MacIDOL beginners guide V0.1

Find out how to be an Apple GarageBand superstar and get the most out of the MacIDOL experience.

1: sign up to MacIDOL

2: validate your account

3: add songs

4: modify/add your artists picture

5: add a message to your home page

6: add items to your shop

7: change your theme

8: be a GarageBand superstar

9: how to get a friendly URL

10: join the forum & join the fun

100mb of free space to share your music.

Your own personal band pages, with a choice of themes.

An easy to remember domain name i.e. www.macidol.com/jamroom/your_name_here

Your own paypal store where you can sell your own CD's, T Shirts etc

You can upload hi bitrate mp3's and lo bitrate for dial up users. You can update or modify these songs as often as you like. You can upload a song image, lyrics and song information, enter credits and even include an explicit warning if your music has some adult lyrics.

You can change the overall look of your site as often as you like - just choose a new theme. You can even change the look of your control panel. You can use your band pages as a doorway to another site, or you can use your MacIDOL pages to just share your music.

You can create your own internet radio station, pick all your favourite tracks and share these with the rest of the world 24/7.

Have your own picture within your web site and also change it whenever you want. Also have a different picture next to each song

Your music can be categorised by genre and can featured in the world's first GarageBand music charts, so you can see how popular your songs are.
You get full statistics in your control panel - to see details of when your music was streamed or downloaded - on a day by day basis if you like.

Song ratings are coming soon - which will allow listeners the chance to critique your music. In the meantime you can use the forum to get feedback on your work, and also get the chance to collaborate with other musicians or find a rapper, guitarist, singer or what ever you need to make your music really sparkle.

You also get the opportunity to join in our competitions and win some cool prizes.

The best part of MacIDOL though, are it's members - we have an incredible amount of talent, a very friendly forum and you will find it very useful to be around these very supportive and talented musicians. Your fellow iBrothers and Sisters will really spark your imagination and help you get the best out of your music.

Point your browser here - www.macidol.com and click on the "Sign Up" button.

Enter a username - this is just for your purposes and is not your "band" or "artist" name - so you can choose one like "fluffy" or anything you like. Make sure it has no spaces or special characters

Enter a password and your email address - it is important you have a valid email address in order to validate your account.

Then enter your artist name such as "The iBeatles" or whatever name you like - as long as it's original and not offensive.

Choose your user language.

Then READ the new user agreement. It is very important that you do not upload cover versions or any sample material at Mac Idol. You should also make sure you have copyrighted your music and lyrics (and graphics) BEFORE you upload. - This is to protect your music!

When you are happy that you understand and accept the agreement, click on the imaginatively titled "I accept the agreement - sign me up" button.

If in doubt contact us & remember to include your artist name.

How to : create HiFi and LoFi MP3's
You can upload as many songs as will fit into your account. Please remember only mp3 files are acceptable. Why not use AAC files? Not every PC has iTunes so to maintain maximum compatibility - mp3 is the best option. After all not everyone is lucky enough to have a Mac...

So when you export a song using GarageBand your song file is in AIFF format - which is cool, but not for sharing over the internet. Fortunately you're on a Mac so - iTunes to the rescue! First of all go to iTunes preferences, then click on the importing tab. A good choice for your HiFi song file is 128 kbs mp3 to select this choose "Import Using: MP3 Encoder" and select the "Good Quality" pre-set. This is not quite as good as 160kbs but the quality is fine and it will work better for sharing purposes than 160kbs.

Click on the "OK" button and your ready to convert your AIFF file to mp3. Select your AIFF GarageBand song and then control click on the song and select "Convert selection to MP3" iTunes will now process your AIFF file. After a few minutes your song will appear as an MP3 file and your ready to upload. Before you do though check out your song info! Make sure you have included your artist name, song name and I believe it's a great idea to include your copyright info too. Also if the head of the A&R department plays it he will be able to find your artist name and will know where to send the large bundles of cash and other incentives in order to sign you up to his label! To change your song info - control click on the song and select "Get Info" click on the "info" tab and enter your info in the relevant fields.

