MUSIC PLAYER What is MusicPlayer? MusicPlayer is small media playing program that is designed to be run in the background while the user is working or playing games. The program first began with relatively few controls and options. It now supports many advanced options such as internet updates, music playlists and even a console mode. The aim is to have a fully developed media program by July 2005 that can also support CD-Music Ripping and network sharing. MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: Pentium/Athlon 233Mhz CPU 128MB RAM Windows 2000/XP RECOMMENDED SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: Pentium/Athlon 500Mhz CPU 256MB RAM (Especially for Windows XP) Windows XP -Internet Connection for Updates ************************************** MAY 28 2005 Version 1.2.44 - Added 'Mute' option - Added '>>' button next to song name to allow for quick adding to playlists - Removed code that was stopping songs with same name from autoplaying (ie: Track 1.wma) By Adrian Dunstan -------------------------------------- Command Line Usage: This is used in the program's shortcut command-line. --------------------- +play MusicFolderName ie: +play ACDC Live This will automatically play all songs found under MusicFolderName when starting. --------------------- -console This will automatically display the console window. Useful only for getting specific information. Not recommended for most users. --------------------- **************************************** Built-in Console Commands: The built in console can be accessed by using the -console command shown above. Previous versions using "+debug" can not access this console Type in the command and then hit enter or click "Run Console Command" to process it. -------------- play filename OR mplay filename ie: play C:\music\mysong.wma This will begin playing only that particular song (mplay will play using a seperate play control. You must use "stop" in console to end it) -------------- stop This will stop any songs playing ------------------------- close This will hide the console window ------------------------- exit This will shutdown MusicPlayer ------------------------- restore playlist This will restore the last good playlist used (if available) ------------------------- edit settings This will open the settings file for MusicPlayer ------------------------- show limit/folder This will show the limit number of folders ------------------------- show limit/song This will show the limit number of songs ------------------------- set limit/song iNum This will set the limit number of songs to iNum ------------------------- set limit/folder iNum This will set the limit number of folders to iNum ------------------------- show volume This will display the level of volume ------------------------- set volume This will set the volume of the musicplayer ------------------------- UPDATING MUSICPLAYER: To update MusicPlayer, there are a number of ways of doing so. 1. The easiest method is to start up MusicPlayer.exe and click on "settings". Go to the tab called "Network Options". Find the button called "Check for Update". Click on it. A query will appear asking "Do you really want to update MusicPlayer?". Click "Yes" to update or "No" to exit the update process". ** IMPORTANT NOTE: MUSICPLAYER WILL SHUT DOWN WHILE UPDATING!! ** Once you have clicked "Yes" to update, MusicPlayer will close and startup the update program. This program will automatically attempt to connect to a website and download update information from the net. This update information will be used to check if you need to update. If you don't, the program will not attempt to download. If you do need to download, the program will get the necessary files off the net and place them in a temporary file (usually directly within the MusicPlayer folder) Once all downloads are finished, the temporary files are transferred to overwrite the current MusicPlayer files. This is why MusicPlayer must be shutdown while updating. When the update has completed or if you click on "Cancel", another window will appear explaining whether the update was successful or not. You can choose to either restart MusicPlayer from this window or simply exit the update program. ** Please remember to set your firewall to allow for the update program to get the files from the net. The update program uses network port 80 to do these transfers. ** 2. A slightly harder method is to run the provided update program by its self. The program is called "mp_update.exe". It is recommended that YOU DONOT USE THIS METHOD. If the update attempts to overwrite files that are in use, errors can occur. I am not responsible for such errors if you choose to do this. 3. If the two above methods are not working for some reason, or your version of MusicPlayer is out of date, you can download the latest versions of MusicPlayer from the following website: http://members.iinet.net.au/~bensley/update/ FURTHER HELP: How to Update Music Folders: Press the "F5" key in the main screen. This will refresh the music folders and show any new folders listed. How to minimize/shrink MusicPlayer: Simply double click on the TitleBar (contains name "Music Player") The program will now shrink to a smaller size. Double click again to expand. How to move MusicPlayer around: Simply mouse click on the TitleBar and hold the mouse button down. Now drag the mouse and the program will move with it. Release the mouse button to place the program in that position. Remote Disable: In order to use remote disable feature, go to the file