Using Windows Media Player

For most users, however, the media player of choice is the one that comes free with Microsoft Windows. Windows Media Player (WMP) is a great little program you can use for many purposes playing CDs and DVDS, ripping and burning CDs, listening to Internet radio broadcasts, and watching video Webcasts. It works similarly to most other media players, so if you know how to use WMP, you should be able to figure out any other media player program.

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By default, WMP is launched in its Full mode. If you'd rather display the player without all the extraneous controls, you can switch to the more compact Skin mode by clicking the Switch to Skin Mode button or by pulling down the View menu and selecting Skin Mode. When you're in Skin mode, a small anchor window appears at the bottom left of your desktop; double-click this window to return to Full mode.

Whether you're playing a CD, DVD, or digital audio file, you use the controls located at the bottom of the WMP window, shown in Figure 31.1. These are the normal transport buttons you find on a cassette deck or VCR, including Play/Pause, Stop, Rewind, and Fast Forward. WMP also includes Next and Previous track buttons, along with a volume control and Mute button.

Figure 31.1. Playing CDs and other audio files with the Windows Media Player.

The biggest part of the WMP window is the video/visualization window. When you're watching a DVD, this is where the movie appears. When you're listening to CDs or digital music, you can choose to have this area display information about the current album or artist (the info center view) or what Microsoft calls "visualizations." (Think of a visualization as a kind of "live" wallpaper that moves along with your music.) You can choose which visualizations are displayed by pulling down the View menu, selecting Visualizations, and then making a choice. If you'd rather see the album and artist info, select View, Info Center View, Always Show.

To display info center information, your computer must be connected to the Internet. WMP automatically goes out to the Internet to retrieve information about any commercial CD or DVD you're playing.

To the right of the video/visualization window is the Playlist area. Individual tracks of the CD or DVD are listed here. This area also displays the songs in any playlists that you create from the digital music files stored on your hard drive. (You'll learn more about playlists and digital music files in Chapter 33, "Downloading and Playing Digital Music.")

Between the playback controls and the video/visualization window is an area called the Now Playing Tools area. This area typically displays information about the currently playing CD or audio file.

Finally, the eight buttons along the left of the window (contained in what is called the Taskbar) link to key features of the player. Click a button and the entire player interface changes to reflect the selected feature Now Playing, Media Guide, Copy from CD, Media Library, Radio Tuner, Copy to CD or Device, Premium Services, or Skin Chooser.

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If the sound is too loud (or not loud enough), you can change the volume by dragging the Volume slider to the right of the transport controls to the right (louder) or left (softer). If you need to mute the sound quickly, click the Mute button to the left of the Volume slider. Click the Mute button again to unmute the sound.