Recent changes to Windows

WikiPage Windows modified by Martin Scarratt

Martin Scarratt — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 11:59:54 -0000

WikiPage Windows modified by Martin Scarratt

Martin Scarratt — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 11:51:57 -0000

--- v4 
+++ v5 
@@ -1,56 +1,55 @@
-
 Randirplay 2.1 for Windows
 Manual
 
  by Martin Scarratt 30/04/2010
 
 Randirplay for Windows 2.1 - instructions
 
 NOTE: This program only works if you have your music files organised in such a way that each album is contained in one folder.
 Randirplay creates a playlist of files from selected folders such that the order of the files within the folders is preserved but the order of the folders themselves is random. So playing the playlist will result in entire albums being played in a random order. 
 You must have Cygwin installed on your windows system first.
 To install, double click on the win-install.bat file. You can now run Randirplay from the shortcut on the desktop (you can delete the original files).
 
 The folders file
 Before you run the program you need to set up the folders file. This file tells Randirplay which folders to include in your playlist file. To do this, double click on the shortcut ‘Randirplay - folders’. This will open a text file which contains the paths of each folder that you wish to scan. The default entry is
 /cygdrive/c/users
 As you will probably notice, the system uses some strange notation to describe a path. The c drive, which is usually ‘C:\\’ in Windows, is now called ‘/cygdrive/c/’. This notation is the same for all drives – each always starts with ‘/cygdrive/’ and then the drive letter (in lower case). Make sure you use forward slashes rather than the usual Windows backslashes.
 You can put any number of paths into this file, one per line. The program will scan these paths and their sub-folders and enter all of the music files contained within the paths into a playlist. 
 
 Excluding folders
 If there is a particular folder contained within one of your paths that you don’t wish to include in your playlist,  then you need to add an extra line to the folders file which consists of the path to the unwanted folder preceded with a ‘-‘ sign. 
 eg.
 /cygdrive/c/music
 -/cygdrive/c/music/single tracks
 This will create a playlist of all files in “C:\\music” but will not include files contained within “C:\\music\\single tracks”. It will still include files within the sub-folders of  “C:\music\single tracks” though, so files in  “C:\\music\\single tracks\\rock” will be included.
 To exclude a folder and all its sub-folders you need to precede the path with ‘-r’ (r for recursive).
 eg.
 /cygdrive/c/music
 -r/cygdrive/c/music/single tracks
 This will create a playlist of all files in “C:\\music” but will not include files or folders contained within “C:\\music\\single tracks”. So it will not include “C:\\music\\single tracks\\rock” or even “C:\\music\\single tracks\\rock\\whatever”.
 
 Exclusion exceptions
 You may want to exclude an entire folder but keep just one or two albums from within it. You can create exceptions to your exclusion lines by starting a new line with –e, or –er  for a recursive exception.
 Eg.
 /cygdrive/c/music
 -r/cygdrive/c/music/single tracks
 -er/cygdrive/c/music/single tracks/particularfolder
 -e/cygdrive/c/music/single tracks/other/folder
 
 This example would create a playlist of all files in “C:\\music” but will not include files or folders contained within “C:\\music\\single tracks” apart from the folder \\particularfolder with its sub-folders  and \\other\\folder\\ without its sub-folders.
 
 Permanent folders
 Together with the use of some other options (see ‘Options’ below) you are able to limit the size of your playlist. If your playlist size is limited, then not all of the folders within your chosen paths will be included, but your playlist will consist of a random selection of folders from your paths.
 If you want a certain album to always appear in your playlist then you must make it a permanent folder. To do this, add a line to the folders file containing the path to that album’s folder preceded with a ‘+’ sign.
 eg.
 /cygdrive/c/music
 +/cygdrive/c/music/favourites
 With a size limitation, this will create a playlist of a random selection of albums contained within “C:\music” but will always include the files contained in the folder “C:\music\favourites”. However it may not include albums contained in the sub-folders of  “C:\music\favourites” (this depends on whether they are randomly chosen or not).
 To make a folder and all of its sub-folders permanent you must precede your path with ‘+r’.
 eg.
 /cygdrive/c/music
 +r/cygdrive/c/music/favourites
 With a size limitation, this will create a playlist of a random selection of albums contained within “C:\\music” but will always include the files and folders contained in the folder “C:\\music\\favourites”. 
 If there is no size limitation then 
 /cygdrive/c/music
 and
@@ -59,67 +58,67 @@
 and
 /cygdrive/c/music
 +/cygdrive/c/music/favourites
 are equivalent.
 The ‘+’ prefix can be useful with no size limitation. If you want to include a certain folder without its subfolders outside your specified paths, then you need the following lines in your folders file:
  /cygdrive/c/music
 +/cygdrive/c/documents/podcasts
 If there is no size limitation and you want to include the sub-folders of “C:\\documents\\podcasts” though, the ‘+r’ is not needed, as
 /cygdrive/c/music
 +r/cygdrive/c/documents/podcasts
 is equivalent to
 /cygdrive/c/music
 /cygdrive/c/documents/podcasts
 
 Options
 Right clicking on the Randirplay shortcut on the desktop and selecting ‘edit’ will open a file into which you can add certain options which change the contents of your playlist.
 
