December 2001
Microsoft« Windows MediaÖ Bonus Pack for Windows« XP provides enhancements and tools for the digital media experience in Windows XP. The Bonus Pack contains Plus! MP3 Converter LE, new skins, new visualizations, Windows Media Player for Windows XP Powertoys, Windows Media Player Skin Importer, and the Windows Movie Maker Creativity Kit. This document provides installation instructions and other information about Windows Media Bonus Pack for Windows XP.
The Bonus Pack components are not supported by Microsoft Corporation.
Windows Media Bonus Pack for Windows XP, including the documentation and information provided, is for your personal use and is subject to the terms and conditions of the end user license agreement presented during the Microsoft Windows Media Bonus Pack for Windows XP installation process.
Windows Media Player Visualizations
Windows Media Player for Windows XP Powertoys
Personal License Update Wizard
Windows Movie Maker Creativity Kit
How to uninstall Windows Media Bonus Pack for Windows XP
The hardware and software requirements for Windows Media Bonus Pack for Windows XP are as follows:
╖ Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition or Windows XP Professional
╖ A 350 megahertz (MHz) processor
╖ 64 megabytes (MB) of RAM
╖ 300 MB of free hard disk space
╖ VGA video resolution monitor
╖ CD-ROM or DVD drive, keyboard, Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device
╖ An Internet connection may be required for some features.
╖ Windows XPûcompatible sound card and speakers or headphones
╖ 256-color video card
╖ 3-D graphics acceleration and 16 MB or more of video memory may be required for some features. The video adapter must be compatible with Windows XP. Please see the below recommended system configuration for more information.
You can confirm that your video adapter is compatible with Windows XP by reviewing the Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) page at the Microsoft Windows Hardware Quality Labs Web site. Type the video adapter manufacturer name in the Search box, and then select Display from the list of hardware types.
╖ A 500 MHz or faster processor
╖ 128 MB or higher of RAM
╖ Super VGA (800 ╫ 600) or higher video resolution monitor
╖ A video display adapter with hardware 3-D graphics acceleration and 16 MB or more of video memory, including the following:
╖ Matrox G400 and G450
╖ SiS300
╖ Trident BladeXP 128
╖ 3Dlabs Permedia 3
╖ Video cards using the ATI Radeon and Rage 128 chipsets
╖ Video cards using the NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 and GeForce chipsets
If you are using a video adapter containing the ATI or NVIDIA chipsets, we recommend you download and install the latest video card software drivers from the manufacturer's Web site.
Note: With your permission, some PowerToys in the Bonus Pack will modify your music files. Microsoft recommends you back up your data before running any utility that modifies your data.
The Windows Media Player Bonus Pack components are not supported by Microsoft Corporation and are provided as is.
Sample a feature of Plus! for Windows XP, double the amount of music you can store on your computer, and easily transfer more music to portable devices by converting your MP3 files quickly and easily to Windows Media Audio (WMA). Because of the efficiency of Windows Media Format, the resulting Windows Media files are typically much smaller than the original MP3 files. Using Plus! MP3 Converter LE does not modify the original files in any way.
To convert MP3 files to WMA
1. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Windows Media Bonus Pack for Windows XP, and then click Plus! MP3 Audio Converter LE. Plus! MP3 Audio Converter LE opens.
2. Plus! MP3 Audio Converter LE will guide you through the steps to select the files you want to convert, select your conversion options, and convert the files.
For complete instructions on using Plus! MP3 Audio Converter LE, click HELP, or press F1.
MP3 files encoded at less than 96 Kbps may not contain enough of the original music data to compress reliably.
