ReadMe File for MIDI Genie 1.81 Shareware release
Copyright (c) 1997-98 by Jonathan Hsiao-Liang Yen
An EarsNest Soft Production

Table of Contents
=================
Purpose of MIDI Genie
What's new in v1.81?
What's new in v1.80?
Some Changes
MIDI Genie Features Summary
About Working with Other INTERNET Applications
System Requirement
List of Files
Installation
Expiration
Registration
Help
Disclaimer
Acknowledgement


Purpose of MIDI Genie
=====================
MIDI Genie is a program for playing mid, rmi, avi and wav files on Windows 95.
Its purpose is to replace the plain multimedia file player in Windows system
with advanced features and easier controlling methods.

What's new in v1.81?
====================
v1.81 is almost identical to 1.80 except two 2 bugs were removed:

1. Display problem occurs when hiding the trackbar in Full panel mode 
2. Cannot drag the trackbar after repeat playing one file

What's new in v1.80?
====================
* Search all drives for supported files and add them to playlist
* Drag and drop folder to the playlist to add all files inside the folder even 
  including those in sub folders
* Show detailed information of MIDI files and basic information of other types
  of file. To see file information, simply mark the file and press Ctrl+I
* New CheckList Box for playlist and suffle mode, which grants you more
  control to play files and free all constraints in shuffle mode, you can make
  incremental search for files in the playlist by typing their names
* Hold the Forward/Reverse button down to forward or rewind continuously, this
  works exactly the same as buttons on VCR and CD players
* A pop-up menu appears after you drag and drop a file from the playlist to
  the directory box, so you can choose to move, copy or cancel
* You can rename files with or without typing extension (.mid;.wav) now
* A new 'Replay' menu command in the pop-up menu of tray icon
* Better error detection and handling in playing files and accessing drives
* Fixed several bugs


Some Changes
============
* Put move file and copy file commands as seperated buttons and commands, the
  old design is a bit confusing. You can still move/copy all files in the
  playlist by checking the "All Files" radio button in the coming up dialog
  box.
* The default folder to copy/move files is not any more the one being 'open',
  but the folder being highlighted at the moment
* With only one single left mouse click on tray icon and you restore the main
  panel
* Space bar no longer work as shortcut key for "pause" command, now it's used
  to check/uncheck a file item in the playlist box
* Change shortcut key of "Clear List" from Ctrl+L to Ctrl+R (Free Agent use
  Ctrl+L to decode and launch attatchment, so when I pressed Ctrl+L in Free
  Agent too many times and expected MIDI Genie to add files to the playlist
  and pop up, Oops! MIDI Genie did appear but the playlist was cleared up by
  the extra Ctrl+L press!)

MIDI Genie Features Summary
===========================
* Play mid, wav, avi and rmi files sequentially with playlist
* Play files from Zip file to save your precious drive space
* Associate file types to play them by double click on file icons
* Search all drives for files and add them to the playlist
* Resolve second instance of the same player to add a new item to the playlist
* Work with Netscape Navigator and other INTERNET applications
* Show detailed information of MIDI files
* A Track Bar for adjusting the playing position accurately
* 5 play modes: Auto, Loop, Repeat, Random and Shuffle
* Auto MIDI reset in GM, GS or XG mode, plus manual system reset
* Save playlist to file (.mpl) and validate playlist when retrieve later
* Move, copy, rename and delete files and create new folder without opening
  Explorer, no constraint even when the file is opend/playing. 
* Auto save playlist file after changes in file name or path
* Instant Load the recent 15 playlists
* Full drag and drop support for:
  1. Add/insert files to the playlist
  2. Rearrange order of files in the playlist
  3. Copy/move a file in the playlist to another folder
  4. Add a full folder of files to the playlist
* Flexible Display:
  Show panel fully or partly, always on top, or shrink to a small tray icon
* Adjustable Waiting Time between files and Skipping Time to forward/rewind
* Auto Load the latest playlist and play the last file

For more details, please check the on-line help file by pressing F1 when MIDI
Genie is running.

About Working with Other INTERNET Applications
==============================================
Double click an icon of associated files with MIDI Genie when MIDI Genie is
running to add it to the playlist queue immediately.  No more disturbing
second instance of the same player!  You can either continue playing the
previous file or press 'Enter' to play the new file right away. 

MPL playlist file is associated with MIDI Genie automatically.  So you can add
playlist file from anywhere (Explorer, Find File and Folder Box, My Computer
Window, etc).

The user need to associate other types of files ( mid, wav, avi, rmi) with
MIDI Genie for adding these files from other INTERNET applications (Web
Browser, NewsReader, File Transfer program, any program can download a file
and run it) to the playlist.

A new user will be prompted to associate file types when launch MIDI Genie at
the first time. Those users of previous versions (1.06 and before) need to
install the new version and find 'File Types Association' under 'Options' menu
to associate files.

