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Getting Started with Digital Music

(From Microsoft)

From getting your music onto your computer to burning your own custom CDs, Windows XP and Windows Media Player 10 make it easy to go digital.

Rip CDs to your Computer

You can rip songs from your favorite music CDs onto your computer with Microsoft Windows Media Player 10. When you rip music, you are copying songs from your CD to your computer. When your songs are copied to your computer, you can use Windows Media Player to play and organize your songs, create playlists, and sync your music to a portable device.
  1. Click Start, point to All Programs, and then click Windows Media Player.
  2. Insert an audio CD in the CD drive, and then click Rip to copy your music. All songs on the CD are selected unless you previously ripped them to your computer.
  3. Clear the check boxes next to any songs you do not want to rip. You can use the check box at the top of the list to select or clear all check boxes at once.
  4. When you are satisfied with your selection, click Rip Music.
  5. The first time you rip music, you will be prompted to choose between keeping the current format settings and changing them. You can change the format, sound quality, and download location of your ripped music files, or you can keep the default Windows Media format settings. You can always change these settings later.

    If you don't want to make any changes at this point, select Keep the current format settings, and then click OK.
  6. The songs are ripped to your Windows Media Player Library. After the songs have been ripped, you can go to the Library to play them.


Create a playlist with Windows Media Player

You can create custom playlists with Microsoft Windows Media Player 10. Playlists are collections of digital media that you can name, save, and play in Windows Media Player. It's a great way to listen to music, and you can build different playlists for listening to while you work, exercise, or relax at home. You can also create playlists of videos and TV shows.

To create a playlist:
  1. Click Library. You now see an expandable view of all the media items in your library. If items appear in the Now Playing list, clear those items from the list to start fresh.
  2. Click Now Playing List, and then click Clear List. The list is cleared, and you are ready to build a new playlist. In this example, you will build a playlist of songs from several albums.
  3. To add an album to the playlist, in the Contents pane, click the plus sign next to All Music to expand the list, and then click the plus sign next to Album to expand the list of albums. Windows Media Player expands the category and shows all the albums in your library.
  4. In the Contents pane, select an album title in the list, and drag the title to the List pane under Now Playing List. When you drag an album from the Contents pane, all the songs in that album are added to the playlist.
  5. To add selected songs from an album, in the Contents pane, click the album. In the Details pane, all the songs on the album are displayed.
  6. In the Details pane, hold down the CTRL key, and then click the songs you want to add to the playlist.
  7. Drag the selected songs to the List pane. The selected songs are added to the playlist.
  8. To remove an item from the playlist, right-click the item, and then click Remove from List. The item disappears from the list. It is not deleted from the library; it is just deleted from the playlist.
  9. To save your list, click Now Playing List, and then click Save Playlist As.
  10. In the Save As dialog box, type a file name for your playlist, and then click Save. Your new playlist appears under My Playlists.
  11. To listen to or watch your new playlist, expand My Playlists, and then double-click the playlist you just created. Windows Media Player adds the songs from the playlist to the List pane and plays the songs, starting with the first song in the list. Now you can create playlists for anything you like.


Burn an Audio CD

You can create your own customized music CDs by burning (copying) songs from your music library in Microsoft Windows Media Player 10 to an audio CD. Select your favorite songs from your music library, organize them in the order you want them to play, and then copy them to a CD.

To burn an audio CD:
  1. Click Library. You now see an expandable view of all the media items in your library. If there are any items in the Now Playing list, clear the existing list to start fresh.
  2. Click Now Playing List, and then click Clear List. The list is cleared, and you are ready to build a playlist that you will burn to a CD.
  3. Click Now Playing List, and then click Burn List. Next, add songs to the Burn List.
  4. In the Contents pane, expand the All Music category by clicking the plus sign next to it, and then expand the Album category. All albums in your library are displayed.
  5. Select an item.
  6. In the Details pane, press and hold the CTRL key, and click the songs you want to add to your list. All albums in your library are displayed.
  7. Drag the selected songs to the Burn List.
  8. Repeat steps 6 through 8 until your Burn List is complete.
  9. To change the order of the Burn List, drag songs up or down in the list.
  10. Insert a blank CD-R disc in the CD drive.
  11. To make sure the songs you've selected will fit on your CD, look at the Total Time at the bottom of your Burn List, and compare it with the total time the CD can hold. Most CDs can hold up to 80 minutes of music.
  12. To remove a song from the Burn List, right-click the song title, and then click Remove from List.
  13. Click the Start Burn drop-down arrow at the bottom of the screen, and make sure that Audio CD is selected.
  14. Click Start Burn to burn your songs to the CD. When your computer finishes burning your songs, it ejects your CD. You now have your own custom music CD.


