JUNE 17, 2005 - Version 8.0

# The PC Jukebox – What’s New

June 17, 2005 - Version 8.0.0

Dec 1, 2004 - Version 7.5.0

Aug 20, 2004 - Version 7.0.0

May 1, 2004 - Version 6.0.0

Mar 9, 2004 - Version 5.1.0

Feb 18, 2004 - Version 5.0.0

Dec 23, 2003 - Version 4.0.0

Oct 15, 2003 - Version 3.5.0

May 20, 2003 - Version 3.2.1

May 13, 2003 - Version 3.2.0

May 6, 2003 - Version 3.0.1

May 5, 2003 - Version 3.0.0

Apr 1, 2003 - Version 2.0.0

This file contains a list of all of the new features included in each version. This file will be added to every time a new release becomes available.

June 17, 2005 - Version 8.0 (return to top)

1. Video and .wma support

The PC Jukebox now supports multiple audio and video media file formats including .wma, .wav, .mpg, .mpeg, .wmv, .avi, and of course MP3s! The newly included formats will require separate tag files that can be created with a small utility that comes with The PC Jukebox setup.

2. Animation
There is much more animation in version 8.0. The top logo can be animated, the CD covers will move around the screen and even the screens themselves can slide over each other.

3, New Graphics
Many of the screens have been reworked to be much more touchscreen friendly. No more little tiny scrollbars and checkboxes. Everything can now be controlled with the touch of a finger!

4. Screensaver
An integrated screensaver has been added to the program. No need to use the default Windows one any more (although you still can if you'd like!)

5. Items In Queue Display
A new feature is available to tell you how many songs are left in the queue no matter which screen you are looking at. This indicator appears on the left hand side of each screen, if you decide to turn it on. Also, on the queue screen itself, you can now see exactly how much time all of the songs in the queue will take to finish playing.

6. Genres and Decade
The Genre feature has been reworked. No longer will it filter all of the songs...instead, when you select a genre, you will presented with a list of all of the matching songs. You can scroll through and select from this list as you would any other.

Dec 1, 2004 - Version 7.5 (return to top)

1. Slightly Redesigned User Interface

Version 7.5 of The PC Jukebox includes a new section at the bottom of every screen dedicated to the currently playing song. The Next Song, Restart Song, and Play/Pause buttons have all been moved down here as well the Volume and Mute controls. The Song Progress bar and the Elapsed Time/Remaining Time indicator are also located here now.

2. 4 Cover CD View With Song Titles

A new view is included in this release...it shows 4 CD covers at a time with all of the track titles listed with them. If there are more than 8 songs on the CD, small scroll buttons will allow you to access the rest. Touching or clicking any song will automatically select it by default from the Song Selection screen. You can choose to display this view from the Options screen.

3. Password Protection

Version 7.5 of The PC Jukebox allows you to Password Protect certain areas of the program. These items include the Options screen, the Queue Screen, the History screen, the Equalizer, the Restart Song button, the Next Song Button, the Play/Pause button, the Mute button, the Minimize button and the Power Off button. The Password can be set from either the Configurator or from within The PC Jukebox itself.

4. Watch Folders

You can now instruct The PC Jukebox to monitor your Music Library folder (and it’s subfolders) for any changes. If the program detects that any songs have been added, deleted, moved or updated inside of that folder, it will ask you if you’d like to update your Music Library accordingly. Of course, you can still do a manual update to your Music Library at any time. And, as always, you can turn this feature on and off at will.

5. Automatic Notification Of New Releases

If you are running The PC Jukebox on a PC with an active internet connection, you can tell the program to automatically check for new releases each time it starts up. If a new release is available, you will have the choice to download it immediately or wait until a more convenient time. This feature will ensure that you always have the most up to date version.

6. Tivo Styled Ratings

You now have the ability to rate each individual song in your Music Library. The ratings range from 3 Thumbs Up to 3 Thumbs Down, just like Tivo. These ratings can then be used in the Search screen (i.e. search for all songs with a 2 Thumbs Up rating) as well as in Random mode (i.e. only play songs that are rated 1 Thumb Up or higher). The ratings can either be displayed or hidden on the Now Playing screen.

