Windows Vista Security: Praxisorientierte Sicherheit für Profis

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Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

Creating Your Media Library with

Windows Media Player

8

To tell the truth, I’ve never been a big fan of Windows Media Player. It always

seemed to me that the developers at Microsoft were more interested in the device’s

custom visual designs and background visualizations than what mattered most: cre-

ating an excellent media player that works like a media player should. With Win-

dows Media Player 11, though, it’s a different story. Microsoft has reduced the focus

on custom visual designs (known as skins), streamlined the bloated menus, tight-

ened up the interface, and completely reorganized the media library. The result is a

media player that finally:

• Makes it easy to organize and find your media

• Supports all media types: music, pictures, videos, recorded TV, and other media

• Provides professional enhancements for music and video playback

So much has changed in Windows Media Player 11 that like Windows Vista itself, it

seems more like a new program than the same old media player to which we’ve

grown accustomed. Because of this, don’t try to rip or burn CDs without first read-

ing this chapter in its entirety. And whatever you do, don’t give away your original

CDs and DVDs just yet, because you’re still going to need them.

Getting into Your Multimedia

Before you can get started with Windows Media Player 11, you’re going to need to

configure the player for first use. Afterward, you’ll want to familiarize yourself with

the interface and the supported media formats.

Configuring Windows Media Player for First Use

With Windows Media Player 11, navigating your media library is easier than ever—if

you master the subtle changes in the interface. When you first start Windows Media

Player by clicking Start

➝ All Programs ➝ Windows Media Player, you’ll have to

Getting into Your Multimedia

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specify how Windows Media Player should be configured. As Figure 8-1 shows, you

have two choices:

Express Settings

Configures the default settings you’ll want to use most often. If you want to

change the settings later, right-click the Library button and then select More

Options. In the Options dialog box, select the Privacy tab. You’ll have similar

options as with step 2 of the Custom Settings procedure.

Custom Settings

Allows you to configure the settings to use. This gives you more control over the

way Windows Media Player obtains and stores media information.

You can configure Windows Media Player to use express settings by clicking Express

Settings and then clicking Finish. With express settings, Windows Media Player is

configured as your default music and video player. Windows Media Player can

download CD and DVD information from the Internet, obtain media usage rights

automatically, and send anonymous usage information to Microsoft for the Cus-

tomer Experience Improvement Program.

Figure 8-1. Choosing the initial settings for Windows Media Player

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Chapter 8: Creating Your Media Library with Windows Media Player

You can configure Windows Media Player to use custom settings by completing the

following steps:

1. Select Custom Settings and then click Next. This displays the Select Privacy

Options page shown in Figure 8-2.

2. Use the following settings to configure your privacy settings and then click Next:

Display media information from the Internet

Select this option to allow Windows Media Player to try to obtain media

information for the CDs and DVDs that you play. With music CDs, this

allows Windows Media Player to retrieve the full details about the CD,

including the album cover, album title, album artist, and song titles for each

track. To obtain the media information, Windows Media Player sends the

CD or DVD identifier to a database operated by your default online store or

a Windows Media database. The online store or Windows Media database

then sends the information back to your computer, where the information is

stored. If your computer is offline, Windows Media Player stores the request

for media information so that it can try to obtain the media information the

next time you connect your computer to the Internet.

Figure 8-2. Choosing your privacy options