471 lines
24 KiB
HTML
471 lines
24 KiB
HTML
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<pre class="nfo"> . . . . Digital Audio Crew . . . .
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. .
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. .______ ___ ______. . .
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. .:\_ . \/ \\_ . \:.. .
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. ../ ./ / <\ \/ ./__/. .
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. .:<_____<____\ >___ >: . .
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. .mr! \/ \/:. .
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. .
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. . . . . . MP3 How-To . . . . . .
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DAC MP3 "Mini How-To" V4.0.1
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Revision [30/08/1996 EDT 00:00]
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(Non-internal/First public release)
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by ShereKhan/MegaByte/MindRape of DAC
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This Mini HowTo started out as an internal document for DAC members, to
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standardize how DAC music releases are ripped, encoded, and packaged.
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Since then, MPEG Layer III Audio (heretofore called "MP3") has grown in
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popularity rapidly. However, quality has not improved similarly and many
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of the new encodings I've encountered sound like crap. Most people who
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have approached DAC (and I'm sure this is even more the case for the
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online community in general) just do not have the experience in recording
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digital audio, nor the familiarity with encoding MP3 needed to produce
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the near-perfect quality we expect in all DAC releases. Hopefully this
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guide will help you achieve the purest possible encodes from your CDs as
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well.
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Before going further, you need to get latest MP3 encoder, L3ENC v2.60 for
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DOS (Linux/SunOS/NeXT versions are also available if you prefer), one or
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more of the CD-ripping utilities mentioned in this guide (CDDA, DIDO, DAC,
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CD-Grab Pro), and a good WAV-editing program such as CoolEdit95, Sound
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Forge/32, or GoldWave. DAC members also need the current release NFO and
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DIZ files. Please read through this ENTIRE HowTo, before running to one
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of us for help!
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Many of these tools can be found at MindRape's DAMAGED CYBERNETICS page at:
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http://www.futureone.com/~damaged
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Good Luck!
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1. Resources for DAC members
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1.1 /DAC-PAK on the #DAC bot(s)
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All the ripping/encoding utilities, plus the current NFO and DIZ
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for packaging into releases (as well as this How-To) are available
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from the channel bot. Always make sure you are using the LATEST
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versions of the NFO/DIZ before finalizing any release!
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1.2 DAC WWW Page (ask members for address)
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fRSTGUMP has put up a quick WWW page for DAC, with the latest NFO,
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DIZ, and a table of DAC releases (not always 100% current, but the
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closest thing). The server is secured with htaccess (DAC internal
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use ONLY); if you have access to the channel bot, you should be
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able to use the same login and passwd for the WWW page.
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2. Ripping a song from CD (direct digital copy)
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2.1 Mitsumi CD-ROM drives
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Before pulling out your hair trying to rip with a Mitsumi CD-ROM,
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I should tell you that most (all?) Mitsumi CD-ROM drives cannot
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read "raw" CDDA data (Read_Long) and therefore cannot be used to
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aquire CD-audio by direct digital copy with ANY program; this
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includes CDDA/DIDO/DAC/etc. Mitsumi FX001D/FX001DE (2X) and the
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newer FX400* (4X) drives are known to have this "defect"; the
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manufacturer has purposely not included Read_Long in their drive
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logic or drivers to prevent copyright infringement (lesson: don't
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buy Mitsumi from now on.)
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2.2 CDDA Version 1.4 build 12c [DOS]
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CDDA is a DOS-based, command line CD ripping tool which allows
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you to copy CD redbook audio DIRECT to WAV without recording or
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sampling of any kind ... This type of "copying" gives the cleanest
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possible results and is MUCH preferred over trying to record the
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playback from the CD with CoolEdit or GoldWave. Direct copying, or
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"ripping" as we like to call it, gives you the maximum dynamic
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range from the songs, and thus NO clipping (which is a real problem
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with the "record" technique), since with CDDA you are copying the
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original signal strengths too with every signal peak. Think of it
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as "Automatic Level Detection" for your CDROM drive. Also ripping
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does not have problems with "skipping" due to buffer over/underrun
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you often encounter when record CD playback using SoundRecorder,
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CoolEdit, etc.
