General Audio CD Library Functions

AUDIO CD LIBRARY - DATABASE

The CD-Runner Audio CD Library database contains a master listing of 
all of the Audio CDs which have been entered for use with CD-Runner. 
Specific information associated with any of the CDs (e.g. image files,
track descriptions, titles, etc.) may be also viewed and edited if 
desired. To access the CD database, either click the "CD-Runner Audio
CD Library" icon from the CD-Runner Applications window, or while
running CD-Runner select the "Library" then "Database" buttons.

The main database screen contains a listing of the Audio CDs; if the
"Automatic Scan CD Database" option is enabled, then each time the
database is accessed CD-Runner will automatically scan the contents
of your CD data subdirectory and read the contents of the files. This
is the preferred method as long as the time to scan the files is
reasonable. If you have a lot of CDs entered and/or a slow hard 
drive, then you may opt to disable this automatic scanning.

If the automatic scan is disabled, then after an initial scan is 
completed, a saved "database directory" is written to the hard drive. 
This is then used in subsequent sessions to speed the loading of the 
database, since scanning each CD file and reading its contents may be 
time consuming for many files. Note that this master database 
directory only needs to be re-scanned if you have added or deleted CDs. 

Each CD record or entry contains the database record number, artist,
title and category associated with each CD. You may double-click 
directly on a record to access the specific CD information stored (see
below). You may also use the up or down arrow keys and press enter, or
highlight the record and use the "Edit" icon.


DATABASE FUNCTIONS

You may use either the pulldown menus or the toolbar icons to access 
the database functions. The functions (associated with the toolbar 
icons from left to right) are as follows: 

        *SAVE - save changes made into the database directory
        *SCAN - scan all CD files & display
        PRINT - print database listing
        UNDO - undo changes made (to the point of the last save)
        ADD - add new Audio CD to the library / database
        DELETE - delete existing CD file and/or database entry
        SORT - sort listing by artist, title or category
        FIND - find artist, title or category keywords (F3 repeats find)
        FONT - change font type and/or color used for database listing
        COLOR - change background color used for database listing
        EXIT - exit CD database

* - these functions only shown if the automatic scan is disabled (see above)

AUDIO CD LIBRARY - CD

To view the Audio CD library section for a specific CD, simply click on the 
"Library" button or on the red "LIB" indicator in the display window (just 
above the status bar) on the Audio CD faceplate. You may also access this
section when in the Audio CD Library database by selecting the CD as 
described above. This will bring up the CD-Runner Audio CD Library section 
which allows you to enter specific Audio CD information. 

In this section, you may also setup custom images for each Audio CD to be 
used for screen savers, CD-Jacket art, viewers and track-synced displays 
as desired. See the CD-Jacket and Images help topics for further 
information.

The following Audio CD entries are all optional. You may enter any or all
as desired; the following categories are available:


ARTIST

This is the Artist (Band, Soloist, Composer, etc.) who appears on the Audio CD.
As described above, this entry will be combined with the Title when displayed.


CATEGORY

You may enter a custom category to describe the Audio CD type, or select a
preset category from the dropdown listing. Either type the category text in
directly, or click the down-arrow to choose a preset category. If a category
type is entered, it will appear in the song title box (as described below).


TITLE

This is the title (or album name) of the Audio CD; this entry will appear on 
the Audio CD player faceplate display at the top along with the Artist entered.
If the combination of these names is very long, you may wish to change the font
size and/or type used (see CD-Runner Setup - Customize option) to allow the 
entire Title + Artist text to be displayed without being cut off.


COMPOSER
You may enter a composer associated with the Audio CD if desired. If a composer
is entered, it will appear in the song title box (as described below).


LINER NOTES

You may enter any desired liner notes pertaining to the Audio CD for future
reference. These notes appear on the song title box display (after the song 
titles & times listing) when using the Audio CD faceplate. 


TRACK DESCRIPTION(S)

You may enter a title or description for each track to describe the song, 
movement, etc. which corresponds; as songs are played, this description will
be displayed immediately below the Title + Artist text. It has been found to
be useful to setup this text display with a different font type and color to
more easily differentiate it from the Title + Artist text (use the CD-Runner
Setup - Customize option to set).

The track time displayed here is read directly from the Audio CD loaded and
cannot be changed. Also, all the track descriptions entered here may be 
displayed on the faceplate in a scrollable song title box by clicking on
either the Title + Artist or Track Description text display directly, or by
selecting it from the CD-Jacket (BMP graphics) display selection box. This
box will also automatically appear if you are programming tracks, and may
be used as a "second keypad"; instead on clicking on the keypad number for
programming or direct track access, you may click on the track description
in this box directly. You may remove this box by right clicking on it if 
desired.
 

ADVANCED (option)

The advanced option ("Advanced" button) is designed to correct for Audio CD 
timing errors which may occur for a variety of reasons. Use this option ONLY
if the particular Audio CD loaded either has it's song endings cut off or
does not correctly update the song/track text displayed during programmed
(or shuttle) playback.

Valid entries here are between -3 and 5 seconds. Note that this correction
is USUALLY only required for those Audio CDs whose track times cannot be
accurately determined or which do not conform to the Audio CD "Redbook" 
standards.