  :: append options to the end of the following line. 
 c:\\cygwin\\bin\\bash --login randirplay.b -c "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Randirplay/folders.txt" -p "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Randirplay/Playlists/playlist"
 pause
 
 explorer c:\\"Program Files"\\Randirplay\\Playlists
 As the file suggests, any options should be added to the second line of this file, separated by spaces
 
 c:\\cygwin\\bin\\bash --login randirplay.b -c "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Randirplay/folders.txt" -p "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Randirplay/Playlists/playlist"
 
 There are seven ‘flags’ that you can use. These are -c, -s, -p, -e, -d, -q and -o. A flag followed by its argument is called an option. As you can see, there is already a -c flag present along with its argument that points to the folders file and a -p flag with its argument which tells the program where to save and what to call the final playlist file. Both of the arguments of these flags may be edited if you wish to have more than one folders file or playlist. 
 
 Please note however that the ‘Randirplay - folders’ shortcut on the desktop will only open the default folders file. To edit any other folder file you will have to create and edit it manually.
 
 Adding options
 Apart from -c and -p there are five other flags. Every flag must be preceded and followed by a space. All the flagss need an argument to follow them, apart from –o and -q.
 -s needs an integer
 -e needs a specially formatted string of characters
 -d needs a drive letter
 
 So after you have entered your options your 2nd line might look something like this:
 c:\cygwin\bin\bash --login randirplay.b -c "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Randirplay/folders.txt" -p "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Randirplay/Playlists/playlist"  -e “\.mp3” -d f
 Here are the options written separately:
 -c "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Randirplay/folders.txt" 
 -p "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Randirplay/Playlists/playlist"
 -e “\.mp3”
 -d f
 
 What the flags do
 
 -s and -d
 -s and -d are size limiting flags. -d takes precedence over -s, so if you include both, the -s flag will be ignored.
 The argument that needs to follow -s is the size in Kb that you wish the files in your playlist to be. So adding the option ‘-s 4000000’ will create a playlist which is 4000000Kb in size (about 3.8Gb).
 The -d flag automatically determines the free space on whichever drive you choose and sets this number as the size of the playlist. So adding the option ‘-d f’ will create a playlist which will fit onto your f drive (you need to make sure the drive is plugged in before you create the playlist).
 
 -q
 Quick mode - quicker, but not as good a fit to requested size. only use if randirplay seems to run particularly slowly. This flag must be used in conjunction with –s or –d. If –s or –d is not also flagged then –q will be ignored. 
 
 -e
 This flag allows you to state the extensions that all of the files in the playlist must have. There is a special notation that you must use for the argument that follows the switch. 
 i)	The argument must always start and finish with double quotes
 ii)	Any period character must come after a backslash
-iii)	If you want more than one file extension they must be separated by \\|
-eg.
--e “\\.mp3”				All files ending .mp3
+iii)	If you want more than one file extension they must be separated by /|
+eg.
+-e “/.mp3”				All files ending .mp3
 -e ""					Everything, whether music files or not.
--e "\\.mp3\\|\\.m4a\\|\\.m4b\\|\\.wav"		All files ending .mp3, .m4a, .m4b and .wav
--e "mp3\\|m4a\\|m4b\\|wav"		All files ending mp3, m4a, m4b, and wav (no periods) 
+-e "/.mp3/|/.m4a/|/.m4b/|/.wav"		All files ending .mp3, .m4a, .m4b and .wav
+-e "mp3/|m4a/|m4b/|wav"		All files ending mp3, m4a, m4b, and wav (no periods) 
 If the -e flag is not included then the included files are .mp3, .m4a, .m4b and .wav (which is perfect for iPods).
 
 -o

WikiPage Windows modified by Martin Scarratt

Martin Scarratt — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 10:32:13 -0000

--- v3 
+++ v4 
@@ -1,67 +1,56 @@
 
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Randirplay 2.01 for Windows
+Randirplay 2.1 for Windows
 Manual
 
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
  by Martin Scarratt 30/04/2010
-Randirplay for Windows 2.01 - instructions
+
+Randirplay for Windows 2.1 - instructions
+
 NOTE: This program only works if you have your music files organised in such a way that each album is contained in one folder.
 Randirplay creates a playlist of files from selected folders such that the order of the files within the folders is preserved but the order of the folders themselves is random. So playing the playlist will result in entire albums being played in a random order. 
-To install, double click on the win-install.bat file. Choose ‘install from local directory’ and keep pressing next to accept all default settings. You can now run Randirplay from the shortcut on the desktop (you can delete the original files).
+You must have Cygwin installed on your windows system first.
+To install, double click on the win-install.bat file. You can now run Randirplay from the shortcut on the desktop (you can delete the original files).
 