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MegaByte has done a quick comparison test of CDDA and DIDO4 and
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lists a few pros and cons for CDDA:
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PROS: De-jittering technique MAY improve sound quality (unknown)
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CONS: Must use /o switch to override CD copy protection.
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DOS based; may not work under windows on some systems.
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Does not work on some systems.
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If you are using Win95, you will need to first make sure you are
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using the DOS or 16-bit (Real Mode) Win3.x drivers for your CD-ROM
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drive, as the Win95 built-in drivers are NOT compatible with CDDA
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or any of the other direct copy utilities! Also make sure to read
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the manual with CDDA and use the included tester programs to see
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if your CDROM drive is capable of "long reads" (if not, you can't
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do a direct rip). These test utilities (for DOS) are useful even
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if you decide to use another ripper than CDDA.
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A sample command line to rip a track off an *IDE* CD-Rom drive with
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CD-DA might be: "CDDA /t [track] /m /f [filewav.wav] /w /o" PLEASE
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read the CDDA manual to see what switches you need to use ... ATAPI,
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SCSI, IDE all need different command line options! Additional info
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from MegaByte's comparison tests on CDDA's dejitter feature:
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[From CDDA.DOC:]
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> "Many CDs have been mastered from digital sources. In this
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> case the source may have been synthesized digitally which gives
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> absolutely perfect sounds which are very repetitive and exactly
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> the same. When this happens, it may possibly confuse the jitter
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> correction routines. There is not a lot I can do about it at
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> the moment, and there is less that any of the other programs
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> like mine can do."
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In one particular CD, which had repeating sound patterns, CDDA
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had a dejitter error. In another CD, which had more "analog"
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music, the error wasn't preesent. This may or may not be a
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result of the problem expressed in the above quote.
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2.3 DIDO 4.0 [Windows]
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DIDO4 is a Windows-based CD ripping tool with a GUI. Like CDDA, it
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copies the RedBook audio data directly from the CD to WAV. I have
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not personally tested it but from MegaByte's comparison testing,
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DIDO4 sounds very good. As with the other ripping utilities, you
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need to use the *DOS* or older 16-bit "real mode" Win3.1 CDROM
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drivers if you're under Win95. Some pros/cons from MegaByte:
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PROS: GUI, easy to use, easy track view/recording time selector.
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CONS: Has errors on some systems in accessing CD-ROM drives.
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(see the workaround below)
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Sometimes produces synchronization errors.
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(can be worked around by changing end time a little)
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MegaByte's workaround for the DIDO4 errors:
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DIDO4 seems to have some difficulties reading CD's under Windows.
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On [my] computer it stalls at 0 sectors on the read. To work
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around this problem, eject the CD and reinsert it at the Save
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File dialog box. Remember to hold the shift key under Windows 95
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to prevent Autoplay. Also, disabling Flexi-CD can solve some
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problems. If the CD is ejected, reinserted, and then "ok" in the
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save dialog box is clicked, recording works... as long as no
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autoplay program has opened.
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2.4 DAC 2.2 [DOS]
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People who have not been able to use CDDA has reported success
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with DAC in some cases. DAC has a nicer menu interface and is
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fairly easy to use. However, we do not have a registered version
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of DAC, which means you cannot do partial rips (to test sound
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quality, as you can with DIDO4 or CDDA) ... only the full track.
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Also at least one of the optimization switches is missing in the
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shareware version of DAC.
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Here is a quick start to using DAC to rip CD tracks:
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Load up DAC 2.2
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Select the track to copy
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Go to Action
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Select copy
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Pretty easy eh?
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Of course, read the docs for DAC to see if you need to enable any
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special options. As with CDDA and DIDO, you'll have to use the DOS
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or old 16-bit "real mode" Win3.x CD-ROM drivers under Win95, NOT
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the built-in Win95 miniport drivers! (Win95 CDROM drivers usually
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don't support CDDA/"raw" mode).
