To:

Do this:

Display/hide the Playlist

Click the Playlist button (#28 in the base skin).

Separate the Playlist from the player body

Just drag the Playlist body away from the body of the QCD player.

Reattach the Playlist to the player body

Just drag the Playlist back to its original position.  When you get close enough, the Playlist will snap into its correct position and reattach to the body of the QCD player.

To:

Do this:

Load a CD into the Playlist

1. Click the Add button (#29 in the base skin), and then choose Load CD.

2. If you want to replace the current playlist with the CD (removing anything currently loaded into the playlist), choose the title of the CD;
   or
   If you want to append the tracks from the CD onto the end of the Playlist, choose Add Tracks To Playlist.

Load CDs automatically when you insert them

1. Bring up the QCD Preferences (Ctrl+P or use the menu button at the top left of the base skin).

2. Go to the Plug-ins >Input Preferences page.

3. Select the CD Audio Plug-in and click the Configure button.

4. In the CD Settings tab, check Add tracks to playlist.

Add music files to the Playlist

1. Click the Add button (#29 in the base skin), and then choose Add Music.
   
   or
   
   If you don't see the Add button, or just for a shortcut: press the Insert key on your keyboard.

2. Find the folder containing the music files.

3. Select the file or files you want to load.  To select more than one file, hold the Ctrl key while you select files.  To select a range of files, use Shift-click.

4. To avoid loading files that you may already have in your Playlist, check Add only unique files to playlist.

5. Click Open.

Add a folder of music files to the Playlist

1. Click the Add button (#29 in the base skin), and then choose Add Folder of Music.
   
   or
   
   If you don't see the Add button, or just for a shortcut: press Shift+Insert on your keyboard.

2. Find the folder you want to load, and click OK.

3. All supported audio files and playlists from that folder will be loaded

Add streaming audio to the Playlist

1. Click the Add button (#29 in the base skin), and then choose Add Music.
   
   or
   
   If you don't see the Add button, or just for a shortcut: press the Insert key on your keyboard.

2. At the bottom of the Open window, type the URL of the stream into the box labeled Enter URL.

3. Click Open URL.

Tip:  The easiest way to add a stream to your Playlist is just to drag the URL for a stream from your browser window onto QCD.  For more details, see Playing a Stream.

Restore the Playlist on startup

• Bring up the QCD Preferences (Ctrl+P or use the Menu button). Choose Settings: Playlists, and then check the Restore previous Playlist on startup box.

To:

Do this:

Save the Playlist

1. Click the Save button in the Playlist area (#31 in the base skin).

2. Choose Save Playlist As...

3. Use the Save as type menu to select the format of the Playlist file.  QCD can read and write Playlists in either PLS (the default) or M3U format.  If you plan to export QCD Playlists into other player programs, find out what format they can read.

4. Select the location and filename of the playlist file, and click Save.

Tip:  If you save all your playlists in the same folder as the playlist folder (or subfolder) they will be easy accessed by the Load Playlist menu option of the Add menu.

Save changes to the currently loaded Playlist

Once you have saved a Playlist file once, you don't have to specify the name of the file again.

1. Click the Save button in the Playlist area (#31 in the base skin).

2. Choose Save Playlist

QCD will save the Playlist in the same file.  If you want to make a new file, use the Save Playlist As ... command.

Convert a folder of music files into a Playlist

1. Make sure the folder contains only the music files you want in the playlist you are creating.

2. Click the Save button in the Playlist area (#31 in the base skin).

3. Choose Create Playlist From Folder

4. Locate the folder of music files and click OK.

5. Select the location and filename of the playlist file, and click Save.

Load a Playlist

1. Click the Add button in the Playlist area (#29 in the base skin).

2. Choose Load Playlist.  The menu shows the contents of the Playlist folder you last loaded from (if any).

3. If the Playlist you want appears in the lower part of the menu, select it to load the Playlist.

4. If the Playlist does not appear, select the top item in the menu (the path of the current Playlist folder) and find the location of the Playlist folder.

To:

Do this:

Move a track on the Playlist

• In the Playlist, click and drag the track you want to the desired position.

Move multiple tracks on the Playlist

1. Select the tracks you want to move.  To select more than one track, use Ctrl-click.  To select a range of tracks, use Shift-click.

2. Drag one of the selected tracks to the desired location.

Move a track or tracks on the Playlist using the scrollbar.

1. Select the track or tracks you want to move.  To select more than one track, use Ctrl-click.  To select a range of tracks, use Shift-click.

2. Drag one of the selected tracks to the Playlist Scrollbar (#38 in the base skin). Scroll up or down to the desired location.

Block/unblock tracks (skip during playback)

• Click the selected item with right mouse button and choose Block.  Clicking again acts as toggle to unblock tracks.

Remove tracks from the Playlist

1. Select the tracks you want to delete.  To select more than one track, use Ctrl-click.  To select a range of tracks, use Shift-click.

