XMPlay 3.6 Copyright (c) 1998-2010 Ian Luck. All rights reserved. Files that you should have found in the XMPlay package ====================================================== XMPLAY.TXT This file XMPLAY.EXE The executable XMP-CD.DLL CD Audio plugin XMP-WMA.DLL WMA plugin XMP-WADSP.DLL Winamp DSP plugin wrapper You can safely remove the XMP-CD.DLL, XMP-WMA.DLL and XMP-WADSP.DLL files if you don't need CD/WMA playback or Winamp DSP plugin support. What's the point? ================= XMPlay is a Win32 (Windows 95/98/NT/2k/ME/XP/Vista/7/etc...) audio player, supporting several formats. Initially, when XMPlay was first released in 1998, only the XM format was supported, hence the name "XMPlay". Stream formats -------------- * OGG - Ogg Vorbis * MP3 - MPEG1/2/2.5 layer 3 * MP2 - MPEG layer 2 * MP1 - MPEG layer 1 * WMA - Windows Media Audio * WAV - any WAVE format that has a codec installed * AIFF - Audeo Interchange File Format * CDA - CD Audio WMA playback requires the Windows Media Format modules to be installed. They come installed with Windows Media player, so will already be on most users' systems, but they can also be installed separately (WMFDIST.EXE is available at the XMPlay website). If these modules are not installed, XMPlay will still work fine, just without WMA support. Module (MOD) formats -------------------- * MO3 - Modules with MP3 or OGG encoded samples * IT - Impulse Tracker modules * XM - FastTracker 2 modules * S3M - ScreamTracker 3 modules * MTM - MultiTracker modules * MOD - Generic module formats * UMX - Unreal/Tournament music package XMPlay's got the best (most accurate to FT2) XM reproduction to be heard from any player. All features/effects (including several FT2 quirks) are 100% supported. The IT reproduction is also practically balls-on, with full support for all effects/NNA/DCA/filters etc... additional features like stereo samples and DMO effects are also fully supported. XMPlay also supports the MO3 format (modules with MP3 or OGG compressed samples). If you wish to create MO3s, then you should download the MO3 encoder from the XMPlay website (URL below). Plugins ------- As well as the listed formats with built-in support, a whole load more formats can be played with XMPlay too, via plugins. XMPlay has its own native "input" plugin system but can also use Winamp plugins. The main window =============== In the main display area, the title, playback time and other basic info about the current track are shown. The time display can be switched (by clicking on it) between the time passed, the time remaining, or the order position (if it is a MOD format being played). Below that is the position indicator, which can also be used to change the playback position. When streaming from the 'net, it will light-up to indicate how much of the file has been downloaded so far (if the file length is known). Right-clicking gives the option of bookmarking the current position, or resuming a previously bookmarked position. NOTE: The bookmark is not retained when closing XMPlay. The next 2 sliders control the volume and balance. Right-clicking the volume slider mutes the output. TIP: The volume can be adjusted using the mouse-wheel, when the mouse is not above anything else scrollable. The row of buttons below the sliders are... Track info & extended playlist: Opens/closes a window to display information on the current track, also a playlist and library. See "The info window" below. NOTE: Some skins may also have separate buttons to access the playlist and library. Previous track: Play the previous track in the playlist, skipping over any that are set to "skip". Right-clicking jumps to the previous sub-song in a multi-song track, or previous cue point when a CUE sheet is present. Stop: Stops playback, and sets the position to the start. Pressing again, when already stopped, unloads the track. Right-clicking gives the option to "Stop at end of track", which temporarily (one time) disables looping and auto-advancing. Play / Pause: Toggles play/pause of the track. If no track is loaded, then the 1st queued track is loaded. If there is no queue, then the currently selected track in the playlist is loaded. If no tracks are selected, the 1st track is loaded. Right-clicking plays a random track. Next track: Play the next track in the playlist, skipping over any that are set to "skip". Right-clicking jumps to the next sub-song in a multi-song track, or next cue point when a CUE sheet is present. Open file(s): Opens and plays file(s). If you open an FTP directory URL, XMPlay will automatically scan the directory for playable files. Right-click to open a directory. Looping switch: This can be set to never loop, always loop, or