grip - A gtk-based cd-player and cd-ripper.

       gcd - A gtk-based cd-player (used as part of grip, or
       alone).


SYNOPSIS

         grip [-d <device>] [-s] [-l]

         gcd [-d <device>] [-f] [-l]


DESCRIPTION

       Grip is a gtk-based cd-player and cd-ripper. It has the
       ripping capabilities of cdparanoia builtin, but can also
       use external rippers (such as cdda2wav). It also provides
       an automated frontend for MP3 encoders, letting you take a
       disc and transform it easily straight into MP3s. The CDDB
       protocol is supported for retrieving track information
       from disc database servers. Grip works with DigitalDJ to
       provide a unified "computerized" version of your music
       collection. GCD is the cd-player only version of Grip.

       Because Grip and GCD share much of their functionality,
       this file documents both of them. If you installed only
       GCD, you should ignore the bits that talk about "ripping"
       and "encoding" of tracks.

       Grip is designed to work closely with DigitalDJ, my
       SQL-based mp3 jukebox system (although it does not require
       it). DigitalDJ can be obtained from:

         http://www.nostatic.org/ddj


OPTIONS

       These are the command-line options for grip:

       -d <device>
            Use <device> as the cd-rom device (default:
            /dev/cdrom).

       -s   Launch grip in a "small" (cd-only) mode.

       -l   "local" mode -- don't try to use CDDB.

       -v   Verbose (debug) mode.

       These are gcd's command-line options:

       -d <device>
            Use <device> as the cd-rom device (default:
            /dev/cdrom).


       -l   "local" mode -- Don't try to use CDDB.

       -v   Verbose (debug) mode.


USAGE

       The most handy way to launch Grip/GCD is from your window
       manager's doc. A dock icon (gripicon.tif/gcdicon.tif) is
       included with the distribution.

       Grip's operation should be pretty self-explanatory. Tracks
       to rip are selected with the right mouse button. To select
       all tracks on the disc, click the "Rip" column label. When
       you select "Rip" or "MP3-encode" from the "Rip" page, Grip
       will rip or rip/encode the tracks you have selected. If
       you select "Rip partial track", only the current select of
       the current track will be ripped or encoded. Start/End
       sector values are ignored if partial track ripping is not
       enabled.

       Grip and GCD used to be installed as setuid root. This was
       for several reasons. First, most people have their systems
       configured such that their user account does not have
       access to the cd drive. Secondly, cdparanoia requires
       access to both the cd device and (for SCSI drives) the
       generic SCSI device (usually /dev/sg<something>). Despite
       this, I no longer install the programs setuid root. This
       means that you will have to set the permissions correctly
       on the appropriate devices, or run the program as root.

       IMPORTANT!

       If you have trouble with Grip or GCD, read the "Common
       Questions" section. I'm getting bogged down in email these
       days. This being said, I do appreciate feedback on Grip.
       If, after reading through this document carefully, you
       still have a question, or have a feature request, feel
       free to email me. Do read the file TODO first, however, to
       check whether it's already on my list.

       IMPORTANT!


CONFIGURATION

       The "Config" menu allows you to configure your ripping
       program and your CDDB database. Rip/Encode/ID3 options are
       only available in Grip.

       Here are the options:

       CD options:

            If this is not selected, Grip will stop play when it
            starts and when it stops.

       Rewind when stopped
            If selected, Grip will rewind to the first track when
            play is stopped.

       Startup with first track if not playing
            If this is not selected, Grip will begin with
            whatever track the cd-player played last.

       Reshuffle before each playback
            If selected, Grip will re-randomize the tracks each
            time playback begins when in shuffle-play mode.

       Rip Options:

       Ripper
            This allows you to select one of the preset rippers.
            This will fill in sensible default parameters for
            calling the ripper. If you select "grip
            (cdparanoia)", Grip will use its builtin version of
            cdparanoia (only available if paranoia has been
            compiled in). If the builtin ripper is selected, the
            following options are available:

       Disable paranoia
            Disables all paranoia checking.

       Disable extra paranoia
            Only cdda2wav-style overlap checking will be done.

       Disable scratch detection
            Do not look for scratches.

       Disable scratch repair
            Disable scratch repair (still detect)

       Ripping executable
            This should be the full path to the program you want
            to use to rip tracks with.

