Listen to music in Windows Media Center

Applies to: Home Premium, Ultimate.
Which edition of Windows Vista am I using?

You probably already know that Windows Media Center is a great way to watch and record TV, but did you know that it’s also a fun way to listen to music as well?

Whether on your couch or at your desk, you can use Windows Media Center to find your favorite songs, or you can create playlists for parties. You can even watch a slide show of your favorite pictures moving across your screen while the music plays.

Picture of a list of songs in Windows Media Center
Listen to music in Windows Media Center

Show all

To find music files in your library

You can scroll through your music library automatically by using the left and right arrow buttons.

On the start screen, scroll to Music, and then click music library.

(Optional) To use the Search function, on the start screen, scroll to Music, scroll to the right and click search. Enter letters by using the numeric keypad or your keyboard. You can also use the remote control to enter your search criteria.

NoteIf you want to control Windows Media Center with a remote control, an optional Windows Media Center remote control is required.

To play music

You can scroll through your music libraries automatically by using the left and right arrow buttons.
1.	On the start screen, scroll to Music, and then click music library.
2.	Click album artists, albums, artists, genres, songs, playlists, composers, or years, and then navigate to the music you want to listen to.
3.	Click either a title or a name, and then click Play Album or Play Song. The music begins playing.
4.	(Optional) To see what songs will play next, click View Queue.

To play a slide show with music

1.	On the start screen, scroll to Music, and then click music library.
2.	Click album artists, albums, artists, genres, songs, playlists, composers, or years, and then navigate to the music you want to listen to.
3.	Click either a title or a name, and then click Play Album or Play Song. The music begins playing.
4.	Click Play slide show.

To add music to the queue

The queue is a temporary list of songs you want to play. You can queue up music to listen to so that you don't have to keep selecting songs to play.
1.	On the start screen, scroll to Music, and then click music library.
2.	Click album artists, albums, artists, genres, songs, playlists, composers, or years, and then navigate to the music you want to add to the queue.
3.	Click either a title or a name, and then click Add to Queue.

To view and edit the queue

On the start screen, click Now Playing + Queue, and then click View Queue. The queue displays.

Click Edit Queue, and then do one of the following:

•	To move a song up or down in the list, click the up arrow or down arrow buttons.
•	To remove a song from the queue, click the Delete button.

Click Done.

To save the queue as a playlist

If you particularly like the songs in your queue, you can save them as a playlist to play again. Playlists are a great way to control how you play your music. By creating a playlist, you can group any combination of songs into a list that you can then quickly play, burn, or sync. To learn how to burn music, see Burn a CD or DVD. To learn how to sync songs (and TV shows) to a device, see Sync TV shows to a device.

On the start screen, click Now Playing + Queue, and then click View Queue. The queue displays.

Click Save As Playlist.

Use the numeric keypad to enter a name for the playlist, and then click Save. When you save the queue as a playlist, it is added to your permanent set of playlists. When created, you can access your permanent playlists in either Windows Media Center or Windows Media Player under Playlists.

The queue is discarded if you do any of the following:

•

Click Play instead of Add to Queue for another song or album in Music.

•

Play media in Radio, TV + Movies, or Pictures + Videos. (Only pictures are discarded from the library, not videos.)

If your computer has no TV tuner, an optional analog or digital TV tuner is required to play and record TV in Windows Media Center.

•

Close Windows Media Center (including logging off, turning off or restarting your computer, or putting the computer into Standby mode).

To view playlists

On the start screen, scroll to Music, and then click music library.

Click playlists.

Click a playlist.

(Optional): Select one of the following options:

•	Play
•	Add to Queue
•	Burn CD/DVD
•	Delete

To delete music from the computer

If you delete a song, album, or playlist from within Windows Media Center, it is deleted from the music library and the computer permanently.
1.	On the start screen, scroll to Music, and then click music library.
2.	Click an album, song, or playlist, and then right-click for the context menu.
3.	Click Delete.
4.	Click Yes to confirm deletion.

To choose which visualization will appear as an option while playing music

You can watch different visualizations—splashes of color and geometric shapes—whose patterns move in time to the music you are playing. Visualizations are grouped into collections that are based on specific themes, such as Alchemy, Bars and Waves, or Battery.
1.	On the start screen, scroll to Tasks, click settings, and then click Music.
2.	Click Visualizations, and then select a visualization category. Each category contains a number of visualizations.
3.	Click Save.

To watch visualizations while playing music

1.	On the start screen, scroll to Music, and then click music library.
2.	Click an album, song, or playlist.
3.	Click Play Song or Play Album, and then click Visualize.

To have a visualization always start when music plays

1.	On the start screen, scroll to Tasks, click settings, and then click Music.
2.	Click Visualization Options, and then select the Always start visualizations when music plays check box.
3.	Under Show song information during visualizations, select an option.
4.	Click Save.