Welcome to Jamie's (aka MAMEchick's) MAME CD Burning Site.
Sitting atop the San Andreas fault in beautiful Sunnyvale, California, U.S.A.

I am a member of the Lazarus (formerly Tombstones) CD Burning Network
and the Free MAME Rom Project.

Both of these projects are dedicated to making MAME roms available to anyone that wants them. Mame itself is free. The Roms are free. The only costs are shipping, packaging materials, and blank discs.

Now Burning 0.118!

Older versions are available. Contact me for details.

MAME32, the complete Windows version of MAME, is available from www.classicgaming.com/mame32qa
The DOS and Windows command line versions are available from www.mame.net
And ClrMamePro, the ultimate ROM management tool, is available at www.clrmame.com

If you have broadband internet, and have a Bittorrent client set up on your computer, you can download a full set (or updates!). Here's the info.

I am not currently accepting new requests until the backlog is worked out.

Personal issues have kept me away from burning, and I have a backlog. Not a huge one, but there are requests that are more than a month old. Given that there are now 18 DVDs in a full set, and it takes the better part of a week to grind through a round of discs, I don't feel comfortable taking requests and making people wait two to three more weeks as I get through the backlog.

I am taking a week off for a stay-at-home vacation in a few weeks, and I expect to get caught up with burning then.

Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. Yet Again.

Unexpected house move + Loads of unanticpated work + Injury + ISP going away + transferring to new ISP + Illness + New MAME version = Yet Another Delay.

Please keep in mind that I'm not doing this as a business; I'm doing it in my spare time in support of my hobby. I hate delayed shipments almost as much as you do.

Spam Filters!

Some lowlife recently sent out about a billion spam messages using a bogus mamechick.com address as the sender. I've been weeding out about 500 bounced messages a day; fortunately my spam filter has been catching most of them.

There are two problems that can come up as a result of this.

First, your message to me could be mistakenly caught by my spam filter. To avoid this, make sure you put the word MAME (all caps) in the subject, and my incoming filter will catch it before it gets to the spam filters.

Second, mamechick.com could well end up on one of the automated antispam lists, and automatically bounce anything coming from mamechick.com. So if you are expecting a reply, be sure to put jamie@mamechick.com in the "OK" list of your spam filter. If I get a spam bounce, I will try to do a resend from a different email address, but that takes time.

So, if you don't receive a reply, one of these could be why.

Pricing for 0.118

Full DVD Set: $30.

I've held the same price for several updates now. Fortunately, the media cost has been dropping at about the same rate as MAME has been expanding, though the recent jump from 12 to 20 discs is getting really close to the line. (Fortunately I found a local place that sells bulk name brand discs at a really good price.) This jump has removed my buffer that I use for such things as replacing worn-out DVD drives (they last about a year)

I am no longer burning CD sets. DVD-ROM drives are cheap, under $30 online! Get into the 21st century! :)

I keep getting asked... What's a CHD?

I've been asked why it takes so long to get a set out. Rest assured, I'm going as fast as I can. To give you an idea of how much time it takes:

I have four drives in my burning machine. While I can burn a single DVD at 20x, that speed puts far too much of a load on my system with four drives going at once. The "sweet spot" is burning at 6x, and it takes 30 to 45 minutes to burn and verify four copies. Given my odd work hours, I can get two, maybe three burns done in an evening. (Days off aren't much better... I can check the machine maybe once an hour to start a new burn, so I may get 8-10 burns done on a good day.) Given that there are 18 discs in the 0.118 ROM set, it can take as long as a week to get four complete sets out the door.

And when a new MAME version is released, it takes me a few days to get the updated ROMset downloaded and verified, and then a few more hours (basically an evening) to get them made up into sets to burn.

Just an idea of what I am doing... for free.

As an FYI, I can only get about two sets burned in a day, and those are days I don't have to work late or go to meetings. Keep in mind that FTC rules give me 30 days to ship after receiving your request.

