Windows Media Player Getting Started with Win 8

With Windows Media Player, you can play digital media files, organize digital media collections, burn your favorite music to CDs, rip music from CDs, sync digital media files to portable devices, and from online stores. Buy digital media content.

Starting Windows Media Player

Swipe in from the right edge of the screen and click Search.

(If using a mouse, point to the upper right corner of the screen, then move the pointer down and click Search.)

Enter "Windows Media Player" in the search box, click Or click Apply, then tap or click Windows Media Player.

There are two ways to enjoy media: Windows Media Player media library and "Now Playing" mode

In Windows Media Player, you can switch between the following two modes: Windows Media The Player Media Library (which allows you to control many of the features of Windows Media Player) and the "Now Playing" mode (provides a simplified media view that works best for playback).

To go from the Windows Media Player media library to "Now Playing" mode, just click or click the "Switch to Now Playing" button in the lower right corner of Windows Media Player. To return to the Windows Media Player media library, tap or click the Switch to Media Library button in the upper right corner of Windows Media Player.

In the Windows Media Player media library, you can access and organize your digital media collection. In the navigation pane, you can select the categories (such as music, pictures, or videos) that you want to view in the details pane. For example, to view all music organized by genre, double-click Music, then tap or click Genre. Then drag items from the details pane to the list pane to create a playlist, burn a CD or DVD, or sync to a device (such as a portable music player).

When converting between various views in the Windows Media Player media library, you can use the Back and Forward buttons in the upper left corner of Windows Media Player to return to the previous view.

In "Now Playing" mode, you can watch DVDs and videos, or view the music that is currently playing. You can decide to view only the items that are currently playing, or you can view the set of playable items by swiping or right-clicking Windows Media Player and then clicking Show List.

Playing from the taskbar

You can also control Windows Media Player when it is minimized. You can use the controls in the thumbnail preview to play or pause the current project, advance to the next project, or go back to the previous project. The thumbnail preview is displayed when you long press or point to the Windows Media Player icon on the taskbar.

Build a Media Library

Windows Media Player looks for files to add to the Windows Media Player media library in a specific Windows Media Library on your computer: music, videos, pictures, and recordings TV show.

To build a media library, you can add folders from other locations on your computer or from external devices such as portable hard drives.

Ripping a CD to create a digital music file

You can add music to your Windows Media Player media library by copying the CD from your computer's CD drive and storing it as a digital file on your computer. . This is called ripping.

Using the tabs to complete mission-critical tasks

Using the tabs in the upper-right corner of Windows Media Player, you can open the list pane in the Windows Media Player media library, which makes it easy to do the following: Create playlists of your favorite songs, burn a custom song list to a recordable CD, or sync playlists in your library to your portable media player.

First, click or click the tab for the task you want to perform in the Windows Media Player media library. To hide the list pane, tap or click the currently open tab.