CD-R technology can allow us to realize familiar things in familiar ways. We can back up CDs and CD-ROMs, we can save archives to a nearly permanent medium easily and economically. We can transcribe tapes and LPs to CD's. We can even back up our computer systems. Yet there are potentials here which are not yet being exploited - at least, not extensively - that offer new opportunities.
One architecture for a CD-ROM is that of a WWW site. If that format is used, one simply browses it with one's choice of browser on any appropriate platform. The directory is not printed on the traycard - it is in the HTML with which one accesses the files. No looking up the track number or filename; just click on the link. I have been using that architecture for several published CD-ROMs, with excellent results. I am using a variety of formats - HTML, GIF, JPEG, WAV, MP3, MPG - to get a rich blend of content on a single disc.
We all know the virtues and the limitations of the CD: great sound limited to less than 80 minutes; continuous or selective play with the sequence predetermined on the disc or requiring programming into the player. But there is a viable alternative allowing more music to be stored on a disc and accessed in whatever order is appropriate for the job.
Suppose that the tracks are recorded on a CD-ROM, not in CD-DA format, but in WAV or MP3. Then playlists can be constructed which preselect track sequences for specific purposes: an hour of slow dancing to end an evening, twenty minutes of increasingly upbeat tracks leading to the climax of the evening, three hours of Glenn Miller for the 'mature' audience, and so on. If special needs arise, one list can be modified in real time or a new one can be constructed while another is playing. A single CD-ROM can then hold ten hours or so of music to fill a full gig.
Playback? Instead of carrying a stack of CD's and CD-R's to the party and hoping that the host's CD machine is good enough, carry one disc and a laptop you know. Connect its line out to the local sound system and you have full control right from your computer. With a program such as WinAmp from http://www.nullsoft.com/ you can call up a graphic equalizer to tone things down or to tune the sound to the local system. WinAmp and other programs for WAV and MPn also support simple scripting and both sequential and quasi-random playback.
So, does it make sense to put both of those ideas together? You bet it does! When I'm working on a disc, I write the HTML and the files - usually, MP3 and JPEG - at about the same time. I use only relative addressing and provide a folder for each logical collection with all required files. Then I can check things out with browsers on a folder level. When I'm ready, I add a home page linking to the HTML in the folders, add I-View, WinAmp and whatever else is appropriate, run some checks with analysis tools and play with it a bit - and then burn away.
E-mail me at cdrecording@mrichter.com
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