Chapter 8. Playing Music and Movies

Your personal computer can do more than just compute. It can also serve as a fully functional audio/video playback center!

That's right, you can use your PC to listen to your favorite audio CDs and to watch the latest movies on DVD. And you do all of this with a software program called Windows Media Player included free with your new PC!

Windows Media Player

Windows Media Player

Playing a CD

You play audio CDs using your PC's CD-ROM drive and Windows Media Player (WMP). You can also use WMP to play songs you've downloaded to your PC from the Internet and (if your PC has a DVD drive) to play DVD movies.

Playing a CD

  1. Playing a CD Insert a CD into your PC's CD-ROM drive.

  2. Playing a CD Windows will ask what you want to do; double-click Play Audio CD Using Windows Media Player.

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    Online Music Stores

    You can buy downloadable music at many online music stores, including the iTunes Music Store (www.apple.com/itunes/store/), MSN Music (music.msn.com), and Napster (www.napster.com). Most stores charge 99¢ per song.

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  3. TIP The CD should start playing automatically; to pause the CD, click the Pause button and then click Play to resume playback.

  4. TIP To skip to the next track, click the Next button.

  5. TIP To replay the last track, click the Previous button.

  6. TIP To stop playback completely, click the Stop button.

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Download the Latest Version

This book covers Windows Media Player version 10. To download the latest version of Windows Media Player, go to www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/.

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Launching Windows Media Player

If WMP doesn't start automatically when you load a CD into your PC's CD-ROM drive, you can launch it manually from the Windows Start menu.

Ripping a CD to Your Hard Disk

Windows Media Player lets you copy music from your CDs to your PC's hard drive. You can then listen to these digital audio files on your computer, transfer the files to a portable music player, or burn your own custom mix CDs. This process of copying files from a CD to your hard disk is called ripping.

Ripping a CD to Your Hard Disk
Ripping a CD to Your Hard Disk

  1. Ripping a CD to Your Hard Disk Before you rip a CD, you have to set the recording quality level. Pull down the Tools menu and select Options.

  2. Ripping a CD to Your Hard Disk When the Options dialog box appears, click the Rip Music tab.

  3. Ripping a CD to Your Hard Disk Pull down the Format list and select the file format and recording quality you want.

  4. Ripping a CD to Your Hard Disk Click OK.

    Ripping a CD to Your Hard Disk

  5. Ripping a CD to Your Hard Disk Insert the CD you want to rip into your PC's CD-ROM drive.

  6. Ripping a CD to Your Hard Disk In WMP, click the Rip tab to show the contents of the CD.

  7. Ripping a CD to Your Hard Disk Put a check mark by the tracks you want to copy.

  8. Ripping a CD to Your Hard Disk When you've selected which tracks to rip, click the Rip Music button.

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Connect to the Internet

Before you rip a CD, you should make sure your PC is connected to the Internet. This lets WMP download track names and CD cover art for the songs you're ripping.

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NOTE

Music Files

WMP stores your ripped music files in your My Music folder. It creates a subfolder for the artist, and within that another subfolder for each of the artist's CDs.

Creating a Playlist

Files in your Windows Media Player library can be combined into playlists. You can create playlists from the files you have stored on your hard disk, in any order you want just like listening to a radio station's playlist.

Creating a Playlist

  1. Creating a Playlist Pull down the File menu and select New Now Playing List.

  2. Creating a Playlist Click the Now Playing List button and select New List, Playlist.

  3. Creating a Playlist Click and drag songs from the Contents pane onto the List pane to create your playlist.

    Creating a Playlist
    Creating a Playlist

  4. Creating a Playlist Click New Playlist and select Save Playlist As.

  5. Creating a Playlist Enter a playlist name.

  6. Creating a Playlist Click Save.

Playing a Playlist

After you've created a playlist, you can play back any or all songs in that playlist in any order.

Playing a Playlist

  1. Playing a Playlist Click the Library tab.

  2. Playing a Playlist Double-click the playlist name to play the entire playlist.

  3. Playing a Playlist Double-click an individual song to play that song.

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Random Play

To play the songs in a playlist in random order, pull down the Play menu and check the Shuffle option.

Burning a Music CD

If you have a recordable CD drive (called a CD burner) in your PC, you can make your own audio mix CDs. You can take any combination of songs on your hard disk; “burn” them onto a blank CD; and then play that CD in your home, car, or portable CD player.

Burning a Music CD

  1. Burning a Music CD Insert a blank CD-R disc into your computer's CD-R/RW drive.

  2. Burning a Music CD From within WMP, select the Burn tab.

    Burning a Music CD

  3. Burning a Music CD Pull down the Items to Burn list (on the left) and select All Music.

  4. Burning a Music CD Check those songs you want to burn to CD.

    Burning a Music CD

  5. Burning a Music CD Select your CD-R/RW drive from the Device list (on the right), then select Audio CD.

  6. Burning a Music CD Click the Start Burn button.

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Use CD-R Discs

To play your new CD in a regular (non-PC) CD player, record in the CD-R format and use a blank CD-R disc specifically labeled for audio use. (CD-RW discs will not play in most home CD players.)

