
MoreAmp Beta 0.1.26 README
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NOTE:  The latest version of MoreAmp is always at

	http://sourceforge.net/projects/moreamp/

Downloads from other sites may be older versions.

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Contents :

- Audio Media Player
- MoreAmp has unusual features
- Installation
- Usage
- Audio support
- Live audio input
- Keyboard shortcuts, Key bindings
- No gui - No Graphic User Interface
- Currently implemented functionality by platform and audio file type
- Known bugs
- MoreAmp is released under the GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE (GPL)

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Audio Media Player :

Plays aac, aif, fla, flac, m2a, m4a, mp1, mp2, mp3, mp4 sound, ogg, wav,
and wma files, Audio CD's and the system audio input.

Creates aac, aif, flac, mp3, mp4, ogg, wav files.

Builds and runs on Mac OSX, win32, Unix/X11/GTK. 
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MoreAmp has unusual features, it can :

- Load memory, or a virtual disk, full of songs and keep playing after the
  system's power-saving features spindown the hard disk(s).
  
- Play songs between settable start and stop points, and loop between them.
  For example, play just three seconds of every song in a list. Or loop on
  a section of a song.
 
- Apply more than the usual sound control: 31-band equalizer, stereo
  balance, stereo separation (nice to reduce for headphones), reverse
  stereo, left/right/pan mono, channel (speaker) phase inversion, and a
  fun 'Left minus Right' mono pan mode that removes sound in the 'center'
  channel, for example to take out a singer.

- Generate new songfiles with the sound controls applied, for example new
  mp3 files for a portable mp3 player that lacks a graphic equalizer.

- and more.

Note : aac, mp3 and mp4 encoding is not built into the binary releases, but
       can be built in from the source release.

MoreAmp Beta is still under development. See
'Currently implemented functionality by platform and audio file type'
below.
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Installation

For OSX, mount the dmg image of the 'MoreAmp' binary release archive and
copy the MoreAmp folder to your home folder.

For win, unzip the binary release archive anywhere on your system.

This creates a 'MoreAmp' folder containing the MoreAmp executable, the two
'COPYING' license files and this 'README' file.

To uninstall, delete the 'MoreAmp' folder.

For linux/unix, read 'INSTALLunix.txt' in the src release.

For playing audio cd's on win32 platforms :
You may need to 'install an aspi layer'. Do this with 'aspi_471a2.exe'
available at :

     http://download.adaptec.com/software_pc/aspi/aspi_471a2.exe

If the link has changed, try Googling for "aspi_471a2.exe".


Quick test : drag and drop a songfile icon on the MoreAmp executable icon.

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Usage

Songlists

  MoreAmp plays from songlists, simple text files containing full paths to
  audio files and/or cd tracks, and/or from standard m3u files.

  There are several ways to make songlists :

  - Use the 'Make Songlist' menu item under the MoreAmp 'Files' menu, which
    first prompts you to select a folder (that contains songfiles and/or
    songlists and/or links ('aliases' or 'shortcuts') to songfiles and/or
    cd's), then prompts you for a name for the new songlist. Songlists can
    be any valid file name with a .maf extension, except 'madrop.maf' and
    'macda.maf'. These two reserved names are for the songlists created
    when files are dragged-and-dropped or when a cd is played.

  or

  - Drag and drop song icons onto the MoreAmp icon or onto a MoreAmp
    window. The song icons can be songfiles and/or folders and/or links
    and/or cd's and/or m3u files. This creates a new 'madrop' list and
    if the 'autostart' menu setting is on then the player starts in 'play'
    mode. If the 'Add mode' checkbox is set then instead of creating a new
    'madrop' list the new songfiles are added to it. You can then save the
    list with the 'Save Song List As' menu item to a songlist name other
    than 'madrop'. Selecting files with the 'Play Song Files' menu can be
    used instead of drag-and-dropping files.

  or 

  - On unix and win, MoreAmp accepts command line arguments that are song
    files, dirs, links cd's or m3u files and creates a new 'madrop' list
    as in drag-and-drop (above). If the first argument is a moreamp
    songlist then that songlist is played and any following arguments are
    ignored.

  or

  - Make a songlist with some other program like a database, or export one
    from another player. 
    A MoreAmp songlist is just a text file of full paths to songfiles, one
    song per line. Note that a songfile name must end with a correct audio
    file type extension, i.e 'x.mp3' will play but 'x.mp3 copy' will not. 
    Lines beginning with '#' are ignored.
    Append '.maf' to the songlist and place it in the 'masonglists' folder.
  - MoreAmp also plays from standard m3u files. Note that m3u files must
    stay in the dir where they were created, usually in the dir with their
    songfiles.

