MPEG Audio Collection: Info


An ultimate freeware utility for Windows 95/98/NT/2000/ME/XP

It is designed to organize your audio file collection.
It is fast and easy to use, scans selected drives for supported audio files and lists them in an Explorer-style tree-view interface.
You can retrieve all information about your audio collection and you can play files as well.

Features:
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- Support for MPEG Audio, MPEGplus, WAV, TwinVQ, Ogg Vorbis, Windows Media Audio, AAC, Monkey's Audio, WavPack, FLAC and OptimFROG files
- Option to include all (even non-audio) files in collection
- File info: size, length, bit rate, sample rate, mode, version, layer
- Reads all types of tags (ID3, APE, Vorbis Comment...)
- Collection, volume and folder information
- Quick searching for file name, property, Tag or duplicates
- Searching in collection or on a drive
- Saving search results
- Playing file(s) with its associated application
- Creating playlists for volumes and folders
- Tag editor
- Support Xing & FhG VBR
- Auto open last collection option 
- Importing from another collection (COL file)
- Support for very big collections (300 CD's and more)
- Updating existing volumes
- Several collection reports (TXT, HTML, DIF)
- Multilingual interface - 33 languages implemented 
- Printing CD-covers
- File Rename utility - easy and powerful, using tags


Description:
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Having a large audio collection can become a very difficult task, if there
is no proper way to organize it. MPEG Audio Collection makes the task
relatively easy and puts the fun back into listening to your favorite
songs. It doesn't group all the songs together into one large database,
making sorting routines difficult and time consuming. But what it does
is provide a volume by volume listing of your CD or HDD contents, integrated
with a search engine so that you can find out all titles specifically by 
music groups, so that you know exactly which songs you have in your collection.
The program starts quickly and it's very practical to have a desktop shortcut
to it, useful especially if you have a large collection.

Here is a general description of the icons that the program uses:

- NEW: Starts a brand new session of scanning CDs HDDs for MP3s to organize.
- OPEN: Loads a previously saved session.  
- STATISTICS: Lists total file size in gigabytes, total amount of duration
      of collection (calculated to the hour), average bit size, volume count,
      folder count, file count and last date change.
- REPORT: Allows the user to specify options to tailor the program to their
      specific needs.
- ADD VOLUME: Scans a drive and includes those Mp3 files into catalog.
- VOLUME LIST: Allows user to select volume(s) to remove from generated 
      catalog or merge in one volume. 
- SORT ALL: Sorts all files within all volumes (note: this does not group
      and sort all files together).
- SEARCH: A very diverse search engine. Generates a list of files found within
      users specified needs. Can be saved to a file to be printed out.
- TAG EDITOR: You can decide which of these particular fields are important
      when adding Mp3s to your catalog.
- FILE RENAMER: You can rename files with extracted ID3-tag info.
- CD COVER: Allows you to design a CD cover for your jewel cases.
- ABOUT: Version number of program and how to reach the author for effective 
      suggestions towards upcoming versions.

Pull Down Menus:

- COLLECTION
      - NEW: Starts a new session.
      - OPEN: Opens a previously saved session.
      - REOPEN: Quick loading for last opened files.
      - SAVE: Save session. Ghosted until data have been changed.
      - SAVE AS: Choose a name for current session. 
      - STATISTICS: Lists seven criterias.
      - REPORT: User customization.
      - EXIT: Cancel session and quit.
- EDIT
      - ADD VOLUME: Include CD or HDD to scan files into catalog.
      - VOLUME LIST: Remove listings of specified volume(s) or merge in one.
      - IMPORT: Import data from other collection files (*.col or *.mac).
      - UPDATE VOLUME: Ghosted until a volume has been selected.
      - RENAME LABEL: Useful for giving listings a user specified name.
      - SORT ALL: Sorts all volumes and files within each volume.
- VIEW
      - Allows you to change the layout view and offers more options to the
        physical layout with these options: Grid Lines, Hot Track, Toolbar,
        Status Bar, Full Path, File Extensions, Font and Extra Columns. Extra
        columns allows you to add infos like File Size, Duration, Bit Rate,
        Sample Rate, Channel Mode and Type.
- TOOLS
      - SEARCH: Good search tool with lots of options.
      - TAG EDITOR: Allows you to change the names of each field or allows
            you to remove specified field(s).
      - FILE RENAMER: You can rename files with extracted ID3-tag info.
      - CD COVER: Print up a CD cover for your jewel case.
      - OPTIONS: Backup, Scan valid, Guessed encoder, Preferred ID3-tag
            version, Auto open, Restore and language options.

In Summary:

MPEG Audio Collection will become one of those useful gems that you'll find
that you just can't do without it. You will go back to it again and again, 
especially as your collection grows. It is also proof that Freeware can be
of such high standards and the authors need all the support that we can
give them. 