Play CDs and DVDs

You can use Microsoft Windows Media Player 10 to listen to CDs and play DVDs on your computer. Note To play DVDs using the Player, you must have a DVD-ROM drive and a software or hardware DVD decoder installed on your computer. By default, Windows does not include a DVD decoder.

To play a CD or DVD:
  1. Start Windows Media Player and insert a CD into the CD drive or a DVD into the DVD drive.
  2. If the Player is set to play discs automatically and is not already playing content, the disc starts playing.
  3. If the disc does not begin playing, click the Quick Access Panel button and then click the drive that contains the disc. Note To eject a disc, on the Play menu, click Eject.
To watch a DVD in full-screen mode:
  1. Click Now Playing and then click the Full Screen button.
  2. To restore the Player to the original size, press the ESC key.
Getting Media Information about a CD or DVD

If your computer is connected to the Internet, the Player automatically finds media information about the disc from a database on the Internet and then displays the information during playback. For example, the Player tries to retrieve the album title, track names, artist name, genre, and so on. If media information is not in the database for a CD that you are playing, possibly because it was produced by a small label or because the CD was burned on a personal computer, then the Player identifies the tracks only by number and lists the artist or album names as "Unknown Artist" and "Unknown Album."

To find or edit media information:
  1. As the disc plays, click Now Playing, and then click Find Album Info.
  2. Follow the instructions in the Player to find or edit the information.


Organize your digital media collection

You can use Microsoft Windows Media Player 10 to organize your digital media collection. The first step in getting organized is to add your content to the Library feature of the Player. Adding content to the library is a required step before performing other Player tasks, such as burning, creating playlists, or synchronizing files to portable music players. When you add it to the library, your content is automatically organized into categories, which makes it easy to find and play.

The library automatically organizes music into categories such as album artist and genre.

Adding content to the Library

You have a number of options for adding content to your library. When you rip (copy) music from your audio CDs to your computer or download files from online stores, the files are automatically added to your library. The purpose of this section is to explain how to add digital media files that are already on your computer to your library.

To add content to your library:
  1. In Windows Media Player, click Library.
  2. Click Add to Library and then click By Searching Computer. The Add to Library by Searching Computer dialog box is displayed.
  3. In the Search on list, click the drive you want to search.
  4. To search one folder on the drive rather than the entire drive, in Look in, click Browse to enter the folder.
  5. Select your preferences for updating media information.
  6. Click Search. Depending on the size of your digital media collection and the speed of your computer's processor, the search may take some time.
Keeping the Library up to date

The Player can monitor the music and video folders on your computer for changes and then automatically update the library. This is particularly useful if you add or remove files regularly, because the Player automatically reflects any changes you make. You don't need to remember to update the library.

To specify folders to monitor:
  1. In Windows Media Player, click Library.
  2. Click Add to Library, and then click By Monitoring Folders. The Monitor Folders dialog box is displayed.
  3. Click Add or Remove to select the folders you want to monitor.
Another option you have for keeping your library up to date is to have music files be automatically added to your library when you play them. To turn this option on, select the Add music files to library when played check box on the Player tab of the Options dialog box.

Updating media information

An important component of a well-organized library is accurate media information. If the Player cannot find media information for an item or if the information is incorrect, you can edit the information yourself. You have a number of options for editing media information in the Player; the following steps describe how to edit a column in the library. In this example, several songs are in the Unknown category in the library, because album information for the songs is missing. After the album information is added, the songs are moved to the correct Album category in the library.

To update or edit media information:
  1. In Windows Media Player, click Library.
  2. In the Details pane, select the item you want to edit. To select multiple adjacent items, hold down the SHIFT key as you click each item. To select multiple nonadjacent items, hold down the CTRL key as you click each item.
  3. Right-click the column you want to edit, and then click Edit. The column you clicked is displayed as an editable column.
  4. Type the correct media information.
  5. When you press the ENTER key, the change you made is entered.
  6. The songs are now listed correctly in the Album category.


Shop for music and video on the Internet

You can use Microsoft Windows Media Player 10 to find, purchase, and download music, videos, and more from online stores, all from within the Player. To begin, you simply register with a store, after which you can start shopping. You can register with as many online stores as you want, and then easily switch between the stores. The active store is displayed at the top of the list in the Player.

Register with as many online stores as you want, and then easily switch between the stores.

To browse for more online stores, click Browse all Online Stores. A Web page on the Windows Media Web site is displayed with links to music, video, and radio retailers that provide online stores for the Player. You must be connected to the Internet to browse the online stores.



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