auto-loop (only files that are intended to be looped). When looping is enabled, you can also choose (by right-clicking) to have the tracks looped only once. When you drag'n'drop files into the main panel, they are opened as if the "Open file(s)" button had been used, ie. playlist cleared and new tracks added. As well as files, whole directory trees and shortcuts can also be drag'n'dropped into XMPlay. TIP: Double-click on any non-button area to toggle mini mode. TIP: Right-click the minimize button to minimize to the tray. TIP: Right-click the close button to have the option of closing at the end of the current track or saving the position to resume from next time XMPlay is loaded. TIP: When moving the window, right-clicking will make the info window move too. The same is true when moving the info window. The Output/DSP panel ==================== These options change the way things sound. The response speed to all these options is dependant on the buffer size: the delay will be the length of the buffer chosen in the "Output" options. Equalizer switch & sliders: Reverb switch & sliders: Auto-amp reduction switch: Amplification slider: See the "DSP" section below for details on these. TIP: Right-clicking the amplification slider will reset it to the default level, and right-clicking the EQ bands will reset them to 0 dB. Some skins may also have MOD options present here. See the "MOD" section below for details on these. Disk switch ----------- When switched on, this enables the automatic loading of settings that have been saved for the track being loaded. Right-clicking brings up options to load settings specific to the file, load settings for the file's path, and load presets. See the "Saved settings" section below. The playlist panel ================== Double-clicking on a track will make XMPlay play the track. Right-clicking brings up further options to play the track, to write a copy to disk while playing the track (URLs only), queue the track, skip the track, add it to the library, locate similar tracks in the library, rate the track, display track info, and remove the track. A track can also be queued by clicking the middle mouse button on it. TIP: The actions performed by double/middle-clicking (as well as 4th/5th button clicks) can be customised in the "Playlist" options (see below). If an internet stream is of a known length (a file on an FTP/HTTP server), the "Write to disk" option can be selected while the track is already playing (or has even finished playing), and XMPlay will write the portion that has already been downloaded and continue to write the remainder that is being downloaded. So you can preview the track before deciding if you want to keep it, without having to start downloading it again. Shoutcast/Icecast/Icecast2 streams that include the track titles, can be automatically split into the separate files when writing them to disk, with optional time-stamping of the files. Alternatively, a CUE sheet can also be generated. NOTE: Due to the way that title updates are transmitted in streams, they don't usually occur exactly upon track changes, so the CUE points may sound a little off and require some post-tweaking. Tracks that are set to be skipped are displayed in a small dimmed font. Dead tracks are indicated by red lines through them: a single red line means the track is unplayable, while a double line means it can't even be opened, eg. doesn't exist. The currently opened track is signified with a light-blue arrow. Tracks that are queued for playback have a smaller light-blue arrow, and the queue position next to it. Files can be added to the list by drag'n'dropping them there. Whole directory trees and shortcuts can also be drag'n'dropped into the list. URLs can also be dragged from web-browsers. The new tracks are inserted into the position that they are dropped in. TIP: Left-clicking above/below the scroller "thumb" scrolls the list a page up/down. That is repeated if the button is held down. If the right button is then also clicked, the "thumb" is grabbed so that it follows the mouse movement. TIP: You can drag tracks up/down the list by holding down the left button. Tracks can also be dragged from XMPlay into other programs, by clicking the right button while the left button is held down. Tracks can also be dragged from the playlist to the library (and vice versa), or back into the playlist to add duplicates. Queue: This toggles listing the tracks that are queued for playback, instead of the entire playlist. The queued tracks can be rearranged and generally manipulated just like in the playlist. Bottom buttons -------------- Random play ord...
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