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Configuring Your Way to Power Playing
No Winamp power user is truly powerful without mastering the Preference menu. This menu allows the user to control almost every aspect of the Winamp player and all the files associated with it.

To open the Preferences menu (right-clicking on the faceplate to pull up the main menu) and select Options, Preferences.

This pulls up a menu with five tabs running across the top: Setup, Audio I/O, Options, Visualization, and Misc. Plug-ins.
 

The Setup Screen
The Setup section on the Prefences menu allows you to deal with settings that control what language is displayed, the connection type you're using, and where icons that launch the program can be installed. The File Types subsection lets you set what icons are associated with the Winamp program and the files it plays.

 

 

Click the Language Pack button to bring up an open file dialog where you can locate *.lng files that Winamp uses to add support for other languages. Various Language packs may be downloaded from Winamp's Download section.

Below the language pack are three buttons that when clicked will add a startup icon to either the Menu Group, Desktop Icon, or the Windows 98/Internet Explorer 4 QuickLaunch bar.

The Internet Settings box lets you tell Winamp what kind of Internet connection you have, LAN, Dial-up/Modem or No Internet Connection.

Below the access choices is a box where you can type in HTTP Proxy Server information. If you are running a proxy server (many corporations do) then you may need to insert special information in this box for it to work. Otherwise leave it blank. If you know you have a proxy but don't know the information to place here talk to your company's IT/Webmaster/Sysadmin staff to find out.

The last option enables Winamp to check whether a new version of Winamp has been released . If so, Winamp will notify you and give you the option to download the latest version.
 

Setting File Types
Clicking on the File Types section of the Preferences tree will bring up the File Type Preferences options.

 

 

The menu on the left side of this options screen displays all of the file types that Winamp is capable of playing. Winamp plays all the file types you select in this box by default whenever you run a file associated with one of these file types. The file types mp3 and mp2 should be selected. At the bottom of the menu box is a checkbox, Associate with Audio CDs can be selected to make Winamp the player that pops up when an Audio CD is placed in your CD-ROM drive.

Controlling icon appearance and locations is done by selecting an icon for your playlists and and files associated with Winamp. Use the slider bars on the left of the displayed sample icon to choose the one you wish.

Below the icon appearance selection is a series of checkboxes that control how Windows reacts to files that Winamp plays back when you click on them:

Register Types on Winamp Start prompts Winamp to take back file types that become unassociated with Winamp as the result of another program you install.

Enqueue as default action when checked, simply adds the file to the existing playlist instead of clearing it out and just playing that file.

Directory context menus adds Play and Enqueue as options when you right click on a file in the Windows Explorer