Windows Media Player 10 Mobile:
More Music, More Choices
Windows Media® Player 10 Mobile for Windows Mobile™-based
Smartphones and Pocket PCs is an all-in-one mobile media player
that provides a rich media experience and works well with Windows
Media 10 and your Windows® XP-based PC. Significant
improvements to the user interface, feature sets and capabilities
align the media player closely with the Windows Media Player 10
desktop version.
With this release, Microsoft Corp. set out to create the best
experience for audio and video on a mobile phone or personal
digital assistant (PDA). The company focused its efforts on three
main design goals: improved device experience, seamless
integration with Windows XP-based PCs, and personalization of
Windows Mobile-based devices. Windows Media Player 10 Mobile
allows Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition devices to deliver this
enhanced experience to consumers.
Experience More Media
Did you know?
Windows Media 10
Mobile supports fullscreen-mode video
playback. Now you can
watch your TV shows
and other video clips in
landscape format for a
whole new level of
entertainment.
Windows Media Player 10 Mobile is the easy and enjoyable way to
play music, videos and more on a mobile phone or PDA.
All-in-One Mobile Media Player
Enjoy your favorite music, videos and more with broad support for
the most popular file formats including Windows Media Audio
(WMA) (which includes online music store content), MP3 and
Windows Media Video. Windows Media Player 10 Mobile also adds
support for Microsoft® DirectShow® technologies, allowing mobile
operators and others to add support for more media formats such as
3GPP.
High-Quality Audio and Video
The high quality of WMA makes for the ultimate listening
experience. Windows Mobile for Pocket PC is now the first PDA
platform to offer audiophile quality with WMA Lossless and WMA
Professional. And advancements in hardware technologies are
making 640x480 VGA playback possible on VGA-enhanced Pocket
PCs.
Support for Windows Media DRM 10
With Windows Media DRM 10 support, Windows Mobile-based
devices will be able to access new subscription service content from
various online stores and services. In addition, Windows Media
DRM 10 provides over-the-air support for acquiring licenses, so
users will be able to purchase content wirelessly as services
become available.
Refined Player Design
Now you can quickly and easily find and enjoy your music, videos
and more. In addition to an all-new chrome skin, the media library
has been improved to allow browsing by popular metadata tags
including artist, album and genre. The newly added Queue It Up
feature allows users to add music, video, television and entire
playlists to the Now Playing list from anywhere in this enhanced
media library.
Album Art Support
Enrich your music experience with colorful album art, displayed for
the song currently playing. Album art is added automatically by
Windows Media Player 10 whenever it is available on the Windows
XP-based PC.
Sharing More Memories
Enhance your digital photos and videos on your Windows XP-based
PC with Plus! Photo Story 2 and Windows Movie Maker 2. You can
now take these memories with you on your Windows Mobile-based
Smartphone or Pocket PC to share with friends and family. Windows
Media Player 10 Mobile fully supports the advanced Photo Story
Image codec and has profiles built in for future versions of Windows
Movie Maker.
Integrate With Your Windows XP-based PC
Create and manage your digital media library on your Windows XPbased PC using Windows Media Player 10 and seamlessly take it
with you on your Windows Mobile-based Smartphone or Pocket PC.
Auto Sync in Windows Media Player 10
Sync your favorite music videos and more, without clicking a button.
Windows Media Player 10 Mobile supports intelligent Auto Sync
options for automatically transferring the media you want to your
Windows Mobile-based device.
Syncing Your Favorite Playlists
Take your PC playlists with you on the go. With Auto Sync, any new
music you add to a playlist in Windows Media Player 10 will be
seamlessly added to your device.
More Music
Windows Media Player 10 allows you to discover and buy music
from a wide range of online services. This allows you to shop the
Digital Media Mall in Windows Media Player 10 to find more tunes or
video content to take on your Windows Mobile-based device.
