Plus! Party Mode: Mix Audio and Video in Playlists
Published: March 17, 2003
By Tony Northrup, Windows XP Expert Zone Community Columnist
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Microsoft Plus! Digital Media Edition is an add-on pack of photo, music, and movie tools that enhances the digital media experience in Windows XP. See Sharon Crawford's Plus! Digital Media Edition: Music Tools and my earlier column, Plus! Digital Media Edition: Photo Story, for more information about the other tools in the pack.
Plus! Party Mode for Windows Media Player makes your computer the life of the party by setting up Windows Media Player 9 Series as a 21st century jukebox. Technically, it's a skin for the Player. Most skins just change the appearance of the Player, but Party Mode does much more. Party goers can watch music videos, type messages that appear on the screen, adjust the equalizer, and control the songs they listen to. Depending on what type of parties you throw, the most important feature may be locking your computer to keep your friends from looking through your personal files while you're trying to explain the noise to the nice police officer.
Because Party Mode is a skin, it takes advantage of all Windows Media Player 9 Series features. Specifically, you can access playlists that you've defined in the Player or configure Party Mode to play music of a specific genre. Your guests can use the Party Mode window and Party Mode controls while they listen to the music and play, rewind, or fast-forward through your selections.
Get Started with Party Mode
To use Plus! Party Mode, you'll need Microsoft Plus! Digital Media Edition. Don't wait to get started—you can purchase, download, and install it immediately. Visit the Microsoft Plus! Digital Media Edition Web page that will take you to an online store where you can download the product. You can also buy Plus! DME at retail stores where you find Windows XP.
To start Plus! Party Mode for Windows Media Player:
1. | Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Microsoft Plus! Digital Media Edition, and then click Plus! Party Mode for Windows Media Player. The Specify your Party Mode settings page opens, as shown in the figure below 
Party Mode is more than just another Windows Media Player skin and includes its own configuration settings.
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2. | Specify the settings for Party Mode on this page, including the music you'll be playing and the skin you want to appear in the Party Mode window. |
3. | To lock your computer while Party Mode is running so guests cannot access your programs, folders, and files, select the Block access to desktop and other programs while Party Mode is running, and return to the logon screen when Party Mode quits check box. |
4. | After you specify these settings, click Start Party to start Party Mode. Note: If you allow the screen saver to appear during playback in Windows Media Player, the screen saver may appear when the Party Mode window is open. When the Party Mode privacy option is turned on, Party Mode will lock the computer if the screen saver appears, which prevents guests from viewing the Party Mode window and using Party Mode controls. To stop the screen saver from appearing while Party Mode is running, in Windows Media Player, on the Tools menu, click Options, click the Player tab, and then clear the Allow screen saver during playback check box. |
Create a Playlist for Party Mode
Party Mode can only be configured to play music from a single category, genre, or playlist, so it's good to know how to organize a music library in Windows Media Player. See Galan Bridgman's Organize Your Media Files for an introduction to Media Library.
Party Mode plays audio and video from a standard playlist, so if you've ever built a playlist for Windows Media Player, you're ready to get started. If you haven't made a playlist, open Windows Media Player and follow these easy steps:
1. | On the View menu, point to Go To, and then click Media Library. |
2. | In the left pane, right-click My Playlists, and then click New. The New Playlist window opens, as shown in Figure 2. 
Tell Party Mode what to play by creating a playlist in Windows Media Player.
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3. | In the Playlist Name field, type the name of your playlist. |
4. | Add songs to your playlist by selecting them from the list. You can always add more songs and videos later by returning to Media Library and dragging them to your playlist. |
Add Streaming Videos to Your Playlist
I use Windows Media Player to listen to music while I work (for example, while I write this article). I don't want a video distracting me from my work, but video definitely adds to Party Mode's impact. Unfortunately, video isn't nearly as easy to get as audio content. This will probably change in the future, but today most of us get our songs by buying CDs that contain only audio files. If you do have video files, you can add those to your Party Mode playlist just as you would a music file.
If you don't have videos, but do have a broadband Internet connection, you have access to many music videos. You can and should add music videos when you're putting together a playlist for Party Mode. Mixing videos into your playlist is a great way to keep it visually entertaining. Party Mode shows some cool visualizations when it plays songs, but videos really show what Party Mode can do.
The Media Guide is a great way to find videos. To open the Media Guide:
| • | In Windows Media Player, on the View menu, point to Go To, and then click Media Guide. |
Browse the Media Guide to find videos that you'd like to add. You can add videos from anywhere as long as the video plays in Windows Media Player. You don't need to download these videos to add them to your playlist, because Party Mode can stream them directly from the server. To add a video to your Party Mode playlist:
1. | View the video. While the video is playing in Windows Media Player, on the View menu, point to Go To, and then click Media Library. Or just click Media Library on the Features taskbar. |
2. | Expand My Playlists so that the playlist to which you want to add the video is visible. Then, still in the left pane, click Now Playing at the top of the Features taskbar. |
3. | The video you're watching will be displayed in the right pane. Drag it over to your playlist in the left pane and the Player will automatically add it. |
Some music videos are displayed in your browser window, but Windows Media Player is still doing the work behind the scenes. In these cases, Party Mode could play the video if you add it to the playlist, but you can't follow the steps above because you can't switch to the Media Library view. However, if you know the URL of the video, you can still add it to your Party Mode playlist. In Media Library mode, select your playlist, then click the Add button on the toolbar, and then click Add URL.
That's it! Of course, your computer needs to have Internet access while it's playing the video back and the playback won't be as reliable as audio or video that's stored on your local hard drive.
Party On
Your CD player will seem outdated after you use Party Mode—it's easy to get used to great visuals, automatic crossfading, and no CD swapping. You can listen to CDs and music files, of course, but you can also create a playlist and mix in music videos.
Putting together the playlist is a great way to get in the mood for a party, too. Having the music planned ahead of time makes being a host easier and locking in a playlist keeps that guy from putting on his own music and killing the mood you've created.
Expert Zone columnist Tony Northrup is an Internet engineer, a part-time photographer, and author of dozens of books and articles. He writes to help people safely use the Internet to communicate, share, and learn.
