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	The Details \| Audio Outputs \| Controllers \| User Buzz \| F.A.Q. MegaSeg F.A.Q. Browse common MegaSeg related questions and answers below. If you have a question not listed, please email us. Q: How do I backup my Mac? Q: Will MegaSeg run on Macs with Intel chips? Q: How do I get my DVD music videos into MegaSeg? Q: Can MegaSeg play music files purchased via Apple’s online music store? (AAC/MPEG-4) Q: I upgraded iTunes and now my purchased music won’t play in MegaSeg anymore. A message says I’m not authorized. What do I do? Q: If I import my music from iTunes, how can I update the MegaSeg library when I change a track’s name, artist, album, genre, or BPM? Q: What features does the Apple Remote provide within MegaSeg? Q: Can MegaSeg play .wma (Windows Media), DivX, AVI and other video files? Q: For Podcasting, how do I send MegaSeg’s audio mix to GarageBand? Q: Is it possible to send just the video out to a projector without showing the MegaSeg screen? Q: I have an iBook or iMac... how do I output video “dual screen”, so I can see the MegaSeg’s interface at the same time? Q: Will videos purchased from iTunes work with MegaSeg? Or why do some iTunes music videos play with a gray screen and no sound? Q: I want to use MegaSeg for podcasting. How do I record my show with MegaSeg? Q: How do I use a microphone with MegaSeg? Q: Can MegaSeg be used with Apple’s Airport Express or AppleTV to work with remote speakers like AirTunes/iTunes? Q: Can MegaSeg play MP3 or other audio format files? Q: Can MegaSeg beat mix between songs? Q: How do I use my headphones for cue? Q: Can I use an external hard drive or network server for more music? Q: How do I prevent audio glitches (dropouts) when I use an external hard drive? Q: How do I hook my Mac into an amp? Q: Do you make a PC version of MegaSeg? Q: Are there any wireless remotes that I can use to control MegaSeg? Q: Can I have my own categories? Q: Can I specify a time a file (an ad, promo or station ID) will play? Q: I’d like to enable a second computer with megaseg. I want to be sure that all the categories from my initial computer are transfered. Can you walk me through this? Q: Why do some of my MONO audio files not play out of my audio output device? Q: Is MegaSeg compliant with music licensing laws? Q: What is AutoSeg Trim? Why are tracks ending early? Q: I have audio issues that I was not experiencing before. Has something effected my system’s performance? Q: I am getting “Kernel Panics” where a message appears asking me to restart in several different languages. How do I solve this? Q: Is MegaSeg Mac OS 9 compatible? Q: Is MegaSeg Mac OS X compatible? Q: How’s the database formatted? Q: Is the Playlist Setting’s fade out time saved with the song? Q: What is the maximum number of songs MegaSeg can handle? Q: What are the issues with MP3 playback and QuickTime? Q: How much are upgrades? Q: Can MegaSeg print the Library and Playlists? Q: Tracks in my Library are linked to the wrong files (Play Error -1). How do I clear my Library to reimport? Q: How do I record my mix to an Audio CD? Q: What is the function of the “Intro Time” field in the Edit window? It counts down when played, but has no effect I can hear. Q: What happens if I loose the program file? Can I re-download it without paying again? Q: Is the software available on CD ROM? Q: Does MegaSeg install any files into the System Folder? Q: Is there a way to set a “cold” segue? I need a cold ending on some songs to get right into the next song. Q: Can MegaSeg stream audio directly to the Internet from one computer? Q: How can I use MegaSeg to send a video to Sorenson Broadcaster to stream video on the Net? Q: It makes me nervous relying on computers instead of CD players. What if it crashes or freezes? Q: Can I change the name of audio files with no problems? Q: Are USB or FireWire drives OK for music? Are 5400 RPM hard drive speeds OK? Q: Why am I experiencing a brief audio pause when I add a song to the NEXT position? [top] Q: How do I backup my Mac? A: One way is to use an external USB or FireWire hard drive. The easiest way to do this is using the new Time Machine backup software included with Apple’s latest OS update (“Leopard” aka version 10.5). Just plug in the drive and select it in the Time Machine settings in your System Preferences. After it finishes the initial backup, each subsequent time you connect the drive it only needs to copy new or modified files, so it takes less time to backup. If you are using an older version of Mac OS X, there’s other good software that can backup in a similar way to Time Machine. Synk Backup is a program that can select exactly which folders you want to keep backed up. This can be useful if you’re tight on external drive space, or want to keep a “mirror copy” of your main drive rather than a Time Machine style backup. Synk can be set to backup the entire system, just your home folder, or a set of specific folders, with the ability to only copy new or modified files. The Western Digital 1TB My Book Studio Edition is a great backup drive option. It includes FireWire 400/800 compatibility for excellent speed and plenty of room for either incremental Time Machine backups, or Synk mirror copies. Finally, if you have two or more Macs you want to keep in sync with the same music for a “hot backup”, you can use the Synk program described above to handle the syncing of files between them directly. You can connect any two Macs together using a FireWire cable (for fastest speed), and restart one of the systems. When you hear the startup chime, hold down the “T” key which will enable Target Disk Mode. This allows the Mac’s internal drive to be used as a virtual external FireWire drive for the other Mac it’s connected to. You will then see the drive appear on the desktop as an external FireWire drive. Then just use the Synk program to update the entire volume, or specific music folders as described above. [top] Q: Will MegaSeg run on Macs with Intel chips? A: Yes! MegaSeg runs native on all Intel and PPC based Macs. In other words, it’s a Universal Binary that runs full-speed on all Mac systems, new and old. (Older versions of MegaSeg (v3.1.6 and older) will run via Rosetta emulation on Intel-based Macs.) [top] Q: For Podcasting, how do I send MegaSeg’s audio mix to GarageBand? A: There is a free (open source) solution called Soundflower, which is a virtual “Patch Bay” of sorts. What it does is install a virtual sound input and output device. MegaSeg can then be set to output to the “Sound Flower 2ch” output, and GarageBand can be set to input from the same. You now have a direct digital patch between the two. Sound Flower is easily installed using Audio Hijack