MICROSTUDIO V2.20x PROGRESS - updated 03/15

[admin]

We're upgrading Microstudio in answer to some of your reqests. Here's the "expected" feature list. Those marked with DONE are already...[ol]
[li] DONE - MODIFY PLAY TAB - We are making the Play Tab only allow selecting CDR drives, not CDROM drives (there is only one CDROM that can read CDG anyway). Messages are being added to give clear instructions within the program.

[li] DONE - REMOVE SERIAL NUMBER AUTHORIZATION IN THE DEMO VERSION - After reviewing our upgraded security coding, we no longer need the Serial Number to install the Demo Version.

[li] DONE - SECURITY CODE CHECKING PROBLEM - It was discovered (and fixed) that the security code could end up with a minus number of days left. This caused the program to run one time and then quit. Reinstalling it would reset it to run again.

[li] DONE - SUPPORT YAMAHA 2100 16x BURNER - Support for this drive has been added.

[li] DONE - REMOVE 6X WRITING SPEED LIMITATION - It surprised us that this existed for some CDR drives.

[li] DONE MODIFY CUSTOM ASSEMBLY TAB OPERATION - When you now click the Custom Assembly Tab, the New button executes and creates a default file in the current folder (which is persistent). Clicking the Select Folder button allows changing the folder, but the current default file has already been created. Clicking the Save As button allows storing a new copy in another folder.

[li] DONE - CREATE DESKTOP ICON - All MTU products are being upgraded to create an Icon on the Desktop when installed.

[li] DONE - PLAY TAB - Currently if you don't have an audio card in the computer, the Play Tab is grayed out with no explanation why all features are non functioning. We are changing this to show all features, and make them operate normally, but when you click on the Play button a dialog box will appear with an explanation.

[li] DONE - DUPLICATE DISC TAB - MODIFY AUTO EJECT AND BEEP - When "Auto-Eject" is enabled, and the same CDR is used for the reader and writer, eject the disc after the disc image has been copied as well as the current functioning which is when the copied disc is finished. Make "Beep When Done" do the same; beep when the disc image is done and when the copied disc is done.

[li] DONE - DUPLICATE DISC TAB - # COPIES: FIELD - If the duplication in process fails, the original disc image that had already been read to the hard drive was lost. If a burn fails, a dialog box now appears with: "Do you wish to make another disc copy? Click Yes for another copy. Click No to delete the disc image copied to the hard drive and terminate copying." After each copy made, this dialog appears to allow making another copy or terminating. The #Copies" field has been removed. When a burn failure occurs, there is an additional dialog box that appears with clear instructions that this disc failed to record and is not usable.

[li] DONE - ADD IMPORT TRACKS TAB - This forth Tab allows importing all or just the selected songs from a CD or CDG disc into the hard drive. We decided to do this instead of allowing the Custom Assembly Tab "Add Tracks From CD" operation to read more than 1 track at a time. We are positioning for future upgrades were the focus is importing tracks to the hard drive for compression and playback. This Tab contains the following controls:

1. Select Drive to read from
   
2. Select Folder to store files to
   
3. Read CD Contents to load the Table of Contents into the Tracks List
   
4. Tracks List {showing (1)Track #, (2)Song Duration, (3)Select click box, (4)Filename entry field}, (5)Status field
   
5. Import As File to select .cdg or .wav as the format to import (you can import cdg files as .wav)
   
6. Import Now button to begin the import process
   
7. Add Tracks to Custom Assembly List button to place the imported files into a project open in the Custom Assembly Tab
   

[li] PLAY TAB - TOTAL REDESIGN OF PLAY OPERATION - The entire architecture of how Microstudio plays a karaoke cdg song has been re-engineered. This may require some users to upgrade their display video card. The code will be much faster and should be able to play every karaoke song available. Extra code will allow the Esc key to terminate play if a song ever locks up while playing. The possibility of crashing Microstudio while playing should now be very remote.

[li] MODIFY HTML PAGES AND MAKE OS AWARE - TheInstallShield code now checks the Windows version so we know which is being installed into. We are updating the current 95/98 html page to indicate this is only for Windows 95/98 (and ME if it applies). The html page will not appear when installing into WinNT or Win2000 as no changes are required.

[li] PLAY TAB - MAKE PLAY WAV FILES ALSO - We are attempting to make the Play Tab play .WAV files also, of course without graphics.

[li] CLOSE DIRECT SOUND PLAYER WHEN PLAY TERMINATES - Currently the play device is left assigned and KeyRite cannot play if Microstudio is open and has played.

[li] CUSTOM ASSEMBLY TAB - NEW BUTTON - There has been erratic behavior reported from a few users. This code will be looked over carefully for proper operation.
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NOTE - CRASH POTENTIAL - If Auto Insert Notification is ENABLED and you load a CD in the drive, if you then click the Duplicate Disc button, Microstudio will totally shutdown. This happens under Windows 2000 especially where you don't have to disable Auto Insert Notification.

[Cid_cat]

Mucho thanks for the upcoming changes!!! You guys rock!!!
Cid