User's Guide
Library Window
Playlist Window
Track Editor Window
Customization
Advanced Topics
Regular Expressions
Trouble Shooting
Tables
ID3 Frame Descriptions

Command Line
jampal Command
Making an Envelope
Tag Backup
Text to Speech

Author
Peter Bennett

My Other Projects
Peter's Backup
Proxy and debug tool

Version 02.01.06

Cepstral and wine
Windows versions of Cepstral voices can be used with wine, by specifying wine: in front of the Cepstral path and using a "Wait before speech" setting of 5000.

Freetts
Support for freetts speech generation has been removed. Testing with Ubuntu did not work and caused the program to hang. The other engines have better sound and more options anyway.

Looks under Ubuntu
Support jgoodies and squareness looks if they are installed via Ubuntu Software Center. (install jgoodies or sqaureness from technical option in Ubuntu Software center)

Load Playlist From File
Fixed bug where a null pointer exception message displayed when loading an m3j playlist.

Help file under Ubuntu
The help file was not displayed under Ubuntu or any platform that does not support the Desktop API. Fixed so that it can use the default browser if the desktop API is not available.

envelope command with playlists
If the envelope command was used with a playlist generated by the playlist command, album names were not printed under certain circumstances.

tagbkup
In some cases, the program would report "Warning - no tag on file xxxx" incorrectly, when there was a tag. This did not affect the processing. The problem has been fixed.

Default customization
In the customization dialog, automatically supply the default mixer.

Default Speech Engine
If Play Announcements is requested and no speech engine or voice is selected, Jampal will use a default engine.

Version 02.01.05

ptts
The ptts.exe utility has been rewritten. It is now a vbs script, run with the cscript command. It now supports windows 32 bit as well as 64 bit versions and voices.

Announcements
Announcements using the windows speech engine are now fixed to work with 32 bit and 64 bit JVM, and support 32 bit and 64 bit voices.

Version 02.01.04

Memory leak
Fixed memory leak that occurs when closing a library or making certain changes with the edit-customize dialog.

Man pages
Added clarification about requirement for lame and Libre Office.

Error Handling
Improved error handling for when components are not installed, and for commands run against an empty library.

Version 02.01.01

Packaged for Debian / Ubuntu
Debian source and install packages, ready for inclusion in the Debian or Ubuntu repository, or download from sourceforge.

Documentation
Created man pages. Generate html documentation from man pages. Automatic generation of html pages from fragments.

Debian support
Consolidated scripts under the jampal command and created man page documentation for them
Enabled compilation without freetts, since freetts is not available in a Debian package.
Changed build process to use make instead of shell scripts.
Player can now support a sound system that does not allow master gain control.
Default libraries support columns needed for command line commands.
Support for help file in a different place in the directory structure, using environment properties file.
Support for relative directories in environment files.
Default library is now in directory specified in configuration file.
Improved naming of some menu items.
Fixed to support the directory structure that is used by mbrola under debian.

Windows build
Removed unix scripts from Windows install.
Added a cygwin install. This includes scripts.
Included mbrola.exe in windows and cygwin builds, since it is no longer on the mbrola web site.

General
Removed some junk files from source distribution.

Version 1.26

Tagbkup
Fixed problem where -f option only works on a unix-formatted file, even in Windows.

Version 1.25

Copy / Paste
Fixed problem where paste menu option was not working.

Version 1.24

64 Bit Linux Support
A 64 bit linux version of tagbkup is now included. Both 32 bit and 64 bit versions are in the install package so that it can be installed on 32 bit or 64 bit Linux systems. The same java versions of the jampal program work in 32 bit or 64 bit Linux.

Version 1.23

64 Bit Support
The install script is updated so that Jampal will support a 32bit or 64bit version of Java on 64bit Windows systems. If a 64bit Java is used, announcements using the Microsoft speech engine currently will not work. Other speech options will work.

Icons and files
There is a new icon for Jampal. Also jampal libraries will show the icon in Windows explorer, and you can open the library by double clicking the library icon.

Version 1.22

Track Editor
The track editor window

• Can now be minimized or maximized.
• Takes up less space on the screen.
• Is no longer forced to be in front of the library window.
• Can be made smaller or bigger without creating a horizontal scroll bar.
• If images are large, will resize images on the screen to fit without a horizontal scroll bar.
• Supports drag and drop of images from Firefox web browser.

Combine Duplicates
Short cut menu for combining a track that is on multiple albums into one file with "Alternate Albums".

Strike-out
Tracks which are logically deleted by entering a D in the "Jampal" field are shown struck out.

