AudioPhile  -  An advanced audio CD player

by Alan Wrigley

This application requires RISC OS 3.1 or later.

AudioPhile is an application which enables you to play audio CDs on your CD drive with all the facilities of a conventional hi-fi CD player. It is even designed to look like one!

Most computer CD drives can output audio from standard audio CDs with a quality as good as many hi-fi CD players. Acorn provides an application called CDPlayer to go with CDFS, but some of its facilities are limited and it doesn't really look the part.

Audio is normally output from the CD drive via a separate link from the main data transfer route - some CD drives may have phono sockets or a headphone socket on the drive case itself, while others (particularly internal ones) may have a connection for a flying lead. Note that AudioPhile can only control this audio output, which will normally go directly to an amplifier or other hi-fi equipment. It has no control over the computer's internal sound system, and it cannot control the volume of the audio - this is done by the equipment at the other end of the chain. In other words, you cannot put an audio CD in the drive, start up AudioPhile, and expect to get music from your computer.

AudioPhile provides all the functionality of a CD player from a simulated front panel. There are buttons for Play, Stop, Pause, Skip track, Program and Eject. Track numbers on the CD are listed (up to 20), as well as programmed track numbers when a sequence is programmed. A large time display shows the total playing time (or total programmed playing time when in program mode), or the elapsed time of the current track when playing. The track currently playing is highlighted. The Pause facility works correctly for any length of pause, unlike CDPlayer (CDFS releases a paused state after a short while which means that CDPlayer cannot continue playing from the same point - AudioPhile gets around this by remembering the location at which the pause occurred).

The version of AudioPhile on this disc is a cut-down (but fully functional) version of a commercial package due to be released shortly. Among the enhancements of the full version will be fast forward/reverse search facilities, and the ability to display time in a number of formats while playing (total elapsed, current track elapsed, total remaining, current track remaining); it will have a small 'remote control' window which gives you access to all the facilities without needing the main window open; it can store details of any CD including title and track names, which are then displayed when that CD is inserted; and furthermore it can remember your favourite program sequence for any CD. A further advantage of the commercial version is that consecutive tracks will be played without a break, so there will be no pause where a track runs directly on from the previous one. RISC User disc subscribers will be able to upgrade to the full commercial version at a very advantageous rate when it becomes available.

Using AudioPhile
AudioPhile is run in the usual way by double-clicking on its icon in a directory viewer. An icon is installed on the icon bar. Clicking on this icon with Select opens the main window (the 'front panel'). In order to simulate a CD player the panel has no title or scroll bars, so to close it just click with Adjust on the icon bar icon (it does have one concession to the RISC OS desktop - a Back icon in the top left-hand corner). The panel can be moved by dragging on the window anywhere except over an active icon (i.e. any plain black area is safe). A single click with Select anywhere over the black area will bring the panel to the front of the window stack, while clicking on the Back icon in the top left corner will put it to the back.

In the top centre of the window is the time display. When no CD is in the drive this will show "00:00". When an audio CD is inserted, after a brief delay the time display shows the total playing time on that CD, and at the same time a row of white numbers lights up below showing the number of tracks on the CD (up to a maximum of 20). Note that some non-audio CDs may fool AudioPhile into showing a total time and a track number, but if you try to play these nothing will happen.

Along the bottom of the panel are icons which simulate the buttons on a standard CD player. To play the CD from the start, press Play. The button will turn red, as will the track numbered 1, to indicate that track 1 is now playing. To stop playing, press Stop and the red lights will revert to their original colour. To play any other track, click on the track number and that number as well as the Play button will turn red, and the track will be played. Whenever you start playing in this way, the CD will be played from the point at which you started until the end of the track, unless you select some other operation in the meantime.

To move forwards or backwards by one track while playing, press the appropriate Skip button. The current track will stop immediately, and either the next or the previous track will start playing.

To open the CD drive drawer, press the Eject button.  This can be done at any time, whether the CD is playing or not. While playing, the drawer is locked to prevent the drive from inadvertently being opened while you are listening. If you wish to remove the CD you must first stop playing, by pressing either Stop or Eject.

Pressing the Pause button pauses play at that point, until either Pause is pressed again or the Stop button is pressed. In the former case playing is resumed from the same point, while in the latter case playing is stopped. Note that if you change track while in the paused state, by pressing Skip or by clicking on a track number, the track change takes place but the new track is not played until the Pause button is released.

Programming a Sequence
To program a sequence of tracks, press the Program button, which will turn red to indicate that program mode is now on. You can now build up the program by clicking on the white track numbers in the required sequence. As you do so, the sequence will appear below the track numbers, this time in blue. So for example, if you have a CD containing 8 tracks, the numbers 1-8 will appear in white when you load the CD. If you then click on 6,4,2,1,5,3 in that order, the numbers 6,4,2,1,5,3 in the same order will appear on the line below in blue. You can repeat tracks in the sequence if you wish.

As the sequence is built, the time display shows the total time of al the currently programmed tracks, and updates as each new track is added to the sequence. At present you cannot program a sequence of more than 99 minutes 59 seconds, and if you try to do so an error will be generated.

When programming mode is on, all the other buttons act on the programmed sequence in exactly the same way as for normal play described above, except that you cannot click on a track number to start playing from that track (though you can use the Skip buttons to move backwards or forwards through the programmed sequence). To switch program mode off, you must press Stop while the sequence is not playing; the Program button will then revert to black, and the blue numbers will disappear.

Upgrading to the Commercial Version
The commercial version is scheduled for release in a couple of months time. There will be a special offer for a limited period for RISC User disc subscribers to upgrade for an advantageous price. Details will be given in RISC User when it is available.

Copyright  Rheingold Enterprises 1995
