Three big announcements were made today by Microsoft -– and they all revolve around media: There’s the new Windows Media Player version 10, there’s the grand opening of the MSN Music store for downloading music over the Web and the Portable Media Center, essentially a sort of iPod with video and pictures.

Windows Media Player 10
The big improvement here is that the software’s interface has been upgraded to allow for easier navigation and use. The improvements include tabs with titles that finally make sense: names like Now Playing, Library, Rip, Burn and Guide.

WMP 10 now allows you to rip music in the MP3 format, not just Microsoft's proprietary format. In the past you had to buy/get/obtain your own MP3 ripping software, or use someone else’s software. Of course, Microsoft still says their proprietary Windows Media compression format sounds better. Many people agree.

In the upper right hand corner is where you can visit the Digital Media Mall and chose which online music store you’d like to rent music and videos from. There are a few choices (Wal-Mart, CinemaNow, Musicmatch, MusicNow and Napster), but Microsoft is hoping that you choose their new MSN Music store.

MSN Music
Songs will be available for download in the Windows Media format, which Microsoft likes to point out is supported by multiple portable devices. (ITunes, in contrast, uses a proprietary format.) Pricing is pretty similar to iTunes and the other online music stores, however: 99 cents per song, $9.99 for most albums. Which service you use may come down to which store offers you the best special deals on the songs you want.

While the test version is now live, don't expect to see as many songs as you will on iTunes. MSN says loading the store with all the available songs will take a little time. Eventually, the volumes should be about the same.

Portable Media Center

The company wanted its portable device to be an extension of the Media Center OS. Finally, the first generation of those devices is here.

The Portable Media Center is an audio/video playback only device that allows you to take your recorded and downloaded music (hopefully from the MSN Music store) plus your videos (hopefully from something like a Media Center computer) along with you when you travel.

When you plug your Portable Media Center (via USB cord) into any computer equipped with Windows Media Player 10, the computer will automatically recognize the PMC and begin synchronizing all your music, videos and photos. You can turn this feature off, of course, but the fully automatic feature is the easiest.

Microsoft made a few more annoucements. ATI Technologies, Hauppauge Computer Works, NVIDIA, Pinnacle and software maker SnapStream are announcing that this fall they’ll be releasing new tuner cards and programs that will enable Windows OS users to record television content into Windows Media format and make it automatically ready for transfer to a PMC.

The test Zen's 20 GB hard drive holds lots of music and video, though your mileage will vary. Promised 40 GB versions should hold even more. Note that neither uncompressed music files (despite what they'd like you to believe Microsoft's 'WMA lossless' is a compressed format) nor commercial DVDs can be transferred. The transfer of copyright protected files is also barred unless you download them from an approved source (more about that below). The Zen has a small hole on the front panel where sound tries to come out. The rechargeable battery is said to last about six hours playing back videos and nearly double that for music.

The Zen PMC gets points for being quite easy to master. The startup/navagation screen looks just like the startup screen on a Media Center computer -– and that’s a very good thing. Without prompting, my wife picked up the device and was able to navigate through the menus with ease. She likes it. Thinks it’s cute.

As for video downloads, you’ll soon be able to download baseball highlights from MLB.com and entertainment content from CinemaNow.com. Pricing will be $2.99 to $3.99 for a pay-per-view rental and $9.99 to $14.99 for download-to-own titles.

Creative’s Zen PMC goes on sale today at Best Buy and Creative.com. CompUSA, Amazon.com, Fry’s and Good Guys will be selling them soon. MSRP is $499.99. In the next few weeks expect to see PMCs from Samsung and iRiver as well.