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2.5 CD-Grab Pro V3.21 [DOS]
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This is similar to CDDA, just a bit older. Haven't used this yet,
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anyone want to review it and let me know if it's good? I know that
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this ripper DOES have dejitter functions.
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2.6 General problems ripping in Win95
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Some Win95 users may encounter problems when starting a copy with
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CDDA, even if they have the correct DOS/real-mode drivers installed
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and their drive DOES support Read_Long ... this can often be fixed
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by starting up CD Player (in Win95) and putting the CD-ROM into
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pause mode; while the player is still paused, open a DOS window
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(if you're using a DOS-based ripper) and start copying the audio
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with CDDA/DIDO/etc.
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2.7 Using a CD-R (burner)
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If you are lucky enough to have use of a CD-R burner, you can use
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EZ-CD Pro (for Win3/Win95) or one of the various programs bundled
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with the burner to direct COPY audio tracks from any CD. Typically
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the read mechanism in CD-R drives are higher quality than regular
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CD-ROMs and the drivers/software are made with copying in mind.
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3. Sampling (recording output from CD player)
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Although this method of aquiring a CD track as WAV isn't recommended,
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many people either have incompatible hardware (Mitsumi or other CDROM
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incapable of Read_Long) or software (try booting to DOS mode if you use
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Win95, though!) and thus have no other choice than to sample the audio.
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Unfortunately, many people who CAN (and should) use direct digital copy
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are still sampling their CDs, either out of ignorance or laziness. This
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accounts for MANY of the shittier sounding MP3 encodes out there.
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You'll need good WAV-editing tools if you want to do a good sampling
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job; the "standard" recorder/editor programs bundled with Sound Blaster
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or PAS16, etc. usually aren't flexible enough and lack the buffering
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features required to make a skip-free recording. Instead, you should
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use a high-quality package such as SoundForge32, CoolEdit95, or Gold
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Wave to do your sampling and post-processing (read on). A section on
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using these programs will be in a future version of this How-To ...
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4. Examining the WAV prior to compression
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This is perhaps the MOST IMPORTANT STEP quality-wise in the process!
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It is critical that you load the WAV you're ripped with CDDA/DIDO4/etc
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into CoolEdit95 or SoundForge32 (or similar wave editors) and examine
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it for defects, clipping, too quiet, etc. Visually you can see defects
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that might not be noticible to the ear until AFTER compression (then
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it's much more annoying to fix!) Here are some common problems you might
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find in your freshly ripped (or if you cannot rip, recorded *bleh*) WAV:
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4.1 Clipping
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If you hear a tiny "pops" during playback of your WAV, and/or see
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a lot of sound peaks that look cut off (pops and cut-off waveforms
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should coincide) you've clipped the audio. This shouldn't happen
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with direct ripping, but with recording it happens often. You'll
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have to do it over if you have any noticible clips. Remember that
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different parts of the same song may have very different volume
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levels, so it isn't sufficient to just listen to one part of the
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WAV when determining the correct recording level (if you sampled).
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4.2 Too quiet
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The other common problem is the entire wave is too quiet. When you
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view a properly ripped/recorded WAV in SoundForge or CoolEdit, etc,
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the loudest parts of the song should have peaks that ALMOST reach
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the top/bottom edges of the waveform display; if even the loudest
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peaks never get close to the limits, then you'll either have to set
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the recording level a bit higher (if you're recording), or use the
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"Normalize" feature of CoolEdit/SoundForge (do this ONLY if you did
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a direct digital copy and know that no noise was introduced, other
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wise the flaws will be amplified) Again, IF you did a direct rip,
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and the resulting WAV is still very quiet, the Normalize (sort of
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a smart amplify) function to maximize the dynamic range for the
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entire file. Now you should see the loudest peaks in the song JUST
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touch the top/bottom margins, without blowing out the passages in
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the song that are supposed to be quiet.
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4.3 Rough ends
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After you're satisfied with the quality of your WAV rip, use your
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wave editor to create "smooth ends" for the song. In CoolEdit95,
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Select Entire Wave, use the "Envelope" function and choose "Smooth
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Ends". If you cut the beginning or end of the song accidentally (or
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on purpose) you might have to use the "fade-in" and or "fade-out"
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tools to make a nice intro/ending. Finally, save to Microsoft PCM
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(.WAV) at 44100Hz/16-bit/stereo.
