Copyright: Audiograbber English version 1.00


Welcome

What is Audiograbber and what can it do?

Audiograbber is a program that copies digital music from CD's. It copies the music digitally, not through the soundcard, which enables you to make perfect copies of the originals. It has functions to test that the copies actually are perfect. Audiograbber can also automatically normalize the music, delete silence from the start and end of tracks and send them to Fraunhofers L3enc for automatic creation of mp3's.

System specifications:

•	Windows 95

•	CD-ROM connected to IDE

•	A CD-ROM reader that actually can read digital music; not all of them can.

The program does not work under Windows NT or with SCSI CD's.

Choose Contents in this help file for further information on Audiograbber.

Whats new? See version information

The difference between audio CD's and normal data CD's.

The latest version of this program can be found at:

http://www.audiograbber.com-us.net

I can be reached on the following e-mail address.

jackie@audiograbber.com-us.net


OSR2 problem
The Problem with reading digital audio under Windows OSR2 release

The latest version of Windows 95 (known as the OSR2 release or windows 4.00 build 1111) can normally not read digital audio through MSCDEX calls. The problem has been located to the scsi1hlp.vxd file. Even though the name indicates that the file should be used for SCSI devices only it does actually hande IDE CD-ROM's also.

Anyhow, in most cases it helps if the file Scsi1hlp.vxd is replaced with the old one.

To see which version of Windows 95 you are running you can use one of these:

•	Settings, control panel, system. If it says Microsoft Windows 95 4.00.950 B it means you have the OSR2 release. Note the "B" after the version digits. There is also a version 4.00.950a that does not work either.

•	Audiograbber, help, System information. If it says build number 1111 it means you have the OSR2 release.

To check which scsi1hlp.vxd version your computer is using, do one of these:

•	Explorer, right click on the file C:\windows\system\iosusbsys\scsi1hlp.vxd. Click on properties and then version.

•	Audiograbber, help, system information. The version number is written to the left of Scsi1hlp.vxd version.

It does not matter which Windows version you are running as long as the right scsi1hlp.vxd is used. If the CD vendor has delivered its own drivers for the CD it can happen that it even works with the wrong scsi1hlp.vxd version. If you are using another version than 4.00.950 and it is not working, I recommend that you replace it with the 4.00.950 version. The file is in the C:\windows\system\iosubsys directory. I suppose that Microsoft doesn't want me to distribute one of their files so I can only give you a link to Sony's site with the file:

ftp://ftp.sony.com/ccpg/pc/scsi1hlp.exe

If it is not found on that site try to find it on the Internet. Search for scsi1hlp.exe or scsi1hlp.vxd. A good search engine is

http://ftpsearch.ntnu.no/ftpsearch

Take a backup copy of your scsi1hlp.vxd before you replace it. Beware of renaming it to scsi1hlp.vxd1111 or something like that. When Windows uses this file, it seems to search for a file that matches scsi1hlp.vxd in any way. Rename it to osr2vxd.bak or something.

You have to restart Windows after you have replaced the file!


Digital audio
The difference between audio CD's and normal data CD's.

(Or why is it so hard to copy a track from a music CD?)

A CD-ROM is divided into sectors of 2352 bytes. Data CD's use 2048 of these bytes to store the data file. The other bytes are start / stop information and information of the sector's number. This makes it easy for a computer's CD-ROM device to find the right sector. An audio CD on the other hand uses all of the 2352 bytes to store audio information. This makes it hard for the CD-ROM reader to find exactly where the track starts. All bytes are coming in one long sequence. When the CD drive starts reading it usually has no problem delivering the right data but most CD drives have problems with starting on the correct byte (sample).

A sector (it is called a frame on audio CD's) on an audio CD, as stated earlier, is 2352 bytes. There are 75 frames per second which gives 2352 * 75 bytes per second of music. (This can also be calculated by 2 (stereo) * 2 (16 bits) * 44100 Hz per second). Philips "Red Book" standard specifies that a CD player should be able to position its head on the right frame but not where on the frame.

Since a computer program has to read a little piece of the track, write it to the hard disk, read another piece etc. there will be problems all the time. The program solves this problem by reading a little bit more data than is written and then compares the end of the previous reading with the beginning of the present reading and in that way can synchronize the readings. (This is called overlapping, synchronization or jitter correction).

