Welcome
What is ZLURP! for anyway?

The Definitive CD-Ripper/Encoder/Tagger

ZLURP! version 1.1

ZLURP! is a trouble free solution for ripping audio from your audio disc(s).

ZLURP! will create  AAC, MP3, MP4, VFQ, WMA encoded files..

ZLURP! can also normalize your audio on the fly.

All beta versions require internet access.

The program will partially disable itself if it can't get to the internet.

The final release of Zlurp! will not have this restriction.

Hatman, Inc.

390 Willow Road

Lakemoor, Illinois 60050

Web:	http://www.zlurp.com

Copyright © 1999-2000 Hatman, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this documentation may be copied, reproduced, translated or transmitted in any form by any means for any purpose without the express written permission of Hatman and company.

Information contained in this documentation help is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Hatman and company. The software described in this documentation is provided under the terms of a license agreement or non-disclosure agreement. The software license agreement specifies the terms and conditions for its lawful use.

ZLURP! is a registered trademark and Hatman, Inc.

Microsoft®, and Windows®, are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

All other products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Help file last updated: 1/17/2000


Normalize

This function is found under the file menu.

Normalize

To normalize a file means to raise its volume so that the highest level sample in the file reaches a user defined level. Use this function to make sure you are fully utilizing the dynamic range available to you.

Different CD's, just like LP's from the old days, are usually recorded at different volumes. All tracks on the same CD are individually recorded at about the same level. So as long as one listens to only one CD at a time there is usually no noticeable difference in the loudness of the CD.

The problem starts when you mix tracks from different CD's because they occasionally have an output level that differs from one CD to another. One CD can play quite loud and another noticeably quieter. The normalize function comes in handy in these cases to select the same level for all your CD's.

A properly recorded CD's 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 the songs will have approximately the same volume, while most tracks will be left in their original condition. These percentage values detect when the sound is loudest on the track. Normalize to 0% means absolute silence.

From version 1.05 of ZLURP! you can also use a much more Advanced Normalizing routine which also includes sound compression options to ensure that all your songs will sound equally loud.

ZLURP! is able to do this all on the fly. You don't have to create a WAV file first. This allows for a much faster process. You can RIP, Normalize, and Encode in one pass.


Encode from WAV

This function is found under the file menu.

..and info not in yet.

Were trying....were trying


Decode from MP3

NOT YET IN!

This function is found under the file menu.

This function will allow you to covert your encoded MP3's back to a WAV file format.

This is sometimes needed to create a REDBOOK audio disc.


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.


General

General

Info to come.


Inout/Output

Inout/Output

Info to come.


Track Name

Track Name

Info to come.


Rip/Encode

Rip/Encode

Info to come.


WAV/MP3/ENC

WAV/MP3/ENC

Info to come.


Credits and Thanks

ZLURP!\(tm) has been brought to you by the following people:

Baki Allen - Legal

Richard Ditton - Mentor

Mike O'Connell - Mac PUSHER

Ilana Rudnik - Programming Warrior, Designer

Chuck Zenkus - Tech Geek, Designer

ZLURP!\(tm) would like to thanks the following people:

Tommy Gauss - Bug Testing (PC)

Merryl Houston - Bug Testing (PC)

THPerkins - Bug Testing (PC)

Todd Papaleo "The Mess"- The first public release of ID3v2 Tagging.

John Podlasek "The Mess"- Bug Testing (PC) - The first public release of ID3v2 Tagging.

Mike O'Connell - Bug Testing (Mac), Mac Support, Mac, Mac and more Mac.

Todd Squires - Tech Geek, Guru

Fred Allen - Tech Geek, Guru

Nick Yap - JazPiper, Wanting and pushing the MAC VERSION along.

Honvie - JazPiper, Wanting and pushing the MAC VERSION along.

Truly a great MP3 player with all the extras. Check out www.jazpiper.nl

ZLURP!\(tm) would like to thanks the following websites:

For without these sites ZLURP! could never be.

AKRIP 	- Author: Jay Andrew Key / Freeware ripper code that got ZLURP! started.

Inno Setup	- Author: Jordan Russell / Freeware install used for ZLURP!

Oasis	- Author: Stephan February / Freeware help file creator used for ZLURP!

BLADE	- Freeware MP3 encoder

L.A.M.E.	- Freeware MP3 encoder

F.A.A.C.	- Freeware Advanced Audio Coder

Xing	- Commerical MP3 encoder

MBM 4	- Freeware program for monitoring the status of your motherboard.