System Requirement
==================
Windows 95 or Window NT 4.0 (Service Pack 3 recommended)
(Certain advanced features only work under Windows 95, check help file for
details)
A Pentium equivalent or better CPU
A soundcard (Wavetable card recommended)

List of Files
=============
These files are in the pack of midig180.zip

MIDI_Genie.exe	The main executable program file of MIDI Genie
setup.exe	The setup file - installer and deinstaller program
Mgenie.hlp	The on-line help file for MIDI Genie
Unzdll.dll      The dynamic linking library file for extract Zip files
ReaMe.txt	This readme document file
File_id.diz	The description file for MIDI Genie program
Gm_reset.mid	MIDI reset file for GM compatible device
Gs_reset.mid	MIDI reset file for GS compatible device
Xg_reset.mid	MIDI reset file for XG compatible device

Two sample MIDI files:

A_Walk_to_Seashore.mid
The Waiter and The Reaper.mid

Copyright (C) Jonathan H.L. Yen, all rights reserved

Under the conditions of not to modify or remove any file in the pack, You are
free to distribute the MIDI Genie program pack.


Installation
============
Unzip 'midig180.zip', then run 'setup.exe'.  
To uninstall MIDI Genie, simply run 'MIDI Genie Setup' from MIDI Genie program
group later and choose 'Uninstall MIDI Genie' radio button to proceed. 

Expiration
==========
Certain features of MIDI Genie will expire after 30 days.  The program will
still be useable after that. But only those who register MIDI Genie can
enjoy the full features of the program after the trial period.

Features will be expired after 30 days are:

Add file to playlist externally (Work with Other INTERNET applications)
Play file in Zip file archive
MIDI Reset
Move/Copy Files
Adjust Waiting time and Skipping time
External Drag-and-drop
Drop Folder to playlist
Search all drives and add all files to the playlist
Shrink to tray icon
Instant load of recent 15 play lists


Registration
============
Check MIDI Genie Help File to see details of sharware license, benefits of
registration and other information.


Contact Information
===================

Email Address:

earsnest@kagi.com

Home Page of MIDI Genie and EarsNest

http://earsnest.hypermart.net
http://members.tripod.com/~EarsNest/
http://homepages.tig.com.au/~jyen/


Postal address  

Jonathan Hsiao-Liang Yen
EarsNest Soft
P.O. Box 230 KENSINGTON
NSW 2033
Australia


Help
====
A on-line help file is available. You can press F1 at any time to trigger
this help file when MIDI Genie is running. You can also run it independently
from the MIDI Genie program group.

TIPS:
* If you don't have an idea where all the multimedia files are on your
  computer system, try the new "Search all Drives" command under "List" menu.

* You should keep the mouse pointer over the same position for a while, then
  you'll see some hint text/tool tips for you to understand the purpose of all
  those buttons and different parts.

* Try to drag folder to the playlist.  You can even add a whole drive of files to
  the playlist by one move!

* Try to drag files from file box to playlist box. You can drag multiple files
  if you shift-click or Ctrl-click some files before you drag.

* Try to drag file in the playlist box to change their orders. 

* Drag a file from playlist to directory box to move/copy that file to the
  dropping directory.

* You can remove items in the playlist box very quickly by pressing 'delete'
  key on the keyboard.  If you feel confused about this with the 'Kill this
  file!!!' command, don't worry, whenever it's really deleting a file forever,
  there will always be a warning message for the protection of your files.

* Use keyboard shortcuts if you can.  When using keyboard feels pretty clusmy in the 
  beginning, it is more efficient after you become familiar with all the keys.

Disclaimer
==========
This program is provided as it is without any warranty. 
The author and EarsNest Soft is not responsible for any degree of damage
to any life forms or objects caused by any version of MIDI Genie.
If you do not agree with this statement, please remove MIDI Genie from your
computer immediately.

Netscape and Netscape Navigator are registered trademarks of Netscape
Communications Corporation in the United States and other countries.

All trademarks, brand names and product names mentioned in this ReadMe file
and help files and Home Page of MIDI Genie belong to their respective owners.


Acknowledgement
===============
Thanks to:
All people on Borland C++ Builder Newsgroup: TeamB and others
All people ever contributed to Delphi Super Page
Rauf Gereyhanov, Ylian Saint-Hilaire, CRESTO Sylvain share their excellent
and free components with all the people 
Szekeresne Zsuzsa did some beta testing and reported many bugs
If you're interested in programming with zip and unzip DLL, you can find them
on Delphi Super Page - http://sunsite.icm.edu.pl/delphi/
Find Info-Zip's Home Page at - http://www.cdrom.com/pub/infozip/
Also many thanks to all the people who have given feedbacks and encouraged
me in developing this program.
