Galaxy S II: The Missing Manual

Playing Your Music

TAP A SONG TO play it, and a screen appears loaded with information, and all kinds of controls and widgets.

Among other controls, you’ll find:

• Pause/Play. When music is playing, the button looks like this:. Tap it to pause, and the button then looks like this: . Tap it to play again.

• Previous, Next. These controls work just as you’d expect. Tap previous to skip to the beginning of the song you’re playing or, if you’re already at the beginning, to skip to the previous song. Tap next to skip to the next song.

  Hold down one of the buttons, and you rewind or fast-forward through the song. As you hold, the speed of rewind or fast-forward accelerates. You’ll hear the music as you speed forward or backward, sounding like a bizarre foreign language.

• Slider. Underneath the picture of the album from which the song is taken, you’ll see a slider that shows you the progress of the song. It includes the total length of the song, and how much of it you’ve already played. Move the slider to go to a specific location in the song. To make the slider appear or disappear, tap the picture of the album.

  

• Song and album information. Here you’ll find the name of the singer, the name of the album, and the song being played.

  

• List. Tap , and you’ll come to a list of which the song is a part. The list you’ll see depends upon how you’re playing the song. For example, if you’re playing a playlist, you’ll see the entire playlist, and if you are playing an album, you’ll see the whole album. From here, you can tap any other song to play it.

• Shuffle. The Galaxy S II music player normally plays the songs in your playlist or album in order, from first to last. Tap the shuffle button to have the songs in your current album or playlist play in a random order—you’ll never know what’s coming next. Tap it again to stop the shuffle.

• Loop. Can’t get enough of the current album, playlist or song? Tap the loop button , and it plays the current song endlessly from beginning to end, from beginning to end, from beginning to…you get the idea. When you tap it, the A in the loop button turns into a 1 . Tap it again, and it plays the current album or playlist continuously. The loop button changes to show the letter A and an arrow to show you that you’re in this mode. Tap the button again to turn looping off.

• Other buttons. You’ll come across two other buttons of note, just above the controls for pausing and playing. One lets you change the volume, and the other shows the kind of sound mode you’re in; for example, 5.1 sound. See Sound Effects and the Equalizer for details about how to choose different sound modes.

More Music Controls and Features

Want even more music controls and features? Tap the Menu button and you’ll be able to do all this:

• Add to quick list. This adds the current song to the quick list playlist.

• Via Bluetooth. This lets you share the song via Bluetooth (see Bluetooth Earpieces). You’ll send the song itself when you do this.

• Share music via. You’ll be able to share the song in a variety of ways, such as email, Gmail, and so on. You’ll send the song itself when you do this.

• Add to playlist. Tap this to add the song to any playlist.

• Settings. Lets you change many settings, such as for sound effects, turning on an equalizer, what appears on the music menu, and so on. (For more details about sound effects and the equalizer, see the next section.)

• Details. This lets you find out details about the current song, including its title, a biography of the musician, and information about the album.

Sound Effects and the Equalizer

When you tap the Menu button and select Settings, you’ll be able to change how your music sounds by changing two settings, Equalizer and Sound Effect. Here’s what you need to know about each:

• Equalizer. An equalizer changes the emphasis given to certain parts of a piece of music—emphasizing bass, treble, or voice, for example. On the Galaxy S II, the equalizer settings are self-explanatory, and for specific types of music: Pop, Rock, Jazz, Dance, and so on. Just pick the kind of music you listen to, and the Galaxy S II changes the settings so that music sounds best. If you want to be a sound jockey, select Custom and you’ll come across a nifty-looking set of controls that only a sound engineer could love. Fiddle around with it until you come up with a sound you like.

  
  

• Sound Effect. From here you even further customize your sound—make it sound like a music hall, for example, or give it an extra bass oomph. Tap this option and select the sound effect you want.