2. At the top of the Playlist, click the Delete button (#30 in the base skin), and then choose Remove Selected.

Copy (duplicate) tracks on the Playlist

• Locate and select the track you want to copy, hold down the Shift key, and then drag the track to another location in the Playlist.

A copy of that track will be inserted in the Playlist.

Randomize playback of Playlist

• At the bottom of the Playlist, click the Shuffle button (#33 of the base skin).

Repeat all tracks

• At bottom of Playlist, click the Repeat all button (#34 of the base skin).

Repeat the current track

• At the bottom of the Playlist, click the Repeat button (#34  of the base skin).

To:

Do this:

Edit the artist/title information for a track

1. Right-click on the track and choose Edit.  

2. If this is a track from a CD, this brings up the Edit window from the Gracenote CDDB service to let you edit the CD data.

3. If this is a music file, this brings up a window for editing the tags in the music file.

Remove tracks from playlist

1. Select the track or tracks you want to delete.  To select more than one track, use Ctrl-click.  To select a range of tracks, use Shift-click.

2. Right-click on one of the selected tracks and choose Remove.

Delete tracks from hard drive (send to recycle bin)

1. Select the track or tracks you want to delete.  To select more than one track, use Ctrl-click.  To select a range of tracks, use Shift-click.

2. Right-click on one of the selected tracks and choose Delete.

Crop the Playlist (remove all but selected tracks)

1. Highlight the track or tracks you want to keep.  To highlight more than one track, use Ctrl-click.  To highlight a range of tracks, use Shift-click.

2. Right-click on one of the selected tracks and choose Crop.

Block or unblock tracks (skip during playback)

1. Select the track or tracks you want to block.  To select more than one track, use Ctrl-click.  To select a range of tracks, use Shift-click.

2. Right-click on one of the selected tracks and choose Block.

3. To unblock tracks, right click again and select Block to clear the checkbox next to it.

Play a track

• Right-click on the track and choose Play > Play from here.

QCD will jump immediately to that spot in the Playlist and start playing the track.  When done playing the track, QCD will continue playing the track following the one you selected.

This is equivalent to double-clicking the track in the Playlist.

Queue up the next track to play.

• Right-click on the track and choose Play > Play Next.

When QCD finishes playing whatever track is currently playing it will then start playing the track you selected.

If no track is currently playing, nothing will happen until you click the Play button.

Play a subset of tracks in the playlist

1. Select the track or tracks you want to play. To select more than one track, use Ctrl-click.  To select a range of tracks, use Shift-click.

2. Right-click on one of the selected tracks and choose Play > Play Selected.

Only the selected tracks will play. Selected tracks can be changed while in this mode. To stop from playing only the selected tracks, stop and restart playback.

Convert all tracks into another format

• Right-click on the track and choose Convert > Convert All to.

• Select the encoding format to convert into.

Convert selected tracks into another format

• Right-click on the track and choose Convert > Convert Selected to.

• Select the encoding format to convert into.

Open the Encode Settings Window

• Right-click anywhere in the Playlist and choose Convert > Encode Settings.

Explore the Default Encode Folder

• Right-click anywhere in the Playlist and choose Convert > Explore Encode Folder.

Add a track in the current Playlist to a playlist file on the hard drive.

• Right-click on the track or tracks and choose Send To.

• Select New Playlist.

• Save the new playlist file to the desired location.

Add a track or tracks in the current Playlist to a playlist file on the hard drive.

• Right-click on the track or tracks and choose Send To.

• Select the Playlist file to add the track(s) to.

Show Artist names in the Playlist

• Right-click anywhere in the Playlist and choose Show > Artist Field.

Tip: When the Playlist is all from the same artist (e.g., from a CD), turn off the Artist name for cleaner display.  Displaying the Artist name is useful when listening to a Various Artists CD (e.g. a soundtrack), or when playing music files from different artists.

Show Album names in the Playlist

• Right-click anywhere in the Playlist and choose Show > Album Field.

Show track lengths in the Playlist

• Right-click anywhere in the Playlist and choose Show > Track Time.

Show Playlist number

• Right-click anywhere in the Playlist and choose Show > Playlist Numbers.

Copy Playlist files to another location.

• To make a physical copy of a track or tracks in the Playlist, select the desired tracks and drag them to the desktop or into the appropriate explorer folder.

Cancel the Playlist menu

If you right-click in the Playlist, and change your mind and want to cancel the operation, there are many ways to do this:

• Choose Cancel at the bottom of the Playlist menu.
  
  or

• Click anywhere outside the Playlist menu.
  
  or

• Type the escape key (Esc) on your keyboard.

To:

Do this:

Search for the first occurrence of a string in the playlist

• Type a string into the search field and hit enter.

Search for a string while you are typing

• Hold shift and begin typing a string, QCD's playlist will scroll to the first occurrence of the string as you type.

Select all tracks in the playlist with a specified string

• Type a string into the search field and hit tab.