Although I don't really consider myself a dummy,... the Dummies series of books do a great job of cutting through the fluff. Microsoft Windows Media Center XP version has one of the same weaknesses as the rest of Microsoft's products: a serious lack of documentation [this amoung other serious weaknesses that we won't get into here]. This book fills in the gaps rather nicely. I had owned an HP Media Center PC for over a year when I got this book and it helped me with a number of little details that I hadn't figured out through trial and error. The book also discusses a number of useful 3rd party software and hardware add ons and several web sites for Media Center users. Media Center XP is a heck of a lot of fun when you know how to make use of it. This book will show you how.
It says it all. You can use this book and jump right in. Y...ou want to know and this tells it. Dummy books are great. A quick way to learn the program.