7. Track Newly Added Files

The PC Jukebox now tracks exactly when each song was added to the Music Library. You can use this information in your searches (i.e. search for all songs that were added to the Music Library less than 14 days ago) as well as displaying a small notification on the CD Cover screens.

8. Auto Shuffle

Another new feature is Auto Shuffle. When this feature is turned on, the Queue will get shuffled each time a new song is added to it. This will prevent one or two users from monopolizing the playlist during a party since the Queue will become mixed as soon as someone else adds a new song.

9. Other Small Enhancements

Several other small enhancements have been added including:

· The lefthand navigation buttons will move toward the top when one or more of them is hidden.

· The graphics on the Equalizer screen have been enhanced

· The Lyric Synchronizer can be accessed directly from within the program

· The algorithm for display compilation albums has been modified

· The tag editing feature has been optimized so save time is drastically decreased

· The Music Library build/update process has been optimized to reduce time

· When a CD cover is automatically downloaded, a copy of the image is now saved in the folder with the song file

· A 3 second indicator is given at the bottom of the screen each time a song is successfully added to the Queue

· When a song is selected randomly, it is not credited toward the Top 20 list. However, the song will still appear in the History list.

· The History list can now be sorted by any column ascending or descending

Aug 20, 2004 - Version 7.0.0 (return to top)

1. Redesigned User Interface

Version 7.0 of The PC Jukebox includes new navigation buttons that make it possible to get to any screen from any screen. There are also new buttons to allow users to play/pause, skip to the next song, restart the current song, turn the volume up or down or mute no matter what screen they are on. Furthermore, there are no more pop up windows for things like Options, Equalizer, and Top 20 (which replaces the old Top 10). All of the screens are integrated into the main form for a more consistent appearance.

2. Karaoke Synchronized Lyrics

Version 7.0 comes bundled with a utility to synchronize the lyrics of any song and turn it into a true karaoke file. Users simply have to go through the song one time and mark when each lyric line is reached. Once saved, The PC Jukebox will be able to read the newly created file and display the individual lyric lines as they are sung. The Search screen has also been updated to filter only for songs that have lyrics, synchronized or not. For further details, please refer the Lyric Synchonizer Help.html file.

3. Genre, Year, and Comments

The PC Jukebox now supports the additional ID3 tags of Genre, Year, and Comment. All of the Artist and Album selection screens can be filtered by a specific Genre, making it easier to find the kind of music you are looking for. All of the Albums for a particular Artist can be sorted either alphabetically or by Year. And if a song has a comment present, it will be displayed at the bottom of the screen when that song is selected.

4. Cross Fading

Song cross fading is now supported. The user can select the number of seconds for the fade to begin at. For example, if 10 seconds was selected, the currently playing song will begin to fade out when it has 10 seconds remaining. At the same time, the next song in the queue will fade in for 10 seconds until it is playing at the currently set volume. This feature works while selecting individual songs into the queue or while in random mode.

5. Album Cover Frames No Longer Delayed

In previous versions of The PC Jukebox, the frames that surround the individual album covers would take a few seconds to display when each screen was visited for the first time. This delay has been eliminated. Furthermore, the frames have been stretched in some places so the Artist name and Album name can be displayed at the same time.

6. AutoDJ

This feature will instruct The PC Jukebox to play a randomly selected song after a specified period of user inactivity. The user can also specify a subset of songs that these random selections can be made from (a genre, an artist, a playlist, a decade, …) or indicate that the entire Music Library be used instead. This setting can be applied to the standard Random Mode as well.

7. Auto Launch and Auto Random

Using the Configurator, you can instruct The PC Jukebox to automatically start each time you finish building or updating your Music Library. Furthermore, you can tell the program to start up in Random Mode, asking it to pick and song at random and start playing it as soon as it has finished loading.

8. Save Queue On Shutdown And Reload On Startup

The PC Jukebox can save the list of un-played songs that are remaining in the queue when the program closes (either intentionally or unintentionally), reload them and start playing immediately when the program is powered back on. This is helpful when there is a loss of electricity or the program is shut down accidentally and you don’t want to lose the list of songs already selected.

9. Customize Any Button

You can now customize the look of every individual button in The PC Jukebox simply by right clicking on it. You can change the wording or the font or the color…whatever. This holds true for nearly every item you see in the program…buttons, text, boxes, lines, …you name it!