from Rogue Amoeba. Just download the demo, and it has an option to install SoundFlower. [top] Q: Can MegaSeg play music files purchased via Apple’s online music store? (AAC/MPEG-4) A: Yes! Music purchased via Apple’s iTunes Music Store is in a format called “AAC” (for Advanced Audio Coding). This is the audio compression (codec) of the MPEG-4 file format (files with an .m4p and .m4a extension). With the latest QuickTime installed, MegaSeg has the ability to play all AAC protected files. Learn more about the iTunes Music Store, and how to buy your music online, ready for MegaSeg playback. [top] Q: I upgraded iTunes and now my purchased music won’t play in MegaSeg anymore. A message says I’m not authorized. What do I do? A: When you upgrade to the latest iTunes, Apple frequently changes the FairPlay DRM protection system, so you must also upgrade to the latest free QuickTime version in order for purchased music to play in MegaSeg, QuickTime Player, and other apps besides iTunes. If you’ve already upgraded QuickTime and still have this problem, you should de-authorize your entire computer, then re-authorize it using the menu commands found under the Store menu in iTunes 8 & 7 (or the Advance menu in iTunes 6). Another thing to watch out for is having two or more accounts with iTunes (multiple usernames). You may need to de-authorize and authorize all accounts. Note Apple recently announced they are removing all DRM copy-protection from the iTunes music store. This means any new tracks you buy will be in “iTunes Plus” format which is DRM-free and uses a higher quality bit rate (256 kbps vs 128 kbps). This is a welcomed change in the industry, and will eliminate potential authorization problems as described above. As more tracks are available in iTunes Plus format, you can upgrade your existing purchased music for a small fee per track using the iTunes Store’s “Upgrade to iTunes Plus” option found in the “QUICK LINKS” menu on the right of the iTunes Store home screen. Note however this is not required to do, as DRM-protected tracks will continue to play in MegaSeg as is. [top] Q: If I import my music from iTunes, how can I update the MegaSeg library when I change a track’s name, artist, album, genre, or BPM? A: Make sure you are viewing all songs you want to update in the Library view (selecting “All Categories” will display all songs imported.), then go to File -> Library Tools -> Import ID3/AAC Tags. Then, either accept the default checked items, or select those you wish to update and click Process. This will take several minutes depending on the size of your library. (Note the ‘time’ field takes the longest to process.) [top] Q: What features does the Apple Remote provide within MegaSeg? A: The Play/Pause button will immediately transition to the next song. The + and - buttons (top and bottom of the ring) will adjust the volume. The FF/REW buttons (left and right of the ring) allow you to go back or forward in the Playlist by track. Holding down FF/REW buttons will fast forward or rewind the current playing track. The Menu button will toggle AutoSeg mode on/off (AutoSeg means to automatically segue into the next song in the playlist when the current song ends). Note all these functions will only work when MegaSeg is the front most window. Apple Remote Functions: Play/Pause = Segue into next song Play Held Down = Stop Playlist Left/Right = Playlist Cue Position Left/Right Held Down = FF/REW current track Up/Down = Volume Menu = AutoSeg toggle on/off [top] Can MegaSeg play .wma (Windows Media), DivX, AVI and other video files? A: Yes, it is possible to play many types of files that MegaSeg and QuickTime does not support by default. There are free plug-ins for QuickTime that adds support of many formats in MegaSeg. Flip4Mac is one QuickTime plug-in that adds Windows Media compatiblity. Another one is called Perian which adds support for many codecs inclduing MS-MPEG4 v1 & v2, DivX, 3ivX, FLV1, FSV1, VP6, VP3, HuffYUV, ffvhuff, MPEG-2, FRAPS, Windows Media Audio v1 & v2, Flash ADPCM, Xiph Vorbis, libavformat, AVI, FLV, MKV, and AC3 audio. [top] Q: How do I get my DVD music videos into MegaSeg? A: There are several programs available to rip DVD video and convert them into files for playback in MegaSeg. An open source program called Handbrake does both DVD extraction and encoding into MPEG-4 (mp4) format. For the best quality using Handbrake, it requires changing the default settings. Here are our suggestions: Handbrake Settings for MP4 Output: Destination File format: MP4 file Codecs: MPEG-4 Video / AAC Audio (Note, this setting is less processor intensive on playback than the H.264 aka AVC codec, and at the higher bitrate settings we suggest hardly any quality difference.) Video Framerate (fps): 29.97 (Don’t choose “Same as source” as that sometimes detects the wrong framerate. 99% of the time you want 29.97 NTSC) Encoder: XviD (seems too allow better scrubability, i.e. more keyframes. Hopefully a future version of Handbrake will allow setting the keyframe rate.) Quality: select Average bitrate (kbps): 2500 Grayscale encoding: Unchecked 2-pass encoding: Unchecked (You may want to check this, but it will take much longer to encode, and the quality difference is not that noticeable.) Audio Default settings are fine Picture Settings (click button) Size: Anamorphic: Strict Crop: Custom: 0, 0, 0, 0 (You don’t want to crop anything. Using all zeros keeps the frame size at its native format. If you crop, you will cause slight pixel shifts from the original source file -- this slight resizing causes blurring). Filters: Detelecine unchecked, VFR unchecked, Deinterlace: Fast or Slow (This is important to remove NTSC interlace artifacts and convert it to a progressive image. Slow supposedly offers better detection), Denoise none, Deblock unchecked. Another free program called MPEG StreamClip can convert extracted VOB files from DVD into either an MPEG-4 or QuickTime movie. However, to use MPEG StreamClip, you will need to buy Apple’s MPEG-2 Playback Plug-in for QuickTime ($20 from the Apple Store). MPEG Stream Clip + Apple MPEG Plugin duo allows you to pick from more export options, but requires more steps before you have your final video file. There are also some commercial apps that are “one-stop shops” (similar to Handbrake) for both extracting and converting files -- but offer more options. These include Cinematize and DVDxDV With Cinematize it’s possible to extract the raw MPEG-2 DVD video and encapsulate it into a QuickTime movie file (.mov) that will play in MegaSeg. This bypasses the conversion step to MP4 (MPEG-4 codec) that Handbrake does, allowing you to play the video in its native MPEG-2 format without recompression (no loss of quality). However