 The folders file
 Before you run the program you need to set up the folders file. This file tells Randirplay which folders to include in your playlist file. To do this, double click on the shortcut ‘Randirplay - folders’. This will open a text file which contains the paths of each folder that you wish to scan. The default entry is
 /cygdrive/c/users
-As you will probably notice, the system uses some strange notation to describe a path. The c drive, which is usually ‘C:\’ in Windows, is now called ‘/cygdrive/c/’. This notation is the same for all drives – each always starts with ‘/cygdrive/’ and then the drive letter (in lower case). Make sure you use forward slashes rather than the usual Windows backslashes.
+As you will probably notice, the system uses some strange notation to describe a path. The c drive, which is usually ‘C:\\’ in Windows, is now called ‘/cygdrive/c/’. This notation is the same for all drives – each always starts with ‘/cygdrive/’ and then the drive letter (in lower case). Make sure you use forward slashes rather than the usual Windows backslashes.
 You can put any number of paths into this file, one per line. The program will scan these paths and their sub-folders and enter all of the music files contained within the paths into a playlist. 
+
 Excluding folders
 If there is a particular folder contained within one of your paths that you don’t wish to include in your playlist,  then you need to add an extra line to the folders file which consists of the path to the unwanted folder preceded with a ‘-‘ sign. 
 eg.
 /cygdrive/c/music
 -/cygdrive/c/music/single tracks
-This will create a playlist of all files in “C:\music” but will not include files contained within “C:\music\single tracks”. It will still include files within the sub-folders of  “C:\music\single tracks” though, so files in  “C:\music\single tracks\rock” will be included.
+This will create a playlist of all files in “C:\\music” but will not include files contained within “C:\\music\\single tracks”. It will still include files within the sub-folders of  “C:\music\single tracks” though, so files in  “C:\\music\\single tracks\\rock” will be included.
 To exclude a folder and all its sub-folders you need to precede the path with ‘-r’ (r for recursive).
 eg.
 /cygdrive/c/music
 -r/cygdrive/c/music/single tracks
-This will create a playlist of all files in “C:\music” but will not include files or folders contained within “C:\music\single tracks”. So it will not include “C:\music\single tracks\rock” or even “C:\music\single tracks\rock\whatever”.
+This will create a playlist of all files in “C:\\music” but will not include files or folders contained within “C:\\music\\single tracks”. So it will not include “C:\\music\\single tracks\\rock” or even “C:\\music\\single tracks\\rock\\whatever”.
+
 Exclusion exceptions
 You may want to exclude an entire folder but keep just one or two albums from within it. You can create exceptions to your exclusion lines by starting a new line with –e, or –er  for a recursive exception.
 Eg.
 /cygdrive/c/music
 -r/cygdrive/c/music/single tracks
 -er/cygdrive/c/music/single tracks/particularfolder
 -e/cygdrive/c/music/single tracks/other/folder
 
-This example would create a playlist of all files in “C:\music” but will not include files or folders contained within “C:\music\single tracks” apart from the folder \particularfolder with its sub-folders  and \other\folder\ without its sub-folders.
+This example would create a playlist of all files in “C:\\music” but will not include files or folders contained within “C:\\music\\single tracks” apart from the folder \\particularfolder with its sub-folders  and \\other\\folder\\ without its sub-folders.
 
 Permanent folders
 Together with the use of some other options (see ‘Options’ below) you are able to limit the size of your playlist. If your playlist size is limited, then not all of the folders within your chosen paths will be included, but your playlist will consist of a random selection of folders from your paths.
 If you want a certain album to always appear in your playlist then you must make it a permanent folder. To do this, add a line to the folders file containing the path to that album’s folder preceded with a ‘+’ sign.
 eg.
 /cygdrive/c/music
 +/cygdrive/c/music/favourites
 With a size limitation, this will create a playlist of a random selection of albums contained within “C:\music” but will always include the files contained in the folder “C:\music\favourites”. However it may not include albums contained in the sub-folders of  “C:\music\favourites” (this depends on whether they are randomly chosen or not).
 To make a folder and all of its sub-folders permanent you must precede your path with ‘+r’.
 eg.
 /cygdrive/c/music
 +r/cygdrive/c/music/favourites
-With a size limitation, this will create a playlist of a random selection of albums contained within “C:\music” but will always include the files and folders contained in the folder “C:\music\favourites”. 
+With a size limitation, this will create a playlist of a random selection of albums contained within “C:\\music” but will always include the files and folders contained in the folder “C:\\music\\favourites”. 
 If there is no size limitation then 
 /cygdrive/c/music
 and
@@ -70,63 +59,75 @@
 and
 /cygdrive/c/music
 +/cygdrive/c/music/favourites
 are equivalent.
 The ‘+’ prefix can be useful with no size limitation. If you want to include a certain folder without its subfolders outside your specified paths, then you need the following lines in your folders file:
  /cygdrive/c/music
 +/cygdrive/c/documents/podcasts
-If there is no size limitation and you want to include the sub-folders of “C:\documents\podcasts” though, the ‘+r’ is not needed, as
+If there is no size limitation and you want to include the sub-folders of “C:\\documents\\podcasts” though, the ‘+r’ is not needed, as
 /cygdrive/c/music
 +r/cygdrive/c/documents/podcasts
 is equivalent to
 /cygdrive/c/music
 /cygdrive/c/documents/podcasts
 