Look and Feel
Java looks from various sources are included.

Setup
Setup is upgraded to Inno Setup 5. I have consolidated the windows 2000 setup, the XP setup and the compact setup into one windows setup. The Windows speech engine and Microsoft Mike and Mary voices are no longer included. This should not be a problem as versions of Windows from XP onwards already include it.

Version 1.21

Slow Saving Library
Saving a large library or closing window with large library over a network was slow. (i.e. using a library on a network shared drive). This has been fixed.

Frames column type
In the library you can select and display a new column type "FRAMES". This includes in the library a list of other frames found in the tag (frames not already in the library). For a list of the meanings of frames look in the Tables and ID3 Frame Descriptions sections of the help. The frames are surrounded by spaces, so that if you want to search for tracks with a particular frame, surround the serach field by spaces (e.g. use " APIC" to search for tracks with a picture).

Improved Status Line
In the status line at the bottom of the library or playlist it shows number of tracks selected, playing time and total file size. In the case where files were selected twice, once for their primary album and once for alternate album, or because they were in a playlist twice, they were being included twice, giving a misleading file size total. Now a new value is added ("Files"), which shows the number of files with duplicates excluded. The total size is also adjusted to exclude duplicates. The number of tracks and playing time still includes the duplicates.

Preserve Selected Row
After sorting tracks the selected row will remain selected and be scrolled into view.

Shuffle
After shuffle tracks the first row will be scrolled into view and selected.

Validate Tracks
The "Validate Tracks" option has been enhanced to refresh track data from the disk if it has changed, as well as finding files that have been renamed.

Find
Find can search on a specific column without first sorting on the column. There is an option to search on the selected column instead of the sorted column. When searching on all columns but not for all occurrences, it now selects the column in which the string is found.

Track Properties
The Track Properties window now includes a list of frames in the track. This displays all frames in the track, unlike the library which only displays the id's of frames not already shown in the library. For a list of the meanings of frames look in the Tables and ID3 Frame Descriptions sections of the help. Also if the Track Properties window is open and you change the track selection, the track properties window will dynamically update to show the new selected track.

Version 1.20

Validate Song
Fixed a bug which was preventing validating songs from the menu or when playing.

"Follow" Option
Fixed a bug where song names were announced once at the start of the list of connected songs, and again before each song. They should only be announced at the start of the sequence of songs, so as to avoid an interruption.

Null Ponter Exception
A null pointer exception happened when setting the language to blank in the grid.

Version 1.19

Deleting of Frames
Fixed a bug which could cause an exception message when deleting a frame that is not supported or that has an error. These frames can now be deleted successfully.

Tag editor Window
Changed so that the tag editor window will not move or resize when moving from one song to another. This makes it easier to arrange windows on the screen when updating many songs.

Version 1.18

ESpeak
Jampal now supports the ESpeak speech engine in Windows, Linux and any other environment that supports ESpeak. It also supports mbrola voices when used with espeak.

Multi Language Announcements
You can now announce your song titles in the language that matches the song name. There is a new Voices tab in the configuration dialog that allows you to select voices to be used with each song language. You can select for each language which engine and voice will be used.

Multi Language Songs
You can now assign more than one language to a song. This will be useful if the language for the announcement should be different from the main laguange for the song. Announcements use the last language in the list.

Version 1.17

Unicode
Jampal now supports full use of unicode character sets. There is a font menu option so that if you are using non-English characters you can select an appropriate font to display them.

This also fixes a problem where if an ID3V2.4 tag with UTF-8 font was edited, an incorrect ID3V2.3 tag was created that caused Microsoft media player to refuse to play the file.

Help Menu
Added a Help menu item to display the online help pages.

Compiler Upgrades
Jampal now requires Java version 6.

Version 1.16

Most Recently Used list
Open menu includes a list of the libraries opened recently to save time when opening libraries.

Alternate Album
Custom tag for the case where one song is on two or more albums. You can record additional albums in a comments tag. The additional entries will be added to the library so that when sorting by album you can see the song in both albums although only one copy of the song exists on your hard drive.

Duplicate entries in playlist
You can now have multiple copies of a track in a playlist. This is regardless of the alternate album setting. If you want to play the same song 100 times, just add it to the playlist 100 times.

Library save Improvement
When saving a library using the File, Save Library option, save settings such as last song playing, selection, window size.