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5. Compressing from WAV to MPEG Layer III Audio (MP3)
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5.1 L3ENC 2.60 Registered [DOS] - ftp.fhg.de /pub/layer3/
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This is the encoder for DOS. Make SURE you register the encoder,
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otherwise many of the command-line options will be locked out,
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ones DAC members will need to use for their releases! (Registration
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codes are below:
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> From: Psychotron <mikead@slip.net>
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> X-Sender: ShereKhan <ursus@alpha.c2.org>
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> Newsgroups: alt.binaries.sounds.music,alt.binaries.sounds.utilities
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> Subject: THE "FIRST" REG CODES 4 WINPLAY3 AND L3ENC This iz kewl!!!
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> Date: Tue, 06 Aug 1996 23:28:13 -0700
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>
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> You may like to know that these are the very first reg
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> codes for both "l3enc" and "WinPlay3", They will not make
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> the programs run any better then from any other code but
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> if you look at the serial number on your program after
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> you reg your software with these number it will say 0001.
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> kina kewl isn't it. Get it while you can
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>
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> L3ENC = 909GCB0A091E-9
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> WINPLAY3 = 100011-301000-5000
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NOTE: Here is another reg code for WinPlay3 v1.40
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(from WinPlay3 v1.30, when it was freeware):
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UserName=ISO FreeWare
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RegistrationCode=222221-025226-0002
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Here is a sample commandline for compressing a WAV (infile.wav) to
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MP3 (outfile.mp3) REMEMBER YOU MUST REGISTER THE ENCODER FIRST!:
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l3enc [infile.wav] [outfile.mp3] -br 128000 -crc
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The -br 128000 tells L3ENC to produce a MP3 that will playback at
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at 128000 bit/s ... this is the optimum compromise setting to get
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the maximum compression ratio for CD-quality music while still
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producing a MP3 that has virtually all the clarity of the original
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song and a very respectable dynamic range (16khz rolloff at -br
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128000) Compare this to the original CD-audio specification, which
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rolls off at 22khz; humans can only hear up to about 20khz besides,
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and virtually no natural sources, and very few artificially created
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sounds you might find on a CD ever approach 20khz.
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The default for the shareware L3ENC (pre-2.60) USED to be -br
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128000 but for 2.60 and newer, it has been changed to -br 112000.
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We at DAC feel a 112k bitrate sacrifices too much dynamic range
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for a minimal gain in compression ratio, and therefore recommend
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that -br 128000 be used for all encodes from CD sources.
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An average 3-4 minute song will need about 10,000 frames to encode;
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if you're smart, you'll encode only about 1,000 frames or so the
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first time around (press CTRL+C to stop the encoder) to see if the
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MP3 sounds good (no popping or dropouts, not too quiet) When you
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seem to have a good test encode then delete the partial MP3 and
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make the full-length MP3. L3ENC v2.60 has a nice progress indicator
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which tells you what % of the encoding is completed.
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If you have a fast computer (>P100) then you can try using the
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"High Quality" switch in L3ENC (-hq). This will make the encoder
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do extra quality checking so no errors are produced in the final
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MP3 file. WARNING: this may take up to 3x as long (according to
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RainMkr). Basically, -hq possibly may give you slightly higher
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quality MP3, but at greatly reduced encoding speed. Try it for
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yourself.
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You better have a fast CPU, like P133 -> PP200, if you're going to
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do a lot of encoding. ESPECIALLY if you want to use the -hq switch.
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Otherwise do the encoding at night while you are sleeping, watching
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tele, or whatnot. Encoding a 5 minute song on a i586-133 takes
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approximately 15-20 minutes, while on a i486-80 it takes almost
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1 hour. L3ENC is a 32-bit DOS executable, but it will run under
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Win95/NT DOS boxes just fine. In fact. many people have run 4 DOS
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sessions parallel, encoding 4 songs at once without problems.
