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CDPlay
Version 1.20S
[Shareware Version]
March 11, 1992
This program is Copyright 1992 by Randy Rathbun. Turbo C++
is Copyright 1987, 1990 Borland International, Inc. Microsoft
CD-ROM extensions Copyright Microsoft, Inc.
This program is Shareware. You are granted a trial period
of ten (10) days to try it out. If, after this period, you
continue to use it, you must register it by sending $10US + $3US
for Shipping and handling to Randy Rathbun. See the Order Form
at the end of this document for more information.
For the most up to date Shareware version of CDPlay, call
The Ham Shack BBS at (816)796-6695. 24 Hours, 300/1200/2400
Baud, no parity, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit.
Disclaimer
The author (Randy Rathbun) is not to be held liable for any
damages caused by the use or misuse of this program. This pro-
gram is provided 'AS-IS' with no warranty, either expressed or
implied.
Owners of the REGISTERED version of CDPlay are granted a one
(1) year warranty on the media in which CDPlay is distributed.
Owners of the REGISTERED version must send their original CDPlay
disk (+$3US for postage and handling) to Randy Rathbun, 18602
Cheyenne Drive, Independence, MO 64056.
Terms of Distribution
Since CDPlay is Shareware, you may not sell it. Only the
author (Randy Rathbun) may sell the program as a REGISTERED COPY.
You may not charge others for this (Shareware) program. It must
be given away. Users groups and other commercial interests
(Shareware distributors, for example) may charge a small fee for
the media on which CDPlay is distributed. This fee may not
exceed $5 for magnetic media, and $1000 for optical media.
Users groups and commercial interests which distribute
CDPlay are encouraged to let me (Randy Rathbun) know that you are
distributing CDPlay. We want to know how it is getting around!
Introduction
CDPlay is a full featured program which will allow your CD-
ROM player to play a CD Audio disc. In order for CDPlay (herein
referred to as CDP) you need to have the following:
- A IBM Compatible computer
- A CD-ROM drive capable of audio output
- MSCDEX v2.1 or later
If you have the items listed above, you are all set to start
enjoying CDP!
Note: Your CD-ROM device driver MUST support Audio Play-
back. We have encountered a few users whose device drivers do
not support audio. If CDPlay does not run, check with the drive
manufacturer for an updated device driver.
Optional equipment:
- A Microsoft/Logitech compatible mouse
- A Hard drive (although a floppy will work)
Version 1.20 Features
This version 1.20 of CDPlay corrects a MAJOR bug that was
found... just before I sent out a shipment of registered versions
(whew!) The problem is in the database. If you look at the
database with a binary file viewer, you will see some duplicate
records. This has been corrected.
You will also see records suddenly get lost! I have no idea
how I could have missed this! Some machines will allow you to
enter a few hundred records before it starts losing them, others
will let you enter about 50. I have no idea why, but it does.
Again, this has been corrected.
I have also included a small utility program, CDPRPT.EXE
which will list the titles of your discs to a text file, DISC-
NAME.TXT. This will help you see what CDs you have put in your
database.
Getting Started
In order for CDP to start working, you need to run the
program CDPSETUP. This program will write the following files to
your system:
CONFIG.CDP (8 bytes)
CDPDISC.DAT (0 bytes)
CDPSONG.DAT (0 bytes)
CONFIG.CDP contains startup information for CDP to use. It
has a file length of 8 bytes.
CDPDISC.DAT and CDPSONG.DAT will both have file sizes of 0
bytes, but don't worry! They don't have any information in them
yet.
During the running of CDP, you will see two other files
appear on your system:
CDPDISC.BAK
CDPSONG.BAK
These are backup files of CDPDISC.DAT and CDPSONG.DAT. They
will be discussed a bit later.
Now, back to CDPSETUP. You only need to answer one question
to get the program up and running. You will be asked is the
amount of time for the screen saver to become active. The value
you enter is in minutes, from 1 to 30. The screen saver will
become active after the number of minutes you specify if there
has been no keyboard or mouse button activity.
****************************************************************
NOTE: If you are upgrading from a previous version of CDPlay,
you DO NOT need to run CDPSETUP.
****************************************************************
Running CDPlay
To run CDPlay, just type:
CDP <Enter>
at the DOS prompt. CDP will load and you will soon be greeted
with the main program screen.