Taking Your TV With You
Windows XP Media Center Edition allows you to record your favorite
TV shows. With Auto Sync, just plug in your Windows Mobile-based
device with Windows Media Player 10 Mobile to transcode and copy
your favorite TV programs to your device automatically.
Personalize Your Experience
Personalize your experience by picking a cool new Windows Mobilebased Smartphone or Pocket PC, a new ring tone, and an enhanced
skin.
Expanded Ring-Tone Support
The existing WMA ring-tone support in Windows Mobile 2003 has
been enhanced to include playback of MP3 and DirectShowsupported content such as 3GPP, allowing a broader range of
choices. In addition, Windows Media Player 10 Mobile includes
Windows Media DRM 10, enabling license acquisition for ring tones
directly over the air.
Windows Media-Enabled Applications
Windows Media Player 10 Mobile makes the Windows Media Player
SDK with its OLE Control Extension (OCX) programming model
available on both Windows Mobile-based Pocket PCs and
Smartphones. This gives third-party developers the flexibility to
enable media playback in any application or on a Web page using
the same programming model they already use on Windows-based
desktop computers.
Creating and Managing Custom Playlists
New extended playlist support on your device gives you the ability to
bring music, videos and more into the same playlist and organize
them as you wish.
Choice of Devices
Windows Media Player 10 Mobile will be available on many new
Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition-based Smartphones and
Pocket PCs beginning this fall. These devices will come in various
shapes and sizes designed to fit your lifestyle and budget.
Getting Started: Using Windows Media
Player 10 on Your Smartphone
Syncing and playing media on your Smartphone has never been
easier. To start Windows Media Player 10, select the Start soft key.
Select the More option (or hit number 9), select More from the next
screen, and then select the Windows Media icon. The default
screen now in front of you is your Library screen. From here you
can navigate to the four areas of content: My Music, My Videos, My
TV and My Playlists.
From your Library you can launch music, video and TV shows that
you previously stored on your device’s storage card.
Getting Content Onto Your Device
To get media onto your device, you can take advantage of the builtin synchronization capability of Windows Media Player 10. Built-in
synchronization allows you to sync your PC’s media files with your
Did you know?
Windows Media Player
10 Mobile supports
album art. When you
sync an album from
your PC that has art
already downloaded, it
will appear on your
device when you play
the album.
device on demand and even sync content without clicking a button
via the intelligent Auto Sync functionality in Windows Media Player
10. To take full advantage of Windows Media Player 10 Mobile, you
will need to install the PC version onto your computer first. You can
do so by visiting Microsoft’s Web site at
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/download/
download.aspx.
Windows Media Player will scan your PC for media and add it to
your media library. Content that you add to your media library from
your PC will now be readily available to sync to your Smartphone.
1.
Start Windows Media Player 10 on your PC once you’ve
installed it. Click on the Sync tab, and then connect your
Smartphone to your PC. If you have a multimedia card inserted
in your device, you will be prompted with a Device Setup menu
and asked to choose either automatic or manual
synchronization. Windows Media Player 10 sets the default
method to automatic if it sees that your storage card is 512 MB
or larger. If your card is smaller then 512 MB, the default is set
to manual.
If you have a 512MB or larger card in your device, try out the
Auto Sync. Windows Media Player 10 will scan your music on
your PC and sync over songs based on the following rules until
your storage card is full:
•
Music rated at 5 stars
•
Music added in the last month
•
Music rated 4 stars or 5 stars
•
Music played in the last month
•
Music played the most
•
All music
You also have the ability to customize the priorities and playlists
for Auto Sync. Customization can be done by clicking on Sync
Settings and choosing the items you would like to include.
Each time your Smartphone is synced to your PC while
Windows Media Player 10 is active, Windows Media Player will
make updates to your device’s media library automatically
based on your preferences.
*Note: If your device has less than 32 MB of usable memory,
whether system memory or storage card memory, you will not
be given the option to Auto Sync.
To manually sync, continue to steps 2 and 3 below.
2.
