How to Play Music CDs on the Computer Through Headphones

If you want to listen to those ear-popping Prodigy CDs at the office, you'd better use headphones.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Computer Headphones

Connecting the Headphones

1. Plug magnetically shielded headphones into the most convenient of four places: the headphone jack on externally powered speakers; the headphone jack on the CD-ROM drive's drawer; the headphone, audio out, or speaker jack on the back of your computer; or the headphone or audio out jack on your computer monitor.

Controlling CD Volume and Track Order

2. See "How to Play Music CDs on the Computer" to learn how to customize play.

3. Adjust the volume with the controls on your CD drawer (if it has one) or your headphones (if they have one), in the Windows CD Player program, or in the Windows system.

4. To learn how to set Windows system volume, see "How to Change the Sound Volume on Your Computer."

Permanently Setting Up Your PC for Headphone Listening

5. Right-click on the speaker icon in the System Tray (the bottom right-hand corner of the screen on the taskbar is the default location).

6. Click Adjust Audio Properties.

7. Click Advanced Properties under Playback.

8. Click the down arrow under Speaker Setup.

9. Select Stereo Headphones.

Tips & Warnings

• Plugging headphones into the jack on speakers will mute most speakers. If you connect headphones elsewhere, turn off external speakers.