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Seedling's Software / Re: Hi Everyone / Random MixTape Maker ideas

« Last post by parpfish on February 09, 2009, 08:31 AM »

Hi Seedling

Results from the (still open) Hydrogen Audio 2009 encoding poll

Lossless

FLAC [64.29%]
WavPack [16.22%]
TAK [6.37%]
Monkey's Audio [2.12%]
Apple Lossless [2.51%]

Lossy

MP3 [59.46%]
Ogg Vorbis [13.71%]
AAC (MP4, M4A, AAC) [17.37%]
MPC [4.25%]
WavPack lossy [0.19%]

For context here's a graph of previous results:
http://img206.images...g206/3774/ha1fg1.png

By the way it's worth remembering that this is only HA members and though audio enthusiasts they are nor representative of the mass, but perhaps more a sign of future trends. I think the trend is in some ways more significant than the "market share".

Anyway, thought you might find it interesting.

P.

Seedling's Software / Re: Hi Everyone / Random MixTape Maker ideas

« Last post by parpfish on November 15, 2008, 10:27 PM »

Hi Seedling,

Hope all is well with you. Looks like you've been busy.

Just wondering if there's any chance you can add TAK support to RMTM? In case you don't know, TAK uses APE tags like WavPack.

More about TAK here:
http://www.hydrogena....php?showtopic=52212
http://www.hydrogena....php?showtopic=54721

Thanks in advance for your consideration.

Cheers,

P.

ps. Did you get my reply re. HA post a while back?

pps. Any news on dealing with filenames that include an additional fullstop or "period" prior to the extension, e.g. :

filename.something.flac

Seedling's Software / Re: feature suggestion

« Last post by parpfish on March 26, 2008, 08:34 PM »

if flac files are allowed and the file in question has the extension '.flac' then it checks the standard structure of the file to verify that it is, indeed, a flac file. i suppose i could save a lot of headaches by eliminating this rigid check and just check extension only, but i don't like that idea.
-seedling (March 23, 2008, 02:19 PM)

Interesting. It's strange, because lossy.flac files are FLAC files, so the "standard structure" of the file is that of a FLAC file. LossyWAV works by rounding bits below the noise floor or outside perceptual hearing to produce a WAV file that the lossless encoders can compress more efficiently. So there shouldn't be anything odd about the actual FLAC file, it's just that the WAV it encoded has more zeros in it than would have been the case if LossyWAV hadn't been used.

Anyway, thanks for considering the ideas, and good luck with getting your system up and running.

P.

Seedling's Software / Re: feature suggestion

« Last post by parpfish on March 13, 2008, 07:16 PM »

hi seedling

Been using latest build -- very nice and is working really well, so thanks for all your hard work

.
I have two suggestions, one I think is pretty minor and probably (at the moment) marginal, the other comes about from using RMTM with a large collection.

Suggestion 1 is a request really, and suggestion 2 is more a thought - something to consider - more than anything else.

1) Is it possible to add support for lossy.flac files (see here: http://www.hydrogena....php?showtopic=56129) or really any lossy.wav file compressed with a lossless codec, ie files with the following extensions:

*.lossy.* (i.e. *.lossy.flac; *.lossy.wv; *.lossy.ape; *.lossy.wav)

It looks like the lossyWAV project is going to really take off due to a) transparency b) avoiding transcoding issues from psychoacoustic lossless compression formats (MP3 etc) and c) major reductions in the compression performances of lossless codecs on lossy.wav files.

I tried to add a lossy.flac file to my must have list and it wasn't having any of it - so it looks like RMTM doesn't yet recognise this format (hardly surprising - though I thought it might just look at the last part of the extension i.e. .flac).

My one other suggestion is to do with getting round RMTM's relatively long initial scan time (for large collections) to create a playlist.

It seems to me that there would be 2 possible approaches:

1) The easy (fix) method:
Have an option to load RMTM at startup and allow it to do a low resource/idle time only background scan while in the system tray. So when you choose to run it, it already has scanned the directories and only need to respond to the filters applied. Don't know if that makes sense - or is possible.

