gdead.berkeley.edu/gdead.berkeley.edu.tar/gdead.berkeley.edu/pub/gdead/ibm/TapeTracker.txt

Internet Message Format | 1996-04-10 | 17KB

From [e-mail] Wed Apr 10 11:22:40 1996
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Date: Wed, 10 Apr 1996 11:23:23 -0700
From: Steve Zimmerman <[e-mail]>
Subject: TapeTracker Information


Here is the lastest info on TapeTracker.

***************************************************************
***********  SoftSell Systems Information Server  *************
***************************************************************
*                    SoftSell Systems                         *
*                  Attn.:Steve Zimmerman                      *
*                 300 Drakes Landing Road                     *
*                        Suite 100                            *
*                   Greenbrae, CA  94904                      *
*                Email: [e-mail]                   *
*                 http://tapetracker.com/                     *
*             ftp.tapetracker.com/pub/sssystems               *
*    Phone: [phone] Ext. 209 / Fax: [phone]     *
***************************************************************

Thank you for using the SoftSell Systems' Information Server.

Following is information regarding SoftSell Systems'
TapeTracker for Windows product. If you need more information
please feel to contact us directly by email, phone or fax.

If you have a Web browser, take a look at our home page located
at "http://tapetracker.com/". This home page includes a Virtual
Tour of the TapeTracker program by means of GIF screen shots.

The remainder of this document covers the following topics:

- What is TapeTracker?
- Major Features
- System Requirements
- Distribution
- Pricing
- Legal Stuff

What is TapeTracker?
--------------------

TapeTracker for Windows is a cataloging and reference system
for collectors of live musical recordings.

TapeTracker was born out of dissatisfaction with existing
products that perform similar functions and is designed to
serve the needs of both the casual collector and insatiable
trader. The program is available for a 30 day evaluation period
free by download or for a nominal shipping and handling charge
(just covering costs) if mailed on disk.

TapeTracker handles an unlimited number of artists and
listings. For each "Listing" (recording of a musical
performance) you can store the following information:

- Artist
- Date
- Venue
- City
- State
- Source
- Media
- Noise Reduction
- SCMS Status
- Sound Rating
- Generation
- Set 1,2 and 3 set lists
- Running times for each Set
- Comments (Inserted on J Cards)
- Notes (Not inserted on J Cards. Used for technical info)
- Date Added (to your collection)
- Microphones used
- Trader (Who the recording was acquired from)
- Attendance (Whether you attended the show)
- Favorite (To tag your current favorite recordings for
  easy lookup).

You can use as many or as few of these fields as you like.

Manipulation of Listings occurs within the three distinct
"views".

- Summary View
- Detail View
- Add/Edit View

All views are initially filtered by whomever you set as your
Current Artist. The Summary View shows Date, Venue, City,
State, Sound Rating, Noise Reduction, Media, Source and
Generation and displays ten listings per page. The Detail and
Add/Edit Views include all available information for a single
listing. The Summary and Detail views are read-only.


Major Features:
---------------

Perhaps the most daunting problem facing anyone starting to use
a program designed to track tapes is the inital process of data
entry. Within TapeTracker, every effort has been made to ease this
burden.

* Importing from an Existing Tape List *

If you have a tape list in the form of a text file, you can
import this list directly into TapeTracker. All you have to do
is to get the file into an appropriately formatted tab
delimited text file.

* Importing from the Show Databases *

TapeTracker includes a database of all known Grateful Dead
shows and a Phish database is available free to registered
users. Other Show databases, including Jerry Garcia Band and
Allman Brother Band, will be available soon.

To import Venue, City, State and Set List information into your
tape database, all you do is enter the show date and press the
GD Import button, at which point the relevant information will
be inserted automatically into your tape listing. All that is
left to do is to edit the data to match the specifics of your
recording of the show. For example, add filler, etc. Using this
import function will also insure that all songs are entered
identically, which in turn, will result in accurate song string
searches (See Filtering Capabilities below, for more
information).

The show databases are fully searchable and can be filtered
just like your tape list. The show database also provides a
field for tracking your attendance of shows and another for
tagging shows for which you are looking for recordings. There
is an update facility to easily update the show databases for
new shows. Update files will be made available free of charge
to registered users via anonymous ftp or for a nominal shipping
and handling charge if sent by mail on disk.

The data in the show database can be deleted easily to save
disk space if it is of no use to you.


* Entering Listings from Scratch *

You have imported your old tape list and your Grateful Dead
material, what about everthing else? TapeTracker once again
comes to your rescue.