 Options
 Right clicking on the Randirplay shortcut on the desktop and selecting ‘edit’ will open a file into which you can add certain options which change the contents of your playlist.
+
  :: append options to the end of the following line. 
-c:\cygwin\bin\bash --login randirplay.b -c "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Randirplay/folders.txt" -p "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Randirplay/Playlists/playlist"
+c:\\cygwin\\bin\\bash --login randirplay.b -c "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Randirplay/folders.txt" -p "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Randirplay/Playlists/playlist"
 pause
-explorer c:\"Program Files"\Randirplay\Playlists
+
+explorer c:\\"Program Files"\\Randirplay\\Playlists
 As the file suggests, any options should be added to the second line of this file, separated by spaces
-c:\cygwin\bin\bash --login randirplay.b -c "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Randirplay/folders.txt" -p "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Randirplay/Playlists/playlist"
-There are six ‘switches’ that you can use. These are -c, -s, -p, -e, -d and -o. A switch followed by its argument is called an option. As you can see, there is already a -c switch present along with its argument that points to the folders file and a -p switch with its argument which tells the program where to save and what to call the final playlist file. Both of the arguments of these switches may be edited if you wish to have more than one folders file or playlist. 
+
+c:\\cygwin\\bin\\bash --login randirplay.b -c "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Randirplay/folders.txt" -p "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Randirplay/Playlists/playlist"
+
+There are seven ‘flags’ that you can use. These are -c, -s, -p, -e, -d, -q and -o. A flag followed by its argument is called an option. As you can see, there is already a -c flag present along with its argument that points to the folders file and a -p flag with its argument which tells the program where to save and what to call the final playlist file. Both of the arguments of these flags may be edited if you wish to have more than one folders file or playlist. 
+
 Please note however that the ‘Randirplay - folders’ shortcut on the desktop will only open the default folders file. To edit any other folder file you will have to create and edit it manually.
+
 Adding options
-Apart from -c and -p there are four other switches. Every switch must be preceded and followed by a space. All the switches need an argument to follow them, apart from -o.
+Apart from -c and -p there are five other flags. Every flag must be preceded and followed by a space. All the flagss need an argument to follow them, apart from –o and -q.
 -s needs an integer
 -e needs a specially formatted string of characters
 -d needs a drive letter
+
 So after you have entered your options your 2nd line might look something like this:
 c:\cygwin\bin\bash --login randirplay.b -c "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Randirplay/folders.txt" -p "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Randirplay/Playlists/playlist"  -e “\.mp3” -d f
 Here are the options written separately:
 -c "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Randirplay/folders.txt" 
 -p "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Randirplay/Playlists/playlist"
 -e “\.mp3”
 -d f
 
-What the switches do
+What the flags do
+
 -s and -d
--s and -d are size limiting switches. -d takes precedence over -s, so if you include both, the -s switch will be ignored.
+-s and -d are size limiting flags. -d takes precedence over -s, so if you include both, the -s flag will be ignored.
 The argument that needs to follow -s is the size in Kb that you wish the files in your playlist to be. So adding the option ‘-s 4000000’ will create a playlist which is 4000000Kb in size (about 3.8Gb).
-The -d switch automatically determines the free space on whichever drive you choose and sets this number as the size of the playlist. So adding the option ‘-d f’ will create a playlist which will fit onto your f drive (you need to make sure the drive is plugged in before you create the playlist).
+The -d flag automatically determines the free space on whichever drive you choose and sets this number as the size of the playlist. So adding the option ‘-d f’ will create a playlist which will fit onto your f drive (you need to make sure the drive is plugged in before you create the playlist).
+
+-q
+Quick mode - quicker, but not as good a fit to requested size. only use if randirplay seems to run particularly slowly. This flag must be used in conjunction with –s or –d. If –s or –d is not also flagged then –q will be ignored. 
+
 -e
-This switch allows you to state the extensions that all of the files in the playlist must have. There is a special notation that you must use for the argument that follows the switch. 
+This flag allows you to state the extensions that all of the files in the playlist must have. There is a special notation that you must use for the argument that follows the switch. 
 i)	The argument must always start and finish with double quotes
 ii)	Any period character must come after a backslash
-iii)	If you want more than one file extension they must be separated by \|
-eg.
--e “\.mp3”				All files ending .mp3
+iii)	If you want more than one file extension they must be separated by \\|
+eg.
+-e “\\.mp3”				All files ending .mp3
 -e ""					Everything, whether music files or not.
--e "\.mp3\|\.m4a\|\.m4b\|\.wav"		All files ending .mp3, .m4a, .m4b and .wav
--e "mp3\|m4a\|m4b\|wav"		All files ending mp3, m4a, m4b, and wav (no periods) 
-If the -e switch is not included then the included files are .mp3, .m4a, .m4b and .wav (which is perfect for iPods).
+-e "\\.mp3\\|\\.m4a\\|\\.m4b\\|\\.wav"		All files ending .mp3, .m4a, .m4b and .wav
+-e "mp3\\|m4a\\|m4b\\|wav"		All files ending mp3, m4a, m4b, and wav (no periods) 
+If the -e flag is not included then the included files are .mp3, .m4a, .m4b and .wav (which is perfect for iPods).
+
 -o
-This switch doesn’t take an argument and so is an option in itself. The output from this option is a playlist in linux form, ie each line will look like this
+This flag doesn’t take an argument and so is an option in itself. The output from this option is a playlist in linux form, ie each line will look like this
 /cygdrive/c/documents/podcasts/talky.mp3
 Rather than converted into windows form
-C:\documents\podcasts\talky.mp3
+C:\\documents\\podcasts\\talky.mp3
 This option is only useful if you wish to process the playlist further from within a linux environment (ie Cygwin). A playlist in this form will not work in the usual Windows environment.
 
