Messaging
You use the Messaging app to exchange instant
messages with your friends. By default, your “friends” are the contacts
associated with your Microsoft account’s Messenger service. However,
you can also connect your Microsoft account to your Facebook account
and exchange instant messages with Facebook friends who are online.
To start a new conversation, right-click the
screen and then click New to open the People app. Click Online Only to
see who’s available to chat, click a contact, and then click Select. As
you can see in Figure 1,
the main part of the screen shows the current conversation, and the
left side shows a list of your current conversations. Messaging also
lets you know about new messages by displaying a notification when a
message arrives, and by using its live Start screen tile to display
recent messages.
Figure 1. The Messaging app lets you conduct multiple conversations with your friends.
If you want to change your status,
right-click the screen, click Status, and then click an option: Online,
Invisible, or Not Connected.
Music
You use the Music app to play the music
that’s on your PC, or to purchase new songs or albums. The main Music
screen is divided into four sections:
• My Music—This
section displays tiles for several of your albums, plus an extra tile
that includes a Play All Music button. To see all your music, click My
Music. To listen to an album, click it and then click Play. Once you
have an album open, you can also click a song and then click Play to
hear just that song. Click Add to Now Playing to show the current music
in the Now Playing tile (discussed next).
• Now Playing—This
section offers previews of upcoming music. Click a tile and then click
Preview Top Songs to hear snippets from the album. This section also
includes a large Now Playing tile that tells you what’s currently
playing in the app.
• Xbox Music Store—This
section offers several tiles for newly released albums. You can also
click Xbox Music Store to see a complete list of new music organized by
genre.
• Most Popular—This
section offers several tiles for the most popular albums. You can also
click Most Popular to see a complete list of popular music organized by
genre.
Note
To purchase music, you need to have enough
Microsoft Points in your account. If you don’t have enough, the Music
app will let you know and offer a Buy Points button that you can click
to purchase more points. You can also press Windows Logo+I (or display
the Charms menu and click Settings), click Account, and then click
either Microsoft Points (to purchase points) or Redeem Code (if you
have a Microsoft Points gift card).
In both the Xbox Music Store and Most Popular sections, click an album to open it (see Figure 2)
and then click Preview to get a taste. If you like what you hear, click
Buy Album. Alternatively, if you only want a particular song, click it
and then click Buy Song.
Figure 2. When you open an album, you can either buy the entire album or just a song.
If you can’t find what
you want in the Music app (and you probably can’t), use the Search
contract to find what you’re looking for. Display the Charms menu,
click Search, and then type the name of the band, album, or song.
