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Q138214: Music Central 96: Contents of Readme.wri

Article: Q138214
Product(s): Microsoft Home Multimedia Titles
Version(s): 1996 edition
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): 
Last Modified: 15-DEC-1999

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Music Central for Windows 1996 edition 
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SUMMARY
=======

The following article contains a copy of the Readme.wri located in the root
folder of the Music Central 96 CD:

MORE INFORMATION
================

Microsoft Music Central 96 Read Me
----------------------------------

Thank you for purchasing Music Central 96. This document contains
information that will help you get the most out of Music Central 96.

Table of Contents
-----------------

1. Where to Find Help

2. Most Problems Are Easily Solved

3. Improving Performance

4. Making Photographs and Video Look Their Best

5. Video Cards and Display Problems

6. CD-ROM Problems

7. Audio Problems

8. Removing Music Central 96 Preferences Files and Shortcuts

9. Installing Music Central 96 on a Windows NT System

1. Where to Find Help
---------------------

Check the Music Central 96 online Help for information on how to use
Music Central, or for tips and troubleshooting topics on issues such
as improving performance or resolving audio difficulties.

In most areas of Music Central, Help is available via the Help menu.
At the upper-right corner of the Music Central Window click the Help
button to see the Help menu, then choose Help (or press F1). In areas
where the Help menu is unavailable, click the orange Help button (or
press F1).

2. Most Problems Are Easily Solved
----------------------------------

Music Central supports the Windows 95 AutoPlay feature, and will start
Music Central automatically when you put the Music Central 96 CD in
your CD-ROM drive. As Music Central starts, it automatically checks
for all files it needs, makes sure your display and sound card are set
up in a fashion Music Central can use, and makes sure everything is
generally in order.

As a result, the easiest way to cure any problems you encounter is to
quit Music Central, remove the CD from your CD-ROM drive, and then re-
insert it. As Music Central starts up, it should be able to fix most
problems you might have encountered. If it doesn't, see the other
items in this Read Me or the Tips and Troubleshooting section of
online Help.

3. Improving Performance
------------------------

Make sure that Windows 95 is optimized for your CD-ROM drive. Windows
95 provides settings for CD caching and for accessing various CD-ROM
drive speeds.

To review and modify these settings:

   1. Select the "My Computer" icon on your desktop and click it with
      the secondary mouse button (usually the right mouse button).

   2. Choose Properties.

   3. Choose the Performance tab.

   4. Choose the File System button.

   5. Choose the CD-ROM tab.

In this box, make sure that the Supplemental Cache size is set to
"Large." Also, verify that the Optimize access pattern is correctly
set for the type of CD-ROM drive that is installed on your system
(single-speed, double-speed, etc.).

4. Making Photographs and Videos Look their Best
------------------------------------------------

The color photographs and video clips in Music Central 96 are stored
in 24-bit color and will look their best if your display is set to
show True Color (24-bit). For details on changing your display
settings, see your Windows documentation.

5. Video Cards and Display Problems
-----------------------------------

Less than 256 Colors:

Music Central 96 will not run if your display is set to 16-color
mode?it is designed to run at 640x480 resolution or higher, with 256
colors or more. If your display is set to show 16 colors, change your
display settings to show 256 colors or more. For details on changing
your display settings, see your Windows documentation.

More than 256 Colors:

Some video cards may encounter problems when using accelerated video
drivers, video drivers with more than 256 colors, or high resolution
video drivers.

If you run into display problems:

1) Try switching to a driver supplied by Windows 95 or Windows NT.

2) Change to a different display mode. An alternative to using a
different driver is to change your video mode to a standard video mode
such as 640x480 resolution with 256 colors.

For details on how to change drivers or switch to a different display
mode, see your Windows documentation.

Specific Driver Issues
----------------------

Creative Labs Sound Blaster 16/16ASP:

Audio in Music Central may not play if you are using a Sound Blaster
16 or Sound Blaster 16 ASP sound card. This problem occurs because
some computers are unable to use the 16-bit DMA (direct memory access)
channel on the Sound Blaster cards.

To correct this problem, switch the HDMA channel to use DMA or 8-bit
DMA. See your Sound Blaster documentation or contact Creative Labs for
information on how to change this setting.

Turtle Beach Monte Carlo:

When using the Turtle Beach Monte Carlo sound card, sounds may play
correctly the first time, then fail on subsequent attempts. To correct
this problem, run the Monte Carlo driver utility and change the setup
to use the Standard drivers and not the V-synth driver. Audio clips
should now play correctly.

For additional information about using Turtle Beach drivers, see your
sound card documentation.

Roland Rap-10:

When using the Roland Rap-10 sound card you may experience problems
playing compressed audio (most audio in Music Central is compressed).
To correct this problem, make sure that you are using Roland Toolworks
software version 3.7 or later.

Dell S3 drivers, versions 1.3 and 1.3a:

If you have a Dell computer with S3 video and are using Dell S3 video
driver version 1.3 or 1.3a, you should install the latest driver. To
get the latest driver, contact the manufacturer.

