Technical

1. What is an upload?

2. How long does it take to listen to a song once it is uploaded to the Broadjam web site?

3. I don’t know how to make MP3s. Can you help me?

4. Can I send you my songs for you to upload?

5. My songs won’t play. What should I do?

6. What format does my video need to be?

7. I can’t view my video. What should I do?

8. I already have several songs encoded at 128 Kbps, can you just convert those for me?

9. What kind of security is in place to ensure the protection of my music?

10. What’s an MP3 file?

11. What format do my songs need to be in to upload to the Broadjam website?

12. How do I make MP3s?

13. What is bit rate and what do you encode your MP3s at?

14. Why is the upload of my MP3 file not working?

15. I’m using an AOL Browser and my files appear to be uploading quickly to the site, but then my Status is still Please Upload Song?

16. How can I listen to streaming audio from the Broadjam website on my computer?

17. How come the sound quality of a song can vary when listened to?

1. What is an upload? ^

Upload refers to a transfer of a file from one system to another system. For example, a song file transferred from your hard drive to our web server.




2. How long does it take to listen to a song once it is uploaded to the Broadjam web site? ^

Songs are usually activated within an hour. However, it can take up to three days for a song to be encoded and activated by our automated system. The amount of time it takes is dependent upon the number of songs that are being uploaded to the website.




3. I don’t know how to make MP3s. Can you help me? ^

If you are not sure on how to make an MP3 please visit our Technical FAQ sectionor check out our Tutorials FAQ section for a walk-through on how to use iTunes.




4. Can I send you my songs for you to upload? ^

Yes, you may mail an audio CD to us, and we will convert your music in to mp3 format, and upload it to your account for a small fee based on your membership level. To submit materials for encoding please visit our Encoding Services FAQ page for additional information.




5. My songs won’t play. What should I do? ^

There are many possible reasons why a song may not play. Check for the newest Flash Plug-in. Go to Adobe.com and download the newest version of Flash. Check your computer’s firewall settings. If you have a personal firewall installed on your computer you may want to try turning it down or off and see if that fixes the problem. If you are using a computer at a business they may have a firewall installed to block certain media like song streaming. Check your computer’s soundcard. Occasionally your sound card may become disabled. Check your computer settings and make sure you have a sound device enabled. Check your Internet connection Ports to make sure they are open. If none of these options have worked please contact Broadjam Customer Service and include the following information:

• Computer Type (PC or Mac):
• Operating System (XP, Vista, OSX, etc.):
• Internet Browser and version (Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox, etc.):
• Internet Connection Speed (DSL, Cable, Dial-Up, etc.):
• And include any error message you are receiving.



6. What format does my video need to be? ^

We recommend uploading .MOV (Quicktime) or .WMV (Windows Media Video) video files, but we can handle other types of video files. Please keep in mind all videos will be resized to a frame size of 320×240 and will be encoded for web playback. Video files uploaded to Broadjam should be no larger than 100 MB. Also keep in mind that video files are significantly larger than music files and may take over 30 minutes to upload even on a high speed connection. If you have any problems uploading a video or have other questions, please contact Broadjam Customer Service.




7. I can’t view my video. What should I do? ^

First make sure you have Flash installed on your computer. Go to adobe.com and download the newest version of Flash. If you have Flash installed and still can not see your video please contact Broadjam Customer Service.




8. I already have several songs encoded at 128 Kbps, can you just convert those for me? ^

Unfortunately, converting from lower quality files (128 Kbps) to higher quality files (192 Kbps) is not possible. It can be compared to turning a gallon of water into two gallons of water. There’s not enough water. The same thing applies to your MP3’s. There’s not enough information in 128 Kbps MP3 file to make it 192 Kbps MP3 file. For that reason, we ask you to encode your songs down to 192 Kbps from a high quality MP3 file (i.e. 256 Kbps, 320 Kbps) or from the original recording.