10. Minimize Button

A minimize button has been added to the lower left of the screen to make it possible to shrink the application when it is in Full Screen mode. Of course, this button can be hidden at any time so your guests can’t browse around your PC!

May 1, 2004 - Version 6.0.0 (return to top)

11. Automatic Downloading Of Cover Art From The Internet

Version 6.0 will enable you to automatically download the appropriate cover art for each of your MP3 files during the Music Library Build/Update process. As anyone who has tried to get these images files manually knows, this can be a very time consuming effort. By simply selecting a checkbox on The PC Jukebox Configurator you can instruct the program to perform this time intensive task for you. Be very sure to have your ID3 tags as complete and accurate as possible, since this information is used as the basis of the internet search. And, of course, you will need to have an active internet connection available when building your Music Library for this option to be functional. But don’t worry if you don’t have an internet connection; you can still choose to add your album covers manually, if you choose.

12. Fill In Incomplete ID3 Tags From Filename and/or Folder

If your ID3 tags are not completely filled out, but your files reside in a well formed directory structure and are named consistently, you can tell The PC Jukebox to fill in the tags for you. You will need to specify to the program how to parse the information from the filenames (i.e. Artist\Album\Track – Title.mp3) and it will extract the information and automatically update the tags for you. Then it will have the proper data to go get your cover art for you! (See above)

Furthermore, in the previous versions, The PC Jukebox would skip over files that did not have Artist AND Title AND Album tags filled out, at a minimum. This is no longer the case. Any tag that is blank and cannot be filled in from the filename simply gets added to the Music Library with a tag of ‘Unknown Artist’ and/or ‘Unknown Title’ and/or ‘Unknown Album’, depending on the situation.

13. Real Time Editing Of Music Library

When The PC Jukebox is up and running, you can now update any of the Music Library information in real time. You can even change album covers on the fly, by either looking for alternatives online (must have an active internet connection) or specifying a new image locally. Simply right click on any song title or album cover, and you will have the option to change any of the song’s ID3 tags, or right click on any album cover to choose a new one. This is much more convenient than having to leave the program, change your tag, update the Music Library, and restart the program.

14. Lyrics Display

The PC Jukebox can now be used as a karaoke player too! The program now has the ability to display the lyrics of any song that has them embedded as part of the ID3 V2 tag. An icon will appear on the Song Title button for any song that has lyrics present. Don’t have the lyrics yet? You can add them right inside the program. Lyrics for nearly any song can be found somewhere on the internet. Simply copy the lyrics to Windows clipboard, right click on the Song Title button, and click the ‘Add Lyrics Button’. Then you can paste the lyrics right there and save them. But sorry, the lyrics will not appear in a synchronized fashion as some traditional karaoke players, but it’s a start!

15. Additional Keyboard Controls

A new option to map keyboard keys has been added. You can now control the Play/Pause, Next Song, Restart Song, Volume Up/Down and Mute functions directly from your keyboard. This option is also functional for select wireless remote controls. You may want to visit www.keyspan.com for more information on these remotes.

16. Default To Album Cover View On Startup

If you don’t like the fact that The PC Jukebox starts up to the Artist List screen, you can change that now. A simple checkbox will instruct the program to show the Album Cover view on startup instead.

17. Save EQ And Volume Settings On Exit

Previous versions of The PC Jukebox would forget and ignore any changes made to the volume and equalizer controls once the program was closed. Version 6.0 will remember these settings on shut down and automatically load them back up when the program is started again.

Mar 9, 2004 - Version 5.1.0 (return to top)

1. Search For Song Titles Modified, Improved

Version 5.1 has updated the Search For Song Title screen. The search results can now be sorted alphabetically either by Artist Name or Song Title. Also, you can search for an individual word now. Previously, if you had entered a search criteria of 'yes', your results would contain titles that included words such as 'Yesterday' and 'Eyes'. You can now filter your results to contain only song titles that include the full word 'Yes'

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Feb 18, 2004 - Version 5.0.0 (return to top)

1. Credit Mode

Version 5.0 now includes an optional Credit Mode. When credit mode is active, users will have to ‘purchase’ credits by pressing user-defined keys on the keyboard. When no more credits remain, no more songs can be selected. These user defined keys can be mapped to dollar bill and coin acceptors, turning The PC Jukebox into a fully functional commercial style jukebox.

