Thursday, 11 October 2012 00:00

Empathy Jukebox - Installation

Empathy Jukebox - a touchscreen ready virtual CD jukebox.

 

Installation

Quick Start

No installer is provided. The download provided is a zip file which must be extracted to a folder you create. Initial configuration is done by setting the path= setting in the empathy.ini file to point to the folder that will contain the music.

Each folder in the Empathy File System is composed of the artist name followed by two underscores (__) and the title of the album. e.g.

The Beatles__Abbey Road

 

For optimal operation files are stored in album order, with the filenames arranged to reflect the order of the CD eg. track01.mp3, track02.mp3, track03.mp3 etc. A file 'title.dat' should also be present in the folder which is a simple text file with the corresponding track names, one per line. e.g.

Come Together
Something
Maxwell's Silver Hammer
Oh! Darling
Octopus's Garden
I Want You (She's So Heavy)
Here Comes The Sun
Because
You Never Give Me Your Money
Sun King
Mean Mr. Mustard
Polythene Pam
She Came In Through The Bathroom Window
Golden Slumbers
Carry That Weight
The End
Her Majesty

Another file 'title.jpg' contains a JPEG image of the album cover.

The system will work without renaming all your MP3 files, the minimum requirement is that each album is placed in the ARTIST__ALBUM format. Simply add a tile.jpg to each folder for the album artwork. This method does not guarantee that tracks will appear in the original order. 

The Empathy File System

Although Empathy Jukebox can automatically manage and create a virtual jukebox system without manual user intervention, it may be desirable for the user to understand what is going on in terms of how files are stored.

This system of file storage is referred to as the Empathy File system.

An Empathy File system can exist within any folder on the system. The user is advised to create a new empty folder for their MP3 albums.

Nearly all of the files here can be directly edited and created with standard Windows tools and album folders may be manipulated (created, renamed, deleted) with Windows explorer. The straight forward nature of the system enables users to 'get under the hood' and easily manually manage (and share) a large CD collection.

This also allows users to add individual MP3 files to the system by renaming them in the sequentially numbered format that Empathy understands, and keying the appropriate track name in the correct order to the plain text 'title.dat' file.

  

Filename(s)

Definition

 

trackxx.mp3

A of a set of MP3 files each named by the order which they appear on the orginal CD e.g.:-

track01.mp3
track02.mp3
track03.mp3
track04.mp3

etc..

xx is number between 01 and 99. Note the leading zero.

This facilitates the correct ordering of tracks, a facility missing in file-centric MP3 players.

 

title.dat

A plain text file. This contains a list of tracks (one per line) in the order that they appear on the original CD.

 

title.jpg

A JPEG compressed image file containing the front cover artwork of the album. Empathy will also recognise .BMP files, though this is not recommended due to their larger size.

 

 

Example

 

 

empathy.ini - Config file

 

There are many more options in the config file that are either used by or configurable within the program itself or relate to features that are in the source code but are disabled in the binary by default due to lack of testing/beta status/brokenness.

 

The only setting that MUST be set correctly is the path setting.

 

path=<pathtomusicfolder>

The path to the music folder. Can be a UNC share such as \\server\music or an absolute path like d:\music

mediaplayermode=<0/1>

Start in media player (non fullscreen jukebox) mode. 0 = disable, 1 = enable

Disable3D=<0/1>

Disable the 3D opengl view mode. 0 = don't disable, 1 = disable

cached=<0/1>

Cache album covers to cachepath or users %temp% path if cachepath not set.  More responsive for for slower networks. 0 = disable, 1 = enable

cachepath=<pathtocachedir>

See cached=

SLOWPROCESSOR=<0/1>

Disable some visual GDI features for older hardware.

AuditionTimeout=<integer>

Seconds to audition track in mediaplayer mode.

hideexit=<0/1>

Hides the exit button from jukebox mode

PowerOff

Use with Caution. Shutdown the computer instead of exiting the jukebox when the 'Turn Off' (Exit) button is pressed.

ShowMinimize=<0/1>

Minimize jukebox rather than exit.

jukeboxvolumepanel=<0/1>

Hide the volume/transport panel from view.

jukeboxaddall=<0/1>

Don't show the "add album" option on the track listings.

VideoMonitor=<integer>

When a video file is playing show it on this monitor.

BitRate=<integer>

The bitrate to extract MP3s at.

autoplay=<0/1>

Autoplay on at startup

bgvolumemax=<integer>

Maximum volume for background play.

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