
              flipTech Presents
              +-----------------------------------------------+
              | s   h   u   f   f   l   e   P   L   A   Y   2 |
              +-----------------------------------------------+
                                            version 2.00 Beta 5
  

                     written by Gary C - flipino@visi.net

                       http://members.visi.net/~flipino


[1.1 > Introduction]

        WinPlay3 is presently the best (and only) Windows Mpeg1-Layer3
        player in existence.  In the early Fall of 1996, I decided to
        fill in a little hole in the program which the programmers
        intentionally left out.  This hole was the Shuffle option.  I
        honestly don't know why they didn't put any code into the program
        for Shuffling--nor for fast fwd or rewind.  At any rate, I
        chose to improvise and honed my Visual Basic 4 skillz and coded
        up a little app which I entitled, ShufflePlay.

        As time went on, ShufflePlay went from a little playlist maker to
        a modestly useful utility to generate and maintain playlists for
        people's growing *.MP3 collections.  I later implemented tools
        such as Recursion and Multi-Selection to further increase the
        utility of the program.

        Eventually, the program, as it was originally designed, reached
        its fullest potential and a rewrite was called for.

        In Mid-December, I went to Visual Basic 4 and started out with a
        clean slate and a head and eMail inbox  full of ideas to implement
        in the next great incarnation of the program.  Through a well
        thought out process and over a week's worth of work, ShufflePlay 2
        was born.

[1.2 > What's New!]

        New to Version 2.00, the highlights.

        * [MP3 File Tagging]  Now you can store information such as
          song name, performing artist(s), album name, song genre,
          and commentary _within_ the MP3 file.

        * [Time calculation]  Through diligent research of the innards of
          various MP3 files, I have come up with a reliable system with
          which the duration of a file can be quickly calculated.

        * [Multi-Info Display]  The playlist window not only contains the
          name of the songs you want to hear, but also the respective
          performers, playtimes, and more.  It is also customizable so
          can view the stuff you want--hide the stuff you don't want.

        * [Categorical Sorting]  You can now sort your playlist based
          on characteristics of the files.

        * [Inventory Compiler]  No more trading DIR listings with friends
          to tell them what MP3's you have.  With Tag support, you can
          share much more information and compile them into a neat and
          easy to read format.

        * [Long-Filename Support]  Those using Winplay3 Beta 6 will not
          have to worry about long filenames creating errors in the player.
          ShufflePlay2 now has the ability to generate the playlist using
          the old DOS 8.3 format.
        
        * [Summary Info]  Select a group of files in either the Files
          window or the playlist, and a summary line regarding the file
          count and total playing time will appear.

        * [Minimize to Tray]  Now, ShufflePlay2 will never take up any more
          space in the Start Bar than it has to.  You can even Play and
          ShufflePlay right from the Tray Icon.

        * [Winplay3 Tray Icon]  You can now keep Winplay3 out of the Start
          bar and put it in the System Tray.  Now the player/shell system
          will take as little space as possible.

        * [Full Recursion]  Not only read your current drive, but your others
          as well including floppies, Zip/Jaz, and CD-Roms.


[2.1 > Filepack Contents]

        The ShufflePlay2 distribution ZIP, SHUFFLE2.ZIP should have
        come with only the following contents:

        SHUFFLE2.EXE, the actual executable.
        SHUFFLE2.TXT, this documentation.
        FILE_ID.DIZ, BBS people go nuts over these.

        Simple enough?

[2.2 > Program Requirements]

        The requirements for this program are pretty simple as well...

        * Windows 95... It just might help!  NT4 works, too.

        * Visual Basic 4 32-bit Runtime Files... See my homepage if you
          need these files.  See above for URL.

        * WinPlay3... If you don't have this, what are you aiming to do
          with this program?  If you can find a copy of Winplay3 Beta 6,
          then use that over the Final verion as the Beta is supposedly
          better.

[2.3 > First Contact]

        When you first run the EXE, it will show you the Setup window.
        This is where you tell the program where your copy of WinPlay3
        is located.  You also have the chance to tell it if you want it
        to remember your playlist so when you quit ShufflePlay later,
        the list will be there when you return to the program.

        ShufflePlay will make an INI file after you shut down the program.
        If you find some kind of funny glitch in your ShufflePlay session,
        try deleting the INI and restarting the program.  Hopefully, there
        will be no glitch of this severity.

[2.4 > Usage]

        This is the fun section where I get to brag about all of the great
        abilities of ShufflePlay 2 in greater depth.

        2.4.1 > Navigating.

                The interface makes it quick and easy to get around your
                hard drive.  Just point and click your way through the
                directories.  If you have plenty of MP3's in your directory
                or you have a slower computer, it may take a while to scan
                the info off the MP3's in the directory.  If you want to
                update the listing, press the Refresh button.  This is
                especially helpful if while listening to your songs, you
                downloaded additional files.

        2.4.2 > Adding to the playlist.

                There are a number of ways to do this.  The easiest way would
                be to just double-click the file you want to add to the
                playlist.  Secondly, you can hit Get All which would add not
                only the file you selected, but also every other song in
                that directory.  Also, you can hit Recursive which will
                add every file in the current directory in addition to every
                song in subsequent subdirectories.  Finally, you can high-
                light the songs you want to add and hit the [>>] button.

