General Tips Revisited Other Vista Discussions Discuss General Tips Revisited in the Windows Vista forums; I set out to update the PDF files on tips located on this website, but haven't really find the time to complete the revision. So, if it's okay ...

[felix8406]

I set out to update the PDF files on tips located on this website, but haven't really find the time to complete the revision. So, if it's okay with Vistababble administrators, I'll use this thread to post those revisions as they are completed.

The PDF file was prepared from post by Vistababble members during Beta Testing of Vista (those were the great days!!!), but since then, Vista has gone through many changes. Although some older post concerning comments and suggestions still apply to the latest version of Vista, there's a need to edit those post to reflect the new Vista look and feel. Happy computing to all!!

[felix8406]

The new Windows Media Player from Microsoft has an easy-to-use interface, which allow computer users to play digital media files, organize digital media, burn music CDs, rip CD music, sync digital media files to portable music players, and shop for media content. Built into Windows Vista, and available as a free download for Windows XP SP2, this application can make music management a breeze.

Through the years, I have collected well over 300 music CDs, mostly Latin music (Salsa, Merengue and slow rhythm music) and decided that it was time to take Windows Media Player for spin. In this article, I will take you through my own experience with Windows Media Player as I ripped my music CDs to my computer.

Ripping or copying music CDs to a computer using Windows Media Player is very straight forward; however using the available options allow for a more rewarding experience. My first step was to decide where to rip or save the music files. Although Media Player can rip music to its default folder on the computer, normally the “C” drive, I opted to install and use an additional 80GB hard drive. Once I installed the hard drive and started my computer, I was ready to begin.

I clicked on the Start button and selected Windows Media Player from the start menu. Since this was the first time I ran the Media Player, it prompted me to run the different settings. There are two setup options, express or custom. The express setup installs Media Player with all its default settings, while the custom setting prompts users to select those components they want install. I chose the custom installation and once the setup was completed I began the process of ripping my CDs.

The first thing I noticed about the new Windows Media Player is that the classic menus, or most commonly known as menu bar, was missing; well not really missing, but it was hidden. Though most basic functions appear as dropdown menus, you can still access the menu bar by either pressing the Alt key or Ctrl+M keys on your keyboard. You can also access it by doing a right click on an empty area of the taskbar and selecting Show Classic Menus.

To begin the rip process, I first clicked the Rip tab on the taskbar. This brought up a window with a message requesting the insertion of an audio disc in the CD drive. You can insert a disc and Windows Media Player will begin ripping the files automatically or you can manually customize the settings. Or, you can make a selection from the dropdown menu from the Rip tab to customize a setting or click More Options. I clicked More Options to select my desire settings.

On the Rip tab, under Rip music to this location, I clicked change to select a location to save my music files. I clicked Computer, selected the 80GB hard drive I had previously installed and created a folder titled My Music Backup by selecting Make New Folder. I then pressed OK to continue. Still under Rip music to this location, I clicked the File name option. Through this option you can select the file details you want included from the CD. Note that your computer must be connected to the Internet in order for Media Player to access and download this information. The choices are Artist, Album, Track number, Song title, Genre, and Bit rate. I selected Artist, Album, Track number and Song title and under the Separator option, I selected Space. I then clicked OK to close the window.

Under the heading Rip settings, you can select a format for your rip files. The default format is Windows Media Audio, but you can choose from other formats. I selected the MP3 format as it is the most popular format for portable devices. Note that if you are not sure about which format to use or don’t have a good understanding of the different formats, you can click the Compare formats online link located at the bottom of the Options window. Also, be aware that the Copy protect music option, designed to protect your music with media usage rights, is not available when selecting the MP3 format.

I then selected the Rip CD when inserted option and chose Always to allow the ripping process to start every time I inserted a music CD. You can select the option Only when in the Rip tab to rip a CD automatically only when you go to the Rip tab. Additionally, I selected the option Eject CD when ripping is complete, as it can serve as a visual reminder that the CD has been ripped and that the process has been completed. This option is also practical when ripping many music CDs.

