beaTunes News

beaTunes 2.1.3 fixes non 44.1kHz problems

2010-01-27T08:58:00.002-05:00

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

2010-01-15T12:53:00.004-05:00

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

2010-01-14T06:15:00.005-05:00

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

2010-01-13T02:34:00.002-05:00

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

2010-01-06T11:54:00.003-05:00

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

2010-01-06T07:57:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-12-16T10:08:00.003-05:00

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!

Updates for KeyToComment and KeyToGrouping plugins

2009-12-16T09:51:00.003-05:00

As the API for beaTunes has slightly changed with 2.1, I'd wanted to post updates to both plugins. Note, that the location for Windows plugins has changed!

KeyToComment - jar - source
KeyToGrouping - jar - source

Don't forget to remove the old versions!

2009-12-15T13:16:00.001-05:00

Well, if things are going according to plan, I'll release beaTunes 2.1 tomorrow... Keep your fingers crossed!

EA6 for beaTunes 2.1

2009-12-09T06:31:00.002-05:00

We are definitely getting closer to the final 2.1 release. I really hope it still happens before Christmas...
Today's EA release focuses on cosmetic improvements, mainly for Windows, but also contains optimized duplicate deletion code (committing should be much faster now), additional online db interaction code and some improvements of the French localization. And as always, there is some more info in the NOTES.txt file.

Alright, 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 or previous versions (even though we make a reasonable effort)
This version will cease to function 2 weeks after its release
You cannot buy this version

And here are the download links:

Important

This EA version changes beaTunes' internal database layout quite a bit, which takes a while. Do not interrupt this process, even when it takes very long! On OS X, beaTunes 2.0 will not be able to use the database anymore, after you ran beaTunes 2.1. If you intend to try 2.1 and then go back to 2.0, make sure you back up the database before you try 2.1 (it's in ~/Library/Application Support/beaTunes/Database)! You also might want to check out this article about exporting beaTunes data.

Please provide feedback!

Thanks.

Java Update 1 for Snow Leopard

2009-12-05T11:24:00.003-05:00

The other day, Apple released Java Update 1 for Snow Leopard. I'd like to urge all beaTunes 2 users to install the update. The simplest way to do this, is to run the Software Updater (hiding in the Apple menu).

Among other things, the update fixes a nasty bug that leads to quite a few crashes.

beaTunes.com up and running again

2009-12-03T07:56:00.002-05:00

Some of you might have noticed that sometimes beatunes.com wasn't accessible during the last couple of days or that emails to support@beaTunes.com bounced back. Well, we had some troubles with our server, which should be solved now.

EA5 for beaTunes 2.1

2009-11-25T09:38:00.004-05:00

Another two weeks have passed and that means: A new EA release - EA5.

Just like previous EA releases it offers to use some online resources, but will (most likely) fail with an OnlineDBException.

The most important change EA5 has to offer, is probably the integration of lyricsfly. Lyricsfly offers access to many song lyrics and beaTunes now makes it easier than ever to automatically download them. Other improvements are enhanced drag and drop, a number of cosmetic changes and fixes for the database update procedure. And as always, there is some more info in the NOTES.txt file.

Alright, 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 or previous versions (even though we make a reasonable effort)
This version will cease to function 2 weeks after its release
You cannot buy this version

And here are the download links:

Important

Please provide feedback!

Thanks.

Update

The Use online resources feature should now be more or less functional, i.e. fewer OnlineDBExceptions.

EA4 for beaTunes 2.1

2009-11-11T04:45:00.002-05:00

I'd like to announce EA4 for beaTunes 2.1. Simply try it!

Just like EA3, EA4 offers to use some online resources, but will (most likely) fail with an OnlineDBException. And as always, there is some more info in the NOTES.txt file.

Alright, 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 or previous versions (even though we make a reasonable effort)
This version will cease to function 2 weeks after its release
You cannot buy this version

And here are the download links:

Important

Please provide feedback!

Thanks.