Encoders

XingMP3 Encoder 1.5

This is by far the fastest and best sounding encoder in the MP3 world.

You must have their registered version of XingMP3 Encoder 1.5. Having AudioCatalyst

installed will not work.

It costs $19.95 to purchase.

The official download location for this software package is:

http://www.xingtech.com/products/mp3encoder

BladeEnc

The author is Tord Jansson, this encoder is totally freeware.

Many people thinks this encoder produces better sound quality.

There are two version of this encoder. There is a "BladeEnc.DLL" encoder that works good as an internal codec, and a "BladeENC.exe" which works as a external codec (dos prompt).

Download his DLL or EXE, unzip it and simply place it in DLL_EXE folder inside your installed

folder of ZLURP!

The official download location for either the dll or the executable is:

http://bladeenc.mp3.no/

L.A.M.E. ("Lame Ain't no MP3 Encoder")

This codec is included with ZLURP! no need to download anything. Just choose and go!

There are a lot of people improving the LAME MP3 encoder. There are updates almost daily.There are two versions of this encoder as well. There is a "LAMEEnc.DLL" encoder that works well as an internal codec, and a "LAMEENC.exe" which works as a external codec (dos prompt).

Download the DLL or EXE, unzip it and simply place it in DLL_EXE folder inside your installed

folder of ZLURP!

The official download location for either the dll or the executable is:

http://www.sulaco.org/mp3/

GOGO

Another freeware MP3 encoder is called GOGO. It's based of the L.A.M.E. source code.

It's SUPER FAST! and works fine with ZLURP!, but only as an external codec (dos prompt).

It will be supported as an internal codec soon!

But if you would like to give it a try download his EXE, unzip it and simply place it in DLL_EXE folder inside your installed folder of ZLURP!

The official download location for executable is:

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~shigeo/gogo_e.html

Plugger+

Another freeware MP3 encoder is called Plugger+ and works fine with ZLURP!, but only as an external codec (dos prompt). There have not been any updates for some time now.

But if you would like to give it a try download the EXE, unzip it and simply place it in DLL_EXE folder inside your installed folder of ZLURP!

The official download location for executable is:

http://members.tripod.com/~mp3nkoder/

FAAC (Freeware Advanced Audio Coder)

This is a freeware AAC/MP4 encoder is called and works fine with ZLURP!,

but only as an external codec (dos prompt). But if you would like to give it a try download the EXE,

unzip it and simply place it in DLL_EXE folder inside your installed folder of ZLURP!

The official download location for executable is:

http://www.slimline.net/aac/

Windows Media Audio

This codec is included with ZLURP! no need to download anything. Just choose and go!


Buying ZLURP!
How to buy cool ZLURP! stuff.

Go to http://www.zlurp.com/purchase.html for up to date information on how to buy ZLURP! stuff.

If you like the program please buy some cool ZLURP! stuff. Doing so will make it easier to continue ZLURP! development and web site maintenance.

If you buy any ZLURPGEAR! you will receive a FREE copy of ZLURP! on cd-rom with your order.

$15.00 ZLURP! Hat

$15.00 ZLURP! T-Shirt


Version History

•	Version 1.1	December 6, 1999:

Pretty cover art! If you enable CD Now as the EXTended data source,

Zlurp! will attempt to download cover art that can be saved and/or used

in the ID3v2 tag.

Speaking of ID3v2 tags...Have added a few new fields, mainly the album

cover art. Have forced my tags to be version 2.2 even though I have v2.3

capability because there isn't anything out that will read v2.3 yet!

The best ID3v2 tag editor we have found so far is ID3v2 Tag Editor beta 4.

Download it at http://www.audioxl.com/id3v2/.

E-mail James Webb to beg him to work on it again!

Bug WINAMP http://www.winamp.com also to support ID3v2 tags!

•	Version 1.1	November 25, 1999: Thanksgiving \ TURKEYDAY

Found a new encoder.

GOGO-no-coder mp3 encoder which is based on LAME ver 3.29beta and

optimized by PEN@MarineCat, Keiichi SAKAI, URURI, kei and shigeo.

GOGO-no-coder mp3 encoder is x2 faster then LAME.

Why is it twice as fast you ask?

GOGO makes use of MMX, (Enhanced) 3D Now! and SSE if your system

supports these units.