Compiler Upgrades
Jampal now requires Java version 5.
ptts is now compiled with Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 (V8).
tagbkup for windows is now compiled with g++ (GCC) 3.4.5
tagbkup for cygwin is now compiled with gcc g++ (GCC) 3.3.3
tagbkup for linux is compiled with g++ (GCC) 4.1.3

Sound Quality
In some environments, sound quality was degraded. To avoid this an extra customization parameter has been added for mixer name. In most cases selecting the mixer "Java Sound Audio Engine" will provide best quality, but you can now try different options in case the sound does not work or is poor quality.

Version 1.14

Validate Tracks
After a "Validate Tracks" operation, tracks which could not be validated or repaired remain selected.

Enhanced Status line
The status line at the bottom of the window shows the number of songs that have been selected. It is now enhanced to also show the total playing time in days, hours, minutes, seconds, as well as the total file size in megabytes. These only work if the playing time and file size are selected in the library fields in the customization dialog.

Missing files in source zip
Some files that were needed to build the program were missing from the source zip. These have been added.

Version 1.13

Java versions 5 and 6
Minor changes (see below) have been made to ensure the program runs well with the latest versions of Java.

Cell Selection Display
With the Java version 5 and 6 default table behaviour, it is very difficult to see which is the current selected cell. A very thin gray border is painted on a blue background. To make it possible to see the currently selected cell, Jampal now paints the selected cell in "unselected" colors. This makes it easier to see where you are before using "Edit Cell".

Automatic Cell Editing
Added the "Automatic Cell Editing" checkbox and menu item.

Bug with sorting and moving columns
If you moved some columns to new positions then sorted on columns, in some cases the sort indicator was not removed when the sort no longer applied.

Sound Distortion
Java versions 5 and 6 use a different default volume setting. The sound from Jampal would be distorted unless you adjusted the "audio gain" in the customization page. With this version the audio gain will default to 0 if you are running java 5 or 6.

Version 1.12

Announcements
Enhanced the announcements feature so that any information from the tag can be used in the announcement.

Validate Tracks
New "Validate Tracks" menu which scans selected tracks in a library or playlist, fixes invalid filenames where possible and reports back which ones could not be found. Previously this validation only occurred when playing a song.

Fix Case
"Fix Case" option did not work correctly where a word started with a special character, for example parenthesis or quote.

Album Sort
Album sort did not work where you had a disk number in parentheses , for example (Disk 1) (Disk 2) for the same album, disks 1 and 2 were intermingled. Now fixed.

Follow option
Some bugs were fixed in the operation of the "follow" logic.

Track Number
If you used a three digit track number (i.e. greater than 99) the sort by track would not work correctly. Now fixed.

mp3 Management Scripts
Added more documentation. Also some bug fixes and minor enhancements.

Version 1.11

mp3 Management
A suite of shell scripts to organize your mp3 files, create playlists, create CDs, find duplicates, manage backups. Currently beta test and requires some understanding of shell scripts.

• Rename your files into directories per album and name the files with song titles and artists.
• Create a printed envelope for CDs with a printed track listing insert.
• Detect duplicate songs and with an easy interface decide which ones to remove and which ones to keep.
• Create playlists based on any number of parameters you specify. Arrange these playlists into mp3 CDs, mp3 DVDs, or write them directly to an mp3 player. Optionally include song announcements on your mp3 CDs or mp3 player.
• Encode mp3 files with lame, or re-encode to a new bitrate keeping tags intact.
• Backup your tags with a script.
• Compare what is on your hard drive with what is on CD/DVD to make sure everything is backed up on CD/DVD.
• If you lose your hard drive, you can restore your files from CD, at the same time restoring tag updates that were done after the files were put to CD.
• ptts command line speech script that works with any of 3 speech engines.

Unicode
Fixed bug which caused unicode encoded tags to display incorrectly

Linux support
Now supports dropping files from the Nautilus file manager on to Jampal. Also dropping pictures from the Nautilus file manager or Epiphany web browser on to the tag editor. Dropping files from Jampal on to the Nautilus file manager does not work.

Drag and drop, copy
If you drag files from jampal to a text editor you can get a list of file names. You can also drag a list of file names from a text editor to jampal and those files will be added to the library.

Version 1.10

Linux Support
Improved Linux support includes a version of tagbkup compiled for Linux and a zip install with shell script to install on Linux. Also support for speech on Linux.

New Speech Engines
The Announcement feature adds support for two new speech engines: FreeTTS and Cepstral, so that speech can be used on non-Microsoft systems, and better quality speech can be used on all systems. Also adds extra voice related customizations.

Other
TagUpdate has a new "SHORTDISPLAY" option.

If you launch a new instance of Jampal it will bring to the front the existing instance. This ensures that libraries are kept in sync.

