I have the new media player set up Scotty. It's on Vista though, not sure if it would look the same on XP??? I'm sure it's 11. It's different to the older version. You need to go to the library to open a file, but you basically go to the library tab and open the mymusic folder, the whole lot of my music files come up and you just hit play, then they appear in "Now Playing" just like normal. Also has a seach box at the top of the library. Seems very easy to use now I'm used to it a bit. Hope that helps a bit for you. LMK if that's the info you're after or if I can be of further help lol.
In the Library Tab. To the right is the drag and drop menu. Appears you can creat a playlist or edit the "Now Playing". But that's all I can see. Maybe create a new playlist with all your files and just not save it?