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Audio Overload - computer/console music player
Linux preview release 3 - March 13, 2005 (core 2.0b4)

Emulation core by Richard Bannister

Portions by BouKiCHi, Fx3, Adam Bienias, Juergen Buchmueller, 
Jarek Burczynski, Julien Frelat, Charles MacDonald, 
Mitsutaka Okazaki, Tatsuyuki Satoh, Christian Scheurer, 
m_puusan, GORRY, and the Snes9x team.

32 and 64-bit Linux versions by R. Belmont.
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What's this?
------------

Audio Overload is a player for various types of music files which you may
find on the Internet.

What's it play?
---------------

15 console and home computer file formats are now supported.

.AY   - Amstrad CPC/Spectrum ZX/Atari ST
.GBS  - Nintendo Gameboy
.GSF  - Nintendo Gameboy Advance
.GYM  - Sega Megadrive/Genesis
.HES  - PC Engine
.KSS  - MSX
.MDX  - Sharp X68000
.MOD  - Commodore Amiga
.NSF  - Nintendo NES
.RAW  - PC-compatibles with an AdLib
.SAP  - Atari XL/XE
.SNDH - Atari ST
.SPC  - Super Nintendo
.VGM  - Sega Master System/Game Gear
.YM   - Amstrad CPC/Spectrum ZX/Atari ST

In addition, AO can find files of those types when they are inside a .zip
or .rar container.

What's new?
-----------

.AY and .SNDH files were not being run at the proper (PAL) rate.  In
addition to crappy sounding playback this would crash the app fairly
quickly.

Added support for .MOD, .MDX, .RAW, and .YM.

What's wrong with it?
---------------------

The MOD player is a brand new from-scratch engine written in about 12
hours and may not handle all songs properly.  Old 15 instrument
MODs are definitely known to have issues.  However, all the standard
effects torture tests do pass, including "Runaway Scales", "Klisje Paa 
Klisje", "Watch Your Bass Bins", and "Space Debris".

Some .rar files produced by newer versions of WinRAR may not be handled
correctly.

Some .SPC files, especially those from Squaresoft games, may not sound
100% correct.

.GSF files may lose sync between the digital channels and the Game Boy
PSG after a while due to a core bug.


How to use?
-----------

For ease of use, copy the "ao" executable to somewhere in your path, such
as /usr/local/bin.  Now whenever you encounter a music file or archive
containing music files, simply run "ao filename".  You may open multiple files
at a time and use the traditional Linux shell wildcard * commands as necessary.

Once you've loaded up some files, the first one begins playing.  Player
controls at this point are very similar to the Linux version of my M1(tm)
arcade music player and are as follows:

Esc, Q = Quit Audio Overload entirely
/, * = Navigate through all the currently-loaded songs
Enter = Restart the current song that's playing
I = Show information about the currently-playing file and song

Some filetypes (such as .NSF, .KSS, and .HES) contain multiple songs 
in each file.  If this is the case, you will be able to use the plus (+) and 
minus (-) keys to hear the different songs in the file.

What's coming in the future?
----------------------------

- A native 64-bit Linux version
- A GTK+ GUI
- The ability to save and load playlists will be added.
- The ability to record any song to a .WAV file will be added.

[In general]
- Improved playback and more filetypes.  Suggestions are welcome on the
  official Audio Overload messageboard located at www.bannister.org.
- Improved RAR support.


Legal
-----
Copyright (c) 2001-2005 Richard Bannister.
Linux CLI frontend (c) 2005 R. Belmont.  All rights reserved.