When using Unix Path option, prevent adding files to the library from the wrong drive letter. (Previously this would work but the files could not be played).

When using Unix Path option, allow files with UNC paths to be added.

Added Splash screen when opening a library.

Fixed bug where adding a Language frame caused screen corruption.

When Pasting a large number of tracks, if one fails it will still paste the rest.

There are some new options for the ptts text to speech program

Version 1.09

New Customize Feature
New Customize feature allows the user to customize the library and many options. These are customized with a Graphical interface where previously they could only be customized by editing a file. Also some new options have been added.

New Command Line Tag Update Program
A new program, TagUpdate, is for users who wish to update tags from a command line program. It offers all of the updating features available in the Graphical Program.

New look and feel option
A new option in the Customize dialog allows you to select your look and feel. To accomodate different looks, the last-playing track is now highlighted in bold instead of in red.

New resize option
A new option in the Customize dialog allows you to select how your table will be treated when resizing the window or the columns.

Tagbkup -x option
Added a new option (-x) to cater for file system limitations of 16384 files per directory.

Unix / Linux settings
Added a new library option on the customize page to enable easier sharing of files between unix/linux and windows.

Slider Operation
Fixed the bug where adjusting the slider during play sometimes caused the play position to jump.

Saved Settings
The file library_saved.properties is no longer used. Settings are save in library.jampal instead.

Status Line
Changed the status line to show the row number selected when only 1 row is selected.

Tag Editor Resize
If you make the tag editor window wider, the space for entering values will increase.

Version 1.08

Interruption in play
Made a change to reduce the chance of a brief gap between two songs being played continuously in a playlist. This affects albums where songs run into each other in continuous fashion.

Slider Operation
Fixed problem where occasionally operating the slider to move to another place in the song would stop the play of that song.

SUN Java mp3 Plugin
Changed so that if you have the SUN Java MP3 plugin installed, jampal will play using that plugin instead of the "tritonus" mp3 decoder included in jampal. The SUN Java MP3 plugin can be downloaded and installed for free. Jampal writes a trace message in the .jampal/jampal_err.txt file in your home directory to indicate which plugin is being used.

Fix Case
You can now use the super tagging feature to correct song titles or other values which were typed in UPPER CASE or lower case without retyping the names. Also a new "Fix Case" checkbox added to tag update page.

Find
Many new and advanced features added to the Find Dialog.

Sort
Fixed so sort field takes into account spaces.

Version 1.07

Fixed bug loading m3u files
m3u playlist files could not be loaded with version 1.06.

Variable bit rate problem
If you had a file with variable bit rate and no xing header, the bitrate and playing time were incorrect.

Playlist with duplicate songs
If you loaded a playlist from an m3u or m3j file and there were duplicate songs you could get a java error message (Row index out of range), although the playlist was loaded successfully.

Playlist directory
When you load a playlist from a file, the program will start from the directory you last used for loading a playlist.

Missing files
If a file in a playlist is missing the program will display a message and continue with the next one, up to 5 files. This was not working due to a shortcoming in the "Follow" enhancement from the previous version.

Track Properties Display
There is a new menu option from the Edit menu and the library context menu. This displays technical data about the mp3 file.

Version 1.06

Find bug fixed
If you used "Find" with the option of searching the sort columns and you typed two words, the search failed.

Follow
A new feature of Jampal allows you to specify that multiple tracks must be played together. See the Follow option.

Play bug fixed
If you selected another song for play while the announcement was still playing, an error message was displayed after 30 seconds. (The Song that is Playing will not end).

Search for renamed files
If a file has been renamed in the library, but the playlist has the old name or any wrong name, it searches the library and it it finds the song it will play it and update the play list.

Improved continuous option
With the continuous option, the song could be overlapped with the previous song. This will no longer happen.

Read-only library or playlist
If the "jmp" file is read-only, you can play the songs and reorder the library. Any attempt to update a tag or the library will give an error message that the library is read-only.

Dummy Columns in the Library or playlist
You can add "dummy" columns to a library or playlist. You can type anything you like into these and they will be stored in the library but not on the mp3 song tag.

Fixed Header Resize Cursor Bug
If you clicked the table header in the library or playlist while the resize cursor is displayed, It would sort the library and after that the resize cursor vanished until you shut down the program.

Search Enhancements
When searching the search string is now displayed in the status bar at the bottom of the window. Also the search now supports the backspace key.

Cell Edit Enhancement
When editing a field in the summary list the value will be initially selected so that you can easily overtype it with a complete new value.

Fixed the bug where a cell that was being edited was displayed as blank if you press escape to cancel the editing.

