CDs and DVDs. If you want to transfer songs from a CD to your computer, you most likely use Windows Media Player.

The last major update of the software was Windows Media Player 12 for Windows 7 in 2009. It was replaced by Groove Music in Windows 8, but it is still included as an optional feature in the operating system and all future versions.

Related: How to download Windows Media Player 12 for Windows 10

Now, as announced on the Windows blog, Groove Music will be deactivated on Windows 11. It was replaced by a new program called Media Player.

Media Player is being rolled out to Windows Insiders in the development channel. This is how Microsoft tests features before releasing them to the public.

According to Microsoft, it "designed a new media player to make listening and watching multimedia content on Windows 11 more enjoyable." It has a playback view showing album art and artist images. The entire application fits perfectly with Windows 11 and its rounded corner aesthetics.

Currently, the focus of the media player is purely on managing and playing the offline experience of local music and videos, although Microsoft welcomes your feedback on the features you would like to see through the Feedback Center.

If you currently use Groove Music to manage your music collection, this will be migrated to Media Player. It will also automatically integrate the contents of the music and video files on your computer, but you can also manually specify other folders.

Microsoft is aware of some existing issues, such as interrupted playback from a network location, and errors in editing album metadata or using accented characters to sort library content. Future updates will focus on new ways to browse media and manage playback queues.

Although the new media player replaces Groove Music, the traditional Windows media player will still be available in Windows tools.

But all this begs the question: Will anyone really use Windows 11's new media player?

For ordinary PC users, maybe. Since the media player will be provided with Windows 11 and may be the default player, many people will find that they have no conscious choice when using it.

For others, they have been using one of many other excellent free media players-most likely VLC media player, this is one of the best media player periods. It is free, open source, supports most video codecs out of the box, and is under continuous development for Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android.

This group is unlikely to transform into a new media player, especially those players that are in their infancy and lack many of the features they are used to. But perhaps, over time, the Windows 11 media player will become a valuable competitor. Getting rid of the baggage of Windows Media Player and Groove Music is a good start.

VLC should be the media player of your choice. This cross-platform tool has many secret functions, you can use it now.

Joe was born with a keyboard in his hand and immediately started writing about technology. He has a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) and is now a full-time freelance writer, who likes to let everyone use simple techniques.

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