Glossary

Add to Library

is in the context of kJams means to add songs that already exist on a hard drive, ie: they were ripped by some other software, or previously ripped with kJams but then moved or you decided to rebuild your library after consolidating it. This is NOT the same thing as Ripping.

Artwork Panel

The place in the corner where you can see album art, singer photo, or a mini lyrics window (see Screen Shots

Burn

Synonym for "Writing a CD". The opposite of Ripping. To create a new CD, CD+G, VCD or DVD from music or video files that were originally on your computer. This new disc can then be played in any player that can play that type of disc. For example, you might "burn" a CD+G disc that contains your 14 favorite songs, then you can bring that disc out with you when you go to a venue for Karaoke, give the disc to the KJ and sing all your favorite songs.

CD Info.cidb

This is the file used by iTunes to inform the finder what to display for CD track names. The format is discussed in the article CD Info.cidb.

Copy

to "copy" a file means you have the file already existing on a hard drive or local storage device, and you are making a second copy of the same file, somewhere else on that same hard drive, or on another local hard drive or storage device. it *can* also mean copying over a network, if said network is local and you're using the Finder or "Windows Explorer" to do that copy.

Download

To transfer a file, over the internet or other network, from a remote server, computer or other networked device, to the computer that you're currently controlling, typically the computer physically in front of you. You are "pulling" the file "down" from the "cloud" (which is above you) to the computer you're controlling, the file is originating from a remote computer or device. It is generally coming from far away, and showing up locally.

Note that this is NOT the same as Uploading, Add To Library, Ripping, Copying, Burning, Importing, Loading, Updating, Installing, or Activating. These words are NOT interchangeable.

You typically "control" the computer that is physically sitting in front of you, but this distinction is subtle. You may instead do a screen share where you control a computer down the street, and, controlling it's screen, cause a connection from that remote computer back to the computer that is physically in front of you, and from there transfer a file TO the remote computer. This is still a "Download", and NOT an "Upload", even though the file is traveling FROM the one in front of you TO the remote computer.

Export

To copy files out of kJams and into a folder in the file system. This could be on the desktop, to an external drive, to a USB or "thumb" drive, or to a network share. The files will be in whatever format you specify: original files (mp3, cdg, zip, xml), or perhaps a QuickTime format (mp4, mov). When exporting to QuickTime, files are re-encoded to a new format.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions. By convention this implies that the answers are also given.

Import

In the context of kJams you should never say "import" as it is not precise enough. Please use the word "Rip" or the term "Add to Library", because they mean very different things.

LCD

See LCD Panel

Messenger

See Messenger

Metadata

Information about something. In this context, it is the various data associated with songs and can include just about anything you can imagine. In addition to name, artist, album, you can have things such as Label Color, Beats per Minute, Composer, even Lyrics. In kJams, essential meta data is stored in tags right in the song file, and is duplicated in the database for efficient access. Non essential meta data is stored in a file next to the song file, in an text XML file in the "plist" format. See: Perfect Metadata, Meta Data Files, Meta Info.

Playhead

See LCD Panel

Playlist

A playlist is list of songs, nothing more, nothing less. Everything in the Sources pane of kJams is a playlist. Note that this includes "Rotation" and "KJ Rotation", even though they are lists of singers, because they still behave as a playlist.

Reference

When you "add to library" and you pick "Reference", that means the music file stays right where it is. kJams will only make note of WHERE it is located, and will look for it there when you go to play the song. It's rather like just an index. Use referencing to keep track of songs that are on an external hard drive.

Reinterpret Names

Song file names can look like this: "SF0123-02 - U2 - When Love Comes to Town", see how all the "meta info" is all glommed together in the name of the file? When you see it like that listed under the "Name" column in kJams, and you see only a "-" in the "Artist" and "Album" columns, then you need to "Reinterpret" the names, that will get the meta data to go into the right columns.

Rip, Ripping

Synonym for "Copying (Reading) off of a CD". The opposite of Burning. To copy music and/or video off a CD, CD+G, VCD, DVD. In this context it may also include LaserDisc. This generally involves translating the format of the data as well, eg: the data on a music CD is written in a raw, uncompressed format called "PCM", but when you rip it into a file on your disk drive, it may be written in "MP3" format. This is NOT the same as "Add To Library". It *is* a form of "format shifting", which is (currently) perfectly legal.

Scrub

An mouse action denoting dragging the Playhead across the timeline track. See LCD Panel

Tag

When a song is stored on a computer, it is stored in a particular "format". That format may be AAC, MP3, Vorbis, QuickTime (which has many sub-formats), or any of a dozen other formats. Each format usually has a "tagging scheme" that manages the meta data for the song. For example, the MP3 format uses a tagging scheme called "ID3", and Vorbis uses a tagging scheme called "Vorbis Comments". Tags almost always include "Name", "Artist", "Album", "Track Number", and "Genre". Tags are stored directly inside the song file itself, so when you copy the song to another computer, the tags of course go with the song.

Upload

To transfer a file over a network (usually over the internet) from the computer you are controlling (typically your local machine) to a different computer, server or device (typically remote server). You are "pushing" the file to "up" to the "cloud", to it's destination, like when you "upload" a photo to Facebook or a video to YouTube, you're sending it far, far away.

Note that this is NOT the same as Downloading, Add To Library, Ripping, Copying, Burning, Importing, Loading, Updating, Installing, or Activating. These words are NOT interchangeable.

You typically "control" the computer that is physically sitting in front of you, but this distinction is subtle. You may instead do a screen share where you control a computer down the street, and, controlling it's screen, cause a connection from that remote computer back to the computer that is physically in front of you. Then from the "down the street" computer, you transfer a file TO the computer sitting in front of you. This is still an "Upload", and NOT a "Download", even though the file is traveling FROM the remote computer TO the one in front of you.`

Wiki

This is a Hawai'ian word meaning "quick". It is also the name of the software used to run the kJams web site and manage all this documentation. More info here.