9. What kind of security is in place to ensure the protection of my music? ^

We have made it as difficult as possible for people to steal your music, while still offering your fans the flexibility of buying MP3’s. We play your music through our own secure Flash player, so they can’t use their own player to capture your music. There is nowhere on the website for someone to simply download your music without paying for it first (except if you marked a song for Broadjam Free Songs). Unfortunately, the Internet is an insecure medium, so there will always be ways for the most savvy users to copy your music. We feel the majority of our users don’t behave that way, however.




10. What’s an MP3 file? ^

MP3 files are a special type of file, which uses the MPEG format. All MPEG files store audio in a compressed digital form. Currently the MPEG format defines 3 different categories: MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4. Each category describes 3 different layers of encoding: Layer 1, Layer 2 and Layer 3. A true MP3 file is an MPEG version 1, Layer 3 file. In order to streamline the processing of your files, Broadjam requests that all songs uploaded to us are encoded as MPEG version 1, Layer 3, 192 kbps at 44.1 kHz (or 128 kbps at 44.1 kHz). Unfortunately, this setting can be obscured by some of the encoding programs that are in use, please consult the program’s manual for additional information.




11. What format do my songs need to be in to upload to the Broadjam website? ^

If you have the software and know how to rip and encode your files, you can upload the files directly through our website. The song files you upload to Broadjam must be in valid MP3 format. This means:

• The MP3 file must be 128 kbps, 44.1 kHz, or 192kbps, 44.1 kHz in stereo. Broadjam recommends using the 192 bit rate.
• The MP3 file must be a complete song. We can’t accept bits or clips of song files.
• The MP3 file must be less than 200 MB in size.
• Be sure to turn off any ID3v2 meta tags on your encoder.
• Do not add any graphics, video, or text to your MP3 files.
• Do not use a shareware program during the ripping or encoding process. Be sure to purchase a full version program.
• When recording your song do not touch the phasing. Many programs will process your song differently resulting in an incomplete song.
• If you are unable to encode your music on a computer you can check out our Encoding Services section to have us encode your music.



12. How do I make MP3s? ^

To make MP3 files from an audio CD you will need a program called a ripper or encoder. Most ripping programs are also an encoder as well.
All that is needed is to place the CD in the CD-ROM drive and, using a ripper, grab the song off of the CD, which will save it as a wav file; the encoder then converts the wav file to the MP3 format.

If you would like to read more information about mp3s and ripper/encoder programs please visit this site.
Listed below are a few programs that can convert audio to mp3 format, but there are many others to choose from. Most of these sites offer free versions of their software, however you may have to look to find the free versions.*Disclaimer: Broadjam makes no endorsement for and does not offer support for any of the following products.
WINDOWS
Windows Media Player gives you more music and more choices, and for the first time makes it possible to sync high-quality music, video, and photos to the latest portable devices. Available for Windows XP and Vista.Download Windows Media PlayerWindows Media Player Help
iTunes originally only available for the Mac is now available for PC. iTunes allows you to encode and manage your digital audio files into MP3 or ACC files formats. To upload to the Broadjam website, you will need to have your files in MP3 format.
iTunes also has a music library function with CDDB support, and can group songs by album, artist, and more.
Download iTunes
For Beginners: Step by Step Instructions on How to Create MP3’s using iTunes PDF.
iTunes Windows settings help:
How to set import options
Importing from CD
dBpowerAMP Music Converter (dMC)
Often called the Swiss Army knife of audio, dMC can digitally rip sound from audio CDs to a multitude of formats. Convert from one format to another while preserving ID tags. Nearly every audio type is supported, including MP3, MP4, Windows Media Audio (WMA), OGG Vorbis, AAC, Monkey’s Audio, and FLAC (with optional installs from Codec Central).
For Windows Explorer integration, right-click Convert To which will show a pop up with useful information on audio files (such as bit rate and length). Record from LPs with an optional Auxiliary Input install.
Download dBpowerAMP Music Converter(dMC)
dBpowerAMP Support

