MICROSOFT ®MICROSOFT ®
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`WINDOW5 MEDIAT”WINDOW5 MEDIAT”
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`, HANDBOOK [ , HANDBOOK [
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`SETH MCLEIIV/OYSETH MCLEIIV/OY
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`PUBLISHED BY
`Microsoft Press
`
`A Division of Microsoft Corporation
`One Microsoft Way
`Redmond, Washington 98052-6399
`
`Copyright © 2000 by Microsoft Corporation
`
`All rights reserved. No part of the contents of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
`any means without the written permission of the publisher.
`
`Library of Congress Cataloging—in-Publication Data
`McEvoy, Seth.
`Microsoft Windows Media Player Handbook I Seth McEvoy.
`p. cm.
`Includes index.
`
`ISBN 0-7356-1178-5
`1. Interactivemultimedia.
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`2. Microsoftwindows (Computerfile).
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`I. Title.
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`QA76.76.l59 M335
`006.6-—dc21
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`2000
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`0O—056229
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`Printed and bound in the United States of America.
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`123456789 QWT 543210
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`Distributed in Canada by Penguin Books Canada Limited.
`
`A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
`
`Microsoft Press books are available through booksellers and distributors worldwide. For further information
`about international editions, contact your local Microsoft Corporation office or contact Microsoft Press
`International directly at fax (425) 936-7329. Visit our Web site at mspress.microsoft.com. Send comments to
`mspinput@microsoft.com.
`
`ActiveX, ClearType, JScript, Microsoft, MSDN, Visual Basic, Visual C++, Visual InterDev, Visual
`Studio, Windows, and Windows Media are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft
`Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Other product and company names mentioned
`herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
`
`Unless otherwise noted, the example companies, organizations, products, people, and events depicted herein
`are fictitious. No association with any real company, organization, product, person, or event is intended or
`should be inferred.
`
`Acquisitions Editor: Casey Doyle
`Project Editors: Denise Bankaitis and Victoria Thulman
`
`

`
`How Does the Player Work?
`
`CHAPTER 2
`
`In this chapter you’ll learn how to operate Windows Media Player 7. You’ll
`see how to play files, use the buttons to navigate, change the settings, use the
`menus, and switch to different views and modes. You’ll also be shown how
`to find files on the Internet, copy music from CDs, and use playlists.
`
`Playing a file in only three steps
`Playing music or video on the Player is a simple 1-2-3 process:
`
`1. Go to the Now Playing view.
`
`2.
`
`Pick a song from a playlist and click the song title.
`
`3. Then click the Play button to begin playing.
`
`The threeusteps to playing a song are shown below in more detail.
`
`Step 1: Start with the full mode Player
`When you start Windows Media Player 7 for the first time, and you are con-
`nected to the Internet, you should see the full mode Player in the Media
`Guide view. Figure 2.1a shows a typical Media Guide view.
`
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`Windows Media Player 7 Handbook '
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`downloads.
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`If you are not connected to the Internet, you’ll see a screen similar to Figure
`
`2.11:.
`
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`Media Guide
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`

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`You can now get started using Windows Media Player. Click Now Playing on
`the left side of the full mode Player. You should see a View similar to Figure
`2.2.
`
`Chapter 2: How Does the Player Work‘?
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`'
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`beautiful Way
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`'
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`Figure 2.2 — Windows Media Player in fall mode in the Now Playing view.
`
`If you don’t see something like Figure 2.2, you’re probably looking at a skin.
`A skin may have been loaded by the last person to use‘ the Player; you won’t
`be able to see the Now Playing View when a skin is running. If you are view-
`ing a skin, you will want to return to the full mode of Windows Media Player.
`
`Windows Media Player comes in two modes: full mode and compact mode.
`The compact mode is used to display skins, and the/full mode displays the
`standard Player. To return to full mode from any skin, right-click anywhere
`on the skin and then click Return to Full Mode on the shortcut menu that
`
`appears.
`
`The full mode has several different views it can display. Rightnow, all you
`want to do is play a file, so click Now-Playing at the left side of the full
`mode Player. You should now see something that looks close to Figure 2.2.
`You probably will have a different visualization or a different playlist loaded
`on your computer, but you’re ready to start.
