SAMPLE: Synchronizing Applications with CD Audio

 Last reviewed: February 15, 1996
Article ID: Q103217
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) for Windows version 3.1

Using MCI to Synchronize a Windows-Based Application with CD Audio

Herman Rodent Microsoft Developer Network Technology Group

Created: February 10, 1993

Abstract

This technical article describes a simple technique that uses the Media Control Interface (MCI) to synchronize events in a Microsoft Windows-based application with audio from a CD. The following topics are covered:

  • MCI message interface
  • Audio CD time formats
  • Owner-draw graphical buttons
  • Extending the idea to other time sources

Four pieces of sample code included with this article create four applications: PLAYACD, a simple CD controller; SINGACD, a sing-along application that shows the lyrics to a CD as it plays; TIMEACD, an authoring tool to create the lyric files used by the sing-along application; and SINGAWAV, an application that demonstrates synchronizing to a waveform.

The SINGACD sample application shows how to use the media control interface (MCI) to synchronize an application with CD audio in Microsoft(R) Windows(TM).

SINGACD displays a moving ball above the lyrics of a song. The ball moves in time with the music and (ideally) stays above the current word in the song. Achieving this synchronization involves a two-part process: The first part involves displaying the entire line of text at the right time; the second part involves placing the ball over the correct word in the line.

SINGACD has the following components:

  • The PLAYACD application is a very simple controller for the MCI CD audio device.
  • The TIMEACD application is a tool for authoring lyric files.
  • The SINGAWAV sample is a modified version of SINGACD that opens and plays a specific wave file and lyric file.

Download SINGACD.EXE, a self-extracting file, from the Microsoft Software Library (MSL) on the following services:
  • Microsoft Download Service (MSDL) 

          Dial (206) 936-6735 to connect to MSDL
      Download SINGACD.EXE (size: 260852 bytes)
  • Internet (anonymous FTP) 

          ftp ftp.microsoft.com
      Change to the \SOFTLIB\MSLFILES directory
      Get SINGACD.EXE (size: 260852 bytes)

Additional reference words: 3.10 softlib SINGACD.EXE
KBCategory: kbmm kbprg kbfile
KBSubcategory: MMCDROM

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Last reviewed: February 15, 1996
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