  Songlists are kept in the 'masonglists' folder. MoreAmp starts up with
  the songlist that was last selected. Select another songlist to play with
  the 'Open Song List' or 'Open Recent' item under the MoreAmp 'Files'
  menu, or drop a songlist icon on the MoreAmp executable icon or onto a
  MoreAmp window.

Settings

  MoreAmp 'settings' are the options selected with checkboxes, menu items
  and droplists, the equalizer values, and the window sizes and positions.

  Each songlist gets its own settings.

  Settings for new songlists are copied from default settings. Default
  settings can be changed with the 'Save Settings As Default' menu item.

  Factory settings are used when no settings files are available. You can
  also select them with the 'Factory Settings' menu item.

  You can copy the settings from another songlist with the 'Copy Settings'
  menu item.

  Setting are not automatically saved when quitting MoreAmp. Expressly save
  new settings with the 'Save Settings' menu item.

  Settings are saved in binary (non-editable) files in the 'masettings'
  folder. These files are named like their associated songlist, with '.mas'
  appended. If a settings file for a songlist is missing or corrupted,
  MoreAmp recreates one using the default settings or, failing that, the
  factory settings.

  The 'Advanced Settings' menu item opens a window for additional settings.
  See 'Advanced Settings window' below.

 Controls

  MoreAmp is controlled by pushbuttons or menus or from the keyboard. Most
  controls function as expected. Some are disabled while playing. Some menu
  items duplicate pushbuttons. Feel safe to click away to see and hear what
  happens. Use headphones to hear subtle adjustments.

  Some controls, menus and settings need some explanation :

  Main window :

  - Alt Size (menu)
    Toggles between two sets of window position and size settings. There is
    also a checkbox just under the Quit button with the same function.

    Notes:
    - Holding down the Shift key (or the Alt key on some platforms) while
      alternating size keeps the current window positions, i.e. only the
      sizes change, and the previous alternate window positions are lost.
    - Holding down the Shift key (or the Alt key on some platforms) while
      moving the main window prevents moving the other windows along with
      it, i.e. only the main window moves. On OS X you can also move only
      the main window by dragging with the right mouse button instead of
      the left mouse button.

  - Eq31Bands
    This is a duplicate of the checkbox in the equalizer window. 
    Set this to use 31-band equalization, where the bands are one-third
    octave wide, instead of 10-band equalization, where the bands are one
    whole octave wide.
    Also see 'Link' under 'Equalizer window' below. 

  - EqExtra 
    This is a duplicate of the checkbox in the equalizer window. 
    Set this to enable an extra (second) pass through the filter, on
    either 31-band or 10-band equalization.
    Note that this doubles the processor usage for equalizing. 

    Notes : 
    Equalization takes much processor time. Setting Eq31Bands and EqExtra
    off is the single most effective way to reduce skips on a slow busy
    system, next to setting the equalizer off entirely.

  - Title Info 
    If not set, or if settings menu 'Title Info->List Name' is selected,
    the main window title is 'MoreAmp' and the name of the songlist in use.

    If set once, or if settings menu 'Title Info->Song Name' is selected,
    you get the name of the songfile currently playing.

    If set a second time, or if settings menu 'Title Info->Numbers' is
    selected, you get the name of the songlist plus some sets of numbers:
    the number of songs in the songlist that have played/the total number
    of songs in the songlist, (in parentheses) the number of loaded songs
    that have played/the total number of songs loaded, and the playing
    song's remaining play time.
    If ReptPlayed is set you get the index of the song currently playing
    (with a '#' before it) instead of the number of songs in the songlist
    that have played.
    In Direct mode you do not get the numbers for songs loaded.

  - Random 
    Play or load songs from the songlist at random ('shuffle' mode).

  - Repeat Played 
    When going through a songlist for songs to play, MoreAmp normally
    skips songs that have already played until all songs have played.
    If this setting is on MoreAmp repeats a song that has already played.

  - Loop Loaded 
    In 'Mem' buffer mode MoreAmp normally loads songs from the songlist,
    plays them, then loads some more, plays them, etc. If this setting is
    on, it will not load more songs, just loop on the same loaded songs
    over and over; in 'Direct' buffer mode, it will loop on one song. 

