Power Point Observation and Question

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I am rather impressed with the way Power Point can compress files when it saves to the .pps format. For example, a single .wma sound track that is incorporated into a slide show background is being compressed about 50 to 1 when saved as a .pps file, and that's rather remarkable. When played back using Power Point, there is no loss in sound quality from the original .wma file that I can hear. So, Power Point must be decompressing the audio portion back out prior to playback.

On the other hand, why then does Media Player store the ripped track in a .wma format that is 50 times larger on disk with no option to compress it prior to the rip? Seems like huge waste of disk space. Agree?

So, how do I compress .wma audio files so that both Media Player and Power Point can both use them and I don't waste lots of disk space? Any Ideas?