                        Lyrics Plugin for Winamp v1.14
                               by Alon Gingold
                        ------------------------------

This plugin for winamp lets you open a window and see the lyrics of the
playing tracks in winamp, if (and only if) lyrics were added to the tracks
or an .LRC file is found.

Since more then a few people emailed me asking why can't they see the lyrics
in their mp3 files, let me make this clear : Most MP3 files that you might get
on the internet, does NOT include the lyrics ! If you want to be able to see
the lyrics, you must first put it inside the mp3 file (using either my editor,
or the mp3manager), or create a LRC or TXT file. The lyrics3 editor now
supports automatic search and retreive of the www.lyrics.ch lyrics server.


The Lyrics3 specs were designed by Petr Strnad and me. They are supported by
his MP3Manager application, my plugin, the Lyrics3 editor and other software.
This plugin was Petr's idea.

Also available is a Lyrics Editor that can add/change ID and Lyrics Tags.

Information about the lyrics specs, and the above application can be
found at http://mpx.cz/mp3manager/

New version of the Lyrics plugin and the editor can be found at
http://www.hiker.org.il/lyrics.htm

You can see lyrics by using the LYRICS.DLL plugin that you set as the
Visualization plugin in Winamp, and then Double Click winamp to open the
lyrics window, or you can simply run the LYRICS.EXE which does the same, but
will not be closed by Winamp and will allow you to use real visualization
plugins with winamp.

Both versions will check for a new track in winamp, and read the new track
lyrics.

Both the DLL and EXE files must be located in the PLUGINS directory (please
install Winamp 1.80 or above !)

The lyrics setup screen can be accessed either by choosing config on the
winamp plugin configuration dialog, or by pressing Alt-C.

This plugin and application were written in delphi. This means that it took
more then 150k before I wrote one single line of code. I know I can do this
with only windows api, but That's too much work...

A note about LRC files: Though this application was written to support LYRICS3
lyrics, which are saved INSIDE the mp3, if not found, the plugin will look for
a lyrics in a file with the same name as the mp3 with either 'LRC' or 'TXT'
extensions in the same path of the mp3, or in a pre-defined search path.
If one is found it will be loaded and used.


Revision History
----------------
1.14 (12/01/99)
----
 - Added GIF support.

1.13 (24/09/98)
----
 - Added a setup option to start in full screen mode.
 - Added support for .LRC/.TXT files with LF only (Unix text files)
 - Scrollbar and the full screen mode horizontal split line can now be hidden.
 - Ctrl-Left & Ctrl-Right keys move to the next/prev track in winamp playlist.
 - Added Ctrl-P (Play), Ctrl-A (pAuse), Ctrl-S (Stop) shortcuts.
 - Alt-F4 in image window didn't close the plugin correctly. Fixed.
 - When AutoHide is used, the stand alone EXE version of the plugin will show
   if winamp is closed (to allow closing itself)
 - Fixed problem with loading the right image when switching tabs in the
   plugin.
 - Fixed problem with the Scrollbar not working in estimate timestamp mode.


1.12 (21/06/98)
----
 - Fixed the plugin problem when activated on NT.

1.11 (16/06/98)
----
 - Added support for .TXT lyrics files. These are free text format
   lyrics. In the .LRC files each line MUST start with a timestamp
   (the other lines are considered comments, and are moved to the extra info).
   In .TXT files, all the lines are considered lyrics, even if there is no
   timestamp in the line.

 - Added search path for .LRC and .TXT files. Lyrics3 now searchs for lyrics
   by the following ways, in this order :

   1. Lyrics3 V2.00 tag lyrics
   2. Lyrics3 V1.00 tag lyrics
   3. TrackName.LRC in the Track path
   4. TrackName.TXT in the Track path
   5. TrackName.LRC and TrackName.TXT in every path on the search path.

 - Added Timestamp estimate. If turned on in the setup, and no timestamps
   are found, the plugin will estimate the timestamp positions based on
   the song length and the lyrics text size.
 - Added a button to activate the full screen image view.
 - Windows screen saver is disabled when in full screen image view.
 - Full screen Image view is modified. The lyrics is no longer a single line,
   and there is a spllitter line to set it's size. Fonts can be modified in
   the setup.
 - When estimating timestamps, no highlighted line is used, only scrolling.


1.10 (06/06/98)
----
 - Fixed the Image tab showing up in simple mode.
 - Added the Highlighted lyrics line on the full screen image view, with
   options to put it on top or bottom, and configure size and colors.