you will find that Handbrake set with the above settings will look nearly identical to the original DVD quality at a much smaller file size. If you wish to use the MPEG-2 method, it also requires the MPEG-2 Playback Plug-in from Apple (see link above). Once that is installed, here are settings for Cinematize: Cinematize Settings for Native MPEG-2 QuickTime Output: Once you select the DVD disc, and then select the Video Title Set, and then click Select VTS; In the Segment tab, select the correct Title that has the chapters for the individual music videos (not necessarily Title 1). Then select the chapter (video track) you want to import... Video tab Video Stream: Main Video Stream Decoding: MPEG-2 Program Stream Audio tab Default settings are fine Output tab Save Chapters: Together As One Segment (will combine multiple chapters into one file) Save QuickTime As: Self-Contained, Files With All Data Output Format: QuickTime File Note, unless you have Apple’s MPEG-2 Plug-in installed, the QuickTime output options will be grayed out. You can only then export to MPEG-4 (.mp4) format, same as using Handbrake. You can also create a native MPEG-2 QuickTime file using MPEG Stream Clip, but it requires many more steps (very painful if you are converting many videos). Once you get the video in MPEG Stream Clip, export using the Demux video and audio to AIFF option. You then end up with two files (both should have the same name, but different extensions). QuickTime then knows to sync the Audio and Video together when you open the video only file. You could then use QuickTime Player Pro to save them together as a Self Contained Movie, and then delete the two source files. [top] Q: Is it possible to send just the video out to a projector without showing the MegaSeg screen? A: Yes just open System Preferences, click on Displays, and then turn off the option called Mirroring. This will give you two discrete desktops, the main desktop with the menu bar on your main computer’s screen, and another secondary desktop that can be used for MegaSeg’s video playback. If you do this before starting MegaSeg, it will automatically detect you have two displays and show the videos on the 2nd display. Otherwise you can set MegaSeg’s Video window to Normal Size, and move the video window to the 2nd desktop, and then select the Full Screen video option again. Note you can also turn the Mirroring option on and off from the menu bar if you enable the “Show Displays in Menu Bar” option in the Displays preferences. [top] Q: I have an older iBook and iMac... how do I output video “dual screen”, so I can see the MegaSeg’s interface at the same time? A: There is a patch that can modify the firmware of certain older iBooks and iMacs so they support “Desktop Spanning” (note all newer Mac’s support this natively). This will allow you to play videos on the 2nd output while the main LCD screen shows MegaSeg. Apple’s PowerMacs and PowerBooks have the dual screen feature standard. You can download the patch and test it out. A list of supported systems is on their site. This 3rd party patch is not supported by Apple. [top] Q: Will videos purchased from iTunes work with MegaSeg? A: Yes if you buy the new “iTunes Plus” format music videos from iTunes, they will play in MegaSeg. However some older iTunes videos may still be DRM-protected and not play in MegaSeg (shows only a gray screen with no sound). Apple announced they are removing DRM copy-protection from all their music audio and video content, but will not be 100% DRM free until summer 2009. While MegaSeg is able to play iTunes DRM audio-only files just fine, Apple never allowed 3rd parties access to their DRM copy-protected video files (most likely due to separate contract issues with the movie industry). The new iTunes Plus DRM-free content is a much welcomed change. If you have previously purchased a protected DRM music video, Apple gives you a way to upgrade it to iTunes Plus (DRM-free) for a fraction of the original cost (if that video is available in iTunes Plus format). To do so, from the iTunes Store home page, select “Upgrade to iTunes Plus” from the “QUICK LINKS” menu on the right. There they give you a way to upgrade everything in your library (audio and video files) together for one price, but you can upgrade individual video files by clicking the “MUSIC VIDEOS” link that appears right below the “BUY ALL” button. Again, you do not need to upgrade any of your audio-only DRM tracks, since they can play in MegaSeg as is -- but the iTunes Plus format does use double the bit rate (256 vs 128 kbps). [top] Q: I want to use MegaSeg for podcasting. How do I record my show with MegaSeg? A: You can record MegaSeg in real-time using a program called Audio Hijack from Rogue Amoeba. It has options to record into many audio formats, and also supports plug-ins for effects and mixing in a microphone. It can also be setup to record the entire “system audio” rather than just MegaSeg. Another option is to use Apple’s free GarageBand program to record MegaSeg using a direct “patch” with the free SoundFlower utility as described here. [top] Q: How do I use a microphone with MegaSeg? A: MegaSeg has a Mic On/Off button which automatically attenuates the master music volume, and also enables a software play-thru from any audio input to any audio output you select in MegaSeg’s preferences. For exmaple, you could use the built-in microphone and have MegaSeg send the audio to an external USB audio output, or the built-in speakers. [top] Q: Can MegaSeg be used with Apple’s Airport Express or AppleTV to work with remote speakers like AirTunes/iTunes? A: Yes if you use a program called AirFoil from Rogue Amoeba, you can send MegaSeg’s audio directly to your wireless Airport Express output. [top] Q: Can MegaSeg play MP3 or other audio format files? A: Yes! MegaSeg can play MP3 files, as well as nearly any other QuickTime supported file format, including AIFF and WAV. However, we do not recommend using Variable Bit Rate (VBR) format MP3’s due to longer access time opening VBR files. [top] Q: Can MegaSeg beat mix between songs? A: Yes! MegaSeg has beat mixing features, including support for multiple sound outputs for Preview and Cue. Click the Mixer button to the right of the Playlist for full manual mixing controls. Read about multiple output options here. [top] Q: How do I use my headphones for cue? A: You’ll need to use a second sound output, such as the inexpensive Griffin USB audio adaptor. MegaSeg has two ways of using the second output for cue and preview... Option 1> Using one output as “Program” and the other output as “Cue”. Either the built-in output or the iMic can be used as the main “Program” output, and use the other output exclusively for