1) The Add/Edit View uses dropdown lists and supplemental
databases whenever feasible so that you can pick information
from lists, which greatly reduces required typing. For example,
when you pick a venue from the drop down list, the Venue, City
and State are all inserted into the listing automatically. Drop
down boxes are also autofill enabled, which means that as you
enter information the closest matching entry will appear in the
box as you type. Finally, the dropdown lists for Source, Media,
Sound Rating and Microphones are all user definable. In other
words, you choose the items that you would like to appear in
each of these lists.

2) Default values can be set for most fields, so that each time
you call up a new listing, the "most likely" values for each
field will already be in place.

3) The Set List Helper feature allows you to insert songs from
your song database directly into your set lists. As you enter
songs for the first time they are automatically added into the
song database for future access. You can also track the the
following information for each song that you enter: Short Name
(Working name), Long or Other Name, Author, Vocalist and Date
First Played.

4) The Duplicate function lets you create a new listing using
all information in the currently displayed listing except for
date and song lists. This is very handy when you are entering
recordings from multiple days from the same venue using the
same Source, Media, etc.


* Navigating through Lisitings *

You can jump to a particular listing from any view by means of
two dropdown boxes, the first of which displays listings sorted
by date and the other sorted by city, state and venue. You can
also step through listings one at a time in chronological order.


* Filtering Listings *

TapeTracker provides extremely powerful filtering capabilities.
The Detail and Summary Views can be filtered to show only those
listings that match the criteria that you set. Filtering can be
performed based on the value(s) in a single or multiple listing
fields. Complex search criteria can be created by selecting
options on an easy to understand Filter Form.

So, if you want to know which shows you have on DAT with an "A"
rating where SCMS is set to OO, recorded using Schoeps mics,
added to your collection in the last year, where the Grateful
Dead played the Supplication Jam in the first set? No problem.
After Listings are filtered according to the criteria you set,
they can be viewed, exported or serve as the basis for reports.


* J Card Module *

TapeTracker can print J Cards (tape case inserts) for both DAT
and Cassette tapes, each with a variety of layouts options, and
allows you to select fonts, font sizes and add graphics (some
supplied) if you choose. The program will automatically pull
data from listings stored in the system or you can manually
enter information for recordings not in the system.

You can currently print two J Cards per page. These cards can
be from Set One and Two of the same show or can be from two
different shows. In addition you can put two shows on a single
J Card. A three show J Card is in the works.

The program includes a graphics library where you can store
your own graphics images to be used on the J Cards. Before
printing, the program presents a fully editable Print Preview
version of the case to inspect.

If you tape on DAT, but ocassionally make copies for on
cassette, you will appreciate the manner in which TapeTracker
handles the marking of flips. You can enter a backslash within
a listing to mark where the flip occurs on a cassette. While
this is not necessary, because the program will ask you where
the flip occurs if it does not find backslash, entering these
flip marks will speed up the J Card printing process because
you will not have to indicate the flip each time you print a
cassette J Card for the listing. TapeTracker will use the flip
marks that you set up when printing cassette J Cards, but will
hide them when printing DAT labels.

When printing DAT J Cards, you can choose to list songs either
horizontally across the J Card or in two vertical columns.


* TraderBase *

The TapeTracker TraderBase is used to store contact information
for your trading partners. People entered in the TraderBase
show up on a dropdown box in the Add/Edit Listings View, so you
can easily track which tapes you received from which trader. If
anything ever happens to your copy of the recording, you will
always know where to get another copy. You can also use this
information to print mailing labels directly from the J Card
Module when you need to send tapes to any of the individuals.

If you have a trader's tape list on your system in the form of a
text file, you can link that file to the trader's record in the
Trader database and access the tape list by a button on the
trader form.


* Reporting *

TapeTracker provides full reporting capability in both summary
and detail formats. You can choose to report on all listings,
all listings for the current artist or those listings matching
the current filter criteria. You can also choose to include or
exclude a legend of abbreviations, your contact information and
notes about your collection.


* Exporting *

The TapeTracker export facility that allows you build templates
for creating text files. You can choose exactly what fields you
would like to include and the type of file to create; Fixed
Width, Delimited or HTML. You can also choose to include or
exclude the same supplemental info that you can on reports; a
legend of abbreviations, your contact information and notes
about your collection.

The HTML export format lets you create a fully hyperlinked
World Wide Web displayable version of your tape list with a
push of a button. All you have to do is upload it to a server.

Sample formats for common uses such as inclusion of your tape
list in an email message are included.


