| Please note that this program is supplied as two archives. The main archive
called the 'Installer'-archive and another archive called 'Encoder'-
archive. Make sure you obtain the both archives!
You can however use this program without the second archive, but then mp3
encoding modes will be disabled!
The main documentary has all the instructions you'll need to get yourself
the Encoder archive, if you cannot find it.
Due to the fact that I would need to pay 15.000$ minimun annually to licence
mp3 encoding technology, I cannot spread compiled Encoder exes. You must
create them yourself with the good instructions inside, or you'll just have
to find them somewhere else. I'm sorry.
INTRODUCTION:
    This is just a program I originally created in hurry as I needed it
    badly. I decided to make it a bit better so others could use it
    too. It just wasn't nice to use makecd, mpega, numerous shell applications
    plus lots of other stuff just to encode a freaking audiocd to mp3s or
    to transfer them to a cd. So SecondSpin was born.
    So I created this full featured audio mpeg processor!
See @{" Features " link "Features"} for more info...
REQUIREMENTS:
    - AmigaOS 3.0 or greater.
    - a supported(?) CDDA audio extraction capable cd-rom drive
      & drivers for it if you mean to encode directly from a cd.
    - 68020 (FPU heavily recommended), preferably a 68060 or PPC
    - Minimum of 640x480 with 2 colors. (*)
    - lots of patience, hdspace and free cpu cycles.
    - executive is recommended but not required as mpegencoding is really
      cpu intensive stuff it might help keeping the system more useable
      when encoding.
    - optionally, the ppc.library and elfloadseg, if you want to use the ppc
      version of the encoder. ppclibemu should work ok.
    - optionally amitcp or miami (online), if you want to fetch cddb
      information from the www.cddb.com.
    - PIPE: device mounted.
    - ARexx system up and running.
(*) SecondSpin defaults to Workbench screen, but you can create a new screen
for SecondSpin with Triton-GUI preferences program. 640x256 or similiar
resolution just isn't enough for SecondSpins GUI - and no plans to make any
smaller has been made.
FEATURES:
    - will easily convert audiocds (CDDA) to mpeg audio files or additio-
      nally only leech the tracks as aiff files.
    - has full mpeg tag editing possibilities for audio cd:s.
    - will easily convert your existing AIFF or WAV files to mpeg audio
    - will convert Protracker, XM, S3M, FastTracker modules to AIFF or
      mpeg audio files
    - will convert PlaySID formatted SID tunes to WAV or mpeg audio files.
    - also converts mpeg files back to AIFF for general use.
    - is able to directly convert existing mpeg layer 3 files to another
      mpeg format (eg. conversion of 128kbps jstereo file to 32kbps mono.
    - outputs mpeg audio layers 1, 2 and 3 with mono, stereo and j-stereo
      with bitrates of:
      layer 3: 320, 256, 190, 160, 128, 112, 96, 64, 32, 24, 16 or 8 kbps
      layer 2: 320, 256, 190, 160, 128, 112, 96, 64, 32
      layer 1: 320, 256, 192, 160, 128, 96, 64, 32
    - a full fontsensitive and easy GUI
    - supports all amigas (with or without fpu) as well as amigas
      equipped with a ppc. 
    - supports www.cddb.com, so it's able to fetch track information from
      the site.
    - also has full CDID support plus audio cd tag editor.
    - fully localized
    - it's almost absolutely free :P
HISTORY:
    v1.0  - a quick version for my own needs
            (30/Jan/1999)
    v1.1x - a better version :)
            (03/Feb/1999)
    v1.2x - first real release version candidate (yeah, sure ;))
            (05/Feb/1999)
    v1.3x - added www.cddb.com support and mpeg audio tag system. All output-
            ted mpeg audiofiles will have a proper tag files and renamed
            accordingly to the cddb data. Also added a configuration file..
            (28/Feb/1999 -> )
    v1.4x - brushed up version with numerous internal additions. Also added
            many features, but no need to list them here as these still
            aren't release versions.
