Additional Audio Options

My Music gives you several additional ways to customize your listening experience, including the capability to repeat and visualize audio tracks.

Repeat

Along with the Play and Shuffle playback options offered in My Music, you can also choose to repeat a track. Just select the Repeat tab, available from the Now Playing screen (see Figure 14.13). Place a check mark next to the tracks you want to repeat. When you've finally gotten your fill of that particular musical selection, just press OK again on your remote control to clear the Repeat command.

Figure 14.13. When you select Repeat, My Music will show your choice by placing a check mark in the Repeat tab.

Visualize

Microsoft has incorporated into the My Music interface the ability to choose from various visualization schemes that let you experience your audio collection in a new and very interesting way. The results range from a primitive ”and perhaps a little hokey ”synchronized graphic that looks as though it was created with a Hasbro Spirograph and some colored pens, to sophisticated full- color effects worthy of the psychedelic light travel sequence in 2001: A Space Odyssey (see Figure 14.14). Don't be surprised if you find yourself mesmerized!

Figure 14.14. After you select Visualize, you can use the Ch+/Ch- buttons on your remote control to scroll through the various visualization schemes.

The Absolute Minimum

Your old stereo is about to hang its head in shame. The My Music interface in Media Center allows you to manage and take pleasure in your music using technology your traditional home audio system never dreamed of.

To get the most out of Media Center's music playback features, be sure to do this:

• Set Music Center to be your default music player for audio CDs. This way you'll always be able to control CD playback with your remote.

• Your days of playing " name that tune" to find music tracks on your PC are over. My Music lets you slice and dice music metadata, allowing you to sort songs by album, artist, song title, or genre .

• My Music includes a powerful search engine. Search by any keyword ”or even a particular letter ”to find exactly the music you want, every time.

• Choose your weapon ”remote control, mouse, or keyboard ”to manage music playback. Whichever way you are most comfortable interacting with your computer system, Media Center supports it.

• Sample some of the interesting graphic visualizations Media Center provides, and select the perfect optical accompaniment to each musical selection.