Easy Start Guide for Windows Media Player 9 Series

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Table of Contents

Easy Start Guide for Windows Media Player 9 Series

Selecting music to copy to your portable music player

Adding music to the library by searching your computer

Adding music to the library by copying a CD

Creating a playlist of songs to copy to your portable music player

Connecting your portable music player to your computer

Synchronizing music to your portable music player

Easy Start Guide for Windows Media Player 9 Series

With Microsoft Windows Media Player, you can easily and quickly add the songs you want to your new portable music player.

There are three main tasks to learn before you can play your music on your portable player. First learn how to find and select music on your computer that you want to sync (copy) to your portable player. Second, learn how to connect to your portable player, and third, sync the songs on your computer that you want to listen to on the portable player.

Watch the accompanying video to get started quickly, and then refer to these steps to do the tasks yourself.

This article has the following sections:

Selecting music to copy to your portable music player

Adding music to the library by searching your computer

Adding music to the library by copying a CD

Creating a playlist of songs to copy to your portable music player

Connecting your portable music player to your computer

Synchronizing music to your portable music player

Selecting music to copy to your portable music player

You have a number of options for adding content to your library. You can add digital media files that are already on your computer, or copy (rip) music from your music CDs to your computer, or download files from online stores. This section covers how to add music that is already on your computer to the library and rip a CD.

To add music to the library, you must have your computer turned on and connected to the Internet. You must also have Windows Media Player 9 Series running on your computer, and the music CD that has songs that you would like to sync (copy) to your portable music player should be with you.

Adding music to the library by searching your computer

You may already have some music on your computer that you want to add to your portable music player. Use Windows Media Player to find and add it to the library. Note that once music is added to the library, you can also play it on your computer and sync it to your portable player.

To add music on your computer to the library

In Windows Media Player, click Media Library, and then do one of the following:

If this is the first time that you have used your media library, the Player gives you the option to search your computer for media files to add to the library, as shown in the following screen shot.

If you don't want to search your computer for media files at this time, click No, and skip the rest of these steps; otherwise click Yes, and then follow these steps.

If you did not see the screen that asked if you wanted to search your computer for media, and you want to search now, above the Details pane click Add, and then click By Searching Computer

The Add to Media Library by Searching Computer dialog box appears, as shown in the following screenshot.

To continue searching for media files to add to the library, do the following:

In the Search on list, you can leave Local Drives, minus program folders selected to search all drives on your computer, or expand the list and click the specific drive you want to search.

To search one folder on your computer, to the right of the Look in box, click Browse, and then navigate to the folder that you want. After you click your desired folder, click OK. Using the Browse option in this step makes for a faster search if you keep all your music in one folder, for example in the My Music folder.

You can select your preferences for updating media information, or accept the defaults.

Click Search.

The Player searches your computer and adds media files on your computer to the library. Depending on the size of your digital media collection and the speed of your computer processor, this process may take some time.

Now that you have added music on your computer to the library, you are ready to copy a CD to the library.

Adding music to the library by copying a CD

You may also want to add music to your library that is not already on your computer. You can do this by copying music from a CD.

Note   To copy a CD, you must eject this Easy Start CD before you insert a music CD. Also, note that you can follow these steps at times other than when you are learning from this Easy Start Guide.

To copy music from a CD to your computer

If W indows Media Player is not open, click Start, point to All Programs, and then click Windows Media Player.

If you are connected to the Internet, media information about the songs being copied will be displayed in the Media Library.

Insert a music CD into the CD-ROM drive that has songs that you would like to sync to your portable music player. The CD may begin to play when you insert it. If it does, click the Stop button.

On the left of the Player, click Copy from CD. In the screen that appears, all songs are selected to be copied if you have not previously copied them from the CD.

If there are any songs that you do not want to copy, clear the check box next to each.

Note   To select or clear all the songs at once, use the check box at the top of the list.

Click Copy Music.

The first time that you copy music, you are prompted about your preferences. The first page of the Copy Options dialog box asks about copy protecting the music that you copy, as shown in the following screen shot.

You may want to investigate copy protecting your music later, but for now just click Do not add copy protection to your music. By selecting this option, the songs that you copy to your computer can be played on your portable music player.

Read the copyright agreement, select the check box if you agree, and then click Next.

The second Copy Options page allows you to set the format for the files being copied, as shown in the following screen shot.

Click Keep my current format settings Selecting this option enables you to use the Windows Media Audio format for your music files, which optimizes the balance between file size and sound quality.

After you select an option for your format settings, click Finish.

The Player begins copying your songs. After the songs have been ripped, you can find and play them in your library, as well as sync them to your portable player.

Now that you have added music to the library by ripping a CD, you are ready to create a playlist to sync to your portable player.

Creating a playlist of songs to copy to your portable music player

An easy way to organize a group of songs that you want to sync to a portable music player is to create a playlist of the songs first. You can use the album that you just ripped in the previous section to create a playlist.

To create a playlist

In the Player, click Media Library, right-click My Playlists, and then click New.

In Playlist Name, type Practice Sync List.

In the View Media Library by, click Album. You will see the album that you just ripped, as shown in the following screen shot. (In this case, the album is Mind, Body, and Soul.)

Click the album, and then click OK. The name of your playlist (in this case, Practice Sync List) is added to My Playlists in the library.

Now that you have music in the library and a new playlist, you are ready for the next step-connecting your computer to your portable music player.

Connecting your portable music player to your computer

To connect your portable music player to your computer, you must have Windows Media Player open on your computer. Also, your portable player and the cables that came with it should be with you.

In the Player, click Copy to CD or Device.

Turn your portable music player on.

Use the connection cables that came with your portable music player to connect your computer to your portable player.

One end of the connection cable is a standard USB connector, as shown on the right in the following screen shot.

Plug this end into a USB connector on your computer. The other end of the cable has a connector that fits into your portable player, as shown on the left in the previous screen shot. Plug this end into your portable player.

Note that your cable may not look exactly like the one in the screen shot. If you need more information or help, consult the documentation that came with your portable player.

You are now ready to sync (copy) music to your portable music player.

Synchronizing music to your portable music player

To sync (copy) music to your portable music player, you must have Windows Media Player running on your computer, your computer and portable player connected as mentioned in the previous section, and the playlist that you created earlier available in the library. If you did not create the practice playlist, you can sync any other music in your library including the sample tracks that come with the Player.

Make sure that your portable player is turned on.

Click Copy to CD or Device, and then select Practice Sync List in the Items to Copy list, as shown in the following screen shot.

If more than one portable device or CD drive is connected to your computer, you might be required to select the name of your portable music player. Select the name of your portable player in the right pane under Items on Device.

Note   When you expand the list under Items on Device after you connect your portable player, you will see a list of devices. Your portable player may be listed by its brand name, or it may have a more generic label like 'Removable Disk (F:)'.

Click Copy. The Player copies the files to your portable player, as shown in the following screen shot.

A Copying progress bar appears to the right of each song as it is copied to your portable player. When all the music is copied, you can disconnect your portable player and can now enjoy playing music on it.