What is the difference between Windows XP and WIndows XP Media Center Edition? Is one better than the other?

Question

I am getting a new computer with Media Center but I don't understand the differences and Microsoft's website doesn't help.

Answer 1

Media center has the functionality for you to store and easily view pictures, to store and easily listen to music, and also to hook it up to your cable and record and watch tv.

My husband has Media center set up on a computer out in the garage. He also has an x-box 360 in our living room, hooked up to our TV. The xbox 360 is an extender for Media Center, so now we can use Media center like a tivo, without the subscription costs. I'm a teacher, so in addition to the tv that we record during the week to watch for entertainment, I also record certain shows on the discovery/history channels to use in my classroom. My laptop also has media center, so I just transfer it to my laptop and show it in class.

When we have family over, we'll often have a slideshow of pictures we have taken playing on the TV while people are visiting with each other. They really enjoy that.

Normal XP doesn't have any of these capabilities, but Media Center has all of the capabilities of normal XP. Play around with it, its fun.

Answer 2

XP Media Center is an application that turns the PC into a multi-media system. In general, a "media" system provides a simple user interface allowing you to organize and view photos, music and video. For most Media Center computers this also means that the PC has some video capture capability so that the PC can act as a Digital Video recorder (DVR). For the most part, there's really no difference between XP and XP Media Edition other than the inclusion of the Media center application.