You can select how many frames of audio should be read in every chunk and with how many frames overlapping. The program does not always get enough memory for all the frames it wants which means that it sometimes has to use a smaller audio buffer. (The program uses the low DOS memory to buffer data from the CD drive and depending on what other device drivers and programs want memory from that area, it can differ a bit from time to time or computer to computer)

The more sectors that are used for overlapping, the slower the CD driver will read. When windows 95's protected mode CD-ROM driver is used, the data from the CD drive is always cached and it seems to make the synchronization unnecessary. If a real mode driver is used for the CD drive and if the data is not cached the synchronization is necessary.

Whether the CD drive reads the audio perfectly can be tested by:

•	Compare two files

•	Calculate checksum


Driver mode
Windows 95 protected mode driver and real mode driver

Before Windows 95, all CD's read data through 16 bits real mode drivers and mscdex.exe. Those drivers were delivered with the CD player and were installed in config.sys and autoexec.bat. Windows 95 has built in support for CD-ROM and the real mode drivers are not normally needed.  Anyhow, there are some cases when digital audio can not be read, or is not read correctly with Windows 95's internal driver. If so, you can try to use a real mode driver instead. Under the OSR2 release of Windows 95 the file Scsi1hlp.vxd often causes digital audio to be not read at all. You should then replace it with an older version.

•	How to install a real mode driver

•	How to replace the Scsi1hlp.vxd file


Real mode driver installation

This is a bit complicated and if you don't know what you are doing pretty well, you'd better avoid doing this.

•	Install the CD-ROM drivers in config.sys and autoexec.bat. Make sure that you can read an ordinary data CD when you are booting into DOS mode.

   (config.sys looks like this

   DEVICEHIGH /L:1,15488 =C:\MTM\MTMCDAI.SYS /D:MTMIDE01

   and autoexec.bat like this

   LH /L:1,46672 C:\WIN95\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE /D:MTMIDE01 /M:10)

•	Connect the CD-ROM unit to secondary IDE and not together with any hard disk.

•	Open Control Panel, choose System and the tab Device Manager.

•	Click "View devices by connection"

•	Locate Secondary IDE controller. (not the CD itself but the closest higher connection).

•	Select the checkbox "Disable in this hardware configuration".

•	Click OK. It sometimes happens that the computer crashes at this moment so make sure you are not running any other programs.

•	Reboot the computer.

To restore Windows 95's protected mode driver just unselect the checkbox instead.


Buy Audiograbber
How to buy the full version of Audiograbber?

The price is $25. Go to http://www.audiograbber.com-us.net/buy.html  for information on how to buy Audiograbber online.

If you like the program and can afford the $25 please buy it. I have spent a lot of time on this program and more money makes it easier to continue the development of Audiograbber!

If you are young and can't afford the $25, go on and use it anyhow. You are still allowed to use the free version as much as you want!


The difference between the full version and the freeware version.

There is only one difference between the freeware and the full version. The freeware version has been limited to only handle half of the tracks and those tracks are selected randomly at program startup (with a slight advantage for odd tracks). The full version can of course handle them all.

Here is how to buy the full version


Version information

This has happened:

•	Version 1.01	6 januari 1998

Selects which tracks that can be copied randomly instead of only the odd ones.

Supports Wav2mp3 for MP3 creation.

Two new checkboxes so that one can easily see if normalization / MP3 creation are selected.

•	Version 1.00	24 december 1997

The first version is released.


Normalizing

This function is found under the file menu.

Normalizing means how loud a track is recorded. Different CD's, just like LP's from the old days, are usually recorded at different volumes. All tracks on the same CD are on their own, recorded at about the same level and as long as one listens to only one CD at a time there is usually no problem with the loudness of the CD.

The problem starts when you mix tracks from different CD's because they sometimes have a normal level that differs from one CD to another. One CD can play quite loud and another noticeably lower. The normalize function comes in handy in this case and you can select the same level for all your CD's.

Most of the CD's are properly recorded and the normal level is usually between 95-99 %.  By choosing to normalize only the tracks normalized to less than about 91 %, your result will be that all songs have approximately the same volume and most tracks are still left in their original condition. These percentage values detect when the sound is loudest on the track. Normalize to 0% means absolutely silent.

It is possible to normalize the tracks right after they have been grabbed from the CD or normalize already stored .wav files from the hard disk.