2. 2. Search For Song Titles

A new virtual keyboard has been integrated into The PC Jukebox allowing users to search their entire music library for individual songs. Simply type all or part of the song title you are looking for and a list of matching entries will be returned. You can then select any item from the list and add it to the queue with a single button. If you don’t have a touchscreen, you can still use your standard keyboard to enter your search criteria. You’ll find this Search button located with the Playback controls.

3. Album Cover View Sorted By Album Name

This new feature will allow users to decide the order of the Album Covers in the Album Cover View; either by Artist or by Album Name. Furthermore, by adding the ‘Band’ tag to the ID3 v2 tag, you can now display all of the songs on a compilation album together. For instance, in previous versions of The PC Jukebox, all of the songs found on a soundtrack album would appear under their respective Artists, not all together on a single album. This new feature will allow users to view these songs both ways; listed under their individual Artists as well as altogether on a single album (provided the tags are set up properly).

4. Equalizer Presets

You can now save and load as many different Equalizer Presets as you’d like. You no longer have to reset the sliders individually each time you restart the program. Simply set the EQ the way you’d like, click ‘Save’ and give the configuration a name. To load it up the next time, simply press ‘Load’ and select your settings from the list.

5. Song Progress/Seek Bar

A new control has been added to track/set the progress of the currently playing song. You can move the slider to any point in the song for easy rewind and fast forward capabilities. Very similar to WinAmp.

6. Do Not Allow Same Song In Queue Multiple Times

Some users have reported an annoyance of allowing an individual song to be loaded into the queue multiple times, either intentionally or by mistake. This new option, when enabled, will not allow any song to be added to the queue if it already is listed there, in any position.

7. Improved Error Handling

When unexpected errors occur (hopefully not too often!!), the redesigned error message box will conveniently gather some necessary data about your system. All you need to do to report an error now is to click the ‘Copy Error Text’ button, paste into a new email and send it to support@thepcjukebox.com.

8. Various Bug Fixes

As usual, several minor bug fixes were addressed. One particular worth mentioning was the handling of album covers that reside within the individual albums’ folders. This function was not working properly if your songs were tagged with ID3 v2 tags. This has been corrected.

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Dec 23, 2003 - Version 4.0.0 (return to top)

1. Direct Launching Of The Program

Starting with Version 4.0, The PC Jukebox no longer starts up with the Options screen that required users to click OK to continue. Instead, once the splash screen has been displayed, The PC Jukebox automatically initializes and starts. All settings are now performed in a completely separate application known as The PC Jukebox Configurator. You can use the Configurator to Build or Update your Music Library, choose or edit a skin, select which screen elements will be visible, and much more. And you can even launch the main PC Jukebox program straight from the Configurator.

3. 2. Enhanced Graphics

All of the buttons in The PC Jukebox have been upgraded to be much more visually appealing. They all have new reflective characteristics that can be altered by the user. You can now change the font, style, shadow depth, border width and more on just about any button you see. Some of the buttons can even be animated. The user interface has been cleaned up to group controls more appropriately. It is much easier to hide and display groups of buttons now. The album frames draw much more quickly and even become highlighted as your mouse moves over them. There are new skins that can be downloaded and many more enhancements too numerous to mention!

3. Full Screen Mode

The PC Jukebox can now be put into Full Screen mode, which removes Windows title bar or borders. This makes The PC Jukebox appear more like a dedicated kiosk application rather than a standard Windows program. Full Screen mode can be set in The PC Jukebox Configurator, the Options dialog, or can also be toggled on and off using the F2 key.

4. New 640x480 Mode

A new mode has been added to allow The PC Jukebox to be displayed at a resolution of 640x480. This mode is ideal for those who wish to use The PC Jukebox on their televisions. Some of the controls had to be moved around due to the sheer limitation of pixels, but the application is fully functional in this mode. The program will automatically detect your resolution and start in the mode that best fits.

5. 800x600 Mode Enhanced

The 800x600 mode has been updated to look much more like the 1024x768 mode, including more albums on the Album View screen and more song titles on the Selected Album Screen. 1024x768 mode is still recommended if possible, but the program looks much better at 800x600 than it did!

