Windows Media Player does not recognize wma or wmv in email attachments

But if I first download the attachment to a folder and double click it from there, it comes up just fine. How can I fix this so that the attachment comes up while still in the email program?
This machine has Windows 7, and, so far, I'm just using the mail program that is embedded in Comcast's home page.
A while back I had a laptop with Win 7. I didn't keep it for very long. I recall that Win 7 does not have a mail program and I received several recommendations for good third party mail programs.
Any new good ones that have cropped up since then? If not, would you kind folks tell me again what they were?