your headphones. This method works great for basic Previewing and Cueing, and is the default setting. Option 2> Use MegaSeg’s “Discrete Output Mode” in the Output Settings window to use both outputs as “Program” channels for use with an external mixer. This is like having two CD Players or turntables. A track stays on one sound output throughout the duration of the track. This mode works great for beat mixing. [read more about Audio Outputs] [top] Q: Can I use an external hard drive or network server for more music? A: Yes, with MegaSeg you can import files directly from any external or network drive. However we do not recommend using “pocket size” drives, as they are typically not designed for heavy multimedia use such as constant playback and mixing of music. [top] Q: How do I prevent audio glitches (dropouts) when I use an external hard drive? A: We recommend you turn on the MegaSeg Preference called “Keep All Drives Spinning”... this will prevent the internal drive from spinning down while music is played from an external drive. Also keep in mind some external drives may overheat with continuous use and cause dropouts or other issues. Make sure your drive has adequate ventilation. One example is the MyBook drives from Western Digital. These have good ventilation when they sit upright (like a book on a shelf), but if you lay them on their side, they may overheat. Compact “pocket” external drives may also cause problems, which are not typically designed for constant use of audio/video playback. We recommend you use fullsize (3.5" platter) drives with dedicated power instead of compact bus-powered pocket-style drives. [top] Q: How do I hook my Mac into an amp or PA? A: You’ll need to pick up an “1/8 inch stereo to RCA audio cable” from your local stereo store. If you experience a hum or buzz in the audio, Radio Shack sells an audio cable “ground loop isolator” which help eliminate the hum caused by pesky ground loops. You should only need this if you hear a hum or buzz using a standard cable. Also check out this Apple tech note on how to solve ground loop problems. [top] Q: Do you make a PC version of MegaSeg? A: Not currently. Please contact us if you want to be notified on any developments. Regardless, MegaSeg will always run best on a Mac since it was designed for it. MegaSeg’s stability and reliability builds off of Mac OS X (and its solid unix foundation). Since Apple makes both the hardware and OS, everything runs smoothly... which is difficult on Windows (due to the large number of PC hardware, software, and driver combinations out there). This means less tech support problems for us, and all around better software for you. Also consider that today’s Macs run on Intel chips, and can actually boot Windows XP or Vista in addition to Mac OS X if needed. So if you have a Mac, it’s the best of both worlds. You can boot into OS X to run MegaSeg, and boot into Windows when you want to run your older software. Another thing to concider is Macs are replaced less often than PC’s. A typical Mac stays in operation for years longer compared to most PCs. With less tech repairs, and longer use -- that’s money saved. [top] Q: Are there any wireless remotes that I can use to control MegaSeg? A: Yes, there are both RF (radio) and IR (infra-red) based remotes available. MegaSeg works with the Apple Remote that comes with many Macs and the Apple TV (or available separately for around $20). KeySpan’s Digital Media Remote offers a good IR remote that can be setup to control MegaSeg’s functions via a control panel. And ATI’s Remote Wonder is an RF based remote control. We have more remote controller options listed on our Controllers page. [top] Q: Can I have my own categories? A: Yes. MegaSeg allows you to customize your own categories. You can even put a song in multiple categories. This is available by clicking the Category Set button in the Edit Song window. [top] Q: Can I specify a time a file (an ad, promo or station ID) will play? A: Absolutely. MegaSeg incorporates a full Scheduler and Events features. You can create schedules (like Playlist Hot Clocks based on categories/genre) and then use the Events feature to schedule them to play at certain times. And also use the Events feature to insert promos/ids/jingles/sweepers at certain intervals (every 3 segues, every 15 minutes, 59 past the hour, Tuesdays at 10:30 PM, etc). [top] Q: I’d like to enable a second computer with megaseg. I want to be sure that all the categories from my initial computer are transfered. Can you walk me through this? A: You can connect your two computers together using a FireWire cable, and then when you restart one of the computers, hold down the “T” key, and it will enable “FireWire Target Disk Mode”. This is a fancy way of saying that it turns that computer into an external hard drive. It will mount on your other computer as a drive right on the desktop, and you can copy your music and applications very fast using this method. You can also use Apple’s “Migration Assistant” application to help you copy everything over automatically. The Migration Assistant is located in the Applications folder inside the Utilities folder. If you use the Migration Assistant, it will automatically copy your Documents folder (where MegaSeg stores its database and playlists, etc), as well as your Music folder, and your user accounts and info like email, etc. If you decided to copy things manually, you can just copy the music and then copy the MegaSeg User Data folder found in the Documents folder. When you are done, MegaSeg will startup with all the same info and songs. And it should be able to link and play the music without missing files as long as the username account used on the new computer matches the old computer. If that’s not the case, then you may need to use MegaSeg’s Remove Folders command in the File menu to remove all the tracks and simply re-import them again. This should not cause the categories or segue times to reset as all the song data is stored in both the library database AND the song files precisely for a case of re-importing the files. [top] Q: Why do some of my MONO audio files not play out of my audio output device? A: This is most likely an issue with how you have your device configured for surround sound channels. QuickTime 7.0 introduced support for surround sound (e.g. 5.1 Surround), and many other multichannel arrangements. By default, if you are using a sound output device that supports multiple channels, it will send any mono tracks to the 3rd output connection for the 5.1 “center speaker”. This is very easy to change using Apple’s Audio MIDI Setup program, that allows you to define the speaker arrangement for any sound output device... Open Audio MIDI Setup (found