JUNE 17, 2005 - Version 8.0

# The PC Jukebox Configurator - Help

## Introduction Music Libraries Screen Album Covers Screen Options Screen Playlists Screen Password Screen Purchase Screen | ## Related Documents Installation Instructions What’s New How To Create A Skin Known Issues

Introduction: (return to top)

The PC Jukebox Configurator is a stand-alone application that will allow you to set up all of your preferences before launching The PC Jukebox. Once you have built your Music Library and set any other options that you would like, it will not be necessary to run the Configurator again, unless you would like to alter any of your choices. Many, but not all, of the options that are available in The PC Jukebox Configurator are also available to you within The PC Jukebox itself. The options that are also available within The PC Jukebox have been marked with an asterisk (*). Please refer to the rest of this document for a detailed explanation of all available choices and options.

Music Libraries Screen: (return to top)

Music Path:

In this box, enter the path of the parent folder where your music is located. When the Music Library is built, it will search for all MP3 files located in this folder and any of it's subfolders. For example, if you enter C:\ in the text box, The PC Jukebox will search your entire C drive for MP3 files and add them to your library. If, however, you entered C:\Music in the text box, The PC Jukebox would start in that folder and only add MP3 files that were located in that folder and any of it's subfolders. By starting at a subfolder you can greatly reduce the time it takes to build your Music Library.

Automatically Check This Folder For Changes On Each Startup?:

Checking this box will 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 when you start either the main program or the Configurator. 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.

Music Library:

Select the particular Music Library you wish to load into The PC Jukebox. By default, only one Music Library exists, named ‘MusicLibrary1’. If you have created additional Music Libraries, they will appear in this list as well.

You MUST have, at a minimum, Version 2.7 of the Microsoft Data Access Components installed on your PC or the application will not be able to communicate with the Music Library file. You can download these components by visiting www.thepcjukebox.com and visiting the Downloads page.

Build Music Library and Update Music Library Buttons:

IMPORTANT—Any MP3 file that does not have an Artist, Title and Album tag will be added to the Music Library with an entry of ‘Unknown Artist’, ‘Unknown Title’, or ‘Unknown Album’, respectively.

When this button reads 'Build Music Library' it means that your Music Library currently contains no songs. Clicking this button will create your Music Library. The PC Jukebox will search for all MP3 files in the Music Path (entered above) and extract the ID3 Tag information for each song. A new record will then be created in the Music Library file (specified in the Music Library Path above) for each of the songs found. The PC Jukebox will NOT be able to function unless the Music Library is built.

When this button reads 'Update Music Library', it means that your Music Library has already been created. If you have added new songs in the Music Path or have updated the tag information for songs that were previously added or skipped, clicking this button now will bring your Music Library up to date with all of the changes and additions. Separate lists are created for all files that were added, updated, or skipped (due to incomplete tag information) and can be viewed when the update process has completed.

Clear Music Library Button:

Clicking this button will allow you to remove all records from the selected Music Library. However, if you proceed with this function and it is the only available Music Library, you will no longer be able to use The PC Jukebox until you have rebuilt your Music Library (see item directly above).

Delete Music Library Button:

Clicking this button will delete the Music Library that is currently displayed in the Music Library dropdown list. All of the records in that library will be permanently destroyed and the library will be removed form the list. This action cannot be undone so please use this button with caution.

Create Log File Checkbox and View Log File Button:

Each time you create or update your Music Library, you 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.

If this option is selected, the log file will be created in the same folder as the application executable (normally C:\Program Files\The PC Jukebox). The file will be named according to the following format: 'MusicLibraryLog-mmddyyyy-hhmmss' (where mmddyyyy represents the Month, Day and Year, i.e. 10062003 for October 6, 2003 and hhmmss represents the current Hour, Minute and Second in 24 hr format, i.e. 142730 for 2:27:30 pm). The file format extension will be either .txt or .xml, depending on your selection. The one advantage to the XML file is that it groups the categories together. In other words, all added files are grouped together regardless of when the program actually added them to the Music Library. In the raw text mode, files are added and displayed in the log according to when the program processed them. So, in that case, the log file could contain an added song, then a skipped song, then another added song, then an updated song, and so on whereas the XML file will keep them all grouped together.

To view a newly created log file, just click the 'View Log File' button immediately after it is created. You can then print it out just by right clicking anywhere in the document and selecting 'Print' from the menu. To view previously created logs, navigate to the application's root folder in a Windows Explorer (normally C:\Program Files\The PC Jukebox) and locate the log file you wish to view.

Automatically Download Cover Art During Build/Update Checkbox:

Selecting this checkbox will instruct The PC Jukebox Configurator to look for matching cover art on the internet for each MP3 file that does not already have an image embedded inside of it. If you do not have a current active connection to the internet, this option will be ignored. The PC Jukebox will do its best to locate the appropriate album cover. This process is based on the ID3 tag information of each file. The more accurate and complete the tags are, the better the results of this process will be. Please be advised, however, that this process is not 100% accurate, and occasionally an incorrect album cover will be associated with the song. This can be corrected at a later time, from within The PC Jukebox itself.

Attempt To Update Blank ID3 Tags From Filenames and/or Folders:

If several, or any, of your MP3 files have incomplete tags, The PC Jukebox can attempt to fill those in by examining the file name and/or the folder where the file is located. For example, if your folder structure looks something like C:\MP3s\Beatles\Abbey Road\01 – Come Together.mp3, you can tell The PC Jukebox to fill in your tags by looking for the Artist Name\Album Name\Track Number – Song Title. To do this, you would fill in the text box with the following: %A\%B\%K - %T Alternatively, if you songs look like this: Beatles – Come Together – Abbey Road – 01.mp3, you would fill in the text box with: %A - %T - %B - %K Please feel free to send any questions regarding this process to questions@thepcjukebox.com.

