Don't embed non-iTunes fields!

It has come to my attention that in some cases EA13 of beaTunes 2 doesn't correctly embed non-iTunes fields into audio files. I highly recommend to turn this feature off altogether for EA13. To do so, just open the Preferences, open the General tab and uncheck Embed non-iTunes fields into audio files.

Save some money - get the beaTunes-iP2F-bundle

Christmas is coming closer and just like you I need to buy stuff for the loved ones. So to make this easier for both of us, I decided to put a beaTunes-iP2F-bundle out there. With current prices you save about $8 compared to buying the two products individually. Obviously this only makes sense for OS X users, as iP2F is only available for the Mac.

Sort that color!

And another two weeks have passed... Major improvements in this release are improved stability when analyzing multiple songs in parallel, improved MusicIP data import and I switched sorting by color back to HSB instead of RGB - it just looks better, even though it certainly isn't perfect either. Last but not least, some database queries should be slightly faster - and I really hope to improve query speed some more for the next release.

And here's the obligatory warning: Before downloading and installing this, please make sure you understand what Early Access means:

• Absolutely no warranty for whatever
• Features may or may not work, appear, and disappear
• It may not be possible to migrate data to future versions (even though we make a reasonable effort)
• This version will cease to function 2 weeks after its release
• You cannot buy this version

Just so that there is no doubt about it: EA13 isn't even a beta version.

And here are the download links:

• beaTunes-2-0-0-EA13 (OS X)
• beaTunes-2-0-0-EA13 (Windows)

Note for EA12 users

Some updates to the database.

Streamlined syncing with iTunes

It's been a very busy two weeks - unfortunately beaTunes 2 got only two major enhancements, but at least important ones. EA12 features a more streamlined synchronization with iTunes. In essence, longer syncs that update most of beaTunes' internal database should be a thing of the past. I also fixed that annoying deselection bug in the main table view that occurred after syncing.

And here's the obligatory warning: Before downloading and installing this, please make sure you understand what Early Access means:

• Absolutely no warranty for whatever
• Features may or may not work, appear, and disappear
• It may not be possible to migrate data to future versions (even though we make a reasonable effort)
• This version will cease to function 2 weeks after its release
• You cannot buy this version

Just so that there is no doubt about it: EA12 isn't even a beta version.

And here are the download links:

• beaTunes-2-0-0-EA12 (OS X)
• beaTunes-2-0-0-EA12 (Windows)

Note for EA11 users

None.

Finding the Key

In the past two weeks a bunch of things have changed on the analysis front. I got to test the new key analysis algorithm from EA10 and as a result completely rewrote it. Accuracy of the results should be much better now. I also introduced a second BPM detection algorithm called SimpleSoundEnergy, which is generally faster than the original one, but not quite as accurate. This is hopefully great for folks who quickly want to scan huge collections and don't care as much about accuracy.

Of course I fixed a bunch of little things that are too tedious to list here. But you might want to know, that I added a couple of new inspectors. The amazon album version inspector lets you easily remove the (Album Version) suffix that Amazon likes to append to their mp3 titles. The rarely used genre inspector let's you find genres that are hardly used and maybe should be replaced by other genres. Lastly, I added an inspection that finds dupes with different ratings and lets you adjust them.

And here's the obligatory warning: Before downloading and installing this, please make sure you understand what Early Access means:

• Absolutely no warranty for whatever
• Features may or may not work, appear, and disappear
• It may not be possible to migrate data to future versions (even though we make a reasonable effort)
• This version will cease to function 2 weeks after its release
• You cannot buy this version

Just so that there is no doubt about it: EA11 isn't even a beta version.

And here are the download links:

• beaTunes-2-0-0-EA11 (OS X)
• beaTunes-2-0-0-EA11 (Windows)

Note for EA10 users

There will be some updates to the database. Make sure the analysis queue is empty before starting EA11 for the first time. If that is not possible, please note that BPM tasks that are still in the queue will probably fail.

Fixes, Fixes, Fixes

Wow - EA9 brought a couple of issues to light, which I hopefully have addressed in today's EA10. So expect a bunch of more or less obvious fixes. OutOfMemoryErrors are hopefully a thing of the past...

The biggest new item is the spanking new tonal key analysis. Finally, beaTunes now knows how to fill that key field it already supported for quite a while. However, the algorithm still needs some testing and tuning, so results may vary.

And here's the obligatory warning: Before downloading and installing this, please make sure you understand what Early Access means:

• Absolutely no warranty for whatever
• Features may or may not work, appear, and disappear
• It may not be possible to migrate data to future versions (even though we make a reasonable effort)
• This version will cease to function 2 weeks after its release
• You cannot buy this version

Just so that there is no doubt about it: EA10 isn't even a beta version.

And here are the download links:

• beaTunes-2-0-0-EA10 (OS X)
• beaTunes-2-0-0-EA10 (Windows)

Note for EA9 users

There will be some updates to the database.

Dealing with Leopard Java Update 2

Those of you who use beaTunes on Leopard and installed the recent Java Update 2 probably have noticed that a couple of buttons as well as table headers look a little odd (behavior described here). Margins have changed and somehow the table headers seem to be painted twice. The latest beaTunes update should fix all these problems.