If you want to normalize wav files you can then choose files from the file menu, directly from the normalize dialog box or by dragging and dropping them from Windows explorer.


Send to MP3 program
Send to MP3 program.

This function is found under the file menu.

An audio file on a CD takes quite a bit of space to store (exactly 1411200 bps), and that's the reason that only a few tracks can be stored on a CD.  MP3 is a standard that compresses the music to make it take about 1/11 of the size and still sound as good as the original. The disadvantage with this file format is that it has to be decompressed when playing. This means that you must play it on your computer. It can not be played on an ordinary home stereo cd player.

MP3 stands for mpeg audio layer 3 and should not be written mpeg3 as some people do by mistake. Mpeg is lossy compression, and that means that the file has lost information and can no longer be restored to it's original content. Audiograbber can not create MP3 files by itself but it can use Fraunhofers program L3enc to do this.

NEW! Audiograbber does now support more MP3 programs then L3enc. If you use another MP3 program than L3enc you should use the "own arguments" alternative. Audiograbber will then start the program like this: "progname.exe file.wav file.mp3 " + the content of the "own arguments" box. This has been tested with the program dWav2mp3.

One problem with L3enc is that it does not give any information about how well the compression has been made. Almost all songs will sound good with 128 kbs compression, but a few need higher bitrate in order to sound as good as the original. L3enc does not tell us how well it succeeded with the compression. You have to listen and check for yourself.  It would have been better if L3enc itself analyzed the compressed file and told us if it was good enough, or even better, if one could choose a "destination quality" and L3enc then chose the appropriate bitrate itself. Well, I think that's something we can live with anyhow…

Audiograbber can automatically send the tracks to L3enc right after they have been grabbed. First the track is copied to the hard disk; then it is sent to L3enc and Audiograbber waits for L3enc to finish. Audiograbber can then delete the wave file from the hard disk to release valuable disk space and continue with the next track. One of the main purposes with Audiograbber is to create MP3's when you are doing something different (like having a cup of coffee, a huge cup of coffee that is…).

Many people find L3enc a bit complicated to use since it is a DOS program. For that reason, some front-end programs have been created to use L3enc easily under Windows. Audiograbber can also be used as such a front-end program for L3enc. This means that you can send .wav files directly from Audiograbber to L3enc without grabbing them from a CD first. They can be sent from the file menu, from the L3enc settings dialog box or by dragging and dropping them from Windows Explorer.

To play these MP3 files on your computer, I recommend the Winamp program. Your soundcard can not play compressed files and you need a program to continually decompress them while playing. The audio data is usually sent to the soundcard in 16-bit stereo, 44.1 kHz. (this is called PCM, pulse code modulation and is the same format that is stored on an audio disc.)


Compare two files

This function is found under the file menu.

The purpose of this function is to test if your CD player reads digital audio perfectly.

When digital audio is read from the CD there is a problem with the beginning of the frames. That is because there is no proper beginning and end of the frames, rather a long consecutive sentence of bytes. This means that if a track is read twice from the CD, the files should most likely be almost exactly the same. Usually, it is only some 1/1000 of a second difference, so it does not matter much.

The disadvantage is that the DOS command fc /b track1.wav track2.wav can not be used to test that the files really are equal. The Compare Two Files function does a comparison in the same way but takes into consideration that the tracks may start a little bit differently. This function also skips the first 44 bytes because they are not part of the track, they contain file size and file format information.

The offset tells how many bytes (not samples, a sample is 4 bytes) the beginnings of the tracks differ from each other. The comparison is halted as soon as a difference is detected. If the track differs, it tells at which position. You can open the file in a program like Cool Edit and see how they differ. Remember that the hexadecimal value Audiograbber gives you should be subtracted by 44 and then divided by 4 to get the exact sample.

Another test function is the checksum function of Audiograbber.


Calculate checksum

This function is found under the file menu.

Some CD players that actually can read digital audio do not necessarily read 100% correctly. The resultant files are then not exact copies of the originals. This can also happen if the CD is scratched, has fingerprints etc. It is hard to tell if a track is read perfectly only by listening to it. Checksums are therefor a good way to test if the CD player read 100% correctly. When a track is copied from a CD disc, Audiograbber automatically calculates a checksum. By reading the same track on two different CD players the checksums can be compared. If they are the same then the tracks are also the same and the reading is perfect.