2) The nightmare method (in term of work - I would have thought - though don't know)
Use an SQL-Lite database which is refreshed on opening. Thus for collections > 10,000 tracks the processing is relatively fast. But I imagine this would require a re-write?

That said, I've been using foobar's foo_custom_info component which reads and writes additional info to an SQL database which is completely outside of foobar's core program. Thus wouldn't it be possible to use a similar method whereby after the scan RMTM writes the gathered info to a SQL DB and then queries that in the future, leaving it for the user to decide when to re-scan and thus refresh the DB of tagged and filename info. Anyway - I'm not technical enough to know if this is feasible or not.

Like I say, just ideas really.

P.

Seedling's Software / Re: Mixtape Maker: Updates and Latest Beta Versions Here

« Last post by parpfish on February 13, 2008, 08:44 AM »

re: window size: i just checked my copy and it seems to retain the window size i last have it set to. i will say that there is a minimum window size set statically to 800 x 600 (for folks who still use this antiquated display size) so you can't make it any smaller than that. i'm not exactly sure if this is what you're experiencing. but if you enlarge, stretch, or whatever beyond its minimum size, it should (and does with my copy) retain that window size and position to be restored upon next run. i suppose i could get rid of the 'minimum size' to allow the form to be shrunk down (if so desired); is this what you're asking for?
-seedling (January 25, 2008, 02:59 PM)

I've worked out what it is:

As you may be able to see from the screenshot, I have a double-width Taskbar (see the chunk of blue below the Start button). Thus RMTM was indeed remembering that its last position was Maximised (res. = 1024 x 768). However it was also (and still is) making an assumption that my Taskbar is single-width. Thus as you can see in the screenshot - the bottom of RMTM is hidden behing the Taskbar and there is headroom at the top -- you can see the other application (foobar) is at the very top of the screen. This is why I couldn't move the window around - as the program believes it is maximised (and in a sense it truly is) it just doesn't look like it; and thus the program is not truly returning to its previous position on last exit. (The Screenshot was taken having closed a Maximised RMTM and then re-opened it --- I should have made that clear).

I hope that explains the problem. Only awkward folk like me (who have double-width taskbars) will experience this problem. Give it a go if you're happy to mess around with your desktop, icons, quicklaunch stuff and you use Win XP.

-parpfish (January 25, 2008, 07:21 PM)

@ seedling -- Did you fix the window maximise with double width taskbar problem above when you did the new redundancy option? Because that problem has gone away. It now opens maximised and takes into account double width taskbar

General Software Discussion / Re: Simple audio DB app. to launch default player

« Last post by parpfish on February 06, 2008, 12:13 AM »

MusicIP can be set up to play with an external player.
Its db is lightning fast.

It has some issues; tagging speed is not very good, GUI usability is so-so, and doesn't support APE tags, but overall it could be a good contender.

It has some niceties derived from having fingerprinting: fix tags, fig artist are some of them. Worth a try I'd say. It does support drag and drop, but not to foobar

I think mediamonkey can use an external player as well.
-urlwolf (February 05, 2008, 04:47 PM)

Thanks for that. So far MusicIP is the best candidate. I read their privacy policy though and decided to block all its .exe files from accessing the internet (i.e. their servers) - I just don't like the idea of my entire music collection being scanned, validated and ID'd so that some marketing types in California can sell some data - regardless of whether it's tied to my IP address. I just don't trust them.

That aside, without its fingerprinting/analysis it still functions pretty well as a database.
Not perfect but by far the best so far.

I shall continue to search.

Tried a number of Lashiec's media/disk cataloguers. Some came close-ish and that's an area I hadn't looked at - so thanks Lashiec - I'll keep looking in that area.

Finally, yes I'd tried MediaMonkey. Would be nice if it was more flexible with its UI, if I remember it didn't let me decide what I wanted to look at, couldn't reorder cols, widen certain panes etc... MM does launch an external player but only if it's winamp. Tried fooling it into thinking foobar was winamp but with little joy. Also was a bit cluttered -- again very good app but for my purposes it's trying to do too much. I'm already happy with much of the software I use which MM duplicates.

