My Music

My Music is a window that includes two separate panes. The pane on the left is called My Music Collection, and the pane on the right is called Currently Listening To.

My Music Collection

The My Music Collection pane is like a library of all the music you have in your CD collection, only it's organized in folders. The My Music window includes a Search For Music feature that searches your computer for your MP3 files and playlists and then creates a collection of your music in the My Music Collection folders.

image\folders.gif

The My Music folders are organized first within an All folder. All the tracks in your My Music Collection appear alphabetically in the All folder.

During the music search, folders are automatically created for each artist's name. In each artist's folder, you will find the albums by that artist. In each album's folder, you will find the individual tracks on that album.

If FreeAmp is unable to determine how to organize your music (for example, the artist or album name is missing), the tracks are placed in the Uncatagorzied folder. You can edit the information for the tracks, so FreeAmp knows where to place it in your folders.

The My Music Collection includes a My Playlists folder that contains any playlists that you have created on your computer.

Use the My Music Collection area to manage and organize your music. When you are ready to play music, use the My Music Collection area to create or load a playlist in the Currently Listening To pane.

Currently Listening To

The Currently Listening To pane is a list of tracks which are queued to be played. The tracks may include information, such as the artist or album name and the length of the track. FreeAmp allows you to make changes to the track information which is saved with the track in the My Music Collection pane.

The list of tracks queued in the Currently Listening To pane is a temporary list. When you make changes to its order or contents, you are not modifying a particular playlist. If you want to permanently save the changes you made, you need to save the playlist.

For step by step procedures on how to use the My Music window, see the "Creating and Managing Your Music Collection" and the "Creating and Modifying Playlists" sections in the online Help.

Tool Bar

image\tnewplaylist.gif New Playlist opens the Editing New Playlist window to create a permanent playlist. The Editing New Playlist window is designed just like the Currently Listening To window, so you can easily access the music in the My Music Collection area. When you are done creating your new playlist, choose Save Playlist to permanently save it in your My Music Collection. Note: If you are playing a playlist in Currently Listening To pane, the playlist continues playback while you create your new playlist.

image\tsaveplaylist.gif Save Playlist saves the playlist. If you are creating a new playlist, Save Playlist opens the Save Playlist As dialog to name and save the playlist. The playlist is saved in the My Playlists folder in the My Music window.

image\timportitems.gif Import Items opens the Import Track and Playlists dialog to locate and select files or playlists to add to your My Music Collection. You can choose from .mp1, .mp2, .mp3, .mpp files or .m3u and .pls playlists on your computer.

When you select the file, it is added to your My Music Catalog folder.

image\tremoveitems.gif Remove Items removes the selected track from the playlist. If you select a track in the Currently Listening To playlist and then click the Remove Items button, the track will be removed from the Currently Listening To playlist. If you do not save the changes, the track will not be permanently removed from the Currently Listening To playlist. To save the changes, click the Save Playlist button.

image\teditinfo.gif Edit Info opens a dialog to edit the track information. If the MP3 file was created with ID3 tag information, it appears in the Edit Track Info dialog. The information you type in the Edit Track Info dialog is saved to a FreeAmp database with the track in your My Music Collection. Note: Editing the track does not actually change the ID3 tag for the track. The information appears when playing the file in FreeAmp because it is referenced from the FreeAmp database. Any changes you made to the ID3 tag will not appear in other MP3 players.

image\tadditems.gif Add Items adds the selected folder, track, or playlist to the Currently Listening To playlist queue.

image\taddfiles.gif Add Files opens a dialog to select a track or playlist to add to the Currently Listening To playlist queue. Note: Add Files does not add the track or playlist to your My Music Collection. It only adds the track or playlist to the Currently Listening To playlist queue.

Move Up moves the selected track up in the playlist.

Move Down moves the selected track down in the playlist.

File Menu

New Playlist opens the Editing New Playlist window to create a permanent playlist. The Editing New Playlist window is designed just like the Currently Listening To window, so you can easily access the music in the My Music Collection area. When you are done creating your new playlist, choose Save Playlist to permanently save it in your My Music Collection. Note: If you are playing a playlist in Currently Listening To pane, the playlist continues playback while you create your new playlist.

Open Playlist opens the Open Playlist window to locate and select an .m3u or .pls file from your computer. Open Playlist allows you to edit a playlist that is not stored in your My Music Collection.

Save Playlist saves the playlist. If you are creating a new playlist, Save Playlist opens the Save Playlist As dialog to name and save the playlist. The playlist is saved in the My Playlists folder in the My Music window.

Save Playlist As opens the Save Playlist As dialog to name and save the playlist. The playlist is saved in the My Playlists folder in the My Music window.

Import Tracks and Playlists opens the Import Track and Playlists dialog to locate and select files or playlists to add to your My Music Collection. You can choose from .mp1, .mp2, .mp3, .mpp files or .m3u and .pls playlists on your computer.

