SAMPLE: Synchronizing Applications with CD Audio

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

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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.