Windows 8.1 Bible

Chapter 18: Making Music with Media Player

IN THIS CHAPTER

Playing music with Media Player

Copying CDs to your PC

Using your Media Library

Creating your own music CDs

Copying songs to portable players

Using your computer to collect, manage, and play music is a lot of fun. You can build up a collection of all your favorite songs, make custom CDs from those songs, or copy them to a portable MP3 player. You can use your computer as a stereo to play any songs you like in any order you like. If your computer is part of a network, you can share songs and play them on any computer that's in the network.

Windows 8.1 comes with two programs and one Windows 8.1 app for collecting and playing music. One program is Windows Media Player, which we discuss in this chapter. The other program is Media Center (not included with all editions of Windows 8.1), which may not work with all editions. The app is simply called Music and it can be found on the Apps screen. Music is more suited to Windows tablets and other devices, like Xbox, and its raison d'etre is more for playing music and creating playlists. It also has an online radio component.

Controlling Sound Volume

Before we get into Windows Media Player, you need to know a few things upfront about music and video. In particular, you want to get your sound working and under control, so you can listen to whatever you like, without blasting your eardrums out!

Before you get started, make sure that you can control the volume of your speakers. At ...