When you select the file, it is added to the My Music Catalog folder.

Export Playlist opens the Export Playlist As dialog to save a playlist with a different file name or playlist file extension (such as saving an .m3u file as a .pls file).

Search For Music searches your computer for all MP3 and playlist files (.m3u and .pls) and places the files in your My Music folders.

Stop Music Search is enabled only after selecting Music Search. Stop Music Search stops the Search For Music and returns to the My Music window.

Close closes the My Music window.

Edit Menu

Add Selected Tracks and Playlists adds the selected Tracks or Playlists from your My Music Collection to the playlist in the Currently Listening To pane.

Add File from Disk opens the Add Tracks and Playlist dialog to select files, playlists, or streams to add to the playlist. You can choose from files on your computer (.mp1, .mp2, .mp3, .mpp, .m3u, or .pls), or type the URL location of a file on a Web site in the URL field and then click the Open URL button. When you use a URL, FreeAmp opens the URL and plays the file.

Remove Tracks from Playlist removes the selected tracks from your playlist. This option does not remove tracks from your computer. The Remove Tracks from Playlist option is only available when a track or tracks are selected in the playlist.

Remove Items from Catalog removes the selected track or playlist from your My Music Collection. The Remove Items from Catalog option is only available when a track or playlist is selected in your My Music Collection window.

Clear Playlist removes all the tracks in the playlist that is open in the Currently Listening To pane. This option does not remove tracks from your computer. Clearing a playlist does not delete the playlist name from the Music Catalog or the playlist from your computer. If you save the playlist after clearing it, the playlist name will still appear in your My Music Collection's My Playlist folder, but the playlist will be empty.

Move Up becomes available when you select a track in the playlist. Select Move Up to move a track one position up in the playlist order.

Move Down becomes available when you select a track in the playlist. Select Move Down to move a track one position down in the playlist order.

Edit Playlist opens an Edit Playlist window to make changes to the playlist. The Edit Playlist option is only available when a playlist or playlists are selected in your My Music Collection playlist window.

Edit Track Info opens the Edit Track Info dialog to make changes to the information for the track. If the MP3 file was created with ID3 tag information, it appears in the Edit Track Info dialog. The information you type in the Edit Track Info dialog is saved to a FreeAmp database with the track in your My Music Collection. Note: Editing the track does not actually change the ID3 tag for the track. The information appears when playing the file in FreeAmp because it is referenced from the FreeAmp database. Any changes you made to the ID3 tag will not appear in other MP3 players.

View Menu

View Playlist Only sets the My Music view to show only the Currently Listening To pane. To view the complete My Music window, select View and then View My Music.

View My Music sets the My Music view to show both the My Music and Currently Listening To panes.

Options opens the FreeAmp Preferences dialogs to configure FreeAmp settings.

Controls

Play/Stop the Current Track plays/stops playback of the current track. Clicking the Play button after stopping resumes playback from the beginning of the track.

Pause the Current Track pauses playback of the current track. Clicking the Pause button again after pausing resumes playback from the exact location where Pause was selected.

Move to Previous Track stops playback of the current track and begins playback of the previous track in the playlist.

Move to Next Track stops playback of the current track and begins playback at the beginning of the next track in the playlist.

Play Tracks in Normal Order plays the tracks in the order they appear in the playlist.

Play Tracks in Random Order randomizes the playback of tracks in the currently playing playlist. It does not change the order of tracks in the saved playlist.

Repeat None plays all tracks in the playlist and then stops.

Repeat Current Track repeats only the current track.

Repeat All Tracks continues playback of all tracks until you stop playback.

Sort Playlist Menu

FreeAmp retrieves and stores ID3 tag information about the track in a database. Using this information, you can sort your playlist by any of the Sort Playlist fields (such as Artist, Album, Title, Year Track number, Genre, Length or Location) FreeAmp found for that track. Using FreeAmp's Edit Track feature, you can change the information for a track.

by Artist sorts your playlist alphabetically by the name of the song's artist.

by Album sorts your playlist alphabetically by the name of the album.

by Title sorts your playlist alphabetically by name of the title.

by Year sorts your playlist by the year it was released.

by Track sorts your playlist by the track number.

by Genre sorts your playlist alphabetically by the type of Genre.

by Length sorts your playlist by the length of the tracks.

by Location sorts your playlist by the location of the tracks.

Randomly sorts your playlist in a random order.

Help Menu

Contents opens the FreeAmp Help.

FreeAmp Website connects you directly to FreeAmp's Web site. Note: You must be connected to the Internet to access the FreeAmp Web site.

EMusic Website connects you directly to the EMusic's Web site. Note: You must be connected to the Internet to access the FreeAmp Web site.

About opens the FreeAmp About dialog, which describes the version number of the FreeAmp, provides credits to the program developers, and includes links to FreeAmp and EMusic Web sites.