How to Find Photo Gallery

The only problem with Photo Gallery is that you may not find it on your PC or device. If that’s the case, browse to windows.com, where you’ll find this and other useful Windows applications.

Buying, Managing, and Playing Music

Microsoft has supported music lovers with various Windows‑based applications and platforms for over a decade, beginning with its first true jukebox, Windows Media Player, which debuted in Windows Millennium Edition (Me), way back in 2000. In Windows 8, well, things get a little Metro‑y.

NOTE

that Windows Media Player and Media Center are not available in Windows RT at all.

Yes, Windows 8 includes Windows Media Player, which you may remember from Windows 7. And Windows 8 Pro users (only) can optionally buy and install Windows Media Center, which was also available in Windows 7. So the range of functionality provided by these applications is still available in Windows 8, if not improved. (In fact, as far as we can see, they are the versions of Windows Media Player and Media Center from Windows 7, carried across unchanged.)

Over the past several years, Microsoft also cultivated a separate and somewhat incompatible media platform called Zune, which included software, device, and music and video service components. Zune was meant to be a one‑stop‑shop solution that could compete head‑to‑head with Apple’s dominant iPod/iTunes, but suffice it to say that never happened despite some interesting advantages on the Microsoft side. So Zune has been discontinued as a brand.

The trouble is, just declaring Zune dead doesn’t magically erase the parts of this tragic platform that are still out in the world. Millions of people still use the Zune PC software, which offers some interesting advantages over both Microsoft’s own Windows Media Player and competing applications such as Apple iTunes. The Zune software and services were integrated into the first two versions of Windows Phone, as well, also in use by several million people around the world. And key parts of the Zune platform, including the music and video marketplaces, are good enough to survive the death of this brand. And, as it turns out, they’re continuing forward, minus the Zune name.

So in addition to carrying forward its legacy music applications for old‑timers, Windows 8 also provides a Metro‑style music experience, called Xbox Music, which while based on Microsoft’s Zune efforts, now accesses Xbox‑branded services on the back end. Not coincidentally, it looks and works much like the Music experience on the Xbox 360, and it accesses the back end Xbox Music Store that used to be part of the Zune platform (as Zune Music Marketplace). Since this is the biggest change, music‑wise, in Windows 8, we’ll focus largely on that app and its supporting services here.