Between Tracks

This setting describes how Media Center will sound when it changes tracks.

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Standard. The traditional method of changing tracks. One track comes to a complete stop, there is a brief pause, and the next track begins.

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Cross-fade (smooth) or Cross-fade (aggressive). This blends the end of one track with the beginning of the next track. It makes track changes smooth - much like the transitions used in clubs and on radio stations. A smooth fade slowly fades one song out as the next fades in. An aggressive fade starts the new song at full volume and slowly fades the old song out.

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Gapless. Track changes are perfectly seamless. There is no pause between the end of one track and the beginning of the next. Useful on classical and other recordings where track boundaries don't always occur during silence.

Duration

This works in coordination with your choice of Playback Mode. If you choose cross-fade this option will specify the duration of the cross-fade. Longer fades will be more noticeable. If you have chosen standard, this option specifies the number of seconds between tracks.

Seeking

This setting affects how Media Center will sound when it changes position within a track.

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Standard. The old material will stop completely, there will be a brief pause, and then the new material will begin.

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Gapless. The end of the old material and the beginning of the new material are played with no gap.

Smooth. This will blend the old and new material together (cross-fade). The duration of the blend affects how noticeable it will be.

Stop

This determines what happens when you select the stop button on the Player Window. You can have Media Center stop the file immediately or you can have the song fadeout.

Mode & Settings

This allows you to select what output device Media Center will play through. If you're unsure about this, use the default "Wave Out" and Windows will automatically choose the right playback device. However, if you have multiple sound cards or hi-fi soundcards with multiple outputs, you may want to select other settings. The available modes are:

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Wave Out. This is the default setting. Select the device and buffering under Settings.

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Direct Sound. Use this to route the sound. Settings: Select the device, channels and buffering under Settings. If you are using multi-zone playback, select the soundcard for the zone you are currently setting up, then repeat for the other zones.

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Disk Writer. Use Disk Writer to record sound to your computer. Under Settings, select the path of the recorded file, and whether the output will be one long file, or individual tracks.

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ASIO: Use this if you have an ASIO device. Under settings, select the desired output, and buffering level.

DSP & Output Format

Select the DSP Studio button to set equalizer, effects, replay gain and output format settings for your output.

Do not play silence

If this option is selected, Media Center will skip long portions of silence during playback. This is quite useful for hidden tracks or tracks with a lot of leading or trailing silence. This option may not be a good choice for classical music or other genres that contain long, intentional pauses in the middle of songs.