Microsoft will update the Plus! package for Windows XP with several features. Also scheduled for January 7th is the final version of Windows Media 9 series and Windows Movie Maker 2.0.
DMCE adds several enhancements for archiving, editing photos and videos, audio recorders and an alarm clock.
DMCE is also a first timer for Microsoft to be distributed over the internet as well as retail shelves. Buying and downloading online makes up for a 25% rebate. Read more... Plus! Photo Story - A wizard that creates zooming and panning movie slideshows out of one or more still images. Using Plus! Photo Story, you can create a short movie that pans across and/or zooms into a single digital photo. Or, you can create a slideshow of these zooming and panning photos. You can also choose to manually define the ways in which each image is panned and zoomed, and even narrate the "story" behind each photo, as you might have in the past when showing print photos to a friend or relative. You can even mouse over each image as you narrate the story behind that photo, and the Plus! Photo Story wizard will use your mouse movements to determine the ways in which the resulting movie pans and zooms. Plus! Alarm Clock - For college students (and, apparently, other people that inexplicably fall asleep next to their computer), Microsoft is offering the Plus! Alarm Clock (Figure), which turns your WMP9-enabled PC into an alarm clock. You can use Plus! Alarm Clock to wake you up gently to a specific playlist, for example, and set alarm options such as snooze, type of alarm (music, sound, or desktop notification). Plus! Analog Recorder - This application lets you easily record from analog audio sources, such as LP albums and cassette tapes, while removing problematic artifacts such as the pops and hisses that often accompany such recordings. Plus! Audio Converter - A general purpose audio conversion tool that supports WMA 9 (and older), MP3, and WAV formats fully, meaning you can now perform complete roundtrip conversions from and to any of these formats. Plus! Audio Converter also supports volume leveling, which ensures that all of your converted files have similar volume levels. Plus! CD Label Maker - The original Plus! for Windows XP included a basic audio CD label maker called Plus! CD Label Maker, and, predictably, Plus! DME includes an updated version also called (dramatic pause) Plus! CD Label Maker. This version is almost identical to the previous one, with a single major improvement: It now supports MP3 and WMA data CDs, and the vast number of tracks such a CD would include. Plus! Dancer - Basically, Plus! Dancer adds a small character (or two) to your desktop which dances in rhythm to the currently playing music in WMP9. Plus! ships with 11 different small dancers, and Microsoft will be making available another 12 small and large dancers to customers through a Web site. Each dancer has his and her own dance style, such as hip-hop, disco, salsa and so on, and you can customize Plus! Dancer to use the appropriate dancer based on the genre of the current song, randomly supply a different dancer with each song, or you can manually choose your favorite dancer. Dancers can be positioned anywhere on the screen. All of the dancers are of surprisingly high quality, and some are pretty damned funny looking. Plus! Party Mode - For college students and other digital media enthusiasts that might use their PC as a jukebox during a party, Microsoft supplies the Plus! Party Mode for Windows Media Player in Plus! DME. This tool is essentially a new full-screen mode for WMP9 that provides an interactive guest book, visual effects, and playlist access to your audio collection, while preventing unwanted intrusion into your personal files and other PC-based information. More cool video effects and transitions for Windows Movie Maker 2 - Plus! DME includes 50 new video effects and transitions for WMM 2. Sync & Go for Pocket PC - This application lets you synchronize supported audio and video content between your PC and Pocket PC, including a new generation of forthcoming Web-based content from MSNBC and other companies. This will let you time shift Internet-based audio and video content automatically, so that you might set it up to download content automatically in the morning before you to go work, and then listen to it or watch it on the Pocket PC during the morning commute. Take the Plus! DMCE tour Thanks to Wininformant
DMCE adds several enhancements for archiving, editing photos and videos, audio recorders and an alarm clock.
DMCE is also a first timer for Microsoft to be distributed over the internet as well as retail shelves. Buying and downloading online makes up for a 25% rebate. Read more... Plus! Photo Story - A wizard that creates zooming and panning movie slideshows out of one or more still images. Using Plus! Photo Story, you can create a short movie that pans across and/or zooms into a single digital photo. Or, you can create a slideshow of these zooming and panning photos. You can also choose to manually define the ways in which each image is panned and zoomed, and even narrate the "story" behind each photo, as you might have in the past when showing print photos to a friend or relative. You can even mouse over each image as you narrate the story behind that photo, and the Plus! Photo Story wizard will use your mouse movements to determine the ways in which the resulting movie pans and zooms. Plus! Alarm Clock - For college students (and, apparently, other people that inexplicably fall asleep next to their computer), Microsoft is offering the Plus! Alarm Clock (Figure), which turns your WMP9-enabled PC into an alarm clock. You can use Plus! Alarm Clock to wake you up gently to a specific playlist, for example, and set alarm options such as snooze, type of alarm (music, sound, or desktop notification). Plus! Analog Recorder - This application lets you easily record from analog audio sources, such as LP albums and cassette tapes, while removing problematic artifacts such as the pops and hisses that often accompany such recordings. Plus! Audio Converter - A general purpose audio conversion tool that supports WMA 9 (and older), MP3, and WAV formats fully, meaning you can now perform complete roundtrip conversions from and to any of these formats. Plus! Audio Converter also supports volume leveling, which ensures that all of your converted files have similar volume levels. Plus! CD Label Maker - The original Plus! for Windows XP included a basic audio CD label maker called Plus! CD Label Maker, and, predictably, Plus! DME includes an updated version also called (dramatic pause) Plus! CD Label Maker. This version is almost identical to the previous one, with a single major improvement: It now supports MP3 and WMA data CDs, and the vast number of tracks such a CD would include. Plus! Dancer - Basically, Plus! Dancer adds a small character (or two) to your desktop which dances in rhythm to the currently playing music in WMP9. Plus! ships with 11 different small dancers, and Microsoft will be making available another 12 small and large dancers to customers through a Web site. Each dancer has his and her own dance style, such as hip-hop, disco, salsa and so on, and you can customize Plus! Dancer to use the appropriate dancer based on the genre of the current song, randomly supply a different dancer with each song, or you can manually choose your favorite dancer. Dancers can be positioned anywhere on the screen. All of the dancers are of surprisingly high quality, and some are pretty damned funny looking. Plus! Party Mode - For college students and other digital media enthusiasts that might use their PC as a jukebox during a party, Microsoft supplies the Plus! Party Mode for Windows Media Player in Plus! DME. This tool is essentially a new full-screen mode for WMP9 that provides an interactive guest book, visual effects, and playlist access to your audio collection, while preventing unwanted intrusion into your personal files and other PC-based information. More cool video effects and transitions for Windows Movie Maker 2 - Plus! DME includes 50 new video effects and transitions for WMM 2. Sync & Go for Pocket PC - This application lets you synchronize supported audio and video content between your PC and Pocket PC, including a new generation of forthcoming Web-based content from MSNBC and other companies. This will let you time shift Internet-based audio and video content automatically, so that you might set it up to download content automatically in the morning before you to go work, and then listen to it or watch it on the Pocket PC during the morning commute. Take the Plus! DMCE tour Thanks to Wininformant