When CDPlay is started, there is a three second delay. Disc
information will be displayed on the screen, but it may appear
that CDPlay is locked up. It isn't! This delay is neccessary so
that the program can see if there is a disc in the drive and if
there is, if it is playing.
The Database
The Database section of CDP is very simple. It allows you
to see just what is on a disc, what disc is in the drive, the
times of each track, and the disc artist. It also allows you to
search your database to find a song.
Suppose that you have every disc that the Rolling Stones
currently have out, and you want to find out which discs contain
the song "Jumpin' Jack Flash". The Search portion of the data-
base will tell you.
How To Enter A Disc
Into The Database
Entering a disc into the database couldn't be easier. Just
insert a disc into the CD-ROM drive. CDP will check your current
database entries for that disc. If CDP cannot find the disc, you
will be prompted to enter the disc information.
To add the disc, just follow the prompts. You will first be
asked to enter the Title Of The Disc. You have 80 characters for
each field. As you type, your cursor will move from left to
right. When you get to what appears to be the end of the field,
the text will start to scroll from right to left.
Next, you will be asked to enter the Disc Artist. This is
usually a particular singer or group. If the disc is one of the
'CD Samplers' with songs from many artists, it is suggested that
you type 'Various' in this field.
After you have entered the disc name and artist, you can
start entering the title of each track. Again, you have 80
characters to describe each track.
If, for some reason, you do not feel like entering all this
information, but would like to enter it at a later time, you can.
Just press ENTER for each field. The information will be stored
in the database this way, but can be changed. See the section
entitled 'Editing an Entry' below.
Editing An Entry
If you find you have made a mistake on an entry, or wish to
enter some information which you have previously skipped, you
can.
First, insert the disc whose database entry you wish to
change into the drive. CDP will read the information out of the
database and will display it on the screen.
Next, press Alt-E or click the mouse on the Edit button.
You will be presented with the Entry/Edit screen. You can use
the normal cursor control keys to scroll around the fields and
change them.
If you wish for a field to remain as it is, just hit ENTER
to go on to the next field.
Searching The Database
Searching the database is as easy as entering information
into it.
Press Alt-S or click the mouse on the Search button. You
will now see the Search Query screen. You are asked to enter a
song title, or part of a song title. Enter this and press ENTER.
The disc title, artist, and song title will be displayed. Press
any key to continue searching.
For example, say you want to find all songs titles that
contain the word 'love' in them. Enter 'love' in the search
field. The database will show you all the songs you have entered
which have 'love' in the title.
Note that the database will also show you songs titles which
also have the word 'lovely', 'clove', 'glove', and 'loved'. This
is normal.
To exit a search at any time, press the ESC key, or press
any other key to continue the search.
The Player Section
Now for the good stuff, the actual disc player! I am
assuming you know how to use the mouse by now, so I will not
refer to it any more in this document. Just assume that when I
say something like "Press the P key" that you can also press the
Play/Pause button with the mouse.
So go ahead. Press the P key! This is the Play/Pause key.
It will start a stopped/paused disc and pause a playing disc.
The S key will stop a playing disc. When you press Play, it
will start over at the beginning of the disc.
The + and - keys will allow you to jump forward or backward
one track. If you try to jump forward when listening to the last
track, it will be ignored. If you try to jump backward while
listening to the first track, it will start over at the beginning
of the song.
By pressing the < and > keys, you will jump forward or back
10 seconds on the disc. Please note that this is not 10 seconds
forward relative to the song, but 10 seconds forward relative to
the disc.
If you press E, you will eject the disc from the drive. You
can also eject the disc by hitting the EJECT button on the front
of your CD-ROM drive.
The Music Bar
In the middle of the screen you will see a line divided into
ten sections with arrows on each end. This is the Music Bar. It
allows you to jump to different songs on a disc very quickly.
You can only use the Music Bar if you have a mouse connected.
The Music Bar can show ten track numbers at a time. To
select other track numbers, click on the arrows. Clicking on the
right arrow will scroll the bar up, clicking on the left arrow
will scroll the bar down.
When you have a disc playing, just press the button with the
mouse and the player will jump to the song you selected.
The current track that is playing will flash on the Music
Bar, if the track number is displayed.
