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Audio Overload - computer/console music player
Linux preview release 6 - November 27, 2005 (core 2.0b7)

Emulation core by Richard Bannister

Portions by R. Belmont, BouKiCHi, Fx3, Adam Bienias, 
Juergen Buchmueller, Jarek Burczynski, Julien Frelat, 
Benjamin Gerard, Shay Green, Charles MacDonald, 
Kerwin Medina, Mitsutaka Okazaki, Haruhiko Okumura, 
Tatsuyuki Satoh, Christian Scheurer, m_puusan, GORRY, 
smf, and the P.E.Op.S. team.

Linux port and GUI 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?
---------------

26 console and home computer file formats are now supported.

.AY   - Amstrad CPC/Spectrum ZX/Atari ST
.COP  - Sam Coupe
.GBS  - Nintendo Gameboy
.GSF  - Nintendo Gameboy Advance
.GYM  - Sega Megadrive/Genesis
.HES  - PC Engine
.IMF  - PC-compatibles, various Apogee games
.KSS  - MSX
.MDX  - Sharp X68000
.MOD  - Commodore Amiga
.NSF  - Nintendo NES
.NSFE - Nintendo NES (enhanced tags)
.ORC  - TRS-80 Orchestra-90
.PSF  - Sony PlayStation
.QSF  - Capcom QSound
.RAW  - PC-compatibles with an AdLib
.ROL  - PC-compatibles, AdLib Visual Composer
.S3M  - PC-compatibles with a GUS or SoundBlaster
.S98  - NEC PC-98
.SAP  - Atari XL/XE
.SCI  - PC-compatibles, various Sierra games
.SNDH - Atari ST
.SPC  - Super Nintendo
.VGM  - Sega Master System/Game Gear
.VTX  - Spectrum Vortex Tracker
.YM   - Amstrad CPC/Spectrum ZX/Atari ST

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

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

- Added support for gzips nested inside other archives.
- Added support for NSFE files.
- Rewrote the VGM engine to support the latest files, needed for  
  Project 2612.
- Numerous fixes to the S98 engine; sound quality should be much  
  better now.
- NSF and GBS files no longer allow you to go two tracks beyond the  
  end of the file.
- The SNDH engine no longer stops playback at the three minute mark.
- Fixed previous/next song highlighting in KSS driver.
- Blargg sent in FME-07 support for the NSF engine (Gimmick!).
- R. Belmont added support for various PC AdLib formats (.ROL, .SCI,  
  and .IMF).
- R. Belmont added support for .VTX files (Spectrum).
- R. Belmont added support for ID666 tags in SPC files, and converted  
  the code to use the Game_Music_Emu engine.


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

S3Ms with FM instruments don't work yet.  There's partial support in
the engine but not enough to make noise.

.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?
-----------

Launch the ao application.  Click the "Open..." button to bring 
up a standard GTK+ open file dialog.  Choose a file of one of 
the types above or a .zip/.rar/.cab file containing files of those type(s).

You may remove a file from the list by clicking the "Delete item" button
while it's highlighted.

Unpacked files will appear by their filename in the list.  Files inside
a container (ZIP/RAR/CAB) will show the name of the container in parenthesis
after their name.  To play a file, simply double-click on it and it will 
start playing.  (You may also click the "Play" button for this).

To stop playback, click the Stop button (square icon).

If no song is currently playing, the Play button will become active
and you may click it to play whatever file is selected in the list.

Some filetypes (such as .NSF, .KSS, and .HES) contain multiple songs 
in each file.  If this is the case, the forward and back arrows will
become active when the song is playing and you may click the arrows to
navigate back and forth through the file.


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

[Linux specific]
- Additional GUI functionality, especially the Jump To... button/box.

[In general]
- The ability to save and load playlists will be added.
- The ability to record any song to a .WAV file will be added.
- Improved playback and more filetypes.  Suggestions are welcome on the
  official Audio Overload messageboard located at www.bannister.org.


Legal
-----
Copyright (c) 2001-2005 Richard Bannister.
Port code and GUI (c) 2005 R. Belmont.  All rights reserved.
