Copyright: Copyright © 2000, Glenn Hermans


Contents

** Introduction

1) What is PC Music?

PC Music is an all-in-one music program for the PC, also called a JukeBox program.

It can play, encode and decode mp3s.  It includes a CD ripper and can even be used to burn audio CD's (if you have a CD writer that is supported by ASPI).

2) What is Shareware?

Shareware is software that has some limitations or only works for a limited period of time.  Shareware can be distributed freely.

The shareware version of PC Music has the following limitations:

* It will not encode mp3s at a bitrate higher than 112k.

* The playlist editor and the option to edit ID tags are disabled.

* Audio CD's will only be written at 1× speed.

* The program will close after 30 minutes¹.

¹ Think of this before you are going to write a CD.  The program will close itself after 30 minutes, even if it's still writing a CD, encoding mp3s, etc.

PC Music can be registered for only $10 !!!

** Contents of this help file

Using PC Music v2.0

* wav/mp3 Player

* Mp3 Encoder

* Mp3 Decoder

* CD Ripper

* CD Writer

* Settings

* Edit File Info (registered version only)

* Playlist Editor (registered version only)

Registering PC Music v2.0

* Shareware notice

* Register PC Music


Shareware Notice

If you're using the shareware version of PC Music, this message will be shown everytime PC Music starts.

You can register PC Music at my website by clicking on the "Visit Website" button.

THE REGISTRATION FEE IS ONLY $10 !!!

Once you received your registration key, click on "Register" to register your copy of PC Music.

To continue without registering, click on the "Continue" button.  Please remind that the unregistered version has several limitations:

* It will not encode mp3s at a bitrate higher than 112k.

* The playlist editor and the option to edit ID tags are disabled.

* Audio CD's will only be written at 1× speed.

* The program will close after 30 minutes¹.

¹ Think of this before you are going to write a CD.  The program will close itself after 30 minutes, even if it's still writing a CD, encoding mp3s, etc.

To quit, e.g. after you clicked on the "Visit Website" button to go and register PC Music, click on the "Quit" button.


Register PC Music

After you purchased the program, you can register it by entering you information on the registration form (shown above).

I link registration keys to names and e-mail addresses because then you can't just give your registration key away to others.

Only registered users will get updates of PC Music for free, however every update will have a different encryption code, so you'll have to ask me for a new registration key for every update.

Please remind that:

- Giving your username to others is not allowed.

- Trying to crack or actually crack the encryption code is strictly forbidden.

Can't register PC Music?

* Name and e-mail address are not case sensitive but all characters of the registration key must be upper case.

* Did you enter your name and e-mail address exactly as you did when you purchased PC Music?

* Do you have the registration key for the correct version of PC Music?


wav/mp3 Player

On the left you see the counter, player controls and volume/balance control.

On the right information about the file will be displayed.  Below that you have the position bar.

- Title: the title of the song that's currently playing

- Artist: the artist

- Album: the album name/title

- Genre: the genre (e.g. pop, rock)

- Length: The total length of the file

- Bitrate: The bitrate of the file; number of kilobits per second

- Frequency: The "sample frequency" of the file in kilohertz

The menu

Click on the green icon in the upper left corner to open the menu (shown below).

The "File" menu:

Click on "Open" to open a file.  You can open .wav or .mp3 files:
Click on "Playlist Editor" to show the playlist editor.  This only works in the registered version of PC Music!

Click on "Edit File Info" to edit the ID tag of an mp3 file.  This only works in the registered version of PC Music!

Click on "Exit" to close PC Music.

The "Options" menu:

Select "Mp3 Encoder" and then "WAV => MP3" to open the mp3 encoder.

Select "Mp3 Decoder" and then "MP3 => WAV" to open the mp3 decoder.

Select "CD => WAV" to open the CD ripper.

Select "WAV => CD" to open the CD writer form.

Select "Settings" to change the settings.

About:

Display the "about" box.

Here you'll see information about previous versions of PC Music, bug fixes, etc. and some info about me :-)

Visit http://www.glennhermans.com/software/pc_music/ for more information about this program.


Edit File Info

If no mp3 file is opened then you'll get the following error message:

You can only create ID tags for mp3 files.

