How To Install Windows Media Player On Windows Xp

Technique

Save Time By
Getting Windows Media Player 10′s settings right
Customizing and controlling the beast
Putting the volume control where you can reach it quickly
Microsoft has come a long way from Windows Media Player 8 (WMP 8), which shipped with the original version of Windows XP. For one thing, the old version automatically kept track of what you played and sent Microsoft these great little notices, complete with a "branding" number that identified your PC. In the new version, Microsoft tries to convince you that allowing Mama Microsoft to keep track of your playing and viewing habits is to, uh, enhance your personal experience. Yeah, that's the ticket.
To Microsoft's credit, the new version, Windows Media Player 10, gives you plenty of opportunity to protect your privacy, if you know which check boxes to uncheck. This technique gets you up and running WMP 10 quickly and with a minimum of hassle — now and in the future.
Windows Media Player ain't the only game in town. If you grow weary of WMP's in-yer-face advertising and obnoxious Microsoft-file-format bias, you have plenty of good alternatives. Two stand out: iTunes and Musicmatch. Apple's iTunes (www.apple.com/itunes), based on the QuickTime platform (a buggy program I've been railing about for years), has the interface I like best. iTunes makes it easy to print CD case inserts. It even allows you to convert songs from Microsoft's WMA format to Apple's AAC format. Yahoo's Musicmatch (www.musicmatch.com) has long led the pack among those who want a simple, no-hassles approach to their music. Musicmatch's greatest saving grace is that it's format-agnostic: Yahoo doesn't care if you use Microsoft's WMA or Apple's AAC. Party on, dude.

Installing WMP 10

If you don't know which version of Windows Media Player you have on your Windows XP PC, start WMP (choose Start All Programs Windows Media Player); then choose Help About Windows Media Player. If the dialog box says you have version 8 (as in Figure 31-1), you need version 10 — quick. Even version 9 needs a makeover.

• Figure 31-1: You definitely don't want version 8, identified by the "8.00.00. . ." version number.

To install WMP 10, follow these steps:

7. Start Internet Explorer and go to www. microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/ download/default.asp.
2. Under the Windows Media Player 10, click the Download Now button.
3. Follow the instructions to save the file MP10Setup.exe someplace convenient.
4. When the download is done, double-click
MP10Setup.exe.
WMP greets you with its End User License Agreement. Take heart. The EULA is a little bit longer than this technique, and it's packed with legalese so dense that no two attorneys — especially no two Microsoft attorneys — would ever agree on what it says.
5. Read the EULA carefully, and then click I Accept.
Everyone does. Cough, cough. A welcome screen appears.
6. Click Next.
WMP presents you with its privacy questionnaire, as shown in Figure 31-2.
7.Unless you have very specific reasons for leaving your personal information in Microsoft's databases, uncheck all the check boxes and click Next.

• Figure 31-2: Answer these key questions for Microsoft.
If you wade deep enough through the privacy statements, you find that WMP no longer sends the player i.d. to Microsoft to keep track of what you view and listen to, but MS does track your Internet IP address. If you have an "always on" Internet connection — DSL, cable, satellite, whatever — the IP address is almost as specific as the player i.d. WindowsMedia.com, the engine that drives most of WMP behind the scenes, collects even more information, plants third-party advertising cookies, and uses Web Beacons (see Technique 29). If it weren't Microsoft, I'd call that scummy business. Do yourself a favor. Don't give Microsoft even more of your personal information.
WMP warns you that it's going to take over control of all the filename extensions shown in Figure 31-3 — that WMP 10 becomes the default player every time you click a file with one of those filename extensions. Chances are good that you want it to. (To find out more about filename extensions, see Technique 20.)
8. Unless you need to keep WMP from taking on certain kinds of files, keep all the check boxes checked and click Finish.
Windows launches WMP.

• Figure 31-3: WMP wants to take over these filename extensions.
9. When WMP kicks out a little dialog box that shows you how to put a mini-player in your Windows taskbar, check the Don't Show This Message Again check box, and then click OK.
If you want to put the mini-player in the taskbar, right-click an empty place on the taskbar, choose Toolbars, and check Windows Media Player. To give the mini-player the heave-ho, go back and uncheck it.
Chances are pretty good that you're going to get tired of the mini-player — it takes up a lot of precious space on the taskbar, and you can't stack other taskbar buttons below it.

Tweaking WMP

With its newly designed interface (which, ahem, borrows extensively from iTunes and Musicmatch), you'll probably find that you can figure out WMP faster than you can master, oh, a new VCR or DVD recorder.
Until you have your feet on the ground and feel confident you can make your own choices, I suggest that you immediately go in to WMP and make a few significant changes:
7. Choose Tools Options Player Rip Music.
You see the settings in Figure 31^1.
Getting to the Tools menu may be difficult. If you can't see WMP's File/View/Play/Tools/Help menu bar, click the down-arrow near the upper-right corner — the one to the left of the Minimize button.

