How to change what Windows Media Player shows in playlist

Hi all,

I normally use Winamp (mainly out of inertia) but on this work machine I can't be arsed to install it so I just use WMP12 that's already on it. What I loathe about WMP is the fact that the playlist seems fixed to only display "song name, rating (stars), duration". How do I change this?

Every single help document or article I look up on WMP playlists all talk about adding songs to the playlist or changing the library view. That's not my problem. I want to change what the playlist displays, like "song name, artist, duration". Basically I want to replace the "rating" column with the artist name. (I don't get this stupid obsession with ratings anyway; the damn song is in the playlist, obviously I like it else it wouldn't be there.)

Either I'm missing something massively obvious (where?! I've clicked and rightclicked everything) or WMP playlist options really are set in concrete and I should stop wasting time and just install Winamp.

This works for me:

1) open up a playlist
2) click on "organize"
3) move cursor over "layout"
4) click on "columns" and check or uncheck the columns you want to display.

Another option is referring to the MS page on this seen at Create or change a regular playlist in Windows Media Player

There's a video there too to show how that works.

@LittleJay:
thanks, but I only get one single column choice (!):


I'm trying to do this in "Now Playing" mode though - I don't like the cluttered look of the Library mode, not to mention I don't use the default libraries anyway.

@Night Hawk:
can't see that video right now, I'll check it out when I get home from work.

I think you will find the options the MS page details are used in the other mode. That's where the play list is displayed in the right column.

There's also a Play List Help to look over while in the library and clicking to bring down the play list option menu there. Ironically that starts off with the same information as seen at the link but offers the search option for more contents being a doc included in Windows.

my system doesn't give the above options... here's what I get

I don't see any "modes" or any options like "organize." The only available "actions" on a playlist are "change name" and "add more [songs]." I've searched all the menus, and neither the "Settings" nor the "Manage Library" menu offers any options to display the artist name in the playlist. Showing the artist name in the playlist would seem to be a basic requirement, yet it's nowhere to be found!

I recently got a new computer with Windows 7 Home Premium, and the WMP has apparently lost important functionality while adding new glitzy-looking and USELESS graphical treatment. It is extremely frustrating to spend all this money, and waste an hour of my time looking through forums in search of lost (or deeply hidden) functionality.

That doesn't even look like WMP to begin with! This is what the default Library and artist once selected screen would look like before dragging files over to the right column in order to play and create a new playlist.

I agree with Night Hawk. That doesn't look at all like any Windows Media Player I've ever seen. Did it look like that when you bought the computer and first started using it?

Sounds like a prepackaged 3rd party player if you didn't install it yourself not anything like any version of WMP including 12. Some sound softwares for onboard sound for OEM systems will often include a player. I would examine the player's menu icon's properties to open the file location which will show it's llkely an OEM addon.

And by the way, Welcome to the Seven Forums! nancyclark5

You could also open the "start menu" and look for Windows Media Player in the "all programs" list. Then click on the link and see if that would open up the standard media player.

It sounds to me like the default media player was changed to some other player. I have to agree with LittleJay about clicking on the Start menu item in case the target line for the pinned on taskbar shortcut was changed to another player if that is what you use to open WMP with.

Windows Media Player versus Windows Media Center

Thanks Nighthawk, Litte Jay, and Trucidation. I now realize that I was looking at "Windows Media Center," and not "Windows Media Player." The WMC appears automatically when I insert a disk into my DVD RW drive, and then select "Burn and Audio CD." See screenshot below.

Based on my experience with a previous version of Windows, I assumed this was the new "Windows Media Player," because it allows me to view my play lists, play the music, and burn CD's.

Thanks for pointing out that Windows Media Player is actually a separate application - I found it, and it looks like your screenshots!

Glad to hear you got things figured out. For your information, if you ever want to change the "default" media player so that your music cds open with WMP, you can go into the Control Panel and click on Default Programs.

I never even use the Media Center option as well as one of the tv tuner card's own AVer Media Center but keep WMP as the default. You likely won't like the next version's WMP however! The dvd playback and video file support was removed entirely!

Here when first getting a fresh Windows install set up I simply go into the Control Panel>Auto Play section to see WMP made default there for any media setting.



I'm certainly not thrilled about the changes 8 will be bringing in since I work with a good number of video cds and other video captures while the tuner/capture card itself has it's own playback option.