April 6, 1992 — Media Player Is Released for Windows

Windows Media Player is one of the most legendary programs in history. The overwhelming majority of computer users listened to their first digital audio file through this program.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Windows Media Player was the main music player for most users. But it was not the only one. Windows users had access to various programs, including more advanced ones for listening. Moreover, in different regions of the world, these programs were different. The main competitors of Windows Media Player were Winamp and AIMP.

But they definitely lost to Windows Media Player, because it was already preinstalled with Windows.

Windows 3.1

The first release of this program happened on April 6, 1992, with Windows 3.1. At that time, it was simply called Media Player. The name Windows Media Player became official only in 1996.

Windows 3.1 contained the following innovations:

• TrueType fonts (competition to Adobe Type Manager)
• improved multimedia support (sound, MIDI, CD-audio)
• appearance of Media Player, Sound Recorder, and screen savers
• improved File Manager and Control Panel

Media Player itself could not do much:

• play MIDI files
• play CD-Audio
• work with some AVI videos
• use MCI (Media Control Interface) to control multimedia
• output sound through Sound Blaster and other early sound cards

But this was enough to start the multimedia era on Windows.

Windows Media Player

Windows Media Player reached its maximum popularity in 1996. It was already a completely different application. Windows Media Player could play videos in different formats and stream audio.

The legendary Windows Media Player visualizations appeared even later, in the 2000 release.