Windows 7: Use Windows Media Player 12 Plug-ins.

How to Install and Use Windows Media Player 12 Plug-ins.

Plug-ins allow you to expand upon the core functionality of Windows Media Player 12 in various ways. These plug-ins easily integrate into Windows Media Player 12 and can be enabled or disabled on the fly without irreversibly altering the way the application works. In this tutorial, we'll explain the different types of Windows Media Player 12 plug-ins, show you how to view and configure plug-ins, download new plug-ins and disable and enable plug-ins.

Types of Windows Media Player 12 Plug-ins


There are eight different kinds of Windows Media Player 12 plug-ins, each of which affects your media experience in a different way. They are:

• Visualization plug-ins - Display colors, shapes and other animations that change according to the beat of the audio playing.
• Now Playing plug-ins - Enhance the Now Playing mode by adding functionality.
• Window plug-ins - Add functionality in a window separate from the Player window.
• Background plug-ins - Add functionality to Windows Media Player 12's backend. For example, WMP Keys adds hot keys to Windows Media Player 12 while the Google Talk Music Plugin allows you to display the name of the song your are listening to as your chat status. These plug-ins do not have a user interface.
• Video DSP plug-ins - Add effects to videos, such as changing color saturation.
• Audio DSP plug-ins - Perform audio effects, such as bass boost or normalization.
• Other DSP plug-ins - Adds other effects to video and audio playback.
• Renderer plug-ins - Plays content that isn't normally handled by Windows Media Player 12 (i.e. an audio or video codec)