A "plain, vanilla *.avi" is one that has not been processed through FFMPEG, Handbrake or Adobe After Effects or translated from *.mov to *.avi, for example or has some other codec involved. It actually does exist and I'm not quite sure what you lot are on about... but that will invariably become the sole picking point due to some implicit mastery of all filetypes, et al of this discussion going forward instead of the one important part... You people did answer the question if it plays *.avi's out of the box and it seems as if the OP is grossly incorrect. Congrats. It took multiple pages to confirm/deny something that simple. Regardless, it seems as if the ability to play certain *.avi or *.wmv's - WMV9 DRM and above are definitely out. That kind of detailed information would help in instances as such.