  - Loop List 
    When all songs in the songlist have played MoreAmp will stop playing.
    If this setting is on MoreAmp will start over. See also 'Zero List'
    below.

  - Invert Right 
    Inverts the Right channel output polarity (same as inverting the wires
    of one speaker). Occasionally useful for fixing a badly encoded file,
    or if your speakers are out of phase. Also, if in normal Output Stereo
    mode, sliding the Sep slider down towards mono will gradually remove
    the 'center channel', as in 'L - R' mono mode (see 'L, R, rev
    checkboxes' and 'Sep (Separation)' below). 

  - Use m3u
    If this is set then when scanning a dir for files to play, MoreAmp will
    first look for m3u files in that dir and if it finds any it will add
    their songs to the songlist it is creating, and will ignore other
    files or subdirs in that dir.
    If this is not set then MoreAmp will ignore any m3u files in that dir
    and scan for songs like it normally does.

  - Single Play 
    This will cause MoreAmp to stop at the end of a song, instead of
    starting the next song. 
    Useful when you want to output a single song to a file from a list.

  - Auto Start 
    This will cause MoreAmp to begin play when the program is started,
    instead of waiting for you to press the Play button. Useful if you use
    your computer as an alarm clock or if you want it to play immediately
    when you drop a file on it.

  - Zero List (Tools menu) 
    Resets to zero a songlist's memory of songs that have played (see
    'Repeat Played' and 'Loop List' above).

   - Make Catalog (Tools menu) 
    Makes in the moreamp dir a text file named 'songlist.txt' that lists
    for each song in a songlist whether or not that song has played ("+1"
    or "+0" after the song name), and the song info displayed in the List
    window when clicking 'Song' : file name, size, duration, tags, etc.
    depending on the file format.
    The last line of the catalog file is the name and size of the largest
    songfile in the songlist.
    Use the 'View Catalog' Tools menu or any text viewer to view this file.
    USe the 'Quit' button to interrupt cataloguing.

  - 'Repeat' 'Begin' 'End' 
    Songs play from the 'Begin' value to the 'End' value, and loop between
    these two if the 'Repeat' checkbox is set (these settings are not
    saved). Use the position slider for rough settings and the up/down
    arrows for fine settings. The position slider is more accurate if 
    you widen the window. Currently not effective with WMA or AAC files.
    Set these checkboxes on from left to right (Repeat first), and off from
    right to left (Repeat last) to avoid starting the next song when 'End'
    is pressed.
     
  - Play
    Starts the player.
    - In Direct mode songs are played directly from the songlist in an
      order depending on the Random and ReptPlayed settings.
    - In VDisk or Mem modes, songs are loaded (onto VDisk or into memory)
      and a temporary 'Loaded' list of those songs is generated. Which
      songs are loaded depends on the Random, ReptPlayed and Buffer size
      settings. Songs are then played from the Loaded list in sequential
      order.

  - Next
    - Jumps to the next song in the playing order, which depends on the
      Buffer, Random, ReptPlayed, LoopLoaded and LoopList settings.
    - If no songs have played yet, Next works like the Play button.

  - Previous
    - Jumps to the previous song in the playing order, or to the beginning
      of the current song, depending on the Buffer, Random, ReptPlayed,
      LoopLoaded and LoopList settings.
    - If no songs have played yet, Previous works like the Play button.
 
    Note:
    'Standard' mode
      MoreAmp works like a 'standard' player when set to Direct mode with
      ReptPlayed on and Random off.
      In 'standard' mode it doesn't load songs, it just plays them
      sequentially from the songlist, and Next and Previous work as
      expected.
      The TitleInfo Numbers display shows the Index (with a '#' before it)
      instead of the number of songs played.
      At the last song in the songlist Next jumps to the first song in the
      songlist (recirculates); at the first song in the songlist Previous
      jumps to the last.

  - Volume
    The left and right volume sliders are normally linked together and you
    can slide either one to change the volume for both channels (see
    'Balance' below).
    The value under each slider shows the attenuation, from 0 dB at top
    (max volume) to -infinity at bottom (zero volume).

    - Mouse wheel volume control
      If the 'Use MouseWheel' menu item is set you can also change the
      volume with the mouse wheel. The focus needs to be in the main,
      equalizer, effects or list window (except in the list itself, where
      the mouse scrolls the list)

    - Keyboard volume control
      If the 'Use Keyboard' menu item is set you can also change the
      volume from the keyboard ("." period and "," comma by default).
      The keyboard focus needs to be in the main, list, effects or
      equalizer window (except in the eq preset name edit box).
      The new volume setting is momentarily displayed in the main window
      title in percent (of the linear scale of the sliders).
    