6. Album Cover Location

The PC Jukebox no longer requires users to keep all of their album cover art in a single folder. The covers can now reside with the individual albums. Also, the cover art files can be named after the album or with a common generic name, such as Cover.jpg.

7. Prefetch Album Covers

In an effort to increase performance once The PC Jukebox has been loaded, a new option has been added in Version 4.0 to allow you to prefetch all of your Album Cover art. This should decrease the time it takes for each of the Album Covers to display on any of the screens by preloading and caching them during the initialization routine.

8. Mouse Cursor Hidden In Touchscreen Mode

When The PC Jukebox is put into Touchscreen Mode, the mouse cursor will now disappear making the application look even more like a commercial touchscreen music jukebox. The cursor will reappear when the application is closed. And, furthermore, if you switch over to another running application using keyboard, the mouse cursor will be visible and available there.

9. Keep History From Session To Session

The PC Jukebox keeps a history of all songs that are played. The previous version of The PC Jukebox would erase this history each time the application started. You now have the option to keep all previous history and NOT start new each time the program is launched. And the History now includes 2 new fields; # of Times Played and Last Played Date/Time.

10. Song Tool Tips

You have the option to display balloon type tool tips when your mouse hovers over a song title button. The tool tip will include the following information: Song Title, Artist, Album, Track Number, Duration, Number Of Times Played, and Last Date and Time Played.

11. ALL CAPS Display

The PC Jukebox can now display all dynamic text (mostly artist names and song titles) in all capital letters (i.e Beach Boys would be displayed BEACH BOYS) regardless of how that text actually appears in the ID3 tag. This can give a slightly more professional look to the program.

12. Single Click Play

You now have the option of enabling users to play a song immediately without having to highlight it first and then clicking the ‘Add Song To Queue’ button. Each song will get added to the queue as soon as it is clicked on.

13. Mouse Click And Mouse Over Sounds

You can tell The PC Jukebox to play a ‘clicking’ sound each time any button or album cover is clicked (or touched) or each time the mouse pointer hovers over a button.

14. No More Hidden Options Button

The hidden button in the upper right hand corner to display the Options dialog box has been removed. Instead, an Options button has been added to the Artist List screen. Of course, this button can be hidden at any time to prevent other users from altering the program once it is playing.

15. New Power Off Button

To make sure the program can still be exited when it’s in Full Screen mode, a new Power Off button has been added. It can be found with the group of controls named Playback Controls. And of course, just like everything else, it can be hidden and shown at will.

16. Various Bug Fixes

As usual, several minor bug fixes were addressed. One in particular that is worth mentioning is the handling of long file names. In previous versions, if the path and the file name of a song file combined was greater than 150 characters, The PC Jukebox would appear to add the song to the Music Library, but in actuality it would be skipped. This would explain, for example, why The PC Jukebox would say that 2000 songs were just added but then report that there were only 1800 songs in the library. This 150 character limit has been increased to 255 to accommodate files with longer names and folder paths.

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Oct 15, 2003 - Version 3.5.0 (return to top)

1. Playlists!!

The PC Jukebox now supports playlists. Version 3.5 will allow you to play and/or create Winamp style playlists in both the older standard .m3u format as well as the newer .b4s format. That means any existing playlists you have in either format can immediately be loaded and played back through The PC Jukebox. Please refer to the file named The PC Jukebox Advanced Features for further details on creating and playing back playlists.

2. Automatically Create A Playlist For Each Artist

With the click of a single button, The PC Jukebox will search your Music Library and create a playlist for each and every artist found. Each playlist will contain all of the artists’ songs. Once the playlists are created, you can load them into The PC Jukebox, move the songs around, delete songs you don't want, add songs from other artists, and save the playlist back again. Again, both m3u and b4s formats are supported. Please refer to the file named The PC Jukebox Advanced Features for further details.

3. Initialization Improved

The initialization routine has been greatly optimized. Now, when you click on the Start button, the application will load MUCH more quickly, up to 20 times faster!

4. Music Library Log

Each time you create or update your Music Library, you will now have the option to create a log file of the process. The log will contain information about each song that was added, updated or skipped. The log file can be created in XML or straight text format. Please refer to the file named The PC Jukebox Advanced Features for further details on creating the log file.

