La Frontend   Invoking If La is installed correctly, you will be able to run the La Frontend by clicking on the Start Menu and selecting Programs and then from here the group La and finally the item La. Typical Usage Add the files you wish to encode or decode to the list by selecting the files under File-Add, or by dragging and dropping the files into the list. If encoding, select the encoder you wish to use (the default is of course La) and the desired compression mode (again, the default is recommended). Note, that when decoding the correct decoder will automatically be determined. Then click the Start button to begin the conversion. During the conversion you will see the overall progress and a time remaining estimate, and have the ability to pause or cancel the process at any time. The output files will be given the names of the originals with the extensions appropriately changes, and will be placed in the same directory as the originals. Using with other encoders The La Frontend provides a frontend not only to La but also to a number of other audio compression programs, and can also be configured to support any encoders you may wish to add. If you do configure it for any other encoders, please send me a copy of the config.xml file, so that I can include them in future versions. Note, that in order for the frontend to work with other encoders, these encoders must either be placed in the same directory as the La Frontend, or they must be in the system's path. FreeDB Usage The La Frontend supports the retrieval of album information using the FreeDB service. If the filelist contains all of the tracks from a single album, and you wish to name the files or add ID3 tags, go to File-Search FreeDB and enter a search string for the name of the given album/artist. Select the appropriate match from the list and click the Use Selected Album button. The program will then retrieve the track names, and allow you to configure a file-naming pattern and select whether you want to create ID3 tags and/or rename the files. Note that this process only works if you have the exact tracks from the album in the file list, and these tracks also must be ordered correctly! If you need to use a firewall to access the internet, you will first need to configure this under Settings-FreeDB Configuration. Troubleshooting Hopefully the La Frontend should give you no problems when using with La, however if you try and use other encoders with it or try and configure your own, it is possible that problems may arise when attempting to perform a conversion. If an encoder is not working within the frontend, first make sure that the encoder is in the same directory as the La Frontend or in the path. You can also select the file that has failed to encode and go to File-View Log to see what the program output when attempting to do the conversion - this may help in locating the problem. Also note that some encoders do not fully support console input and output, and for these encoders the progress bar will not work, and other problems may be more likely to arise. Please let me know if you find any problems or have any suggestions. One final note - if the encoder is not working at all, you probably need to install the .NET runtimes (see the Installation section).        Command-line   la [flags] input-filename(s) [output-filename(s)] Flags -high    -    high compression mode - slower, but better compression -overwrite    -    automatically overwrite existing files -cin    -    when decoding/encoding, use console input -cout    -    when decoding, use console output -cinout    -    when decoding, use console input+output -noseek    -    disable seeking (improves compression slightly) -nohead    -    when decoding, disables outputting of .wav headers Example usage la foo.wav -  compress foo.wav to foo.la la foo.la -  decompress foo.la to foo.wav la -overwrite *.wav -  compress all .wavs in directory, replacing any existing .la files. type foo.la | la -cinout > foo.wav -  decompress foo.la to foo.wav When using wildcards, only the input name can be specified. The output names will be automatically determined as the original name(s) with the new extension.