Notice that your device name is listed on the right side of
Windows Media Player. Below the device name are folders that
reside on your device. By using the four icons above your
device name, you can add folders, delete files, format
multimedia cards in your device or view the properties of
selected files. To switch from your device memory to your
multimedia card, click once on the icon depicting your device
name, and then click on Storage Card. The contents of your
card are now listed.
3.
Click on the pull-down arrow just below the Start Sync icon.
The selections in this pull-down menu represent the many ways
you can sort and sync your media: by track, album, artist, genre,
recently played songs, top-ranked songs and more. When
you’ve selected the tracks you want to sync, click on the Start
Sync button to begin syncing the content to your Smartphone.
The status section denotes if the song is ready to sync or is
currently syncing. It will also indicate that “Songs may not fit…” if
you do not have adequate storage space on your card.
Playing Media on Your Smartphone
You’ll navigate to your songs and videos clips on your Smartphone
through the initial Library menu. To update your Smartphone’s
media library after syncing content, follow these steps:
1.
Navigate to Windows Media Player on your device, and select
the Menu soft key. Highlight the Library selection and click on
the right side of your directional pad. This will bring up two
selections, My Device and Storage Card. Select the Storage
Card option to tell the device to consider media that is on your
multimedia card for media library content. If you select My
Device, it will look for media saved to your device’s main
memory.
2.
Now hit the Menu soft key again. Select Update Library, and
then Search. Windows Media Player will scan either your card
or device for new media to add to the media library. Use the
Update Library function each time you sync over new content.
3.
Now you’re ready to play media on your Smartphone. From the
Library screen, select My Music. Notice that you can now sort
by All Music, Artist, Album or Genre.
Playing Video Content
Playing your video content is just like playing your music. From the
main Library page, select My Videos, and choose either Genre or All
Video to sort through your collection. One exciting new feature is the
ability to play video in full-screen landscape mode. To use this
feature, start your video, select Menu, and then select Full Screen.
Depending on video size, compression and format, certain videos
can be played utilizing the entire screen. Those that aren’t rendered
to fit the screen will have a black border.
Using the My TV Function
Users with a Windows XP Media Center Edition or a Windows XPbased computer with Windows Media 10 can easily synchronize TV
content using Windows Media 10. You can manually synchronize
the TV shows you want or automatically synchronize their video
content based on criteria such as “recorded in the last 7 days” or
“not yet watched.”
Queuing Up Your Media
While in your Smartphone’s media library, you can queue up
other songs or videos to form a playlist. At any point, highlight a
song, artist, album, genre, playlist or even the All Music
selection. Click on the Menu button and select Queue Up. When
you return to the Now Playing list, you will see that all the content
under the selected item has been added to the end of the queue.
You now can reorganize the order of the Now Playing list in the
Menu however you’d like.
Things to Keep in Mind When Playing Your Media:
•
The directional pad is your main control. You can customize it
based on your personal preferences.
–
Pressing the pad straight in (or the standard action key) will
play or pause media.
–
Pressing once to the right or left will advance to the next
song or start the song over.
–
Holding down the directional pad to the right or left will act
as a fast-forward or rewind function.
–
Pressing up or down on the directional pad controls the
volume.
•
Use the # key to mute or turn on the volume.
•
If you’ve synced an album for which you had album art from
your PC to your Smartphone through Windows Media Player
10, the artwork will appear when music from the album is
played.
•
If you receive a call while listening to or watching media on your
Smartphone, the device will automatically pause and mute the
media so you can take the call.
•
Clicking on Menu brings up a variety of selections, such as
Shuffle/Repeat, which lets you listen to your music in a randomplay mode. Note that the Options section is accessed from here.
In Options you can customize how your Windows Media Player
looks and functions on the device. There’s even a selection for
skins, which will allow you to personalize the look and feel of
your phone as new skins become available.
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Microsoft, Windows Media, Windows Mobile, the Windows logo, Windows and
DirectShow are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in
the United States and/or other countries.
The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the
trademarks of their respective owners.