A Surfboard For Digital Media: Using the Media Bar in Internet Explorer 6
Updated: July 30, 2001
By Galan Bridgman, Windows XP Expert Zone Community Columnist
Editor's Note: Past articles by members of the online community are archived for your use. The information may become outdated as technology changes. For the most current information, please search the Web site or post a question in the newsgroups.
Internet Explorer 5.0 contained a feature called Windows Radio Toolbar that made it easier to locate and play an online radio station in the background while you surfed the Web. In Windows XP, Internet Explorer 6 expands that concept with a feature called Media bar, which provides support for playing all digital media types and is better integrated with WindowsMedia.com, the Microsoft guide to online audio and video content.
Using Media bar when surfing the Web means that you can follow links to digital media without launching Media Player every time you click a link. Although Media Player in Windows XP has been optimized to improve its load time, and you'll want to use it as your primary tool to play CDs and DVDs, to copy music to and from CDs and portable devices, and to manage media content, it's still a standalone application that must load each time you click a link. Depending on your surfing and media playing habits, you may find the wait undesirable. That's where Media bar comes in.
When you first begin using the Media bar, each time you click a link for a particular media type you are asked if you want it to be played within the Media bar. After you've answered Yes to the half dozen or so media types you typically encounter on the Web, you'll eventually get to where your surfing experience occurs without Windows Media Player popping up.
Old habits do die hard, and I still like the Media Player myself, but I can see a place for the Media bar. It certainly makes sense to allow media content that you can only play from the Internet to be treated differently from content that you own and manage on your system and your portable devices. And, if you encounter media on the Internet that you're allowed to download, you can still right-click the link and click Save Target As.
Catching Your First Wave
To open the Media bar, click the Media button on the toolbar in Internet Explorer. Media bar opens in a pane to the left of the browser window. The contents of this pane are dynamic and are updated with new content created daily from WindowsMedia.com, containing links to featured artists, movie trailers, radio stations and other clips. At the bottom of the Media bar pane is a small player with some basic controls. This is the player that plays content from the links you click within Internet Explorer, as shown in the figure below.
To start the process, simply click a link in the featured list in Media bar. A dialog box prompts you: Do you want to play the item in Internet Explorer? If you reply No to the prompt, then Internet Explorer launches the default media player to play the content. If you reply Yes, the content is directed to the small, lightweight player within Media bar. Before you reply, note the check box labeled Remember my preference, which is selected by default, as shown in the Figure 2. If left on, your response will be remembered by Media bar and you will not be prompted about this media type again.
At any time, you can easily undo the media type registrations remembered by Media bar: Click Media Options in the player, point to Settings, and then click Reset preferred types. The prompting process will start over again the next time you click another media link. Note that this button is renamed while the player is playing content, but is still clickable and has additional choices available, such as adding the current media source to your Favorites list in Internet Explorer.
Also note the other two choices available under Media Options:
| • | Clicking More Media takes you to the WindowsMedia.com home page |
| • | Clicking Radio Guide takes you to WindowsMedia.com's Radio Tuner page. This page allows you to search among thousands of online radio stations using several options such as Language, Band, Format, Callsign, or Location. |
Not all links you click will start playing content immediately within the player. WindowsMedia.com is a music and video guide, with dozens of partners and thousands of sources. Each partner is responsible for making their content available, and some of them launch additional pages in their Web site, or take you to survey forms you must complete before their content starts playing. Also, if a link doesn't work, it's not the fault of Media bar. A link is only as reliable as the Web site behind it, and Web sites have their good days and bad days. If a link doesn't work, just move on to another.
Riding It in to Shore
After some content has started playing in the player, you can close the Media bar and continue to surf the Web. The content continues to play without any additional windows or applications being visible. If you want to stop the playback, simply open Media bar again and click the Stop button. This is one of the reasons that I find the Radio Tuner to be one of the most useful applications of Media bar. It provides live content that never stops, let's you sample radio stations and content from all over the world, and when you find a station you like, you can just close the Media bar and go about your business while you listen.
If the player is playing video content and you find the size to be too small, click the Undock player button in the upper right corner of the player. This undocks the player and pops it out of the pane. Closing the player window or clicking the button again returns it to the Media bar.
And last but not least, if you're about to close your browser and you want your current selection to continue playing, click the button in the Media bar player, which now contains the name of the media file, and then click Play in Default Player. This will launch the same content in Media Player.
Happy surfing!
Galan Bridgman is a developer, architect, and enthusiast for digital media technologies. He co-developed QuickTime for Windows for Apple Computer. At Starlight Networks he developed innovative client and backend technologies using ActiveMovie® and NetShow® Server, the precursors to Windows Media Technology. He is a full-time consultant, and is currently developing a next-generation, fully-automated radio station using Microsoft Windows Media 9 Series technologies. After hours he enjoys showing others how to make the most of Microsoft's latest Windows Media applications. Check Galan's Web site for more information about him.