in the Utilities folder). Click on the Audio Devices tab. Select the output device you use with the “Properties For” pop-up menu. Click the Configure Speakers button Click on the Multichannel button In the pop-up menu, Select “Stereo”. (It was probably set to “5.1 Surround”) [top] Q: Is MegaSeg compliant with music licensing laws? A: MegaSeg is a playback and mixing program, similar to a CD player and mixer. Using iTunes you can transfer your CD’s to your computer and then import and play them in MegaSeg. Transferring your own CD’s to your hard drive is like making a backup copy of a software program. If you get rid of your original CD, you are required to delete the backup copy too. Another example is when you make a mix CD of your favorite songs from your own CD’s to play in the car. It’s for your own use (as long as you don’t give that CD to anyone). Just the same, the sound files extracted from your CD’s are personal copies of the music you already own. When it comes to public performance, the venue or station you perform at should be ASCAP or BMI licensed, but this has nothing to do with MegaSeg or the playback medium. [top] Q: What is AutoSeg Trim? Why are tracks ending early? A: MegaSeg’s “AutoSeg Trim” feature will subtract time from the end of a track that has not had a custom end time (“Segue Time”) set. The default Trim time is 7 seconds, which can be adjusted in the preferences. This feature is good to “catch” for songs that have not been set to a specific (i.e. perfect) segue time... but it is still recommended to set a custom segue times in the Edit Media dialog for each track. When a track has a Segue Time that is different (less than) the default length of the sound file, MegaSeg knows this is now custom set -- and the AutoSeg Trim feature is disabled for that track. For example if the sound file is 32.24 seconds long, but the actual voice of the announcement ends at 29.67, make sure to set the segue time to 29.67. But even if you set it to 32.14 (00.10 seconds less than the default end time), MegaSeg will play it out to exactly 32.14 (without using the AutoSeg Trim feature). Note, MegaSeg 3.0 and greater does not enable the AutoSeg Trim feature for tracks under 65 seconds in duration (for example commercials and jingles) to prevent cutting off those elements. [top] Q: I have audio issues that I was not experiencing before. Has something effected my system’s performance? A: There could be a number of things that cause performance slowdowns. From memory fragmentation, to large virtual memory swap-files, to disk corruption, to software or hardware conflicts, to rogue “run-a-way” processes. The good news is most Macs do not suffer from these issues as frequently. However when problems do arise, here are a few things to try... If your internal boot drive is running low on space, it can cause system performance issues. It is generally good to have at a minimum of 2 GBs free on your drive. To check if this might be the cause, select your boot volume (normally Macintosh HD on your desktop) and then select Get Info from the File menu (or press Command-I). Under the General section you should see the amount of available space left. If you use an external hard drive, some models may overheat with continuous use, and start to cause dropouts or other issues. Make sure your drive has adequate ventilation. One example is the MyBook drives from Western Digital. These have good ventilation when they sit upright (like a book on a shelf), but if you lay them on their side, they may overheat. Compact “pocket” external drives may also cause problems, which are not typically designed for constant use of audio/video playback. We recommend you use fullsize (3.5" size) drives with dedicated power instead of compact bus-powered pocket-size drives. Run Apple’s Disk Utility app found in the Utilities folder inside your Application folder. This program can verify and repair your drive’s directory and data. If any of your drives need to be repaired due to disk corruption of some sort, it could be causing system slowdowns and dropouts. Disk Utility can repair a disk in two ways; One is called “Repair Disk Permissions” which only works on your internal startup (boot) drive, and checks to make sure all applications and system files have the proper permissions to run correctly. The other type repair is to check the disks integrity by clicking the “Repair Disk” button on the right side, which will report or repair actual errors in the directory tree or files. You can only verify the startup drive, but if you need to repair it, you can startup from your Mac OS X install CD and select Disk Utility from the menu. Use the “Verify Disk” button on all connected hard drives too ensure they are in good health, then use “Repair Disk” if necessary. If Disk Utility reports it can not repair a disk because of an error, the disk corruption is beyond what Disk Utility can handle. We recommend using a stronger disk repair program called DiskWarrior in this situation. There are special maintenance tasks which Mac OS X runs nightly at 4:30 am to improve performance, but if your computer is not awake at that time, the maintenance tasks do not run. However you can force these tasks to run manually by using a program called Cocktail or via the Mac OS X Terminal utility (found in your Applications folder inside the Utilities sub-folder). To use the Terminal method, when you run it and get a command prompt, enter the command: `sudo periodic daily weekly monthly` It will then ask you for your administration password once you enter the command. Then it will take several minutes for it to finish (possibly up to a half-hour). There is no progress bar display when using Terminal, so you’ll just have to wait for the command prompt to appear again to know when it’s done. If you use the Cocktail application method, this application has a lot of other options, but all you need to do is run the “Cron Scripts” found under the System icon in the Scripts tab. If you subscribe to Apple’s MobileMe service (formerly .Mac), make sure you don’t have your remote iDisk mounted when using MegaSeg. Currently MegaSeg does not support an iDisk mounted at the same time you are using MegaSeg. You might also try un-mounting any other network drives or servers you have connected. Open your System Preferences, and click on the Energy Saver icon, and try unchecking the “Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible” option. On newer systems there is also a pop-up menu called “Optimization” which you can try setting to “Better Performance”. On older systems under the Options tab, there is a preferences for “Processor Performance”, which you can try setting to “Highest”. (Note on laptops using