My next step was to select the quality of my music files. You can choose the output quality of your music by adjusting its compression from smallest size to best quality. When adjust this setting, you must consider the amount of free space of your device. I selected the Best Quality option, as I figured my 80GB hard drive had plenty of free space. After I had completed with my selections, I clicked on Apply to effect the changes and then OK to exit the Options window.

I inserted my first music CD and Windows Media began the ripping process. It first gained access to the Internet and downloaded the CD information, e.g. artist, album details, track number, songs title, length of each song, composer and other information. It then ripped the CD and ejected it from the drive as soon as it completed the process. I then inserted another CD and the same process began all over again, flawlessly and automatically. After ripping 10 CDs, I went to the hard drive where the files were stored. Windows Media Player had beautifully organized the music by artist and CD…one folder for each artist and each CD in its respective folder.

So far I have to say that I had "Una experiencia religiosa" or "A religious experience" (a title of one of the songs I ripped to the HARD DRIVE). I have ripped over 80 CDs and all is well. Stay tune for my next report of Windows Media Player. Until then, happy computing to all!!

[JoshW02@hotmail.co.uk]

I though the orignal redo was on going has no one else been working on it with you? I admit I have not had the time as well. Sorry!!!

[Vistanoob]

Excellent info. Nice to hear another one praising Vista's user-friendly multimedia capabilities. I had similar joy on my first photo upload.

[felix8406]

Thanks Vistanoob. And yes, I like Vista's applications. Josh, don't worry about it, it's not easy to find free time these days.

I just updated the post. So all readers may want to take another look at it. Suggestion and or comments are welcome.

[Vistanoob]

My only question is, which features did you choose on the custom install? Am I right that only someone with experience ripping CDs, would know how to choose? Does the default setting install all kinds of uneeded features?
Excellent idea about the second hard drive!

[felix8406]

During initial configuration I like to use custom installation, not just on Windows Media Player, but all programs that provide this function. Most people believe that Custom or Advanced Settings is for experts, but that’s not necessarily true. Custom or Advanced Install provides users with a better understanding of what options have been installed. Users get a choice of default settings or can select from different options.

When configuring WMP, for example, my first selection is the Privacy Options. Under Enhanced Playback Experience, you can choose whether or not you want WMP to access the Internet to get information about a certain music CD. I select these items because it’ll help me to better organize my music, but you don’t have to. There are some users that don’t want WMP or any other program accessing data and downloading it to their computer.

Another option is whether or not to allow WMP to send unique Player ID to content providers. It might be OK, but I just don’t trust MS or anyone to send information to content providers, so I don’t select that option. As for Windows Media Player customer experience improvement program, I don’t select that option either. I feel that if MS wants to make improvements to WMP, they can ask the customer instead or provide a beta.

Another option asks to create a shortcut on the desktop or/and on the quick launch toolbar. I checked the Quick Launch Toolbar only as I like to keep my desktop clean. Plus accessing WMP from the quick launch toolbar is much faster. The next option is whether or not to make WMP as the default player for music and video or to choose the type of files WMP will play. I select WMP as the default for both, music and video. I can always change that option later, if I need to. However, users can choose the type of files WMP can play.

The last option asks to activate the URGE digital music store. You have the option to activate this option now or select it later. I don’t care much about Urge, so I select the later option, which is actually a manual option.

I just feel safer if I get to select, than if I let WMP set its own rules.

[felix8406]

On a previous article, I discussed my experience of ripping my music CDs to my computer using Windows Vista Media Player (WMP). In this article, I want to go over my experience using Windows Media Player to burn a custom music CD.

There is a difference between burning and ripping a music CD. Ripping is the process of copying songs from the CD onto a computer, while burning is the method of writing the songs to the CD or DVD. Burning a music CD requires a CD-R drive, also known as a burner, and a CD-R or CD-RW disc. I decided to use a CD-R disc because it can be read on most type of CD drives, including older CD-ROM drives, and it is the most common recording media used to burn music files.