Playback Volume
Java sound by default reduces the volume level of sounds. Added an entry to the library parameter file to supply a gain value to counteract this.

Version 1.05

Playing Song Flagged
The song that is currently playing or last played is shown in red in the library or playlist. A new menu option clears the highlight.

Play options
If no song is selected when starting play, either the one shown in red is played or if there is none shown in red, play starts at the top.

Add to Playlist option
When adding to playlist, the new songs are selected, also the one shown in red, so you can continue playing from the same place more easily.

Shuffle, sort and play
If shuffle or sort is done while playing, the next song played becomes the new one that follows the current song in the playlist.

File read errors
If a file read error occurs during playback (the most common error is "file not found" because the file has been removed or renamed), playback does not stop. In the playlist it continues to play the next song, but stops after five such errors occur.

Play Menu
Added a play menu with keyboard shortcuts for play commands.

Pause / Stop
Fixed bug where pressing stop after pause did not reset slider and song position.

Default button
Set the "Update Tags" button as default on tag editor window, so pressing enter can update the tags.

Tag Updater Window
Changed so that it uses the screen size as the maximum window size. No longer using the "dialog-max-height" property. Also changed to move the window onscreen if it becomes larger and starts to overlap the edge of the screen.

Default Track title
If a file has no tag or the track title is empty, the file name (without the mp3 extension) will be displayed as the track title. Also if any field is updated on the tag and the tag title is missing, the file name will be put there. The file name is edited according to the same rules as for super tagging.

Super Tagging underscore
Added underscore as a character substituted during super tagging.

Windows shut down or logoff
Closes jampal if you log off or shut down Windows.

Continuous Option
A new "Continuous" option in the "Play" menu to avoid a gap between one track and the next. It also overlaps announcements with the music.

m3j type playlist
A new type of saved playlist file, the m3j file saves just the song title and artist name, and searches the library for the matching file at the time of playing. So if files are renamed or moved the playlist still works. The search excludes special characters and parenthesized parts to make it easier to find a match.

Changes to Search
When searching for a song by typing the sort key value, special characters and parenthesized parts are excluded.

Blank Window
Fixed bug where a blank window could be left on screen if you tried to open a library then canceled the operation.

Version 1.04

Additional Frames
Displays the "Private" frame and any Unicode text that may be associated with it. If the frame is 4 bytes long displays an integer value assuming the integer is stored in Microsoft format. This frame cannot be updated.

These changes allow you to see the values put there by the windows media player. Note that Microsoft is using the private frame incorrectly, the description is supposed to be a URL or email address, and text ought to be stored in a comments frame or user defined text frame, not the user defined binary frame.

"Delete Frame" Bug fixed
Frames that cannot be edited should be able to be deleted. This was causing a Class Cast Exception error message.

Internet Explorer Problem Fix
When viewing the documentation, Internet Explorer in Windows XP after security patches displays a warning about Active Content. Changed the shortcut to avoid this.

Tag Backup multiple id3v1 tags
When copying the id3v1 tag to an mp3 file that already has more than 1 id3v1 tag, removes the extra tags before copying.

Tag Backup copy music
Fixed bug where the -cm (copy music) option copied the id3v1tag also.

Jampal and multiple id3v1 tags
If a file has more than one id3v1 tag, when updating the tag, excess tags will be removed so that only 1 id3v1 tag remains.

Version 1.03

New Find option
A new option on the edit menu, "Find" searches the library for a string. Unlike the existing search, it is not limited to the beginning of the field.

Ignore diacritics
When sorting or searching diacritics in the library are ignored. Diacritics are the marks on letters mainly used in foreign languages and heavy metal band names, for example Motley Crue.

Text to Speech - Update Lexicon
When the speech engine mispronounces a name, the ptts program now gives you the ability to update the lexicon to correct it.

Language Tag
Improved support for the language tag allows you to select from a list box.

Play Count Tag
The play count can now be viewed and updated.

Drop Pictures
Use drag and drop to add a picture to a song tag.

Pictures in editor
Include a picture frame with the default editor fields to make it easier to add pictures to songs that do not have them.

Tag Backup - extract file parts
Extract and copy parts of files. This enables you to combine two or more mp3 files into one.

Fixed bug in text to speech
An initialization problem caused ptts to exit without processing any input when used with windows XP sp2.

Player does not stop when re-sorting
When sorting or shuffling the library or playlist, the song currently playing will continue.

Hourglass cursor
Certain long operations now display the hourglass cursor to provide feedback that the program is busy.

Splash page
While jampal is starting up it displays a blank page to show that something is happening.