Thanks again to all who responded -- if I find the near-perfect solution - will let you know. If I don't I might have to stick with MusicIP. Though if I'm honest I would rather someone here hacked around with musikCube's source (it is open source afterall), removed the player, allowed for a wider range of media types (including video), and let the new program launch the default player for each file type. That would be perfect --- Wavs launching in CoolEdit, Video in Media Player Classic and everything else in in Foobar.

All the best.
P.

General Software Discussion / Re: Simple audio DB app. to launch default player

« Last post by parpfish on February 05, 2008, 01:58 PM »

BTW, is that page yours? Looks quite interesting
-Lashiec (February 05, 2008, 11:14 AM)

If you mean: http://www.giantpygmy.net/
Yes.

Thanks for the reply, appreciate it.

To clarify, I'm not looking to duplicate functionality - far from it. I'm looking to seperate functionality. i.e. to have 2 applications - one that deals with the library/db the other that deals with playing.

Foobar and musikCube are fine for me (though if a pure database existed I would use it instead of musikCube - as I use mC as a db and foobar as a player for a variety of good reasons). IMO both apps require additional components to function well and my friend wanted something that "worked out of the box" and that seemed like a fair enough request. It got me thinking about why I was struggling so hard to come up with a good recommendation.

It seems to me that the real issue is about the role the application plays.

When you look at a database / library of your audio/media files - you expect the UI to take up the whole screen or pretty much. When you are playing those files you expect it to take up almost none of the screen. One process occupies your attention, the other does not (until you want to click "next" or "stop"). Thus, I don't see why these two activities shouldn't be split off into two applications, one which is a pure database and one which is a pure player.

I'm a big fan of Seedling's Random MixTape Maker (RMTM), precisely because he doesn't pretend it's an all in one solution, when it's done its job it hands over the next job (that of playing) to your default player. Why? Because RMTM's job is to pick files; an audio player's job is to play files. Likewise a database's job is to order, search, find, compile, and query files.

That's perhaps the best way I can put it.

Developers tend toward functionality creep - "oh since it's doing this we might as well make it do that too"., since it reads tags, lets also make it a tagger, etc..

It seems to me silly to have a program which does A, B, C, X, Y, and Z, when you're either doing A or B or X etc..

Example:

I use theFrontend for encoding; MP3Gain or WavGain for replay gain(ing); TagScanner/MP3 BookHelper/MP3Tag for Tagging; Easy CD Extractor for ripping etc...

These programs are on when they're doing the job and off when they're not. Using an application that combines all these things is like having Windows XP open ALL my applications in case I might want to use some of them. Seems a waste of resources. Likewise why have my database on when my player is busy playing a tonne of music from it?

The only app that comes to mind that it's not listed there is JRiver Media Center, but... hmmm, that is a complete media jukebox. Not in my tastes, but it could fit you, as it's awfully powerful. Ah, yes, and maybe MP3 Collector.
-Lashiec (February 05, 2008, 11:14 AM)

Is MP3 Collector freeware? I could only see the 15 day Trial version.

ps. Agree with you about JRiver Media Center, not to my taste either.

P.

General Software Discussion / Simple audio DB app. to launch default player

« Last post by parpfish on February 05, 2008, 10:56 AM »

Hi all,

I've been searching for ages for the following:

Some kind of fast db application (that uses something like SQL/lite) that can read (media file) tags (particularly ID3 & Ape). When records are clicked on they open in the default player (and can be moved to player via drag & drop).

The nearest thing to this I've found is (the open source) musikCube:
http://www.musikcube.com/page/main

However, it functions as a player, and does not have the option to use external / default player.

The point of this is that in my opinion most audio players do not do the database/library function very well.
And most database / library based audio players do not do the player part very well (esp. playing internet streams and the like). In my opinion foobar is the only exception, but it's a huge pain to configure.

