Downloaded add-ons and Vista performance.

Seeing as I have been off the board for 2 months, you can guess that I have
been very happy with my new Vista (HP) Laptop.
Seeing as it is a portable entertainment PC (as opposed to my home/work XP
desktop), I have been playing with media software. I have W'Media player and
Sony Sonicstage 4.3 for my walkman and W'Media player for movies. Some live
streaming web video content (sport BBC - UK) requires Realplayer (which I
have downloaded) and some content is Apple Quicktime. Is it OK to have all
these similar media programs?
....and also many of the drivers and software that support my gadgets
(camcorder, mobile, camera) will only install under compatability settings
for winXP SP2.
Is all this going to be a long-term problem? Clearly I should be installing
vista supported software, but the manufacturers are way behind......is it
likely either of these two issues could see a drop in performance or cause me
maintenance headaches.
Thanks in advance, T_D