Hi waddles, this is a common Codec issue, however can be also be related to graphics drivers. Do you have any other player installed? (You might not even realise you have, as just about everything includes a player these days, LOL) If so, try right hand clicking on the file and selecting the "open with" option. Expand the tree next to this and see if there is anything useful in there (Nero showtime, powerDVD, winDVD etc) and try one of those. If you don't have another app installed try VLC, it's free and one of the best video players I found. It will play almost anything and requires no Codec's ;-) You'll find it at www.videolan.org A word of caution though, like all media players when you install it, it will ask you which file types you would like to associate it with (.mpg .avi etc), until you are happy with it I'd suggest you say none and use the "open with" method I mentioned above. Once you've decided that it is indeed a fine player you can just re-install or manually associate the files. I hope this helps, good luck with Dell if you try. Regards ChrisC.

To paste Album Art, right click the grey icon, a dropdown will have the selection "Paste Album Art" *note, you'll have to have the album art or photo to be on your clipboard to have "paste album art" to show. Which means you'll have to copy the album art photo from somewhere. In my music folder there is some album art, but not all songs come with the album art photo in the song tag. Rip means that it will save the burn info in C:\Documents and Settings\Your Name\My Documents\My Music, or the folder of your choice. Rip will also burn if there is a cd inserted. Burn means it will burn straight away with a cd inserted, basically the same thing except Rip saves the info to a folder, possibly to burn at another time. There is a way to organize all your music by genre, year, rating, artist, ect. I used to have the library organized on the older WMP9 & 10, but don't have the time now to figure it out. I just play the songs and they are saved in the library in alphabetical order.

Here's an explanation lifted from a webpage: A codec is software that is used to compress or decompress a digital media file, such as a song or video. Content creators use codecs because a compressed file takes up less storage space on your computer and can be transferred across the Internet more quickly and smoothly. When you play a digital media file, Windows Media Player uses a codec to decompress the file. Codecs are used to create and play nearly all music or video files on your computer or on Web sites. Q.Why do I get a message that says my computer is missing a codec? A.You are probably trying to play a file that uses a codec that is not on your computer. When you try to play a file that uses a codec that is not on your computer, the Player tries to download the codec from a Microsoft server. If the codec is available, the Player installs it on your computer and then plays the file. If the codec is not available on the server (for example, because the codec wasn't created by Microsoft), the Player displays a message that your computer is missing a codec. If you are connected to the Internet, the message usually has a Web Help button that you can click for more information. If the Player can determine which codec you are missing, when you click that button, a Help topic is displayed that contains a link to WMPlugins.com, a Web site that lists a number of codecs that are available to download. The MPEG-2 and DivX video codecs and the ACELP.net and Ogg Vorbis audio codecs are examples of codecs that are not included in the operating system or the Player by default. Q.How do I find a codec? A.When trying to find the right codec for a particular file, you can use WMPlugins.com or other Web sites. Typically, you should start with WMPlugins.com first. Recommend that you use caution when installing codecs that aren't listed on WMPlugins.com or Microsoft.com. If your computer is running Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition or Windows XP, we recommend that you set a system restore point before installing any digital media components. This enables you to return to your original system configuration, if necessary. If you get a message that you're missing a codec when you try to play a file, click the Web Help button on the message. In the Help topic that is displayed, click the link to WMPlugins.com. If you know the name of the codec you want to find, you can go directly to WMPlugins.com Codec. If the codec is listed on WMPlugins.com, follow the instructions on the page to download and install the codec. Q.Does the Player always try to download codecs automatically? A.It depends on several factors. To ensure the Player can try to download codecs automatically, you must have Internet Explorer 3.02 or later installed on your computer, maintain Internet access while playing the file, and your Internet security should be set to Medium. In addition, if your computer is running Microsoft Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP Professional, or Windows Server 2003, you must be logged on as an administrator or as a member of the Administrators group. Finally, do the following: On the Tools menu, click Options. On the Player tab, select the Download codecs automatically check box. If you use the Player in a work environment that is managed by a network administrator, you might be restricted from downloading and installing software from the Web.

Tried the START>PROGRAMS> thing and WMP10 came right up. Maybe it's working correctly and I just don't know it. I was sent what I think is called a streaming video and when I tried to play at first even when manually opening WMP10, it wouldn't play. Not sure what I did, but now if I open it manually it plays. I was under the impression that it would open automatically. Should it? Then again, do I really need or want WMP11. Thanks for any help you can give me.