 Creating the M3U playlist 
 Once you have set up the folder file and entered your desired options it is simply a matter of double clicking on the Randirplay shortcut on the desktop. You will see a text window open which will keep you informed of the status of the running program. It will tell you the final size of your playlist and if the -d switch is used it will tell you the free space left on your chosen device. When it has finished, press any key when you are ready and a window will open that contains the generated playlist, which is located in “C:\\Program Files\\Randirplay\\Playlists”
-If you use i-Tunes then you may find the M3U2iTunes program useful – after installation you can double click on any .m3u file and it should automatically add the playlist file to your i-Tunes playlists under the name “M3U Internet Stream”. This can then easily be synced to your ipod in the usual way.

WikiPage Windows modified by Martin Scarratt

Martin Scarratt — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 15:20:36 -0000

--- v2 
+++ v3 
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@
 
 
 
-
 Randirplay 2.01 for Windows
 Manual

WikiPage Windows modified by Martin Scarratt

Martin Scarratt — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 15:14:19 -0000

--- v1 
+++ v2 
@@ -6,8 +6,7 @@
 
 
 
-
 Randirplay 2.01 for Windows
 Manual
 
 
@@ -20,50 +19,50 @@
 
 
 
  by Martin Scarratt 30/04/2010
 Randirplay for Windows 2.01 - instructions
 NOTE: This program only works if you have your music files organised in such a way that each album is contained in one folder.
 Randirplay creates a playlist of files from selected folders such that the order of the files within the folders is preserved but the order of the folders themselves is random. So playing the playlist will result in entire albums being played in a random order. 
 To install, double click on the win-install.bat file. Choose ‘install from local directory’ and keep pressing next to accept all default settings. You can now run Randirplay from the shortcut on the desktop (you can delete the original files).
 
 The folders file
 Before you run the program you need to set up the folders file. This file tells Randirplay which folders to include in your playlist file. To do this, double click on the shortcut ‘Randirplay - folders’. This will open a text file which contains the paths of each folder that you wish to scan. The default entry is
 /cygdrive/c/users
 As you will probably notice, the system uses some strange notation to describe a path. The c drive, which is usually ‘C:\’ in Windows, is now called ‘/cygdrive/c/’. This notation is the same for all drives – each always starts with ‘/cygdrive/’ and then the drive letter (in lower case). Make sure you use forward slashes rather than the usual Windows backslashes.
 You can put any number of paths into this file, one per line. The program will scan these paths and their sub-folders and enter all of the music files contained within the paths into a playlist. 
 Excluding folders
 If there is a particular folder contained within one of your paths that you don’t wish to include in your playlist,  then you need to add an extra line to the folders file which consists of the path to the unwanted folder preceded with a ‘-‘ sign. 
 eg.
 /cygdrive/c/music
 -/cygdrive/c/music/single tracks
 This will create a playlist of all files in “C:\music” but will not include files contained within “C:\music\single tracks”. It will still include files within the sub-folders of  “C:\music\single tracks” though, so files in  “C:\music\single tracks\rock” will be included.
 To exclude a folder and all its sub-folders you need to precede the path with ‘-r’ (r for recursive).
 eg.
 /cygdrive/c/music
 -r/cygdrive/c/music/single tracks
 This will create a playlist of all files in “C:\music” but will not include files or folders contained within “C:\music\single tracks”. So it will not include “C:\music\single tracks\rock” or even “C:\music\single tracks\rock\whatever”.
 Exclusion exceptions
 You may want to exclude an entire folder but keep just one or two albums from within it. You can create exceptions to your exclusion lines by starting a new line with –e, or –er  for a recursive exception.
 Eg.
 /cygdrive/c/music
 -r/cygdrive/c/music/single tracks
 -er/cygdrive/c/music/single tracks/particularfolder
 -e/cygdrive/c/music/single tracks/other/folder
 
 This example would create a playlist of all files in “C:\music” but will not include files or folders contained within “C:\music\single tracks” apart from the folder \particularfolder with its sub-folders  and \other\folder\ without its sub-folders.
 