If an mp3 file is opened, you'll see this form:

If the mp3 file already has an ID tag, then this information will be shown.

To edit an ID tag, first make sure the mp3 is not playing.

Then select "Edit File Information" from the menu and you'll see the form shown above.

Enter the title, artist, album, genre (don't choose "unknown"!!!) and the year.

If you want, you can also enter a comment.

Click on "Save" to save the ID tag to the mp3 file or click on "Cancel" to leave the ID tag like it is.

* This option will not work for all mp3 files, because there are many diferent ways to add an ID tag to a mp3 files.

PC Music does not support the latest ID3 tags!!!

* This option is disabled in the shareware versions.  To register your copy of PC Music, visit my website: http://www.glennhermans.com/software/pc_music/

THE REGISTRATION FEE IS ONLY $10 !!!


Playlist Editor

The playlist editor (show above) will only work in the registered version of PC Music.

The location of the playlist that is opened will be shown in the upper text field.

The files that will be played will be shown in the list below.

To play just one file from the list, you can double-click on it.

To play the whole list, click on the play-button:

To stop playing, click on the stop-button:

To play the previous file, click on the previous-button:

To play the next file, click on the next-button:

To move a file up one place, select it and press "U" or click on the up-button:

To move a file down one place, select it and press "D" or click on the down-button:

To remove a file from the list, select it and press "DEL"

For these actions, you can also use the play-menu:

To add a song to the list, use the "Options" menu:

To open, close or save a playlist, use the "File" menu:

> "New" does the same as "Close"  It will clear the playlist so you can start a new one.

> You can open an existing playlist by selecting "Open".

> To save an existing playlist and overwrite it, select "Save".

> To save an existing playlist under a new filename, select "Save As..."

> Choose "Close Playlist Editor" to close the playlist editor.


Settings

The first time you go to the "Settings" you'll be asked if you have a CD writer.

If you select "No", this will never be asked again and the settings for the CD writer part will not be set.

If you select "Yes", the settings for your CD writer will be loaded everytime you open the "Settings".

If you want to use my program to write CD's then this is absolutely necessary!!!  If you don't want to use my program to write CD's then this will just slow down the program, especially on slower computers.  In that case you may just select "No", but remind that you then will not be able to use the program to write CD's!!!

After you answered this question, you'll see the settings form:

Encoder Settings:

Standard the bitrate will be set to 128k, but if you're using the shareware version, you will not be able to encode mp3s at this bitrate!  You can either set it to a lower bitrate manually or else it will be done automatically the first time you start encoding mp3s.  When you register the program, you can set the bitrate to anything you like!  (registration is only $10)

If you don't know what "Sample frequency" means, then just leave this setting at 44 for the best quality.  If you'd rather have a faster encoding speed than a good quality then you might want to set this to 22kHz.

Then, "Where do you want the mp3s to be saved?"... here you'll have to select the directory in which PC Music will put encoded mp3s.

Click "OK" to apply the chagnes and close the "Settings" window or click "Apply" to just apply the changes.

Decoder Seggings:

Here you just have to select the directory in which the decoded wave-files will be placed.  Nothing else is required.  Files will be encoded at a bitrate of 172kbps (this is CD quality; a 16bit/44kHz wave-file will be created).

Click "OK" to apply the chagnes and close the "Settings" window or click "Apply" to just apply the changes.

 CD => WAV Settings:

First you'll have to choose the directory where wave-files will be stored.

Then enter a word (e.g. "Track") with which the filenames will begin.  The track number will be put after this word.  Special characters that cannot appear in filenames will be replaced by a "_".

You can also choose "Get track titles from CDDB" to automatically access the online CD database to get the songtitles.  This will only work with your default CD-Drive and you need to have an active internet connection (if you have a dial-up connection, you'll have to connect before you start "ripping" songs).  This option does not work behind a firewall or proxy server unless it is configured for CDDB.  This option is still in beta-stage, so I cannot guarantee that it will work without errors.  I would not recommend using this option if you're new at Windows and VB programs.