            (15/Mar/1999 -> )
    v1.5x - jstereo mp3, encoder now always based on the latest LAME version.
            (15/May/1999 -> )
    v1.6x - numerous little & bigger additions, like decoding of mpeg files,
            selection based track selection instead of the old range based,
            the ever-so-much-needed offline mode etc.
            (18/Jul/1999 -> )
    v1.7x - too many things added and too many bugs fixed to be mentioned here.
            (21/Sep/1999 -> )
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    v1.76 - the first public release version (released as public beta)
            (07/Nov/1999)
    v1.77 - some minor bugfixes, added 8/16/24 kbps modes. MPTAGs don't have
            underscores anymore if convert spaces to underscore is enabled.
            updated suomi/finnish catalog. keep those catalog files rolling!
            (06/Dec/1999)
    v1.78 - minor unvisible tweaks, added Save system information to the BETA
            VERSION MENU. If you're going to send bug/nag reports, send the
            file generated with this option with the mail!
            (09/Dec/1999)
    v1.79 - fixed some small bugs, including the typo in Install script which
            caused installed mpega.library to be overwritten by the Install
            process. Also fixed the bug which caused an unidentified error
            requester, if SecondSpin GUI couldn't be opened, instead of the more
            sophisticated one. (Thanks to Vadim Vlasenko for reporting them.)
            (13/Dec/1999)
    v1.80 - I was experimenting with some new stuff and found out some bugs if
            multiple cds were encoded in a row and some had cddb files downloaded
            and some didn't. Also tweaked some things which may have caused trouble.
            I'm studying a more sophisticated way to handle the cddb files. A
            central database and a to-be-downloaded queue maybe? (Thanks to all of
            you who gave suggestions, especially to ExiE and Gerd Schmidt.)
            (14/Dec/1999)
    v1.85 - Added full support for converting Protracker, XM, S3M and FastTracker
            modules to AIFF or MP3. Thanks to K-P Koljonen for PS3MREC. Usage is
            similiar to the usage of existing AIFF/WAV files, eg. Input File
            Selection. Also made good file identifying routines, no more extensions
            needed in input files. Many general bugfixes + changed the english and
            finnish locales a bit. MED support coming soon, but only with Jouko
            Pynnönens med2xm unless you help me and do a med2aiff converter! I also
            added some stuff to the guide. Maybe I should take a vacation for a few
            days. :P
            (17/Dec/1999)
    v1.86 - Added OS check. SecondSpin now requires AmigaOS 3.0 as it's way much
            easier for me not to even think about OS 2.x. Sorry :(. Also made some
            little bugfixes, but you wouldn't find them anyway :P. 
            (27/Dec/1999)
    v1.87 - Took the first steps to TAG EDITING engine. Now all entries have proper
            author & name variables and SecondSpin tries to seek them in all ways.
            You can't yet edit them by hand, but this is a good start. This also
            caused the listview to change a bit. Added preliminary support for TAG
            stuff for mpegs created from modules, modulename is now properly added.
            Very good routines for module name seeking added. Hopefully I've fixed
            the mpega.library installation for good. Let me know if it still does
            something unwanted!!
            (02/Jan/2000)
    v1.88 - Due to some internal restrictions, the v1.87 release didn't work as it
            was intended. However, it's fixed now :). I had to move the internal
            english strings to an external file, but this should be of no problem.
            (08/Jan/2000)
consider following as pre 2.00 releases, eg. v2.00 betas:
    v1.96 - I adopted some module author scanning routines from my old CNet utility
            called ZoolDIZ. Now all supported input modules are scanned for possible
            match on author name. The routines are very sophisticated but in no way
            perfect. I hope they'll get even better some day.. The authorscanning is
            quite fast, but you'll certainly notice some delays when selecting files
            or starting the converting, especially when you've selected many files.
