January 2003
This document provides installation and usage information about the Microsoft® Windows Media® Player 9 Series TweakMP PowerToy plug-in.
This plug-in enhances the functionality of Windows Media Player 9 Series. You can use this plug-in to change how you play digital media files and CDs, how you copy items to and from CDs, and how you interact with the full-screen controls.
The Windows Media Player 9 Series TweakMP PowerToy plug-in, including the documentation and information provided, if any, are for your personal use and are subject to the terms and conditions of the end-user license agreement presented during the plug-in installation process.
We've taken great care to ensure that the Windows Media Player 9 Series TweakMP PowerToy plug-in operates as it should, but this feature is not part of Windows Media Player 9 Series and is not supported by Microsoft. For this reason, Microsoft Product Support Services is unable to answer questions about the Windows Media Player 9 Series TweakMP PowerToy plug-in.
The hardware and software requirements for the plug-in are the same as those for Windows Media Player 9 Series. For more information and a list of required hardware and software, see the Windows Media Player 9 Series system requirements at the Microsoft Web site.
If the plug-in is not installed automatically when you download it from the Windows Media 9 Series Plug-ins page at the Microsoft Web site, you can install it by double-clicking the plug-in setup file.
Important To install the plug-in, you must be logged on to your computer with a user account that allows you to install programs (for example, an account that is a member of the Administrators or Power Users groups). For more information about user accounts, see Windows Help.
To remove the plug-in, use Add or Remove Programs in Control Panel. For more information about removing programs, see Windows Help.
Note that your PowerToy settings will persist even if you remove the plug-in. To change a PowerToy setting after you remove the plug-in, you must install the plug-in again.
Important To remove a plug-in, you must be logged on to your computer with a user account that allows you to remove programs (for example, an account that is a member of the Administrators or Power Users groups). For more information about user accounts, see Windows Help.
When turned on, the Windows Media Player 9 Series TweakMP PowerToy plug-in appears as a window that is separate from the Player.
The plug-in includes three categories of options: General, CD, and Full-Screen. Each category includes several options that you can use to customize how the Player functions.
To turn on the plug-in
The TweakMP window appears. If the window is hidden by the Player or another window, click the TweakMP icon in the Windows taskbar.
To turn off the plug-in
Use the options within the General Options category to change what the Player does when you double-click a file in Media Library, and to reset or restore Windows Media Player settings.
| This option | Does this |
| Double-click item to play; press SHIFT and double-click item to queue | Plays the file when you double-click it in Media Library.
- and - Queues the file in the current playlist (that is, it temporarily adds the file to the current playlist) when you press SHIFT and double-click the file in Media Library. |
| Double-click item to queue; press SHIFT and double-click item to play | Queues the file in the current playlist when you double-click the file in Media Library.
- and - Plays the file when you press SHIFT and double-click it in Media Library. |
| When the "Double-click item to play; press SHIFT and double-click item to queue" option is turned on, this option | Does this |
| Add item only to the Now Playing playlist | Queues the file in the currently playing playlist when you double-click the file in Media Library. |
| Add item and its playlist or category to the Now Playing playlist | Queues the file in the currently playing playlist when you double-click the file in Media Library. If the file is a member of a playlist that you created or is a member of a category (such as album, artist, or genre), all the other files in that playlist or category are also queued in the currently playing playlist. |
| When the "Double-click item to queue; press SHIFT and double-click item to play" option is turned on, this option | Does this |
| Add item only to the Now Playing playlist | Queues the file in the currently playing playlist when you press SHIFT and double-click the file in Media Library. |
| Add item and its playlist or category to the Now Playing playlist | Queues the file in the currently playing playlist when you press SHIFT and double-click the file in Media Library. If the file is a member of a playlist that you created, all the other files in that playlist are also queued in the currently playing playlist. |
| This option | Does this |
| Reset All Player Defaults | Resets all Windows Media Player settings (including settings not available in this PowerToy, such as Color Chooser, Audio Quality, and Privacy settings) to the defaults.
