iCASTER Review CD Playback via DiscPlay Technology Forrest Stroud
CD Playback via DiscPlay Technology
iCASTER's integrated CD player function is derived from DiscPlay, one of our favorite audio CD players. Development of DiscPlay has recently been discontinued in favor of iCASTER, but most of its features have made their way into the new client. Most importantly, iCASTER offers built-in CDDB Internet database support and Windows traybar support.
With CDDB you no longer have to manually enter the title and track information for each new CD you want to play -- iCASTER automatically connects to a CDDB database on the Internet and downloads the CD's information for you. As for Windows traybar support, the iCASTER icon resides in the system traybar when the program is running, and a simple right-click of the icon presents a menu with player controls (play, pause, next track, previous track, etc.) and options for logging onto the iCAST network, bringing up the iCASTER interface, or connecting to the iCAST Web site.
Additional audio CD features that you'll find in iCASTER include repeat, intro, and random play options as well as the ability to create your own custom playlists. DiscPlay features that haven't found their way into iCASTER (yet?) include advanced CD management and scripting capabilities, statistical features (for tracking the most recently played albums and songs), extensive configuration options, and automatic scheduling options.
