mekentosj.com | Disctop Pro - Where did my CD go?

Overview: We made Disctop to bring a bit of fun in working with your brand new iMac G5, although it can be of use as well, and not only for owners of an iMac. Normally when you insert a CD in your Mac it disappears, but where does it go? They simply pop up on your desktop! After installing Disctop, your inserted CD or DVD slides in from the side and neatly fades back into your desktop picture. Now you always know if there's a disc inside, and what type it is. Of course there are plenty of things to tweak and make Disctop fit your Mac perfectly. | Download >>

iMac Core Duo

For Pros and Featherweights: In the two months after its release, Disctop was downloaded almost 20.000 times, and we received many enthousiastic reactions on both the internet and by email. The nicest description of Disctop we've seen to date is: "Useless, but indispensable", that's exactly the idea behind the program. Still, we couldn't resist implementing some of the suggestions we received, and today we announce the availability of Disctop Pro with some stunning new features. Best of all the Pro version is still free! Of course, for those that like the plain version of Disctop, the lightweight original version is still available.
New in Disctop Pro: Move mouse over buttons to learn more...; Where did my CD go? - Both the Lite and Pro version of Disctop display your CDs on your desktop, are easy to install, automatically adjust to your type of Mac, and are great eye candy. Checkout what Disctop Pro has to offer in addition using the icons above.
Disctop now available in Japanese!: Not only does Disctop now support downloading of coverart from Amazon Japan, the program itself is now completely translated in Japanese as well. The same holds true for Dutch, or Nederlands as the dutchmen say, French or Français, German or Deutsch, Italian or Italiano, Portuguese or Português, Danish or Dansk, and Traditional Chinese. But that's not all. Would you like to see Disctop in your favourite language as well? Then that's all up to you! Download the translation package below, read the enclosed and instructions and send us the translated files. All it requires is a texteditor, it's really easy, and everyone can do it! | Download package >>
Amazon Candy Store: Disctop Pro automatically searches the Amazon website to download artwork. But that's not all, Disctop allows you to search the complete Amazon candy store. Fire up the search panel and you can instantly search for all available albums of U2 or all CDs of Elvis. Then it's only one click with the mouse and Disctop will bring you to the right page at the Amazon website. This could not have been possible without the opensource program Clutter which inspired us to bring these features to Disctop, and formed the basis for implementation behind the scenes. Be sure to check out the Sprote website!
Tips and Tricks: Did you know that you can right click (or control click) the miniature covers in the search window? It will show you a menu that allows you to do all kinds of neat things. For instance, do you want more info on that album, one click of the mouse will bring you to the Amazon website and show you all the details. You can also check whether that album is available for download in the iTunes Music Store. Finally, this menu enables you to copy the cover art to the clipboard, after which you can paste it in iTunes for instance. Isn't that handy?!; You can let Disctop search for Audio-CD artwork automatically, but did you know you can set an image for EVERY type of disc? Data CDs and DVDs, Hollywood DVDs, etc. You can search Amazon in several sections using the menu under the little loop icon, or choose a file on your harddisk, and Disctop will remember your choice. You can even copy images from programs like Safari and iPhoto. Open the search window and the content of the clipboard will automatically appear.; If you want to demonstrate Disctop to your friends, use Expose to quickly hide all windows. Watch those faces when the real CD pops up on your desktop.
Wallpapers: We created some cool wallpapers that show the internals of your machine semi-transparently through the desktop. Disctop now makes your CD neatly fade into the drive mechanism!; Pick your type of Mac to download the desktop with the proper resolution...
Further customize your Disctop: Did you ever wanted to customize Disctop with your logo? Or just wanted to have some fun and change the picture of the CD into something else? In this tutorial we show you how to do it. Use your creativity and send us your suggestions, including a proposed name. | Tutorial >>

How does it work?

Disctop consists of two parts, a preference pane to control Disctop's behaviour, and an invisible daemon application that runs in the background. The daemon is informed if the status of your optical drive changes by the DiscRecording framework, and acts accordingly.

Now do you really want to know how it works? With the release of Disctop Pro, we have decided to share the source code of Disctop Lite in return for all the help we have received from the wonderful Mac developer community.

Download Source Code >>

Timing is everything

Below you find some of the ejection delays we suggest for each model:

eMac 1.7s
iBook G4 3.8s
iMac G3 1.7s
iMac G4 1.3s
iMac G5 1.9s
iMac G5 iSight 3.5s
iMac Core Duo 2.5s
iBook Glass 2.8s - New
MacBook 3.9s - New
PowerBook G4 12'' 2.1s
PowerBook G4 15'' 1.9s
PowerBook G4 17'' 4.0s
PowerBook G4 Titanium 1.7s
PowerMac G4 1.1s
PowerMac G5 0.5s

If your model is not in the list, or if you think these numbers are not correct, send us an email with the timing that works best for your Mac and we'll add it to the list..

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Together with Amazon:

Intel ready

Yes, the latest version of Disctop now runs natively on intel-based macs!

Learn more >>

Problems and Feedback

Although we have tried to make Disctop work flawlessly wherever possible, if you encounter any problems please check our FAQ to see if this is a known issue. If not, don't hesitate to contact us by email. Also, all suggestions and/or comments are more than welcome!

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System Requirements

Disctop works with any Mac model with an optical drive capable of writing CDs, running MacOSX 10.4 or later and is available in: