The standard media player that ships with Windows does a good job. It's free and it supports a range of media formats. However, as with virtually any free software, it has a downside. Its developers have concentrated on how to make some profit by selling media and not how to get you buying the player itself. This is probably the main reason why the default Windows media player is so slow. When you start it, it connects to the Internet, loads advertising and more.

It's time to think about a good replacement! @MAX Tray Player is intended for everyday use. Do you like to listen to some background music when working with other Windows applications? Then @MAX Tray Player is for you. The program inserts control buttons right into your Windows tray. You don't have to open the main program window to control the player and you can easily access these buttons from any Windows application.

While @MAX Tray Player is lightning fast and has a low impact on system resources, it is still a powerful and feature-reach media center. It supports many audio and video file formats, and provides advanced options and browsing capabilities. "My Media browser" window introduces an explorer-like interface to your media resources and provides many useful features to manage collections of your music and video files. Moreover, there is an ingenious way to select media files from the Windows Tray. A pop-up menu allows you to browse your disks and select folders or files as you seleect programs from your Windows Start button menu.

The program has a great look and a skinnable interface. Additional skins are available for download from the developer's site.

And to top all that, @MAX Tray Player is absolutely free.