`
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`Windows Media Player 7 Handbook
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`Step 2: Choose a song
`There are several ways to choose a file to play, but the easiest way is to use a
`playlist. Playlists will be covered in greater detail later in this chapter, but to
`get you started, use the playlist that should be visible on the right side of the
`Now Playing view.
`
`Figure 2.3 shows a Now Playing View with a playlist named “All Audio” that
`contains all the songs that the Player has information about. The third song,
`“Laure”, is selected and playing. You can do_uble—click any item in the
`playlist to start playing that item.
`'
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`
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`Figure 2.3 -— A playlist with more than one item.
`
`
`
`You can learn more about using playlists later in this chapter. There are other
`ways to choose audio and video files as well, and they will also be covered
`in this chapter.
`‘
`
`Step 3: Click Play H
`
`Now that you’ve selected a song title, click the Play button. It looks like an
`arrow that is pointing to the right. You can see it in Figure 2.4.
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`Chapter 2: How Does the Player Work?
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`Figure 2.4 — The Play button of the full mode Player.
`
`When you click the Play button, two things happen. The music starts playing
`and the button changes. The button now looks like Figure 2.5.
`
`Figure 2.5 - The Pause button‘ of the full mode Player
`
`This new button is the Pause button. Any time you want to stop the Player,
`just click the Pause button. That will stop the music playing and change the
`Pause button back to a Play button.
`
`Using the navigation buttons
`Windows Media Player has several other buttons you can use to enhance
`your playing experience. The following buttons are always at the bottom of
`the window in the full mode Player and are listed here from left to right:
`
`I Play/Pause
`
`I
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`0
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`Stop
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`Seek ‘
`
`0 Mute
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`0% Volume
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`0 Previous
`
`0 Fast Reverse
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`0 Fast Forward
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`0 Next
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`0
`Switch to compact mode
`If you hover over a button with the mouse pointer, the name of the button
`will appear.
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`Windows Media Player 7 Handbook
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`Figure 2.6 shows the navigation buttons for the full mode Player. These but»
`tons are also called transport buttons and use symbols that are common to the
`electronic industry for controlling tape recorders, VCRS, and CD players.
`Y0u’ll often see the same button symbols in skins, but because every artist
`designs skins his own way, and the artwork varies widely, you won’t neces-
`sarily find all the same buttons in each skin, or the buttons may not be in the
`same order.
`
`
`
`Figure 2.6 —- Navigation buttons.
`
`Here is a brief explanation of each button.
`
`Play/Pause
`This button toggles back and forth between two states: Play and Pause.
`Play starts the selected music or video playing, and Pause pauses it.
`Clicking Play from a paused state will start the program playing from the
`same position it was paused at.
`
`.
`Stop
`This button stops a currently playing program. If you click Play after
`clicking Stop, the program will start over at the beginning.
`
`Seek
`
`This is the long bar that extends above the other buttons. The Seek bar
`shows the current position in the file. If you click and drag the tiny box,
`you can change the current position in the file to anywhere you want.
`The left endpof the Seek bar represents the beginning of the file, and the
`right end represents the end of the file. So the midpoint of the bar
`represents the midpoint of the file, regardless of its length.
`
`Mute
`-
`-Click this to mute the sound of the currently playing file. Click it again to
`return the sound to its previous volume.
`Volume
`This is a short triangular bar with a box above it. Click and drag the box
`left or right to increase or decrease the volume of the sound.
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`Chapter 2: How Does the Player Work?
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`A
`Previous
`Click this to go to the previous title in a playlist.
`
`Fast Reverse
`Click this to move the current seek position of the file backward. Click it
`again to start playing from the new seek position. This button only works
`for video files that use the Windows Media video file format.
`Fast Forward
`Click this to move the current seek position of the file forward. Click it
`again to start playing from the newseek position. This button only works
`for video files that use the Windows Media video file format.
`
`Next
`Click this to go to the next title in the playlist.
`Switch to compact mode
`Use this to change the Player display to compact mode. This will change
`the user interface to the default skin or the last skin you selected.
`
`Watching visualizations
`At the bottom of the left side of the Now Playing pane, you’ll see two but-
`tons. Click these to change visualization presets. These buttons are shown in
`Figure 2.7.