  - Balance 
    Set this to be able to move the volume sliders individually to change
    the left/right balance. Use the mouse wheel or the volume keyboard
    shortcut to move both sliders simultaneously without altering the
    balance.

 - Preamp, Limit 
    The Preamp slider changes the mp3 preamp level. If set too high you get
    clipping distortion, but if Limit is set, the mp3 level is
    automatically reduced enough to prevent clipping. The amount reduced is
    displayed next to the checkbox. 
    You can keep your mp3 songs all playing at about the same max level by
    setting the Preamp slider high enough, say 4.5, and setting Limit on.

  - L, R, rev checkboxes, Mono, Stereo, Pan 
    Normal value for these three checkboxes is off and 'Output Stereo' is
    displayed above them.
 
    - If you set 'rev', left and right channels will be reversed.
 
    - If you set 'L', then only the left channel will play (through both
      speakers), the label above changes to 'Output Mono', and the 'rev'
      checkbox disappears. Same for 'R' if 'L' is not set.
 
    - If 'L' and 'R' are both set then you get both channels in mono and
      'L+R' or 'L-R' in place of 'rev', and the 'Separation' slider becomes
      a 'Pan' slider with the Right channel at the top and the Left channel
      at the bottom. Then : 
      - if you set '+' you get normal 'L + R' mono, which you can pan left
        to right; 
      - if you set '-' you get 'L - R' mono, removing sound that both
        channels have in common, that is, removing sound that was in the
        middle in stereo mode, creating a silent hole in the middle; the
        'Pan' slider moves the hole from Left to Right. Also see 'Invert
        Right' above.

      Note:  
      On mp3 files, the mono 'L - R' mode works a little better on files
      that have been encoded in Normal Stereo mode rather than in Joint
      Stereo mode.

  - Sep (Separation) 
    Available in stereo mode to reduce left/right separation. A value of 0
    is equivalent to mono. 
    Also see 'Invert Right' above.

  - Buffer 
    Selects where songs will be loaded (copied to) for playing :
 
    - Mem 
      System memory, using the amount set with the up/down arrows. This
      should be at least as large as the largest songfile in the songlist
      (excluding cd files), else you will get a prompt to increase mem or
      set the Direct mode when that file is selected for play. You can
      get the largest songfile in a songlist at the end of the songlist's
      catalog file. Don't forget that wav and aif files are about eleven
      times larger than lossy compressed files, and flac files about six
      times.

    - VDisk
      Virtual Disk, or 'ram disk', using the amount set with the up/down
      arrows. You select an existing virtual disk from the 'Settings' menu,
      but be careful because you can select any disk, even a hard disk, as
      a 'virtual disk'. The selector pop up prompts for a directory, so a
      directory must exist on the virtual disk. There are various utilities
      for most platforms for creating virtual disks.

    - Direct 
      No buffering is used, songs are played directly from their source
      disk.

      Notes: 
      - Audio cd tracks are not normally loaded even when in Mem or
        Vdisk mode, instead they are played from the cd as in Direct mode.
        On OSX, however, you can open an audio cd like a folder and access
        aiff files, e.g "1 Audio Track.aiff", and drop them onto moreamp
        which then plays like them any songfile, i.e. it will load them if
        in Mem or Vdisk mode.         
      - You may want to select Mem or VDisk instead of Direct even when not
        expecting the hard disk to spindown, for example when repeating
        part of a song ('Repeat' is set) or to loop on several songs 
        ('LoopLoaded' is set). 
      - On OSX and Unix, if you ask for too much system memory, you get
        virtual memory instead of physical memory, so the hard disk may
        never spin down.

  - Output 
    Select the output, either the system's sound output or a file type for
    new files. New files take on the song name with the type's extension
    appended and are placed in the folder selected in the 'MoreAmp File
    Output Parameters' windows (which pop up whenever an output other
    than Sound is selected). New songfiles are created with all the
    controls applied to the song (except volume) : equalizer, preamp/
    limit, separation, L R rev/+/-, invertRight, effects.

