Media+Player+Tips+for

Media Player Tips for

These Tips were posted by Lone Wolf

They are posted verbatim and he deserves all the credits ( Lindburgh)


 * Media Player – Top Tips / 1**

Back‐up, don’t crack up…Keep your track licences in check.

When you’ve purchased and downloaded a tune to your hard‐drive, you’ll have a licence to play that music. This is like having electronic permission to use the track, so Windows

Media Player 10 knows you acquired it legitimately. It’s wise to back up these licences – if you lose them in a crash, your PC will no longer be able to access your purchased songs.


 * Back‐up**

It’s vital that you back‐up your licences regularly, or you’ll lose access to your music files if they ever get lost. Go to Tools> Manage Licences, click Change, and specify a back‐up location to store your precious licences.


 * Source selection**

It’s best to back‐up your licences to a floppy disk or USB drive – that way you can recover them even if you suffer a hard‐drive failure, or forget to back them up prior to a reformat.

It’s always better to be safe than sorry.


 * Back to you**

If disaster does strike, then restoring your licences couldn’t be easier. Simply go to the same Manage Licences option and click Restore Now. You will need to be connected to the internet first, however.

Gentle reminder – Digital Rights Management.

Because DRM works in the background when you’re using Windows Media Player, it’s easy to forget it’s there. This can cause problems when you come to format or re‐arrange your filing system, as you can happily back up the songs and forget the licences required to run them. Avoid this disaster by right‐clicking the title bar and going to Tools> Option>

Prompt me to back up my licences.

__**Media Player – Top Tips / 2**__

Quality, not quantity… Copy your files effectively.

You can determine the format and quality of audio track before you copy them to your PC. Bigger files will ensure a richer listening experience but are larger. It’s recommended that you copy songs to WMA format, as it takes up less space than the more common MP3. Please be aware that it may not be legal to rip CD’s to a hard‐drive in your region of the world.

The various formats are:

MP3 is the most common form of audio file currently available, thanks to its ubiquitous support to many PCs and portable music players. But itʹs not the best format.

WMA files are the ones created by Windows Media Player when it records from your CDs. They offer better sound quality than MP3 thanks to advanced compression techniques and can be used to make mathematically lossless recordings.

WMV are Windows Media Video files, and contain video content like movie trailers and music videos. They benefit from some new features in Windows Media Player series.

ASF is also a Windows Media file format. ASF files are not often found individually, since playback isnʹt fantastic when stored on a local hard drive ‐ theyʹre better suited to streaming on‐line use.


 * Media Player – Top Tips / 3**

Radio Ga Ga… Listen to the radio on Media Player.

The radio set‐up will be a little unfamiliar if you’re used to Windows media Player 9. In the UK, you can now get to the Radio Tuner by clicking on Guide, and then selecting Radio Tuner from the top of the list on the right. If you actually click on the Radio button on the Media Player toolbar, however, you’ll be taken to a MSN Music Club UK (it’s like radio‐ but better!), where you can access streaming play lists in various genres.


 * Media Player – Top Tips / 4**

Supporting roles… Access Help and Support.

If your copy of Windows Media Player is behaving oddly, if you want to learn more about playlists, or you don’t understand an aspect of Digital Rights Management, you can access

Help and Support at any time by hitting F1. Alternatively, there is a range of drop down options from the Help menu on the toolbar. Select Troubleshoot and you’ll be taken to the Microsoft website where a range of problem‐solving solutions are presented.


 * Media Player – Top Tips / 5**

Graphic equaliser… Configure sound output presets.

You can configure the type of sound output Windows Media Player 10 generates using the graphics equaliser on the Now Playing screen. There are 21 preset options, but Custom settings are available too for personalised tweaking. Select an equalised based on the type of music you’re listening to. You may not need to change this if most of your music is from one genre, although it’s worth switching to Speech should you change to an audio book.


 * Media Player – Top Tips / 6**

Music Manager… Download music with MSN Music Club.

The new MSN Music Club UK provides a great way to pay for downloadable music, and to make use of it you’ll need to install the new [Music Manager[/b] software from content provider OD2. Remember, during the installation process you’ll probably need to tell your firewall program to allow this Music Manager access to the internet. The installation process will install a shortcut to MSN Music UK on your desktop for easy web access, but mostly you’ll want to reach it through Windows Media Player 10.


 * Media Player – Top Tips / 7**

Play Speed… Change the speed of audio playback.

You can vary the speed during playback by choosing Slow, Normal or fast from the Play menu. By default it will be set at Normal, but you can choose to listen to a track at a different rate. It’s not especially useful for tunes (unless you’re a fan of fast‐paced techno) but with spoken word tracks you might want to get through a recording faster, and it won’t affect the pitch of the sound in the same way that speeding up an old tape would.


 * Media Player – Top Tips / 8**

Year of release… Organise you’re music files.

Windows Media Player can organise your music in a number of ways, using options accessible from the Explorer‐like panel on the left. One of the options is Year Released, which will sort all your tracks by date. This is handy if you’re in the mood for a nostalgic trip, and want to listen to something from your school / university days, for example.

Alternatively, it might be that you can’t find a particular piece of music, but remember that you bought it last summer while on holiday. As in this image, you can also right‐click on a file and select Find Album Info. A panel will open at the bottom of the screen to show details.


 * Media Player – Top Tips / 9**

Get more… Update Windows Media Series.

There’s no doubt that the Windows Media Player series is great but it can be expanded even further. There are loads of plug‐ins and updates available. Go to [|www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/mp10]and follow the links on the left, or head over to [|www.wmplugins.com.] As well as cool visualisations and skins for your player you’ll be able to get yourself a DVD playing codec if you don’t have one already.