5. Greater Queue Control

New controls have been added to allow you to select a song from the queue and move it up or down to a new position. You can now also clear the entire queue with the click of a single button (not including the song that is currently playing). And furthermore, you now have the ability to shuffle the positions of the queued up songs with a single click (again, not including the song that is currently playing). This feature is helpful when you have selected a playlist and want to hear the songs in a different order from which they were loaded. Also, you can hide and show the queue simply by right clicking on it now (no need to go the Options screen any more).

6. Top Ten List

The PC Jukebox now maintains playback counts for each song in your Music Library. Using this information, a new Top Ten feature has been added. By clicking the new Top Ten button, you can see a list of your most popular selections. You can select any one of these songs and add it to the queue, or you can add all of the Top Ten with the click of a single button. And, of course, at any time you can reset these statistics and clear your Top Ten list.

7. Playback History

Every time you start The PC Jukebox, it will now create a history of each song that gets selected in the order it is played. You can view this history at any time, select any song out of your history to play again, and even create a playlist based on it. You can edit your history by removing individual songs and then create a playlist from there as well. And, again, you can reset your history at any time. Keep in mind that history gets erased and re-initialized each time you start the program.

8. Keyboard Scroll To Song

Just like you can scroll to a particular artist simply be pressing the first letter on your keyboard (you did know you could do that, didn't you?) you can now scroll to a song title the same way. So, if you've got 150 songs by U2 and you want to play 'Where The Streets Have No Names', you no longer have to click the down arrow 140 times to get there. Simply press 'W' on your keyboard and The PC Jukebox will scroll to the first song whose title starts with 'W'.

9. Hiding The Frames

On several machines, the frames that outline the album covers are somewhat slow to load. Although this is only the case when each of the screens first load, it can be somewhat frustrating. A new option has been added to suppress the display of these frames, greatly reducing initial load time of the screens.

10. The Startup And Options Screens

The Startup and Options screens have been redesigned for easier navigation and understanding. While the basic functionality remains unchanged (there are a few new bells and whistles), the interface is a little cleaner and easier to get around in.

11. Splash Screen

Yeah, no big deal, but it was needed!

12. Various Bug Fixes

Several minor bug fixes were addressed, too numerous to mention here.

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May 20, 2003 - Version 3.2.1 (return to top)

1. Minor Bug Fixes

A bug was detected in Version 3.2 that prevented The PC Jukebox from shutting down properly when the Close button was clicked. This has been corrected in Version 3.2.1.

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May 13, 2003 - Version 3.2.0 (return to top)

1. 800x600 Support

The PC Jukebox now supports monitors at a resolution of 800x600. If The PC Jukebox detects the resolution at 800x600, it will automatically default to the new mode. To verify the detection properly occurred, simply click the ‘Options' item from the left-hand list on the initial setup screen (which has been redesigned to fit at 800x600). The entry in the 'Screen Size' dropdown should read 800x600 and it should not be able to be changed. If you are running at 1024x768 or higher, you can choose which Screen Size mode to run by selecting either item from the Screen Size dropdown.

The differences in the 2 screen size modes are these: On the Artist List page, the 1024x768 mode lists 14 artists at a time while the 800x600 mode lists only 10 at time. The Album Cover View screen shows 15 albums at a time in 1024x768 mode and only 8 albums at time in 800x600 mode. Finally, on the Album Selected screen, the 1024x768 mode displays 12 song titles, 3 additional albums and 9 total albums while the 800x600 mode displays 9, 2, and 4 respectively.

One final note -- when editing a skin or creating a new one for 800x600 mode, be sure to choose a background image whose measurements are 800x600 if you'd like the image to appear in it's entirety. Choosing an image of a different size will not cause an error, but it will not display fully and/or cover the entire screen.

2. Minor Bug Fixes

Some minor bugs were detected in the scrolling operations and have been corrected.

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May 6, 2003 - Version 3.0.1 (return to top)

1. Minor Bug Fix

A fix was implemented to allow songs whose Artist tag started with a character other than A-Z or 0-9.

