Windows 7 Guides: Using ‘Play To’ in WMP 12

Jason | Oct 29, 2009 | Comments

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Back in September, I wrote an article entitled Windows 7 Guides: Windows Media Player 12 which covered the basics of the new interface and a few player options. This time around I wanted to overview, in my opinion, the best feature in the new media player, Play To. Basically, Play To provides the user the ability to send media from one pc to any device that is Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) compatible. In short, this means that you could send a picture located on your pc, in your bedroom, to a digital picture frame located in your living room as long as it was networked. This is also true for music and video, which brings me to Windows Media Player 12. If you do have DNLA compatible devices, you can use WMP 12 to stream your files to those devices.

(Note: You will need to set up the computer to receive streamed media by changing the Media Streaming Options under the Network and Sharing Center.)

Before using Play To, you will first need to turn on Streaming. To do this, with media player open, click Stream and then click Turn on media streaming. You will then be given some options for sharing media and which devices you wish to allow.

Once the streaming has been turned on, there are two different ways to send Play To items to the desired device:

You can right-click the item that you wish to play and move your cursor to the Play To option and select the device you want to receive that media file.

Another way to send items, is to drag and drop the desired items into the task pane on the right-hand side of the player, then click on the Play To button at the top of the task pane window and select the device to receive the media.

Once the media is sent, you can use the playback controls to perform normal playback functions on the streamed media.

(Note: Play To is also available outside of Windows Media Player, which can be activated by right-clicking on the file to be sent and selecting the Play To option.)

The Play To feature in Windows 7 is one of the best media features that I use pretty consistently. If you have a DLNA device or multiple devices on a network, there is no better way to take advantage of this great feature. It’s ease of use and simple setup make a great idea even better.

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