    Notes: 
      - A new file type's extension is simply appended to the source
        filename, so you get a new file name like "Summertime.aif.mp3" for
        an mp3 file made from an aif file.
      - .wav files are created in Microsoft PCM format. 
      - The songlist is processed the same whether playing sound or
        creating new files. To create a single new file, make sure
        SinglePlay is set and double-click on its entry in the songlist
        and MoreAmp will stop when it has created that one file; to create
        a batch of new files from a songlist first zero the list (Tools
        menu) and turn off LoopList and SinglePlay, then press the Play
        button.

  - Open Song List, Open Recent (File menu)
    Holding down the Shift key (or the Alt key on some platforms) while
    opening a songlist from this menu keeps the current settings instead
    of loading that songlist's settings.     

  - Save settings 
    Settings are not automatically saved on exit. Use this to keep any
    changes made to a songlist's settings. Also see 'Lists' under
   ' Lists window' below.

  - Set Audio CD Drives (unix only)
    Use this to tell MoreAmp what audio CDRom drives to use. Try the
    'cd paranoia' feature if you have problems reading a scratched or
    otherwise damaged audio disk. These settings are saved independently
    of the songlist settings.

  - README (Help menu)
    This Help menu item pops a text viewer that displays this README file
    and can search for text you put in the search window. Text that you
    highlight with a double-click or by dragging the cursor is copied to
    the search window (on Win and Mac highlight then right-click). Use the
    'Edit' function or a text editor to change README's contents to suit
    you.

  Equalizer window :

  - Eq31Bands 
    This is a duplicate of the checkbox in the main window.
    Set this to use 31-band equalization, where the bands are one-third
    octave wide, instead of 10-band equalization, where the bands are one
    whole octave wide.
    Also see 'Link' below. 

  - EqExtra 
    This is a duplicate of the checkbox in the main window.
    Set this to enable extra-filtering, on either 31-band or 10-band
    equalization. Note that this doubles the processor usage for
    equalizing.

  - Zoom/Offset 
    If the Zoom checkbox is set, expand (+) or contract (-) the equalizer
    values about the 0 dB axis. 
    If the Zoom checkbox is not set, raise (+) or lower (-) all equalizer
    values.

  - Offset dB 
    Adds the dB value set with the up/down arrow to all equalizer values,
    effectively changing the value of the zoom axis, allowing correction
    for some of the loss introduced by the equalizer. The sum of the offset
    and the highest equalizer value should not exceed 12, to avoid possible
    clipping distortion.

  - Preset Name 
    Edit the preset names, for example to change 'Preset 16' to 'Cheap
    Speakers'. Note that equalizer settings are part of the settings saved
    with each songlist, i.e. Preset 16 could  be a set of values named
    'Cheap Speakers' in one songlist and a different set of values named
    'Deaf Listener' in another songlist.
    When finished editing the preset names, click outside the edit box to
    re-enable keyboard shortcuts in the eq window. 

  - Separate L/R
    Set this checkbox to use separate settings for the left and right
    channel. A second equalizer window pops up for adjusting the right
    channel. You can copy and paste between the two windows.

  - Mid 
    Sets all equalizer sliders to 0 dB.

  - Copy/Paste 
    Use this to copy settings from one equalizer preset to another.

  - Reset 
    Reverts to the last saved settings for the current equalizer preset.

  - ShiftLeft/ShiftRight 
    Shift the equalizer settings one slider to the left or right. Values
    shifted off either end are lost until recovered with the Reset button.

  - Invert 
    Inverts the equalizer settings about the 0 dB axis (boost becomes cut,
    and vice-versa).

  - Link 
    If this checkbox is set and a slider with a blue dot is moved, then the
    two sliders on either side will be linked to it and move as well. This
    means that you can set a fairly smooth 31-point curve by moving only
    ten sliders. Note that 31 sliders are displayed even when the Eq31Bands
    setting is off; in this case only the ten sliders with a blue dot are
    active.

  Lists window :

   - Info 
    Displays some info about the current songlist, the size of the memory
    bufer used, and any audio cd's that MoreAmp found.

  - List 
    Displays the current songlist. Double-clicking on an entry will play
    that song (creates a new 'loaded' list with a single entry). You can
    also move through the list with the keyboard up and down arrow keys
    and hit return to play a song. 
    The 'Previous' and 'Next' buttons work on this list when in Direct
    mode.
    A very large songlist may be slow to display. Avoid saving settings
    with the Lists window enabled and a large songlist displayed, so that
    the next time the MoreAmp app is started it won't be slowed down by
    displaying a large songlist.
    Keeping the 'Show index', 'Show dir' and 'Show path' settings off may
    speed up displaying a large songlist.

