In'side Shareware 1995 March

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OS/2 Help File | 1994-12-26 | 42KB | 833 lines

ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1. Introduction ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Digital Music Player Copyright (c) 1994 Aria All rights reserved Digital Music Player is a multi-threaded digital media player. DMPlayer supports the playback of any media directly supported by the MMPM/2 system as well as MOD format music modules. All that is required is that the MMPM/2 multimedia extensions must be installed. A digital capable audio adapter is required. DMPlayer has been designed to work well with you. It is capable of playing songs in the background while you get real work done with a minimum of interruption (aside from the wonderful music of course). You will be able to listen to your favorite modules and still have a responsive system at your fingertips. DMPlayer will play modules compressed with your favorite archiver, such as zip, zoo or gzip. Multi-file archives are not supported. DMPlayer only supports the playback of compressed MOD files, the MMPM/s system does not support playback of compressed files at the time of this writing. You can create and save list of your favorite media elements. You can mix MOD, WAVE, MIDI and AVI files all in one SongList! These SongLists can be saved to be loaded at a later date. DMPlayer even (optionally) cooperates with the system sounds provided by MMPM/2. Digital Music Player remembers a lot of things between sessions. Such as which windows were open and where they were positioned as well as all of the settings and even the last SongList that was opened! This makes using the program easier each time you run it. You even have the option of starting DMPlayer minimized as well as automatically starting to play the loaded SongList. Digital Music Player is currently capable of playing the following formats: 4 track, 31 and 15 instrument Protracker/Noisetracker modules 4 and 8 track Startrekker modules 6 and 8 track Fasttracker modules The following formats are also supported through MMPM/2: .WAV audio sample files. .MID MIDI song files. .AVI Audio-Video Interleave video animation files. Any other format supported by MMPM/2 in the future. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2. Ariaware ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ This software product is provided to you for the sole purpose of evaluation prior to purchase. DMPlayer is not free. You are granted license to a trial evaluation period of 30 days in which to determine if you wish to continue using the program. If you decide to use DMPlayer after the 30 day trial period, you must pay the registration fee of $25 (US). Any use beyond the 30 day trial period is prohibited by law. Please go to Registration for more information on how to register. Digital Music Player is (c) 1994 Aria. All rights reserved. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.1. Limitations ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ If you have not registered DMPlayer, then you will have to face up to a few limitations. These limitations are critical, however, they do not interfere with the evaluation of the program. The current limitations are as follows: 1. Inability to save settings between sessions. Normally, DMPlayer would remember window positions, audio settings, playback settings and directories accessed. 2. Inability to load or save SongLists. All other aspects of the SongList window are fully functional. I hope that you do not find that these limitations are too restrictive. You should still be able to determine whether or not you wish to use the program even with these restrictions. Due to these limitations, many people may quickly dub this software as 'Crippleware' or the like. Be that as it may, I have made a serious investment in the development of DMPlayer and I must protect that investment. I have tried to do so in the most benign manner possible. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.2. Registration ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ When you register DMPlayer, you will receive a keyfile unlocking the full functionality of the program. The one time registration fee will provide you with free upgrades for the life of this program. Both minor and major upgrades will be made available via your favorite OS/2 shareware distribution site. All future versions of this program will automatically be unlocked by the keyfile you will receive. There are two ways to receive your keyfile: 1. Slooooow, snail mail 2. Faaaaast, electronic mail to your internet or CompuServe address The default action for me is to return your keyfile through the mail system. You and I both would probably rather I returned your keyfile through email if at all possible. I will do this on the condition that I receive some form of proof of address of the mailing address you send to me. Here are some examples of this proof: 1. Personal check. If you write me a check, then it probably has your address on it and that is proof enough for me. 2. Address label (or photocopy) of some piece of mail addressed to you at the given address. Such as a power bill or something. 3. Photocopy of some ID card with your name and address on it. 4. Several other things that I can't think of. As long as your name and address appear on something official, it will do. Pretty simple, eh? If you provide one of the above, then I will get the keyfile emailed out to you the day I receive your registration (Or shortly thereafter). If you don't, then I'll put the keyfile on a disk and mail it to you as soon as I can. You just can't beat that! Print the REGISTRATION FORM to order your copy of Digital Music Player. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.3. REGISTRATION FORM ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Send this form to: Aria P.O. Box 1889 Corvallis, OR 97339-1889 Price $ 25.00 (US) Free upgrades for the life of the program! o Please send a Check or Money Order to the address above. o Make Checks and Money Orders out to Aria. o Credit cards are not accepted at this time. o All orders must be in US Dollars. o No COD's. The following information will be encoded in the keyfile sent to you. Please print or type. Failure to provide complete and accurate information will result in your order being delayed or possibly not processed. Name ________________________________________ Mailing ________________________________________ Address ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ Email ________________________________________ (Internet address or Compuserve ID) Phone ________________________________________ (Optional. May help if there is a problem.) Disk ___ 3.5" ___ 5.25" Comments: (Where did you find DMPlayer?) ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.4. Contacting the author ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ DMPlayer is an evolving product. Support for other module formats may become available in the future. More functionality may be added at some later date. All of which is free to registered users. Support is made available via the internet. CompuServe users can send mail to the following addresses also by specifying the internet mail option. Mail questions and/or comments to: dodger@kira.csos.orst.edu You can always find the newest version of Digital Music Player via ftp at: ftp.cdrom.com hobbes.nmsu.edu ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.5. Distribution ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Digital Music Player may be freely distributed provided that the entire archive remains intact. Shareware distributors may not charge more than $5 (including shipping) for this software package. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.6. Warranty ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ No warranty of any kind is implicitly or explicitly granted through use of this program. Aria will not be held liable for any damages resulting form the use of this product. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3. Installation ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Digital Music Player needs no special setup. Simply copy the program file 'DMPlayer.EXE' into a directory and create a program object if you desire. You should copy the help file 'DMPlayer.HLP' into a directory that is in your help path. DMPlayer can be placed anywhere. It will search for, or create any files that it needs in the directory where the executable is. This will allow DMPlayer to be run from the command line without cluttering your file system with DMPlayer.INI files. When you register you will receive the keyfile 'DMPlayer.KEY'. This file should be placed in the same directory as 'DMPlayer.EXE'. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4. Running DMPlayer ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ DMPlayer will accept MOD files from the command line. DMPlayer understands the standard OS/2 wildcard system for selecting files. You can specify as many files as you like on the command line: DMPlayer CoolSong.mod DMPlayer mod.* *.mod DMPlayer chicken.wav CoolSong.mod "Even Cooler Video.AVI" DMPlayer will create a new songlist containing all the files specified on the command line. DMPlayer may also be associated with all of your MOD files for even better integration with the WPS. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5. Using DMPlayer ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The functionality of Digital Music Player is spread throughout several different dialogs and windows. This allows DMPlayer to take up as little or as much screen space as you desire. The Main Dialog The Settings Notebook The SongList Window The Mixer Dialog The Song Info Dialog ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.1. The Main Dialog ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Select a control on the DMPlayer main dialog and Double-Click (or press Enter) to see more information about that control. Digital Music Player has been designed to be as useful as possible and yet to be as unobtrusive as possible at the same time. Needless to say, it was also designed with good looks in mind. The main dialog, pictured above, displays a lot of information about what is happening at any time. The dialog was designed to somewhat resemble a CD player just so you would be vaguely familiar with the interface from the start. The controls will act very similarly to their real-world counterparts. You should be set to go! If you have not done so yet, you may want to take the time to double-click on all the controls on the dialog shown above. You will see control specific information in a window with more details about what is happening and why it may be happening. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.2. The Settings Notebook ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The Settings Notebook contains all of the options relative to the loading and playing of music modules. Most of these settings will have no effect on the playback of file formats directly supported by MMPM/2 such as .WAV files. The notebook is an elegant way to combine multiple, diverse settings in one, simple and easy to use control. The notebook is sizable, and will remember size and position (in the registered version) as will the rest of the windows. There are 4 pages in the notebook: 1. The Audio Quality page has settings relating to the quality of the playback of the module. 2. The Load Control page has settings relating to keeping the system responsive while still providing flawless, continuous playback. 3. The Decompression Methods page has settings relating to the decompression of compressed module files. 4. The Other page has other settings relating to how DMPlayer acts. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.2.1. Page 1 - Audio Quality ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ There are three settings that directly affect the quality of the audio data that is played: Frequency This slider controls the output frequency of the audio. Values range from 11025hz up to CD quality 44100hz. Some audio adapters may not be able to handle some frequency values. DMPlayer will notify you if you attempt to play a song at a frequency that is not supported by your audio adapter. The higher the frequency is set, the better the song will sound as higher frequencies can be reproduced. Also, the higher the frequency, the more processor time DMPlayer needs to create the data. So there is a tradeoff to be made between the quality of the sound and the responsiveness of the system. Bits per sample You can select either 8 or 16 bits per sample playback. 