==============
SimplePlay 3.8
==============

This is the last SDL_Mixer version of SimplePlay. (Unless there are any bad bugs
to be fixed!)

This music player enables OS4 users to play the following music and sound
formats:
MP3, MOD, IT, S3M, XM, WAV, VOC, OGG, MIDI

It was written using the Music functions that are built-in to SDL_Mixer
(which is part of Simple Direct Media Layer). There is no function to query
the length of songs, so I unable to insert a position slider gadget. Sorry
about that guys.

You can run SimplePlay with no options and it will open a GUI, or you can
run it in shell with a song name as the first argument and it will play that
one song. Control+C will abort playback.


ARexx Commands
--------------
PREVIOUS, PLAY, NEXT, STOP, PAUSE, GETSONGNAME

Also..
SHUFFLE     - can be turned on and off with the value 1 or 0

SETVOLUME   - set the volume to 'parameter'
e.g. "SETVOLUME 128"

VOLUMEUP    - increase the volume by 'parameter'
e.g. "VOLUMEUP 2"

VOLUEMDOWN  - decrease the volume by 'parameter'
e.g. "VOLUMEDOWN 2"

Note: Muted volume is 0, and maximum volume is 128.


Changes v3.8
------------
- Rearranged the graphical toolbar
- Bugfix: wasn't saving "last dir" in certain places
- Moved all playback code to play_song() function, in preparation for moving
  away from SDL_Mixer to mpega.library.. basing the new program loosely on
  SimplePlay, but geared towards MP3 playback.
- Will now skip to next song on error, instead of halting playback with an
  error window
- Included a new script to send "is listening to" information to SabreMSN
- Bugfix: loads settings.txt from progdir: now, so it doesnt have errors
  when launching simpleplay from a different dir
- My crappy scope can be disabled now


Changes v3.7
------------
- AISS is used for a graphical toolbar
- Added a fun little scope.
- The Text Objects (such as the currently playing Song name) are now clipped
  if they are too wide for the display. Before it would sometimes clip fine,
  but then make the window a lot wider when iconifying then reopening.
- Added an ARexx port, to listen for NEXT, PLAY, PREVIOUS, PAUSE, STOP,
  VOLUMEUP, VOLUMEDOWN, SETVOLUME, SHUFFLE. GETSONGNAME. Example scripts are
  provided.
- "Previous" function will now take you to the previous song you played,
  instead of the previous song in the playlist
- "Next" function will start the playback if playback is currently stopped.
- SimplePlay stops playback when it reaches the end of the playlist now
  (unless in shuffle mode).
- Music will now resume if you press play after pressing pause. (previously
  it would restart the song)
- Added some rewind/fast forward buttons. The music library I use pretty
  much has to rewind the song everytime you want to set the position. The
  function is slower at the beginning of the song, and gets slower the more
  it has to seek into the file. This only works for MP3 and OGG at the moment.
- Shuffle mode is remembered next time you load SimplePlay
- An ARexx script can be executed when you play a song. Configure this by
  selecting "Settings" from the pulldown menu. I have provided a script that
  sends text to WookieChat to tell everyone what song you just started.
  Remember to enable WookieChat's ARexx by setting the icon tooltype to
  arexx=true before starting.
- "Add Directory" works recursively now, thanks to Chris Handley!


User Interface Settings
-----------------------
I added a fun little scope to the right of the time elapsed text. I highly
recommend that people go into their MUI Settings in SimplePlay to configure
the background colour of the gauge object to match the background of the
window. That way, the scope will look invisible when theres no music
playing, and when it IS playing it will look nicer. :)

Also, the default graphical toolbar is set to "Icons and Text" by default.
This makes the window a lot wider and takes up space. If you want to make it
look nice with icons only, select MUI Settings from SimplePlays pulldown
menu, go into "External", click on TheBar > Appearance > View Mode > "Icons
only".


Startup script
--------------
There is SDL debug text being outputted to the window or a console window when
you try to fast forward or rewind through music. To hide this problem you can
run the provided startup script "Start_SimplePlay". This script directs output
to NIL: .. this is the only reason this script exists. Feel free to completely
disregard it, it wont hurt!


MIDI Playback
-------------
Download the TIMIDITY package here (14MB or so):
http://www.libsdl.org/projects/SDL_mixer/timidity/timidity.tar.gz

Extract the archive somewhere, then copy the timidity/ dir and timidity.cfg to
SimplePlay's dir. Then reload SimplePlay and MIDI files should now play.

This setup is only neccesary for if you want to play MIDI files.


Jump Window
-----------
I have added a "Jump function". Hit RAmiga+J to bring up the Jump Window,
or select it from the Pull down menu, and then type some characters of the
song you want to play. It will build a list as you type. You can use the
cursor keys or the mouse to get to the song you want, and hit enter or double
click on it to play. Fast easy way to find songs in a large collection.


E-Mail/Paypal: james.carroll xnet.co.nz