Absolute Minimum System Requirements
------------------------------------
o  Microsoft Windows 3.1 or later
o  PC with 486 microprocessor
o  8 MB or more of RAM
o  10 MB free hard disk space
o  EGA or higher resolution monitor


Suggested System Configuration
------------------------------
o  Microsoft Windows 3.1 or later
o  486 PC with 16 Megs RAM or Pentium PC with 8 Megs RAM
o  10 MB free hard disk space
o  VGA or higher resolution monitor
o  Desk Jet or Laser Printer


Distribution:
-------------

TapeTracker is a Microsoft Access 2.0 database application, but
it is available with a *complementary* copy of the runtime
version of Microsoft Access, so purchase of the full database
application is not required.

Following are instructions for retrieving the the newest
version of TapeTracker via FTP. If you do not have FTP access,
see the section on Pricing below for information on costs for
having an evaluation version mailed to you.

You can always get the most recent version of TapeTracker via
FTP from ftp.nbn.com/home/softsell/ftp/ as follows:

- File: TAPETRAK.ZIP (if you HAVE Access 2.0 or a previous version
of TapeTracker)

* OR *

- File: TTFULL.ZIP (if you DO NOT HAVE a previous version of
TapeTracker or Microsoft Access 2.0)

The software, whether downloaded or sent by mail, arrives in
the form of a 30 day "Evaluation" version. The evaluation
version contains all of features of the registered version,
except that key features become disabled if the product is not
registered within 30 days of the installation date. The
evaluation version and can be unlocked into a full version by
entering a registration key code which you can get from
SoftSell Systems over the phone.

An "Evaluation Kit", which includes everything you need to try
out the program, including the Access runtime files, is
available for a nominal fee (that just covers the costs of
producing and shipping the product). See the Pricing section
below for details and be sure to remember that multiple people
can share the set of distribution disks included in the
Evaluation Kit. As long as the program is distributed in its
entirety, not changed in any way and not resold, you can create
and distribute as many copies of these disks as you would like.
(Please review the Legal Stuff section for a more detailed
discussion on what you can and cannot legally do with this
program.)

Once you have registered TAPETRACKER, you will receive all
minor version updates to the application (e.g. From version 1.0
to 1.1 to 1.2 and so on) and regular Grateful Dead show updates
free of charge by download or for a nominal shipping and
handling charge if mailed on diskette. Major version updates
(e.g. From version 1.0 to 2.0) will be available at a
significantly discounted price.When updating from a previous
version, the update routine will backup your current version
and then transfer the data to the new version, so you will have
the chance to test drive each major version update for 30 days
before deciding whether to purchase the upgrade. If you don't
think that the upgrade is worth the cost, you can simply revert
back to your old version.


Pricing:
--------

The pricing for TapeTracker is as follows (Pricing is subject
to change without notice):


     $65 - Registered Program (distribution disks with
           runtimve version of Access, shipping included)

     $59 - User License (includes Registation Key to unlock
           TapeTracker into a fully registered version, but
           does not include distribution disks)

     $10 - Evaluation Kit (distribution disks with runtime
           version of Access, shipping included, NOT REGISTERED)

     $10 - Replacement Disks (same as above)

     $10 - Overnight shipping


Ordering Or Questions:
----------------------

Call Steve Zimmerman at [phone] ext. 209
or email him at [e-mail].


The IMPORTANT Legal Stuff:
--------------------------

TapeTracker is copyrighted and all rights are reserved by
SoftSell Systems.

This TapeTracker software is owned by SoftSell Systems.
SoftSell Systems grants the user a nonexclusive license to use
this TapeTracker software solely for the user's personal use.
The user shall not commercially distribute, sublicense, resell,
or otherwise transfer for any consideration, or reproduce for
any such purposes, the TapeTracker software or any modification
or derivation thereof, either alone or in conjunction with any
other product or program. Further, the user shall not modify
the TapeTracker software, other than for the user's own use.

THIS TAPETRACKER SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED TO THE USER "AS IS".
SOFTSELL SYSTEMS MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESSED OR
IMPLIED, WITH RESPECT TO THE USER, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE AND AGAINST INFRINGEMENT.

LIMITATION OF LIABILITY - SOFTSELL SYSTEMS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE
FOR ANY CLAIMS OR DAMAGES WHATSOEVER, INCLUDING PROPERTY
DAMAGE, PERSONAL INJURY, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY INFRINGEMENT,
LOSS OF PROFITS, OR INTERRUPTION OF BUSINESS, OR FOR ANY SPECIAL
CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, HOWEVER CAUSED, WHETHER
ARISING OUT OF BREACH OF WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING
NEGLIGENCE), STRICT LIABLIITY, OR OTHERWISE.