 Permanent folders
 Together with the use of some other options (see ‘Options’ below) you are able to limit the size of your playlist. If your playlist size is limited, then not all of the folders within your chosen paths will be included, but your playlist will consist of a random selection of folders from your paths.
 If you want a certain album to always appear in your playlist then you must make it a permanent folder. To do this, add a line to the folders file containing the path to that album’s folder preceded with a ‘+’ sign.
 eg.
 /cygdrive/c/music
 +/cygdrive/c/music/favourites
 With a size limitation, this will create a playlist of a random selection of albums contained within “C:\music” but will always include the files contained in the folder “C:\music\favourites”. However it may not include albums contained in the sub-folders of  “C:\music\favourites” (this depends on whether they are randomly chosen or not).
 To make a folder and all of its sub-folders permanent you must precede your path with ‘+r’.
 eg.
 /cygdrive/c/music
 +r/cygdrive/c/music/favourites
 With a size limitation, this will create a playlist of a random selection of albums contained within “C:\music” but will always include the files and folders contained in the folder “C:\music\favourites”. 
 If there is no size limitation then 
 /cygdrive/c/music
 and
@@ -72,63 +71,63 @@
 and
 /cygdrive/c/music
 +/cygdrive/c/music/favourites
 are equivalent.
 The ‘+’ prefix can be useful with no size limitation. If you want to include a certain folder without its subfolders outside your specified paths, then you need the following lines in your folders file:
  /cygdrive/c/music
 +/cygdrive/c/documents/podcasts
 If there is no size limitation and you want to include the sub-folders of “C:\documents\podcasts” though, the ‘+r’ is not needed, as
 /cygdrive/c/music
 +r/cygdrive/c/documents/podcasts
 is equivalent to
 /cygdrive/c/music
 /cygdrive/c/documents/podcasts
 
 Options
 Right clicking on the Randirplay shortcut on the desktop and selecting ‘edit’ will open a file into which you can add certain options which change the contents of your playlist.
  :: append options to the end of the following line. 
 c:\cygwin\bin\bash --login randirplay.b -c "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Randirplay/folders.txt" -p "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Randirplay/Playlists/playlist"
 pause
 explorer c:\"Program Files"\Randirplay\Playlists
 As the file suggests, any options should be added to the second line of this file, separated by spaces
 c:\cygwin\bin\bash --login randirplay.b -c "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Randirplay/folders.txt" -p "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Randirplay/Playlists/playlist"
 There are six ‘switches’ that you can use. These are -c, -s, -p, -e, -d and -o. A switch followed by its argument is called an option. As you can see, there is already a -c switch present along with its argument that points to the folders file and a -p switch with its argument which tells the program where to save and what to call the final playlist file. Both of the arguments of these switches may be edited if you wish to have more than one folders file or playlist. 
 Please note however that the ‘Randirplay - folders’ shortcut on the desktop will only open the default folders file. To edit any other folder file you will have to create and edit it manually.
 Adding options
 Apart from -c and -p there are four other switches. Every switch must be preceded and followed by a space. All the switches need an argument to follow them, apart from -o.
 -s needs an integer
 -e needs a specially formatted string of characters
 -d needs a drive letter
 So after you have entered your options your 2nd line might look something like this:
 c:\cygwin\bin\bash --login randirplay.b -c "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Randirplay/folders.txt" -p "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Randirplay/Playlists/playlist"  -e “\.mp3” -d f
 Here are the options written separately:
 -c "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Randirplay/folders.txt" 
 -p "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Randirplay/Playlists/playlist"
 -e “\.mp3”
 -d f
 
 What the switches do
 -s and -d
 -s and -d are size limiting switches. -d takes precedence over -s, so if you include both, the -s switch will be ignored.
 The argument that needs to follow -s is the size in Kb that you wish the files in your playlist to be. So adding the option ‘-s 4000000’ will create a playlist which is 4000000Kb in size (about 3.8Gb).
 The -d switch automatically determines the free space on whichever drive you choose and sets this number as the size of the playlist. So adding the option ‘-d f’ will create a playlist which will fit onto your f drive (you need to make sure the drive is plugged in before you create the playlist).
 -e
 This switch allows you to state the extensions that all of the files in the playlist must have. There is a special notation that you must use for the argument that follows the switch. 
 i)	The argument must always start and finish with double quotes
 ii)	Any period character must come after a backslash
 iii)	If you want more than one file extension they must be separated by \|
 eg.
 -e “\.mp3”				All files ending .mp3
 -e ""					Everything, whether music files or not.
 -e "\.mp3\|\.m4a\|\.m4b\|\.wav"		All files ending .mp3, .m4a, .m4b and .wav
 -e "mp3\|m4a\|m4b\|wav"		All files ending mp3, m4a, m4b, and wav (no periods) 
 If the -e switch is not included then the included files are .mp3, .m4a, .m4b and .wav (which is perfect for iPods).
 -o
 This switch doesn’t take an argument and so is an option in itself. The output from this option is a playlist in linux form, ie each line will look like this
 /cygdrive/c/documents/podcasts/talky.mp3
 Rather than converted into windows form
 C:\documents\podcasts\talky.mp3
 This option is only useful if you wish to process the playlist further from within a linux environment (ie Cygwin). A playlist in this form will not work in the usual Windows environment.
 
