Frequently Asked Questions
... and questions I don't want to answer twice
Werner Van Belle

Is a commandline version of the BPM counter available ?
How can I obtain the tempo/cue positions from the index files ?

There are a number of methods to access the tempo information. There is even a command line version of the BPM counter. See here

It says something about 'enabled capacities' etc... (and does not work)

bpmplay relies on a variety of programs to decode files. To decide which program is used to decode a specific file, every player has a list of capacities (which is the set of programs that is available on that machine). Since not always, all available capacities should be used, or since sometimes a certain capacity _needs_ to be available (for instance in distributed environments, relying on a variety of distribution that are upgraded automatically), the player allows the use to select which capacities are and are not to be used. This is done in the setup box of the bpmplayer. If the enabled capacities do not match the available capacities then it will not start and give an error. To fix the problem

1. either install the missing software
2. disable the use of a specific piece of missing software. This can be done by clicking on the red colored capacities. (see picture below)

bpmdj does not start bpmplay

It does not compile !!!

Before you compile the program, you need to setup the defines file. This file must  point to a compatible set of QT libraries, headers and binaries. That is to say. If you point to a moc compiler of version 2.4 and include the headers of 3.3 then compilation will not work. When compiling also make sure that you are not using QT 3.0.5. Accoring to some people this will not work. Check the bugreports (also the closed ones) at the bugtracker.

How about supporting other file-formats ?

This is no problem. Let's assume you want to add '.xyz' files

Find a suitable command line utility to decode your ...xyz song. Good examples of such a tools are ogg123 and mpg123, mplayer and so on..

Extend the bpmdj-raw script to include your file type. Make sure to export the file to the current directory with the name ...xyz.raw

If you are able to play files, send me your extended script. (werner@yellowcouch.org)

To make the file selector recognize your files you need to

modify the SONG_EXT variable in scripts.h

modify the goodExtension(...) function in dirscanner.cpp

Why these seperate .idx files ?

Because, often the file that contains the music data (the mp3) cannot modified because

The songs are on a shared medium on which you have no write-access

The songs are on a CDROM

The songs themselve are not mp3-encoded and do not offer any additional meta-information.

These are the three reasons why we don't use the meta-information that can be stored in an mp3-file.

Is There a Windows Version ?

No. If you are willing to spend time on helping to port it to windows let met know.