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| What's New Window Click on the "news" tab for up-to-date information about ShockBox. If you have any questions or bug reports related to the most recent version, please send your e-mail to lance@endresdesign.com || Desktop Audio Playback || Web Audio Playback || FTP Audio Playback || Desktop Audio Playback
Selections Window - Selecting Audio From Your Hard Drive In the startup window, click on the button labeled "Desktop Playback". When the audio selection window appears click on the "Search" button or "Servers" tab. A dialog box will appear and you may then locate the folder containing your audio files. Click on any file located in that folder to select the location. The below table contains all of the audio/video formats that ShockBox will accept while in the Desktop Playback area. (NOTE: Audio/video file suffixes are needed for ShockBox to recognize your files.)
Audio | Suffix | Video | Suffix
AIFF | .aif / .aiff | AVI | .avi
MIDI | .mid | Digital Video | .dv
MPEG Layer III | .mp3 | MPEG Video | .mpg
MPEG Layer II | .mp2 | QTVR | .qtvr
Shockwave Audio | .swa | Quicktime 4 | .mov, .qt, .qt3, .qt4
Sun Audio | .au |  |
WAVE | .wav |  |
ShockBox will locate all audio files in the folder you selected and in any folder that resides in that selected directory. Your selected audio folders will then be displayed within the volume field. To save your custom playlists for playback at a later time, build a playlist, then click on the "Save" button. You will then be prompted to save your playlist file on your harddrive. To load a previously saved playlist, click on the "Load" button. You will then be prompted to locate your saved playlist file. Choose the volume and track information by clicking on one of the field entries. Audio "tracks" are made available when a "volume" selection has been highlighted. When the tracks are made available you may double-click to add that track to the playlist or you may use the selection buttons below the "tracks" listings. You may also delete entries in the playlist by clicking once on the description name in the "playlist" listing and then click the "delete" button. If you wish to access a different audio folder, click on the "Search" button again. This function is handy when you have audio files and folders located on different hard drives. The playlist may contain selections from different folders or hard drives that have been previously displayed. Once you have completed the playlist, press the "Playback" tab and the play window will appear. You may also include in each audio folder a JPEG image that will be displayed upon playback of an audio track from that folder location. The JPEG image must be given the filename "cd.jpg". Although the JPEG image will be resized in the display window, you should save the image at the following settings: The image width and height dimensions of "cd.jpg":
Width: 72 pixels (1 inch) Height: 72 pixels (1 inch) Suggested JPEG Resolution: 72 dpi (dots per inch)
Playback Window - Playing Audio The buttons shown here are similar to a standard playback interface. You can forward to the next track, stop the track playing, pause the track playing, return to a previous track, and play a stopped track. You may adjust the volume level with the grey slider bar. The shuffle button will randomly mix the order of the playlist. Clicking on the "Track..." button will display a dialog window that will allow you to skip to any track by simply entering in its number. The button next to the "Track..." button is the repeat button. When you toggle the repeat button to active, it will display a loop symbol on the button. It will then allow the continuous play of the playlist. The progress bar displays differently based on the audio format being played. Quicktime compatible audio will display a tab in the progress bar which allows total control on where the audio is started. Simply drag the tab from left to right to select a starting point for the audio. Shockwave audio will display a hilited progress bar in the progress area. This bar is to show progress only, it has no further abilities.
Web Audio Playback Connection Menu Before clicking on the button to connect to the Web set your Internet connection under the menu bar labeled "Connection". If you are unsure as to your connection rate to the Web, simply leave it at the default location. NOTE: Desktop playback does not require any adjustments under the "Connection" menu. You only need to adjust the information here if you are using Web playback. Under the "FTP Firewall..." and "HTTP Firewall..." submenu you may set your HTTP or FTP proxy server information. These fields must be entered if your network is behind a firewall, ask your network administrator for the firewall address. If you're not sure, leave the fields empty. Once these aspects have been covered you may then click on the button labeled "Web Playback".
Servers Window - Selecting a Server After SB connects to the Official ShockBox Server, you will be provided with a list of registered ShockBox Servers and an entry field (to become a ShockBox Server is covered here). To access a non-registered ShockBox Server, enter the Web or FTP address into the blank entry field (http://www.example.com/ or ftp://ftp.example.com/). Be sure to enter the complete address ending with a backslash character (/) and press the "Remote Server" button. To access a registered ShockBox Server, scroll down to the requested site and double-click the descriptive name or click it once and press the "ShockBox Server" button. At this point SB will attempt to connect to that server's location. If a successful connection has been made the audio selection window will be made available after a few moments. If after a few moments you receive a connection error -- try again, the server may be extremely busy or you've entered an incorrect remote address. The "Save Bookmark..." button will save the current address in the remote field to a file. Save this file in your "SB Servers" folder located in your ShockBox folder. You may then access your bookmark through the pulldown menu next to the remote server field.