        2.4.3 > Playing with the playlist.

                Once you have some songs loaded into your playlist, you can
                do a number of things to get your list just the way you want
                it.  If you goofed up for just caught an MP3 file that is
                not supposed to be in the set, just double click it and it
                will be deleted from the roster.  Another method would be
                to highlight the songs you want to take out and hit the [>>]
                button.  If you want to sculpt your list one-by-one, use the
                Up and Down buttons to manually adjust the file order.  To
                sort your listing according to name, artist, album, year,
                genre, or time, just click one of the buttons above the
                playlist.  In order to sort in reverse order, be sure to
                click the Reverse checkbox.

        2.4.4 > Tags

                One of the greatest abilities of ShufflePlay2 is the
                implementation of the Tag system developed by NamkraD,
                erick@marble.net.  To tag songs either in the file list
                or in the play list, just highlight the song and hit the
                appropriate Tag button.  Tagging lets you view your files
                in the ShufflePlay2 interface by their true name instead
                of some cryptic or awkward filename.  It also proves to
                be useful in sorting your playlists (see above).  If for
                whatever reason, you would like to wipe the Tag info off
                of a file, just choose Edit and check the Wipe Tag box
                then hit Ok.

        2.4.5 > The Inventory Compiler.

                Every so often, I will run across people who would like to
                trade songs or just merely inquire as to what songs I do
                have.  It doesn't take too much time to generate a DIR list
                and store that as a TXT file to trade.  But with the new
                feature, "Save as Inventory," inside the Save Playlist
                window, you can now generate much more detailed listings
                of your collection in a clean and neat format.

[3.1 > Bugs]

        What good is a program without bugs?

        * Repeated sorting.  Somehow, you may find yourself with different
          results after sorting the same list using the same method twice.

        * The Winplay3 path isn't automatically reflected in the Drive/Dir
          section of the Setup box when it opens.

        * NT4 Users.  I'm not sure if I've covered all the bugs in the
          program due to the LFN's and NT's file system.  However, I'm
          confident I've knocked out some of the other more obvious bugs.

        * Long lists.  The current version of Winplay3, as far as I can tell
          can handle large playlists.  However, if you try to feed it a
          playlist of about a 150 or more songs, the player will start off
          with an error message window.  Just hit Ok to make it go away and
          you'll do fine.  This is not of my fault, but the Winplay3
          programmers'.

        * Up/Down side effects.  When you have multiple files selected and
          you hit the Up or Down buttons, only one file will be moved and
          the selection status of your items will be destroyed after repeated
          order movements.  Unless you are a real "neat freak", this bug
          should not affect you greatly.  I will attend to this bug in time.

        More?  Please feel free to eMail them to me.  To save me lots of
        time in trying to find the bug, please give me a description of
        your PC: Operating System, Directory names, playlist contents, etc.
        Better yet, cut & paste your INI file so I may simulate the problem.

[3.1 > Looking Ahead]

        * Dynamic window sizing.  I will eventually enable the program's
          window to be manually resized to fit any monitor, big or small.

        * Command-Line stuff.  So you can link this program to alarm clocks,
          system events, or whatever.

        * Lined Up listings a-la Windows Explorer.

        * More genres and better bitrate detection.

        * Cache tag-info to speed up loading times.

        * Even tighter Winplay3 control allowing you to control the
          player from the ShufflePlay2 interface.

        * MuseARC 4 Support?


[3.2 > Distribution]

        Please feel free to distribute this program wherever you wish.
        However, you must preserve the contents of this package and not
        disturb any of the data contained within.  Doing so is a violation
        of United States and International law.  Violators can and will
        be prosecuted to the fullest possible extent.  Have a nice day =)


[3.3 > Downloading]

        At present, the current location to download the latest version of 
        ShufflePlay 2 is off of my homepage's ShufflePlay 2 page at

        * http://members.visi.net/~flipino/shuffle.html

        There, you will also find a design history and other useful
        information.

 
[3.4 > Cost]

        As it stands, this program is completely freeware, however monetary
        donations will be appreciated as programming does cut greatly into
        my scholastic and social life, and money would be a great means of
        retribution and making this all worth it.  Please send any donations
        (monetary only) to

        *  Gary Calpo
           1328 Paramore Drive
           Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA 23454

        Donation benefits include the direct eMailing of future updates and
        fixes, so don't forget to enclose your eMail address.


[4.1 > Credits]

        * Thanks to the guys in #VisualBasic for their patience and helpful
          nature in helping me out with the Long-Filename problem,  among 
          other things.

        * The Beta Testers.  Since I usually only get mail from those who
          report the bugs, it would not be fair to those who don't seem to
          have any problems w/ the software.  At anyrate, thanks for helping
          me find all the flaws in this program.

[4.2 > In Closing]

        Writing ShufflePlay 1.xx and the new 2.xx series has and still is
        a pleasure.  I look forward to hearing your input and ideas for
        future versions of ShufflePlay.  The user base is mostly who
        really makes up the program.  I just convert the ideas to computer
        code.  Enjoy the program and feel free to distribute this wherever
        you please (including popular shareware archives and the like).

        Happy playing!

        Gary Calpo

        flipino@visi.net
        http://members.visi.net/~flipino