 Creating the M3U playlist 
-Once you have set up the folder file and entered your desired options it is simply a matter of double clicking on the Randirplay shortcut on the desktop. You will see a text window open which will keep you informed of the status of the running program. It will tell you the final size of your playlist and if the -d switch is used it will tell you the free space left on your chosen device. When it has finished, press any key when you are ready and a window will open that contains the generated playlist, which is located in “C:\Program Files\Randirplay\Playlists”
+Once you have set up the folder file and entered your desired options it is simply a matter of double clicking on the Randirplay shortcut on the desktop. You will see a text window open which will keep you informed of the status of the running program. It will tell you the final size of your playlist and if the -d switch is used it will tell you the free space left on your chosen device. When it has finished, press any key when you are ready and a window will open that contains the generated playlist, which is located in “C:\\Program Files\\Randirplay\\Playlists”
 If you use i-Tunes then you may find the M3U2iTunes program useful – after installation you can double click on any .m3u file and it should automatically add the playlist file to your i-Tunes playlists under the name “M3U Internet Stream”. This can then easily be synced to your ipod in the usual way.

WikiPage Windows modified by Martin Scarratt

Martin Scarratt — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 10:56:18 -0000

Randirplay 2.01 for Windows Manual by Martin Scarratt 30/04/2010 Randirplay for Windows 2.01 - instructions NOTE: This program only works if you have your music files organised in such a way that each album is contained in one folder. Randirplay creates a playlist of files from selected folders such that the order of the files within the folders is preserved but the order of the folders themselves is random. So playing the playlist will result in entire albums being played in a random order. To install, double click on the win-install.bat file. Choose ‘install from local directory’ and keep pressing next to accept all default settings. You can now run Randirplay from the shortcut on the desktop (you can delete the original files). The folders file Before you run the program you need to set up the folders file. This file tells Randirplay which folders to include in your playlist file. To do this, double click on the shortcut ‘Randirplay - folders’. This will open a text file which contains the paths of each folder that you wish to scan. The default entry is /cygdrive/c/users As you will probably notice, the system uses some strange notation to describe a path. The c drive, which is usually ‘C:\’ in Windows, is now called ‘/cygdrive/c/’. This notation is the same for all drives – each always starts with ‘/cygdrive/’ and then the drive letter (in lower case). Make sure you use forward slashes rather than the usual Windows backslashes. You can put any number of paths into this file, one per line. The program will scan these paths and their sub-folders and enter all of the music files contained within the paths into a playlist. Excluding folders If there is a particular folder contained within one of your paths that you don’t wish to include in your playlist, then you need to add an extra line to the folders file which consists of the path to the unwanted folder preceded with a ‘-‘ sign. eg. /cygdrive/c/music -/cygdrive/c/music/single tracks This will create a playlist of all files in “C:\music” but will not include files contained within “C:\music\single tracks”. It will still include files within the sub-folders of “C:\music\single tracks” though, so files in “C:\music\single tracks\rock” will be included. To exclude a folder and all its sub-folders you need to precede the path with ‘-r’ (r for recursive). eg. /cygdrive/c/music -r/cygdrive/c/music/single tracks This will create a playlist of all files in “C:\music” but will not include files or folders contained within “C:\music\single tracks”. So it will not include “C:\music\single tracks\rock” or even “C:\music\single tracks\rock\whatever”. Exclusion exceptions You may want to exclude an entire folder but keep just one or two albums from within it. You can create exceptions to your exclusion lines by starting a new line with –e, or –er for a recursive exception. Eg. /cygdrive/c/music -r/cygdrive/c/music/single tracks -er/cygdrive/c/music/single tracks/particularfolder -e/cygdrive/c/music/single tracks/other/folder This example would create a playlist of all files in “C:\music” but will not include files or folders contained within “C:\music\single tracks” apart from the folder \particularfolder with its sub-folders and \other\folder\ without its sub-folders. Permanent folders Together with the use of some other options (see ‘Options’ below) you are able to limit the size of your playlist. If your playlist size is limited, then not all of the folders within your chosen paths will be included, but your playlist will consist of a random selection of folders from your paths. If you want a certain album to always appear in your playlist then you must make it a permanent folder. To do this, add a line to the folders file containing the path to that album’s folder preceded with a ‘+’ sign. eg. /cygdrive/c/music +/cygdrive/c/music/favourites With a size limitation, this will create a playlist of a random selection of albums contained within “C:\music” but will always include the files contained in the folder “C:\music\favourites”. However it may not include albums contained in the sub-folders of “C:\music\favourites” (this depends on whether they are randomly chosen or not). To make a folder and all of its sub-folders permanent you must precede your path with ‘+r’. eg. /cygdrive/c/music +r/cygdrive/c/music/favourites