MPEG Audio Collection

F.A.Q.
- What is MAC? - Why is MAC so different from the others MP3 managers? - Where is the official homepage for MAC? Where can I download new versions? - What multimedia formats does MAC accept? - Do you plan to release a Linux version of MAC? - Which language is MAC written in? - How do I get MAC to scan my drive for MP3 files? - I want to install a newer version of MAC, do I have to uninstall the previous install first? - MAC does not play any of my MP3's, it seems not to load my default MP3 player. - What is VBR? - When MAC lists my MP3's, some of the songs have an incorrect time. - The program reports an error when try to open my database file. - I have installed MAC and I do not know why I can not search for files, the command "Search" appears in gray. - The Excel report alters the special characters. Is it a problem of Excel? - How am I going to save my MP3 library into a file, where songs are individually described, like song name, album and everything like this? - I want to write a CGI or ASP, that can allow people to search my collection and I was wondering if you could supply me with the COL file format description. - How to print out the list of my files? - I always rip my CD's with VBR. MAC shows most of the time correct bit rates, but sometimes I see CBR. What is MAC? MAC means MPEG Audio Collection. It will help you to organize your audio file collection. There are some nice features like a Tag editor, file renamer utility etc. Why is MAC so different from the others MP3 managers? It has been developed mainly to manage CDs with MP3 and other files. Where is the official homepage for MAC? Where can I download new versions? The official MAC homepage is http://mac.sourceforge.net. There you will find the download page. What multimedia formats does MAC accept? MAC supports the MPEG Audio format (*.mpa, *.mp1, *.mp2, *.mp3), MPEGplus (*.mp+, *.mpc), Windows PCM (*.wav), TwinVQ (*.vqf), Ogg Vorbis (*.ogg), Monkey's Audio (*.mac, *.ape), Windows Media Audio (*.wma), AAC (*.aac), WavPack (*.wv), FLAC (*.flac), and OptimFROG (*.ofr) files. Do you plan to release a Linux version of MAC? A Linux version is not planned for the near future, but you can look at the project here: Kmac. This is a viewer for COL files. Actually the project is in the developing stage. Which language is MAC written in? MAC is written in Borland Delphi 7.0 Enterprise. How do I get MAC to scan my drive for MP3 files? Just use "Edit" -> "Add volume". I want to install a newer version of MAC, do I have to uninstall the previous install first? This is not required unless otherwise indicated on a new release. If you want to delete the old options, just delete the key "HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ MPEG Audio Collection" in the registry. MAC does not play any of my MP3's, it seems not to load my default MP3 player. MP3 files must be linked with a player. You can test it: just double click on a MP3 file in MS-Explorer. If it goes to play, then MAC can do it as well. If not - you should assotiate MP3 with a player. What is VBR? It is short for "Variable bit rate". Some MP3 encoder support this. If there are very complex parts in a song it will use a quite high bit rate and e.g. on silence or easy parts it will use a lower bit rate. So usually the average bit rate will be not as high as the bit rate of an MP3 of the same quality with constant bit rate. When MAC lists my MP3's, some of the songs have an incorrect time. Depending on how the MP3 files were encoded, this can happen. If they were encoded incorrectly or by using a software application that does not perform this task properly, the internal track time in the MP3 file may be incorrect. The program reports an error when try to open my database file. Please try the newest version of MAC at first. If you get error messages anyway, please send me your COL file - I will try to find the bug or fix your database. I have installed MAC and I do not know why I can not search for files, the command "Search" appears in gray. At first you should add a volume to the database ("Edit" -> "Add volume"), then you can search for MP3's in your database. The Excel report alters the special characters. Is it a problem of Excel? Yes. You can browse created DIF files with Notepad - all special characters are in it. How am I going to save my MP3 library into a file, where songs are individually described, like song name, album and everything like this? Just use "Collection" -> "Report". I want to write a CGI or ASP, that can allow people to search my collection and I was wondering if you could supply me with the COL file format description. You can read the description for the COL file format here. How to print out the list of my files? At first you should make a report ("Collection" -> "Report"). Then you can print out the created file (TXT or HTML). I always rip my CD's with VBR. MAC shows most of the time correct bit rates, but sometimes I see CBR. You should not disable writing of the Xing VBR tag, otherwise MAC thinks "it's CBR" and rounds the bit rate to the nearest common CBR setting.