            That's too bad, but hey: nothing's free you know.. I practically rewrote
            them + made them better in many ways when compared to the old version in
            ZoolDIZ. Now the module support is much more better. Thanks Halil Ýbrahim
            Taþova <CaptainHIT@Gmx.net> for motivating me.
            Implemented mp3 tag scanning. Author and name tags will be preserved
            if converted to another bitrate etc.
            I also added a PIPE: check as more and more people don't seen to
            understand that SecondSpin really needs PIPE mounted and working before
            it will work properly.
            Tweaked up some existing routines.
            And.. hmm, yes I also implemented MPEGA Library FPU check so if you're
            going to decode mpeg files SecondSpin will tell you that the MPEGA
            version isn't FPU. FPU versions deliver much better audio quality!
            Also added a few more progress bars to some routines.
            ... ooops :P The Decode Mode Only - menuselection didn't work at all.
            I implemented the routines, now it should be ok.
            PLUS! Layer 1 and 2 modes enabled and using the high speed Pegase by
            Didier Levet! The implementation is a bit kludgy, but that is because
            the Pegase isn't really intended to be used with SecondSpin or similiar
            packages.. Hope it works, ok. You need to have the latest Pegase (v1.6x)
            currently installed in C: for it to work. Thanks Didier! Currently mp3
            files as input will be skipped if selected and layer 1/2 is output format.
            The speed display works correctly only with 44100 kHz 16bit stereo files.
            Now I hope that you stop comparing SecondSpin with Pegase as they have
            very different functions. SecondSpin is a full featured package for all
            mpeg and aiff conversions and Pegase is layer 1/2 encoder. You want speed,
            you use Pegase with SecondSpin :)
            The SecondSpin encoder is no longer required, you can use this in layer 2
            mode only if Pegase is installed and the Lame base isn't.
            As usual, also fixed many bugs. Very many.
            Gee, I've been busy! Hope you enjoy!
            (14/Jan/2000)
    v1.97 - Added check for installed cdrom drive. If the selected drive isn't
            located, it won't be seeked until restarting SecondSpin. Now people
            without working cdrom drives can access SecondSpin easier.
            Added another simple check for succeeded trackleeching. Now SecondSpin
            shouldn't hang as ofter when trackleeching fails.
            Found a very stupid bug which caused the process to fail if cddb wasn't
            used. How silly of me. This was introduced in v1.96Beta.
            (15/Jan/2000)
    v1.98 - SecondSpin is now giftware. It's still 'free', but you should send me a
            small gift if you like this :) Read the docs for more info..
            Fixed some stupid bugs, and made the interface a bit more accessible.
            Now you really can convert all fileformats to aiff files, and not only
            encode them. Also added preliminary, rude and ugly playsid module support
            which is 200% beta atm. It utilizes the fabulous SID4AMIGA player by Paul
            Heams, and is included. The songs default to length of 3:20 for looping
            songs and SID4AMIGA now has a end of non-looping song detection so nonloopin
            tunes will just be faded out when the song ends.. Use the discussion board
            to discuss how it should be made better. 
            Also, I removed the filecomment thing. It actually wasn't meant to be used,
            I just forgot it there.
            Added progress display to module conversion.
            Found a bug that caused SecondSpin not to create proper directory from
            cddb data in all circumstances.. This was introduced a few versions earlier.
            Also added CDID support! Now you can use your existing CDID files with
            SecondSpin. You can specify your CDID directory with SecondSpin installer,
            or use the default 'SecondSpin:disks/'
            I've only tested CDID support a bit with OptyCDPlayer. I have no idea if
            it's 'standard' or does it work at all. Let me know! The TAG EDITING
            feature will use ENV variable cdid_path and should be 100% OptyCDPlayer
            compatible..
            I finally decided to do that TAG EDITOR! It only works with audio cd:s,
            but is fully CDID compatible with save features and internal cd album year
            support (CDID doesn't support year data :(). Enjoy!