See tip #10.


 * Media Player – Top Tips / 10**

File types… Play a variety of file types.

As soon as you install it Windows Media Player 10 can support CD audio playback, plus

Audio Interchange File Format (AIF files). Windows Media audio and video files (ASF, WMA, WMV and so on), basic Windows audio and video files (AVI and WAV). Moving Picture Experts Group files (MPEG, MPG, and more). Musical Instrument Digital Interface

(MIDI) files, AU sound (AU and SND), and selected others including Microsoft Recorded

Show (DVR‐MS). It won’t play back straight from DVD’s unless you have the right thirdparty codec installed; usually one comes with your PC’s DVD drive when you buy it.

Despite the versatility of Windows XP, it’s a little known fact that it doesn’t include a DVD video decoder or ‘codec’ as standard. Fortunately, you can easily check the status of your codec by downloading the Windows XP Video Check‐up Utility direct from Microsoft.

Simply visit[| www.microsoft.com/downloads]and search for ‘video decoder’. Download the file that’s called DECCHECKSetup.EXE, install it onto your PC and then run it from your desktop.


 * Media Player – Top Tips / 11**

Change the picture… Adding pictures.

You’re probably familiar with the Album Arts visualisation in Windows Media Player 10, but did you know that you can determine what picture is displayed? Right‐click on a track or album in the Library or Now Playing list and select Advanced tag Editor. Click on the Picture tab and then on the button labelled Add. You can browse for an image from My Pictures associate it with the song and then have it displayed using the Album Art visualisation.


 * Media Player – Top Tips / 12**

Customise library info… Library options.

There’s a wealth of information relating to your music and video files available in the Library of Microsoft Media Player 10, so you can be selective and ditch the details that you don’t want to see. Select All Music, All TV or All Video on the left of the Library and then click on Library Options in the task bar. Click on Choose Columns and you can pick and choose which details you want Windows Media Player 10 to display.


 * Media Player – Top Tips / 13**

Keyboard Volume Controls… Media Player 10 Shortcut Keys.

Don’t have one of them high‐faluting’ multimedia keyboards with shortcut buttons for Microsoft Windows Media Player 10? You can control it with your regular bog standard keyboard. To raise the volume, simply press F10, to lower the volume press F9, and to mute it altogether, press F8. Play a file by pressing Ctrl and P, skip forward a track / chapter by pressing Ctrl and F and skip backwards with Ctrl and B


 * Media Player – Top Tips / 14**

Adding Skins…Download new skins for Media Player.

You can alter the appearance of Microsoft Windows Media Player 10 by downloading a new skin for the player. A skin is like a new set of clothes, enabling you to use all of the powerful features of media Player 10 while enjoying a whole new look. Click on View, then Skin Chooser; you’ll be able to pick one from a list. It’s possible to make the player look exactly how you like – download more by clicking on the More Skins button.


 * Media Player – Top Tips / 15**

Video Size… Expand your video clips.

You can enlarge or reduce the size of the video clips that you play in Microsoft Windows media Player 10 by right‐clicking on the clip as it plays. From the menu that appears you can choose to play the video at 50% size (reducing it by half). 100% (original size) or 200% (double size). You can also blow it up to full screen. This works for all video, whether you’re streaming a film from the Internet or watching one on DVD.


 * Media Player – Top Tips / 16**

Quiet Mode… Quiet mode volume control.

When you’re listening to classical music, a piece can start out very softly and quickly rise to a crescendo. This is fine when you’re on your own, but if it’s late and people are trying to sleep, a sudden outburst of music can cause a disturbance. Don’t worry though – it’s possible to avoid awakening the dead by using the Quiet Mode in Media Player 10, available by opening the Now Playing options, going to Enhancements and clicking on Quiet Mode.

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 * Media Player – Top Tips / 17**

Mini‐Player… Minimise media Player.

Rather than opening the Media Centre window to adjust tracks or volume, you can use the handy mini‐player. This innovative feature displays all the key controls as a panel on the Windows Taskbar, so there’s no need to stop work to change tracks. To use it, right‐click the Windows Taskbar, point to the Toolbars on the Shortcut menu, then click Windows Media Player. Media Centre will now appear in miniature when minimised.

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 * Media Player – Top Tips / 18**

SRS ‘WOW’ Effect… Pump up the volume.

Even if your PC has a weak, tinny sound system, you’ll notice the difference when you turn on SRS WOW. The effect simulated Surround Sound for small or large speakers, or even headphones – to feel the power, click Select Now Playing options button on the Now Playing tab, point to enhancements, and click SRS WOW Effects. Now click the Turn On link. Next time you play a CD you’ll notice the difference


 * Media Player – Top Tips /19**

Colour Chooser… Redecorate Media Player

If you fancy matching Media Player with your desktop wallpaper, click the Now Playing options’ button at the top‐left of the interface. Point to Enhancements and click Colour Chooser, now drag the Hue and Saturation sliders to colourise the player any way you like. If the results are less than eye pleasing click Reset for the default colours – or choose preset colours by clicking the Change Player Colour button


 * Media Player – Top Tips /20**

Add to Playlist… Music in a click

You’ve spent all day with that song rumbling around in your head and just can’t get it into Media Centre fast enough. Rather than going through the rigmarole of opening up an existing playlist, simply right‐click the music file anywhere on your computer and click

Add to Playlist. This opens the My Playlists dialogue box where you can select a Playlist or create a new one. You can do the same thing with entire folders of music, or drag‐anddrop files to Playlists in Media Library