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May 5, 2003 - Version 3.0.0 (return to top)

1. Skins!!

The PC Jukebox now supports skins! To select a skin, click on the ‘Skins’ item from the left-hand list on the initial setup screen. Make sure that the 'Use Skins?' checkbox is selected. Then select a skin from the dropdown list. When you click on the 'Start' button, all of the screen elements will be adorned with the graphics that make up the selected skin. To change a skin while the program is active, click in the upper right hand corner of any screen. This will display the 'Options' dialog box. (For further details on the 'Options' dialog and how to display it, please refer to The PC Jukebox Advanced Features file located in the same folder as this file)

Select a new skin from the dropdown list and click 'OK'. The PC Jukebox will update to the newly selected skin. Be advised that when you change a skin, many of the screen elements will have to redraw each time a screen is viewed for the first time. Once the elements are drawn once, they will not need to redraw again, unless the selected skin is edited or changed. As you play with the program you will get more familiar with how the skins interact.

For a detailed explanation of how to create and/or edit skins, please refer to the file How To Create A Skin located in the folder as this file.

2. Album Cover View

You may now browse through your music collection by viewing all of your album covers rather than just viewing by a single artist. Simply click on the 'Album Cover View' button in the upper left hand corner of the main screen, and the new view will be shown. The albums are sorted in order by artist name, not album name. You can scroll through the album covers by using the lettered scrollbar on the right hand side. Clicking on any album cover will allow you to view and select any of the songs on that album.

3. Enhanced Scrolling

The scrollbars on the Artists List screen and the Album Covers Screen have been enhanced. They will now show the current letter/number of the visible artists/albums. The letters will change on the fly as the scrollbar is moved, making it very easy to see where you are in the list. They are also much wider to accommodate touchscreen users. For this reason, the previous Touchscreen Mode, described below, is no longer necessary and has been removed.

4. Currently Playing Album Cover

While on the Artist List screen, if you click on the album cover of the currently playing song, you will be brought to the Album View screen that lists all of the songs on that album. This is the same screen you would see if you clicked on the album cover from the Album Cover View screen. This is just a quick way to see what else is on the album of the song that is currently playing.

5. Deleting Of Orphaned Records

Previous versions of The PC Jukebox would leave records in your Music Library if you moved or deleted any files that were previously added. Version 3.0 will clean up your library each time you click the Build Music Library or Update Music Library button. After the program searches for new or updated files, it then goes through each record in the library and makes sure the file still exists. If not, the record is removed from the Music Library.

6. New Evaluation Version Behavior

Previous versions of The PC Jukebox would limit new users to 100 songs while running the evaluation version. The good news is that this limitation has been removed. All of your music will be loaded, even in the evaluation version. The bad news is that, now, evaluation users will be limited to running the program 10 times. Once the 'Start' button has been clicked 10 times, it will be necessary to purchase a registration code to use the program again. A further limitation of the evaluation version is that during the 10 evaluation times, a maximum of 10 songs can be played. Once the tenth song has finished, a message box will appear informing you that the maximum number of songs has been reached.

To avoid either of these limitations, a registration code will be necessary. To purchase the full version of the program and unlock it for unlimited use, please visit www.thepcjukebox.com and click on the Purchase button. After payment is received, you will receive a registration code that, once entered, will unlock the program. If you have purchased a registration code for a previous version it will still be valid for this version and you will not need to obtain a new code.

7. Removed/Changed Features

Unfortunately, animated logos are not supported in this version. These graphics were chewing up system resources badly, to the point where song playback was being interrupted. Animated logos will be explored for the next version. Also, be aware that while you can change the color and font for any of the screen elements, you CANNOT change the SIZE or BOLDNESS of the font on the rectangular buttons. All other aspects can be modified.

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Apr 1, 2003 - Version 2.0.0 (return to top)

1. Customizing The PC Jukebox's Appearance

The biggest single change in Version 2.0 is the ability of the user to change the appearance of every screen element. Simply by right clicking on any part of any screen, the user will be presented with a menu of choices to change the look of that element. For example, clicking on any open area of the background will give the user the opportunity to change the background color for that screen. The fonts and colors of all of the text items can be changed. Feel free to experiment changing any and all of the items. You may even find some hidden ones!!

