Windows Media Player 11 is one of the new applications included in Windows Vista. The interface is very simple and visually effective compared to version 10, the media library is organized in a better way, the performance has improved and new features were added. Overall it is the best version of Windows Media Player released by Microsoft.

In this tutorial we will show you how to customize your installation of Windows Media Player 11 and the basics about the program navigation.

Customizing the installation

When you run Windows Media Player 11 (WMP 11) for the first time, you will have to customize its installation.

You can use the Express Settings or you can create Custom Settings. We always recommend you to use the second option.

In the Privacy Options window you can configure very important settings. If you tick the "Display media information from the internet" checkbox, Windows Media Player will search and display information about the songs you are listening to. Checking the "Update music files by retrieving media information from the Internet" option is very useful as it allows WMP 11 to download information about the songs you are listening to and complete the missing information.

The third option allows WMP 11 to acquire the usage rights associated with the protected files found in your music library. Another important configuration option is the History. If you want to have the URL history of your played files saved in the player, just check the appropriate box and press Next.

Now you can select if you want to have any shortcuts on your desktop or in the quick launch bar.

At this step you can configure WMP 11 as your default music and video player or you can choose the file types that WMP 11 will play. If you prefer the second option you will have to go through the complete list of registered file types and choose the ones you want WMP 11 to play.

The basics about program navigation

As you can see in the screenshot below, WMP 11 has a tab based interface. You have four tabs (for the each of the main functions) and, on the left side, two buttons for navigating Back and Forward.

If you click on Now Playing you will have access to the current Playlist. Here you can arrange the order in which the files are played, you can rate them or remove them from the playlist. If you click again on Now Playing you will have access to a number of configuration options such as audio enhancements, video settings, plug-ins or visualizations.

In the Library tab you can navigate through your media library. You can view your media files using several predefined views such as: artist, album, rating, folder, etc. You can also organize your library, manage your playlists or use the search feature to find the files you want to play.

The Rip gives users access to several options for ripping music from their audio CD's. If you want to know more about this topic, you should read our guide on how to rip your music from audio CD's.

The Burn tab provides several options for burning your music on audio CD's. You can find more information in our guide about burning audio CD's in Windows Media Player 11.

As you can imagine, the Sync allows users to synchronize video, music and pictures to a wide variety of portable devices, including portable media players, storage cards, and Portable Media Centers. Unfortunately we do not have a tutorial on this topic. We will try to create one in the upcoming weeks.

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