And please don't go complaining if I haven't shipped a week after making your request!

Note: The MAME Emulator is NOT included on these discs! The MAME License does not allow it. See here for the relevant part.

I do ship internationally; contact me for details. My specific instructions for US shipments follow...

Send me $30 (with CHDs), or $15 (without CHDs) to cover materials and shipping (see Payment Information below). Be sure to specify that you want a full MAME ROM set, and include your mailing address. I will send you a full set (currently 20 DVDs with CHDs, 4 DVDs without) with all the available ROMs for the current version of MAME.

These DVDs have printed labels, and are in a good quality (not paper) sleeve.

Some people can't read simple instructions! Here are the conditions you must meet if you want me to use media you provide:

• Read this first!

• Send me a minimum of 20 blank DVDs. I recommend sending at least one extra, so if there's a bad burn (it happens!), you will still get a complete set. I'll return unused blanks unless you tell me to keep them.

• DVDs must be an accepted type. If you send me something not on the list, I will try one disc. If it doesn't work, you get everything mailed back to you -- still blank.

• Send me a loose Priority Mail stamp (whatever the current amount is). (By loose, I mean not stuck on anything, such as an envelope.) I use Flat Rate Priority Mail envelopes, and I have a whole stack of them right here. To be honest, though, I'd prefer postage paid in cash; I subscribe to a postage service, and get free delivery confirmation on Priority Mail.

• Jewel cases usually don't survive transit. I recommend putting them in sleeves, or simply wrapping them in paper and putting them in a padded envelope. Remember, the more stuff you send, the higher the postage cost.

Unless you already have the discs, or you want me to use a particular brand/type of disc, it's usually cheaper in the long run to simply have me buy the media for you.

In general, version updates are small, and fit on 1 disc. With the extra room on the disc, I put what I can fit from the current Extras disc on it at no extra charge.

For 1 disc updates, the basic disc is $3 delivered.

For bigger updates, it's generally $2 + $1 per disc.

If you just need a couple of files to fill in your collection, contact me. We can probably work something out.

If you are looking for samples, screen shots, icons, and the like, I try to keep up to date with these. If all you want is the "extras" disc, cost is $3. Please note that these "extras" are included on the DVD set, unless specifically noted above (under DVD Set).

I've been asked several times what exactly is on the Extras disc. It includes the files I have for: Artwork, Backgrounds, Cabinets, Flyers, Icons, Marquees, Samples, and Snapshots. Of these, only the Samples and Artwork are really needed for some games; the rest is just "window dressing" used by MAME32. Everything here is readily available on the net; much of it from mame.net and the MAME32 home site. It's just that it's a few hundred megs of stuff scattered in a number of places that makes it nice to have on disc.

Note: I try to keep these files current. Space permitting, I include all the files that are in the Pleasuredome "Extras" torrent. Sometimes they skip a version of MAME, but in that case very little (if anything) has changed.

FYI, if you want to know where to download them yourself, here are the links.

Domestic shipping by US Mail (Media Mail for CDs, First Class for DVDs) in a padded envelope is included in the amounts stated above.

East Coast people note: Media Mail can take two weeks or more to arrive from the time I mail it. You may wish to upgrade to Priority Mail, which normally takes 3-5 days. Please add $2.50 if you want me to send Priority Mail.

Priority Mail will NOT get your CDs to the post office any faster. I do not offer any type of expedited handling.

Note: I normally do NOT confirm receipt of payment. I will confirm receipt of mailed payments if you request it in the letter mailed.

Please contact me for shipments outside of the US. (Global Priority Mail is US$5 to most countries.)

While I've been called many things, Karnak the Magnificent is not among them. Please specify what you want. And please be sure to include a shipping address!

If you wish to mail me something, such as CDs or a money order, please read this first.