Selections Window - Selecting Audio From the audio selection window, you can choose the volume and track information by clicking on one of the field entries. Audio "tracks" are made available when a "volume" selection has been highlighted. When the tracks are made available you may double-click to add that track to the playlist or you may use the selection buttons below the "tracks" listings. You may also delete entries in the playlist by clicking once on the description name in the "playlist" listing and then clicking the "delete" button. If you wish to access a different ShockBox Server, press the "Servers" tab at the top of the window and you will taken back to the list of registered ShockBox Servers. This tab is greyed-out when you are using Desktop playback abilities. Once you have compiled the playlist, press the "Playback" tab and the play window will appear.
Playback Window - Playing Audio The buttons shown here are similar to a standard playback interface. You can forward to the next track, stop the track playing, pause the track playing, return to a previous track, and play a stopped track. You may adjust the volume level with the grey slider bar. The shuffle button will randomly mix the order of the playlist. Clicking on the "Track..." button will display a dialog window that will allow you to skip to any track by simply entering in its number. The button next to the "Track..." button is the repeat button. When you toggle the repeat button to active, it will display a loop symbol on the button. It will then allow the continuous play of the playlist. The progress bar displays differently based on the audio format being played. Quicktime compatible audio will display a tab in the progress bar which allows total control on where the audio is started. Simply drag the tab from left to right to select a starting point for the audio. Shockwave audio will display a hilited progress bar in the progress area. This bar is to show progress only, it has no further abilities. When connected to the Web Playback area of SB, advertisements at the bottom of the window will change with each completion or advancement of an audio selection. If you click upon these advertisements, your Web browser will be launched and you will be taken to a Web page with further information on the advertisement. If you do not have a Web browser installed nothing will happen.
FTP Audio Playback
Selections Window - Selecting FTP Addresses In the initial window, click on the button labeled "FTP Playback". When the FTP login window appears, enter your FTP address, login name (leave blank for anonymous entry), password (leave blank for anonymous entry), and a directory if you know of one. Click the "Connect to FTP" button and ShockBox will attempt to connect to that FTP address. The below table contains all of the audio/video formats that ShockBox will accept while in the FTP playback area. (NOTE: Audio file suffixes are needed for ShockBox to recognize your files.)
Audio | Suffix
MPEG Layer III | .mp3
MPEG Layer II | .mp2
Shockwave Audio | .swa
ShockBox will locate all audio files in the directory selected when you click on the "Grab Audio Files" button. If you need to change directories, enter the directory into the directory field and press the "Refresh Directory" button. After a moment, your FTP window will refresh with the contents of the directory you selected. You may also double-click any line in the FTP window. If the entry is a directory, a new list of files located in the directory will be displayed shortly. To step out of the current directory that you are in, double click the ".." line at the top of the FTP window. The "Save Bookmark..." button will save the current address in all fields to a file. Save this file in your "FTP Servers" folder located in your ShockBox folder. You may then access your bookmark through the pulldown menu next to the FTP server field. The "Reset Fields" button will disconnect you from your current FTP location and clear all of the entry fields.
Selections Window - Selecting Audio To save your custom playlists for playback at a later time, build a playlist, then click on the "Save" button. You will then be prompted to save your playlist file on your harddrive. To load a previously saved playlist, click on the "Load" button. You will then be prompted to locate your saved playlist file. Choose the volume and track information by clicking on one of field entries. Audio "tracks" are made available when a "volume" selection has been highlighted. When the tracks are made available you may double-click to add that track to the playlist or you may use the selection buttons below the "tracks" listings. You may also delete entries in the playlist by clicking once on the description name in the "playlist" listing and then click the "delete" button. Once you have completed the playlist, press the "Playback" tab and the play window will appear.
Playback Window - Playing Audio The buttons shown here are similar to a standard playback interface. You can forward to the next track, stop the track playing, pause the track playing, return to a previous track, and play a stopped track. You may adjust the volume level with the grey slider bar. The shuffle button will randomly mix the order of the playlist. Clicking on the "Track..." button will display a dialog window that will allow you to skip to any track by simply entering in its number. The button next to the "Track..." button is the repeat button. When you toggle the repeat button to active, it will display a loop symbol on the button. It will then allow the continuous play of the playlist. When connected to the FTP playback of SB, advertisements at the bottom of the window will change with each completion or advancement of an audio selection. If you click upon these advertisements, your Web browser will be launched and you will be taken to a Web page with further information on the advertisement. If you do not have a Web browser installed nothing will happen.
©1999 endres design. Comments, questions or bug reports can be directed to lance@endresdesign.com