[bedoig]

+1 for the Vista Sideshow gadget.

I've played with 4 or 5 other media control programs and none of them were very good. I certainly never came across one that was worth paying for. Most have unnecessarily convoluted control setups, are difficult and slow to use, and used ugly list based interfaces. The sideshow gadget is simple and intuitive to use, requires little setup, and adds a little visual interest (album art, etc.).

I use a remote desktop connection if I want to find and/or play anything that isn't already stored locally (searching and downloading from Rhapsody mostly). Works pretty well on the Pro's VGA display, and things are snappy on the WLAN.