If you like the Windows Media Bonus Pack, youÆll love Plus! For Windows XP! To learn how you can take your Windows XP experience to the next level with Plus! for Windows XP, please visit: http://www.microsoft.com/plus
Windows Media Bonus Pack includes a variety of attractive new skins for Windows Media Player for Windows XP. For instructions on using skins, in Windows Media Player, press F1, and then search for "skin".
|
Skin |
Description |
|
Stars and Stripes
|
Show your |
|
The Sentinel |
A wild, anime-influenced Windows Media Player skin with plenty
of animation and movement to explore. |
|
TDK Digital Mixmaster |
This Windows Media Player skin includes a separate video module, which includes the ability to resize and zoom video, control your video settings, and more. TDK Digital Mixmaster (c) Copyright 2001. TDK Electronics Corporation. All Rights Reserved. |
Windows Media Bonus Pack includes several intriguing visualization collections for Windows Media Player for Windows XP. For instructions on using visualizations, in Windows Media Player, press F1, and then search for "visualization".
|
Visualization |
Description |
|
Yule Log Visualization
|
With this visualization you can enjoy the pops and flares of a traditional Yule log on the fire, synchronized to your music. Note Requires 3D Graphics accelerator with at least 16 MB of video memory. |
|
MSN Photos Visualization
|
Display pictures from the My Pictures folder during playback with six unique transition effects using this visualization. |
|
Trilogy Visualizations
|
A 9-pack of unique visualizations for Windows Media Player. Each offers full-screen display and randomization options. |
|
Dungeon Siege Visualization
|
A set of two unique visualizations that highlight box art for the upcoming Microsoft PC game, Dungeon Siege. Features include a female warrior, creatures fading in and out of view, and flames flaring to your music. For more information on Dungeon Siege, please visit: http://www.microsoft.com/games/dungeonsiege |
|
Null Visualization
|
Offers a new option to turn off visualizations and album art in Windows Media Player. |
The Windows XP Copy Music from CD AutoPlay update adds a new option to make it easier to copy a CD to your PC using Windows Media Player. With AutoPlay enabled on your PC, when you insert an Audio CD, the AutoPlay dialog will display with available actions. A new action, ôCopy music from CD using Windows Media Playerö will appear. Selecting this option will automatically launch Windows Media Player in the Copy from CD view. Just click ôCopy Musicö to copy your CD to your PC.
Windows Media Player for Windows XP Powertoys provides a variety of enhancements to Windows Media Player. The Powertoys include:
╖ Windows Media Player for Windows XP Tray Control
╖ Media Library Management Wizard
╖ Playlist Import to Excel Wizard
╖ Windows Media Player Skin Importer
The Powertoys are not supported by Microsoft Corporation.
Windows Media Player for Windows XP Tray Control provides quick and simple access to your most common tasks in Windows Media Player such as volume and mute control, next track, play, and pause functionality with a single click. As an added bonus, you can use the Most Recently Used List cleaner feature to clear this list as frequently as you want.
To start Windows Media Player for Windows XP Tray Control
╖ Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Windows Media Bonus Pack for Windows XP, and then click Windows Media Player Tray Control. The tray control icon will appear in the system tray.
To enable Windows Media Player for Windows XP Tray Control at startup
1. Start Windows Media Player for Windows XP Tray Control.
2. Right-click the tray control icon in the system tray and click Options, then click Run Tray Control at Startup. The next time you start your computer, the Tray Control will be started automatically.
To use the Windows Media Player for Windows XP Tray Control
1. Start Windows Media Player for Windows XP Tray Control.
2. Right-click the tray control icon in the system tray.
The Windows Media Player for Windows XP Tray Control will stay active until you close it using the right-click menu or you shut down your computer.
To clear the Windows Media Player Most Recently Used List
1. Start Windows Media Player for Windows XP Tray control.
2. Right-click the tray control icon in the system tray, click Options, then click Clear MRU.
Media Library Management Wizard is a useful Powertoy designed to help you organize and manage your music files, and to add track numbering, missing album art, and media information to music files copied to your computer using Windows Media Player 7 or later.
You should close Windows Media Player before running Media Library Management Wizard.
╖ Click Start, point to Programs, point to Windows Media Player Bonus Pack for Windows XP, and then click Media Library Management Wizard.