       Ripping command-line
            These are the arguments that will be passed to the
            ripping program. The '%' switches are translated as
            follows:

       %t        Track to be ripped

       %b        Begin sector to be ripped (0 is start of track)

       %e        End sector of track


       Rip file format
            This specifies the format of the filename to write
            ripped data to. The '%' switches are translated as
            follows:

       %n        Name of track being ripped

       %t        Number of track being ripped

       %a        Artist of current track

       %A        Artist of the current disc

       %d        Name of current disc

       %b        Begin sector to be ripped (0 is start of track)

       %e        End sector of track

       %c        cdrom device

       %i        CDDB discid in hex format

       %g        ID3 genre tag as a number

       %G        ID3 genre tag as a word

                 Adding a '*' between the '%' and the switch will
                 cause underscoring of the field to be skipped.

       Rip 'nice' value
            The 'nice' (priority) level to run the rip at.

       Max non-encoded .wav's
            The maximum number of non-encoded .wav files grip
            will keep around before pausing ripping.

       Auto-rip on insert
            If selected, Grip will automatically select all
            tracks and begin ripping when a new (ie: no local
            disc data) disc is inserted.

       Auto-eject after rip
            If selected, Grip will automatically eject the disc
            when ripping is finished.

       Wav filter command
            This command will be run after ripping but before
            encoding. It can be used to call a program to
            manipulate the .wav file in some way (such as doing
            normalization). It accepts a single switch, %f, which
            translates as the ripped .wav file.


       Encoder
            This allows you to select one of the preset rippers.
            This will fill in sensible default parameters for
            calling the encoder.

       MP3 executable
            This should be the full path to the program you want
            to use to MP3-encode tracks with.

       MP3 command-line
            These are the arguments that will be passed to the
            MP3 encoder. The '%' switches are translated as
            follows:

       %b        Encode bitrate (kbits/sec)

       %f        Filename of the .wav data to be encoded

       %o        Filename to save mp3 data to

       MP3 file format
            This specifies the format of the filename to write
            MP3 data to. The '%' switches are the same as those
            used in the rip file format.

       Delete .wav after encoding?
            If selected, this option will (surprise!)  delete the
            ripped .wav file after encoding.

       Insert into SQL database
            If selected, and DigitalDJ is installed, Grip will
            place the song information into DigitalDJ's song
            database.

       Number of CPUs to use
            This is the number of simultaneous encode

            processes allowed. If you have an SMP system,
            increase this number to use more processes. Note that
            Grip must be restarted for changes in this option to
            take effect.

       MP3 'nice' value
            The 'nice' (priority) level to run the MP3 encode at.

       ID3 options:

       ID3 Executable
            The full path to the program that will add ID3 tags
            to an MP3 file

            The arguments to be passed to the ID3 program. The %
            switches are translated as:

       %n        Name of track

       %t        Number of track

       %a        Artist of current track

       %A        Artist of the current disc

       %d        Name of current disc

       %g        ID3 genre tag as a number

       %G        ID3 genre tag as a word

       %y        Year of track

       %f        Name of the MP3 file

       Add ID3 tags
            If selected this option will cause ID3 tags to be
            added to each MP3 file after it is encoded.

       CDDB options:

       Primary/Secondary CDDB server
            These are your servers for looking up disc
            information over the net. If the disc is not found on
            the primary server, the secondary server will be
            checked.

       DB server
            The address of the CDDB server you wish to use.

       DB CGI path
            The path to the script on the server that handles
            HTTP requests. This is generally "~cddb/cddb.cgi" or
            "cgi-bin/cddb.cgi".

       Perform CDDB lookup automatically
            If selected, Grip will always try to look up an
            unknown disc. If not selected, lookup must be
            initiated manually.

       Proxy options:

       Use proxy server
            If selected, CDDB requests will be sent through an
            HTTP proxy (useful for people behind firewalls).

            If set, Grip will try to read the http server/port
            information from the environment variable
            "http_proxy", which should take the form
            "http://server:port".

       Proxy server
            The address of the HTTP proxy server to be used.

       Proxy port
            The port to talk to the proxy on.

       Misc options:

       Output directory
            The directory to place WAV and MP3 files in. The same
            '%' switches as in the rip/encode filenames can be
            used.

       Convert spaces to underscores
            If selected, this will cause all spaces in filenames
            to underscores.

       Also underscore
            A list of characters to replace with underscores when
            constructing filenames.

       Email address
            The email address to be used as a reply address when
            submitting CDDB entries and bug reports.

       CD update program
            This program will be run whenever a disc is put in
            the drive. All sensible '%' switches can be used. I
            use this to call a program that generates a web page
            that tells what CD I'm currently playing.

       Keep application minimum size
            If selected, Grip will always try to keep its window
            a the minimum size possible.


Common Questions

       Q:
       When I try to rip a track, I get X I/O errors. What gives?

