92 PCWorld JUNE 2022FEATURE WINDOWS 11 IS BETTER THAN WINDOWS 10
THE NEW WINDOWS
MEDIA PLAYER
I’m not convinced that many of the updated
Windows 11 native apps (fave.co/3n4ZuBp)
represent improvements, per se—just visual
updates and/or reorganizations. Windows
Media Player is more than that—it’s a genuine
step forward, at least for this specific app.
With Groove Music’s retirement (fave.
co/3MuLnRv), Media Player has stepped in to
play back audio and video, and there’s even a
long-awaited equalizer, to boot. The new
Media Player is not part of Windows 10.
Yes, enthusiasts are going to ask: Is it as
good as the iconic play-everything VLC app
(fave.co/3LBk8n6)? No, it’s not. But while
VLC will seemingly play just about every
codec under the sun, Microsoft has focused
on the most common formats...well, we
think. We’ve never found a list of file formats
specifically supported by the Windows 11
Media Player app.ANDROID APPS
Android apps on Windows 11
(fave.co/3yUjpKG) are a bit of
a gimmick in that you’re
limited to a limited number of
apps from the Amazon
Appstore, at least for now.
Chances are you already own
an Android phone (and can
load those apps on your
phone) or an iPhone, meaning
you might not care.
Android apps are a bit like the Linux apps
(fave.co/3j8RNJe) that Microsoft enables as
part of the Windows Subsystem for Linux.
They have specialized purposes, which might
be attractive to those who don’t want to hunt
down a webpage or app. But the potential is
there to improve this, if Microsoft and its
partners choose to. How that’s managed, and
what specialized advantages that might offer,
however, have yet to be seen.DIRECTSTORAGE
AND AUTOHDR
We’ve been burned before by Windows
features that either didn’t deliver or simply
never showed up (fave.co/3PAdHE2). But
we’re cautiously optimistic about
DirectStorage, which could promise some
extremely meaningful reductions in game
load times for those with both the hardware
and Windows 11. To be clear, DirectStorage is
available on Windows 11, but there isn’t aIt’s not earth-shattering, but yes, the new Media Player app is cool.