Partly resolved this mself, figured out that adding this code hides the player fully but leaves the media playing without any visualisation showing
VB Code:
  1. windowsmediaplayer.uimode="invisible"

and to change it back when i want to redisplay it needs this

VB Code:
  1. WindowsMediaPlayer.uiMode="full"

Still need some help working out how to make a file open like help making a dialog box for opening media files (mp3, avi, wmv etc) and making the player play them.

thanks