With a size limitation, this will create a playlist of a random selection of albums contained within “C:\music” but will always include the files and folders contained in the folder “C:\music\favourites”. If there is no size limitation then /cygdrive/c/music and /cygdrive/c/music +r/cygdrive/c/music/favourites and /cygdrive/c/music +/cygdrive/c/music/favourites are equivalent. The ‘+’ prefix can be useful with no size limitation. If you want to include a certain folder without its subfolders outside your specified paths, then you need the following lines in your folders file: /cygdrive/c/music +/cygdrive/c/documents/podcasts If there is no size limitation and you want to include the sub-folders of “C:\documents\podcasts” though, the ‘+r’ is not needed, as /cygdrive/c/music +r/cygdrive/c/documents/podcasts is equivalent to /cygdrive/c/music /cygdrive/c/documents/podcasts Options Right clicking on the Randirplay shortcut on the desktop and selecting ‘edit’ will open a file into which you can add certain options which change the contents of your playlist. :: append options to the end of the following line. c:\cygwin\bin\bash --login randirplay.b -c "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Randirplay/folders.txt" -p "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Randirplay/Playlists/playlist" pause explorer c:\"Program Files"\Randirplay\Playlists As the file suggests, any options should be added to the second line of this file, separated by spaces c:\cygwin\bin\bash --login randirplay.b -c "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Randirplay/folders.txt" -p "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Randirplay/Playlists/playlist" There are six ‘switches’ that you can use. These are -c, -s, -p, -e, -d and -o. A switch followed by its argument is called an option. As you can see, there is already a -c switch present along with its argument that points to the folders file and a -p switch with its argument which tells the program where to save and what to call the final playlist file. Both of the arguments of these switches may be edited if you wish to have more than one folders file or playlist. Please note however that the ‘Randirplay - folders’ shortcut on the desktop will only open the default folders file. To edit any other folder file you will have to create and edit it manually. Adding options Apart from -c and -p there are four other switches. Every switch must be preceded and followed by a space. All the switches need an argument to follow them, apart from -o. -s needs an integer -e needs a specially formatted string of characters -d needs a drive letter So after you have entered your options your 2nd line might look something like this: c:\cygwin\bin\bash --login randirplay.b -c "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Randirplay/folders.txt" -p "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Randirplay/Playlists/playlist" -e “\.mp3” -d f Here are the options written separately: -c "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Randirplay/folders.txt" -p "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Randirplay/Playlists/playlist" -e “\.mp3” -d f What the switches do -s and -d -s and -d are size limiting switches. -d takes precedence over -s, so if you include both, the -s switch will be ignored. The argument that needs to follow -s is the size in Kb that you wish the files in your playlist to be. So adding the option ‘-s 4000000’ will create a playlist which is 4000000Kb in size (about 3.8Gb). The -d switch automatically determines the free space on whichever drive you choose and sets this number as the size of the playlist. So adding the option ‘-d f’ will create a playlist which will fit onto your f drive (you need to make sure the drive is plugged in before you create the playlist). -e This switch allows you to state the extensions that all of the files in the playlist must have. There is a special notation that you must use for the argument that follows the switch. i) The argument must always start and finish with double quotes ii) Any period character must come after a backslash iii) If you want more than one file extension they must be separated by \| eg. -e “\.mp3” All files ending .mp3 -e "" Everything, whether music files or not. -e "\.mp3\|\.m4a\|\.m4b\|\.wav" All files ending .mp3, .m4a, .m4b and .wav -e "mp3\|m4a\|m4b\|wav" All files ending mp3, m4a, m4b, and wav (no periods) If the -e switch is not included then the included files are .mp3, .m4a, .m4b and .wav (which is perfect for iPods). -o This switch doesn’t take an argument and so is an option in itself. The output from this option is a playlist in linux form, ie each line will look like this /cygdrive/c/documents/podcasts/talky.mp3 Rather than converted into windows form C:\documents\podcasts\talky.mp3 This option is only useful if you wish to process the playlist further from within a linux environment (ie Cygwin). A playlist in this form will not work in the usual Windows environment. Creating the M3U playlist Once you have set up the folder file and entered your desired options it is simply a matter of double clicking on the Randirplay shortcut on the desktop. You will see a text window open which will keep you informed of the status of the running program. It will tell you the final size of your playlist and if the -d switch is used it will tell you the free space left on your chosen device. When it has finished, press any key when you are ready and a window will open that contains the generated playlist, which is located in “C:\Program Files\Randirplay\Playlists” If you use i-Tunes then you may find the M3U2iTunes program useful – after installation you can double click on any .m3u file and it should automatically add the playlist file to your i-Tunes playlists under the name “M3U Internet Stream”. This can then easily be synced to your ipod in the usual way.