If you wish to use an online payment service, please use the address jamie@mamechick.com. However, remember that some charge the recipient a fee; please adjust the amount accordingly. Cash and money orders are also accepted. Contact me for the mailing address. Please note that this only covers the cost of materials and shipping. I do not make any money doing this. (And tips are always welcome!)

FYI, I recompress the files to maximum (using 7zip and ZipMax) before burning to CD. This reduces the set size by about 2-3% smaller than WinZip's "Maximum" level. While that doesn't sound like a lot, it's enough to put 0.64 on 12 CDs instead of 13. (It saved somewhere around 200 megs.)

Note that this a free and voluntary service; I will have to fit in your requests around *my* free time, and you will have to be patient until I complete your set.

Generally, expect a one week turnaround time, but this can vary with the increase in popularity of the service. Demands for higher priority will be ignored, and each member of the "burning team" reserves the right to withdraw the service if they are unhappy with the nature of the request.

There will likely be a delay in filling requests when a new version of MAME is released. In the past, I've obtained the new files within a week or so of the new release, and there may be a backlog to fill. If there is a delay, I will let you know (via the website) when I've obtained the files and started burning, and via email when I've mailed your discs.

Also, remember that I do this in what little spare time I have. There are times when work and personal issues keep me from my computer for several days at a time. This is not unique to me; this happens with every burner. Please be patient; I burn requests in the order they are received. Federal (US) law gives me 30 days to ship after receiving your payment; please don't whine at me if I haven't shipped two days after you submit payment. (The burners do have a private email list, and yes, we do laugh at people who do such things.)

Jamie - Co-creator of the group, along with Dana, who is back in school. Burning, mailing, tracking, and the web page are all in my domain.

Alicyn - The resident Photoshop expert. She's the one who created all the labels for the Deluxe sets.

Equipment - I started on a Celeron 400 with a 12x burner, when a full set fit on 7 CDs. I wouldn't recommend such a slow burner today, as it would take several hours to burn a single set. I've gone through a few drives since then, and now have dual 8x DVD burners running the current version Nero. (System is running dual Athlon MP 2200+s.)

On May 12, 2002, I sent my first ROM set, a 7 CD set of 0.60, to a requestor in Washington, DC. Since then, I've filled an average of nearly one request per day. Nearly 85% of those requests were for full sets, which took more than an hour to burn. Now, with the easy availability of the update torrents, nearly 100% of my requests are for full sets, which (really!) takes two evenings to burn and verify two sets.

Why do I do this? Because I am a believer in the MAME project, and I want to do something to help it. My programming skills aren't of the caliber needed to actually be a developer, and I don't have any games obscure enough to donate ROM images to the team. With the loss of the mame.dk repository, I saw the need for there to be an inexpensive way for others to get ROM images. I found the Tombstones group, and since I had the necessary equipment (and a complete MAME 0.60 ROM set), I decided to join. Before I started, there were no women burners that I was aware of. Even today, I'm not aware of any other women directly involved in the burning process.

Please note that I am not selling ROM images. They are copyrighted, and selling them would be illegal. The amount that I am asking for barely covers the cost of materials. (I calculated that my first set sent out, 7 CDs for MAME 0.60, cost me 6.98 in materials and shipping. I was sent $7 via Paypal, and then Paypal goes and keeps 50 cents of it for their fee...)

Of course, that doesn't include wear on the CD writer, gas to go to the post office, gas to go to buy the CD-Rs, electricity to run the computer,and so on. Not to mention the annoyance of the time my computer is tied up burning the ROMs. To be honest, we lose money doing this.

The demand is there for these roms. One guy was making $60 a pop selling 7 CD 0.60 ROM sets on eBay, until they (correctly) shut him down. I know that I could get $50 a set if I wanted to; a number of people do send that much because they want to. But I'm not doing this to make money. I'm doing this to help people enjoy MAME, and will continue to do so as long as finances permit. I believe in MAME.