            I had introduced a new bug in v1.97Beta. This was caused because of some
            modifications I needed to do when I implemented Pegase support. MONO/STEREO/
            JSTEREO/FORCE switch had no function with Layer 3 encodings! Only JSTEREO
            was used! OOOOOPS! :).. big thanks to Sébastien STASZAK for letting me know!
            Also added env variable for cdda track leech directory. This will be in
            config file in the future, but no proper config ed has been made so use
            this to select a different directory for cdda / moduleconversion / sid
            conversion output aiff/wav files. ENV 'cdda_path'.
            Added some variables to cfg saving. Now delete samples and programmode
            will be saved too. Also added config load menu selection.
            And.. SecondSpin is now as fast as the real LAME port on amiga! Thanks to
            Piru's little stderr->stdout hack. This means about 15-50% speedup with
            060! Maybe even more with PPC! Thanks to CISC for his LAME port!
            (08/Feb/2000)
   v1.98a - Oh crap! One stupid shell script had stripped a part which caused
            multiple encodings to fail! Fixed.
            (09/Feb/2000)
   v1.98b - This can't be happening! I'm terribly sorry, but I had missed a part the
            same script had manipulated! So there was another bug which caused the
            cddb support to fail to get proper cd title data! I try to be more
            careful next time. Sorry again! But after all, there are all beta
            versions! Special sorrys to DrDick for not noticing it earlier.. 
            (10/Feb/2000)
   v1.99  - Added CDID autosave option. This will automatically save CDID file from
            CDDB data! CDDB files aren't saved anymore unless specified, only CDID
            files.
            Special Pegase compiles are now included. Thanks to Didier Levet for
            releasing Pegase sources!
            Hmm.. the temporary samples delete cycle gadget defaulted to "do not
            delete".. it's now changed to "delete". Thanks again to Sébastien
            STASZAK!
            Also tweaked up the GetCDDB a bit. No more debug information outputted
            to the CDDB files and optimized it a bit..
            I tracked down a bug which might have caused SecondSpin to save corrupted
            config files in some machines. Fixed.
            Tweaked up the output path handling a bit. There should be no more nested
            directories and if you save prefs, the cd title shouldn't be saved to the
            outputpath. Thanks to Tony B. for letting me know..
            Please send me a mail about all bugs you might encounter! Next release
            will be v2.00 AMINET if this works ok. So it's very important that I
            am told about all bugs so that I won't upload a beta to aminet!!
            (14/Feb/2000)
   v1.99a   Fixed the about requester error. Hmm.. The compiler stripped some tabs
            and I never thought those were important.. well, they were. :)
            Thanks to D.F. Duck for telling me!
            (15/Feb/2000)
   v2.00    1st Aminet release. (non beta)
            Fixed Install script bug. It failed to copy a pegase encoding script!
            Now, why did it took this long to report it?) Anyways, thanks to Klaus
            Wurzinger for telling me.
            Also disabled the TAG EDITOR menu entry when cd isn't inserted.
            Selecting would have caused an error. Thanks to SPlayer author :P
            Added a option for automatic cd tray ejection if selected program
            reset. Thanks to TonyB. for the request and Jakub Bednarski for the
            proggy.
            Changed Triton app tags a bit.
            Fixed a bug which caused some nonintended data to appear as track
            information if no CDDB / CDID data was available, like CD_TITLE1,
            CD_AUTHOR etc. Also, bogus track information isn't now automatically
            been saved. If you've got these corrupted CDID files with nonwanted
            disc information, delete or overwrite them.
            Adjusted exit code a bit. Should be cleaner & more secure now.
            It's now possible to use several copies of SecondSpin at same time.
            CDID v2 has now been finished. It's however not in use at the moment
            as new features of this scale would mean many new bugs and they're
            not wanted in this version :P. Contact me for developer information
            if needed.
            (24/Feb/2000)
  "xx/xxx/xxxx ->" means that the version was developed from xx/xxx/xxx to
  the next version date.
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