ATI Ultra Crystal video driver:

The ATI Ultra Crystal driver will allow you to select a 256-color,
1024x768 display for a video card that has 512K of memory. However,
512K of memory will not support 256 colors at this resolution. Because
Music Central 96 requires 256 colors to run properly, you must select
a driver that will support a 256-color display. You must also make
sure the video driver is compatible with your specific video card. For
details on selecting an appropriate driver, see your ATI documentation
or contact ATI technical support.

If you have a modem, you can obtain the latest 256-color SVGA driver
from the Microsoft Download Service at (206) 936-6735.

6. CD-ROM Problems
------------------

Ejecting the CD while the application is running:

Do not remove the CD-ROM disc while you are running Music Central 96.

If you eject the Music Central 96 disc from the CD-ROM drive while
running Music Central 96, insert a disc for another program, then
click hot text (say, an album title in a review), you get the System
Error message: "Error reading CD-ROM in Drive <drive letter>:" and
then the instructions: "Please insert CD-ROM MUSIC96." (Or if you're
running Windows NT: "There is no disk in the drive. Please insert a
disk into drive D:.")

Reinsert the Music Central 96 disc, then choose Enter.

Conflicts with the CD-ROM drive:

In Windows 95, you can check for conflicts with your CD-ROM by
clicking on the My Computer icon with the right mouse button and
selecting Properties. On the System Properties screen select the
Device Manager tab and look for the CD-ROM drive in the list. If it
appears with an exclamation point to the right of it, there is a
conflict with the hardware setup. Check the manuals that came with
your CD-ROM drive for information on how to set up your CD-ROM drive
or contact the manufacturer.

CD-ROM drive conflicts with Windows 95 AutoPlay feature:

AutoPlay is a Windows 95 feature that starts an application when you
put the application CD in your CD-ROM drive. If Music Central does not
start automatically, your CD-ROM drive does not support AutoPlay, or
the AutoPlay feature is disabled. To start Music Central 96 manually,
insert the Music Central 96 CD-ROM, open Explorer and select the Music
Central 96 icon or list item. Double-click Muscntrl.exe and Music
Central 96 will start. Music Central will also create an icon in your
Start menu; to start Music Central in the future, simply insert the
Music Central CD and select the Music Central icon from your Start
menu.

Future Domain SCSI Card:

The Future Domain SCSI Card and its driver FDCD.SYS do not work
correctly with Windows 95. If you have a Future Domain SCSI card and
experience sound stuttering, contact Future Domain for an updated
FDCD.SYS driver.

To find out if you are using this card and its driver, right-click the
My Computer icon on your desktop and select Properties. Choose the
Device Manager tab, select the SCSI controllers entry, and then choose
Properties.

7. Audio Problems
-----------------

The Tips and Troubleshooting section in the Music Central 96 online
Help contains useful information on resolving common problems with
audio.

Error Message: "All wave devices that can play files in the current
format are in use. . ." If Microsoft SoundBits (or a similar sound-
producing program) is installed and enabled, you will not hear any
startup audio with Music Central 96 and you will get the message "All
wave devices that can play files in the current format are in use.
Wait until a wave device is free, and then try again." This occurs
because both SoundBits and Music Central are trying to play audio at
the same time. To disable SoundBits, select the Sound icon from the
Control Panel and select Your Old Scheme from the Window Schemes list box.

Stuttering Audio
----------------

If audio appears to echo or stutter, check the "CD-ROM Problems:
Conflicts with the CD-ROM drive" section above. Some SCSI cards are
known to conflict with Windows 95 and will cause audio to stutter if
the CD-ROM drive is plugged into this SCSI card.

8. Removing Music Central 96 Preferences and Shortcuts
------------------------------------------------------

Although Music Central doesn't install any parts of the application on
your hard disk, it does store preferences and shortcuts on it.

Windows 95:

If you want to remove these, you can delete them with the Add/Remove
Programs control panel. For details on using the Add/Remove Programs
control panel, see your Windows documentation.

Note: Because the Add/Remove Programs control panel uses some files on
the Music Central CD to delete preferences and shortcuts, you must put
the Music Central 96 CD in your CD-ROM drive before opening this
control panel.

Windows NT:

>From Program Manager, select File and then Run. In the Command Line
edit box, type d:\data\app\uninstal.exe /uninstall, (where d: is the
letter of your CD-ROM drive).

You will need to delete the Music Central program icon from the
Microsoft Multimedia program group (or whichever program group you may
have used for Music Central).

9. Installing Music Central 96 on a Windows NT System
-----------------------------------------------------

Log on as an administrator:

Since Music Central may require some changes to your system, it may
not run correctly on a Windows NT system while you're logged on as a
user. To work around this, you should log on as an administrator.

Font display problems:

Some articles in Music Central require special fonts to display the
entire topic correctly. If text does not display correctly in Music
Central, you should make sure that all the fonts are installed
properly.

To install the required fonts:

1. Select Fonts from the Control Panel (usually found in the Program
  Manager Main group).

2. In the Fonts dialog, select Add.

3. Locate the Music Central 96 CD and navigate to the \data\setup
  directory. The fonts included on the CD will be displayed in the
  dialog.

4. Choose Select All and click OK.

Additional query words: kbhowto 1996 multi media multimedia multi-media mmtitles kbmm readme readme.txt

======================================================================
Keywords          :  
Technology        : kbHomeProdSearch kbMusicCentral kbMusicCentral1996
Version           : :1996 edition

=============================================================================
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