MP3 Boss FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

Q: What is the easiest way to get a registration key?
A: Registration is currently $15.  Online registration is now available through the RegisterNow! service.  Please see http://www.mp3-boss.com/index.html for details.  If you are unable to use the RegisterNow! service, please see register.txt for mailing address information, or send an e-mail to: john.t.mccaffrey@snet.net.

Q: How can I quickly select all of the rows in the table of songs to generate a playlist?
A: Just click in the upper left corner of the table (next to the ID column, and right below the MP3 Boss - List View title) to select all of the songs.  Then, click the Add button in the Winamp player controls box to generate the playlist.

Q: I can't figure out how to quickly select a single field in the table.
A: To select a single field (e.g., a single title), move the mouse cursor to the left edge of the field -- when the shape changes to a cross, click.  That will select the entire field.  You can also simple click and drag across the field to highlight everything.  Single clicking in a field selects a single word.

Q: How do I select multiple fields in a single row?
A: First, select a single field as described above.  Keep the mouse button down and drag across the fields you want to highlight.

Q: Okay, now I can select fields in a single row, but how do I quickly select a field (or fields) in multiple rows?
A: You can either continue the process of holding down the mouse key while you drag/highlight a region, or use the Shift key (on the keyboard) in combination with the arrow (cursor) keys.  I find that the shift key + arrow keys is often more convenient to make sure you select just the rows/columns you want -- it is easy to get carried away with the mouse.

Q: Will duplicate checking work when comparing files on the hard disk to files on an unloaded CD?
A: While bit-by-bit checking requires that the CD be present, MP3 Boss performs a CRC32 check to first determine possible duplicates.  Therefore, it should be possible to get a good (but not perfect) indication that you have files on your hard disk that are duplicates of those on a CD.  If you want to be absolutely positive, you will need to load the CD (or you would need to change the scan-time CRC32 size to a large enough value to perform a full CRC32 scan).

Q: Why is the program 10MB?  A lot of nice programs are MUCH smaller...
A: MP3 Boss is based on the Microsoft Access runtime engine.  While the Microsoft Access runtime engine gives a database program a lot of advantages (e.g., the speed and flexibility of sorting/searching/filtering), it unfortunately requires a large installation package.  I plan on creating an update-only package (from v0.25 and up) that should be under 1MB.

Q: Do I need Microsoft Access to run MP3 Boss?
A: No, the Microsoft Access runtime engine is distributed with MP3 Boss.  MP3 Boss works completely independently of whether you have Microsoft Access or not.

Q: What's the biggest CD collection that MP3 Boss supports?  Is there a limit to the number of files or drives?
A: As far as I know, the largest collection that has been scanned so far consisted of almost 60GB of MP3 files (approx. 15,000 files) spread out over about 20 local and networked drives, and 50 CD's.  Since MP3 Boss is based on the Microsoft Access runtime engine, a pratical limit is a 1GB database (the physical limit is 2GB).  Based on the size of the 15,000 file database, a 1GB database could hold information on about 2.3 MILLION MP3 files (anybody have 10 Terrabytes of disk space for those MP3 files?).  There shouldn't be any practical limit to the number of drives that MP3 Boss can support.

Q: Since MP3 Boss uses a Microsoft Access database, does that mean it is easy to use Microsoft Access to read the MP3 Boss database?
A: While Microsoft Access can read the MP3 Boss database, MP3 Boss consists of 30-50 tables, a similar number of forms, and thousands of lines of code to hold it all together.  So, while you can probably get the MP3 Boss information into a simple Microsoft Access database, you will lose all of the functionality of MP3 Boss.

Q: Can I write an MP3 file to a CD and play it in a normal CD player like a Walkman?
A: You cannot play MP3 files directly using a regular CD player (although the RIO and such players play MP3 files directly).  Instead, you must convert the MP3 file to WAV or CDA format.  Many people use Winamp to do this -- just change the output to DiskWriter (this output plugin comes with Winamp), specify the output drive, and Winamp then (silently) writes the MP3's as WAV output.  Don't forget to change back to the WaveOut plugin when you're done.

Then just use your CD program (I use Adaptec's Easy CD Creator) to copy the WAV files to CD.  

You may need to worry about a few more things:
1) The volume may change from one song to the next.  Use AudioStocker (http://surf.to/mp3stock) as a DSP/Equalization plugin with Winamp to perform volume equalization while writing the files.
2) Usually you will want to write the output in a single session.  While your CD writer supports multisession, many standard CD players don't support multisession.
3) Most standard CD players today can't read from rewriteable CD's.  You'll need to use the standard write-once CD's to create your disk.

Q: Do you send MP3 songs?
A: No, I'm just a database developer.  If you are interested in MP3 song files, I recommend you take a look at Newsguy to build up your collection.  Just click on the Newsguy icon to sign up.

