Windows XP N Edition = XP without Media Player

After the EU order, Microsoft released a version of Windows XP that doesn’t not include Windows Media Player (WMP) or any associated files. Microsoft is calling this non-musical XP version as Windows XP Edition N - N stands for “not with Windows Media Player”.

Paul Thurrott evaluated the XP N edition of Windows and isn’t very excited about it.

The XP N Editions is are literally identical to XP SP2 edition minus the Windows Media Player. Microsoft didn’t care to update XP N with the recent patches though it was released very recently.

Microsoft has removed all traces of Windows Media Player references from the Help file but if you visit a site like MSN music, you are shown the Systems Req. page. You even get a link to download Media Player. On double-clicking an audio file like MP3, Microsoft recomment Media Player and even Winamp. As expected, Microsoft doesn’t recommend Apple iTunes or RealPlayer.

Microsoft had earlier called it “Reduced Media Edition” but Paul is sure the XP ‘n’ edition isn’t broken in any way and if you install Media Player, it becomes the same as stardard XP editions. XP Edition N is also priced the same as the full-featured versions.

Read full review of Windows XP N Edition