  - Load (meaning 'Loaded') 
    Displays the songs loaded. Double-clicking on an entry will play that
    song without reloading, whereas double-clicking in the 'List' songlist
    or pressing the 'Start' button loads new songs. You can also move
    through this list with the keyboard up and down arrow keys and hit
    return to play a song.
    The 'Previous' and 'Next' buttons work on this list when not in Direct
    mode.

  - Song 
    Shows info and tags (e.g. id3 tags) about the song currently playing.
    You can show info about another song (not currently playing) in either
    the songlist or loaded list by selecting the song (single-click) in the
    list and then pressing this button. A second press reverts the info to
    the song currently playing. The info shown here can be collected for
    all files in a songlist into a text file with the 'Make Catalog' button
    decribed above.

  - A horizontal scrollbar appears if either the list or the window are
    resized so that the list is wider than the window. To resize the
    list, drag the right edge of the header at the top of the list. You
    may need to widen the window or scroll right to see the right edge.

  File Output windows :
    These windows pop up whenever an output other than Sound is selected,
    and allow you to change the file output destination folder and some
    encoding parameters. These settings are saved individually with each
    songlist, so you might have for example mp3 songs from one songlist
    going into a folder called 'mp3hifi' at 192 kbps, and mp3 songs from
    another songlist going into a folder called 'mp3nofi' at 80 kbps.

  Effects windows :
    This window pops up when the Effects checkbox or menu item is set, and
    allows you to select and vary the pitch, tempo and speed.
    The Effects checkbox in the main window, duplicated in the Effects
    window, turns all effects on or off.
    These effects take processor time and degrade output quality somewhat.
    Setting the 'No AA Filter' and 'Low Qual Tempo' checkboxes reduces
    processor usage but degrades quality a litle more.
    Effects settings are saved individually with each songlist.
    On wx builds, double clicking on an effect slider resets it to its
    saved value.

  Advanced Settings window (opened from the Settings menu)
  - Close and re-open sound channel between songs
    Leaving this setting off can result in less delay between songs on
    systems where the sound output unit is slow to open, such as the OSX
    Aggregate Device.
    Setting it on ensures that the sound output channel is closed, re- 
    initialized and re-opened for every song.
    The sound output channel is always re-opened if the sample rate of a
    song differs from the previous', e.g. 44100 to 22050, regardless of
    this setting.   

  - High Priority 
    Set this if listening to uninterrupted music is more important to you
    than anything else the system might be doing. Effects vary on different
    systems. You may not notice any difference. On unix you may need to be
    the root user. Also see the note after EqExtra above.

  Drag and Drop :

  - You can drop songs, folders, links, CD, and/or songlist icons on the
    MoreAmp app icon to start the player, or onto windows of an already
    started MoreAmp. If MoreAmp is already playing :
    On Mac this will stop any currently playing song and restart MoreAmp.
    On win it will start another instance of the player, or do nothing,
    depending on whether you have Win 2000 or XP or 98.
    On Unix X11/GTK platforms what happens depends on the window manager.

  Error Logging :

    When MoreAmp encounters problems it will log up to 1000 errors to file
    'maLog.txt', after which it will popup up a warning and stop logging,
    and stop loading or playing. If the 'Error Logging' setting is off no
    logging or error stopping will occur. You may want to turn this off,
    for example, when dropping onto MoreAmp directories that you know
    contains more than 1000 files that MoreAmp can't play. Use the
    'View Log' Tools menu or any text viewer to view maLog.txt.

  - Depending on the type of error you can get both an error popup and a
    log entry.

  - You can view and clear the log from the Tools menu, or a text viewer.
 
  - If there is no maLog.txt file (no errors have been logged) then the
    View Log and Clear Log menu items are disabled until an error is
    logged (by that instance of MoreAmp). The keyboard shortcuts to view
    and clear the log are not disabled.    

  Multiple Instances :

  - On mac, run multiple instances of MoreAmp from multiple copies of the
    MoreAmp executable. The copies' names need to start with 'MoreAmp',
    e.g. 'MoreAmp', 'MoreAmp copy', 'MoreAmp copy 1', etc.

  - On win, you can run multiple instances of MoreAmp from a single
    MoreAmp executable in the MoreAmp folder.

  - On unix, you can run multiple instances of moreamp from a single
    moreamp executable, installed anywhere.