MAC
iTunes lets you create your own personal digital music library, allowing you to manage and play your collection of high-quality MP3s with drag-and-drop simplicity. iTunes adds the ability to create Smart Playlists, plays audiobooks from audible.com and includes many new MP3 tags for greater customization. iTunes is available for Mac OS X only.Download
iTunesFor Beginners: Step by Step Instructions on How to Create MP3’s using iTunes PDF.
iTunes Mac settings help: How to set import options
Once you’re finished converting your songs to mp3’s it’s a good idea to listen to your MP3 files before uploading it to make sure your songs were encoding smoothly and the song files you’re uploading don’t contain skips or gaps. Now that you have your mp3 in 192kbps or 128 kbps 44.1 Khz format you can go ahead and upload them to your site.




13. What is bit rate and what do you encode your MP3s at? ^

Bit rate is the number of bits per second used in the encoding process. Our Hi-Fi MP3s are encoded at 192kbps, 44.1khz in stereo. Our Lo-Fi MP3s are encoded at 24kbps 22khz mono. Please have a close look at the settings of your compressions: MPEG 1 Layer 3: sampling rate 44.1 kHz, compression rate 192 kbps, Stereo, is necessary. Otherwise the upload could fail or it may mean reviewing your song is only possible in Lo-Fi. Before uploading your songs to Broadjam listen to the song in its entirety with an mp3-player. By doing this you’re in control of any possible interference or any unexpected sounds within the mp3 file.




14. Why is the upload of my MP3 file not working? ^

Here are many suggestions that may help your uploading process go more smoothly:

• Make sure your computer has the most up to date web browser (e.g. Netscape, Internet Explorer, Safari, etc.). Dynamic websites like Broadjam.com, may conflict with older versions of web browsers.
• Have patience: The large size of a MP3 file creates a pretty labor-intensive task for a 56k modem. A 5 MB MP3 file could take up to 30 minutes to upload. Longer uploading times can result in “timing out” errors, long waits and unsuccessful uploads. If your connection drops or is interrupted during the upload, you will need to re-upload the song. To be able to successfully upload to the Broadjam website, your upload needs to be completed in less than 40 minutes.
  When you are uploading a file we recommend that you do not perform any other activity on your PC. Every time you do something with your computer, resources are used up that may slow down the upload process.
• For various reasons based upon the structure of the internet, some people will continue to experience difficulties with the upload process, we suggest you try again, it can sometimes take a few tries to upload successfully.

If you continue to struggle with the upload process you can send us your CD and we’ll convert it to MP3 format for a small fee. View our Encoding Services section.




15. I’m using an AOL Browser and my files appear to be uploading quickly to the site, but then my Status is still Please Upload Song? ^

The AOL Browser does not support the upload feature on our site. We suggest using a web browser like Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, etc. instead of AOL.




16. How can I listen to streaming audio from the Broadjam website on my computer? ^

The Broadjam website uses Macromedia’s Flash to stream audio. If clicking on Play does not automatically launch the pop-up player, double check that your browser’s pop-up blocker has not stopped it. If the player is visible but does not play double check that you have the most current version of Flash on your computer. Also check that your computer’s firewall settings are not blocking the Broadjam website.
Download Flash.




17. How come the sound quality of a song can vary when listened to? ^

Songs uploaded to the Broadjam website are encoded in Lo-Fi at 24kbps and Hi-Fi at 192kbps. However, the sound quality of streaming audio may vary due to which streaming audio file format you’re listening to and your internet connection speed. Remember, we supply 2 streaming audio formats so that more people will have access to your songs.
Recommended Streaming Audio Formats for Users based upon Connection Speed:
Lo-Fi - Dial Up Connection
Hi-Fi - Broadband Connection

Click on the bandwidth settings button on the Flash player to change your current settings.