Sorcerer Software Users Newsletter Issue 0209 Welcome to our monthly newsletter, covering the latest updates, tips and user questions about our software programs. If you have an issue or question you would like to see addressed in a future newsletter, either by me or by your fellow users, please email me and I'll include it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- September 31, 2002 CONTENTS: 1. Envelope Printer 2. The Abacus 3. CD Stripper 4. This month's worthless trivia -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Envelope Printer http://www.sorcerersoftware.com/envelope.htm Since my inquiry to Envelope Printer users a few months ago (about adding new features), I've had some very constructive feedback. Some suggestions were along the lines of expanding the scope of the program, making it a bit more like a contact manager program with phone and fax numbers and a message area. But I think that's an area I don't want to get into. Not because it's a bad idea -- and I may change my thinking about this in the future -- but because the program is supposed to be an Envelope Printer. Small, simple, fast, and easy to use. So I've added one small feature and am about to start on another. The new feature, available immediately, is the ability to use an envelope database filename as a command line parameter. (What is he talking about?) Here's what I mean. When you first start the program, it opens the default address database, which is named "envelope.env". You can even set up Windows Explorer (or your desktop) so that you can double click on "envelope.env" and have the Envelope Printer program start. But if you make and use other address databases, like I do, if you double click on one of them, it still starts up with the default address database. But in the newest build, you can double click on another database and the Envelope Printer will open it instead of the default database. Another way to use this feature is to put the database name on the command line along with the executable Envelope Printer program. For example (and a very crude one), you could click on "Start->Run" and enter: "c:\envelope\envelope.exe newdatabase.env" and the program would start using the "newdatabase.env" address database (assuming it exists). A small issue, but a very useful feature for some of us. The current Envelope Printer build is 020629 of version 6.1. If you have an earlier build or version 6.0, you may want to download and upgrade to this build and version. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Abacus http://www.TheAbacus.biz Since introducing Abacus 4.0 last month, I have received a great deal of positive feedback, and for this I am grateful :) I have also received a complaint (and I've received it several times) about a problem that a number of users have experienced. And here's the problem, as described by a current Abacus 4.0 user, ML: "The first time I opened Abacus, Word was open. It requested I close Word, which I did, but it kept telling me it was open. I had to close Abacus and restart it as well. It opened fine then." Yep... this is a problem. Sometimes Abacus thinks Word is open when Word isn't, and we can't convince Abacus otherwise. For right now if you see this error message the best thing to do is what ML did. Sometimes just closing and reopening Abacus will solve this problem, but I had a report from one user that she had to reboot Windows to get everything to work right. (I believe this to be an exceptional and unusual case, and perhaps there were other Word problems.) I believe the best chance of avoiding this problem for now is to make sure and close Word before you start Abacus. If you do see this message, make sure Word is closed and then close and restart Abacus. For those of you who haven't encountered this problem (and I hope this is most of you), here is the warning message's wording: "It appears that MS Word is currently open. Please close it now." But we're not sitting still on this. We are working on a solution to this problem, and when we fix it, a new build will be posted on our web site and an update will be sent out in this newsletter. So stay tuned. The current version 3.0 Abacus build is 020911. If you have an earlier build of version 3.0, you may want to download and upgrade to this build. This is the macro "add-in" version. The current version Abacus 4.0 build is 020913. If you have an earlier build of Abacus 4.0, you may want to download and upgrade to this build. This is the freestanding versin. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CD Stripper http://www.sorcerersoftware.com/cdstrip.htm (Repeat of last month's report because it's IMPORTANT) About a year ago we released version 4.0, a major upgrade from the previous version 3.1. The new version sports a brand new interface and faster, more accurate ripping and encoding. But it lacked one feature found in the previous version: the ability to record from an external audio source. We have now rectified that deficiency. We recently posted to our web site CD Stripper version 4.0.1, build 020820. This new version includes an "External" button which allows you to record songs or sounds from any external source that your computer's sound card supports. Now you can record from any audio source that plugs into the sound card, such as a microphone, turntable or cassette tape player. And it's easy to use; start playing the source, click on the "Start" button to begin recording, and then click on the "Save" button to save (as a WAV or an MP3 file) what you just recorded. What could be simpler? The current CD Stripper build is 020820. If you have an earlier build of version 4.0, you may want to download and upgrade to this build. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Interesting but worthless trivia (continued)... Here's last month's question, which I surprised to say, NO ONE has yet correctly answered: According to the Editorial Board of the Modern Library (founded in 1917 - not exactly a dot.com startup), the Best English Language Novel of the 20th Century is: _____________ ? OK... I'll give you a hint. Think recent American Culture. Think recent movie(s). Does that help? Do you know? Or have a guess? Or how about an opinion??? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That's all, folks. Look for our next newsletter in about 4 weeks... -- Bill bill@sorcerersoftware.com Sorcerer Software http://www.sorcerersoftware.com To read all the old newsletters, go to: http://www.sorcerersoftware.com/archives.htm To be removed from our mailing list, send me an email with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line.