PC help: Missing memory

Q I have a portable music player with a reasonably small amount of storage space. In Windows Media Player, the quality settings for copying CDs are set to high. This means only a couple of albums’ worth of music can be fitted on the player at any time.

I do not want to have to copy all the music again at a lower format but I see no alternative.
Dorothy Maple

A If Windows Media Player can see the device in the Sync window, it can automatically re-encode the music to a smaller file size when it is copied across.

This process can take some time (depending on the speed of the computer), but it may double the number of albums that can be fitted on the player. First, connect the player to the computer. Start Windows Media Player, open the Tools menu and select Options.

If Windows Media Player 10 is installed and the menus are not visible, click on the down arrow on the top-right of the window. Click on the Devices tab and the player should appear in the list. If not, click on the Refresh button to search again.

It may appear as a drive letter, such as F:\, depending on how Windows recognises the player. Click on the name of the player and then on Properties. Select the Quality tab and make sure the option ‘Convert files as required by this device’ has a tick in the box.

Click on the ‘Select quality level’ option and move the slider all the way to the left. Click OK twice to save the changes.

To copy the music to the player, select the Sync tab in Windows Media Player and select the device from the drop-down menu on the right-hand column. Search for music in the left-hand column and tick the box next to each track to select it.

When the required tracks are selected, click on Start Sync. The music will be converted and copied to the player.