VLC Media Player and Additional Winamp Functionality.

Despite our previous comments about Foobar2000 being preferable due to its global hotkeys, many people enjoy using Winamp or VLC Media Player. This section discusses the use of VLC and an additional function you can use in conjunction with the Winamp player.

VLC is an extremely widely used player which will handle just about any audio or video file you throw at it. It also gives you the ability to play CD's and DVD's if you have a necessary drive attached and that includes audio description content.

First of all, you are going to download VLC Media player. It will not take a degree in computer science to find it. Just google the term, download VLC media player, and you will be there.

Keystrokes and Concepts.

There are many keystrokes in VLC. Leasey interacts with a good many of them so as not to provide conflict with JAWS native commands and also to ensure that in certain conditions it speaks or sends to Braille appropriate information. You can activate or deactivate "Verbosity Mode" by pressing Control+Shift+V. When enabled, this mode will announce additional information, such as the file name when you move to the next track, the cursor position as you move through the item, etc.

So first of all, we will load a folder into VLC. You can do this by pressing Control+F. If you want to open a file it is Control+O, or of course you can just launch it from File Explorer. CTRL + D : Opens disk, such as a DVD

The first item begins to play. Here are some keystrokes you may care to use.

• Space equals Play and Pause.
• Control+Up and Down Arrow will change the volume level.
• N moves to the next track.
• P moves to the previous track.
• S stops item from playing.
• Left bracket next to P: Decrease playing speed. If verbosity is on, speedh is announced.
• Right bracket: Increase playing speed. If verbosity is on, speedh is announced.
• Left and Right Arrow: 10 seconds forward or back.
• Shift with Left and Right Arrow: 3 seconds forward or back.
• CTRL + RIGHT or Left ARROW : 1 minute forward or back.
• ALT+Shift+T: Announce elapsed time.
• Shift+Control+T: Announce remaining time.
• ALT+Control+T: Announce total time.

Other keystrokes worthy of note for now.

• B: Cycle through available audio tracks, for example on a DVD.
• M: Mute sound on and off
• Shift+A: cycles through all the audio devices available.
• Control+L: switch to playlist or back to media.
• Control+T Go to Time. Listen to the instructions provided and type the format exactly as described.
• Control+V followed by Enter, launch a specific URL. This can be a YouTube video, SoundCloud audio, radio station and so on. If you have the URL for a video or audio source you can use that too.
• Alternatively, you can press Control+N to open a network stream, paste it in and press Enter.

Locating a Previously Saved Position in Winamp or VLC.

You may well be interested in hearing audio books in MP3 format or similar. In this event, you may wish at a later time to pick up from the point where you left off reading.

1. Pause the playback of the book by pressing the Space Bar.
2. Close the program down by pressing ALT+F4 in the usual way.
3. Open up the file again at a later time and it will begin playback.
4. Press ALT+Windows+K so as to move back to the previously stored position.

Please note that the storing of the saved position is file specific, that is to say that the position is retained relative to the file you were previously playing.

Setting And Locating Bookmarks in VLC.

It is possible to set bookmarks in VLC Media Player so as to return to strategic points within the audio at a later time.

1. Locate the point in the file where you wish to set the bookmark.
2. Press the Leasey key then Control+1.
3. Type a name for the bookmark and press Enter.

To locate a bookmark, press the Leasey key then 1. A list of bookmarks relative to the current file is available. Select the one you wish to move to and press Enter. The audio should then begin playing at the desired location.

To delete a bookmark, press the Leasey key then 2. A list of bookmarks relative to the current file is available. Select the one you wish to remove and press Enter. Back to Help Index.