Hi Ron, Thank you for taking the time to explain all of that to me. It really is a big help. I did find the shout cast stations, and they are really cool. One thing I couldn't figure out is, when you are listening to the stations, how do you stop the music, so you can choose a different station? Again thanks for the help. Take care, Lisa ----- Original Message ----- From: Ron Canazzi To: winamp4theblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2006 4:06 AM Subject: Re: new member Hi Lisa, Well, I can answer a few of your questions. You said that the program functions differently than any other media players you have used. You are right. Winamp does not have standard drop down menus such as alt + F for file, alt + E for edit, alt + V for view and so on. It has a non standard interface. However, JAWS and Window-Eyes scripting and set files do make this program very accessible. To access the main menu using JAWS press alt + F. All other Winamp choices are under this menu. You can browse through this menu that contains sub-menus and you will see the hotkeys listed. Also if you are using JAWS and you are in any window, press insert + H for JAWS specific hotkeys and insert + W for Winamp specific hotkeys. Now here are some items that you have asked about to get you started. By default, Winamp will play a file when it is clicked on in My Computer/Windows Explorer. This behavior can be changed under preferences. However, I find it easier to create a playlist in Winamp by using the enqueue choice under the context menu in My Computer/Windows Explorer. 1. Highlight the first file using My Computer/Windows Explorer you wish to include in your playlist in Winamp and press enter on it to play it; 2. while that first file is playing, move to the next file you wish to include in the playlist and press shift + F10 for the context menu; 3. choose enqueue in Winamp and press enter; 4. the file will be added to the Winamp play list and will be played after the currently playing file; 5. repeat steps 2 through 4 above until you complete your playlist; 6. then switch back to Winamp and if you want to save this playlist for any reason; 7. open the playlist editor (if it is not already open) with the keystroke alt + E; 8. your playlist should be there already--based on the steps I have given above; 9. to save it, press control + S and you will be presented with the standard windows dialogue for file saves; 10. Make sure the playlist is saved in the folder where you have the files; 11. If you don't save the playlist in the folder where the files are located, then you may not be able to use that playlist if you move the files to a CD or portable device; 12. That's why I always save all the files I wish to include in a playlist and burn to CD or move to a portable device to the same folder. There is another way of creating playlists for saving to disk without using the Winamp Playlist editor that will allow you to include files from multiple folders, but that's for another list. As far as getting to the library, Winamp has individual windows for each of it's utilities. There are hotkeys associated with these windows. For the library, if it is not already open, press alt + L. If you are using JAWS, you can press the control + Tab keystroke to cycle through the open windows. JAWS should tell you which window you are cycling through when you press this keystroke. Also, to make sure you are in the correct window, press insert + shift + W and JAWS will tell you which window you are in and which other windows are open. Here are the hotkeys for each of the windows: Main window alt + W playlist editor alt + e video window alt + v media library alt + L equalizer alt + G All the above keystrokes are toggles. This means if they are open and you press the keystrokes they will close. If they are not open and you press the keystrokes, they will open. Now as to what is in the library: the shoutcast music is there and in the past, you could set your download limit to some very high level and view all available Shoutcast stations--at this point that is in excess of ten thousand stations. This _was_ a great feature and you could stay right in Winamp and not have to visit the Shoutcast website which is a very complex site to navigate--although it it is quite accessible. However, AOL took over Nullsoft and Shoutcast and they have made a few changes--among which is the change that limits the maximum number of listings downloaded to 1000 stations. The Shoutcast listing in the media library is still a good feature because it does give you a taste of just what Shoutcast has to offer. In any case, navigating the media library is a bit tricky but quite accessible once you get the hang of it. In addition to the Shoutcast music listing, you can navigate around your own system and add media to the library locally, you can access samples of AOL music service, there is also a shoutcast video listing, and access to your portable or network drives (CD's and USB items such as ippods or External players if you have them.) Navigating this library uses the tree view method. That means that when you open the library, you are placed in a tree view of items. Use up and down arrow or first letter navigation to move to an item and then press the tab key to access the various features of each item. You can also use the burn item in the library to burn media files to CD. Personally, I do not use this burn utility in Winamp--because I find CDEX easier to use and more intuitive. That is another program for another list. You may want to include various file types to be played in Winamp. You do that as follows: 1. from the Winamp program, press control + P for preferences; 2. you are presented with a tree view of items as mentioned above in the library directions; 3. press the home key to move to the top of the tree; 4. arrow down to the file types item; 5. press the tab key to move to the list of file types; 6. press the up and down arrow keys to select a file type and use the space bar to check or uncheck the file types; 7. you could also press tab until you hear the select all button and press space bar on it to select all file types at once if you don't care that Winamp will now play all media files; 8. you can also have Winamp play CD's by checking the box that says 'play audio CD's'; 9. then when you are done making your choices, tab to the close button and press enter to close the preferences dialogue. Well, I hope these tips give you a good start for using Winamp. Chris has an FAQ that is much more extensive and maybe he will send it out again when he reads this rambling mess I have just typed <g>. Take care and welcome to the group. ----- Original Message ----- From: Lisa To: winamp4theblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Monday, January 30, 2006 11:22 PM Subject: new member Hello everyone, My name is Lisa, and I just joined this list. I just installed the latest version of winamp. I am a jaws user, and I have never used winamp before. I have a few questions about the program if you all don't mind. The program I used to use, when I would hit enter on a song to play it the song would be added to the play list. Is this how winamp works, or do you have to create a play list? If I need to create a play list, how do I do that? I would also like to know how to get to the library, and what kinds of things can you do in the library? I also heard that you can listen to something called shoutcast, does anyone know how I can do this? I hope this wasn't too many questions. I was told that winamp is a very jaws friendly program, so I thought I would give it a try. So far it is much different then the program I was using. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Take care, Lisa