•	Version 1.05 Build2	November 14, 1999:

Also have a check in for when CDDB is down, will automatically

switch CDDB servers.

Download works with genre.ini, label.ini, and lame.dll. You will only

download a file if a new version exists on the server. Don't have a merge in yet,

currently will overwrite your file. (mainly important for the label.ini if you have

entered your own new labels!)

In the works

Album art display when you enable EXTended info. This will also

automatically get your art to save in the ID3v2 tag.

•	Version 1.05 	October 31, 1999: Happy Halloween

Some major reworking of ZLURP! has been going on. Read for yourself!...

Normalization has been added. All normalization is on-the-fly.

Windows Media Audio (WMA) can encode on-the-fly and from a WAV.

ID3v2 Tagging, first pass is now in. Just a micro tag for now!

The External Encoder support has been redone to add more flexibility.

Any command line configuration will work now. (If you find one that

DOESN'T, please yell at us so we can add it!)

Auto insert notification is now being intercepted. You won't have to

keep killing your CD player every time you insert a new disc.

You can now add your own labels to the label list.

Enter all the obscure Indies you want!

•	Version 1.04 Build 5	October 18, 1999:

SUPER FAST RIPPING! ZLURP! is now 150% FASTER!

One of our betatesters gave us his proud screenshot of ZLURP! in action

by THPerkins (BetaTester)*

Now supports Windows Media Audio (WMA) - Must create .wav first.

Hope to get on the fly in next build. • Changed the "Select All Tracks At Start"

feature to default to none. Requested by John Podzilla (PalmPilotBoy).

Xing Encoder only works if you bought the XingMP3 Encoder 1.5.

Installing AudioCatalyst doesn't install the required DLL's for the encoder to work.

I'M A ZLURP! BETATESTER hats are being made.

Added a TON of CDROM drive information...check out the  page.

•	October 14, 1999:

ZLURP! is being bundled with the JazPiper.

•	October 13, 1999:

New clean installer. Thanks to Inno Setup written by Jordan Russell

New faster version of LAMEenc.DLL (Version 3.34)

Better checking for encoder module and disc availability.

Support for multiple CD-Rom drives is fully enabled.

Up to 8 CD-Roms in one computer are allowed.

(overkill for now, but who knows what the future may bring!)

•	October 10, 1999:

Asking before overwriting existing files is in!

Selecting all or no tracks at start is also in ("Select All Tracks At Start")

Limited working off-line is allowed. A compromise solution has been

implemented. If you are off-line, or the version has expired you will be

allowed to work with 4 tracks.

•	October 7, 1999:

Check for Update - let Zlurp! tell you when a new version is available.

Default settings for the rip/encode page. Defaults are on a per-encoder basis.

Zlurp! version of the LAME DLL. From this build on, you will need to use the

Zlurp! version of the LAME DLL, named LAMEenc.dll. It can be downloaded

from www.zlurp.com. This is to ensure that there will always be a compatible

version of LAME for Zlurp!

•	October 3, 1999: 10:24PM

Been a looong day! Will have Beta 1.04 ready any minute now.

WAV Encoding, first pass, made it in. Currently, you have to encode one file at a time.

Batch encoding will be available very soon. The only problem was that Blade

and LAME were not being very friendly, so you must use Xing, or an External Encoder.

•	October 3, 1999: 2:57AM

Having server problems. Rats! The update will be ready to download later today.

New stuff includes External Encoder support. Try it with Plugger or ToMPG!

Keep your fingers crossed and I may get the WAV Encoding functional later today

in time for the update.

Also looking into a MAC port. We've had many requests for such an animal!

 A BIG thank you to all the Beta Testers who have returned their surveys.

 Another thank you goes out to everyone who at least gave Zlurp! a test run.

We're getting an impressive variety of CD-Rom drives that have been used with Zlurp!

•	September 20-25, 1999

VIVA Las Vegas Baby!

Going to Vegas, so we will not be around to respond to e-mails during this time.

Your e-mail will be answered when we get back...I promise!

•	September 19, 1999

More cool features added...

QuickSet - choose the way you want to name your tracks, where to put them and go!

Want to check out what other music that great artist has?

Get the EXTended CD info, and click on the Artist button.

Organizing your files is easy with the added Use Artist/Album as output

directories (found on the Track Name Settings page).