But hey, readings do not usually start on exactly the same byte, so how can a checksum be calculated then? Yeah, a presumption for this is that the track begins and ends with silence. The checksum will then be calculated on only that part of the track that is over a value of 127.

(A sample from the CD can be between -32768 to +32767 (16 bits). -32768 means that the speaker's membrane is pulled back as much as possible, +32767 that it is pushed forward to maximum position and 0 that it is in its middle position. The more the membrane is moving back and forth the louder the speaker is playing. Samples in the interval -127 to +127 are interpreted as silence in Audiograbber. When a checksum is calculated, Audiograbber finds the first sample outside this interval. Then it finds where the file goes outside the interval for the last time and after that it starts to calculate the checksum. It does not matter if there is a bit of silence in the middle of the track, that part will also be included in the checksum.)

NOTE! If there is not enough silence (one frame = 2352 bytes) in either the beginning or the end of the track an X is added to the checksum. This indicates that other readings from the CD may give other checksums even if they are read in the same way. The checksum can not be used if it contains an X.

By comparing checksums from tracks you have grabbed with your own CD with already known and confirmed correct checksums you can test if the CD reads the way it should. There are some correct checksums on http://www.audiograbber.com-us.net/checksums.html that you can compare with if you are lucky to have some of the CD's listed. Understand that you must have a copy of the exact same CD, it is not enough to have the same song.

You can report your own checksums on http://www.audiograbber.com-us.net/checksums.html. Those tracks should then have been read at least twice on a CD player that you are sure reads digital audio correctly. Report checksums from track 1,3 and 5. When you only want the checksum and not the entire track the function test comes in handy and you don't have to save the track on the hard disk.

Compare two files is another function that controls the CD's audio reading. If two checksums are not the same the compare two files function can see where the files are different. Checksums can also be calculated on tracks that have been read by other programs.


Store in cdplayer.ini

This function is found under the file menu (Store in cdplayer.ini now).

Windows 95's internal CD player uses a file called cdplayer.ini to store information about CD's. Audiograbber can also use this file for storing and recognizing CD's. Checking the box "Use cdplayer.ini" under "General settings" will enable the alternative "Store in cdplayer.ini now". Clicking "Store in cdplayer.ini now" will store the information and both Audiograbber and Windows 95's internal CD player will recognize the disc the next time it is used.


Copy tracklist to clipboard

This function is found under the file menu.

This function copies the information about the tracks to Windows' clipboard. You can then paste it into another program like notepad. It can be good to use this function when testing checksums.


Refresh tracklist
Uppdatera låtlistan

This function is found under the CD menu.

The track list is automatically filled when Audiograbber starts. When you change CD you should use this function to fill the track list with information about the new CD. If the CD is recognized and you are using "Use cdplayer.ini" from "General settings" the track list will be filled with correct track names. If not, the track titles will be Track xx where xx indicates the track's ordinal number on the CD. Pressing F5 can also refresh the track list.


Grab

This function is found under the CD menu.

This is the program's main function and it copies the chosen tracks from the CD to the hard disk. You choose tracks to copy by checking the appropriate checkboxes.

NOTE! Do not run other programs when Audiograbber is copying a track. It sometimes happens that the reading will not be correct if Audiograbber is not given full access to the processor.

When a track has been copied it will optionally be normalized and processed by L3enc.


Test

This function is found under the CD menu.

The purpose of this function is to calculate checksums without saving the files to the hard disk. Test is basically the same as Grab but nothing gets saved to the hard disk; neither normalization nor MP3 creation through L3enc.


Shuffle

This function is found under the CD menu.

If you want to use Audiograbber as an ordinary CD player this function can be nice to use. By using shuffle, the tracks in the track list will be rearranged in a randomized order.


Select all

This function is reached by right clicking a track in the track list.

This function selects all tracks.


Select none

This function is reached by right clicking a track in the track list.

This function unchecks all tracks in the track list so that they are no longer selected.


Properties

This function is reached by double clicking or right clicking a track in the track list.

By double clicking a track you will get a dialog box in which you can adjust the track's properties like start and stop of the track etc.


Rename
Döpa om

You can rename a track by clicking an already selected track in the track list. Another way to rename a track is to right click it and choose Rename or by selecting the track and pressing F2.


