The techniques illustrated in this book, along with the associated sample code, will provide you with the concepts and skills you need in order to write your own Windows Media Foundation applications. No prior knowledge of Media Foundation is assumed and the first part of the book provides a thorough introduction to the technology as well as insights into the background motivations behind the underlying architecture. A comprehensive tutorial on all of the components and tools you will need to use is provided in the second part of the book and each area of discussion is generously illustrated with actual working code examples and practical advice. Additionally, a wide variety of specific techniques have been included to ensure that the book provides a useful reference for the future. An extensive collection of complete, fully operational, open source Windows Media Foundation projects are available for download. Although the book is intended for the C# programmer, it does contain plenty of background material which would be of considerable use to users of other languages.