Playing Music

Windows Media Player is an easy-to-use program for managing catalogs of music, pictures, and videos, including recorded television programs. You can play or display any of these types of media by simply inserting a CD or DVD into your computer's CD or DVD drive, or by selecting the media you want to play from the Windows Media Player catalog or from a file on your computer. No special instructions are necessary for this simplest use of Windows Media Player. In this topic, we will discuss ways in which you can refine the Player's performance.

The first time you start Windows Media Playerfor example, by inserting an audio CD into your CD drive and selecting the Play option in the AutoPlay dialog boxyou have the option of manually setting up Windows Media Player. You can change the initial settings at any time, so it is simplest to select the Express Settings option and then click Finish, to get started with the most commonly used settings.

You can display the Player on your computer screen in any of these five modes:

• Full mode. The default mode. The CD plays in a window that includes a toolbar with navigation buttons and tabs that provide access to tasks you might want to perform with the media, a video display, a List pane displaying information about the media, and controls for playing the media and changing the window size.

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  The video pane can display the album cover art or a visualization of the music, or remain blank. To change the display, click the Now Playing arrow, point to Visualizations, and then click the option you want.

• Compact mode. Displays only the Player controls. You switch between full mode and compact mode by clicking the Switch Mode button in the lower-right corner of the Windows Media Player.

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• Mini Player mode. Minimizes the Player to the Windows taskbar with access to the Player controls and other information. To display the Mini Player, right-click the Windows taskbar, point to Toolbars, and then click Windows Media Player. To switch back to the previous mode, click the Restore button.

  

• Full-screen mode. Makes a video or picture fill the entire screen. Moving the mouse displays the Player controls. To switch to full-screen mode, click the View Full Screen button in either full or compact mode. Click the button again to switch back to the previous mode.

• Skin mode. Displays a small Player window with full controls. Can be customized with "skins" by means of which the Player takes on the shape and look of radios or other gadgets, mythical creatures, movie characters, or other animated graphic themes.

  To switch to skin mode from full mode, right-click a blank area of the tab area or Player controls, point to View, and then click Skin Mode. The Player appears in the current skin in the upper-left corner of the desktop. To change the skin, click Skin Chooser on the View menu, select the skin you want, and then click Apply Skin. To return to full mode, right-click the skin mode Player, click Switch To Full Mode, and then click the Now Playing tab.

  Tip

  You can download skins from the Web by clicking More Skins in Skin Chooser.

  
  

  

In full mode, the Windows Media Player toolbar includes tabs for the following tasks:

• Now Playing. Clicking this tab displays a menu from which you can play the current CD, show and hide the List pane, enhance the audio quality, display visual accompaniment to music, and download and install plug-in (helper) programs.

• Library. Clicking this tab lists the audio files stored on your computer that you have added to the library. They are cataloged by album, artist, and genre. Your play lists (compilations of tracks from various CDs and other sources) are also listed. You use commands on the tab's menu to create play lists, view the various types of media stored on your computer, add media files to the library, share media files, and download updated information about your media files from the Internet.

• Rip. Clicking this tab displays the tracks on the CD currently installed in your CD drive. You can select the tracks you want and rip (copy) them to your computer so that you can play them without the CD being inserted in the drive. Commands on this tab set the format and bit rate of the copy (which affects the size of the file and quality of the sound), and determine whether CDs are automatically ripped and whether the CD is ejected after ripping.

• Burn. Clicking this tab lists the audio files in the library so that you can select tracks to create a burn list. Commands on the tab enable you to specify whether the disc is ejected after burning and whether the sound should be adjusted so that it is consistent across tracks.

• Sync. Clicking this tab lists the audio files in the library so that you can select tracks to copy to a portable music device. You can also copy files from the device to your computer. In this way, any changes you make to one are synchronized with the other.

• URGE. Clicking this tab displays the URGE Web site, which is hosted on the Windows Media Web site. It includes links to various entertainment options on the Internet, including music download sites.

All the tabs except URGE include a More Options command that displays the Options dialog box where you can change Windows Media Player settings. If you have worked with a previous version of Windows Media Player, you can display the classic menu bar above the taskbar in the window.

In this exercise, you will view the Windows Media Player 11 Series settings, display the menu bar, and personalize the look and feel of the Player by changing the skin.

1.	On the Start menu, point to All Programs, and then click Windows Media Player. Troubleshooting If this is the first time you have started Windows Media Player, select the default Express Settings installation option, and then click Finish.
2.	On the toolbar, click each tab except URGE to see its display in the window, and then click each tab's arrow to see its commands.
3.	Click the Rip tab's arrow, and then click More Options. The Options dialog box opens with the Rip Music tab active.
4.	Explore the tabs of the Options dialog box, noticing how you can customize many different types of Player settings.
5.	Make any changes you want, and then click OK, or simply click Cancel to close the dialog box without making any changes.
6.	Right-click a blank area of the toolbar or the Player controls area, and then click Show Classic Menus. The available commands are arranged on the menu bar in five menus: File, View, Play, Tools, and Help.
7.	Click the File menu, and then point to each menu in turn to see its commands. Then on the View menu, click Skin Chooser. The window changes so that you can choose a skin. The available skins are listed on the left and a preview of the selected skin appears on the right. [View full size image]
8.	Click More Skins. The Skins For Windows Media Player page opens in your Web browser.
9.	Scroll the list of skins, and follow the directions to download a few that you like. For the purposes of this exercise, download only skins created by Microsoft. You can come back and explore other skins later.
10.	When you have finished downloading skins, close your browser window.
11.	In the Skin Chooser window, click your favorite skin, and then click Apply Skin. Windows Media Player changes to reflect your selection and switches to skin mode. For example, the gadget skin looks like a space-age burled wood jukebox. Tip Move the mouse pointer over the buttons on the skin you select to learn what features are available for that skin.
12.	On the skin, click the Return to Full Mode button to redisplay the Skin Chooser window. Return to Full Mode