Documentation

Contents

1. Installation
2. System Requirements
3. Initial Set-up
4. Connecting to your server with the client program
5. Using the Client
   1. Adding Tracks to the master playlist
   2. Controlling playback
   3. Other client controls
   4. The Playlist Window

Installation

Installation is simple:

1. Copy "TCPlayer Server.exe" and "fmod.dll" on to the PC you want to play the music.
2. Copy "TCPlayer Client.exe" to all PCs you want to be able to control from.

System Requirements

Server

• Soundcard and speakers.
• Network card
• The FMOD dll file (included in the zip file)
• TCPlayer requires a copy of Windows Media Player to be installed for WMA playback

Client

• Network card

File System

TCPlayer expects music files to be grouped in folders by artist, then album (example screenshot below). Alternatively you can just use one folder per album.

Tracks in the "root" of each source directory won't be playable.

Initial Set-up

When you first run the server program you will have to tell it where to search for music files. You can specify up to 5 sources, these can be drives/folders on the host PC, network shares, or your CD/DVD drive(s). If any of these sources aren't available they will be skipped over.

1. Double-click the jukebox icon in your system tray, this brings up the options window.
2. Use the "browse..." to select drives or folders.
3. When you added your sources, don't forget to save your changes so the server will know where to look for files next time you run it.
4. To make your changes take effect, press the "Stop" button to stop the server and then "Start" to restart it.

When the server is started it will automatically listen for connections throught he network.

Connecting to your server with the client program

When you run the client program, the following dilog will appear, prompting your for log-on details.

The three fields in the dialog are as follows:

• User - your user nickname.
• Port - The TCP port to be used. This must match the port configured on the server (the default is 6000)
• IP - The IP Address or computer name of the server.

Use the save button (the disk icon) to save these settings and click "OK" button to connect.

If your network uses DHCP, the servers IP address may change each time it's switched on. It is recommended you use the servers computer name instead.

Using the Client

Adding Tracks to the master playlist

In the screenshot below, you can see the library window at the bottom. The left-hand pane of the window displays the artists, the middle pane displays albums by the current artist, the right pane the album tracks. A count of the total number of available artists, albums, and tracks is displayed above each pane.

Double-click the name of the artist you want in the left-hand pane. The albums available by that artist will appear in the middle section of the window. Double-click on the album title and the tracks appear on the right.

To add a track to the master playlist, you can do one of three things:

• Double-click on individual tracks
• CTRL-click multiple tracks and then click "Selected" to add a selection of tracks
• Click "All" to add all the tracks from the album

Selected tracks will be sent to the server and added to the master playlist on the server. The server will return notification and the tracks will appear in the "Current Playlist" window. Note: This can take a second or two on a slow network.

Controlling playback

The display and controls are as follows:

The display area show the elapsed time in the current track, the track number and number of tracks in the playlist. There is also a graphic equalizer (if enabled).

The other icons are (from left to right):

• Play - Indicates that the player is playing
• Pause - The player is paused
• Stop - Playback is stopped
• Repeat - When the end of the playlist is reached, playback resumes from the begining
• Shuffle - Plays the tracks in the playlist in a random order

The next part of the screen shows information about the current track. It will cycle through the artist name (the icon of a person), the name of the album (the CD icon), and the song title (musical notes icon).

Below this is the progress bar. This shows how far through the track you are. You can click on the progress bar to jump to a specific part of the song.

The control buttons are as follows (from left to right):

• Volume Down - Decreases playback volume in small increments
• Volume Up - Increaes volume
• Volume Indicator - Shows the current volume (out of 100)
• Mute - Mutes playback
• Previous Track - Skips backward through the playlist
• Rewind - Seeks back through the current song in 2 second jumps
• Play - Starts playback of the current song
• Pause - Pauses playback, click again to resume
• Stop - Stops playback
• Fast-Forward - Seeks forward through the current song 2s at a time
• Next Track - Next track in the playlist

Other Client Controls

The icons in the top of the window are as follows:

• Jukebox Icon - Clicking on the jukebox displays the menu. The menu includes ooptions for displaying the Spectrum Analyzer (or DSP)
• Connect/Disconnect - The "power" button will disconnect you from the server (or prompt for connection if you are not already connected
• Playlist - This icon toggles the playlist window
• Library - Toggles the library window
• "On Top" - The "drawing pin" icon toggles "on top" mode
• Minimize - Minimizes the clinet program
• Close - Closes the client window and exits. Note: Closing the client program does NOT stop the server program

The Playlist Window

The playlist window show the songs queued up in the master playlist. Double clicking a track will cause playback to skip to that track.

You can right-click on a track to get more information about it (such as an album cover is one exists).