Customize Windows Media Player

Say it's a gray day, and you'd like nothing better than the blues. With Windows Media Player, you can download blues music, find a blues radio station, apply a blue skin to your player, choose a blue light show, and immerse yourself in indigo. Windows Media Player's special effects let you change its look (and mood) to fit the music. Here are some of the ways in which you can customize Windows Media Player.

• Switch between modes to change the size of the player.
• Apply a skin to change the way the player looks.
• Choose a visualization to enhance the beat of your music.

Full screen ahead
When you first open Windows Media Player, it is in Full Mode. To save space on your desktop, you can shrink the size of the player by switching to compact mode. Just click the arrow icon in the lower right-hand corner, or click Compact Mode in the View menu. If you've chosen a visualization, it will remain when you switch to Compact Mode. When you apply a skin, Windows Media Player automatically switches to Compact Mode.

Get a player makeover
Want to change the way Windows Media Player looks? Click the Skin Chooser button and go wild. Click the skin titles in the list to see what each looks like. If you find one that suits your fancy, click the Apply Skin button. The Windows Media Player will morph into its new identity.

Some of the skins feature a display area for playing visualizations—so if you want to see your groovy lights, be sure the skin you choose includes a blank screen. Also, you may find that the player buttons have moved into new places after you apply a skin. Don't worry. You can easily return to Full Mode by clicking the arrow button on the skin or the gray arrow button in the lower right-hand corner of your screen.

If the skins in the list don't jazz you, it's easy to find a new one at WindowsMedia.com :

1. In Skin Chooser in Windows Media Player, click the More Skins button. The WindowsMedia.com Web site will open.
2. Browse through the lists of skins (you'll find several pages of them), until you find the one you want.
3. Click the name of the skin you want to apply to download it.
4. When the download is complete, click the View Now button to open the player with the skin applied, or click the Close button to return to Windows Media Player in Full Mode. (If you click the Close button, you can view the new skin by clicking the skin name, and then clicking the Apply Skin button at the top of the list.)

A moving accompaniment
While you're listening to your favorite tunes, you can enjoy your own customized light show. Windows Media Player offers an array of dreamy visualizations to suit your music and your mood. To visualize your music:

1. Select a song from the Media Library.
2. Click the Now Playing button.
3. Click the arrow buttons to change the visualization.
4. For a new collection of visualizations, click the View menu, highlight Visualizations, and then click the visualization you want from the list that appears.

Whether you want to play your R & B CDs or listen to news radio from France, Windows Media Player lets you listen to (and see) the music you want, exactly the way you want it.