Automatically Launch The PC Jukebox After Build Update:

Selecting this checkbox will instruct The PC Jukebox Configurator to immediately close itself and start The PC Jukebox as soon as it finishes an initial build or a subsequent update of the Music Library. This simply saves the user the manual step of clicking the Save And Start The PC Jukebox button.

Album Covers Screen: (return to top)

If you chose NOT to automatically download your cover art from the internet, you might need to fill out one item on this screen.

This screen will allow you to specify where The PC Jukebox can find your Album Cover art. The notations on this screen describe the method in which The PC Jukebox will locate and display your cover art. Please let us know if something does not make sense or you have any questions about this process.

Options Screen: (return to top)

Touchscreen Mode?:

For users of touchscreens, this option will eliminate the ‘mouse over’ color changes of the buttons. When this mode is turned off, the text on each of the buttons will change color when the mouse moves over them, and then will change back when the mouse is moved off. However, when interacting with a touchscreen, the mouse pointer is not moved off of the buttons after they are pushed. This leaves the color of the text changed even though the user is not touching the screen. This option simply eliminates the text color change when the buttons are clicked. Additionally, the mouse cursor becomes invisible when Touchscreen Mode is turned on, further giving the appearance of a dedicated kiosk application.

Erase History On Startup?:

The PC Jukebox keeps a history of all songs that are played, in order. Selecting this option will direct The PC Jukebox to erase all previous history and start new each time the program is launched. If you would like to keep your history from session to session, make sure this option is unchecked.

Default To Album Cover View On Startup?:

You can instruct The PC Jukebox to automatically show the Album Covers screen instead of the Artist List screen at startup by selecting this option.

Automatically Put The PC Jukebox Into Random Mode On Startup?:

This checkbox instructs The PC Jukebox to immediately select a song at random once it is completely loaded. This simulates the user clicking the Random Mode button manually.

Show Album Cover Frames?: *

This checkbox will allow you to show or hide the frames that encompass each of the album covers displayed. On older and/or slower machines, these frame images may take a few seconds to initially load, slowing down the overall performance of the program. You can choose not to load these frame images at all, making the program appear to load faster. Keep in mind however that once each of the frame images has loaded for the first time, it will not need to load again and the rendering of the image will be immediate. The program is much more attractive with these frames turned on, but if initial performance is a priority, they can be hidden with this option.

Show Song Tool Tips?: *

Selecting this checkbox will allow you 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. Unchecking this box will suppress the display of these tool tips.

Use ALL CAPS?: *

Selecting this checkbox will 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.

Allow Songs To Appear In The Queue Multiple Times?:*

When this option is enabled, The PC Jukebox will not allow any song to be added to the queue if it already is listed there, in any position. Once the song has finished playing and is completely removed from the queue, it can then be selected and added again. If this option is turned off, a song can be added to the queue any number of times.

Single Click Play?: *

Selecting this checkbox will enable the user to play a song immediately without having to highlight it first and then clicking the ‘Add Song To Queue’ button. Each song will be added to the queue as soon as it is clicked on.

Automatically Display Now Playing Screen?: *

Selecting this checkbox will enable automatic display of the Now Playing screen. This screen will appear in the user defined amount of time after a song begins, as long as there has been no user interaction with The PC Jukebox. This is similar to screen saver. To disable the Now Playing screen, make sure this box is unchecked. However, you can still access the Now Playing screen at any time by clicking on the 'Now Playing' button on the Artist List or Album Cover screens.

Mouse Click Sound?: *

Selecting this checkbox will tell The PC Jukebox to play a ‘clicking’ sound each time any button or album cover is clicked (or touched). Uncheck this box to suppress this sound.

Mouse Over Sound?: *

Selecting this checkbox will tell The PC Jukebox to play a ‘clicking’ sound each time the mouse pointer hovers over any button. Uncheck this box to suppress this sound.

By Default, List Songs: *

Selecting one of these buttons will determine the default order that songs are listed in when an album cover is selected. Some users may prefer to see the songs listed in the order that they originally appeared on the album while others may prefer to see the songs listed in alphabetical order. Please be advised that in order to list the songs by track number, the ID3 tags of each of the songs must include this information. Any song that does not include track number in it’s tag will be displayed with a track number of 0. The listing order can always be changed on the fly by pressing the ‘List By’ button next to the songs listing.

Automatically Check Online For New Version At Each Startup?: *

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. Also, you can manually check for a new release at any time by clicking the “Check For New Version NOW” button.

Playlists Screen: (return to top)

Generate A Playlist For Every Artist Button:

Clicking this button will allow The PC Jukebox to search your Music Library and create a playlist for each and every artist. Each individual playlist will contain all of the songs for the artist, added in alphabetical order. 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. Both m3u and b4s formats are supported so they can be utilized in other supporting applications. The PC Jukebox will create these files in the Playlists folder located under the root folder for the application (normally C:\Program Files\The PC Jukebox\Playlists).

Password Screen: (return to top)

Current Password:

Version 7.5 and above 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. Simply type the desired password into this box and select the areas of the program you wish to protect. Don’t forget to click one of the Save buttons at the bottom when you’re done!

Purchase Screen: (return to top)

Should you decide to purchase The PC Jukebox, you will be provided with an Unlock Code which will enable you to unlock the full version of the program. Until this code is entered, The PC Jukebox will be limited to 10 trial uses. Furthermore, within those 10 trial uses, The PC Jukebox will be limited to playing 10 songs per use. Once this code is entered, The PC Jukebox will be unlocked for unlimited use.

You can click on the ‘Visit www.ThePCJukebox.com’ button to launch a browser and automatically be delivered to the application web site. Click on the ‘Purchase’ button to begin the registration process.