Update for Last.FM tag importer

2009-11-08T13:34:00.003-05:00

This is a small update for the Last.FM tag plugin... Couple of things got fixed. E.g. in some cases all tags were imported.

Binary plugin - just place into beaTunes' plugin folder (make sure to remove the old version!)
Source code - Maven2 project

Please see this posting to find out how to install the plugin.

Also, please note that the code is licensed under LGPL - so you are free to use it pretty much any way you want, modify it, make it better etc. The only thing that's missing from the source is the Last.fm API key - you would have to get your own. If you have any questions about the code, please contact me!

Update

Because it's been asked - this is how you change the number of tags that are included:

install Maven2
download the source code for the plugin from the news blog
edit the file LastFMTopThreeTags.java, line 236 (if (tags.size() >= 3) {) - you simply have to increase that number
make sure you enter a valid HTTP user agent and a valid Last.FM API key at the top of the file (there are comments telling you where)
build it with mvn clean install
the build result will be in the target subdirectory

And of course it always helps to read the README.txt file :-)

Please discuss possible problems in the (still quite new and empty) Plugins Forum.

Thanks!

beaTunes on par with other key analysis tools

2009-11-03T10:05:00.003-05:00

The good people at djtechtools.com just published an article comparing key analysis software. beaTunes was one of the four contenders and performed as well as the others. That said, two of the other tools were much more expensive and according to user comments the fourth has stability problems.

The article also points out, that 100% accurate key detection is a myth, as (in this fairly small test with n=50) all four tools have error rates of at least 30%.

EA3 for beaTunes 2.1

2009-10-28T10:00:00.003-05:00

EA3 for beaTunes 2.1 is out. It does not contain many changes - please see the NOTES.txt if you're interested.

Just like EA2, EA3 offers to use some online resources, but will (most likely) fail with an OnlineDBException.

Alright, 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 or previous versions (even though we make a reasonable effort)
This version will cease to function 2 weeks after its release
You cannot buy this version

And here are the download links:

Important

Please provide feedback!

Thanks.

Importing top three tags from Last.fm

2009-10-24T11:19:00.003-05:00

Inspired by a user request, I approached the good people at Last.fm to figure out how to import tags from their database. The work is not done, but here's a first shot at it. This plugin queries the Last.fm database and inserts the top three tags as comments into your songs and also into the beaTunes tag database. It's implemented as a SongAnalysisTask, meaning, it will show up as an analysis option when you analyze songs with beaTunes (it will be at the very bottom, so you probably have to scroll down to it). Make sure to try this on few songs before tagging your whole library!

Binary plugin - just place into beaTunes' plugin folder
Source code - Maven2 project

Please see this posting to find out how to install the plugin.

Wanna help?

2009-10-20T10:41:00.002-05:00

I'm looking to hire preferably a CS student from RTP to help me out with some development (especially plugin stuff) and email support. Interested? Then check out the listing.

EA2 for beaTunes 2.1

2009-10-14T06:48:00.003-05:00

So this is #2. The second Early Access (EA) release for 2.1. As I have written before, this is not supposed to reinvent the whole app. But still, beaTunes 2.1 introduces some bigger changes under the hood (see here).

This release fixes some issues EA1 had on XP, improves duplicate inspection further (fewer false positives), offers more options when importing MusicIP data and adds an enabled/disabled column.

Just like EA1, EA2 offers to use some online resources, but will (most likely) fail with an OnlineDBException.

Alright, 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 or previous versions (even though we make a reasonable effort)
This version will cease to function 2 weeks after its release
You cannot buy this version

And here are the download links:

Important

Please provide feedback!

Thanks.

Java-Anwendungen für Mac OS X

2009-10-07T09:30:00.002-05:00

For those of you who speak German - there is an article about Java programming for OS X in the current print edition of JavaSPEKTRUM (5/2009).

Thanks to Ken Orr and his fantastic MacWidget library. Also thanks to Dirk Lemmermann for providing screenshots on very short notice.