I began by clicking the Start button and selecting Windows Vista Player from the start menu. I then clicked the dropdown menu from the Burn tab located on the taskbar to customize the setting. You can use the default settings to burn a CD, but I prefer to have a little more control on how my music CD is burnt.

From the dropdown menu, I made sure Audio CD was selected. You have two options, Audio CD or Data CD or DVD; the default setting is Audio CD. Next I selected the options Eject Disc After Burning and Apply Volume Leveling Across Tracks on Audio CDs. Volume leveling minimizes volume differences between each burnt song so you don’t have to adjust your CD player volume as you play your music.

After selecting volume leveling, I clicked on More Options. Under the General heading on the Options windows, I selected a Medium burn speed from the dropdown menu. The options are Fastest, Faster, Medium and Slow. I like to use the medium burn speed option to make sure there are no errors on the burnt CD, but you can try the different burn speeds and select the one that produces the best result for your type of CD burner and burn media.

Next I selected the wpl extension for the Add a list of all burned files to the disc in this format option. This option creates a playlist that lists the files being burned and then includes the playlist on the disc. Using this option permits the songs to be played back in the order in which they appeared in your burn list. The default option is.wpl, but you can select .m3u if your player doesn't support the .wpl playlists.

From the Options windows you can also select the Do Not Convert (recommended) or Convert To options. The Convert To option allows for file compression by converting your music to a lower bit rate. For example, by converting your music to 32kps, you can fit up to 47 hours of music per CD. Note that the CD created using the Convert To option may not be compatible with your CD player and that the audio quality may be reduced. I selected the Do Not Convert option, clicked applied and then OK to exit the Options windows.

Now I was ready to select the songs I wanted to burn to my custom music CD. I began by inserting a blank CD-R into the CD burner. An AutoPlay dialog box appeared and I clicked the close button to close it. On the right pane, or List Pane, WMP displayed the amount of free space remaining on my CD; 79:57 remaining minutes. Next I clicked on the Library tab and then clicked the Recently Added link to find the files I had previously ripped to my computer. This option will display the music files ripped or added to your computer within the last 30 days. Note that you can also select songs by artist, album, songs, genre, year and rating if you have ripped or downloaded music incorporating these attributes. Anyway, as soon as I clicked the Recently Added link, WMP displayed all 80 previously ripped CDs on the Details Pane.

To create my burn list, I dragged a song from the Details Pane (center pane) to the List Pane. As I dragged each song, WPM displayed the amount of free space remaining on the disc. It also lists the songs by title and length in minutes. Note that WMP does not support the CD-Text standard and the burnt CD will not include the media information such as artist, title, album name, etc. from the original music file. When you try to play the CD in another computer, the names of the songs on the disc may not be display. You may also want to know that if you add more songs to the burn list than what will fit on your CD, WMP will provide you the option to burn the remaining songs to another blank CD.

I added enough songs (total of 17) to burn one custom made music CD. I then clicked the Burn List dropdown arrow and selected the Shuffle List Now option. Using this option, will ensure the songs are burnt randomly, but you can also change the order of your files by dragging a song up or down in the Burn List. You also have options to remove songs from the list, sort the songs by title, artist, album, release date, rating and file name. You can also save the playlist, rename it or clear the list completely.

When I was satisfied with my list, I clicked the Start Burn button located at the lower corner of the List Pane. It took WMP about five minutes to burn and finalized the CD, at which time it automatically ejected it from the CD burner. I removed the CD from the burner and inserted it into my home CD player and the music began to play; each song sounding as clear and crisp as from the original CD. And, as I relax to enjoy this beautiful sound, I want you to relax as well, and stay tune for my next report of Windows Media Player. Until then, happy computing to all!!

[Vistanoob]

It all looks very intuitive and user-friendly. Thanks for the info on the options for custom installs. I can see that custom installs give the user much more control over how the program behaves.