Gee. My PC isn't a "multi-media" PC? I wonder what it is missing? :-)
Actually, when I bought my PC parts, I had a choice of OS's, and "media
center" was one of them. If memory serves, it was "missing" some
interesting networking components, so I went with XP Pro instead.


Nice try. Windows XP Media Center Edition is built on the XP Pro chassis.
The splash screen at boot is the same black splash screen of XP Pro. XP
Media Center has every single component of XP Pro, with the Media Center
interface added. The Media Center part of the OS is a supplementary layer
of the OS. If it is not invoked, you are running a standard XP Pro machine.
If it is invoked, it runs as an application under XP Pro. Media Center is
only available as an OEM install, and only available on PC's which meet MS
hardware standards for a Multimedia PC. These standards include a minimum
hard drive size, ram, processor speed, and video card performance
specifications, as well as the required TV Tuner and multimedia ports.

I have two HP Multimedia Desktops that I bought in 2005. I wasn't really
looking for a Multimedia PC per se, but as it turns out it was a very
convenient way to buy a box equipped with much better than average
componentry packaged together, and HP was damn near giving the things away
at the time. But I have to say that the Multimedia part of the OS turns out
to be a nice addition to XP Pro.