First Early Access release for 2.1

2009-09-30T10:39:00.005-05:00

For quite a while now, I have been working on beaTunes 2.1 - and no - it's not done, yet. But I'm making some progress. Enough to post an Early Access release to get some feedback from you.

So what's the idea behind 2.1?

Obviously it's not supposed to reinvent the whole app - otherwise I would have called it beaTunes 3. But nevertheless, it introduces some bigger changes under the hood. These two are the most important ones:

Java 6 support for OS X
64 Bit support for OS X

Both of these are supposed to be completely invisible to you, but will still make a difference in the long run, as Apple moves more and more towards 64 Bit (Snow Leopard being a big step into that direction) and discontinues QuickTime as we knew it.
A side-effect of these changes will be a change in system requirements. Because of its lack of certain 64 Bit APIs, OS X 10.4 is not supported anymore.

Additionally there are going to be small improvements, e.g. the duplicate detection now differentiates between songs that merely have the same title and those that also have the same album name. It also offers better solutions - e.g. keep the mp3 song with the highest bit-rate.

Another improvement will be a feature that lets you take advantage of additional online resources. This feature is not enabled yet and will lead to an error message (connection refused).

Alright, 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 or previous versions (even though we make a reasonable effort)
This version will cease to function 2 weeks after its release
You cannot buy this version

And here are the download links:

Important

This EA version changes beaTunes' internal database layout quite a bit, which takes a while. Do not interrupt this process, even when it takes very long! On OS X, beaTunes 2.0 will not be able to use the database anymore, after you ran beaTunes 2.1. If you intend to try 2.1 and then go back to 2.0, make sure you back up the database (it's in ~/Library/Application Support/beaTunes/Database)! You also might want to check out this article about exporting beaTunes data.

Please provide feedback!

beaTunes 2.0.16 released

2009-09-23T05:11:00.002-05:00

beaTunes 2.0.16 is another update that improves cooperation with iTunes 9. But not only that, a couple of other things got better and or faster. Details are in the NOTES.txt file in the package.

Please check it out!

beaTunes 2 update for iTunes 9

2009-09-17T11:13:00.002-05:00

The latest beaTunes 2 update (v2.0.15) contains fixes to better interoperate with iTunes 9. In other words: If you are using iTunes 9, please update!

That aside, 2.0.15 contains a couple of other important fixes/enhancements. The two most notable ones are:

Decoding audio on Windows is back to normal speed
Creating playlists on Windows got a lot faster

About the decoding speed. As you know, to measure BPM/key/color beaTunes has to decode mp3s (and other compression formats) to get to the raw audio data. To do so it uses QuickTime (or CoreAudio on OS X). Furthermore, beaTunes supports two different ways of decoding the data - one keeps the data in memory all the way, the other one decodes it to a temporary file. Usually the first is a lot faster, but when memory is tight, the latter is used. In the last couple of updates the in-memory-decoder was broken, which lead to much slower decoding and thus a much slower beaTunes. 2.0.15 fixes this issue.

About the playlists. Creating playlist got a lot faster in beaTunes 2.0.15, because I chose a different approach to add songs to an iTunes playlist. This cuts down playlist creation time by at least an order of magnitude on Windows systems, OS X systems may benefit as well.

I hope you enjoy these fixes/enhancements. Please let me know, if you find any more issues with iTunes 9. Thanks.

iTunes 9 troubles

2009-09-12T05:56:00.003-05:00

Yes, iTunes 9 is finally out. Unfortunately, Apple does not make pre-releases of iTunes available to developers (AFAIK), so there are (almost always) problems. In some cases beaTunes seems to show a NullPointerException. I'm working on it...

Update 9/13/2009: It seems the NPE only happens when using beaTunes 1 - it's due to the fact that iTunes 9 no longer exports the Library playlist in its iTunes Music Library.xml. Some problems in beaTunes 2 remain and will be solved in the next update. I'd also like to advise Windows users to restart their machines before using beaTunes after the iTunes 9 upgrade or installation.