The reason this has come about, is that someone asked me if I knew of a) a good player that plays all major audio types (mp3, ogg, aac, mpc, flac, wavpack etc.) with b) a good library that updates on opening, and c) that was easy to use / configure?

There are plenty of player like Spider Player, Xion, VU and many others that require very little configuration, but they have zero db functionality.

---

So a db like musikCube with a skinned (out of the way) player like Xion
http://xion.r2.com.a...one/Essence_full.jpg would work well, furthermore, if the db application could handle all media files then launch them in the associated player it would be even better. For me that would mean db app would launch .avi files in Media Player Classic and all audio in foobar.

I've recently posted a similar thread at HA:
http://www.hydrogena....php?showtopic=61021

If such an application doesn't exist - does anyone here fancy making it.

By the way to see a list of player / library players already tested go here:
http://www.giantpygm...ons/play/player.html

Thanks for your time.

P.

Seedling's Software / Re: Mixtape Maker: Updates and Latest Beta Versions Here

« Last post by parpfish on January 29, 2008, 09:41 PM »

Very nice !

& very fast.

P.

Seedling's Software / Re: Mixtape Maker: Updates and Latest Beta Versions Here

« Last post by parpfish on January 29, 2008, 07:14 PM »

Oh, didn't realise -- probably hadn't had redundancy so low before to notice.

Would be a nice option in my opinion.

P.

Seedling's Software / Re: Mixtape Maker: Updates and Latest Beta Versions Here

« Last post by parpfish on January 28, 2008, 09:58 PM »

hi seedling

minor bug to report:

in the latest version the "Redundancy Check" filters the "Must Have List":

eg. Redundancy = 1

2 Rolling Stones in the Must Have List

Output = 1 Rolling Stones song.

I'm assuming "Must Have" has to trump all other filters, since it's MUST Have.

All the best

(ps. enjoying the new version v. much!)

P.

Seedling's Software / Re: Mixtape Maker: Updates and Latest Beta Versions Here

« Last post by parpfish on January 25, 2008, 07:21 PM »

re: window size: i just checked my copy and it seems to retain the window size i last have it set to. i will say that there is a minimum window size set statically to 800 x 600 (for folks who still use this antiquated display size) so you can't make it any smaller than that. i'm not exactly sure if this is what you're experiencing. but if you enlarge, stretch, or whatever beyond its minimum size, it should (and does with my copy) retain that window size and position to be restored upon next run. i suppose i could get rid of the 'minimum size' to allow the form to be shrunk down (if so desired); is this what you're asking for?
-seedling (January 25, 2008, 02:59 PM)

I've worked out what it is:

As you may be able to see from the screenshot, I have a double-width Taskbar (see the chunk of blue below the Start button). Thus RMTM was indeed remembering that its last position was Maximised (res. = 1024 x 768). However it was also (and still is) making an assumption that my Taskbar is single-width. Thus as you can see in the screenshot - the bottom of RMTM is hidden behing the Taskbar and there is headroom at the top -- you can see the other application (foobar) is at the very top of the screen. This is why I couldn't move the window around - as the program believes it is maximised (and in a sense it truly is) it just doesn't look like it; and thus the program is not truly returning to its previous position on last exit. (The Screenshot was taken having closed a Maximised RMTM and then re-opened it --- I should have made that clear).

I hope that explains the problem. Only awkward folk like me (who have double-width taskbars) will experience this problem. Give it a go if you're happy to mess around with your desktop, icons, quicklaunch stuff and you use Win XP.

Hope this clarifies the window position problem -- let me know if I''m still not being clear.

As regards the other stuff.
Cool on both counts (M3U drag and drop, and ID3 v2)

All the best

P.

Seedling's Software / Re: Mixtape Maker: Updates and Latest Beta Versions Here

« Last post by parpfish on January 24, 2008, 08:54 PM »

hi seedling

have been using the new version and it's working a treat!

thought you might like to know of a couple of really minor issues you may want to look into:

1) There seems to be a problem with the window when the program is started. It always defaults to the position below:

2) I thought it was possible to drag a .m3u playlist into the "must have list" or "blacklist" (though I could be wrong? -- perhaps it never was? --- if so, please ignore.)

