Hi everyone,

Here is our newsletter for April 2005. As we are moving further in the digital entertainment era and as many of you have asked advice about related software, this newsletter will focus on how to handle your music files.

· Tutorial - Convert your CDs to MP3s with CDex

· Internet

· What’s news at PF Systems?

MP3 management

Everyone knows MP3 players play MP3 files and that MP3 files are music files. What most don’t know is that music can also be stored in a multitude of formats that are similar to MP3s but slightly different in detail; all MP3 players can read a few formats, some can read many. So, with such a range of hardware and software players and different data formats for music, what pathway is the best to take?

The current digital content market is a sea of companies vying to store and manage your music and video. Once they catch you, they don’t want to loose you and companies are doing this by keeping your content in a proprietary format.

The most logical way to store our music is to imagine that a folder is an album, and the files in the folders are songs. A lot of software (and hardware) MP3 players will play these songs in alpha-numeric order. If the songs aren’t labeled with the track number at the start of the title, then it is likely that tracks will not play in the intended order. Our suggested naming scheme for your music files is as followed:

2-digit track number (01, 02…) – Song title

This technique of filing songs is simple and effective. It is done automatically by most software products which ‘rip’ the digital audio data from a CD and put it onto your computer. PF Systems’ recommended utility for this purpose is CDex which can be downloaded for free from the Internet.

Extended song information like album, artist and genre can be stored in an ID3 tag. An ID3 tag is an extended section of information attached to each music file which stores album and track details. These details can be used to display more meaningful song titles when playing tracks, and also contains track number information so that the tracks are played in order (especially in the absence of a meaningful file naming scheme).

All these folders of songs should be kept in My Music and to play the correct album, you’ll only need to browse the My Music folder and right click à play on the desired album. This is a simple system and works well for many applications. Unfortunately, Microsoft and most other companies want to complicate this procedure and add another layer to the model: this is the library layer.

With a library, your files are catalogued in a database derived exclusively from the ID3 tag information. To get a good result with a library, you need to make sure all your songs have ID3 tags. If they don’t, you’ll get a lot of Unknown Song - Unknown Artist entries in this library and it won’t be useful. Complications of the library layer include synchrony of your library with your song files i.e. delete or update some information directly onto your computer and you’ll have to manually synchronize these changes with your library or wait until it automatically synchronizes. What Microsoft expects is that you make all additions, deletions and ID3 changes to your library from within Microsoft Media Player. This way, synchrony issues do not occur. Unfortunately, what this means is that your ripped music files will be encoded only to play on your computer exclusively and you won’t be able to share them with anyone else or put them on your favourite digital music player (unless it’s a Microsoft brand). Microsoft’s intention with Windows XP Media Center and Portable Media Center is to completely manage all your digital content in a simple and intuitive interface. Our advice is not to be trapped into using this method as it will become restrictive and also helps Microsoft monopolize a broader market.

In order to best use your digital music device, we would advise to access the device from My Computer where it should appear as a Removable Drive and copy your files directly to it. If you don’t want songs on your device then simply delete them. This technique is possible if you use a device which supports UMD (Universal Mass Storage Device) mode functionality and uses the album = folder, song = file method. However, if you have an iPod-like device then you’ll need to use iTunes to manage your iPod and also your music. If you have an iPod and Windows Media Player then you can’t use both programs to play your songs without having two library databases, and that involves unnecessary work and complications.

As companies rival to have the best interface for playing digital content, you can be assured that some companies will do some things better than others at different times. You certainly don’t want to commit to a manufacturer’s vision of this process only to be left in the lurch in a few years from now when this company disappears.

A summary of a few basic rules:

• Keep your music in a common format like MP3, this way you’ll be able to play it on more devices.

• Have correct ID3 tags on your files so that if you use cataloguing software you’ll have a useful library

• Name your files in the format 2-digit track number (01, 02…) – Song title and keep it in a folder which is named the album name.

• Rip your tracks from CD while connected to the Internet and use a dedicated ripping program like CDex which won’t try and overlay a rights management or proprietary format onto your music tracks.

• Enjoy.

Tutorial - Convert your CDs to MP3s with CDex

Our online tutorial will guide you through the process of converting your CDs to MP3 with CDex (our tutorial is based on the 140b9 release).

Internet

is offering the following new plans. All of them are for 12 months contract with a $99 installation fee.

Click on the logo to sign up online now.

Plan Speed Download / Upload	Monthly Data Allowance	Monthly Fee (Inc GST)
Basic Plan
256/64	500MB	$24.95
*256/64	*Unlimited	$54.95
Intermediate Plan
512/128	500MB	$34.95
*512/128	*Unlimited	$64.95
Superior Plan
1500/256	500MB	$64.95
*1500/256	*Unlimited	$94.95
Business Plan
^#512/512	5000MB	$129.95
^#512/512	10,000MB	$179.95

* Bandwidth is shaped to 64/64 when 5GB download reached.

^# No shaping option available on Business Plans.

Is relaunching their 2 months free broadband access on all 24 month ADSL and Cable plans. This offer is only running until the 28^th of April!

So, sign up now online with PF Systems.

What’s news at PF Systems?

Introducing our new systems for 2005

New models & Lower prices

$350

Budget Box

$680

Value Box

$1130

Performance Box

Special - Solidstate MP3 Player S340 512MB – Until 31/05/05

~~$140~~

$115

Buy two and get a free radio FM transmitter.

This offer is valid until 31/05/05 as long as stock lasts.

Keep in mind that products are updated regularly on our online catalogue, so browse our other sections to find out about the latest deals.

Please email us any feedback or suggestion in regards to our newsletter.

Best regards,

Ben Druitt & Phuong-Dung Hoang – PF Systems

PS: If you want to unsubscribe from our mailing list, fill in the form in the Mailing List section on our homepage www.pfsystems.com.au and we will remove you from our list or send an email to unsubscribe@pfsystems.com.au.