  - Instances appear on the screen as 'MoreAmp' ('moreamp' on unix) for
    the first instance, then MoreAmp2', 'MoreAmp3', etc. in the order they
    are started.

  - You can disable multiple instances with the 'Multiple Instances' item
    in the Settings menu of the first instance.

___________________________________________________________________________

Audio support

MoreAmp built with Portaudio supports the following audio systems :

   ASIO for Windows and Macintosh
   BeOS
   Macintosh Sound Manager for OS 8,9 and Carbon
   Macintosh Core Audio for OSX
   Silicon Graphics AL
   OSS implementation for various Unixes
   Windows Direct Sound
   Windows MME (most widely supported)

Otherwise MoreAmp supports only Mac Core Audio and win MME (and no unix),
and no live audio input.

___________________________________________________________________________

Live audio input

MoreAmp built with Portaudio can play live audio from a system audio input.

Audio input mode is activated with the 'Controls/Audio In' menu item or by
opening file maaudioin.maf or by playing any file with a '.maa' extension,
e.g. 'audioin.maa'.

The system audio input will play though the MoreAmp effects, equalizer and
output controls.

The output can be recorded to an output file by selecting one of the output
files (flac, ogg, wav, etc) instead of the Sound output.

If Portaudio was built with Jack support then audio from other applications
can be routed to MoreAmp.
___________________________________________________________________________

Keyboard shortcuts, Key bindings

    If the 'Use Keyboard' menu item is set then MoreAmp will accept
    keyboard shortcuts to various menus, pushbuttons and checkbuttons.

    Keyboard shortcuts, the up and down arrows for scrolling the list, and
    the 'Enter' key are accepted in the main, list, eq and effects 
    wibndows. If the up and down arrows don't scroll the songlist on your
    platform, try using the 'Scroll Up' and 'Scroll Down' shortcuts ('i'
    and 'k' by default).

    The file masettings/makeybindings.txt contains the associations between
    keys and functions. It can be edited with the 'Edit Key Bindings' Tools
    menu and will be recreated with factory shortcuts if it is missing.
    You can use the the 'Blank Key Bindings' Tools menu to create a new
    keybindings file without the default values (no shortcuts defined).

    Notes:
    - On some platforms (e.g. OS X with MoreAmpN) lists have an autoscroll
      feature, e.g. you type 'c' and the lists scrolls to the first entry
      beginning with 'c'. To use the keyboard shortcuts instead, you need
      to move the keyboard focus outside the list: click in the window area
      outside the list or click in another window.
    - On some platforms, the up/down arrows don't scroll lists when the
      list does not have keyboard focus. Use the ScrollUp and ScrollDown
      shortcuts instead ('i' and 'j' by default).
    - The PlayIndex shortcut ('?' by default) prompts you for the index
      number of a song to play. This is not really a shortcut as the gui
      has no menu or button with this function.
    - The Lists shortcut ('q' by default) on a No gui build dumps the
      songlist to the terminal window in the Song List format (Show paths
      or Show dir) last saved. The index is always shown.
___________________________________________________________________________

No gui - No Graphic User Interface

    MoreAmp can be built with a wxWidgets gui on OSX/windows/linux/
    unix, or with the native carbon gui on OSX, or with GTK+1.2 or GTK+2
    on linux/unix, or with no gui at all, as detailed in the INSTALL files.

    A MoreAmp without any gui works just like a MoreAmp with a gui with the
    keyboard shortcuts.

    Use a MoreAmp with gui to change the settings or to make songlists,
    quit, then start the MoreAmp without any gui.
    Both MoreAmps should have been built with the same configuration.

    Start the MoreAmp without any gui by double-clicking its icon or
    dropping files on it, or by entering a command line in a shell :

    on unix or OSX :

    	.../moreampnogui /fullpathto/moreamp/masonglists/anysonglist.maf

        or

    	.../moreampnogui /fullpathto/anysongfile.mp3

     or, in a win .bat file :

    fullpath\MoreAmpNOGUI.exe fullpath\MoreAmp\masonglists\anysonglist.maf

    The command line arguments can be full paths to song files or
    songlistsor directories or links, whatever is otherwise dropped on a
    MoreAmp with gui.

    If there are no command line arguments, the songlist at the head of
    file 'masettings/marecentlistname.txt' is used.

    A MoreAmp without any gui ignores the 'Use Keyboard' setting.

