I've been reserving judgement on Windows Media Player and the whole Digital Rights Management issue for a couple months now. I mean, when Microsoft updated to version 11 and people began complaining about how adding the DRM made it less stable and prone to lockup, I figured this stuff would be worked out and that at least it provided a baseline capability that people can use as a starting point.
Until today, that is. Judgement has been rendered and Windows Media Player is officially found wanting. Not just wanting. It is not merely inadequate. WMP 11 has officially, in my book, entered the realm of Software that Sucks.
The last two days, I downloaded two videos that I wanted to view. Neither one is anything tricky. Indeed, they're both wmv files (Microsoft's own video format) with nothing abnormal about them. Neither will play without throwing up this error. 
Note: both are using Microsoft's own codec (Windows Media Video 9). An hour plus spent online looking for a solution to this problem reveals that I am far from the only person with the problem. Based on what I've read, it looks to me like WMP is choking on my built-in sound card from HP.
Now, I have a relative hate on for HP, so normally I'd be happy to blame them for their crappy hardware. The thing is, well, just out of curiosity, I downloaded WinAmp to see what it could do with the files. I haven't installed WinAmp in years, but hey, it might work, right?
It did. Worked a charm. No trouble playing either video.
To sum up: Microsoft can't play its own format on my machine, but its competitors can. That, my friends, is sucky software.