`
`
`Figure 2.7 — Previous visualization and Next visualization preset buttons.
`
`Visualizations draw moving shapes and colors‘ on the screen that rise and fall
`in time to the beat and tone of the music. Several visualizations are included
`with Windows Media Player, and more are available from the Windows Me-
`dia Player Visualizations Gallery. Click Download Visualizations on the
`Tools menu to go there.
`
`Each visualization has several presets. Each preset gives a different “flavor”
`or. “twist” to the visualization; for example, one preset might make all the
`colors soft pastels and another preset would make them vivid primary colors.
`You can change visualizations and presets by clicking the Previous visual-
`ization and Next visualization buttons. The visualization and preset names
`are displayed to the right of the buttons, with the visualization name first, and
`the preset name following, separated by a colon.
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`Windows Media Player 7 Handbook
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`You won’t see a visualization if you’re playing a video, because they both
`use the same display pane.
`
`Changing other settings
`There’s one other button that can be useful when playing audio and video. At
`the top of the full mode Windows Media Player, just to the right of center,
`you’ll see the Show Equalizer & Settings button that looks like Figure 2.8.
`
`
`
`Figure 2.8 -— Show/Hide Equalizer & Settings in Now Playing button.
`
`Clicking this button will show a new pane in the Now Playing area that is
`below the visualization/video pane. This pane covers several settings. To
`move to a new setting, click the Previous setting or Next setting button.
`These buttons are shown in Figure 2.9.
`
`
`Figure 2.9 — Previous setting and Next setting buttons.
`
`The following settings are accessed from this pane by clicking the Previous.
`setting and Next setting buttons:
`
`0 . SRS WOW Effects
`
`0 Graphic Equalizer
`
`’ 0 Video Settings
`
`0 Windows Media Information
`
`0 Captions
`
`Here is a brief explanation of each setting.
`
`SRS WOW Effects settings
`
`This pane allows you to adjust the SRS WOW settings. SRS is a type of sur-
`round sound that makes your audio sound more lifelike and three-dirnen-
`
`sional. You can see the SRS WOW Effects pane in Figure 2.10.
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`Chapter 2: How Does the Player Work?
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`
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`Figure 2.10 — SRS WOW Efiects pane.
`
`On the right is the logo for SRS. Click it to find out more about SRS. On the
`left are two horizontal sliders that adjust the TruBass and WOW Effect. Be-
`tween the two sliders and the SRS logo are two buttons: the top turns SRS on
`and off, and the bottom one toggles between various presets.
`
`Here is a brief explanation of each button:
`
`T.ruBass
`Sliding this all the way to the right increases the bass enhancement of the
`audio. Sliding to the left decreases it.
`
`WOW Effect
`Sliding this to the right increases the perceived height and width of the
`audio image.
`.
`
`On/Off
`Click this toggle button to turn the SRS WOW Effects on or off.
`
`Speaker Settings
`Click this to toggle through the following speaker settings: normal
`speakers, large speakers, and headphones.
`
`Graphic Equalizer settings
`
`This pane allows you to adjust the audio to make it sound exactly the way
`you’d like. If you want to boost the bass or cut out high notes, this is the
`place to do it. Figure 2.11 shows the Graphic Equalizer pane.
`
`
`
`Figure 2.11 — Graphic Equalizer pane.
`
`On the left you see ten sliders that correspond to ten divisions of the audio
`spectrum. Move the leftmost slider up to increase the power of the lowest fre-
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`Windows Media Player 7 Handbook
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`quencies, move it down to reduce them. Similarly, the rightmost slider con-
`trols the upper tenth of the spectrum (the highest frequencies). Play with the
`sliders to see what sounds good to you.
`
`To the immediate right of the sliders are two buttons. The top one turns the
`graphic equalizer on or off. If it is off, the settings are completely “flat,” that
`is, no modification is made to the sounds. The bottom button toggles through
`several presets that are based on popular styles of music. For example, the
`Jazz preset will boost the middle frequencies more than the Acoustic setting.
`If you make changes in the Custom preset, those changes will be saved for
`the ‘next time you use the Player.
