On-Line Help
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Supported protocols and formats
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Overview of recording functionality
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Options Dialog
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Recording options
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How to record on-line music
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How to start with parameters
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How to add a new online station
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How to add a new local audio file or a playlist
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Volume control
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Seek control
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Scan control
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Channels control
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Stations control
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System tray popup menu
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Keybord commands
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Backup previous installation
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Supported protocols and formats
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The following transport protocols are used to manage the high-level exchange of data when streaming audio-based content:
HTTP
MMS
RTSP
iRadioNet can play and record
the following available on-line stream file types (formats):
MP3 audio file mp3
Windows Media Audio file wma
Windows Media file asf
Moreover, iRadioNet can play
the following available local audio formats:
Audio file mp2/mp1/wav/cda/ogg/mod
MP3 audio file mp3
Windows Media Audio file wma
Windows Media file asf
NB. Please be aware that:
- To play Windows Media/Audio stream you must have either Windows Media Player or
Windows Media Format module (3.9 Mb)
installed on your PC.
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Overview of recording functionality
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iRadioNet supports recording for main
stream formats - direct mp3 and encoded Windows Media/Audio -
depending on stream format provided by on-line stations.
For direct mp3, the stream will be saved as mp3 file without
any encoding and transformation and will have the same bitrate as the source.
For Windows Media/Audio, the source stream will be encoded to mp3
format firstly and then will be saved. In this case bitrate of the file depends on selected recording
quality option in the
Options Dialog.
There are two modes of recording - Meta and Non-Meta -
for direct mp3 stream.
If iRadioNet is in the meta mode it can record and save the whole song
even if you start recording in the middle of the song. In the non-meta mode the application
will start recording exactly after pressing the Record button and stop it
when you press the button again.
NB. Please be aware that:
- Record service is restricted for unregistered copy:
only 2 records per the application launching in meta mode or
10 minutes in non-meta.
- Record service is available only for on-line music. It is desabled if you are playing
a music file from a local hard drive or CD-ROM
- Record service will be switched off and the recorded file will be saved automatically
if you change an on-line station or close the application
- In the meta mode record service will be switched off and the recorded file
will be saved automatically if the selected on-line song is ended up
- Unfortunately not all on-line radio stations provide correct meta data during broadcasting.
In this case meta mode for record service is not available.
- If a radio station can support the meta mode iRadioNet
places the "M" indicator opposite the station name on the main screen.
- If a radio station provides music in Windows Media/Audio format
iRadioNet places the "E" indicator
opposite the station name on the main screen.
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Options Dialog
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Source List Info section allows you to change different files with music source list
(see below).
In Source List Info section you can
change the time-out parameter for connection with an on-line radio station
(recomended to increase it if you have time-out error message);
increase/decrease the size of playing buffer;
change the timer interval for scan control (see below);
switch on/off displaying hints for basic buttons;
Record Info section allows you to
switch the program in meta or non-meta recording mode (see above);
enable/disable continious recording - if you set this option on
the program will continue to record the next song after finishing
the previous one (only in meta mode);
change the folder where to keep recorded files;
change the default name for recorded files (for non-meta mode);
set the option to add the date sub-folder to save path;
switch on/off deleting existed file with the same name before saving
the new one;
run Wizard to congigure recordable input device;
set recording options and level;
NB. Please be aware that:
- iRadioNet uses non-standard hints.
If some button hint is popup up
you should wait until it disappears and only then you will be able to press this button.
- File Num field is used to make default file name different for recorded files
in non-meta mode. Its value will be increased automatically after saving the current file.
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Recording options
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iRadioNet applies encoding to transform
the digital audio data into a highly compressed form called bitstream.
The result is not the same file as the source, but it will sound the same - more or less,
depending on how much compression had been performed on it -
the lower the compression ratio achieved, the better the sound quality will be in the end.
Because compression ratio is a somewhat unwieldy measure,
experts use the term bitrate when speaking of the strength of compression.
Bitrate denotes the average number of bits that one second of audio data
will take up in your compressed bitstream. Usually the units used will be kbps, which is kbits/sec.
iRadioNet uses two main encoding modes:
Constant Bitrate, in which the fixed bitrate will be the same for the whole
file, so the quality of your mp3 is variable;
Variable Bitrate, in which the encoder tries to maintain the given quality
in the whole file by choosing the optimal number of bits to spend for each
part of your music. The resulting bitrate range is variable according
to music complexity, but the quality of your mp3 is smooth.
Recording options allows you to choose several possible quality encoding modes:
User Defined is the default encoding mode with constant bitrate you can
set yourself.
Medium is variable bitrate which provides good transparency to most
people on most music. The bitrate should be in the 150-180 kbps range.
Standard is variable bitrate which is generally transparent to most people
on most music and is already quite high in quality. The bitrate should be
in the 170-210 kbps range.
Fast Standard is like Standard mode, but this forces the encoder to use
a faster encoding mode with a lower quality. The bitrate should be
in the 160-200 kbps range.
Extreme is variable bitrate which provides slightly higher quality than
the Standard mode. The bitrate should be in the 200-240 kbps range.
Fast Extreme forces encoder to use a faster encoding mode with a little
bit lower quality The bitrate should be in the 190-230 kbps range.
NB. Please be aware that:
- iRadioNet cannot improve quality of source stream.