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5.2 Linux version of L3ENC V2.60
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Some people report that the unix L3ENCoder is faster than the DOS
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version, although I haven't tested it myself. Should work exactly
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the same as DOS version. There is no Linux realtime player like
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WinPlay3, unfortunately. Also since I don't know which tools you'd
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use to rip the cd audio to WAV, I'm not sure it would be practical
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to encode MP3 with Linux unless you also had DOS bootable on the
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same machine (FTPing 40-50MB isn't fun, even on a T1).
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6. Testing the completed MPEG3 file
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6.1 Listening test
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After you've finished compressing the MP3 you'll want to check it
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over thoroughly of course ... Listen to it with WinPlay3 V1.40
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REGISTERED (unregged V1.40 has a 20-second time limit for playback)
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The reg code for WinPlay3 V1.40 is listed above. Make sure you have
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at least a P90 to be able to playback at full 44100Hz/16-bit/stereo
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output. You should not hear ANY nasty clicks, pops, or other defect
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that aren't heard on the CD; these might mean doing the rip/encode
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again. Also, if the song is VERY quiet, you might have set the
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record level too low, or forgot to Normalize the WAV before
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compressing (if you ripped). Lesson: be careful when you're making
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the source WAV; most problems aren't from the L3ENC, so save time
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by making sure the input WAV is pristine before encoding!
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7. Packaging for DAC release
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Non-DAC members can probably skip this section, which simply outlines
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our procedure for putting together a release, starting from the freshly
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encoded MP3 song.
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7.1 Generate a MD5 checksum
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After you've finished encoding your song(s) with L3ENC, use the
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utility MD5SUM to calculate a MD5 checksum for the file. This is
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for the release list maintainer to archive, as it allows you to
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see if a file is the same as the checksum you originally generated
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(test for dupes, other groups ripping off DAC releases, etc). The
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way to use MD5SUM is as follows:
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md5sum -bv file.mp3
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This will print the MD5 sum for file.mp3 to the screen; put it into
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the appropriate place in the DAC.NFO file (which you will e-mail to
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dac@jt.org as well as package into the release ZIP ... read on)
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If you have a whole list of files, you can generate a set of their
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MD5 checksums by piping the output to a text file:
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md5sum -bv *.mp3>md5sum.txt
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After the output file is generated (md5sum.txt) you can later check
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any of the MP3 files against their checksums in the md5sum.txt
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(tells you if the files are identical). This is accomplished by
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executing:
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md5sum -cv md5sum.txt
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|
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NOTE: md5sum.exe will expect the files to check to be in the same
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locations as were defined in the input list (md5sum.txt), so if you
|
|
later move the MP3s you should edit the paths in the MD5SUM.TXT to
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|
reflect that.
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|
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7.2 Filling out the NFO/DIZ
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|
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This part is probably the easiest, just fill in all the appropriate
|
|
checkboxes and blanks in the DAC.NFO and DAC.DIZ. Remember to
|
|
rename DAC.DIZ to File_ID.DIZ before you zip up the package! Always
|
|
use the most current NFO and DIZ from ShereKhan or the channel bot.
|
|
|
|
7.3 Email NFO to fRSTGUMP
|
|
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|
Don't forget to Email your completed NFO to fRSTGUMP so he can keep
|
|
an accurate list of our releases ... This is particularly important
|
|
to avoid duping already encoded songs by CDA or other groups.In the
|
|
near future this step may be replaced with a WWW forms inteface ...
|
|
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|
7.4 Releasing the package
|
|
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Each release should include a filled-out DIZ, NFO (always use the
|
|
latest available) and the actual MP3 song. Make sure the ZIP file
|
|
is named DAC-????.zip and FTP the completed package to the archive
|
|
site and/or any mirror sites DAC is feeding at the time. Also make
|
|
sure you DCC a copy of the ZIP to whomever is managing the current
|
|
offer bot(s).
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|
|
|
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|
--
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DAC MP3 "Mini How-To" V4.0.1
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Revision [30/08/96 EDT 00:00]
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by ShereKhan, et al of DAC
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|
</pre>
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</body>
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