Thanks: I wonder how you knew. Are there other obscure capabilities hidden in the system?

My past experience with Windows media player has been on Windows XP, where I had version 10.6. One feature of 10.6 lacking in 11 and 12 (as far as I can tell) is a panel to the right of the image which contained a list of all files (video or audio) that are scheduled to be played including (for most of them) the time length of the file. Is there some option in 12 that allows this? If not, how can I tell the powers that be, that I would like this capability to be put back?

It's still there - View:Now Playing, right-click on the window and pick Show List.

I would like to have "skin" (ctrl+2) on at all times. However "View Now" (crtl+3) turns it off. Is there any way to have them both on at the same time?

No. But the skin is changeable; you'll need to find a skin somewhere that combines the features you want. I wonder how you knew. By just playing around with it. Are there other obscure capabilities hidden in the system? Oh sure, lots, and not just in Media Player. Half the fun of testing a new OS is messing around and discovering all the new stuff.