Figure 31-4: Key settings for WMP.
2. If you plan to share your music files with other people on your computer or other people on your network, click the Change button, navigate to the Shared Documents\Shared Music folder, and click OK.
WMP uses the location you choose to store "ripped" music tracks, when you copy music from an audio CD onto your computer (see Technique 32).
Microsoft's ever-widening digital rights management licensing schemes may trip you up on sharing across a network (you may not be able to play a WMA music file on any machine other than the one on which the file was "ripped"), but in general, the Shared Music folder is the best place to put music files.
Choosing your Shared Music folder as the default location for ripped tracks has the salubrious side-affect of unchecking the Copy Protect Music box.
If this box is checked, every time you rip an audio track and turn it into a Microsoft-format WMA file, WMP marks the file so it can only be played on the machine that ripped it. If you've ever tried to play a WMA file that was created on a different PC and it wouldn't work, now you know why.
3, In the Format drop-down box, under Rip Settings, choose MP3.
If you really, really want to support Microsoft in its drive to control the future of rock 'n' roll (or at least, the format of the files that contain music of all types), you can leave the box set to WMA. If you have any question at all about the best format for the songs you copy from audio CDs, please look at the discussion of file formats in Technique 32.
4 Click the Privacy tab.
WMP brings up its privacy settings, as shown in Figure 31-5.
It's hard to fathom how Microsoft can call individual ID tracking a Customer Experience Improvement Program — especially after the court cases — but here it is, in the flesh. People wonder why I'm so cynical. . . .
5, Uncheck every check box on the Privacy tab, except the Set Clock on Devices Automatically check box. Then click OK.
Yeah, I wimped out on the clock. Can't figure how setting the clock can put money in Microsoft's coffers, but I imagine they'll figure out something. Anyway, now you're ready to use WMP.

• Figure 31-5: Uncheck every one of these check boxes.

Running WMP

If you've never used Windows Media Player before, start by going through the steps in the preceding section. Then try playing a CD:
1 Pop a music CD into your CD drive.
2, If Windows XP tosses up a dialog box asking what you want to do, select Play Audio CD Using Windows Media Player and click OK.
WMP springs to life, as shown in Figure 31-6. If you've told WMP to protect your privacy and not retrieve information from Microsoft's site on the Internet, chances are good WMP doesn't identify the title of the album, the artist, or the names of the tracks.

• Figure 31-6: A view of WMP, playing Leo Kottke's 6- and 12-String Guitar, without album info.
At this point, you need to make a choice. You can live with the Unknown Album gibberish. Or, as shown in Figure 31-7, you can have WMP dig into the Microsoft archives and display the details about the album — but at a price. See the "Displaying album info" sidebar.
3, WMP contains a number of audio settings — enhancements in WMP parlance — including control over SRS WOW effects. To leaf through what's on offer, choose View Enhancements Graphic Equalizer.
To get to the View menu, you may need to click the down arrow to the left of the Minimize icon, in the upper-right corner of WMP.
Cycle through the Equalizer, the SRS WOW adjuster, video settings, cross-fading (blending the end of one song into the beginning of the next) and auto volume leveling (so each song plays at approximately the same base volume) by clicking the forward and backward arrows. When you're tired of it, click the X in the upper-right corner of the graphic equalizer box.

• Figure 31-7: 6- and 12-String Guitar with all the data filled in.
4, If you're looking for those far-out visualizations — the abstract patterns that move in concert with the music, more or less — choose ViewO Visualizations, and then pick the visualization you want to see.
All together now: "Grooooovy."
5, To get WMP down to its skin, choose ViewO Skin Mode.
The original skin mode looks like something out of Star Trek. Nowadays it looks more like a 2D iPod. If you want to put WMP back in Full Mode, click the Return to Full Mode button at the bottom of the skin.
6, To change skins, go back to Full Mode, and choose ViewOSkin Chooser. Then choose whatever skin suits your fancy.

Displaying album info

Of course, seeing the album info is great, but before you do, know that you leave behind a record of your request, including your Internet IP address. If you have an "always on" Windows connection, that IP address identifies you (or at least your network) uniquely. Microsoft unabashedly accumulates that information to hone its marketing offers to your preferences. Microsoft claims it won't release the data. Now you know.

To retrieve album information, follow these steps:

1. Choose Tools Options Privacy.
To find the Tools menu, you may need to click the down arrow to the left of the Minimize icon, in the upper-right corner of WMP.
2. Select the Display Media Information from the Internet check box.
3. Click OK.
This unlocks WMP and gives it permission to contact windowsmedia.com and retrieve album information. (The information probably comes from AMG, but it may come from your preferred online store.)
4. Click the Find Album Info line.
WMP goes out to the Internet, retrieves the information for the album (sometimes it can't find any!), and returns it to you.
5. If the information looks correct, click Finish in the lower right. Otherwise, click Search, wait for WMP to retrieve more data from the Internet, and make changes.
WMP comes back with the Unknown information filled in (refer to Figure 31-7). But wait. You aren't done yet.
6. Be sure you replug the hole by choosing ToolsO Options1: Privacy, unchecking the Retrieve Media Information for CDs and DVDs from the Internet check box, and clicking OK.

Controlling WMP from the keyboard

While you can use the on-screen controls for playing and pausing, many people find it easier to use the keyboard controls — especially if the mini-player is on the Windows taskbar. Check out Table 31-1.
One particularly good key to remember: F8 immediately turns off the sound — but only if WMP is the active window.
Table 31-1: Windows Media Player Shortcut Keys

This Key	Does This
F8	Turns off the sound
F9	Decreases the volume
F10	Increases the volume
Ctrl+P	Play/Pause
Ctrl+S	Stop
Ctrl+B	Back one track
Ctrl+F	Forward one track