[vip_students] Tutorial: Quick intro to using Windows Media Player 12!
- From: "\(NCBI\) Paul Traynor" <paul.traynor@xxxxxxx>
- To: <vip_students@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 27 Sep 2011 14:38:51 +0100
Hi All,
This is just a quick introduction to working with the Media Player 12
software. I hope that as you look over it you will be able to work with most
of the controls that exist within the player in order to listen toyour
music.
When you first open Windows Media Player 12, you'll see the Player Library.
There are a couple constants throughout the Player Library, including the
Playback controls, the Back and Forward buttons the Navigation pane and the
'Switch to Now Playing' button.
[Navigation Pane, Back/Forward Buttons and Breadcrumbs]
When you click on a media type (e.g. Music, Pictures, Video) using the
spacebar within the Navigation Pane it will expand to show the
sub-categorizations. If you click on 'Artist', again using the spacebar and
then pressing the tab key once it will list your music files by artist. As
you move deeper into your library, you'll also notice the Breadcrumbs box so
called because it is just like a retangled shaped item constructed of dots
which was nicknamed breadcrumbs along the top of the screen (here, they
read 'Library -> Music -> Artist'). The breadcrumb box is a reference point
which follows your trail into whichever area or catagory you are currently
within. You can click on any of these terms to return to that level of your
library if you are a mouse user, screen reader users will have buttons
pointing to each catagory and using the spacebar once on any of the buttons
will do the same job. Alternately, you can use the Back and Forward arrows
to return to previous screens, exactly the way you would while using a web
browser, "Alt + left arrow to move back, alt + right arrow to move forward".
[Working with Search Strings]
One of the best features of Windows Media Player 12 is the Search box. You
can use the keys, "Control + E" to jump quickly into this box. In the
screen shown within your media player library you may find there are just
too many artists, singers etc to scroll through till you reach your favorite
song or singer, But if you want to home in on a specific artist, album title
or song name, you can simply type in a search string and your choices will
be instantly narrowed.
Just use keys, "Control + E" and then type in the song name, singer or
group names then tab over to the results screen which is about five presses
of the tab key to see what hits you have.
For the sighted mouse user, Double-clicking an artist name will bring up a
list of songs. To play a song if you are a keyboard user, press keys,
"Control + P". You could also highlight it and press the application key
and from the resulting menu arrow down to play then press the enter key.
To stop a song from playing, just press the keys, "Control + S".
Notes: If you have picked out say a particular singer which has more than
one song in your search results then when you begin to play their song any
subsequent songs by that singer will also get dropped into the player list.
At this point you can then use the previous and next buttons to move from
one of that singers songs onto his or her next song in the player list.
The keys for previous and next are;
Next: Control + F.
Previous: Control + B.
Volume: Press F9 for up and F8 for down.
[How to Work with View Options and Sorting]
There are three different View options for Windows Media Player 12:
*. Icon,
*. Tile
*. Details.
If you are a mouse user then You can choose one by clicking the arrow next
to the View options button or scroll through them by clicking the button
itself.
If you are a keyboard user, tab around till you come to the "View Options
Split Button" and press the spacebar once. Now press the down arrow and you
will have the three choices from which to choose from, just press enter on
the one you want.
These views behave very similarly to the views in Windows Explorer. Let's
see how each view works
.Icon view - In Windows Explorer, Icon view is pretty self-explanatory - the
only details shown are the filename and the icon. In Windows Media Player
12, Icon view works in much the same way, except the icons are the album
covers (if you have them downloaded). How much information is displayed
below the album cover depends on which level of the library you're viewing.
For example, if you are at the Album level, it shows the artist name below
the album name (if available). At the Artist level, only the album name will
be displayed.
Tile View - Tile view is a sort of hybrid between Icon and Details. You'll
see the album artwork as well as a bit more information displayed to the
right. In the Album level, you get the artist name, album name, genre and
year. In the Artist view, you'll also see the number of songs and length. If
the album has been rated, this information will be displayed, too.