Refresh button
Refresh

Press this button when a new CD is inserted or if you want to refresh the track list. The saved track names will be used if you have checked "use CD player.ini" under "General settings" and the CD is recognized.


Grab button
Grab

Press this button to copy the selected tracks. You select tracks by checking the box in front of the track names.


Settings button
Settings

Press this button to adjust the program's general settings.


Normalize button
Normalize

Different CD's are recorded at different volumes. Press this button in order to select that copied tracks automatically are adjusted to the same recording level.


L3enc button
MP3

MP3 is a standard for digital audio compression. Audiograbber can send the tracks to an external program for automatic creation of MP3's. Here is where you select your MP3 options.


Exit button
Exit

Press here to exit the program. Your settings will be saved in audiograbber.ini.


Artist

This field, together with the track name, is the base for the name of the wav or mp3 file. A hyphen will be inserted between artist and track name if  "Add hyphen" is selected.


Add hyphen

By selecting this option a hyphen will be added to the artist name if an artist name is available. The hyphen is not added to the ID3 tag. More precisely, a blank, a hyphen and another blank are added which creates a filename like "Artist - Track name.wav".


Track name

Double click to go to the properties menu for each track. Right click to get a pop-up menu. You can also change the order of the tracks by dragging them to new positions.


Play time

Describes the length of the track in minutes and seconds.


File size

The track will take up this much space on the hard disk. The file format is PCM wav, 16-bit stereo, 44.1 kHz, same as on the CD. Audiograbber can not handle any other file formats. The file size is in direct proportion to the track length.


Information

Here is information about how the copying has gone and which checksum has been calculated. Sync OK is no guarantee that the copying is completely perfect.


CD info

Pretty obvious eh…


Total time left

The copying of the tracks is estimated to take this long.  Any normalizing and mp3 processing are included. The more often the program is used, the better it gets at estimating the total time left.


Disk space needed

This tells how much hard disk space is needed and how much disk space is available on the hard disk being used to store the tracks. Click here to quickly switch to the play buttons.


Play time status
Play time

Information telling which track is currently playing and for how long it has been playing - how much time remains. Click to switch between showing time elapsed and time remaining.


Play button
Play

Plays selected track. Use the other play button with a check mark to play more tracks than one.


Pause button
Pause

Use this button to pause and resume the audio.


Stop button
Stop

Stops playing the track(s).


Play list button
Play list

Plays the tracks selected with a check mark in the track list. Note: The playing starts from the track that is selected.


Fast back button
Fast back

Jumps quickly backward in the track. It jumps more and more quickly the longer the button is held down.


Fast forward button
Fast forward

Jumps quickly forward in the track. When the end of the track is reached it will continue with the next one if you are playing tracks from a list.


Track back

Skips to beginning of the track. If it already is in the beginning of the track it then jumps to the beginning of the previous track.


Track forward

Skips to the end of the track. If tracks from a list are already playing, the next selected track will start playing.


Empty space

Click here or on one of the disabled buttons to quickly hide all buttons.


Track bar

Shows the position of the track. One can manually drag it to set a new position.


Play button

Starts playing from the position of the above meter.


Stop button

Stops playing the track.


Set start

Sets the track start position to the value of the above meter.


Set end

Sets the track end position to the value of the above meter.


Position

Shows from where on the CD the track is playing right now. Position in the track is shown in minutes and seconds while position on the CD is measured in frames. One frame is 1/75 of a second.


Track name

Simply the name of the track. Can be changed from here or by clicking an already selected track in the track list.


Track size

This many bytes will be used to store the track on the hard disk. (Frames * 2352 bytes).


Minutes, seconds

The tracks start and stop in absolute position on the CD, reported in minutes and seconds.


Sectors

The tracks start and stop in absolute position on the CD, reported in sectors. Frames and sectors are the same and it is 75 sectors on every second of music.


Apply

Performs all the changes you might have made without leaving this dialog box.


Cancel

Leaves this dialog box without performing the changes you might have made.


OK

Leaves this dialog box and performs the changes you might have made.


Use normalizing

Select this box if you wish to automatically adjust the recording level, leave this checkbox unchecked if you wish to copy the track exactly as it is.


Normalize to

Select the recording level between 0 -100%. 0% is equal to silence and 100% is the highest volume. 98% is recommended.


