XP Media Center is primarlily XP Professional without the special networking capabilities.  Obviously, MCE has the special media applications but these do not run unless you specify the MCE applet to be engaged.

I'd leave it like it is.

I have XP pro on my laptop, and have been using XP home on my other systems. I just got an XPS 600 with Media center edition. I don't care for pro (every one of the "added features" can be gained if needed elsewhere with other programs much more securely). I can't say that I am at all impressed with Media Center...I don't know if all of the added preinstalled junk is part of that or just Dell adding it however  I see no improvements over home that are worth the added cost. (WIth XPS systems it is actually a "downgrade" that saves you nothing to get XP home so I just left it and figured I would try Media Center).

If you use your computer to watch TV, listen to music, etc all the time it may be a nice addition however, if you use it more for productivity, surfing the internet, etc the home edition is perfectly fine.

Personally if I could change that one thing right now I would have had home installed on this system instead of Media center.

i like media center in that its another toy to play with if you can get it to work lol.

but i think its a long way from being complete and if your a hacker or programer it has alot of room to improve new skills.

MCE can be quirky, but I haven't had any glitches I couldn't fix. And all were related to MCE functions, not to basic XP usage. I don't see any downside to keeping it.