### Windows Media Player Requirements

Shaken, not stirred 3.3 requires Windows Media Player version 12 (already included in Windows 10) or later.
May work with earlier versions, but not tested.

If you use Windows Media Player to sync your phone or MP3 Player, or your phone's app syncs with your Windows Music folder, AND you have assigned song ratings (1 to 5 stars) in Windows Media Player, it's ready for Shaken, not stirred and you can ignore the rest of this topic.

Shaken, not stirred uses Windows Media Player's database to know what songs are in your collection, what their ratings are for setting how often to play each song, and what songs are in what genres or playlists. If Windows Media Player doesn't have this information, Shaken, not stirred will be pretty useless for it's main function Jukebox Shuffle. (The Copy Album Art to Player feature doesn't need WMP)

The instructions below for Windows Media Player are an outline. You may need to also consult Windows Media Player's own Help for its Library, especially if your Windows Media Player is a different version.

Instructions for Windows Media Player 12
(Maybe different for a later WMP version, but same logic will apply)

Does Windows Media Player know where your songs are?

Start Windows Media Player in the "Library" view. If it's in the compact "Skin Mode" display, i.e. you don't see a row of text buttons including "Library" at the top, click "View" on the menu bar and select "Library". If WMP opens in "Now Playing" mode with no menu bar, click "Go to Library" at the middle of the window, or the icon with 3 squares and an arrow near the upper right (just under the X button).

First make sure it's showing the Music Library. The toolbar at the top should show > Library > Music > All music. If not, click on the arrow after "Library" and select "Music" from the menu that pops up. Then click on the arrow after "Music" and select "All music".

In the "All music" view you should then see a list of your songs in the right side of the WMP window. If you see all your songs, you're ok for this section and can skip to the Assign song ratings 1 to 5 section below.

If you don't see your songs in Windows Media Player's list, it may because your music files are in a folder that WMP does not monitor. (WMP should by default monitor your "Music" folder.) Or if you haven't used Windows Media Player in a long time, you may need to let it run for a while so it has time to scan the folders.

To make sure WMP knows where your music is, click the "Organize" toolbar button near the top left of the WMP window, and from that menu select Manage libraries > Music. That will open a "Music Library Locations" window. Check to see that the folder(s) where you save your music files is in the "Library locations" list.

If the list doesn't include the folder with your music files, click the "Add" button next to the list. That opens a standard Add Folder dialog. Navigate to the folder that contains your music files (typically the folder containing Artist\Album subfolders) and click OK. Back in the "Add To Library" window, you should now see the added folder in the "Library locations" list. Finally click OK in the "Music Library Locations" window.

Click the "Organize" toolbar button again, and this time select "Apply media information changes". This will start Windows Media Player searching those folders to find your music files. An "Apply Changes" window with a progress bar will be displayed while the search is still running. When it finishes, click Close, and you should then see all your songs in WMP's song list.

If you later add songs to your collection, you'll need to run Windows Media Player again, so it can detect the new files and updates its database.

Assign song ratings 1 to 5 stars in Windows Media Player

Display Windows Media Player's Songs list (see start of above section for details). Make sure the song list shows a Rating column, showing stars in each song row.

If you don't see a Rating column, right click anywhere on the column names bar at the top, and from the menu select "Choose Columns". Then in the Choose Columns window that appears, make sure the box for "Rating" is checked and click OK.

The rating column for each song shows 5 stars, some or all of them gold or just gray outline. The number of gold stars is the rating, 1 to 5. If none of the stars are gold, the song has not been rated.

To assign a rating to a song, just click on a star in that song's row. For example, click on the second star from the left to rate it at 2 stars; afterwards its first two stars will be gold, and the last three gray outline.

If there is a group of songs you want to give all the same rating, you can select/highlight all of them with ctrl-click or shift-click. Then right-click on any one of them to display a context menu. In the menu select "Rate", which then expands to show a list of ratings to select from. Click whatever rating you want in the menu, and that will be assigned to all the highlighted songs.