these settings will run the battery down faster.) If your system does not have an “Optimization” or “Processor Performance” setting in the Energy Saver settings, you may still be able to change it using the command line (Terminal application). To do so, open Terminal (found in the Utilities folder), and enter “sudo pmset dps 0” at the prompt. It will ask for your administration password. When set it will simply show another prompt. You can now Quit Terminal. In System Preferences click the Sharing icon. Under the Services tab, try turning off any services you do not absolutely need to be active. Sometimes these services will use extra processing power and can cause system delays depending on network status. Printer Sharing and Internet Sharing can be culprits, for example. If you are running Mac OS X 10.4 or higher, make sure you have all Dashboard Widgets closed. Some Widgets use up a lot of RAM, and some even grow in size over time as they are open, which can cause system slowdowns. If you are using an older PowerPC-based Mac (PowerBook, PowerMac, G4, etc.), in the System Preferences, click the Classic icon. We recommend not running Classic (Mac OS 9 emulation) when using MegaSeg. Classic can use up a lot of RAM and processor time. Stop Classic if it is running, and uncheck the “Start Classic when you login” option. Check your installed fonts to see if you have too many fonts enabled at once. This may cause your system to slow down. Apple’s Font Book application can be used to manage your enabled fonts. If you are using an older version of MegaSeg (prior to version 4.5), try clearing out the MegaSeg Logs folder, located inside the MegaSeg User Data folder, inside your Documents folder (HD/Users/username/Documents/MegaSeg User Data/Logs/). If the entire folder is taking up more than 1-2 MBs it may be slowing things down. You may try simply renaming this folder “Logs (old)” and create a new empty “Logs” folder, and see if that solves the problem. If so, you may still want to move back some recently logs so they can be viewed within MegaSeg. Note, MegaSeg 4.5 and newer automatically archives older log files to prevent unnecessary build-up. Open the Activity Monitor application found in your Utilities folder, inside the Applications folder. Once open, make sure the pop-up menu above shows “All Processes” (the default is set to “My Processes”). You can now see every process running on the system, including many hidden ones used by the Mac OS and the core UNIX OS. Click the “% CPU” column header until the list is sorted from highest to lowest processor usage. Note if you see any apps that are taking up too much processor time for too long. If you see a process that is using 80-100% of the processor, it could be a rogue run-a-way process. An example of this would be a printer driver that is not compatibility with the OS version or has a bug. There was a case of this happening a few years ago to a certain brand of printer. Try “googling” the name of the process to find out more about what it is and if anyone else has reported the same problem. Also include “Mac OS” in the search. In the System Preferences, click Accounts. Select the account you use on the left column, then click Login Items from the tabs. Check to see what apps (some may be invisible processes) you have checked to automatically launch when you startup. One of these may be incompatible or cause slowdown issues. You can test by un-checking them and restarting. Or use Activity Monitor to check for processor usage (see above). Use Software Update to make sure you are running the latest versions of Mac OS X and QuickTime. Sometimes a fresh update will clear up an issue, or the system optimization it performs after an update may help. We’ve had a recent report that using external drives that are formatted for Windows (PC-DOS, FAT32, etc) could cause dropouts. We highly recommend you check your external drives to see if they are formatted for “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)”. Although the Mac is capable of using Windows formated USB or FireWire drives, it is better to use the native Mac OS X format. Select the drive in the Finder (either on the desktop or within the Finder window). Then press Command-I or select Get Info from the File menu. The info window will list the Format. If it is formated for PC (most external drives come pre-formated for PC), then you should reformat it using Disk Utility, found in the Utilities folder, inside the Applications folder. This of course will erase the disk, which means you’ll need to backup the data first and then restore it after formating. Finally, restart your Mac by first shutting down completely. This will clear the RAM and allow swap files to reset. Sometimes a fresh start is all it takes after the computer may have been running for weeks and only going to sleep between each use. [top] Q: I am getting “Kernel Panics” where a message appears asking me to restart in several different languages. How do I solve this? A: One common cause of a kernel panic is a RAM chip going bad. If you installed additional RAM, it could be that it does not conform to Apple’s specs, or just a faulty module. Some brands may be temperamental in your model of Mac. If you have two RAM slots filled, try removing one and running for a while to see if the problem goes away. If not, swap the RAM chips and try using only the other one for a while. You may narrow it down very quickly. Another likely cause of Kernel Panics is a Mac OS X system file becoming corrupt on disk. This can be solved by reinstalling the OS from the original discs, or sometimes just doing a system update (using Software Update in your Apple menu). But if this doesn’t help, then bad RAM is highly suspect. A less likely cause of a Kernel Panic is a driver conflict for some 3rd party hardware you may have added. If you’ve installed a piece of hardware that requires a driver of some sort, try uninstalling or downloading a newer version. [top] Q: Is MegaSeg Mac OS 9 compatible? A: We do have a Mac OS 9 compatible version, however it is no longer updated. The latest version of MegaSeg is Mac OS X only. The OS 9 version works with CarbonLib 1.4 or better. You can search for and download the latest version of Apple’s CarbonLib from www.versiontracker.com. MegaSeg 2.7.4 is not currently compatible with Mac OS 8. For OS 8 support, use MegaSeg 2.0.2 or older. [top] Q: Is MegaSeg Mac OS X compatible? A: Yes! MegaSeg is fully OS X native. It currently requires Mac OS 10.2 or newer. [top] Q: How’s the database formatted? A: The database is stored in a text file located in the MegaSeg User Data folder inside your Documents folder. It is loaded during startup, and then only accessed and modified