User:DJ VorTechS/PhatHack Media Manager

PhatHack Media Manager - The Background


PhatHack Media Manager is a media management application that was originally designed to take over from where PhatNoise Media Manager left off with the demise of PhatNoise Inc. It had the original purpose of being a utility to only manage a PhatBox or Kenwood Keg but it's author (VorTechS) grew more and more frustrated with the likes of Windows Media Player and WinAMP and decided to make the application more generic, allowing it to be targeted to multiple user-bases.

Now the application is geared towards:


 * PhatBox and Kenwood Music Keg owners
 * CarPC Owners
 * Users wanting a simpler interface

Current Status: ALPHA

Current Version: 0.9c

PhatHack Media Manager is currently classed as 'Alpha', in-testing software although the user base continues to grow. Whilst it is known to be 'stable' in operation a number of bugs may still be present.

The author welcomes bug reports, at the original application home page: http://www.phathackmm.com

Licensing
This application is licensed under the FREEWARE license agreement, and therefore is available at no cost from the website listed above.

The only condition for download, is that you must be a registered user of the site where registration is also free.

It is the intention that, in the future, this application will become free software under the GPL license.

Supported Operating Systems
PhatHack Media Manager has been confirmed to work on the following operating systems:


 * Windows XP (all)
 * Windows Vista (x86, x64 all versions)
 * Windows 7 (x86, x64 all versions)

We have not yet tried other operating systems, but if you want to try it out and let us know the results please feel free!

System Requirements

The target machine must have the following installed:

DirectX 9 or above

Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 (Service Pack 1 and advantage, but not necessary)

Windows Installer 3.0

Feature List:


 * Manage your media library in a playlist fashion


 * Single click transfer from PC to device


 * Transcoding on-the-fly during transfer


 * Multiple file formats supported including: AAC, FLAC, MP3, MP4, OGG, WAV, WMA


 * Album voice announcement support (insert a voice announcement track as the first item on a playlist!)


 * Voice announcement dictionary (perfect control over TTS voice announcements)


 * Skinnable Media Player


 * Skinnable Track change notification


 * HTTP Audio stream support (ICECast/Shoutcast/Windows Media Server)


 * WinAMP visualization support, including full screen option


 * Scheduled HTTP Audio stream capturing


 * CD Ripping direct to device (ASPI)


 * PhatRIP - multi-pass CD extraction


 * CDDB Support (Gracenote or FreeDB or both)


 * Playlist editor


 * Media Import (import from Playlists, Media Center, Directory scans)


 * iTunes Import with DRM stripping


 * PhatNoise DMS support including some backwards compatibility with PhatNoise Media Manager v3.92


 * PhatSort (for DMS only)


 * Dynamic playlist support (useful for DMS SSA/VIOT modes only)


 * Bulk normalization


 * 7-level Media View modes: Playlist, Album, Artist, Genre, Year, Decade, Recently Added (Import Dates)

Getting Started With PhatHack Media Manager
To get started with PhatHack Media Manager, why not take a look at our online Manual!

Getting 'Live' Help With PhatHack Media Manager
The PhatHack Media Manager author, and other users can be found often lurking on FreeNode IRC servers, in the channel #PhatHack.

Click to join us on IRC Now! (Requires a valid, IRC URL supporting IRC client)

Acknowledgements
The author of PhatHack Media Manager acknowledges the use of the following Open Source/FreeWare libraries used within the application in whole, or part:

BASS Audio Libraries and Plugins (http://www.un4seen.com)

GraceNote SDK (http://www.gracenote.com)

FreeDBHelper class by Brian Weeres (http://www.codeproject.com/KB/audio-video/freedb.aspx)

Taglibsharp (http://developer.novell.com/wiki/index.php/TagLib_Sharp)

USBDiskEject class by Simon Mourier (http://www.codeproject.com/KB/system/usbeject.aspx)

Thanks
The author of PhatHack Media Manager would like to thank the following people:

Firstly, the users - for the inspiration to keep the project going, and all the great feedback and support in the continuation to make this project meet the needs.

Also:

Ian@Un4seen - for the incredible BASS audio library, and answers to questions on the forums

Radio42 - for the equally incredible Bass.NET (.NET wrapper for the BASS audio library), and occasional direct support request!

BassFan - for the dazzling BassVis libraries, and help making them easy to use and fixing the bugs that got found!

Sbingner - for all the help and the inspiration within the PhatHack community (http://forum.phathack.com)

rm_03 - for the Monoton FreeDB source, re-worked as initial source for FreeDB support (http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.php?t=390620)

FireFox (Simon torri) - for the PhatSort concept and helping fix the bugs with the DMS database files

PKMax - for the help generating some custom controls

PhatHack Media Manager Manual >>