beaTunes 2.1.3 fixes non 44.1kHz problems

Considering that today's beaTunes release coincides with Apple's big media event, I don't expect for this to be noticed much... Anyhow, let's try!

As mentioned recently in this blog, beaTunes 2.1 had some problems on OS X with files not sampled at the standard 44.1Khz. This was due to a bug in the beaTunes code that interacts with the CoreAudio/QTKit decoders. This problem should be fixed for now. Note, that on Windows this problem was never an issue (and no, this does not mean Window is somehow better, it just means my code for Windows was somewhat better).

The changes made to fix this bug, may also lead to better support of other, more exotic audio formats, that only QuickTime supports.

The second nice thing in this release is the addition of genre and release year import in the MusicIP analysis task. So, if the genre and release year are in the MusicIP database, beaTunes should be able to import them.

Enjoy!

Problems with sample rates other than 44.1kHz on OS X

On OS X, beaTunes 2.1 seems to have a problem with audio files not sampled at the standard 44.1kHz. I believe, I have found a workaround, but it's not quite ready to be posted as update. But I would appreciate it, if people who actually encounter this problem, gave this dev-snapshot a shot and provided some feedback. Thanks!

Online DB down

While yesterday's database update was successful, ironically, the supposedly improved backup procedure caused some database corruption. I'm currently working on recovering the database and expect to have it back online around noon EST.

For the time being, that means that you may encounter java.net.ConnectExceptions when using online resources during beaTunes analysis. Should the analysis not proceed without the online lookup, you can uncheck Use Online Resources in the Analysis Options dialog to avoid the online lookup altogether.

Thank you for your patience.

Update: The database is up again.

Online DB Outages

There will be temporary online db outages today starting at 3AM EST due to server updates.

Update: The database is up and running again.

Skipping tags and lyrics

I hate to do this, but apparently there is and has been a bug in beaTunes 2.1 that can lead to beaTunes skipping some analysis steps when using Use Online Resources. Under certain circumstances, plugins like the Last.FM plugin may simply be skipped. The workaround is obviously to turn Use Online Resources off, when using said plugin. I promise this issue will be fixed in the next update. For those of you, who need a solution right now - fell free to use this 2.1.2 dev snapshot for OS X.

First round of fixes

The holidays are over, the snow has melted (at least here) and the first round of fixes for 2.1 is ready to be released. Well, actually, beaTunes 2.1.1 just has been released.

So what's in it for you?

A bunch of little things like corrected typos in the French localization, but also fixes for potential deadlocks, some UI issue fixes etc. Plus, and this is something I rarely get to write, I managed to reduce the size of the download a little by kicking out xerces - beaTunes now uses the JRE's XML parser.

Thanks to changes in the online database, UI feedback for online resource tasks should be vastly improved. Also, as more and more users are submitting their analysis results to the database, the chance that you benefit from the database has increased quite a bit. I hope that this trend continues, so that we can reduce the amount of locally executed analysis even more.

That's it for now. Enjoy 2.1.1!

beaTunes 2.1 is out!

I'm glad to announce that beaTunes 2.1 is out! Here's the corresponding press release.

So, what's new?

Well, a bunch of things. If you have been following this blog you know, that 2.1 is not about re-inventing the whole app. It's mostly a maintenance release coupled with a bunch of neat improvements. Let's start with the maintenance part.

Apple has been steadily moving away from 32 bit APIs - including QuickTime for OS X. As a consequence I have adjusted the QuickTime binding for beaTunes to speak 64 bit. In other words it can now use the newer, 64 bit QTKit API for decoding and playing audio files. Note, that beaTunes still prefers to use CoreAudio in most cases, which never had any 32/64 bit issues.

For years the Linux and the Windows world have been enjoying Java 6. But under OS X 10.5 it was only available in 64 bit. Now that beaTunes supports 64 bit, I have moved the OS X version to Java 6 as well. This should make beaTunes a little zippier and will allow odd things like an insertion line when using drag and drop in a playlist. Previously, the location for drops was marked by a selection background color, which didn't make it possible to deduce whether the item is going to be inserted above or below the selected drop location. Java 6 also simplified a bunch of internal code, as it allows me to call library functions instead of having to do stuff myself. Let's just hope that Java 7 will make it to OS X a little faster...

But not all the maintenance for 2.1 was technical. A couple of inspections should do a much better job now. E.g. the Rarely Used Genre Inspection - it now lists the genres in question in order and displays the number of times each is used. This should make it easier to make informed decisions, when getting rid of a genre.

Another improved inspection is the Duplicate Inspection. Actually deleting duplicates is much faster in large collections. You also have much better solution choices (e.g. keep highest bitrate).

Besides the improvements, there are also some real additions, spanking new features. You can now import lyrics from Lyricsfly. There is also a new Disc Number Inspection, that lets you remove "Disc 4"-style parts of album names and automatically add that information into the corresponding disc number field.

Another new feature is the addition of an online database. This allows users to retrieve other user's anonymized analysis results. The deal is, that if you want to get data from the database, you also agree to anonymously submit data to it. Everybody benefits.

Here are the most important changes as list:

• 64 bit support on OS X
• Java 6 support on OS X
• Added lyrics import from Lyricsfly
• Added disc number inspection
• Added capability to import id3 tags ASIN, ISRC and mood
• Added capability to import Amazon ids (from mp3 downloads)
• Added column for checked/unchecked songs
• Added capabilty to communicate with online db
• Improved rarely used genre inspection
• Improved duplicate inspection
• Improved database layout
• Improved drag and drop within playlists
• Improved control over what is imported by MusicIP/Amplified Music analysis task
• Tag clouds now in scroll panes
• Moved location of app data on Windows
• Many other small improvements and fixes

Thanks to everybody who helped making this release possible. Especially those of you who tested early access versions and made valuable suggestions!