Absolute Beginner's Guide to Microsoft Windows® XP Media Center®

Metadata Tags and You

How are My Music and Windows Media Player able to almost instantly and infalli-

bly recognize any commercially manufactured CD, and automatically display the

name of the artist, song, and album? The answer lies in the metadata available

through online databases to identify the disc. This data can then be attached as

metadata tags to identify the digital music files that are created in the ripping

process.

This metadata can contain practically any information about digital media content

that you might find printed on the CD cover, even including lyrics, track length,

genre, producer, and more.

The metadata displayed in My Music is limited to just the basics (Figure 13.9),

including the name of the artist, song, and album, along with the track number and

length. The date and publisher are also shown, if available online, and the pièce de

résistance: the actual album cover art. It is this data that allows you to sort music

copied from CDs by artist, album or song title, genre, and so on. Much more infor-

mation is often included in the online listing, but to view it, you need to use other

software, such as Windows Media Player (see Figure 13.10) .

190

ABSOLUTE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO MICROSOFT WINDOWS XP MEDIA CENTER

FIGURE 13.9

The Song Details

screen displays

metadata down-

loaded from an

online database.

Editing Media Tags

Although the automatic identification and clas-

sification of your CD audio content is an

admirable feature, it works best with popular

music tracks that have been recognized and ver-

ified thousands of times. If your musical tastes

run a little farther from the beaten path--or if

some files have wandered into your collection

that are unlabeled or contain incorrect meta-

data--there is a way to go in and manually edit

the tags using your Media Center’s Advanced

Tag Editor software. Here’s how to do it:

1. From the Media Player Features taskbar,

choose Media Library.

2. From the Details pane, right-click the item

you want to edit. Choose the Advanced

Tag Editor.

3. Using the dialog box (see Figure 13.11),

enter or change the media information as

necessary.

CHAPTER 13 PREPARING YOUR MUSIC COLLECTION FOR XP MEDIA CENTER

191

FIGURE 13.10

The Tag

Information

screen in

Windows Media

Player displays

a wealth of

information

culled from the

comprehensive

All Music Guide

(AMG) data-

base.

tip

In addition to editing basic

information on the song and

artist, the Advanced Tag

Editor lets you add lyrics, pic-

tures, and comments. You

can even synchronize the

lyrics to the music, or add

links to related Web sites. And if

you have a whole collection of

tunes you want to edit at once,

Advanced Tag Editor allows you to

enter information for several items

in a single operation. To do this,

use the Contents pane on the left

side of the screen. Hold down the

Shift key while selecting to choose

a range of items, or hold down

the Ctrl key to select non-adjacent

items. Make the changes you

want in the dialog boxes on the

right, and then click Apply or OK.

192

ABSOLUTE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO MICROSOFT WINDOWS XP MEDIA CENTER

FIGURE 13.11

With the

Windows Media

Player Advanced

Tag Editor, you

can add or cor-

rect detailed

track and artist

information.

THE ABSOLUTE MINIMUM

Now that you have searched and selected, downloaded, ripped, and edited your

audio collection using Windows Media Center, you’re ready to open My Music in

Media Center and let the good times--and the good tunes--roll. Before you do,

remember these things:

■ You’re operating in a Microsoft-only world when you’re in Media Center.

Many file formats are accepted, but competing technologies such as

RealMedia and Apple QuickTime need not apply, as far as Microsoft is con-

cerned. To enjoy music encoded in those formats, you’ll have to download a

third-party player and listen outside of Media Center’s My Music interface,

without benefit of your Media Center remote control.

■ My Music is designed for listening to audio, not necessarily for acquiring or

managing media files. For most of those tasks, you’ll need to rely on the

Windows Media Player program.

■ When it comes to importing media files from the World Wide Web, remember

that the music industry frowns on file-swapping. Look for a legal means of

obtaining the media files you want, or beware the wrath of the RIAA

(Recording Industry Association of America).

■ Ripping CDs is an area where a lot of people run into trouble with copyright

laws, such as the DMCA. As long as you’re copying audio that you own, for

your own use, you have nothing to worry about.

■ The miracle of metadata allows My Music and Windows Media Player to

instantly recognize the contents of your audio CDs and display many details.

You can manually edit the information on any digital recordings that you

make using the Advanced Tag Editor in Windows Media Player.