Details View - Details view is the most customizable and most powerful for
sorting and searching. It allows you to see the category columns and allow
you to quickly sort your songs according to these columns. If you are a
mouse user then Click the column once to sort the items in ascending order.
Click it again to sort it in descending order.
Notes: You'll notice as you navigate around that some View options aren't
available at certain levels in the Library. For example, you cannot use Tile
or Details view at the top (Library) level, nor can you use Icon when
viewing from the Music level.
[The Various Player Modes]
For most purposes, you'll be using the Player Library mode. But Windows
Media Player 12 also has a Skin mode and a Now Playing mode. From the Player
Library, you can switch to any of the modes by right-clicking a blank area
and selecting View and the appropriate view mode. For screen reader users,
toggle between Now Playing Mode and Skin Modes by pressing the following
keys;
Library Mode: Control + 1.
Skin Mode: Control + 2.
Now Playing Mode: Control + 3.
Let's determine the differences between them:
.Now Playing Mode - it is a compact mode designed to sit unobtrusively on
your desktop. By default, Now Playing mode shows the album artwork, but you
can also have it display visualizations
If you have lyrics downloaded, they will also appear here. The play
controls, as always, are embedded at the bottom and you can switch back to
the Player Library by keys, "Control + 1".
Skin Mode - this displays the player in the customized skin you've chosen.
The appearance and layout will vary depending on the selected skin.
Use keys, "Control + 2" to jump to this mode.
[using keyboard shortcuts. ]
Note: some keyboard shortcuts only work in Player Library or Now Playing
Mode.
.Video size 50% - Alt+1
.Video size 100% - Alt+2
.Video size 200% - Alt+3
.Toggle display for full-screen video - Alt+Enter
.Retrace your steps back through your most recent views in the Player -
Alt+Left Arrow
.Retrace your steps forward through your most recent views in the Player -
Alt+Right Arrow
.Switch to Player Library - Ctrl+1
.Switch to skin mode - Ctrl+2
.Switch to Now Playing mode - Ctrl+3
.Add to play list - Ctrl+7
.Add to burn list - Ctrl+8
.Add to sync list - Ctrl+9
.Select all in list pane - Ctrl+A
.Previous (item or chapter) - Ctrl+B
.In the Player Library, put the cursor in the search box - Ctrl+E
.Next (item or chapter) - Ctrl+F
.Turn shuffle on or off - Ctrl+H
.Eject CD or DVD (this doesn't work on computers equipped with two or more
CD or DVD disc drives) - Ctrl+J
.In the Player Library, show or hide the menu bar - Ctrl+M
.Create a new playlist - Ctrl+N
.Open a file - Ctrl+O
.Play or pause playing - Ctrl+P
.Stop playing - Ctrl+S
.Turn repeat on or off - Ctrl+T
.Specify a URL or path to a file - Ctrl+U
.Close or stop playing a file - Ctrl+W
.Previous playlist - Ctrl+Left Arrow
.Next playlist - Ctrl+Right Arrow
.Restart video - Ctrl+Shift+B
.Turn captions and subtitles on or off - Ctrl+Shift+C
.Fast-forward through video or music - Ctrl+Shift+F
.Use a fast play speed - Ctrl+Shift+G
.Play at normal speed - Ctrl+Shift+N
.Use a slow play speed - Ctrl+Shift+S
.Display Windows Media Player Help - F1
.Edit media information on a selected item in the Player Library - F2
.Switch the view of items in the details pane - F4
.Increase the size of album art - F6
.Decrease the size of album art - Shift+F6
.Mute the volume - F7
.Decrease the volume - F8
.Increase the volume - F9
.Show menu bar in Player Library - F10
.Show shortcut menu - Shift+F10 or press the application menu key.
That about wraps up all the basic tips and pointers you'll need to find your
files and play music using Windows Media Player 12.
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