Playing and Recording Sounds with Sound Recorder

For simple audio needs, you can use the Sound Recorder accessory program to play back and record sounds. You can record your own sounds and insert the sound files into your documents or attach them to an email. To use Sound Recorder, you need a sound card and speakers, which are standard on most computers.

Playing Sounds

Follow these steps to play a sound file:

1.	Click Start, All Programs, Accessories, Entertainment, and select Sound Recorder. You'll see the Sound Recorder window. tip To sample one of the Windows sounds, select the Windows\Media folder.
2.	Click File and then click the Open command.
3.	Change to the drive and folder containing the sound file you want to play.
4.	Double-click the sound file to open it in Sound Recorder (see Figure 11.14). Then click the Play button to hear the file. Figure 11.14. You can play sound files in Sound Recorder. tip Windows plays sounds for certain system events, such as alert warnings, startup, and others. You can customize the sounds that are played. See Chapter 13, "Customizing Windows XP."
5.	Click the Close button to close the Sound Recorder window.

note

To record sounds, you must have a microphone or other sound input device connected. Check with your particular sound system for instructions on connecting and testing this device.

Recording Sounds

You can also record sounds using Sound Recorder. For instance, you might want to attach a recording of you signing happy birthday to an email message, or you might record notes about a particular project to send along to a co-worker.

To record sounds, follow these steps:

1.	Start Sound Recorder.
2.	Click File and then click the New command.
3.	Click the Record button.
4.	Speak into the microphone to record your sound. When you are finished recording, click the Stop button.
5.	To save your sound, click File and then click the Save As command. Select a folder, type a filename, and click Save. See Chapter 2 for more information on saving files.
6.	Click the Close button to close the Sound Recorder window.

THE ABSOLUTE MINIMUM

This chapter explores some of the ways you can use Windows XP as an entertainment system. You can play audio CDs, go online to view video clips or play music tracks, and more. When working with entertainment media, keep these key points in mind:

• To use the media features, you must have the proper hardware, and you must have the hardware set up. To play back music, you need speakers and a sound card (which are standard on most computers).

• You can play any audio CDs. The quality of the playback is determined by your speaker quality. When playing a CD, you can select a different track, adjust the volume, view visualizations, and stop the music.

• If you want to personalize your Media Player, you can do so by selecting a skin. A skin is like an "outfit" that the program puts on to change how it looks. The program works the same and has the same features; it simply looks different.

• One place that's convenient to access for online music and videos is WindowsMedia.com. You can access this from the Windows Media Player window.

• You can use Windows Media Player to copy music from audio CDs to your music library. You can create playlists from all of your various tracks. You can then play back these lists or use them to create your own custom CDs.

• For simple sounds, you can use Sound Recorder to play them. You can also record sounds and include them in email messages or documents.