[Little MP3 Shop home page]

Getting Started With Little MP3 Shop

LittleMP3Shop music publishing and subscription system runs as a Windows service. The installer will load the necessary files to your hard-drive, then you install and run the service from the program group entries from the Windows Start Menu.

Step 1, Download and install the distribution package:

Download the application using the link below. The installer is a fairly common windows setup wizard. For the current release of LittleMP3Shop 1.0, it is essential that you keep the default install folder, because the confuguration options are set for this file system location:



Step 2, Install LittleMP3Shop as a Windows service:

Select the "Little Mp3 Shop" program group from your Windows Start Menu. There should be four available items:
  • Install LittleMP3Shop Service
  • Remove LittleMP3Shop Service
  • Start LittleMP3Shop Service
  • Stop LittleMP3Shop Service
The options are also all available as batch files in the c:\littlemp3shop folder. If you have had experience with Windows services previously, the options should be self explanatory. If not: a service is a program which keeps running in the background, even when you log out. You have to "install" (register) the service with the operating sytem before it will run. Once you have clicked "Install LittleMP3Shop" from the program group, it will be ready to start automatically every time your computer is turned on. (You can change this from Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Services. Aside from connecting through a web browser, there are no interface screens to interact with the service. You can stop the LittleMP3Shop service from the browser-based administrative console or the Windows services control panel.

Step 3, Run the administrative console:

To access the system, you need to navigate to the Internet address which the service is running on. In the default configuration, you can access the sever administration functions by typing this into your browser address (location): http://localost/shopadmin?ADMINLOGIN. There is a single default administrative account pre-loaded with user name: admin and password admin. On successful login, your browser should display the following screen:



*Firewalls*: depending on the version of Windows and security/firewall package you may be using, the application may be blocked. LittleMP3Shop acts as an http server, which is often identified as a security risk. If you cannot get to the administrative screen, check security settings and try to create an exception if necessary.

Step 4, Add music categories and search words:

Before any subscribers can log in to your LittleMP3Shop installation, you must add at least one music category to the system database. For example, you could just add the category "rock", in the screen below:



Search words are not necessary, but provide an added convenience for users who are trying to locate specific types of compositions from your library of recordings. Search words entered into the "music categories and search words" panel do not automatically populate any select boxes on the media file upload screens, they will have to be manually entered into the description panel of each track uploaded.

Step 5, Add music recordings to the track library:

At this point, you could add subscriber accounts to the system, but they would have nothing to search for or listen to until you add music. To add (or "upload") music to your littlemp3shop server, select "ADD MEDIA FILE" from the main administrative menu:



There are only 3 mandatory items on the "ADD MEDIA FILE" form: Track Name, Category and the mp3 file itself, selected from the file browser dialog.

Step 6, Add subscriber (user) accounts:

Subscribers can either be added automatically by the system in response to a Paypal Instant Notification message, or manually added by an administrative user using the following editing panel:



After at least one subscriber account and music track have been added, you can test what the system looks like from the subscriber's perspective by navigating to http://localhost/mp3shop?LOGIN.

Step 7, Content and order processing customizations:

At this stage you will already have a functioning demonstration of a LittleMP3Shop installation, but there are a few key additional tasks you will need to complete to prepare for a live deployment on the Internet: Customized web page content (logo image, index page, PayPal subscriptions links) and a PayPal merchant account. These topics are described on the LittleMP3Shop Customizations page.



The LittleMP3Shop is currently available as copyrighted freeware, with no guarantees of fitness for any purpose. Sale or redistribution of this software is prohibited without authorization of the publisher: InterAnnex Web Applications.

January 2012 News:
Since the original release of the LittleMP3Shop system one year ago, there has been little interest from potential new users. As a result, there have been no efforts to update the code with improvements and changes made in the parallel development stream which powers the royalty-free stock music sales system called Free Soundtrack Music. As a consequence, it is recommended that the following download be regarded as an UNSUPPORTED DEMO (although there are no restrictions or limitations to the functionality). Some limited technical support may be offered on a LOW PRIORITY, email-only basis. If you have tried the system and want to put it to use for selling your own MP3s, please contact the developer for recommendations.

Requirements:
72 MB free disk space on dive c:
Windows XP, Vista or Win7.
Port 80 free (at least temporarily) on the test machine
(Installer size is 20 MB)
Download LittleMP3Shop Service Installer

Questions, feature requests, problem reports or other comments should be addressed to: info@interannex.com