NOTE: With your permission, the Media Library Management Wizard may modify, move, or update music files on your hard drive. As with any application that modifies files, Microsoft recommends you back up your data before using this tool.
The wizard includes the following features:
This feature will remove obsolete entries from your Media Library for music that can no longer be found. It also updates the locations of files that have been moved. For instance, if you deleted your music files or moved them to a different location after they were added to the Media Library, this option removes the reference for those files from the library or updates the location of the files.
This option scans specified folders and adds any new music found in those folders to the Media Library.
This option looks for WMA and MP3 files only. If you want to add other types of files, such as WAV files, to the Media Library press F3 in Windows Media Player to search for digital media files on your computer.
This option, which you can use to update, refresh, and organize your track information, has three options:
╖ Download the latest track information from the Internet and add to files and Media Library.
This option retrieves the latest track information from WindowsMedia.com, and updates the information in both your music files and in the Media Library.
If the track information is found on for your tracks on WindowsMedia.com, the information from WindowsMedia.com overwrites existing track information, including any custom edits you have made to the information. However, if the wizard does not find track information for a particular track, it will not overwrite the existing information.
╖ Add existing track information from Media Library to files
This option takes information added to the Media Library and adds it to your music files.
If you have edited the same information Media Library and the file, the information from the Media Library overwrites the information in the file.
╖ Add existing track information from files to Media Library
This option adds any information added in your music files to Media Library by using a tag editor or other tool, and will add it to the Media Library.
If you have edited the same information in Media Library and the file, the information in the file overwrites the information in the Media Library.
This option retrieves album art from WindowsMedia.com so that you can view album art in your My Music folder. You can also view the album art while playing the file in Windows Media Player.
If you select the Replace existing album art check box, the wizard overwrites any existing album art that may have been downloaded previously. It will not overwrite album art that you may have added to the file using a tag editor.
This option retrieves album art only for those files copied by using Windows Media Player 7 or later.
This option uses the information in the Media Library and in the files to rename and rearrange your music files. Files are rearranged in the folder youÆve specified into a folder structure by Artist Name\Album Name. In addition, files are renamed based on the options you select in the Windows Media Player File Name Options dialog box. To view the dialog box, in Windows Media Player, click Tools, click Options, and then click the Copy Music tab. Click Advanced. In cases where there is not enough information about the file, the file will not be moved or renamed.
Any files that are moved are renamed will be removed from playlists you have created in the Media Library. In addition, play counts for those files will be reset to zero.
Playlist Import to Excel PowerToy offers an easy way to import audio and video playlists (with the .asx file name extension) from Microsoft Windows Media Player into a spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel 2002 or later.
After the playlist is imported to Excel, you can sort and retrieve information for each item in the list, including the name, artist, genre, and bit rate of each file, using the AutoFilter and Sort features in Excel. You can also export the file to HTML to quickly create a Web page containing a catalog of all the audio and video items in the playlist. Additionally, you can chart and graph statistical information about items in the playlist and use the information in other ODBC-compliant programs (such as Microsoft Access).
Using this tool is a two-part process. First, you must prepare the playlist by exporting it from Windows Media Player. Then, you use Playlist Import to Excel PowerToy to import the playlist into Excel.
To export a playlist from Windows Media Player
1. In Windows Media Player, click Media Library, and then expand My Playlists to display the playlists that you have created.
2. Double-click the playlist you want to export. When selected, you should see the name of the playlist in the drop down in the upper-left corner of the media player.
3. On the File menu, click Export Playlist to File.
4. Select the folder where you want to save the file.
5. In File name, enter a name for the file, and then click Save.
To import playlist into Excel
1. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Windows Media Bonus Pack for Windows XP, and then click Import Playlist to Excel.
2. Depending on your security settings, you may get a Security Warning dialog box. If so, click Enable Macros to continue.