16 bits per sample will result in better output quality. 8 bits per sample will result in poorer output quality due to the scaling required to adjust the audio data to 8 bit. This setting will have a negligible effect on the processor load. Note: Not all audio adapters support 16 bits per sample. Number of channels You can select either mono or stereo playback. Stereo playback sounds vastly better than mono playback. This setting will have a negligible effect on the processor load. Note: Not all audio adapters support stereo playback. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.2.2. Page 2 - Load Control ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Thresholds Digital Music Player (optionally) uses a dynamic priority adjustment scheme to integrate smoothly with other running applications. The Play thread of DMPlayer normally runs at the default OS/2 priority. That means that it's execution is no more important than any other application running at the same time. This means that other applications are free to work and respond as if DMPlayer does not exist. If there are other applications running with a higher priority, then DMPlayer's Play thread will begin to slow down as OS/2 gives more and more processor time to the higher priority task. DMPlayer will allow this to happen only until it reaches a user-definable point, called the Lower Threshold. Once this point is reached, DMPlayer will raise the priority of the Play thread in order to allow it to catch back up. As DMPlayer receives more of the processor time, the Play thread will eventually reach another user-definable point, called the Upper Threshold. At this point, DMPlayer will once again lower the priority of the Play thread back to the OS/2 default. This process allows DMPlayer to keep playing uninterrupted music while your other, often more important tasks, get the processor time to do what they must. The Upper Threshold is labeled Raise priority at on the notebook page. This value represents a percentage of the buffer that must remain filled with data ready to be played. If the buffer drops below this level, then the priority of the play thread will be raised to attempt to refill the buffer. The Lower Threshold is labeled Lower priority at on the notebook page. This value represents a percentage of the buffer that must be reached before the priority of the play thread will be lowered again. Enable This enables/disables the dynamic priority adjustment. If it is disabled, then DMPlayer constantly runs at a high priority. This may be unsuitable for some systems. Number of buffers The number of buffers selected will determine just how much create-ahead buffer space there is. The more buffers there are, then the more space there is for error. If your system will allow it, then a higher setting is better. This will allow a greater range when DMPlayer doesn't care just how full the buffer is. If your system has little memory, then fewer buffers may be selected to help a little. Lower numbers of buffers are more likely to encounter skipping problems when under a heavy system load. The amount of memory used by the selected number of buffers is also displayed. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.2.3. Page 3 - Decompression Methods ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Digital Music Player supports the reading of music modules from a single-entry compressed file. It does not support more than one file in an archive file. This means that you can use zip or gzip or whatever your favorite archiver is to compress all your modules and possibly save a significant amount of disk space. The decompression program you use MUST be a native OS/2 application. DMPlayer does not support the use of DOS decompression programs. Modules will typically compress by about 33% from my experience with both zip and gzip. The decompression is transparent to the user, DMPlayer just matches a method with a mask. DMPlayer supports up to 6 user-definable decompression methods. Extension Simply enter the extension that you wish DMPlayer to match with the method given in the Execute command field. .gz .zip Execute command Here is where you enter the command you wish to be executed if DMPlayer matches the extension specified. gzip -dcq unzip -p The command must conform to the following specifications: It must emit the decompressed module to standard output (stdout). It must not output any header of any kind. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.2.4. Page 4 - Other ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Share audio device If this item is checked, then DMPlayer will share the audio device with other applications. This will allow you still hear system sounds when DMPlayer is running. Whenever another application, such as the WPS (for system sounds), requests the device, then DMPlayer will halt playing until the device is handed back. This behavior may not be desirable for every configuration, so it is optional. Note: This setting only takes effect when DMPlayer is started. Startup minimized If this item is checked, then DMPlayer will start up minimized. This option is especially useful when used in conjunction with the next option. Startup playing If this item is checked, then DMPlayer will begin playing the first song from the playlist with it first loads up. Support old 15 instrument modules If this item is checked, then DMPlayer will attempt to load the file as an old 15 instrument module if all else fails. You probably won't need to check this unless you have some old modules. Warning: If this item is checked, DMPlayer will probably crash hard if the file is not a module at all. This will happen because there is no way to determine if a file is an older module or not. There is no 'signature' in the file and DMPlayer just has to try. Quite often it will still catch an invalid module, but BE CAREFUL. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.3. The SongList Window ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The SongList provides a way to group your favorite media elements together. You can add any file that is supported by MMPM/2 as well as .MOD formats that are supported by DMPlayer. You can arrange, sort, and save the lists as you like. Multiple copies of a file can be present in a SongList with no adverse affect. If you have used a folder on the WPS, then you will feel right at home using the SongList container. The SongList allows you to view the list of modules in any of the standard formats: Icon, Text, Name, or Details view. This way, you can see what you want to, the way you want to. Drag and drop is also fully supported. Both as a means of re-arranging the order of the list and adding files to the list. You can drag files from any WPS folder and drop them in the list where you want them. DMPlayer will allow you to drop ANY type of file, but I do not suggest exploiting that capability. DMPlayer is smart enough to display the actual song title instead of simply the name of the file in most instances. DMPlayer will not attempt to get the title of any of the following: 1. Compressed modules. 2. Files that MMPM/2 recognizes and will play. The order of the list is completely left up to you. If you start dragging a file (or files), then there are several places you can drop them: 1. Directly on another item. This will result in the items being inserted before the target item. 2. Between other items in the Text, Name or Details view. This will result in the items being inserted between the target items. This is not an option in the Icon view. 3. On the container itself. This will result in the items being inserted at the end of the list. It's really simple. Just play with it and you will soon understand. There are three different popup menus available. Each one will appear with you press the context menu button on your mouse. This defaults to the right mouse button. SongList Main Menu This menu will popup over the SongList itself. It contains all of the commands relevant to the entire SongList. - New Start a new SongList from scratch. - Open Open a SongList. This will bring up the standard file dialog to select a SongList to load. - Save Save the current SongList. - Save as Save the current SongList with a new name. - Add songs Add songs to the current SongList. This will bring up the standard file dialog where you can select multiple files to add to the list. - View There are several ways in which to view the contents of the SongList. Each view shows the song title, not the file name. -- Icon Select the Icon view. -- Text Select the Text view. If the Flowed menu item is checked, then the view will be Flowed Text. -- Name Select the Name view. If the Flowed menu item is checked, then the view will be Flowed Name. -- Details Select the Details view. This view also shows the following information abou the song file: - Full pathname of the song file. - Size of the file in bytes. - Creation date. - Creation time. -- Flowed Check this menu item if you wish the Text and Name views to be flowed. - Select -- Select all Select all the items in the SongList. -- Deselect all Deselect all the items in the SongList. - Sort The items in the SongList can be sorted several different ways. This menu item is a conditional cascade. To reorder the list using the previously selected sort method, simply select 'Sort'. To change the sort method, cascade the menu and select a new method. The selected method is saved between sessions. -- None Do not sort the list. -- Name Sort by the title of the song. -- File size Sort by the size of the file. -- Creation date Sort by the creation date of the file. -- Simply random Randomize the order of the list. -- Maintain sort order Maintain the order of the list. If this item is checked, the list will be reordered whenever it is loaded and whenever a new songs are added. This option goes well with the 'Simply random' option to keep things unpredictable. Single Item Menu This menu will popup when only one item is selected. - Play Play this song. A song may also be played simply by double-clicking on it in the list. - Remove Remove this song from the list. - Delete file Delete this song from the disk as well as removing it from the list. You will be asked to confirm. Multiple Items Menu This menu will popup when several items are selected. - Remove Remove these songs from the list. - Delete file Delete these songs from the disk as well as removing it from the list. You will be asked to confirm. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.4. The Mixer Dialog ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ This dialog allows you to adjust a few of the mixer settings for your audio card. Some audio cards do not support the modification of these settings, see Hardware issues for more information. The settings will not be disabled if even if your audio adapter does not have a software settable mixer. This is due to a limitation in the MMPM/2 API. These settings only affects DMPlayer's output. You can adjust the Volume, Balance, Bass and Treble if your card supports the setting of these values by software. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.5. The Song Info Dialog ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ This dialog displays more detailed information about the song currently loaded. It displays the song title, type of the song, number of channels (tracks), the actual file name, and a list of the samples contained in the file. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 6. What is a MOD file? ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ A MOD file is a digital song file. The format was developed on the Amiga family of computers to take advantage of that machines 4 DACs (Digital to Analog Converters). The file contains blocks of commands for each track. Each command tells what instrument to play and at what note to play it. Special effects are also specified by the commands. The instruments are stored as samples at the end of the track information. Hence the rather large size of MOD files. The format originally consisted of only 4 tracks and 15 instruments. It has since evolved to anywhere from 4 to 8 tracks and 31 instruments. A 'standard' MOD file now has 4 tracks and 31 instruments. Some trackers produce 6 and 8 track MOD files with 31 instruments. One of the best places to find MOD files is at an Aminet site. There is an Aminet mirror at: ftp.cdrom.com Relevant directories are: aminet/mods/misc aminet/mods/pro Another promising site is the new multimedia site at: hobbes.nmsu.edu This site is chock full of .WAVs, .MIDs, .AVIs, and .MODs. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 7. Hardware issues ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ One might think that the advent of MMPM/2 introduces the age of pure hardware independence. While MMPM/2 goes a LONG way in doing that, there will still be problems rising from the fact that SOMEONE has to write device drivers for each audio adapter out there. And while these drivers do exist, there remains a lot to be desired. So, while DMPlayer SHOULD work just fine with any MMPM/2 supported audio adapter, there may still be some things to look out for. Pro Audio Spectrum (Studio) 16 Sound Blaster family ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 7.1. Pro-Audio Spectrum (Studio) 16 ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ In order to listen to 16 bit audio, you may need to set the DMA channel 5 or above. All lower channels only support 8 bit (at a time) DMA and may not work with all motherboards. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 7.2. SoundBlaster family ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ There don't seem to be any specific problems with this card, but there have been many reports of seeming 'random' crashes that are impossible to track down. My only hope is that Creative Labs will better support these cards in the future. If you are having terrible problems with your SoundBlaster you may want to make the following change to the device driver statement in CONFIG.SYS: DEVICE=SB16D2.SYS 1 5 5 220 8 "$SBAud1" The 8 should be replaced with a 2. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 8. Thanks ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Thanks go out to the following people for doing some serious late night bug hunting: Linden deCarmo Adrian Idzik Dave Killian Chance Geurin Glade Diviney and my wife Kelly Special thanks to Linden deCarmo for all his support and answered questions about the innermost workings of MMPM/2. You guys did a great job with MMPM/2 Linden! Thanks for all the help and answered questions and bug reports and moral support and, oh, well, you get the idea... Thanks to my other early beta testers. You all helped out! Thanks also goes out to Kathleen Panov, Larry Salomon (aka Q) and Arthur Panov for their work on the wonderful 'The Art of OS/2 2.1 C Programming'. It is an absolutely GREAT book and a MUST-HAVE for any OS/2 programmer. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Press this button to start playing the currently loaded file. If no file is loaded, then DMPlayer acts as if you pressed the Next button. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Press this button to pause the playback of the file. If the file is currently paused, then DMPlayer acts as if you pressed the Play button. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Press this button to stop the playback of the file. The file remains loaded into memory at this point. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Press this button to move 1 track backward if the current file is a MOD. Otherwise DMPlayer will attempt to skip 1 second backwards. This may not always succeed depending upon the media type. There will be a slight delay before the change takes effect. Rapid pressing of this button will have no further effect. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Press this button to move 1 track forward if the current file is a MOD. Otherwise DMPlayer will attempt to skip 1 second forward. This may not always succeed depending upon the media type. There will be a slight delay before the change takes effect. Rapid pressing of this button will have no further effect. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Press this button to load the previous file from the SongList. If the SongList has changed, or a new SongList has been loaded, then the file DMPlayer loads may be just about anything in the list. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Press this button to load the next file from the SongList. If the SongList has changed, or a new SongList has been loaded, then the file DMPlayer loads may be just about anything in the list. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The name of the currently loaded SongList is displayed here. This is also where messages from the SongList window will appear. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The name of the currently loaded file is displayed here. If the file is a MOD, then this will be the actual song title, otherwise it will be the name of the file. The file will remain loaded in memory even if it is deleted from the disk. Status and error messages related to the loading and playing of the file will also be displayed in this window. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ This control displays a percentage that represents the amount of the total buffer space that has been preloaded with song data. The percentage shown here directly relates to the percentages set in the Load Control page of the Settings Notebook. This control will turn red if it has dropped below the Lower Threshold. It will turn green once it reaches the Upper Threshold again. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ This control displays the currently playing track. The display is not acutely accurate. It will be close enough for our interests however. The only inaccuracy is a slight time delay between when the track actually changes and when the message is sent through MMPM/2 to DMPlayer to get updated. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ This control displays the total number of tracks to be played in the duration of the song. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ This control displays the total elapsed time that the file has been playing. If the file is a MOD, then the time displayed is unaffected by pressing the Fast Forward or Rewind buttons. Therefore, this display may not accurately show the time offset into the song if the user has skipped around a bit. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Digital Music Player has several threads concurrently running, taking full advantage of the multitasking nature of OS/2. The Play thread is the main data creation thread. It basically does all of the work of interpreting the song data and rendering it in an audible form to the buffer for MMPM/2 to read.