Conditions

Use this option to adjust just those tracks that were imperfectly  recorded at the CD factory (too low output level). It is recommended that this function be used.


Lower than

Those tracks that have a peak level lower that this value will be normalized. Approximately 90 % is recommended.


Higher than

Tracks with a higher peak level than this are normalized. 99% or 100% is recommended.


Browse

Click here to choose one or more wav files from the hard disk to normalize. They will be normalized to the values selected in this dialog box.


Cancel

Leaves this dialog box without performing the changes you might have made.


OK

Leaves this dialog box and performs the changes you might have made.


Send wavefile

Use this option to send the wav file to your MP3 program after it has been copied and automatically create an mp3 file.


Delete wavefile

Deletes the wav file after an mp3 file has been created. Use this option if you are only interested in the mp3 file, it will then save a lot of hard disk space.


Force to top

Puts your MP3 program in the left corner above all other programs, which gives the external program maximum processor time. If no other programs are running then program will have maximum processor access anyway.


External MP3 program information

L3enc is one of the shareware programs that creates mp3 files, compressed music. It can be downloaded from http://www.iis.fhg.de/audio.


MP3 program name

The name of the executable MP3 program. Use the browse button to locate your version of the program. The most common one is L3enc.exe.


Browse

If you have an external MP3 program you can use this button to locate it.


HQ flag

Tells L3enc that it should take a longer time to analyze the wav file and create an mp3 file with extra high quality. Usually no difference is heard anyhow.


CRC flag
Cyclic Redundancy Check

Makes L3enc create a 2-byte checksum once in a while. It doesn't take more time but it is not used as a default by L3enc itself.


Bitrate

Chooses how many bits per second the MP3 file will consist of. The higher the bitrate the better the quality and the larger the file. Most songs sound good with a bitrate of 128000 bps but a very few need 196000 bps to sound equal to the original. It's hard to say in advance which tracks these are.


Own arguments

If you use another MP3 program than L3enc this box should be selected.


L3enc arguments
Own arguments

Type your own arguments here. Audiograbber will send "program.exe filename.wav filename.mp3 " and the text in this box to the external MP3 program. This means that other programs besides L3enc can be used.


Use ID3 tag

ID3 tag contains extra information about the song that is added to the end of the mp3 file. An ID3 tag will be created if this option is chosen. It is Audiograbber that creates this ID3 tag when the MP3 program has finished, not the MP3 program itself. The ID3 tag consists of artist, track name and Audiograbber's checksum.


Browse

Click here to choose one or more wav files from the hard disk to send to your MP3 program with the options specified in this dialog box.

L3enc can not handle foreign characters in the file name. This means that if you have a track with a character not used in the English alphabet you must first rename it. Language specific characters are no problem if the track comes directly from the copying from the CD. L3enc will then process a file named temp.wav and Audiograbber will rename it to its right name.


Cancel

Leaves this dialog box without performing the changes you might have made.


OK

Leaves this dialog box and performs the changes you might have made.


Directory

Select a directory to store your wav or mp3 files in. Audiograbber also uses this directory for temporary files.


Browse

Click here to select an appropriate destination directory for your files.


Time estimation

This is used to calculate how much time the program will need to process its tasks. How fast l3enc runs can not be changed from here because there are too many bitrates that are involved.  Those settings are stored in Audiograbber.ini and can be changed by editing that file manually.


Normalize speed

Detects how fast the adjustment of the recording level is done compared to a Pentium 133 MHz. The speed of the hard disk is also a vital part of this.


CD audio read speed

Detects how fast the CD-ROM drive can read digital audio compared to normal playing of the audio. Music is normally read much slower than ordinary data from the CD.


Delete silence
Silence can be deleted automatically from the start and the end of the tracks. Normally, there is quite a bit of silence between the tracks on the CD, and Audiograbber checks the first and last four seconds for silence.


Leading silence

Select this option to delete leading silence.


Trailing silence

Select this option to delete trailing silence.


Keep

It is best to let the tracks start with at least a little silence; this value can be between 0.2 and 4 seconds.


Keep

This value can be between 0.2 and 4 seconds. A CD does not have a value for the end of the track; it only has values for the beginnings of the tracks. This means that there is usually quite a bit of silence at the end of the track. The recommended value is about 0.5 seconds.