3. Follow the instructions in the Windows Media Playlist Import Tool dialog box. (If you have already exported the playlist, you can skip step 3 in the Import Tool dialog box.)
Very large playlists may need to be separated into smaller playlists before they can be imported. Depending on the amount of track information in your playlist file, Excel can usually import playlists with up to approximately 4000 items.
The Powertoys skin enables you to manage the Media Library in Windows Media Player in a variety of ways. The skin includes seven playlist management functions:
|
Function |
Description |
|
Turn all albums in the library into playlists |
Creates a playlist for every album in Media Library. |
|
Make a playlist for every Artist listed in the library |
Creates a playlist for every artist in Media Library. |
|
Place all content in random playlists of 70 minutes (for Copy to CD) |
Creates one or more playlists using all of the files in Media Library. Each playlist contains up to 70 minutes of material. The files are randomly assigned to the new playlists; however, no file is assigned to more than one playlist. This function is useful when creating your own CDs. |
|
Place all content in ordered playlists of 12 songs (for Copy to CD) |
Creates one or more playlists using all of the files in Media Library. Each playlist contains up to 12 files. The files are assigned to the new playlists in order of their Media Library creation date. This function is useful when creating your own CDs. |
|
Place all content in ordered playlists of 70 minutes (for Copy to CD) |
Creates one or more playlists using all of the files in Media Library. Each playlist contains up to 70 minutes of material. The files are assigned to the new playlists in order of their Media Library creation date. This function is useful when creating your own CDs. |
|
Clear all playlists from library |
Clears all playlists from Media Library. You cannot restore your playlists after they have been cleared. |
|
Place current playlist in random playlists of 70 minutes (for Copy to CD) |
Creates one or more playlists based on the currently playing playlist. Each new playlist contains up to 70 minutes of material. The files are randomly assigned to the new playlists; however, no file is assigned to more than one playlist. This function is useful when creating your own CDs. |
To use the Powertoys skin
1. In Windows Media Player full mode, click the Skin Chooser feature.
2. In the list of skins, select the Powertoys skin, and then click Apply Skin.
3. To use a function, click on a function name.
The word "processing" appears before the function name until the function is completed. Processing time depends upon the size of the Media Library on your computer and the complexity of the function. Complex functions, such as placing all content in ordered playlists of 70 minutes, may take a long time to complete.
To function properly, the Powertoys skin must be able to read from and write to the Media Library. If the Powertoys skin displays a message that it cannot access your Media Library, perform the following procedure.
To set Media Library access rights
1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Media Library tab.
2. Under Access rights of other applications click Full access, and then click OK.
All installed skins will be able to read from and write to Media Library.
Windows Media Player Skin Importer enables you to convert Winamp skins into Windows Media Player skins.
For better conversion results, download the Winamp 2.x Base Skin (Baseskin.zip) from the Winamp Web site (http://www.winamp.com).
Place the Baseskin.zip file either in your Winamp skins directory or in the same directory as the skins to convert. If a skin is missing files, Wa2WMP will retrieve those files from the Baseskin.zip file.
To convert a single skin
╖ Right-click on a Winamp skin file (with a .wsz file name extension), and then click Convert to Windows Media Player Skin.
The skin is converted and a Windows Media Player compatible skin is created in the same directory.
To convert multiple skins
1. Run Wa2wmp.exe.
2. Choose a location from which to import all of the files with .wsz and .zip file name extensions.
Windows Media Player Skin Importer converts all the files in the source directory and creates Windows Media Player compatible skins in the directory you specify.
any unauthorized use of content without explicit permission
and/or valid license may be a violation of the law, including
If the Add File and Remove File buttons are not enabled in Windows Media Player, on the Tools menu, click Options, click the Media Library tab. In the Other application access rights group, click Full access.
