What is 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. 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.

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.

mymusicfolders.gif (7526 bytes) All Tracks
All the tracks in your My Music Collection appear alphabetically in the All Tracks 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.

Uncategorized Tracks
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 Uncategorized Tracks folder. You can edit the information for the tracks, so FreeAmp knows where to place it in your folders.

My Playlists
The My Music Collection includes a My Playlists folder that contains any playlists that you have created on your computer. You can create a new playlist by clicking on the Create a New Playlist option in the folder.

CD Audio
FreeAmp can play tracks and you can create playlists from your audio CD. When you place an audio CD in your CD-ROM drive(s), FreeAmp adds the tracks to the CD Audio folder. The tracks remain in the folder until you remove the audio CD. You can create playlists with tracks from your audio CD, however the audio CD must be in the CD-ROM drive for FreeAmp to play the song.

Streams
The Streams folder contains a Favorites folder to store streams you want to play when you are connected to the Internet. You can add a new stream to your Favorites folder by clicking on the Add a New Stream folder and then entering the Stream name and URL. You can also add streams to your Favorites folder by right-clicking on any stream in your Streams folder and then selecting Add to Favorites from the drop-down menu.

You'll also see the Relatable Recommended Streams folder. This folder contains recommended streams that suit your musical preferences based on what you've been listening to with FreeAmp. Relatable-recommended streams are automatically generated for users who've created a profile under Options.

When you open the Streams folder, you will see folders for top Icecast, Digitially Imported, and FreeAmp Team & Friends Picks you can play when you are connected to the Internet. To update the streams list, make sure you are connected to the Internet, right-click any of the streams, and then select Update Streams from the drop-down menu.

Currently Listening To

currentlylisten.gif (5466 bytes)

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. Using the FreeAmp Edit Track Info feature, you can add or change the ID3/Metadata information for a track. The ID3/Metadata information is saved in a FreeAmp database with the track in your My Music Collection; it is not saved in the actual MP3 file. You can manually type information in the Edit Track Info dialog, or you can use the Relatable Audio Signatures feature to automatically download the ID3/Metadata information from MusicBrainz to the FreeAmp database.To learn more about MusicBrainz, see www.musicbrainz.org.

tadditems.gif (1022 bytes) 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 M3 .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 Computer 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 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 a dialog to edit the track information. Using the FreeAmp Edit Track Info feature, you can add or change the ID3/Metadata information for a track. The ID3/Metadata information is saved in a FreeAmp database with the track in your My Music Collection; it is not saved in the actual MP3 file. You can manually type information in the Edit Track Info dialog, or you can use the Relatable Audio Signatures feature to automatically download the ID3/Metadata information from MusicBrainz to the FreeAmp database.To learn more about MusicBrainz, see www.musicbrainz.org.

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.

Locate Current Track highlights and brings into view the currently playing track in the Currently Listening To pane.

Options opens the FreeAmp Preferences dialogs to configure player settings.

Controls

Play/Pause the Current Track plays/pauses playback of the current track. Clicking the Play button after pausing resumes playback from the beginning of the track.

Stop the Current Track stops playback of the current track.

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.

Eject CD ejects the audio CD. If FreeAmp is currently playing a track from the audio CD, playback will stop and the audio CD is ejected.

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 No Tracks 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) the player found for that track. Using the 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.

by Filename sorts your playlist by the first letter in the track's filename.

Randomly sorts your playlist in a random order.

Relatable Menu

Recommend Playlist dynamically generates a personalized playlist based on what you're listening to, your previous selections, and selections of others who have enjoyed the same or similar music.

Sounds Like Recommendation generates recommendations based on the audio characteristics of the song you are listening to.

Start Signaturing begins signaturing of the files. You must be connected to the Internet for the Relatable server to signature the tracks. If signaturing is in progress, you can stop signaturing here as well.

Edit Profile opens the Relatable Profiles dialog to add or delete Relatable Profiles.

To learn more about Relatable, see Relatable features.

Bitzi Menu

Look up track at Bitzi looks up the current/last selected track at the Bitzi community metdatabase web page. To learn more about Bitzi, see Bitzi features.

Help Menu

Contents opens the FreeAmp Help.

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

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

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

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

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