Windows Mobile is playing your song

Your mobile music collection can contain songs from CDs that you already own, or single tracks or entire albums that you bought and downloaded online. In either case, the starting point is with Windows Media Player on your personal computer. The latest version, Windows Media Player 11, makes it easier to buy music online and sync your collection to your mobile device. To find your current version number, launch Windows Media Player, and then on the Help menu, click About Windows Media Player.

You'll probably want to start by loading songs from your favorite CDs, a process that takes just a few clicks. Pop the CD you want to load into your desktop computer and select Rip from the bar that runs across the top of the Player. You will see a list of all the tracks on that disc. Windows Media Player automatically downloads the artist and song title information from the Internet. I was surprised to find that the program was able to pull up track information from a Belgian CD that had never been released in North America. Amazing!

All the songs on the album are checked by default. Unless you are the recording artists (or their mothers) you probably want to load only a few songs. Clicking the check box on the left side of the column headings will deselect all the songs and then you can go ahead and tag just the ones that you like. When you've made your selections, just click Rip. Songs you have ripped will appear in your library.

If this is the first time you've ripped a CD, Windows Media Player may ask you about your preferred quality settings. Most people are happy with the default settings, though I like the Windows Media variable rate setting, with the quality level set three-quarters of the way toward "best." Your songs will take up a bit more memory, but the sound quality is great. You can adjust the quality setting at any time by selecting the Tools menu, then Options, then the Rip Music tab.

Buying music online is almost as easy as ripping CDs, and it's much easier and faster than driving to the record store, which might not even have your selection in stock. And the online store is always open. It also saves you from the embarrassing ritual of announcing to everyone in the store that the CD of disco's greatest hits you're holding is really for your spouse. Another plus: You don't have to buy the whole album, so if you want only one song, you won't be stuck paying for the dozen tracks you can't stand.

Most online music stores sell tracks in the Windows Media Format, though you don't even have to leave Windows Media Player to buy songs. Just click the Music button on the upper-right corner of the Player. You can search for music by artist or song title. Adding a tune or an entire album to your library is as easy as clicking the Buy button. With a broadband Internet connection, your selections will download in moments and they will be added to your library.

If you plan to download a lot of music, you may want to consider Napster To Go service. For a monthly fee, you can download as much music as you want and copy it to your mobile device. Unlike peer-to-peer file-sharing networks, Napster is legal. The downside: you will only be able to listen to your downloaded tracks while your subscription is active. If you let your subscription lapse, you will no longer be able to listen to those tracks. That's not the case with tracks that you buy individually. Those are good forever.

Once you've downloaded or ripped your music, it's time to enjoy it on your device. If you listen to a lot of music, it's a good idea to buy a large memory card. The devices come with a limited amount of memory and if you fill them with a lot of songs, you won't have any space left over for Word documents, e-mail messages, or other important files.

For most types of music, a good rough guide is that a typical song will need about 4-5 megabytes of space. Using that average, a 512 megabyte card can store more than a hundred songs. Different devices require different types of memory, so check your owner's manual to see what type of memory you need and how to install it.

It's important to always sync your music through your mobile device. Do not attempt to copy the music directly to your memory card through a card reader. Songs that you buy online often come with a license. That license will only be copied if your device is connected to your personal computer.

There are two options for syncing your music. The easiest is automatic. Whenever you connect your mobile device to your personal computer, Windows Media Player will review your library to determine your favorites. It keeps records of how many times you listen to particular songs and also allows you to rate tracks on a scale of one to five stars. It will fill your mobile device with your highest-rated and most-listened-to selections, as well as any songs you recently downloaded.

To sync automatically, launch Windows Media Player 11 on your personal computer and then connect your mobile device. Select Automatic. You will only have to do that once. From then on, whenever you connect your device, your music will sync.

The other option is manual and it allows you to specify which tracks will be sent to your mobile device. To copy music, go into your Windows Media Player library on your personal computer and right click on a song you want to copy. From the pop-up menu, select Add to and then click Sync List. Repeat that process for all the songs you want to copy.

When you're done, connect your device to your personal computer and select the Manual synchronization option. Select the Sync button at the top of your Windows Media Player and then select Start Sync. An indicator will tell you when it's done.

You can now launch Windows Media Player on your mobile device to listen to your music, though you may want to put your songs into categories, or playlists, first. While you can fill your device with a wide variety of music, Windows Media Player is not limited to playing it all back in a random order. You can create a playlist of songs that you want to hear together.

For example, I created an up-tempo playlist of songs to wake me up and get me going as I'm driving to photograph a sunrise. I have another playlist made up of my favorite acoustic tracks to help me relax when I'm back in the office and trying to write.

You create playlists with the Windows Media Player on your personal computer. Open your library and click Now Playing List on the right side of your Player, then select New List, then select Playlist. Then drag songs from your library into the right pane. When you've finished, click the New Playlist button, select Save Playlist as, and give your list a descriptive name. You can create as many playlists as you like.

To send your playlist to your mobile device, open your library and find your playlists in the left pane. Right click on the playlists you want to send to your mobile device and select Add to Sync List. When you're done, connect your mobile device to your computer, select the Sync button, then select Start Sync.

Music has a remarkable ability to relax, calm, motivate and inspire us, and your mobile device already has powerful software to create soundtracks for your own life.