1.09 (04/06/98)
----
 - Fixed the readonly problem.
 - Fixed problem with Japanese characters.
 - Added font selection for the Extra Info.
 - Timestamp [00:00] was ignored. Now working.
 - Simple display mode is now saved.
 - Added Images tags. These are JPEG or BMP images file names that can be
   shown in the plugin. Each image has a filename, description and a timestamp.
   If timestamp is used, if the image tab in the editor is selected, the image
   matching the timestamp will be loaded.
   NOTE: A DLL called JPGBMP.DLL is supplied with this package, and needs
   to be either in the lyrics.exe/lyrics.dll path, or in the windows system
   path for the JPEG support to work.
 - Added double clicking on the image opens it in full screen mode.
 - Added Slide Show setup. If no timestamps are used in the image tag, you can
   select to slide every fixed number of seconds, or every calculated number
   of seconds (song length / images count).
 - Fixed winamp not loading track if Long FileName used, and winamp is closed.


1.08 (10/05/98)
----
 - Added option to Center the lyrics texts horizontaly (now default).
 - Added option to Center the highlighted line verticaly.
 - Lyrics Highlighted line height can now be different from other lines
   height (based on the fonts).
 - If Winamp is not loaded, the Play button will try to run winamp.exe
   (if found) or execute the .MP3 file directly (if winamp is not found).
 - Reformated the ID header.
 - AutoWidth feature will now take into account the ID header.
 - ID Header height is fixed when resizing.
 - Right click or Ctrl-W switch to/from simple display mode (where the
   buttons, ID information, and the Extra Info are invisible).
 - Lyrics/ExtraInfo Tab can optionaly be at the bottom.
 - Window minimum width will be large enough to include all buttons.

1.07 (27/04/98)
----
 - Added Font and Color settings for the highlighted lyrics line, and for the
   ID tag information
 - Added an option not to show the id3 information (except track name)
 - The Next & Prev buttons are
 - Double Click now jumps to timestamp in highlighted line, or if found. (this
   doesn't work in winamp 1.90 due to a bug in winamp).
 - Always on Top now works in the standalone exe version, and can be turned
   on & off by the setup and the new OnTop button.
 - The lyrics form now jumps to top window when a new track is loaded.
 - Scrolling of highlighted line by timestamps can be turned on & off.
 - Scrollbar of lyrics is now more win32 compatible.

1.06 (26/03/98)
----
 - Added Lyrics3 v2.00 support, adding 'Extra Information', 'Lyrics Author'
   and an extention to the ID3 fields Artist, Album, Title (up to 250 chars).
   Also internal structure of lyrics tag changed, making it faster to read.
 - Added support to .LRC text files. If lyrics3 v2.00 tag not found, it will
   look for filename.lrc, and if found, will get the lyrics, comments,
   track title and Artist from there.


1.05 (11/03/98)
----
- Added an 'Edit' button that calls the LYREDIT application, if it is found
  in the winamp directory.
- Buttons bar with Setup, Edit, and winamp controls.
- Support for Winamp 1.8 PLUGINS directory.


1.04  (07/03/98)
----
- Fixed VERY Long lines in Lyrics giving windows protection faults.
- Add ID3 information to header.
- Added Auto Width option to set the lyrics window width by the longest line
  in the lyrics.
- Configurable Font & Background color.
- Add indication if timestamp information found in the lyrics [TS]
- Removed the Selected Bar on first line if no Timestamp found, and untill
  first timestamp is reached.
- Converted Tabs to Spaces.
- Added ICON to the application ;)
- Added Options button to open the setup (same as Alt-C)
- Fixed Cursor jumping all over the place when no lyrics found ;)


1.02
----
- Added Ctrl+C and Ctrl+Ins to copy lyrics to clipboard
- Rewrote the TimeStamp part to support more then one timestamp in one line
  (repeating part)
- Lyrics will now be reloaded after stoping and starting play again. This
  is usufull when editing lyrics..





Non usufull information
-----------------------
If you find this application really usefull, then you should probobly start
looking for better things to do ;)

If this application crashes your PC, or brings doom to your house (not the
game, that is), it's your problem. You can copy this application to a diskete
and smash it to small peaces with a hammer for all I care.


Are the plugin & editor free ?
------------------------------
Yes, They are ! They are both freeware. If you think these applications are
really cool then :

1. Tell others, so they can enjoy them as well ;)
2. Let me know what you think, by email to gingold@hiker.org.il
3. If you really feel like it send me a postcard to

   Alon Gingold
   POB 450
   Raanana
   Israel

4. If for some reason, you still feel that you need to do more, and you have
   too much money, then send me some to the above address :)

5. I'm too lazy to write HELP files. If you are willing to write help file
   for the plugin or/and the editor, I will be happy to include them in the
   release files.



Contact information
-------------------

If you still wana bug me with any comments, suggestions or to let me know why
the hack did I write it in the first place, you can find me at :

e-mail: gingold@hiker.org.il
ICQ:    1006234


Have fun !
Alon Gingold