The Q-Channel Information
The CD Audio disc Q-Channel information is constantly dis-
played on the left side of the Player Interface. Q-Channel
information is the time that is encoded on the disc itself.
Please note that the times that are displayed do not always look
correct, but they are.
For example, you might notice that the Elapsed Track Time is
somewhere around two (2) seconds behind the Elapsed Disc Time.
This is normal.
The Q-Channel information is displayed as:
Track : (current track playing)
Elap. Time: (elapsed Track Time)
Song Time: (Time of TRack)
Elap. Disc: (Elapsed Disc Time)
Total Disc: (Total running time of disc)
Status : CD Player status
Track shows the current track number that is playing. Elap.
Time is the elapsed running time of the currently playing track.
Song Time is the total running time of the track. Elap. Disc is
the elapsed running time of the currently play disc. Total Disc
shows the total running time of the disc. Status shows the
current status of the CD player. It will show Playing, Paused,
Stopped, or Door Open.
Exiting the Program
You can exit the program at any time by pressing the F10
key. When you do exit the program, any currently playing disc
will continue to play, so that you can continue to listen to
music while you use your computer.
Note that there is no mouse button available for this. This
is intentional - it keeps you from accidentally hitting the mouse
button and exiting the program. It had originally been placed in
the program, but while programming we kept leaving the program
accidentally! Let us know if you would like for this to be
included from now on.
Regular Maintenance
Like all things, in order to keep your program running
smoothly, you should perform some regular maintenance on CDPlay.
This involves nothing more than backing up four files:
CDPDISC.DAT
CDPSONG.DAT
CDPDISC.BAK
CDPSONG.BAK
These files are your database. If you loose them, you have
to start entering the information all over. Believe me, it has
happened to me many times.
If, for some reason, your database becomes corrupted, there
is only one way to restore it. Delete the files CDPDISC.DAT and
CDPSONG.DAT, then run CDPSETUP again.
Again, make sure you make backups of the database every so
often. If you do not, you will have to re-enter all that infor-
mation! Believe me, it is no fun. Copy the files over to a
floppy and put it in a safe place. That way, if you accidentally
destroy the database, or it becomes corrupted, you can easily
restore it.
Remember, "The stingy man spends the most!"
Closing Comments
We hope you receive much enjoyment from using CDPlay. A lot
of hard work and effort went into the creation of this program.
I would like to thank Dave Perry, W4KGU, and Craig Martin,
WA0WPJ, for their help and especially for allowing me to bounce
ideas off them. Thanks also go to Frank Gunja, N0FMR, for being
a very helpful Beta tester. Fortunately I did not screw up his
system! I would also like to thank all the creators of the
Commercial CD player programs. If it wasn't for their extremely
high priced do nothing programs, I wouldn't have written this
one!
What's Next?
Some things that we are working on now at CDPlay Tower
(sorry Click and Clack!) are:
- ARTS, the Audio Recording Tape System. Will allow CDPlay
to rearrange the sequence of songs so that they fit
perfectly on a cassette tape.
- CD+G Graphics. Will allow users with a CD+G compatible
drive to view lyrics/pictures on CD+G Audio Discs. Note
that all drives we have tested so far DO NOT support CD+G.
Let's start a letter writing campaign to get them onto the
market!
- The CDPlay Report System. Will allow you to sort, print,
edit, and update your CDPlay database. Will also allow you
to import database information from other CDPlay users so
you can avoid typing.
- CDPlay itself! We are continually working on making CDPlay
the best it can be, whether it's making the documentation
clearer, fixing bugs, or adding features. We Love Coding!
Note that ALL registered users will receive these and any
other updates FREE as they become available. The only cost is
the nominal $3US shipping and handling fee. Registered users
will receive information on updates through the mail.
Why Should I Register?
This is a very good question, and one that deserves answer-
ing. The main reason is that, by registering, you are letting
me, the author, know that you enjoy using CDPlay and that you
appreciate the hard work and long hours that have gone into
making this a great program.
By registering, you also receive the LATEST version of
CDPlay, plus, as stated above, you also receive FREE UPDATES to
the program (there is, however, a $3US Shipping and Handling
fee.)