Audio blocks

Determines how many audio frames should be grabbed each time. One second is 75 frames.


Synch size

Detects how many extra frames should be grabbed each time for synchronization. This is explained in more detail in the help file.


Continue

Tells Audiograbber what to do if synchronization fails. The track will not be a perfect copy if sync is lost. Check this box if you want Audiograbber to continue with the copying even if sync is lost.


Use CD player.ini
CD player.ini

Check this box if you want to store the track names and the order of the tracks in cdplayer.ini. That file is also used by Windows 95's default CD player. If this option is used and the CD is recognized the track list will be filled with the track names when you press the refresh button.


CD-ROM Unit
CD Rom unit

Tells which CD-ROM Unit that should be used. Only IDE connected CD-ROM's will be available.


Cancel

Leaves this dialog box without performing the changes you might have made.


OK

Leaves this dialog box and performs the changes you might have made.


Lock values

The time estimation values are recalculated every time a track has been processed by Audiograbber and l3enc. If you don't want any recalculation of the time estimation variables then check this box.


First file

Enter the name of the first file. The complete path must be used.


Second file

Enter the name of the second file. The complete path must be used.


Browse

Browse to find a file to compare here. You can select two files at once with any of these browse buttons.


Offset

A 0 offset means that the files start at exactly the same positions. A positive offset means that file 1 starts after file 2 and a negative offset means that file 1 starts before file 2. The offset will most likely be a multiple of four because every sample takes 4 bytes. (16 bit * stereo).


Progress bar

Detects what percent of the files have been compared and found equal.


Value list

If the files differ from each other, the first values that do not match are found in here. All values are hexadecimal. It is not possible to continue to search for more differences after a mismatch has been detected.

The first 44 bytes of the files are the wav header and will not be compared.


Start / Stop

Starts and stops file comparing. This button is only enabled when two valid file names have been given.


Close

Closes this dialog box.


Windows version

Detects which version of Windows you are running. 4.00 means Windows 95. 4.10 means Windows 98.


Build number

Detects which minor version of windows you are running.

950 is the first windows 95 version.

1111 is the OSR2 release.

There is also a 953 version that is reported the same way as the 950 version.

More versions to come…


Scsi1hlp
Scsi1hlp.vxd version

This file seems to be important for reading digital audio. Usually version 950 will work while version 953 and 1111 will not. Read more about Scsi1hlp.vxd in the help file.


Frames allocated

Audiograbber will not always get as much memory for digital reading as it wants. This value is the number of allocated frames Audiograbber received this time.


MSCDEX version

Audiograbber calls mscdex to read digital audio. Version 2.25 or lower means that a real mode driver is used for the CD-ROM drive. Version 2.95 or higher means that Windows 95's protected mode driver is used.


CD number

This is the serial number of the actual CD. The number is shown in hexadecimal form. Audiograbber can not detect this number when a real mode driver is used and the serial number will then be "UNKNOWN".


Close

Close the dialog box.


Filename

Enter the name of the file. Use the complete path.


Browse

Browse for a file to calculate checksum by using this button.


Progress bar

Detects what percent of the file has been scanned and calculated.


Checksum

The checksum that was last calculated in this dialog box. Checksums are also calculated directly when tracks are copied form the CD. This value and the automatically calculated one are naturally the same.


CD number

This is the serial number of the actual CD. The number is given in hexadecimal form.


Start

Entering a valid file name will enable this button. It is then used to start the calculation of a checksum. When the calculation is in progress the button can be used to abort.


Close

Closes this dialog box and aborts eventual checksum calculation.


Cancel

Makes Audiograbber stop waiting for the external MP3 program. The external MP3 program must be aborted manually (usually by pressing Ctrl+C).


Properties

Properties is a dialog box from which you can adjust a track's properties. You go to the Properties dialog box by double clicking a track in the track list. From here you can adjust exactly which sectors the track shall include. The track can also be played in here and you can set the beginning and end position "on the fly". By dragging the meter on top of the dialog box you can easily rewind / forward the track and that is handy if you want to copy just a refrain, for example. You should then click "Set start" and "Set end" at the right time.

By pressing the Apply button your changes will be performed. This button differs from the OK button in that sense that it will apply the changes but not leave the dialog box.


