How to organize your music collection using Windows Media Player.

Organizing a music collection can be difficult, especially if you have a huge library. Using the built-in tools of Windows Media Player you can make the task much simpler.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Windows XP or Vista
• Windows Media Player
• Active Internet Connection
• Some MP3s

1. To begin, we'll start by setting up our options in Media Player. Most of the options are already setup the way I like it. We just need to make a couple of adjustments.
   
   Click on the 'More Options' under the Library tab.
2. Click on the 'Library' tab at the top and make sure the settings match the ones in the following example.
3. Once we've saved those settings, our next task will be to add some MP3s to our music collection. Download some of your favorites and place them in the 'My Music' folder if you're using Windows XP or the 'Music' folder if you're using Vista.
   
   If you're having trouble finding it, the easiest way is to click Start > Music.
4. After you have at least one MP3 file, drag & drop it into the Music folder. Doing this serves two benefits. Not only will it auto categorize it and sort it in the Music folder, but it will also cause Windows Media Player to add it.
   
   It does this by monitoring certain folders for new files. The Music folder is one of these monitored by default.
5. Once I dragged it, Windows Media Player added it to the Library. Not only that, but it also tried searching for the correct information based off of the ID3 tag as well as the filename.
   
   As you can see from the figure to your left, it gave me the album art as well as the full details for that album.
6. The following steps are only needed if Windows Media Player did not automatically find the album information as it did in the last example.
   
   For this, you would need to visit the Library and find the song in your library. Once found, right-click on it and select 'Find Album Info' as illustrated to your left.
7. Now you'll be using keywords such as the artist, album and track names to search for the right information. To find what I wanted I typed in "van halen eruption" and the first result was the one I was looking for.
   
   If you are unsure about if the album you found is the correct one, you can click on the 'More' link below the album and it will give you a full track-listing of the selected one.
8. It's actually much easier once you learn the process. If you have any additional pointers, please help out by posting a comment.
   
   The end result is a very beautiful thing.