when songs are added, edited or deleted. This makes it easy to “power edit” using a standard text editor if necessary. You can also export and import the Library as a tab delimitated text file to edit using a spreadsheet such as Numbers or Excel. [top] Q: Is the Playlist Setting’s fade out time saved with the song? A: The fade out time is global and defaults to 2 seconds. Each song does have its own custom segue time (or end time), and allows you to override the fade-out with the “Fade-out Override” checkbox. You can use the fade override to keep a voice track from fading out when starting another song underneath. Try setting the segue time for the Voice Over to ‘00:00.00’ and check the Fade-Override checkbox, and place the voice track before a song with an intro, then if in AutoSeg mode, it will start the voice track and the following song at the same time, and the voice track will not fade and play over the intro of the following song. [top] Q: What is the maximum number of songs MegaSeg can handle? A: There is no set Library size limit. MegaSeg will try to handle as many files you throw at it. Although there is some practical limit depending on available RAM and drive space. [top] Q: What are the issues with MP3 playback and QuickTime? A: There are a few issues concerning MP3 and QuickTime... * Some VBR MP3 over 5 minutes in length may have an audio drop-out (pause for 1 second) at a consistent time. This is due to a bug in QuickTime, but there is a patch in MegaSeg to fix the problem. However when you enable the “MP3 Patch” setting, all MP3 files will take a little longer to open. Only downloaded MP3s are affected, not ones encoded by iTunes (some PC-based MP3 encoder out there is not fully compatible with QuickTime). If this effects an MP3, instead of enabling the MP3 Patch setting, you can use iTunes’ Advance Menu to re-encode the file into a fresh MP3 or AAC file, and that should fix the problem. * If a VBR MP3 file enters the Playlist’s NEXT position (after a segue for example), it may cause the audio to drop out for a second on Macs with slower hard drives... The problem is that QuickTime must perform extra processing of VBR MP3 files when opened, and during this process it may cause the audio to stop until finished. One solution is not use VBR-type MP3 files. Another solution is to use QuickTime Player (Pro version) to save VBR MP3s into a self-contained .mov file. Or use iTunes’ Advance Menu to convert the files into a standard MP3 or AAC format. Here’s how to save VBR MP3’s as QuickTime Movie files: QuickTime Player Pro allows you to open an MP3 and save it as a “Movie” file with no difference in quality, because it doesn’t re-compress the file, but only “wrap it” inside a new QuickTime document. QuickTime Player Pro lets you save the file two different ways... “Normally” or “self-contained”. Saving it normally will make a very small file, which still needs the original MP3 file for reference. This way you can keep your original MP3 intact, and use the new saved file in MegaSeg. Saving self-contained actually wraps the MP3 file inside the new file, and doesn’t need to use the original MP3 file, which means you can delete it if desired... however the Movie file version may not play in all MP3 players. [top] Q: How much are upgrades? A: Updates are free (version 3.0 to 3.1 for example). Major version upgrades (x.0 or x.5) will be a fraction of the full price. See our order page for current pricing. [top] Can MegaSeg print the Library and Playlists? A: Yes, MegaSeg has a Print command in the File menu that allows you to print either the currently selected Library or Playlist. Just click to select the list and then choose Print from the File menu and then check the fields you want included in the list. Alternatively, all saved Playlists are text files stored in the Playlists folder. You can print them using a text editor or spreadsheet like Excel or iWork’s Numbers and reformat as necessary. The Library can also be exported as a text file by using the ‘Export Library as Text’ menu command. The tabbed text file can open in a spreadsheet program, such as iWork’s Numbers or Excel. [top] Q: Tracks in my Library are linked to the wrong files (Play Error -1). How do I clear my Library to reimport? A: MegaSeg keeps track of files using Mac OS Alias technology. This means that even if a file is renamed or moved on the drive, MegaSeg will still be able to find and play it. However if you swap hard drives, or transfer your files to an external drive, it’s rare but possible for it to get confused and cross-link to random files. It is simple to solve this however by reimporting the files. Note all your database info will remain intact, since MegaSeg tags each file with “metadata”. Here’s how to clear out your library and re-import: First it’s a good idea to backup your current database, just in case you want to revert back to it. Open the MegaSeg Preferences, and click on the General tab. There note the path to the MegaSeg User Data folder. Typically this is ~/Users/yourlogin/Documents/MegaSeg User Data. Find that folder on your drive with the Finder. Select the folder, and select Duplicate from the File menu. This create a backup of your current library and playlists. Return to MegaSeg, and select Remove Folders from the File menu. This shows a window with the names of all the hard drives that have files and folders imported into MegaSeg. Select the first hard drive listed, and click the Remove button. Continue to remove all hard drives listed until this list is empty. Note, this only tells MegaSeg to remove the files from MegaSeg library... it does not delete or trash the files and folders themselves. You should now have an empty MegaSeg Library. You should now quit and restart MegaSeg to be sure everything has a fresh start. Once restarted, select the Import button, and then the Options dialog on the lower right corner of the dialog. Make sure the Scan sub-folders, and Use MegaSeg Tags options are checked. Then click OK. Select the Import Folder button, and navigate to your main music folder, and select that folder to import. MegaSeg should bring everything back into the library, with all the same saved info (due to the MegaSeg Tags). Repeat for any other master music folders on other hard drives, etc. You should now have a fresh re-linked library. This will solve the problem of cross-linked files or “Play Errors -1”. [top] Q: How do I record my mix to an Audio CD? A: You can record MegaSeg in real-time using a program called Audio Hijack from Rogue Amoeba. It records to uncompressed AIFF or directly to MP3 or AAC formats, which then you can bring into iTunes or Toast to burn to a CD-R. Audio Hijack Pro also has built-in effect processing