Then you'll have to select the CD-Drive you want to use.  If you're using the CDDB option, you'll see that the first drive is selected.  Usually this is your default drive and you should leave this setting alone.  If you're really sure that your default drive is the second one, then I would suggest not to use the CDDB option and manually select the second drive from the list.  If you're not using the CDDB option, you may select any drive you want.

Click "OK" to apply the chagnes and close the "Settings" window or click "Apply" to just apply the changes.

Wav => CD Settings:

In the form shown above the left part is completely disabled.  This means that there's only one CD writer (in this case, a Sony CD-RW CRX140E) and it was automatically detected.  If you have multiple CD writers or for some reason your CD writer was not automatically detected, then you'll have to change these settings manually.  You'll have to consult your CD writer's manual for this information.

Then you can also select the write-speed (only in the registered version, in the shareware version the speed will always be reset to 1×).  I would not recommend to choose the maximum speed of your CD writer but 2× lower.  If you have a fast processor and you're writing a CD from wave files stored on your hard drive then you could select the maximum speed.  Selecting a faster speed will not make your CD writer burn faster!  Most CD writers handle this well and just write at their maximum speed but some will in this case burn an unreadable CD, so I would not suggest trying that.

You can also change the options:

* Close Disc: The CD will be closed after writing.  No more songs can be added to the CD later if you select this option.

* Simulate Writing: If you're not sure that the speed you selected will work, then you can try it without actually writing a CD!  If this option is selected it will seem like your CD writer is writing a CD, but the laser will be turned off, so the CD isn't actually burned.

* Auto Eject: If this is selected then the CD will automatically be ejected after all songs have been written to it (and the CD has been closed if you selected that option).

Click "OK" to apply the chagnes and close the "Settings" window or click "Apply" to just apply the changes.


Mp3 Encoder

On the left you can select the directory in which the wave-files that have to be encoded are stored.

On the right you'll see a list of files in that directory.  You can select as many files as you like.  To "unselect" a file just click on it again.

When you selected all files that need to be encoded, click on the "Encode" button.

If you want to change the settings first, you can do this by clicking on the "Settings" button.

If you click on the "Exit" button, the encoder window will be closed, but the encoding process wil not stop!

In the lower left corner you see 2 progress bars.  The first one will show the progress of encoding the current file and the second one will show the overall progress.

Remind that if you're using the shareware version, you can only encode at a bitrate lower than 128kbps.  If you want to be able to encode at CD quality, then you'll have to register te program at my website: http://www.glennhermans.com/software/pc_music/

THE REGISTRATION FEE IS ONLY $10 !!!


Mp3 Decoder

This works exactly the same as the mp3 encoder, except you now have to select the mp3 files that have to be decoded.

To change the settings, click on the "Settings" button, to start decoding, click on the "Decode" button.  To close the window (but not abort the decoding process) click on "Exit".

There are no limitations to the decoder in the shareware version, but why should you not register if it only costs $10 ? :-)


CD Ripper

If you iserted a CD before you opened the CD ripper, you should see all tracks on that CD in the list.  If you iserted the CD after you opened the CD ripper then you'll have to click on the "REFRESH" button (on the right).  If you selected the CDDB option then the songtitles will be shown.  If you did not select this option, you'll see "Track **" for each track where ** is the track number.

To start "ripping" click on "Start".  You can abort this process by clicking on the "Stop" button.  If you click on the "Exit" button, the window will close but the process wil not be aborted.

To change the settings, click on the "Settings" button.

In the lower left corner you see two progress bars.  The first one will show the progress of the current track and the second one will show the overall progress.

There are no limitations to the CD ripper in the shareware version, but why should you not register if it only costs $10 ? :-)


CD Writer

Just drag and drop all wave-files to the dark gray field of the form shown above.

All files must be in wave-format and 44kHz, 16 bit and stereo!

There is only one progress bar in the lower left corner and this will show the overall progress.

To start writing your CD, click on the "Write CD" button.

To change the settings, click on the "Settings" button.

To close the CD writer window, click on the "Exit" button.

If you're using the shareware version of PC Music, you'll only be able to write CD's at 1× speed.  If you want to be able to record CD's at any speed, then you'll have to register te program at my website: http://www.glennhermans.com/software/pc_music/

THE REGISTRATION FEE IS ONLY $10 !!!