The Bonus Pack consists of a series of tools and enhancements that the company hopes will entice users to use Windows Media Player instead of such rivals as RealPlayer and RealJukebox. Basic skins allow users to customize the appearance of their applications, such as a media player.
Advanced skins go beyond changing a look, they add functionality.
Today's release includes a Winamp skin importer that converts skins for Winamp players to Media Player 7 skins, and eight new player skins. The tool that Microsoft expects to be widely used is the Audio Converter 3.0 Limited Edition. It converts MP3 files to Windows Media audio files, which Wilson said take up about half as much file space. A 64 Kbps file on Windows Media Player is equivalent to a 128 Kbps file on another format because it has better compression. For example, you can use it to build a random playlist.