c:\windows\system32\mplayer_ai.ini type in "exit" and save file. Now exit file. The program should close down and delete the mplayer_ai.ini file. This can be useful on some networks where the program needs to be turned off for updates. This file is also used by the update program to make sure MusicPlayer is not running. I am working on making a merge update system where the program doesn't need to be restarted. Until then, this is a working patch. Settings Files: All settings files are recorded under C:\Windows\System32\ as "music_settings.ini" for the filename. Be careful when changing settings in the config files. Incorrect input will create unknown results. Automatic Startup: There are two ways to do this. First, you can go to the settings window in MusicPlayer and select "MusicPlayer Options" and tick "Start MusicPlayer when Windows Starts". This will add the program to the system registry for when windows loads. The other way is to place the program in the Startup folder of Programs start menu. The directory in Windows Explorer is normally: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup It is recommended that you use the registry method, since the startup folder method will initialize any files that are in its folder (including setup files) Update says MusicPlayer is still running- but it isn't: This is because while MusicPlayer is running, it creates a file called "mplayer_ai.ini" that is stored in the system directory of your computer. When you close the program properly using the exit buttons, the file is deleted. The update program checks to see if this file exists before attempting update. If it does exist, the update program assumes that the program is still running. The only way to avoid this is to make sure you close down MusicPlayer properly before running the update. For this reason, using the built-in "Check for Update" button in MusicPlayer is recommended. The "mplayer_ai.ini" file exists primarily to allow for remote application shutdown. I am looking at more efficient methods of handling this, but frankly the file checking method allows the program to get around a lot of the Operating System support problems. How to use/edit MusicPlayer Playlists: * Version 1.2.44 NOTE: Playlist songs can now be added via the '>>' button on the main form * Playlists are records of music that can allow files from many locations to be used in a common category or listing. MusicPlayer by default reads music files from their directories, but with Playlisting enabled the files can be read from anywhere. All playlists are recorded in the file "playlist.txt" in the Music Source folder. The source folder can be changed in the settings window. There can only be one playlist file in each source directory you use. By default, this file does not exist and requires users to create it with the Playlist Editor. To access the editor, go to settings. Go to "MusicPlayer Options". You will find a button called "Edit Playlists". Click on it. On one side of the window is a frame called "Music Files". This allows you to find music files and "Add File to Playlist". To create a playlist, type in a category name at "Playlist Name:" Now click on "Add Playlist". The name will appear in a combo box below it. You can now start adding files to the list. The playlist saves automatically every time a major change is made to it. If you save the playlist and then realize you didn't want to make the changes, you can always click on "Restore old Playlist". This will restore the playlist file to its condition before it was edited. Click "Done" when you have finished with the playlists. Make sure you go to the "MusicPlayer Options" tab in Settings and tick the option "Use Playlists instead of folders". Playlists will now be enabled! Long pause in between songs: This seems to be related to the bit rate of the song files in question, particularly with WMA (Windows Media Audio) files. I'm still a bit puzzled by this, since high quality MP3 files don't seem to suffer from this issue. I think it has to with the preloading/number of streams used by high quality WMA files, since my program checks for the end of the music stream to go to the next song in the list. The only solution that I can find is to reduce the bit rate of the song to 192 kbps quality. Also, if you're copying music, I recommend NOT using variable bit rate. REPORTING ERRORS: The error reporting system on MusicPlayer is optimized for Outlook Express 6. I have tested it on other platforms, but they each return different results. Please note that you *must* have a default email program on your computer before the error system will function correctly. You can report errors by going to Settings and clicking on "Report Error" button. Fill in the necessary details and then submit the report. This will load the report into your default email form. Check that the details are correct and then send the email. If this method doesnot work correctly, or you want to send an email directly, please send to "dunstad@yahoo.com.au" with the Subject "MusicPlayer- Bug Report". It is important that you use the specified subject name, as all other emails will not be viewed. THIS PROGRAM IS FREEWARE (ie: you don't have to pay a cent) I DONOT ACCEPT ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR DAMAGES THIS PROGRAM MAY CAUSE TO YOUR COMPUTER. BY USING THIS PROGRAM, YOU ACCEPT THAT IT IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. (Even though I've tested the program fairly well, I can not say how it will behave for certain on your computer) February 2005