features to add dynamic compression or EQ for example. [top] Q: What is the function of the “Intro Time” field in the Edit window? It counts down when played, but has no effect I can hear. A: The Intro Time is used to count down the time before the vocal starts in a song. It’s useful if you talk over the intro of a song (radio style) and like to see how much time is left before the singing starts. [top] Q: What happens if I loose the program file? Can I re-download it without paying again? A: Absolutely. Please contact us with your name and serial number, and we will send you a download link. [top] Q: Is the software available on CD-ROM? A: Currently MegaSeg is only available online via our website. The installer can then be backed up for a reinstall after reformatting, etc. If you ever loose your copy of MegaSeg, you can contact us with your name and serial number for a replacement download. [top] Q: Does MegaSeg install any files into the System Folder? A: No. MegaSeg utilizes QuickTime which is already installed on all Macs. [top] Q: Is there a way to set a “cold” segue? I need a cold ending on some songs to get right into the next song. A: Yes. Set the Segue Time at the exact time of the cold ending. MegaSeg will start the next song at this exact time. MegaSeg’s fade out of the previous song is activated after the next song starts, so it won’t cut off the cold ending song. [top] Q: Can MegaSeg stream audio directly to the Internet from one computer? A: MegaSeg can generate an audio mix for an online station, but not handle the encoding or steaming. You can stream your mix with an audio streaming server, such as the ShoutCast, Live365.com, or Quicktime Streaming Server software (part of Mac OS X Server). You would then use a program to encode the stream, such as Nicecast (a ShoutCast compatible encoder), Studio365 Live, or QuickTime Broadcaster, and send your stream to the server. [top] Q: How can I use MegaSeg to send a video to QuickTime Broadcaster to stream video on the Net? A: There are a few options, but all involve using a second video card of some sort. For example, the PowerBooks have an S-Video output, which acts as a second video card, in which the Mac OS treats as a second “desktop”, which you can move your mouse and drag windows into. When running MegaSeg video, you can drag the video window into this second desktop screen, and put it into Full Screen mode. Then you can hook this video output to a video input on a second Mac for Sorenson Broadcaster to digitize into a QuickTime stream. On the PowerBook, the S-Video output can be hooked into an S-Video input on a digitizing Mac (PCI card or DV FireWire converter or USB device, etc). On a G4, you’ll need to install a second video card, which the Mac OS supports as a second desktop, and then convert the output using a “VGA to S-Video” converter. Then the second G4 with Sorenson Broadcaster needs a USB or FireWire DV converter which accepts an S-Video input, or a PCI capture card with S-Video. It’s best to check with Sorenson what is the best capture device to work with Broadcaster. Note that if you have an iMac DV model, it already has a VGA output plug in the back (hidden by a plastic door). You could just get a VGA to S-Video converter instead of a USB device, such as MyView, and it may be better quality, since it won’t use the low bandwidth USB outputs... which requires compressing the video into JPEG format for each frame, and then converting it to S-Video. Using the VGA output with a VGA to S-Video converter, you will skip the JPEG re-compressing step, which could improve the streaming video quality a small amount. Possible iMac output to iMac input options: 1) iMac --> MyView --> S-Video cable --> MyTV/MyVideo --> iMac 2) iMac Built-in VGA --> VGA-SVideo converter --> MyTV/MyVideo --> iMac Possible PowerMac output to iMac input options: 3) PowerMac G4 --> Add second PCI video card with S-video already built-in --> MyTV/MyVideo --> iMac 4) PowerMac G4 --> Add second PCI video card --> VGA-SVideo converter --> MyTV/MyVideo --> iMac Options 3 and 4 have the added benefit of allowing you to see the MegaSeg interface while playing video, since the second video card will be on a “second desktop”, allowing you to display the video window there, instead of over the top of the MegaSeg screen... just like on the PowerBooks. [top] Q: It makes me nervous relying on computers instead of CD players. What if it crashes or freezes? A: We have had wonderful success with stability in MegaSeg and Mac OS X. DJ’s and radio stations have use it without fail. But as a safety net, it’s a good idea to keep a MiniDisc, iPod, or portable CD player handy so you can play a song during a reboot, just in case. It’s also a good idea to have a backup FireWire drive that has all your music, in case a drive goes bad. [top] Q: Can I change the name of audio files with no problems? A: Yes, MegaSeg keeps track of the files using a special FileID. This means you can move or rename a file on the same drive and MegaSeg will be able to relocate it automatically. MegaSeg also keeps track of the audio files in the database by path and filename. It will check this first, so if you want to replace a file you can easily. If for some reason it can’t find a file, then MegaSeg will give a missing file error, and allow the you to find or remove the missing file manually. [top] Q: Are USB or FireWire drives OK for music? Are 5400 RPM hard drive speeds OK? A: Yes. Audio uses a small amount of bandwidth. 5400 RPM drives will work fine. Both USB and FireWire hard drives also work well, although USB 1.0 based drives are slower and can limit the speed of random access to audio. For example, fast forward and rewind functions will not be as smooth (especially important for Beat Mixing), and may not play back audio during the operations with USB drives. We do recommend using full-size external drives instead of compact “pocket size” drives, due to the fact the smaller drives are not typically designed for constant multimedia access and may run too hot. [top] Q: Why am I experiencing a brief audio pause when I add a song to the NEXT position? A: This is a known problem with VBR MP3 files. If a VBR MP3 file is placed in the Playlist’s NEXT position, it may cause the audio to drop out for a second on Macs with slower hard drives. The problem is that QuickTime must do extra processing and calculate the duration of VBR MP3 files when opened. If this calculation takes longer than a second or two, it may cause the audio to stop. There are workarounds available. Read about them here. [top] If your question wasn’t answered here, e-mail us. MegaSeg and the swirl logo are trademarks of Fidelity Media, Inc. Copyright © 2009 Fidelity Media, Inc.