Microsoft Windows XP Unleashed

4. Activate the check boxes beside the tracks that you want to record. Make sure that

the total number of minutes that you select isn’t greater than the total number of

minutes available on the recording device.

5. On the right side of the Burn window, use the drop-down list to select the drive or

device that you want to use as the recording destination.

6. Click Start Burn.

Dealing with Digital Media Files

Previous versions of Windows treated all documents more or less the same. Yes, we’ve

seen innovations such as the Thumbnails view for images and the Web view for folders

that showed a preview of some file types in the margin, but the Windows XP designers

and programmers went beyond these simple tweaks. They realized that different docu-

ment types require different user actions. An image, for example, might need to be copied

to a CD, set as the desktop background, emailed, or published to the web. They also real-

ized that many of today’s users—especially home users—do a lot of work with digital

media files: images captured from a digital camera or scanner; music files copied from an

audio CD or downloaded from the Internet; and video files created via Windows Movie

Maker or a third-party video editing program. The result is that Windows XP has many

new features specifically designed to help users manage digital media files. I discuss these

new features in this section and show you ways to improve upon them and customize

them to suit the way you work.

Getting the Most Out of Digital Media Files and Windows Explorer

Windows Explorer has three built-in digital media folders:

My Pictures Use this folder for images. The location of this folder is %UserProfile%\My

Documents\My Pictures

.

My Music Use this folder for music and audio files. The location of this folder is

%UserProfile%\My Documents\My Music.

My Videos Use this folder for video clips and animations. The location of this folder is

%UserProfile%\My Documents\My Video.

TIP

You’re free to rename and move all three digital media folders. Windows XP tracks the new

names and locations using the My Pictures, My Music, and My Videos settings in the following

Registry key:

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders

CHAPTER 4 Working with Digital Media104

When these folders are open in Windows Explorer, the tasks pane on the left is

customized to display tasks related to the folder. For example, when the My Pictures

folder is open, the Picture Tasks section contains the following commands:

Get Pictures from Scanner or Camera Click this command to scan an image or download

pictures from a digital camera. Note that this

command appears only if you have a scanner or

camera attached to your computer.

View as Slide Show Click this command to see full-screen versions of

each image in the folder. The images change every

five seconds.

Order Prints Online Click this link to run the Online Print Ordering

Wizard that enables you to send digital images to an

online printing service, which will then mail the

prints to you.

Print Pictures or Print the Selected Click this link to display the Photo Printing Wizard,

Pictures or Print This Picture which enables you to choose the layout (full page,

5×7, and so on) that you want to use to print the

selected image or images.

Set as Desktop Background Click this link to display the selected file as the

desktop’s background image.

Copy All Items to CD or Copy to CD Click this link to copy either all the folder’s files or

the selected files to a recordable CD.

The My Music and My Videos folders have their own customized tasks, although not as

many as the My Pictures folder.

Tips for Working with Digital Media Files

Here are a few tips and techniques that you can use to get the most out of working with

digital media files in Windows Explorer:

• Take advantage of the new Filmstrip view—In the My Pictures folder, activate the

View, Filmstrip command to view the images sequentially, something like a film-

strip.

• Customize the Details view—Windows Explorer’s Details view (activate the View,

Details command) normally shows only four columns: Name, Size, Type, and Date

Modified. However, Windows XP has a number of other columns you can display,

such as the dimensions of an image or the bit rate at which a music file was ripped.

Select View, Choose Details to open the Choose Details dialog box (see Figure 4.14),

or right-click a column heading and click the detail you want to see.

Dealing with Digital Media Files 105

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