3) Was wondering whether it would be possible to tell the program which order to check the tags -- i'll explain:

I tag my files with MP3Tag and/or MP3 BookHelper - this means that the ID3 v2.3 tags are filled first, then the program writes the "values" to the ID3 v.1.1 tags. As you know, long strings such as:

"Stage TV & Studio Recordings 1968 - 1970" in ID3 v2.3, look like this in ID3 v1.1:

"StageTV&StudioRecordings1968-1"

Thus under Album (Keywords) the search term: "Stage TV" yields no results as RMTM says - ah, there are values in ID3 v1.1 (thus bypassing the v2.3 check), but the v1.1 values don't match "Stage TV" [v1.1 has no space: "StageTV"] and thus the search (which one knows should yield a group of relevant files) yields nothing, where the same search in say Foobar, will give the expected results.

What would be nice is to be able to dictate to RMTM the order you'd like it to search for keywords:

e.g.

ID3 v2.x FIRST (or not at all)
ID3 v1.x SECOND (or not at all)
FILENAME THIRD (or not at all)

Or something along those lines.

Alternatively, check the higher level first, then down to V.1.1 then to filename.

I hope the stuff above, a) makes sense, b) is of some use and c) is worth thinking about.

All the best.

P.

Seedling's Software / Re: Mixtape Maker: Updates and Latest Beta Versions Here

« Last post by parpfish on January 22, 2008, 12:25 AM »

Hey Hey ---

Well what ever you did, did the trick.

Excellent. Ran 3 tests (all genres, redundancy = 5)
1) "Velvet Underground" (in Artist Field) --
RESULT: Perfect -- 5 VU Songs - rest random

2) "Velvet Underground" (in Artist Field), "Love" in All Keywords --
RESULT: Perfect -- 5 VU Songs - rest random selection of songs with Love somewhere in the tag fields

3) 3 Must have songs, "Velvet Underground" (in Artist Field), "Love" in All Keywords --
RESULT: Perfect -- 3 Must haves + 5 VU Songs - rest random selection of songs with Love somewhere in the tag fields

Well done

And again a big thanks --- will play around with it some more and will let you know if I come across any bugs -- but looks very much like you've sorted it.

All the best
P.

Oh and thanks for the info re. tag versions searched -- very comprehensive!

(and sensible)
Enjoy your "polishing".

Seedling's Software / Re: Mixtape Maker: Updates and Latest Beta Versions Here

« Last post by parpfish on January 21, 2008, 10:04 PM »

give it a try and see if this is how you're used to using the darn thing. i'm pretty sure i got most (if not all) of the keywording kinks out. but please tell me if i'm wrong.
-seedling (January 21, 2008, 08:50 PM)

tested: 1.9.34.96 beta

sorry to report same issue (exactly the same "test" settings as attached earlier)
it's like it's still bypassing the keywrod filter.

i'll leave it with you.

ps. (just to be a real pain in the arse): +1 for mouser's suggestion "... good to have a display option that showed album, artist, song title, since thats what the keyword searching is looking at" [raises MP3 tag issues presumably as to display ID3v2 or ID3v1 (i'd recommend ID3v2)]

Seedling's Software / Re: Mixtape Maker: Updates and Latest Beta Versions Here

« Last post by parpfish on January 21, 2008, 08:31 PM »

excellent -- looks like you're on top the situation.

glad I could help

-- the better RMTM is the happier i am -- like you (i think) i found myself using it all the time -- saves me time messing around with what to play -- I always want to hear a mix of:

a) the latest batch of stuff i'm into (must haves)
b) songs by a particular artist or batch of artists (keywords), and
c) random stuff from my library (random picks)

---- no other program does this -- so RMTM actually saves me time and bother doing the above manually!

sounds like an advert, but true!

P.