Last, but not least, your copy of CDPlay will get rid of the
"AnnoyWare" screens. These screens are a pain in the butt, and
are necessary. I apologize for them. However, until the day
that all users of CDP register the program, they will have to
remain in the Shareware version. Again, I do apologize to all
you honest users.
About the Author
Randy Rathbun, NV0U, is a student at the University of
Missouri at Kansas City and is majoring in Computer Based Infor-
mation Systems. He received his amateur radio license in April
1985 (KA0UMC). Other than computers and ham radio, Randy's hob-
bies are home beer/winemaking, listening to blues music, reading
science fiction, and stamp collecting.
User Notes
CDPlay was written in Turbo C++. It was written using a
Sony CDU-510 CD-ROM drive, MSCDEX v 2.2, MS-DOS 5.0, and an 8088
IBM Compatible computer.
CDPlay should work correctly with ANY CD-ROM drive, provided
the driver program manufacturer has stuck with the Microsoft CD
ROM Extensions Device Driver specifications. CDPlay does not
talk to the drive, like some drive specific programs do, but
talks to the CD-ROM extensions which in turn talks with the
drive. This makes for a more compatible program. If, after you
have tried everything you know of to get the program running, and
it still does not work correctly then WRITE US A LETTER! We want
to know! Please include the following information to us in your
letter:
- a printed copy of your AUTOEXEC.BAT file
- a printed copy of your CONFIG.SYS file
- what version of MSCDEX you are running
- what version and what device driver you are using
We will try our darndest to help you get the program running.
NOTE TO DESKVIEW USERS: We have received a couple of letters
saying that CDP does not work correctly under Deskview. Since I
am running a 8088, multitasking is out. If you are running
CDPlay in DV, and it is working correctly, please let me know.
If your answer solves somebody's problem, you will receive a
REGISTERED copy of CDP free.
Versions Released or Versions We Worked On
CDPlay
Version Date Changes made
1.20SR 920311 MAJOR BUG FOUND! The way which CDPlay
wrote the database meant certain death.
This bug has been fixed. Sorry for any
problems.
1.12S 920221 Made changes to annoy screen. No longer
sits forever. Also cut down on number
of times that the screen is displayed.
1.11SR 920216 As usual, I got ahead of myself and did
not pay attention to what was being put
on the screen. So this version does not
do anything differently, it just corrects
my failure to read what I wrote in the
help screen. Uploaded to Ham Shack BBS
only.
1.10SR 920211 Release of updates.
1.05# 920210 Made change to annoyware screens instead
of cripple ware. Lowered price to $10.
1.04# 920209 Corrected problem in search routine. Can
now exit a search. No longer have to go
through every entry.
1.03# 920208 Added Music Bar to screen. Fixed problem
with mouse acting too quickly.
1.02a# 920207 Made room in code for password
registration. This will not be done
until much later (say v1.20 or later).
1.02# 920205 Moved the screen format around to
facilitate the new upcoming features.
1.01S 920118 Fixed typo in order screen, along with
other small typos. The CDPlay release
also contains CDPlay Quick Start.
1.00S 920115 First Shareware Version Released!
0.60B 920111 Fixed bugs (screen) introduced in v0.22B
0.50B 920110 Fixed stop disc function to return to
beginning of disc.
0.22B 920107 Released BETA TEST version. Contains fix
for initial startup recognition of
playing disc.
0.21B 911219 Initial BETA TEST of CD Play
0.01B 910921 Start of CDPlay coding.
NOTE: * indicates changes made to CDPSETUP.
# indicates version not released.
S indicates Shareware version.
R indicates Registered version.
B indicates Beta version.
CD Play
Product Order Form
Name: __________________________________________________________
Address: _______________________________________________________
City: _____________________________ State: _____________________
Zip: ____________________
Version you are registering _____________
Media type: ________ 3.5" ________ 5.25"
______ units @ __$10__ ea. = _______
+ shipping 3.00
TOTAL _______
Send your Check/Money Order payable to Randy Rathbun to:
Randy Rathbun
18602 Cheyenne Drive
Independence, MO 64056-2082
International orders must be in United States Funds ONLY. Inter-
national orders should add $3.00US for increased shipping costs.
From where did you receive this program? (if a BBS, list its
name/phone number: ______________________________________________
For our use only:
PIDNO: ___________________________________________________
TYPE: ________