In the same way as above you can create a LoFi version of your song. Why bother? Not everyone has a broadband connection, so for them a LoFI version is the only viable streaming option, and if they like the song they have always got the option of downloading your HiFi version (if you allow this). You will more than likely get more plays from your music if you include a LoFi version.
When you have created your MP3's drag them to your desktop, this will make it easier for you when you come to upload these at MacIDOL.

To upload a song on MacIDOL

Log into your MacIDOL account.
Click on the "Add a song" button.
Then enter any relevant song info in the relevant fields. Take your time, remember to include any copyright info too.
There are fields for lyrics and song info. Use these to tell people about your song. You can also include stuff like what effects or instruments you used. Which is nice for your fellow musicians!

If your song has explicit lyrics or anything else that young children (or their parents) may get upset about click on the "Explicit Lyrics" button.

Then click on the Upload New HiFi Song File- "Choose File" button then find your HiFi MP3 file on your desktop (or where you have stored it - that's why it's easier to drag a copy to your desktop in iTunes) when you find it click on "Choose".
Do you want to allow downloads of your song? If you do then select the "HiFi Downloads?" check box.

In a similar way you can select your LoFi song file.

If you have an image for your song then you can choose a .jpg. .gif or .png image file. The best size for these is 120x120 pixels. Remember if you upload a massive image file it will take ages for the listener's browser to download and it will also use up a lot of your MacIDOL space.

There are a couple of optional checkboxes.
Hide song will stop the song being available for people to stream or download.
No Radio - will stop the song being available to any of the MacIDOL radio streams.

When you are happy about all your song info.
Click on the "Modify Song" button to upload your MP3's and song image. This can take a few minutes, be patient and wait for the success message. Once you get the success message click on the "generate html" button to create your new music page! Then remember to tell the world about your new song!

Why include a band image?

You will find if you go to the trouble of creating an artist image more people will listen to your music! It appears on your band pages and also on the MacIDOL spotlight feature - which randomly picks an artist for inclusion on the spotlight on the MacIDOL home page! .

Depending on your theme Artists images need to be of 400x200 or 780x200 pixels. They should be either .jpg, .gif or .png image file formats. Once you are happy with your artist image.

Sign in to your MacIDOL control panel and click on "Modify Artist" - there you can include a background story and other information and this is where you can upload your picture! Click on the "Choose File" button next to the "Upload new artist image" description and select your artist image file. Click on "Choose" and then wait a short time for the image to upload. - You will be greeted by a "Success" message.

Click the "Generate HTML" button to create your new band pages and then you can bask in the glory of seeing your image on your band page! Enjoy!

To add a message in your news page, log in to your account, then click on the 'Add a Message' button in your control panel.
Then enter a title for your message in the 'Message Title' text field. The "Message Text" field can be used for a complete message or, if you prefer, you could use it as an introduction to your "Message More Text" field.
When you are happy with your message, click on the "add message" button.

There is a "Hide Message?" checkbox which allows you to hide a message until you are ready to display it. Handy for leaving yourself reminders etc.

Both of these text fields are enabled for BBCode and soon we will be enabling HTML.

Log in to your control panel, click on the "HTML THEMES" button and you will see a choice of themes to change the look of your website. You can change your theme as often as you wish. One thing to watch out for is the band image size which can be either 400x200 or 780x200 pixels. To select a new theme click on the relevant "set as default" button. Then you should see a "SUCCESS" message.
You can now view the look of your site by clicking "YOUR SITE" in the control panel.

Tell your friends, tell your mum, tell anyone about your great music at MacIDOL. Let all your ibuddies know and soon, who knows, next stop the moon?

It is very useful to put an artist image in your band pages. By doing this you could see yourself on the MacIDOL home page www.MacIDOL.com . Every time you click refresh another artist is randomly put in the spotlight. Only artists with a picture get included in this spotlight feature. It could be you...

This easy just use www.macidol.com/jamroom/your_name_here - separate any spaces in your artists name using the underscore character _

i.e. www.macidol.com/jamroom/guru_violet

Join in the discussions in the forum - it really is a wonderful place for inspiration, collaboration and just for fun. Swap tips, loops, whatever - enjoy the relaxed atmos and great company. You are most welcome!

You will need to create a seperate account for the forum (at the moment) so please sign up to this too - you can browse and post as a Guest though.