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Burn a Playlist

A quicker way to select songs is to create a playlist first and then select that single playlist on the Burn tab.

Connecting an Ipod to Your PC

To use the iPod with your PC, you first have to install Apple's iTunes software, which comes on the accompanying CD. When you connect your iPod to your PC, your computer automatically launches the iTunes software and transfers any new songs and playlists you've added since the last time you connected.

Connecting an Ipod to Your PC

  1. Connecting an Ipod to Your PC Connect one end of the USB cable to your iPod.

  2. Connecting an Ipod to Your PC Connect the other end of the USB cable to a USB port on your PC.

    Connecting an Ipod to Your PC

  3. Connecting an Ipod to Your PC The iTunes software will now launch on your PC and automatically sync its songs and playlists to your iPod.

  4. Connecting an Ipod to Your PC Close the iTunes software and disconnect your iPod when the sync is complete.

Transferring Songs to Your Ipod via Itunes

The key to managing the music on your iPod is mastering Apple's iTunes software. To transfer songs to your iPod, all you have to do is check them. The next time you connect your iPod, all the checked songs in your Library will be downloaded.

Transferring Songs to Your Ipod via Itunes

  1. Transferring Songs to Your Ipod via Itunes Open the iTunes software and click the Library icon in the Source pane.

  2. Transferring Songs to Your Ipod via Itunes Check those songs you want to download to your iPod.

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Automatic Transfer

The next time you connect your iPod, all the songs you selected are automatically transferred.

Creating Smart Playlists for Your Ipod

You can store thousands of songs on your iPod, which makes it a little difficult to find the music you want. One way to organize your music is to create playlists of your favorite songs. Smart playlists let you select songs by artist, album, genre, and so on.

Creating Smart Playlists for Your Ipod
Creating Smart Playlists for Your Ipod

  1. Creating Smart Playlists for Your Ipod From within iTunes, pull down the File menu and select New Smart Playlist.

  2. Creating Smart Playlists for Your Ipod Select the criteria for your new playlist.

  3. Creating Smart Playlists for Your Ipod Click OK; the next time you connect your iPod, your new playlists will automatically be transferred.

Connecting Other Portable Music Players

You can connect any brand of portable music player to your PC. For most non-iPod players, you can use Windows Media Player to transfer music from your PC to your portable device.

Connecting Other Portable Music Players
Connecting Other Portable Music Players

  1. Connecting Other Portable Music Players Connect one end of the USB cable to your portable music player.

  2. Connecting Other Portable Music Players Connect the other end of the USB cable to a USB port on your PC's system unit.

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    MP3 Players

    Portable music players especially those that store songs in flash memory are often generically called MP3 players, after the popular MP3 file format.

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  3. NOTE In Windows Media Player, click the Sync tab.

  4. NOTE Pull down the Sync list (on the left side) and select either All Music or a specific playlist; then check those songs you want to transfer to your music player.

  5. NOTE Pull down the Device list (on the right side) and select your portable audio player.

  6. NOTE Click the Start Sync button to transfer the selected files to your portable audio player.

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Device Setup

The first time you connect a portable audio player to your PC, Windows Media Player starts the Device Setup Wizard. This helps you configure either automatic or manual synchronization between your music player and WMP.

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Proprietary Software

Many portable audio players come with their own software programs for transferring files from your PC. You can use either your player's program or Windows Media Player to perform this task.

Playing a DVD

If your PC has a DVD drive, you can use your PC to watch prerecorded DVD movies. When you insert a DVD in your DVD drive, your PC should sense the presence of the DVD, launch Windows Media Player, and start playing the movie. (You can also initiate playback from within WMP by pulling down the Play menu and selecting DVD.)

Playing a DVD

  1. Playing a DVD Insert the DVD into your PC's DVD drive.

  2. Playing a DVD Double-click Play DVD Video Using Windows Media Player.

    Playing a DVD

  3. Playing a DVD The movie should start playing automatically. To pause the movie, click the Pause button; then click Play to resume playback.

  4. Playing a DVD To view the movie full-screen, click the Full Screen button; press Esc to return to normal viewing mode.

  5. Playing a DVD Click the Next button to go to the next chapter on the DVD, or click the Previous button to go to the previous chapter.

  6. Playing a DVD Go to any specific chapter by double-clicking the chapter name.

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Main Menu

To view the DVD's main menu, pull down WMP's View menu and select DVD Features, Title Menu.

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Change Soundtracks

To change languages or soundtracks on a DVD, pull down the View menu and select DVD Features, Audio and Language Tracks. This displays a list of available audio options; select the track you want to listen to.

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