       A:
       This seems to be a problem with non-thread-safe systems.
       Make sure your system is safe for threads. This often
       seems to be associated with libc5.

       Q:
       I just get a message saying that the program can't access
       my drive. This makes it hard to do much. Help!

       Your user account must have access to the cd device. See
       the "Running Grip/GCD" section for more information on
       this.

       Q:
       I can play cd's fine, but my ripper can't access the
       drive. Why not?

       A:
       Rippers (cdparanoia, at least) need access to the generic
       SCSI device as well. See the "Running Grip/GCD" section
       for more information on this.

       Q:
       The progress bar doesn't seem to be completely accurate
       when doing an MP3 encode. Why can't it get it right?

       A:
       The progress bar is done based on the size of the output
       file. If you have the kbits/sec set properly, Grip should
       estimate the size properly. Note that if you use variable
       bitrate encoding (supported by encoders like LAME and
       xing) Grip has no way to accurately guess the file size.

       Q:
       I can't get lame to work. How lame is that?

       A:
       Lame has trouble with long filenames. If you increase
       MAX_NAME_SIZE in the common.h file of the lame source
       distribution, it works fine.

       Q:
       When I encode tracks, the MP3 progress bar never does
       anything. What happened to progress?

       A:
       If your MP3 encoder doesn't accept an output filename
       (like BladeEnc), or you haven't passed it one on the
       command-line, then it might not be outputting to the file
       Grip expects. Make sure that your MP3 file format is set
       to what your encoder is actually producing.

       Q:
       When Grip looks up disc information, it works, but says
       "Error saving disc data". Why?

       A:
       Grip saves local copies of disc track information in the
       directory "~/.cddb". It must be able to create or access
       this directory.

       How come I don't get any scrollbars in the track display?

       A:
       You are using a version of Grip compiled for gtk+ v1.0.x
       on a system that has gtk+ v1.1.x installed. You need to
       either get a binary compiled for the development series of
       gtk+, or compile Grip yourself.

       Q:
       When my buddy runs Grip, he gets those nifty LCD icons
       showing rip/encode/CDDB status, but I don't. What makes
       him so special?

       A:
       He's using a more recent version of gtk+ than you are. Due
       to bugs in gtk+ v1.0.x, I don't support the icons under
       it. Upgrade your gtk+!

       Q:
       I can't get Grip to rip any tracks! This makes it less
       than useful...

       A:
       Grip won't rip tracks unless you tell it what to rip. Use
       the right mouse button to select tracks for ripping.

       Q:
       Grip just hangs when doing a CDDB lookup. Why?

       A:
       If you are using Linux kernel 2.2.x, you need to compile
       Grip from source. Installing the RPM results in network
       problems.

       Q:
       I was listening to a CD in Grip and it sounded horrible!
       What's up?

       A:
       Perhaps you are listening to country music...


CDDB notes

       I have declined to sign a license agreement with Escient,
       the company who owns "www.cddb.com" and runs the CDDB
       server "us.cddb.com". Their license would (among other
       things) have required me to place advertisements in Grip
       and restrict you, the user, to use only their databases. I
       am against this commercial use of the track information
       submitted by users such as yourself. For this reason, I
       encourage you to use free servers, such as
       "freecddb.freecddb.org".

       Grip and GCD are Copyright (c) 1998 by Mike Oliphant. Grip
       and GCD may be used and distributed under the terms of the
       GNU General Public License. All other brand and product
       names are trademarks, registered trademarks or service
       marks of their respective holders.

       These programs are distributed in the hope that it will be
       useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied
       warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
       PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License for more
       details.

       You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public
       License along with this distribution; if not, write to the
       Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite
       330, Boston, MA 02111, USA.


Acknowledgments

       Thanks go to:

       ·    Everyone involved in GTK development for a wonderful
            GUI

       ·    Tony Arcieri, for libcdaudio, which formed the basis
            of Grip's low-level cd control and CDDB access
            routines

       ·    Monty, for cdparanoia and the paranoia library

       ·    Heiko Eissfeldt for cdda2wav

       ·    Tord Jansson for BladeEnc

       ·    Mike Cheng, Mark Taylor and all the others who have
            worked on LAME

       ·    Ti Kan, for the xmcd button bitmaps, many of which I
            use in modified form

       ·    Everyone has contributed code to Grip (see the
            CREDITS file)

       ·    Everyone else who has given me feedback and helped
            test Grip


CHANGES

       See the README file that came with the source code.


AUTHOR

       Grip and GCD written by Mike Oliphant (oliphant@gtk.org)

       Documentation formatting by Aaron Sherman (ajs@ajs.com)




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