Hey Wildflower,

You know, Linux is an OS alternative to MacOS or Windows... a world unto itself, based on the Unix OS, but OPEN SOURCE... So, there are many free versions... but, you won't be able to run your Windows apps on Linux... are you up for learning a new OS? Unless you have a computer science degree, I doubt you are ready to embrace the penguin! ;-) You can dual-boot, but it is VERY tricky... You can run an OS switcher, but are they free?

About DRM (Digital Rights Management) -- there are many alternatives to WMP, some better, some worse. BOOKS could be written about that topic!

WinAMP is a popular alternative, but I do NOT like it any better than WMP, there are tradeoffs, some good some bad, plusses and minuses... technical and operational!

I HIGHLY recommend you download iTunes from www.apple.com/itunes -- it is FAR better IMHO than either WMP or WinAmp or others I have tried, but there are probably other good media players out there, too.

I like the way iTunes lets me manage my MP3 files, playlists, and update tags very easily. Great U/I! AND, it runs on both Windows and MacOS!

Meanwhile, I think there is some DRM stuff in most media players out there these days. Copyright holders want to know who is copying their stuff... beware, your IP addr is being LOGGED!!!

__________________
Geo here... <small>antique computer enthusiast
Mac Powerbook G3/500MHz=<i>Pismo</i> :: 384MB ram; 80GB hdd; <b>MacOS 9.2.2</b>
Compaq Presario 5360 :: 450MHz AMD Athlon, 192MB ram; 120GB hdd; <b>Win2k PRO SP4</b>
ISP :: <u><b>SBC</b>-Yahoo!-DSL</u>; 164KB/sec DL; 50KB/sec UL; <u><b>2Wire</b> <i>DSL modem / Wi-Fi / NAT firewall</i></u>
PtoP :: LimeWire 4.8.1 <b>PRO</b> || Shareaza 2.1 <i>for BitTorrents, mostly</i> || but not concurrently! <i>
This is an INTEL-free, pre-Y2K CPU, recycled-computer environment! </i>