HP Media Center PC Software Guide

Playing Music Files

The My Music area in Media Center is a great way to play, organize, and back up your music files. My

Music is designed to work with the Windows Media

Player program.

My Music

With My Music, you can find and play your favorite music files and CDs you have added to the

Windows Media Player music library. For more

information about using My Music, see “Using My

Music with Media Center” on page 33.

My Music is designed to work with

Windows Media Player

Using My Music with Media Center

You can copy digital music files and organize a music library by using My Music in Media Center or by using the Windows Media Player program.

Music files that are added from within My Music in

Media Center are copied into the Windows

Media Player music library and are then accessible from within Media Center.

In My Music you can:

■

Play CDs or selected music tracks from your created Windows Media Player music library that you access in Media Center.

My Music menu in Media Center

■

Select and edit a personalized list of songs from your library.

■

Delete songs from a music library or a queue list.

■

Burn your favorite songs to CDs.

■

Back up your music tracks to a DVD or to an

HP Personal Media Drive.

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You can store your music files in the My

Music folder or in other folders on your hard disk drive, but you need to add those files to the

Windows Media

Player music library for Media Center to be able to find and play them.

Playing Music Files

33

Adding Music to My Music Library

When you add music files to your My Music library, they are placed into the music library in Windows

Media Player. The added music files can immediately be found and played back by using My

Music in Media Center.

You can also add music files to your music library from within the Windows Media Player program.

For more information about adding and deleting music files to the library, use the Windows Media

Player Help menu.

Adding music files from your hard disk drive

1

Press the Media Center Start button on the remote control, or, with your mouse, click

Start on the taskbar, and then click Media Center.

2

Select My Music.

3

Press Ctrl+D on the keyboard or press the i (More information) button on the remote control, and select Add Music.

4

Select Add folders, and then select Next.

5

Select Add folders on this computer, and then select Next.

6

Use the arrow buttons on the keyboard or the remote control to select a location. Press the

Enter key on the keyboard or press the OK button to expand a folder. When you find the folder that contains your music folder, select it by making sure an arrow appears next to the folder. Repeat this step to add additional folders, and select Next and then Finish.

7

Select OK.

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HP Media Center PC Software Guide

Adding music files from a CD

To add the CD tracks to your Media Center music library:

1



2


3

Insert a CD into the CD drive.

4

Select Albums.

5

Select the Album CD you want to add to your music library.

6

Select Copy CD. The first time you copy a music CD you must select your copyprotection option and then follow any onscreen instructions.

7

Select Yes to begin copying tracks to your music library. This process may take several minutes, depending on the length of your music tracks.

8

Click OK.

Deleting music files from the My Music library

1


Start on the taskbar, and then click

Media Center.

2


3

Select Songs.

4

Use the arrow buttons on your remote control or the keyboard to scroll through your songs.

Select the song you want to delete.

5

Select Delete, and then select Yes.

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Each time you add music files outside of

Windows Media

Player, you must add these music files to your Windows Media

Player music library for Media Center to find them. Select the

Tools menu, and then select Search for

Media Files to add new music files to your library.

Playing Music Files

35

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For more information about music file formats, use

Windows Media

Player Help and

Media Center Help.

Only supported audio file types are displayed in the My

Music window.

Unsupported files won’t play.

Using supported music file types

You can play the following types of digital audio files in My Music. Refer to Windows Media Player

Help for more information about supported file types.

File extension

.cda

.au, .snd

.aif, .aifc, .aiff

.wav

.mp3, .m3u

.wax, .wma

.asf, .asx, .wm,

.wma, .wmv,

.wmp, .wmx,

.wpl, .wm, .wmd,

.wmz

File type

CD audio file

Audio file

AIFF audio file

Windows audio file

MP3 file

Windows Media

Audio file

Windows Media file n

You can place all your music files into the

My Music folder or into other folders on your hard disk drive, but you need to add those files to the

Windows Media

Player music library for Media Center to be able to find and play them.

Playing Music Files in My Music

When you first open Media Center and open the

My Music window, you may not find any music files listed unless there is a music CD in your CD drive or unless you have already added audio files to your

Windows Media Player music library.

When you copy music files using Windows Media

Player and your computer is connected to the

Internet, the CD information is copied and displayed in Media Center and in the Windows Media Player music library.

If you insert a music CD when Media Center is not open, a message appears asking what you want to do. You can select Windows Media Player as your default audio player. If you have another program set as the default audio player, Windows opens the program and begins playing the CD.

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Playing an album in My Music

1



2


3

Insert a music CD into the CD drive.

4

Select Albums.

5

Select the album you want to play.

6

Select Play.

Playing a song in My Music

You can play a song from anywhere in My Music.