`
`To the right of those two buttons is a final horizontal slider that allows you to
`adjust the stereo balance. Move it to the left to increase the apparent volume
`of the left channel and to the right to increase the right volume.
`
`Video settings
`This pane allows you to adjust the video to make it look the way you like it.
`If you want to adjust the brightness or the intensity of the color, this is the
`place to do it. Figure 2.12 shows the Video Settings pane.
`
`
`
`Figure 2.12 — Video Settings pane.
`
`On the left side of the pane are four horizontal sliders. They adjust the
`Brightness, Contrast, Hue, and Saturation of the video picture. To the right
`of these sliders is a button that resets all the sliders to their default (centered) S
`positions.
`
`Here is a brief explanation of each slider:
`
`Brightness
`This adjusts the brightness of the video picture. Slide it all the way to the
`left to make the picture completely black and all the way to the right to
`make it completely white. Usually you’ll want it somewhere in between.
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`Chapter 2: How Does the Player Work?
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`Contrast
`Use this to sharpen or blur video images. Moving this slider all the way
`to the left makes the picture sharper. This effect is sometimes known as
`posterization. Moving it to the right makes the image look blurry, as if
`everything was photographed in a dense fog or underwater.
`
`Hue
`Adjust the hue for basic color changes. Slide it to the left to make
`everything more red/purple and to the right for green.
`
`Saturation
`_
`This adjusts how much color is shown in the video. Slide the slider all the
`way to the left, and only the gray tones are used, with no color at all.
`Slide it all the way to the right, and the colors are extremely intense
`(saturated).
`
`Windows Media Information
`
`This pane isn’t really a setting, but shows additional information about a par-
`ticular item. For example, if you load the Sample Playlist, and open the Win-
`dows Media Information pane, you’ll see something like Figure 2.13.
`
`
`
`Figure 2.13 — Windows Media Information pane.
`
`The Windows Media Information pane can display details such as genre and
`label, but can also display pictures, links, and other useful information. In
`this example, if you click the album cover or the link to the right of it, you’ll
`I be taken to a Web page that gives more details about the artist, album, label,
`and so on. For more information on how to create advertising information
`such as the kind you see in the Windows Media Information pane, see
`Chapter 13.
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`Windows Media Player 7 Handbook
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`Captions
`This pane isn’t really a setting either, but shows captions for video files. See
`Figure 2.14 for a typical caption file.
`
`
`
`Figure 2.14 — Capfions pane.
`
`For more information about captions, see Chapter 13.
`
`Using menus
`
`Many of the operations you can perform with buttons can also be done
`through menus. The File menu is always available in the full mode View but
`is also available in skins that provide menus. Here is a brief listing of each
`menu item and what it does.
`'
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`File menu
`
`The File menu helps you work with files. The following commands are ‘avail-
`able on the File menu:
`
`Open
`Use this to load a file, using the standard Windows Open dialog box. The '
`file you select will be loaded into a new playlist, and the file will start
`playing.
`
`_
`Open URL
`Use this to load a file from a Web site or over a network. A URL
`(Uniform Resource Locator) is a path to a file; for example, http://
`internalsite/laure.wma is a URL. You must type a URL that links to an
`audio or video file. If you type a URL to a Web page, you will get an
`error.
`
`Close
`
`This doesn’t close the Player; it closes the media file that is_playing. It
`stops the Player and deselects the current item in the current playlist.
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`Chapter 2: How Does the Player Work?
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`Add to Library
`Use this to add a track to the media library. The media library is the
`collection of all audio and Video that the Player has information about.
`When you select this option, you are given three choices: Add Currently
`Playing Track, Add File, and Add URL. The first choice is useful when
`you want to add the content that is currently playing to the media library.
`The second and third choices are similar to the Open and Open URL
`commands on the File menu except that instead of playing the file, the
`Player just adds it to the media library.
`
`Import Playlist to Library
`Use this to import a playlist into the media library. Playlists are Vlfindows
`Media metafiles that have an extension of .asx, .wax, .wvx. You can also
`
`import a .m3u file which will automatically be converted to a playlist.
`
`Export Playlist to File
`Use this to save a selected playlist in a text file. If you don’t have any
`playlists selected (or any playlists at all), the media library will be saved
`as a playlist.