    A MoreAmp without any gui will stop and exit if no songlist was ever
    selected (empty or bad file 'masettings/marecentlistname.txt'), of if
    everything goes wrong.

    Exit a MoreAmp without any gui by typing the "Quit" shortcut ("Q" by
    default), or  with Ctl-C, or 'Quit' from its taskbar icon if there is
    one.

    See also the Notes about the PlayIndex and Lists shortcuts in
    'Keyboard shortcuts' above.
___________________________________________________________________________

Currently implemented functionality by platform and audio file type

in	: can play a file.

out	: can create a file; out* : src release only, not available in bin
          release.

tags	: can read and display tag info.

seek	: can play from arbitrary start time or slider position.

drag	: can play files/lists/cd/dirs/links by dragging and dropping them
drop	  on the MoreAmp app icon or on a MoreAmp window.

args    : accepts command line arguments (files/lists/cd/dirs/links).

OSX
   AAC in, out*, no tags, no seek
   AIF in, out, seek
   FLAC in, out, tags, seek
   MP3 in, out*, tags, seek
   MP4 in, out*, tags, seek
   OGG in, out, tags, seek
   WAV in, out, seek
   WMA in, tags, no seek
   CD in, seek
   Audio In (with Portaudio, and Jack if enabled in Portaudio)
   drag-drop (on osxnative build, works only on app icons, not app windows)
   no args (accepts OpenDocument events)

Win
   AAC in, out*, no tags, no seek
   AIF in, out, seek
   FLAC in, out, tags, seek
   MP3 in, out*, tags, seek
   MP4 in, out*, tags, seek
   OGG in, out, tags, seek
   WAV in, out, seek
   WMA in, tags, no seek
   CD in, seek
   Audio In (with Portaudio)
   drag-drop
   args

Unix
   AAC in, out*, no tags, no seek
   AIF in, out, seek
   FLAC in, out, tags, seek	
   MP3 in, out*, tags, seek	
   MP4 in, out*, tags, seek	
   OGG in, out, tags, seek	
   WAV in, out, seek	
   WMA in, tags, no seek
   CD in, seek		
   Audio In (with Portaudio, and Jack if enabled in Portaudio)
   drag-drop (untested, depends on wxWidget and your window manager)
   args

* in src release only, not available in bin release.
___________________________________________________________________________

Known bugs

- On OSX/wx, drag-and-drop does not work on the main window, only on the
  list or eq windows or on the MoreAmp app icon.

- On OSX/wx, drag-and-dropping an Audio CD icon does not work onto a
  MoreAmp window but works onto a MoreAmp icon. Dropping an alias to an
  Audio CD onto a MoreAmp window or MoreAmp icon works, or opening an
  Audio CD and dropping the aiff files also works.

- On win, MoreAmp with no gui cannot process shortcuts (.lnk files).

- On mac/wx, if the About or README keyboard shortcut is edited, it is
  effectively changed but it appears in its menu item only after a program
  restart.

- The unix/linux cd player tries to play non-audio cd's.

- On unix/linux gtk1 and gtk2 builds the window positions relative to the
  main window are sometimes incorrect when the windows are opened or do
  not track when moving the main window. This problem varies with window
  managers. Leaving some space between the windows can help.
   
___________________________________________________________________________

MoreAmp is released under the GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE (GPL).
This means that you can get the source code and do pretty much what you
like with it, as explained in the text files 'COPYING' and
'COPYINGOggVorbis'.
 
MoreAmp uses libraries also released under GPL. Some of these libraries
have been modified for use with MoreAmp. Credit to the original releases
is given under the 'About' menu item and in the source code.

Due to patent restrictions, the MoreAmp binary executable is distributed
with only the flac and ogg encoders (and aif and wav) compiled in, i.e.
without the mp3 or aac/mp4 encoders.

If you want MoreAmp for unix/linux, or a MoreAmp that creates mp3 and/or
aac/mp4 files, or to otherwise modify MoreAmp, you can build it yourself
from the source code distribution. Go to
             http://sourceforge.net/projects/moreamp/
click on 'Download' and select the latest MoreAmp-x.x.x-src.tar.gz.

For build instructions for each platform see the INSTALLxxx.txt files, and
the 'READMElibsXXX' files in the 'libs' dir of the source distributation.

You can post bugs or comments or get help on the SourceForge.net:Forums
for MoreAmp page. Go to
	http://sourceforge.net/forum/?group_id=121587 
___________________________________________________________________________

eof
