Windows Media Player

Windows Media Player

This new tool that Windows XP incorporates allows us to listen to music from a CD, tune radio stations, play a video, etc. It also lets us burn record songs from a CD to our hard drive so that we can set up a playlist to listen to the songs. Next we will see the different options that the player offers us.

To run the media player we can click on the shortcut icon that Windows creates when it is installed, we can also access it through the Start menu by selecting All programs and then clicking on Windows Media Player. We can also run it from the quick access bar if it is visible.

Currently playing

The window shown below is the window that will appear with the media player. The appearance can vary since Windows lets you customize it. To play a CD or songs that are saved to the hard drive we need to select Now playing, next display the File menu and select Open..., next look for the songs that we want to listen to. To choose several songs use the Ctrl key and then click open. The selected files will appear on the right side of the window in list form. If what you want is to play a CD it is not necessary to use the File menu since the media player will automatically load the songs on the CD. If you want to listen to a song on the list simply double-click it and it will begin to play. The play order will be the same order that the songs appear on the list to the right. If you want to change the order simply select the songs with the left mouse button and drag the song to where you want it. To change the name of a file from the playlist you have to right click on it and select Edit, then write the new name. When playing a song, there is an image on the left side; this image has movement and it can be changed. To do this click on the arrows that appear here .

Handling the Player

These are the commands to handle the player . The large round button is used to play as well as to pause. This means that this button is used to start and pause a song. This button is used to stop the song or video being played. The following buttons are used to move ahead or skip back. The button skips back to the previous song on the list. For example from song 7 to song 6. The button is used to skip to the next song or video on our playlist. To move forward or move backward in a song you can also use the bar that indicates the progress of the song we are listening to. Click with the left mouse button on the bar and drag it to the right to move forward of to the left to move back. We can also control the Volume by dragging the volume bar . On the top right we can see a small box in which we have the playlist. These lists include files that we have wanted to add, such as creating a list of songs that you like from various CDs. This way you create your own playlists. Next we will discuss playlists in more detail.

How to create a playlist

To create a playlist we need to select Library tab. Click on Playlists and then on New Playlist.... In the dialog box that will appear put the name of the list you want to create and click OK. Then check in My playlists to see that your new playlist appears.

Add a file to a playlist

To add a file to a playlist select Library tab since it should be in the list of files that the library has in order to add it. From the list select the files you want and right click to select Add to playlist... option. This will show you a dialog box with the playlists; select the playlist you want to add the song or songs to and click Ok. In the same way we can add a file to a playlist, we can also delete it; to do this select the playlist and, from within that playlist, select the file you want to delete. Right click on it and select Delete from playlist. You can also delete it from the library by selecting Delete from library.

The CD Player

To play a CD you use the option audio CD. With it you can listen to a CD as well as copy songs from a CD to the hard drive. Normally the multimedia player will start up automatically when we place a CD in the computer. The window you can find when listening to an audio CD is similar to the one shown below. This window will show you the song list that the CD contains and at the same time shows you the name of the song, the singer, and the length of the song. To play a song on the CD simply select it and click Play button.

Copying a CD

We can copy a music CD onto the hard dis or simply the songs that we like best to add on to our list.

To copy a CD we need to check the box that is next to the song that we want to copy and then click on Rip music.

When it begins to copy the songs it will show you the progress of the process.

If you want to copy the entire CD you need to select all the songs (Ctrl+E), and click and then click on Rip music.

The folder where the songs are saved to is usually in c:\My documents\My Music but we can tell it that we want to save them on another folder. To do this before you click Rip music display the menu Tools and select Options...

A window similar to the one shown will open.

To indicate where we want it to copy the songs we have selected we can click on the Change... button, then we will tell where we want it and click OK.

We can even change the quality with which we want the music to copy by dragging the bar Audio quality.

One of the new features is the capability to copy a song while listening to it, although this increases the copy time.

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