`
`Copy to CD
`Use this to copy files to a CD. You must have a CD—ROM that is
`recordable and a CD drive capable of recording. For more information
`about copying files to a CD—ROM, see Chapter 3. You may not see this
`menu item if you do not have a recordable CD drive installed on your
`
`COII1pl.1tCI'.
`
`Properties
`, Selecting this will display information about the audio or video that is
`currently playing.
`.
`
`Work Offline
`
`Use this option if you don’t want the Player to go out to the Internet to
`gather information about CD3.
`
`Exit
`
`This will shut down Windows Media Player.
`
`A View menu
`
`The View menu helps you see all the different parts of Windows Media Player
`and work with visual elements. The following commands are available
`through the View menu:
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`Windows Media Player 7 Handbook
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`Full Mode
`
`This option returns you to the full mode view.
`
`Compact Mode
`Use this to change from full mode to a skin. Whatever skin you used last
`will be the default skin.
`
`Now Playing Tools
`Select this to change how the Now Playing area looks. You can choose to
`hide or display the playlist, title, and visualization portions of the pane.
`You can also show or hide the following settings: SRS WOW Effects,
`Graphic Equalizer, Video, Windows Media Information, and Captions.
`Finally, you can also hide or show the resize bars, which are the bars that
`separate the sub-panes of the Now Playing area.
`
`Task Bar
`
`The Task Bar menu command provides access to the same features
`found on the Task Bar tabs at the left side of the full mode Player. The
`following features are provided: Now Playing, Media Guide, CD Audio,
`Media Library, Radio 'Il1ner, Portable Device, and Skin Chooser. For
`more information about the Task Bar, see the “Changing Views in full
`mode” section of this chapter.
`
`7
`Visualizations
`Selecting this option provides a list of the currently loaded visualizations.
`Selecting a visualization shows you the presets that are available for each
`visualization.
`
`File Markers
`
`Use this to go to a specific position in a file that has markers. If a file
`doesn’t have markers, you can’t select this option. For more information
`about file markers, see Chapter 12.
`
`Statistics
`
`Selecting this option can show you how well the file is playing. This can
`be particularly useful if you want to report problems with files that you
`are receiving in real time through the Internet (called streaming). If there
`are problems, you usually will know, but this option can give you exact
`answers, such as how many packets are being lost during transmission.
`
`
`
`Full Screen
`
`If you are playing a visualization that supports it, use this option to have
`the Visualization display over the full screen of your computer. Once in
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`Chapter 2: How Does the Player Work?
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`full screen, you can return to normal mode by pressing the ALT and
`ENTER keys simultaneously.
`
`Refresh
`
`P
`
`Use this to refresh the page when you are using the Media Guide,
`_ Portable Device, or Radio ’I‘uner panes. If you think you’re looking at
`yesterday’s Web page, you may be right. Some information in these task
`panes is cached, that is, stored on your hard disk, depending on the
`settings in Internet Explorer or your portable device.
`
`Zoom
`
`—
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`This allows you to change the size of a Video that is playing. You can
`choose to make it fit the screen, or pick ,a specific percentage of the
`original. The percentages are 50%, 100%, and 200%.
`
`Play menu
`
`The Play menu gives you most of the same options that the transport buttons
`offer. The following commands are available through the Play menu:
`
`Play/Pause
`This starts the music or video program playing, or if it is already playing,
`. pauses it. The Player must have at least one item in the media library in
`order to play. Playing a paused file starts the file playing at the same
`position it was paused at.
`
`Stop
`This stops the currently playing program. If you click Play after stopping
`‘ the program, the song or video will start over at the beginning.
`
`i
`.
`Skip Back
`This stops the currently playing item in the playlist and plays the
`previous item in the same playlist. This corresponds to the Previous
`button in the Player buttons at the bottom of the full mode Player. If you
`are at the first item in a playlist and you select Skip Back, the last item in
`the playlist will be played.
`0
`
`Skip Forward
`This stops thecurrently playing item in the playlist and plays the next
`item in the same playlist. This corresponds to the Next button in the
`Player buttons at the bottom of the full mode Player. If you are at the last
`item in a playlist and you select Skip Forward, the first-item in the
`playlist will be played.
