flipTech Presents +-----------------------------------------------+ | s h u f f l e P L A Y 2 | +-----------------------------------------------+ version 2.00 Beta 5 written by Gary C - flipino@visi.net http://members.visi.net/~flipino [1.1 > Introduction] WinPlay3 is presently the best (and only) Windows Mpeg1-Layer3 player in existence. In the early Fall of 1996, I decided to fill in a little hole in the program which the programmers intentionally left out. This hole was the Shuffle option. I honestly don't know why they didn't put any code into the program for Shuffling--nor for fast fwd or rewind. At any rate, I chose to improvise and honed my Visual Basic 4 skillz and coded up a little app which I entitled, ShufflePlay. As time went on, ShufflePlay went from a little playlist maker to a modestly useful utility to generate and maintain playlists for people's growing *.MP3 collections. I later implemented tools such as Recursion and Multi-Selection to further increase the utility of the program. Eventually, the program, as it was originally designed, reached its fullest potential and a rewrite was called for. In Mid-December, I went to Visual Basic 4 and started out with a clean slate and a head and eMail inbox full of ideas to implement in the next great incarnation of the program. Through a well thought out process and over a week's worth of work, ShufflePlay 2 was born. [1.2 > What's New!] New to Version 2.00, the highlights. * [MP3 File Tagging] Now you can store information such as song name, performing artist(s), album name, song genre, and commentary _within_ the MP3 file. * [Time calculation] Through diligent research of the innards of various MP3 files, I have come up with a reliable system with which the duration of a file can be quickly calculated. * [Multi-Info Display] The playlist window not only contains the name of the songs you want to hear, but also the respective performers, playtimes, and more. It is also customizable so can view the stuff you want--hide the stuff you don't want. * [Categorical Sorting] You can now sort your playlist based on characteristics of the files. * [Inventory Compiler] No more trading DIR listings with friends to tell them what MP3's you have. With Tag support, you can share much more information and compile them into a neat and easy to read format. * [Long-Filename Support] Those using Winplay3 Beta 6 will not have to worry about long filenames creating errors in the player. ShufflePlay2 now has the ability to generate the playlist using the old DOS 8.3 format. * [Summary Info] Select a group of files in either the Files window or the playlist, and a summary line regarding the file count and total playing time will appear. * [Minimize to Tray] Now, ShufflePlay2 will never take up any more space in the Start Bar than it has to. You can even Play and ShufflePlay right from the Tray Icon. * [Winplay3 Tray Icon] You can now keep Winplay3 out of the Start bar and put it in the System Tray. Now the player/shell system will take as little space as possible. * [Full Recursion] Not only read your current drive, but your others as well including floppies, Zip/Jaz, and CD-Roms. [2.1 > Filepack Contents] The ShufflePlay2 distribution ZIP, SHUFFLE2.ZIP should have come with only the following contents: SHUFFLE2.EXE, the actual executable. SHUFFLE2.TXT, this documentation. FILE_ID.DIZ, BBS people go nuts over these. Simple enough? [2.2 > Program Requirements] The requirements for this program are pretty simple as well... * Windows 95... It just might help! NT4 works, too. * Visual Basic 4 32-bit Runtime Files... See my homepage if you need these files. See above for URL. * WinPlay3... If you don't have this, what are you aiming to do with this program? If you can find a copy of Winplay3 Beta 6, then use that over the Final verion as the Beta is supposedly better. [2.3 > First Contact] When you first run the EXE, it will show you the Setup window. This is where you tell the program where your copy of WinPlay3 is located. You also have the chance to tell it if you want it to remember your playlist so when you quit ShufflePlay later, the list will be there when you return to the program. ShufflePlay will make an INI file after you shut down the program. If you find some kind of funny glitch in your ShufflePlay session, try deleting the INI and restarting the program. Hopefully, there will be no glitch of this severity. [2.4 > Usage] This is the fun section where I get to brag about all of the great abilities of ShufflePlay 2 in greater depth. 2.4.1 > Navigating. The interface makes it quick and easy to get around your hard drive. Just point and click your way through the directories. If you have plenty of MP3's in your directory or you have a slower computer, it may take a while to scan the info off the MP3's in the directory. If you want to update the listing, press the Refresh button. This is especially helpful if while listening to your songs, you downloaded additional files. 2.4.2 > Adding to the playlist. There are a number of ways to do this. The easiest way would be to just double-click the file you want to add to the playlist. Secondly, you can hit Get All which would add not only the file you selected, but also every other song in that directory. Also, you can hit Recursive which will add every file in the current directory in addition to every song in subsequent subdirectories. Finally, you can high- light the songs you want to add and hit the [>>] button. 