Microsoft, world's largest software maker, has announced the launch of its Media Player 10 software for Beta testing. The company hopes to get feedback from the community before it launches the final release of the product later this year. Microsoft is not only looking for stability and bug reports from testers, but also the demand of new features in the Media Player 10 software.

The Beta software is currently available from Microsoft at their official site.

Microsoft's Media Player 10 will feature a new version of Digital Rights Mangement technology (DRM), previously code-named Janus. The DRM in the original software will enhance support for portable devices such as MP3 players.

The embedded [DRM] software is also there to fight piracy, according to Microsoft, however, if users have portable devices that support DRM, they will get flexibility in storing and saving music.

The DRM will enable online music services to offer portable downloads to subscribers who are using DRM compliant portable devices.

According to reports, there is no way to check the license at this point on portable devices so users are not allowed to take their music on these devices. However, there are many upcoming music players that will support the functionality to check the validity of licenses. Basically, if the license is valid; the song will be played, else it will be cancelled.

Other features of Media Player 10 include better synching operations. Users with gigabytes worth of music will be able to direct the Media Player to sync automatically with their collection in many ways.

The software will get another feature, which is known as Media Transfer Protocol (MTP). This will be a standard for portable music devices to converse with the personal computer. According to Microsoft, this feature will be available to users as a firmware upgrade on some portable devices.

Microsoft has improved the physical appearance of the software and commonly used features such as Burning and Ripping will be easier to find in the new release.

Online music retailers will be able to customize the Media Player 10 software interface according to their requirements.

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