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`Rewind
`
`This rewinds a video in short intervals. You can only rewind videos that
`are encoded in Windows Media Format. This corresponds to the Fast
`Reverse button in the Player buttons at the bottom of the full mode
`Player.
`
`Fast Forward
`
`This fast forwards a video in short intervals. You can only fast forward
`videos that are‘ encoded in Windows Media Format. This corresponds to
`the Fast Forward button in the Player buttons at the bottom of the full
`mode Player.
`
`Shuffle
`
`This plays the items in the current playlist in a random order. It does not
`change the order of the items in the playlist, only the order in which they
`are played while the shuffle option is selected.
`
`Repeat
`This repeats the playing of the entire current playlist, not specific items in
`a playlist. If you want to repeat only one item, create a new playlist, put
`only that item in it, and repeat that playlist.
`
`Volume
`
`This lets you nudge the volume up or down by a small amount. It also
`allows you to mute the volume.
`
`Tools menu
`
`
`
`The Tools menu is for advanced features of Windows Media Player. The fol-
`lowing commands are available through the Tools menu:
`
`Download Visualizations
`
`Select this to go to a Web page that will let you download new
`visualizations.
`-
`
`‘
`Search Computer for Media
`Use this to search your computer for all audio and video files. The Player
`will add the files it finds to your media library and divide them between
`the audio and. video collections. If you choose the option to search for
`WAV and MIDI files, you will add a lot of Windows sound effects that
`you may not want to play with the Player; on the other hand, you may
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`Chapter 2: How Does the Player Work’?
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`H
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`‘ii;
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`
`discover some interesting MIDI files that are hidden away inside your
`Windows folder. You can choose to load from local drives, network
`drives, all drives, or a specific drive, and even a specific directory. If you
`have mapped a network drive to your computer, you can search that
`drive as well. For example, if drive X: is mapped to a network drive, you
`can Search that drive, or directories on that drive.
`
`License Management
`If you download music that requires a license, or make copies of CD
`tracks, this optionspecifies where you want to store the licenses on your
`computer. You might want to pick a folder that you can find easily so you
`can conveniently back up your licenses to another drive or storage
`medium. If you pay for a song and the song needs a license to play,
`you’ll want to take good care of your licenses. For more information
`about licensing, see “Understanding digital rights” in Chapter 3.
`
`Options
`This is the option for everything else not covered in other menu items.
`The following section, “Options dialog box,” provides more information
`about this menu item.
`
`Options dialog box
`
`.,
`j
`‘
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`If you go to the Tools menu and click Options, the Options dialog box is dis-
`played. It covers various options you may want to change. The following
`tabs are included in the Options dialog box:
`
`Player
`- This tab lets you set how often you want Windows Media Player to check
`for software upgrades (daily, weekly, monthly), whether you want the
`Player to automatically download codecs it needs (See Chapter 3 for
`' more about codecs.), whether you want the Player to identify itself to
`Web sites and download licenses automatically, whether you want the
`Player to start up in Media Guide (instead of whatever you mode you
`used last time), and whether you want skins to be on top of other
`windows. You can also decide whether you want the anchor to be
`displayed when using skins. The anchor window is a small window that
`appears in the lower right corner of the screen when Windows Media
`Player is in compact mode. You can click the anchor window, and then
`click Return to Full Mode to return to the full mode of the Player. Most
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`Windows Media Player 7 Handbook
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`of the time you’ll want to leave these options the way they were initially
`set.
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`Network
`If you are an advanced networking user, you can use this tab to set
`proxies, ports, and protocols.
`
`CD Audio
`
`Use this to set up how you will play or record CDs. For playing CDs, you
`can choose whether to use digital playback, if your computer supports it,
`and whether to use error correction. Change these options if you are
`having problems playing CDS. For copying music from CDs, you can
`select how much compression to use when converting music from CD
`format to music file formats. You’ll have to choose between smaller file
`sizes and better quality. You can also choose whether to use digital
`copying or error correction, and whether to use personal rights
`management. Finally, you can choose what folder you want the copied
`audio files to be created in. For more information about copying CD3 and
`digital_rights, see Chapter 3.
