I have to say, Rob, that I don't see how Microsoft's choice of dropping MP3-encoding out of Media Player has anything to do with the music industry (at least not directly).

I also don't see how it affects MP3 encoding in general, since there are many different easy-to-use MP3 encoders. In fact, I don't personally know of anyone who's ever used Media Player to encode their MP3s. Everyone I know uses MusicMatch, or AC, or RealJukebox, or some other third-party app.

All it means is that they want their WMA format to be more widely used because its widespread adoption would make them money in the long run. So what?

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Tony Fabris