You can select it from the View Song list, or from the

Album, Artist, and Genre lists. You can also play a single song from a playlist:

1



Media Center.

2


3

Select Songs. The list displays all the songs in your library.

4

Use the arrow buttons on the remote control or the arrow keys on the keyboard to select a song, and then press OK on the remote control or the Enter key on the keyboard to play it.

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You can select

Visualize in the Now

Playing window to see a visualization while you play a music track.

Playing Music Files

37

Creating a Queue List in My Music

A queue list is a temporary list of songs that is created in My Music as you select songs, albums, or playlists to play. You can continue to add songs or you can delete songs from your queue list.

You can create a queue list and save it as a playlist that you can access in Media Center.

1

From the My Music window:

■

Select Songs, use the arrow keys to select a song you want, and then select Add to

Queue.

Or

■

Select Albums or Playlists, select an album or a playlist, and then select Add

to Queue to add the entire album or playlist to the queue.

2

Select OK.

3

Use the Back button on the remote control or the Backspace key on the keyboard to go back to the Songs, Albums, or Playlists menus if you want to select more songs to add to your queue list. Repeat step 1.

4

After you add the last song for your queue list, select Play. All songs in your queue list are played in the order you have selected them.

Finding and Playing an Album in My Music

1

In the Media Center Start menu, select My

Music, and then select Albums.

2

Use the arrow buttons on the remote control or the arrow keys on the keyboard to select an album, and then press OK on the remote control or press the Enter key on the keyboard. Select Play to play the album. The

Now Playing window opens, and the album starts playing.

3

In the Play window, you can also select:

■

View Cover to view cover art and play one track.

■

View Queue to view an ordered list of all tracks that will be played on the album.

■

Shuffle to rearrange the play order.

■

Copy CD to copy an album into your

Windows Media Player music library and your My Music library.

■

Buy Music to connect to the Internet, find

CD information, and buy music CDs. To go back to Media Center, press Start on the remote control, or click Start on the taskbar and click Media Center.

■

Visualize to view a moving picture while listening to a song.

■

Edit Queue to save your queue list as a playlist, create a CD/DVD, or clear all the songs in the queue list.

4

To return to the previous window, press Back on the remote control or the Backspace key on the keyboard.

■

Repeat to play the album again.

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Creating a Playlist in My Music

A playlist is a customized list of songs you can keep to play later or record to CD. Using playlists, you can group various digital music files together and determine the order in which you want the files to play.

You can create a playlist that includes several tracks from various CDs or even a playlist that contains background music for a slideshow.

You can create playlists in Windows Media Player or from within Media Center.

To create a playlist:

1

Select My Music, and then select either

Albums, Artists, Playlists, Songs, or

Genres.

2

Use the arrow buttons on the remote control or the arrow keys on the keyboard to navigate to the music you want to add to your playlist.

3

Press OK on the remote control or press the

Enter key on the keyboard to select a song.

4

Select Add To Queue. A confirmation displays that the music was added to the list of music in the queue.

5

Select the inset window in the lower-left corner to go to the queue.

6

On the Queue screen, select Edit Queue, and then select Save As Playlist.

7

Use the alphanumeric keypad to enter a name for the playlist, and then select Save.

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If your PC is connected to the

Internet, the CD track titles and cover art appear in Media

Center.

Playing Music Files

39

!

IMPORTANT: HP supports the lawful use of technology and does not endorse or encourage the use of our products for purposes other than those permitted by copyright law.

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For more information about writable media, refer to the other documentation that came with your PC.

Copying Music Files to CD in My Music

To copy your music files to CD:

1



Media Center.

2

Select More Programs.

3

Insert a blank CD-R disc.

4

Select Create CD/DVD.

5

Select a disc format: Audio CD or Data CD, and then select OK.

6

Use the arrow buttons on the remote control or the arrow keys on the keyboard to select the

Untitled text box.

7

Use the alphanumeric keypad buttons on the remote control or the keyboard to enter a name for your CD, and then select OK.

8

Select Music.

9

Select the music files to record. A check mark appears next to the song when it is selected.

Use the Back button on the remote control or the Backspace key on the keyboard to select more songs from different menus.

10

When you are finished adding songs, select

View CD to see the songs you have selected.

If you want to delete songs, use the arrow buttons on the remote control to select the X next to the song you want to delete. Press OK on the remote control or press the Enter key on the keyboard to delete the song from your list of songs to be recorded to CD. This does not delete the song from your music library.

11

Select Create CD.

12

Select Yes.

13

Select OK.

14

Follow the onscreen instructions.

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HP Media Center PC Software Guide

Playing Music Files

My Music

Using My Music with Media Center

Playing Music Files

33

Adding Music to My Music Library

Adding music files from your hard disk drive

34