•	September 12, 1999: 11:49PM

The latest and greatest version released!

Now Zlurp! comes in a self-extracting file flavor.

Tons O' Fun added by Ilana Rudnik (meet your Zlurp! programmer)

New artist data search via CDNOW.COM

CD-Rom diagnostics dump and e-mail at startup.

(This will help us evaluate an extensive number of CD-Rom drives,

for your ripping pleasure.)

ID3v2 Tagger support...Slowly coming to light!

2Clicks2Play after ripping or encoding.

Zlurp! progress bar complete.

Looking at more encoders...Many more soon!

QuickSet and go feature. Idea by Matt Kern (SoundBoy)

New Zlurp!y Sounds to add a little spunk! Courtesy of Matt Kern (SoundBoy)

The UPPERCASE lock is removed. Found by Tom Gauss (BetaTester)

•	August 29, 1999:

Second BETA is released to public.

Now supports encoding on the fly.

More progress info.

•	August 23, 1999:

First BETA is released to public.

•	August 21, 1999:

Encoder links are added.

Technical data is placed on site.

•	August 19, 1999:

Screenshots were made and placed on website.

•	August 12, 1999:

WWW.ZLURP.COM is created.


Contacting Info

Legal

Baki Allen

baki@hatman.com

Programming

Ilana Rudnik

ilana@hatman.com

Mac Info or Mac Support

Mike O'Connell

monkeyboy@hatman.com

Tech Support and Website or any other inquiry

Chuck Zenkus

hatman@hatman.com

The latest versions of ZLURP! can be found on our web site at:

www.zlurp.com


Quick Reference

This is the main toolbar.

Each button has a little task and function. Below is a quick reference guide.

GET INFO

This button is the first step in getting information about your cd.

First place the disc in your cdrom drive that you would like to rip audio from.

Once you have a disc in your cdrom drive (waiting for your drive to spin down first),

Click on "GET INFO". This will read the TOC (Table of Contents).

The TOC tells your computer how many tracks are on the cd, and the length of each one.

The next step is that ZLURP! will compute a CDDB lookup number from your TOC.

By default this setting is turned on. To disable it uncheck the CDDB below.

QUICK SET

ZLURP! is ready to go out of the box. By default ZLURP! is set up to create MP3's using the L.A.M.E. encoder. Quick set is to change your output path and filename convention.

SETTINGS

This will allow you to set more advanced settings.

General - Here you will find internet and normalization settings.

Inout/Output - Choice of CD-ROM unit, and output paths.

Track Name - File naming convention.

Rip/Encode - CD ripper and encoder settings.

WAV/MP3/ENC - Click to play and tagging options.

ID3v1 - Default = ON

This is the standard tagging version.

Would be wise to use this for most programs that deal with MP3s look for ID3v1.

ID3v2 - Default = ON

This is the new standard of tagging.

Here we are trying to force the hand of the encoded audio world to a much better standard.

ID3v2 stores much more info about the song, including album cover artwork.

ZLURP! has gone that extra mile to give you the most info at a click of a button.

Having this feature turned on will allow ZLURP! to "GET INFO" from other sources making your tag more complete. If you would like to read more about ID3v2 please visit this web site: www.id3v2.org/

RIP AUDIO

This button is basically to set your ripper in motion. Clicking this button will send ZLURP! to work.

ABORT

If for some reason you want to stop the current function, click here.

ARTIST - Default =ON

Clicking on this button will load your default web browser and find other albums by the same artist.

NORMALIZE - Default = OFF

To use this feature make sure the check mark box is on.

To normalize a file means to raise its volume so that the highest level sample in the file reaches a user defined level. There are 4 levels to choose from, ranging from 25%-100%. Be sure to use the same setting for all the discs you are going to convert. They will sound more uniform.

ZLURP! is able to do this all on the fly. You don't have to create a WAV file first. This allows for a much faster process. You can RIP, Normalize, and Encode in one pass. Click here to read more about Normalize features.

WAV - Default = OFF

To use this feature make sure the check mark box is on.

This will create a WAV file of your selected tracks.

ENCODE - Default = ON /  Default = MP3

To use this feature make sure the check mark box is on.

This will allow you to create encoded files. By default the encoder is L.A.M.E.

This encoder is a fast MP3 encoder. It will produce high quality MP3's fairly fast.

Clicking on this button will put up the encoder menu settings. Here you can choose from a range of different type of encoders.