Playing a DVD using Windows Media Player 11

If your computer has a DVD drive as almost all Vista-capable computers do, you can play a DVD by putting it in the drive. If the AutoPlay dialog box appears, as shown here, click the Play DVD Movie Using Windows Media Player button if you want to play the DVD with Windows Media Player. If you prefer use Windows Media Center instead, click the Play DVD Movie Using Windows Media Center. Either way, you can select the Always Do This for DVD Movies check box if you want to apply your choice to future DVDs you load.

If play doesn’t start automatically, double-click the DVD’s entry in the left panel in the Library window to start it playing. Windows Media Player uses the standard Play controls for DVDs and displays a list of the DVD articles in the playlist area. To make the most of your DVDs, you’ll probably want to view them full screen. To do so, click the View Full Screen button in the lower-right corner of the Windows Media Player window or press Alt+Enter. Windows Media Player switches to full-screen view. You can display pop-up controls on screen by moving the mouse. These disappear after a few seconds when you stop moving the mouse.

Editing MP3 and WMA Tags

pieces of information, such as the artist’s name, the track name, the album name, the genre, and so on. By using these tags, you can not only keep your music clearly identified but you can also sort the tracks by any of the pieces of information. For example, you could sort tracks by artist or by album.

The best way to tag your songs correctly is to check the tag information before importing a file- for example, before ripping a CD. But you’ll often need to edit the tag on a file afterward. To do so, take the following steps:

1. Display the Library window and navigate to the song.

2. Right-click the song and choose Advanced Tag Editor from the shortcut menu. Windows Media Player displays the Advanced Tag Editor dialog box shown here.

3. Enter the tag information on the various pages of the dialog box.

4. Click the OK button. Windows Media Player closes the Advanced Tag Editor dialog box and applies the tags to the audio file.

Playing Videos

Playing a video file could hardly be easier:

• To play a video file listed in your Media Library, double-click it.

• To play a video file that’s not listed in your Media Library, right-click the command bar, choose File Open and use the resulting Open dialog box to select the video to open.

• To play a streaming video from a website, click its link.

Controlling Windows Media Player via Keyboard Shortcuts

Windows Media Player provides graphical controls for its functions, but you can also control the program using the keyboard.