streamWriter

Frequently asked questions

Some questions asked on a regulary base are collected and answered here.

• I changed some settings, but it seems they are not active!
• Why doesn't streamWriter save any songs?
• Why saves streamWriter songs with strange titles?
• Why are some seconds missing at the beginning of songs from the wishlist?
• How can I configure streamwriter so that it creates a folder for each stream?
• How can I add new streams to the stream-browser?
• Recording stops after a short time!
• Why does streamWriter save titles when they are on the ignorelist?
• How can command line arguments be used?
• Something is strange - how can I reset streamWriter's settings?
• How can I use the newest build?

I changed some settings, but it seems they are not active!

You might have changed the general settings but not the stream settings. General settings are configured using the mainmenu ("File"->"Settings..."), stream specific settings are configured by right clicking the stream and selecting "Settings...". When general settings get changed, they will be applied to streams that get added to the list.

Why doesn't streamWriter save any songs?

Most likely the stream that is recorded does not broadcast title changes. The current title is displayed in the streamview in the column "Title". A song will be saved only when this title changes because only then streamWriter knows that the previous title has finished playing and is ready for saving.

Why does streamWriter save songs with strange titles?

It is possible that the recorded stream does not broadcast the current title in the title informations but broadcasts some headlines from the news for example. In this case streamWriter does not know the correct title for the song and saves it, so files named "Unknown artist - Top news: streamWriter is awesome!.mp3" get saved for example. Saving of these tracks can be disabled by unchecking "Save separated tracks" in the settings, in order to save the stream as a single file you have to uncheck "Save received data to memory instead of disk" if checked.

Why are some seconds missing at the beginning of songs from the wishlist?

This is because of the way automatic recording works. Another streamWriter running on another users computer detects the title playing on a station. It notifies the server about this change and the server will notify your streamWriter. After this message is received, streamWriter connects to the station to record the song. The consequence of this procedure can be a delay so that some parts at the beginning of songs may not be received and recorded.

How can i configure streamwriter so that it creates a folder for each stream?

Rightclick the stream and select "Settings..." in the popup menu. You can specify the folder in the category "Filenames" by using the text fields at the top. A "\" is allowed, so "MyFolder\%a - %t" saves songs to "MyFolder". The default pattern is "%s\%a - %t" where %s is the name of the stream, this should be sufficient in most cases.

How can I add new streams to the stream-browser?

Just record the stream or listen to it. You can add the new stream to streamWriter by using the addressbar at the top or by dragging and dropping it from your webbrowser into the stream-list. If the setting's option is active (it is by default) streamWriter submits the new stream to the server, after that the new stream will be checked by the server. The stream will be available one or two days after submission. You can refresh your stream-list by right-clicking the list and selecting "Refresh". Refreshing will be done every seven days automatically.

Recording stops after a short time!

You may not have enough bandwidth available for recording. The sender of the stream notices this and cancels the connection. Try to use your internet connection less intense and try again.

Why does streamWriter save titles when they are on the ignorelist?

Use of the ignorelist for the stream might not be active. Rightclick the stream, select "Settings..." and select the ignorelist at the bottom under the category "Streams".

How can command line arguments be used?

When starting up streamWriter the following arguments can be used:

• "-datadir [PATH]" - i.e. streamwriter.exe -datadir z:\settings
  When this argument is set when starting streamWriter the files "streamwriter_data.dat" and "streamwriter_settings.ini" will be saved to the specified directory.
• "-tempdir [PATH]" - i.e. streamwriter.exe -tempdir z:\temp
  Using this argument streamWriter will save temporary files to the specified directory.
• "-minimize" - streamWriter will be started minimized. If the setting to show in the notification area is active, streamWriter will be minimized to the notification area on startup.

For some functions command line arguments can be supplied to streameriter.exe.
The following switches are available and can also be used in combination:

• "-r [URL]" - i.e. streamwriter.exe -r http://stream.com/stream.m3u
  This call records the supplied stream.
• "-p [URL]" - i.e. streamwriter.exe -p http://stream.com/stream.m3u
  This call plays the supplied stream.
• The arguments "-sr" and "-sp" stop a recording ("-sr") or stop playback ("-sp").
• "-wishadd [TITLE]" - i.e. streamwriter.exe -wishadd "artist - title" "next artist - next title"
  This call adds the specified titles to the wishlist.
• "-wishremove [TITLE]" - i.e. streamwriter.exe -wishremove "artist - title" "next artist - next title"
  This call removes the specified titles from the wishlist.

Something is strange - how can I reset streamWriter's settings?

The easiest way is opening "File"->"Settings..." in the mainmenu of streamWriter. At the bottom in the category "General" is a button labeled "Delete profile". By using this, all settings will be deleted and streamWriter will behave like on the first start after restarting it. Using the button "Export profile" you can backup everything before deletion. If there are problems with this way or you want to move the settings, not delete them, you have to close streamWriter and perform the following steps afterwards.

• Installed version
  • Use windows-explorer to go to "%APPDATA%\streamWriter" (you can paste this into explorer's addressbar) and delete/move streamwriter_data.dat.
  • Use regedit to go to "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\mistake.ws\" and delete/export and delete afterwards the key "streamWriter".
• Portable Version
  • Delete or move streamwriter_data.dat and streamwriter.ini from the folder where streamwriter.exe resides.

How can I use the newest build?

It's easy: just replace your existing streamwriter.exe with the file from the zip-archive. On a normal installation this should be located at "%programfiles(x86)%\streamWriter\streamwriter.exe", for example "C:\Program Files\streamWriter\streamwriter.exe". When used in portable mode, you know where streamwriter.exe is located. Please keep in mind that the newest version is not always the best version. If things do not work as expected, you can still report the problem at the board, but please don't say "streamWriter sucks!" when you have trouble with non-official builds. Important when using new builds is the following: Sometimes the format of streamWriter's data file changes. A new version of streamWriter can read and import the format of the old version - when exiting the new version, it saves data in the new format. If you start the old version after running the new one an error message is displayed. Read it carefully before clicking "Yes" because most likely this is not what you want to do. Make sure that when a new build was used once an older build will never be used again.