If an on-line station broadcasts music stream with, i.e., 32 kbps bitrate,
setting Record Quality in the Extreme mode will not forse the encoder
to provide higher quality for your resulting mp3.
- iRadioNet uses third-part freeware
Lame MP3 Encoder.
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How to record on-line music
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Click on the Record button while you are listening to on-line music to start recording
and click on the button again to stop service and save the recorded file on a hard disc.
If an on-line radio station provides a title for this song, the saved music file will have the same name.
If a station does not provide this information, the music file will have a default name.
You can set the default name as well as the path where to keep saved files in the
Options Dialog.
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How to start with parameters
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Put in command line the path to iRadioNet
executable file and set of parameters separated by spaces.
Following parameters are accepted:
-v0 .. -v10 – set volume level to 0..10
-c1 .. –c5 – play the fixed channel 1..5
-s# – play the station #
-r0/-r1 – switch off/on record mode
-t# – switch off recording after # minutes (if -r1)
-n# – record and save # files (if -r1)
-f"path" – save recorded files into "path" folder (if -r1)
-d# – switch off recording when size of the destination directory
will be more than # MB (if -r1)
-e0 – close the program after recording (if -r1))
Sample of parameters to run iRadioNet in Windows Sheduler:
- "C:\Program Files\iRadioNet\iRadioNet.exe"
-r1 -v0 -e0 -s3 -n5 -t45 -d150
NB. Please be aware that:
- Some anti-virus programs not allow you to run the program from Windows Sheduler.
You should disable anti-virus protection in this case.
- Not all on-line stations provide correct data for meta mode (see above).
I advise you to set either timer or directory size protection for recording.
- If iRadioNet is in non-meta mode
all transmitted music will be recorded in one file.
- Record service is restricted for unregistered copy
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How to add a new online station
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Open a radio station web site with your internet browser, find a web-page whith a link to the server music stream.
Copy the link to a computer memory pressing the right mouse button and selecting the Copy Shortcut/Link menu item.
On iRadioNet main screen click on the List button to open a list of available radio stations.
Click on the Add button (or select the same popup menu item) to open a screen for a new entry.
Enter the name of a new radio station, the copied link will be pasted into the URL field automatically. Click on the OK button
to save the entry in the list.
NB. The application can accept only following URLs:
- Direct link to a music stream, i.e.
http://205.188.234.4:8004/
- Direct link to a stream playlist (pls/m3u format), i.e.
http://www.somafm.com/beatblender.pls
- Link-to-link to a music stream or a stream playlist, i.e.
http://radio.ext.ru/playlist/radio.m3u?
station=europaplus&stream=128
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How to add a new local audio file or a playlist
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On iRadioNet main screen click on the List button
to open a list of available sources.
Click on the Add button (or select the same popup menu item) to open a screen for a new entry.
Enter the name of a new source and path to a separate audio file or a playlist file (if you copied the path before,
it will be inserted into the URL field automatically).
Click on the OK button to save the entry in the list.
NB. The application can accept only following pathes:
- Direct path to an audio (mp3, mp2, mp1, wav) file, i.e.
C:\My Music\ABBA\01 - Abba - Chiquitita.mp3
- Direct path to a playlist file in pls format, i.e.
C:\My Music\abba.pls
- Direct path to a playlist file in m3u format, i.e.
C:\My Music\abba.m3u
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Volume control
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To increase volume of the sound, click on the Volume Up button.
To decrease volume of the sound, click on the Volume Down button.
To switch the sound off click on the Mute button (it will be highlighted
with green color). To swith it on again click on the "Mute" button one more
time.
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Seek control
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To play the next radio station, click on the Seek Up button.
To play the previous radio station, click on the Seek Down button.
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Scan control
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To play a radio station one by other with time-out period, click on the
Scan button (it will be highlighted with green color). Default timer interval is
15 seconds. You can set other scan interval in the Options Dialog.
To switch off the scan mode and play the current station, click on the Scan
button again.
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Channels control
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To play one of the preset radio fixed stations, click on the 1, 2, 3,
4 or 5, button. The selected channel button will be highlighted with
green color.
To assign a playing station to any of fixed channels, click on the Set
button and then on the channel number button.
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Stations control
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Click on the List button to open window with a list of available music sources.
Using popup menu or buttons you can play the selected source, add a new
station or local audio file, edit information about the selected
source or delete it.
You can change the current music source list in the Options dialog.
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System tray popup menu
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Most of above functionalities are available
from main popup menu (click on the application icon in the system tray with
right mouse button).
To show the hidden application main screen, you should either select Show
menu item or double click on the application icon in the system tray.
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Keybord commands
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Volume Up |
Ctrl++ |
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Volume Down |
Ctrl+- |
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Mute |
Ctrl+M |
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Seek Up |
Ctrl+U |
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Seek Down |
Ctrl+D |
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Scan |
Ctrl+S |
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Record |
Ctrl+R |
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Channel 1 |
Ctrl+1 |
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Channel 2 |
Ctrl+2 |
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Channel 3 |
Ctrl+3 |
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Channel 4 |
Ctrl+4 |
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Channel 5 |
Ctrl+5 |
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Stations Dialog |
Ctrl+L |
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Options Dialog |
Ctrl+O |
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Backup previous installation
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To save important information from your previous installation of the application, setup package includes the new section
"Backup previous files".
This option allows to create a backup sub-folder in the installation folder and put the
old configuration, playlist and registration patch files into the backup directory.
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