http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/11/default.aspx
WMP 11 is available in beta form. Guess what. Its faster than WMP 10. The interface is a much slicker looking black. The buttons, Now Playing, Rip, Sync, etc all have drop down menus to the most commonly needed functions. My favourite part is that within a couple of clicks you can bring up the equaliser, a feature I missed since WMP 9. When ripping tracks, you can specify the format and bitrate from these menus too.
The presentation of the play list is a bit better with animations and more fluid drag and dropping. The media library has improved with Album Art appearing next to the items allowing a more interactive browse. For things you dont have album art for yet, you can now right click and Find Album Info rather than jump into another area of the app and coaxing WMP to download it.
In my opinion, all thumbs up. I had just switched to WinAmp 5 for speed, I can consider changing back.