2.4.3 > Playing with the playlist. Once you have some songs loaded into your playlist, you can do a number of things to get your list just the way you want it. If you goofed up for just caught an MP3 file that is not supposed to be in the set, just double click it and it will be deleted from the roster. Another method would be to highlight the songs you want to take out and hit the [>>] button. If you want to sculpt your list one-by-one, use the Up and Down buttons to manually adjust the file order. To sort your listing according to name, artist, album, year, genre, or time, just click one of the buttons above the playlist. In order to sort in reverse order, be sure to click the Reverse checkbox. 2.4.4 > Tags One of the greatest abilities of ShufflePlay2 is the implementation of the Tag system developed by NamkraD, erick@marble.net. To tag songs either in the file list or in the play list, just highlight the song and hit the appropriate Tag button. Tagging lets you view your files in the ShufflePlay2 interface by their true name instead of some cryptic or awkward filename. It also proves to be useful in sorting your playlists (see above). If for whatever reason, you would like to wipe the Tag info off of a file, just choose Edit and check the Wipe Tag box then hit Ok. 2.4.5 > The Inventory Compiler. Every so often, I will run across people who would like to trade songs or just merely inquire as to what songs I do have. It doesn't take too much time to generate a DIR list and store that as a TXT file to trade. But with the new feature, "Save as Inventory," inside the Save Playlist window, you can now generate much more detailed listings of your collection in a clean and neat format. [3.1 > Bugs] What good is a program without bugs? * Repeated sorting. Somehow, you may find yourself with different results after sorting the same list using the same method twice. * The Winplay3 path isn't automatically reflected in the Drive/Dir section of the Setup box when it opens. * NT4 Users. I'm not sure if I've covered all the bugs in the program due to the LFN's and NT's file system. However, I'm confident I've knocked out some of the other more obvious bugs. * Long lists. The current version of Winplay3, as far as I can tell can handle large playlists. However, if you try to feed it a playlist of about a 150 or more songs, the player will start off with an error message window. Just hit Ok to make it go away and you'll do fine. This is not of my fault, but the Winplay3 programmers'. * Up/Down side effects. When you have multiple files selected and you hit the Up or Down buttons, only one file will be moved and the selection status of your items will be destroyed after repeated order movements. Unless you are a real "neat freak", this bug should not affect you greatly. I will attend to this bug in time. More? Please feel free to eMail them to me. To save me lots of time in trying to find the bug, please give me a description of your PC: Operating System, Directory names, playlist contents, etc. Better yet, cut & paste your INI file so I may simulate the problem. [3.1 > Looking Ahead] * Dynamic window sizing. I will eventually enable the program's window to be manually resized to fit any monitor, big or small. * Command-Line stuff. So you can link this program to alarm clocks, system events, or whatever. * Lined Up listings a-la Windows Explorer. * More genres and better bitrate detection. * Cache tag-info to speed up loading times. * Even tighter Winplay3 control allowing you to control the player from the ShufflePlay2 interface. * MuseARC 4 Support? [3.2 > Distribution] Please feel free to distribute this program wherever you wish. However, you must preserve the contents of this package and not disturb any of the data contained within. Doing so is a violation of United States and International law. Violators can and will be prosecuted to the fullest possible extent. Have a nice day =) [3.3 > Downloading] At present, the current location to download the latest version of ShufflePlay 2 is off of my homepage's ShufflePlay 2 page at * http://members.visi.net/~flipino/shuffle.html There, you will also find a design history and other useful information. [3.4 > Cost] As it stands, this program is completely freeware, however monetary donations will be appreciated as programming does cut greatly into my scholastic and social life, and money would be a great means of retribution and making this all worth it. Please send any donations (monetary only) to * Gary Calpo 1328 Paramore Drive Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA 23454 Donation benefits include the direct eMailing of future updates and fixes, so don't forget to enclose your eMail address. [4.1 > Credits] * Thanks to the guys in #VisualBasic for their patience and helpful nature in helping me out with the Long-Filename problem, among other things. * The Beta Testers. Since I usually only get mail from those who report the bugs, it would not be fair to those who don't seem to have any problems w/ the software. At anyrate, thanks for helping me find all the flaws in this program. [4.2 > In Closing] Writing ShufflePlay 1.xx and the new 2.xx series has and still is a pleasure. I look forward to hearing your input and ideas for future versions of ShufflePlay. The user base is mostly who really makes up the program. I just convert the ideas to computer code. Enjoy the program and feel free to distribute this wherever you please (including popular shareware archives and the like). Happy playing! Gary Calpo flipino@visi.net http://members.visi.net/~flipino