Important If you click Yes when prompted, the PowerToy will save your current settings to a backup file, reset all current Player settings to the defaults, and then quit the Player. You can restore your saved settings by using the Restore Saved Settings option. If you click either the Reset All Player Defaults or the Restore Saved Settings button and the Player does not quit automatically, manually quit and restart the Player to avoid potential instability. |
| Restore Saved Settings | Restores the most recently saved Windows Media Player settings (your settings are automatically saved to a backup file when you use the Reset All Player Defaults option). When you restore saved settings, all current settings are lost.
Important If you click Yes when prompted, the PowerToy replaces your current Windows Media Player settings with your most recently saved settings, and then quits the Player. If you click either the Reset All Player Defaults or the Restore Saved Settings button and the Player does not quit automatically, manually quit and restart the Player to avoid potential instability. |
Use the options in the CD Options category to change how files are copied to and from CDs, and to specify whether a CD is automatically played upon insertion.
| This option | Does this |
| Change | Specifies the separator character the Player uses when naming files during the copy from CD process.
When you copy tracks from a CD to your computer, the Player automatically assigns a file name to each file. By default, on the Copy Music tab you can specify that the Player separates file name details (such as song title and artist) with a blank space, a dash, a dot, an underline, or no character. This option enables you to specify other separator characters to use instead of the presets. The custom separator can include up to five characters. For example, if you type #^# in the text box, the file name appears as: artist_name#^#album_name.wma. Separators cannot contain the following characters: \ / : * ? " < > | |
| Automatically play inserted CDs when Windows Media Player is running and no other content is playing | Automatically plays a CD when it is inserted into the CD drive and the following conditions are true:
Note that this option does not affect Windows AutoPlay. If you select this check box, the Player will not automatically start when you insert a CD. It will only play the CD upon insertion when the Player is already running. To automatically start the Player and play the CD upon insertion, use AutoPlay. For more information about AutoPlay, see Windows Help. |
| Automatically level the volume of files when copying to an audio CD | Automatically levels the volume of audio files when they are copied to an audio CD.
Note that this option does not affect whether volume leveling is turned on when you play a file in Media Library. Also note that if you clear this check box and then attach another CD recorder drive later, you must clear this check box again for your change to apply to the new drive. This option is not available if a CD recorder drive is not attached to your computer or if you have never used Windows Media Player to copy files to an audio CD. To enable this option, attach a CD recorder drive to your computer, and then use the Player to copy files to an audio CD. |
Use the options in the Full-Screen Options category to change how the playback controls appear when you view a video in full screen.
| This option | Does this |
| Every time the mouse pointer moves | Shows the full-screen controls when you move the mouse pointer. |
| Only when the mouse pointer is at the top or bottom of the screen | Shows the full-screen controls only when you move the mouse pointer to the top or bottom of the screen. |
| This option | Does this |
| Resize video when full-screen controls are displayed | Automatically resizes the video when the full-screen controls are displayed. This enables you to see the entire video image when the full-screen controls are displayed. If you clear this check box, the video image may be cropped when the full-screen controls are displayed. |
| This option | Does this |
| Time until controls are hidden slider | Controls the amount of time it takes for the full-screen controls to hide after you move the mouse pointer from the top or bottom of the screen. |
| Time until mouse pointer is hidden slider | When the full-screen controls are hidden, controls the amount of time it takes for the mouse pointer to hide after you stop moving it. |
| This option | Does this |
| Horizontal | Hides the full-screen controls by moving them off the screen horizontally. |
| Vertical | Hides the full-screen controls by moving them off the screen vertically. |
| Transition speed slider | Controls the rate at which the full-screen controls are hidden (slower or faster). |
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© 2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
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This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group.
GIF decompression code, copyright 1990, David Koblas. Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation. This software is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.