This is a big subject for one chapter (and getting bigger by the month, based on the increasing documentation at Microsoft's web site). At the risk of spreading the material too thin, I'll break things down along the lines of the basic WM9 components: Player, Encoder, and Server. For each subject area I'll present sample programs and scripts that exploit the new code libraries now shipping with WM9 that integrate it with the underlying OS and core Microsoft applications.

To work with any SDK, Microsoft of otherwise, you generally need a software development studio with programming tools installed and customized to your workflow preferences. Such tools typically include (in the Microsoft world) Visual Studio or its various elements, such as Visual Basic, C++, C#, etc. None of the code/ script examples in this chapter require investment in such tools, but the sample SDK packages often assume that you are a software developer and therefore have Visual Studio already up and running. In other words, I'll try to demonstrate the merits of the WM9 SDK without a lot of extra work and expense unless you are already a professional programmer, in which case I recommend going right to the VB, C++, and C# projects provided by Microsoft online.