General Settings

The following functions are adjustable from here:

•	The program's working directory where files should be stored.

•	Time Estimation. Normalize speed indicates how quick your computer can normalize a track. Both processor speed and the speed of the hard disk are important for this value. Here is also the value for how quickly the CD reader reads digital audio. 100% means that it reads just as quickly as the track is normally played. These values are recalculated when the program is used but they can also be adjusted manually. The values will not be recalculated if the checkbox "Lock values" is checked. The speed of L3enc is not adjustable from here since there are too many factors to take into consideration (like hq-bit and bitrate). The speed of L3enc is also dependent on the actual type of music that is being compressed. Sometimes it's quicker; sometimes it's a bit slower. The L3enc values can be adjusted manually by editing the file Audiograbber.ini. The values in there correspond to the different bitrates without hqbit and they are also recalculated. They should be compared with normal audio speed meaning that 5.0000 tells that the compression is 5 times slower than playing the track.

•	Delete silence automatically. There is usually quite a bit of silence in-between tracks on a CD. From here you can select how much silence in the beginning and end of a track should be kept. Values form -127 to 127 are treated as silence. Read more under checksums about what these 127's are.

•	Read audio in blocks of. This tells how many frames of audio should be read at each chunk and how many frames should be used for synchronization. Every frame is 1/75 second. You can read more about digital audio and how the reading is done.

•	The copy will not be perfect if the synchronization fails. By clicking "Continue even if synch is lost" will save the track regardless of how the synchronization is done, otherwise the track will be skipped if synch problems are detected. (This is called jitter correction in some programs).

•	Use cdplayer.ini. If this option is selected the track list will be filled with track names if the CD is recognized when you press Refresh. To enable the command Store in cdplayer.ini now this option must be selected.


Other good programs

Fraunhofers L3enc is used to create MP3's. It can be downloaded from http://www.iis.fhg.de/audio.

Audiograbber does also support MP3 creation through Denials Wav2mp3 which can be found at http://denial.frontnet.pp.se/

You need a program for playing MP3's on your computer. We recommend winamp from nullsoft. It can be downloaded from http://www.nullsoft.com./amp


Hints

•	There are often problems with the reading of the first sectors on a CD if Windows 95's internal driver is used. Audiograbber therefore reads the first 30 frames one by one and those that can not be read properly are skipped. It is usually the first 16 or 17 that can not be read. Because the first track usually starts with silence one will not notice any difference anyhow. This problem does not occur when a real mode driver is used…

•	Do not disturb Audiograbber when it is reading from the CD. Audiograbber itself will not develope any problems but the device driver between Audiograbber and the CD player may.

•	This version of Audiograbber can be run from a floppy disc. If you are about to buy a new CD player put Audiograbber and the agfree10.dll / agfull10.dll on a floppy and go down to the shop and test the CD player before you buy it. There is a list of tested CD 's on http://www.audiograbber.com-us.net./cdroms.html


CONTENTS

    Welcome

    Funktions

        File meny

            Normalizing

            Send to L3enc

            Compare two files

            Checksum

            Store in cdplayer.ini

            Copy track list to Clipboard

       CD meny

            Refresh track list

            Grab

            Shuffle

            Test

       Popup meny

            Properties

            Rename

            Select all

            Select none

    Miscellaneous

           Hints

           Other good programs

           Version information

           Credits

How to buy Audiograbber

           Buy  Audiograbber

           The difference between the full version and the freeware versionen


Credits
Credit goes to:

I would like to thank the following persons for indirect help with this program:

•	Michiel Overtoom, For releasing the source code to DIDO, another CD-ripper.

•	Simon Chang, for providing a way to thunk down from 32-bit to 16-bit code.

•	Jordan Russell, for an excellent component for the toolbar buttons.

•	Ivan Azic, for an enhanced status bar.

•	Kenn Nesbit, for a component that simplifies the read / write to .ini files.

•	Markus Stephany, for his dbmeter control.

•	The beta testers, especially moonroy has been very thoroughly and demanding ;-)

•	Hillary Cutler, for help with the english translation.

If anyone of you above would like to have the full version of Audiograbber, just mail me and I will send you one for free.


Show play buttons

This function is found under the Settings menu.

This option toggles between showing CD play buttons or disk info in the statusbar. This can also be changed by clicking an empty area of the right part of the statusbar.