At any time you can restore all of the default color, font, and logo settings back to their original values. Simply click in the upper right hand corner of the main screen to display the Options dialog, then select ‘Skins’ from the left-hand list. Make sure the ‘Use Skins?’ checkbox is clear and click on the large red button labeled 'Restore All Default Colors/Fonts/Logos/Party Mode Settings'. A confirmation dialog will display asking if you are sure you want to do this. Clicking 'Yes' will erase all of your custom settings and immediately set all choices back to their default settings.

2. Rebuilding The Music Library

New in Version 2.0 is an improved way to rebuild and update your Music Library. In Version 1.0, each time you wanted to add even a single song, your Music Library would be deleted and recreated from scratch. This could be very time consuming and annoying. In Version 2.0, any song that was previously added to the Music Library and is unchanged will simply be skipped over, thus significantly reducing the time of the rebuild procedure. If there are new songs that have not previously been added to the Music Library, these will be found and added. Also, if the tag information for any previously added song has been updated or changed, The PC Jukebox will now extract this new information and update the Music Library accordingly. This new approach can reduce the Music Library rebuild time from 30 minutes or more to just 3 or 4.

3. Play An Entire Album

If your songs' ID3 tags contain Track Number information, The PC Jukebox will now allow you to play an entire album, in track number order, by clicking a single button. After selecting an artist, simply click one of the album covers on the next screen. All of the songs on that album will be displayed on the right hand side, sorted by track number. If a song does not have the track number as part of it's ID3 tag, a '0' will be displayed by default. To play all of the songs in order, simply click the button at the top of the songs list labeled 'Play Entire Album'. The entire album will then be added to the playlist queue. You can also sort all of the songs alphabetically and play them in that order as well.

4. Customize Party Mode (renamed ‘Screen Elements’ in version 3.5.0)

Another popular suggestion was for the user to be able to hide or display any items of their choosing while in Party Mode. On the initial setup screen, click the 'Screen Elements' list item in the left-hand list. This allows you to further customize your experience. Once the program has started, if you decide to change your mind and want to change the view, simply click in the upper right hand corner of the main screen to display the Options dialog and again click the 'Screen Elements' list item in the left-hand list. All of the choices you had originally made are shown here. You can make any changes you want and The PC Jukebox will immediately reflect these changes once the Options dialog has been closed.

5. Now Playing Screen Default Time

In Version 1.0, the Now Playing Screen would appear after 30 seconds or so, if that option had been turned on. In Version 2.0, you can decide exactly how long to wait before displaying this screen. In the initial setup screen, click the ‘Options’ list item in the left-hand list. Clicking on the 'Now Playing Screen' checkbox will enable this feature. Here you can also input the number of seconds to wait before the Now Playing screen appears. After the program starts, you can alter this number by opening the Options dialog, typing in a new number, and closing the dialog.

6. Single Key Scrolling To Buttons

If you have a large list of artists and quickly want to get to one that is scrolled off of the list, simply press the first letter of the artist's name on your keyboard and the list will automatically scroll to the first artist whose name begins with that letter. While this may not bring you exactly to the button for the artist you were looking for, it will quickly bring you closer to it. This feature will also work for long lists of songs for a particular artist.

7. Touchscreen Mode (obsolete in version 3.5.0)

While The PC Jukebox was designed with a touchscreen monitor in mind, one shortcoming in Version 1.0 was the inability of users to easily click and drag any of the scrollbars with their fingers. This was not really a problem for users using a mouse. A temporary solution for this has been employed in Version 2.0. After expanding the initial setup screen by clicking the 'Advanced' button, clicking the 'Touchscreen Mode' checkbox will widen the scrollbars within The PC Jukebox to making it easier for users to use their fingers. A very important side effect to this feature is that ALL open Windows applications will have their scrollbars widened as well. Once The PC Jukebox is closed, all scrollbars will return to their normal sizes. This feature CANNOT be changed once the program has been started. The program must be closed to change the setting back.

8. Version Number Added

At any time you can see exactly what version of The PC Jukebox you are running now by clicking in the upper right-hand corner of the main screen and displaying the Options dialog. The version number will be displayed in the lower left-hand corner. Should it become necessary to release maintenance updates, this version number will be increased accordingly. You can always check the website, www.thepcjukebox.com, to see what the latest and current version is.

Keep your suggestions coming and we'll try to get as many of them as possible included in the next version!!