If you copy music from CD using Windows Media Player 7 or 7.1 with the "Enable Personal Rights Management" check box selected, a personal license for the music is created on your PC. Personal License Update Wizard for Windows Media Player updates the licenses of protected files that were copied using Windows Media Player 7, so that they can easily be moved and played on other computers. If you copied content from CDs using Windows Media Player 7.1, you do not need to run this utility on those files. The utility will only identify licenses that need to be updated.
Enhance your home videos and unleash your creativity with this expansive collection of sound effects, music clips and loops, and title slides and videos. Whatever the occasion, thereÆs something here that will help you make your home movies even better! All sounds and music are provided by SoundDogs.com. SoundDogs.com has delivered sound effects for over sixty feature films, including Academy Award nominated films Meet The Parents, The Wonder Boys, As Good As It Gets, The Green Mile, Titanic, Stuart Little, and Jerry Maguire. For more information, visit www.sounddogs.com/moviemaker.asp.
The Windows Movie Maker Creativity Kit includes three components: Movie Maker Title Slides, Movie Maker Music Pack, and Movie Maker Sound Pack, all of which will help you enhance and personalize your home movies.
Before you begin using the content in Windows Movie Maker Creativity Kit, you must import it into Movie Maker. Once you have the Windows Movie Maker Creativity Kit content in Movie Maker, you can simply drag the clips and drop them into either the Storyboard or Timeline view to construct your movie.
To import Windows Movie Maker Creativity Kit content
1. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, and then click on Windows Movie Maker.
2. From the File menu, click Import and navigate to the location on your hard drive where you installed the Bonus Pack.
Note The default location is C:\Program Files\Windows Media Bonus Pack for Windows XP\Movie Maker Kit
Note: When importing the Video Title Slides, uncheck the Create clips for video files box. This will ensure that the video files you import will remain in one piece.
3. Select the clip or clips you wish to import. (To select contiguous tracks, press and hold the SHIFT key while selecting. To select noncontiguous tracks, press and hold the CTRL key while selecting.)
4. Click Open to import the clips.
For more information about Windows Movie Maker, please visit http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/moviemaker/.
Enhance your videos with this set of title slides that will kick off or end your home movies in style. The sampler includes "Our Summer Vacation," "Happy Birthday," and "It's a Boy," plus many others. There are even three video titles, including a movie countdown sequence as well as a ôThe Endö clip.
Add professional music and loops to your movie, courtesy of SoundDogs.com. ThereÆs a range of music to select from, including jazz, hip hop, reggae, and house music. Whatever the mood of your creation, thereÆs a music track here that will complement it.
Add great sound effects to your movies, courtesy of SoundDogs.com. This sample includes dozens of effects such as speeding cars, crowd sounds, horns and bells, household sounds, animals, and much more.
To uninstall Windows Media Bonus Pack for Windows XP, use the following procedures.
To remove the Plus! MP3 Audio Converter LE, Windows Media Player Skin Importer, or the Powertoys:
1. Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click Add/Remove Programs.
2. Click any of the following items:
╖ Windows Media Bonus Pack for Windows XP
╖ Plus! MP3 Audio Converter LE
╖ Windows Media Player Skin Importer
╖ Media Library Management Wizard
╖ Windows Media Player Tray Control
╖ Playlist Import to Excel powertoy
╖ Movie Maker Sound Effects
╖ Movie Maker Title Images
╖ Movie Maker Background Music Files
3. Click Remove, and then click Yes when prompted.
To uninstall the visualizations
1. In Windows Media Player full mode, click Tools, and then click Options.
2. On the Visualizations tab, click the visualization you want to remove.
3. Click Remove, and then click Yes when prompted.
To uninstall the skins
1. In Windows Media Player full mode, click the Skin Chooser feature.
2. In the list of skins, click Powertoys, and then click the Delete button.
Your feedback is valuable! Tell us what you think about the Windows Media extras contained within this package, or what you'd like to see in future Bonus Pack releases.
We'd love to hear your comments via the Windows Media Wish website.
Click to go to the Windows Media Wish Website now.
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