`
`Portable Device
`
`If you have a portable device, you can use this pane to decide whether to
`let the Player convert the music automatically or let you pick a tradeoff
`between file size and audio quality. You can also click a button and find
`out what devices are supported by Windows Media Player. For more
`information about portable devices, see Chapter 5.
`
`Performance
`
`You might want to use this tab if you are having "trouble with viewing live
`files (streaming). You can tell the Player what network connection you
`have, how much buffering to do, whether you Want to use hardware
`acceleration with video, and how to adjust digital video settings. For
`more information about streaming, see»Chapter 4.
`
`Media Library
`Use this tab to set access rights to your media library. You can specify
`what levels of access you want to grant outside Web sites to read or
`modify the media in your library. This involves both security and privacy
`issues. This also specifies whether you want Internetmusic purchases to
`be added to your library automatically.
`
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`Chapter 2: How Does the Player Work?
`
`Visualizations
`
`If you have installed a visualization that has properties you can change,
`go to this tab to change them. For example, the Ambience visualization
`will let you set the full-screen size and offscreen buffer size. You can also
`use this tab to load a Visualization thatis stored on your computer but
`that is not registered with the Player. Besure you know the source of any
`visualization before loading, and load them from only trusted sites, so
`that you can avoid viruses.
`
`Formats
`
`Use this tab to make sure the Player plays the file formats you want it to
`play. If another brand of player starts playing a file that you want
`Windows Media Player to play, change the file association here, if it is a
`file format the Player can play.
`
`Help menu
`
`The Help menu gives you help and information. This menu has the following
`three commands:
`
`Help Topics
`
`This command launches the Help file that comes with Windows Media
`Player. The Help file covers all the features you need to know about to
`use the Player. You can also get the Help file by pressing the F1 key on
`your computer at any time while Window Media Player is the active
`Window.
`
`Check For Player Upgrades
`. Use this command any time you’re curious about upgrades to Windows
`Media Player. The Player will do this automatically for you, but you may
`want to do it yourself if you’ve heard news of a new version.
`
`About Windows Media Player
`This will display the name, copyright, Version number, and product ID of
`Windows Media Player.
`
`Compact mode shortcut menu
`
`When Windows Media Player is in compact mode, you can right-click the .
`skin and get a menu. Each of the commands on the menu corresponds to a
`similarly named command on one of the menus of the full mode Player.
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`Windows Media Player 7 Handbook
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`Table 2.1 shows the commands on the menu of the compact mode along with
`their corresponding full mode menu commands.
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`About
`
`elp menu About Windows Media
`.
`Player opt1on
`
`Table 2.1 — Menu commands of the compact mode Player.
`
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`V File menu Exit option
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`Chapter 2: How Does the Player Work?
`
`Changing views in full mode
`
`The full mode of Windows Media Player has seven views that are accessed
`by clicking tabs on the Task Bar, which is on the left side of the window.
`Each view gives you a different way to interact with audio and video. Here is
`a list of the views:
`
`Now Playing
`This View shows a visualization or video on the left pane and a playlist
`on the right. You can also display a hidden settings pane to make various
`adjustments or see additional information. You’ll spend most of your time
`in this view.
`
`Media Guide
`
`This is the default View of the Player and opens up a world of audio and
`video through the Internet. You can get daily news of new audio and
`video releases, tune in to Internet radio stations, and download tons of
`things to see and hear, most of it free! For more help with downloading,
`see the “Finding files on the Internet” section in this chapter.
`
`CD Audio
`
`-
`
`If you have a CD player in. your computer, you can play your CD tracks
`using Windows Media Player. For more informationqabout using CDs, see
`the “Copying music from CDs” section in this chapter. For more
`information about creating your own CDs, see Chapter 3.
`
`Media Library
`-This is where you can organize all your audio and video. You can search
`‘for audio and video files on your computer, create playlists, and change
`your Internet radio presets here. For more information about working
`with playlists, see the “Using playlists” section of this chapter.
`
`Radio Tuner
`
`Use this feature to search out and sort Internet radio stations. From
`around the world or around the block, you can listen to music every hour
`of every day and never hear the same thing twice!
`'
`
`-i Portable Devices
`
`Use this pane to download music to your Pocket PC or other portable
`device. For