Seedling's Software / Re: Mixtape Maker: Updates and Latest Beta Versions Here

« Last post by parpfish on January 21, 2008, 06:45 PM »

hi seedling

took you advice ("just use all-fields keyword search for now")

still had a problem.

i've attached my settings and the resultant playlist -- from that you should see the problem.

if memory serves - set keyword as priority means that must haves go first then the keywords will be prioritised over purely random selections?

hope this helps.

Seedling's Software / Re: Mixtape Maker: Updates and Latest Beta Versions Here

« Last post by parpfish on January 21, 2008, 05:10 AM »

hi seedling

same keyword issues outlined above seem to go for mixtape_193393b.zip
i'm downloading from this link: https://www.donation...=3380.0;attach=26578

on this page:
https://www.donation...dex.php?topic=3380.0

I'm assuming that's correct.

By the way nice work managing to get all the extra features in.

P.

Seedling's Software / Re: Mixtape Maker: Updates and Latest Beta Versions Here

« Last post by parpfish on January 20, 2008, 07:43 PM »

Also --- the keywords work when you "use keywords exclusively".

Hope this helps.

P.

Seedling's Software / Re: Mixtape Maker: Updates and Latest Beta Versions Here

« Last post by parpfish on January 20, 2008, 07:38 PM »

Just noticed:
mixtape_193393b.zip (454.9 KB - downloaded 0 times.)

The version of the file (right click, properties) = 1.8.31.85

Have I got the right file?

P.

Seedling's Software / Re: Mixtape Maker: Updates and Latest Beta Versions Here

« Last post by parpfish on January 20, 2008, 07:32 PM »

hi Seedling

Great to see the new additions!

Big thanks!

Though, I can't seem to get the keywords to function.

Tested "Love", in

a) Title (according to Foobar2000 - 129 files contain the string "love")
b) Artist --- (according to Foobar2000 Love, Love Psychedelico and G Love And Special Sauce -- should have come up)
c) Album (according to Foobar2000 - 129 files contain the string "love")
d) All Keywords (according to Foobar2000 - 190 files contain the string "love")

Yet got purely random results, as though Keywords were not used as filter at all.
What ID3 tag versions does RMTM search?

"Use Keywords" and "Set Keywords as Priority" were ticked

Playlist limited to 60 mins, min duration = 10 mins
All genres selected
MP3 only ticked (100% MP3 collection)
Redundancy = 5

Sys:
WinXP SP2
AMD Athlon 64 - 3500+

Hope this helps --- let me know if you need any further info.

All the best
and thanks again.

A brief aside that springs to mind: why not auto tick any keyword field where the user enters data and auto untick any field which is clear of data. Just a thought.

P.

General Software Discussion / Re: Inadvertent Googling in Spanish

« Last post by parpfish on January 13, 2008, 09:00 PM »

There's always Scroogle, that's my default with K-Ninja (browser)

http://www.scroogle..../cgi-bin/scraper.htm

Works for me:

no cookies
no search-term records
access log deleted within 48 hours

Have a feeling there's a Scroogle search plugin for Firefox too.

That's all I can think of (as remotely helpful) --- good luck.

P.

General Software Discussion / Re: Inadvertent Googling in Spanish

« Last post by parpfish on January 13, 2008, 08:46 PM »

Does this work?

http://www.google.com/ncr

P.

Seedling's Software / Re: Mixtape Maker: Updates and Latest Beta Versions Here

« Last post by parpfish on January 09, 2008, 04:15 AM »

glad you like the idea, -- hardly critical stuff -- but it would be a really nice additional function to have IMHO.

anyway, thanks for considering it; i'll keep an eye out for developments.

all the best

P.

Seedling's Software / Re: Mixtape Maker: Updates and Latest Beta Versions Here

« Last post by parpfish on January 08, 2008, 06:51 PM »

hi seedling,

Hope you had a good christmas and new year. Have been using RMTM v1.8.30.82, and enjoying it v. much.

I have a minor (probably not in code terms) suggestion, related to the Keyword section, which arises from this:

Say I want to have 5 random songs by the band "Love" included in my playlist, I get stacks of songs with "Love" in the TITLE. Is there anyway you could include these options?

What do you think?

P.

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