Duplicate Finder 2009

[Curt]

Bolide Audio Comparer ("now"?) states to listen to the music
- AND:

[J-Mac]

Curt, are you using Audio Comparer?

Thanks!

Jim

[Curt]

- yes, I am using Bolide's Audio Comparer, and I like it. I am however looking forward to compare (!) Audio Comparer with Audio Dedupe and Duplicate Finder 2009. I have all three but have not yet sat down and figured out which one may be the best. My *GUESS* is that "our" DP2009 will loose such battle - But time will show.

[sajman99]

It's fortunate for us that others like Mindgems are also listening- the competition between Bolidesoft and Mindgems forces continued development of their softwares. If Bolidesoft now supports lossless audio and tag editing, then it's a very good bet Mindgems will incorporate those features soon. Looks like Bolidesoft's Audio Comparer was first released in January 2009 and Mindgems only recently had their first public release of Audio Dedupe, so I'm guessing Bolidesoft had a bit of a head start.

I realize I'm entirely too picky, but Bolidesoft's Audio Comparer has several little issues that annoy me.
(1) I know it's trial software, but do they have to start with the incessant "Do you want to buy now" on day one? Bolidesoft, let me test your software for several days before you begin pestering. Mindgems' Audio Dedupe has a much more low-key approach-- a demo with feature limitations.

(2) AFAIK I must store database files in Audio Comparer; in Mindgems' software you have a "no cache" option. Bolidesoft, I would like the choice.

(3) I would prefer to keep my database files somewhere other than My Documents; Bolidesoft allows me, but nonetheless an empty Audio Comparer folder resides in My Documents. I can delete it, but rest assured it returns upon relaunching the app. Likewise, Audio Comparer has no memory of where I last stored database files; the only location it remembers is My Documents. Therefore, every time I create another database I have to click around like I've never used the app before. Carpal Tunnel, anyone?

(4) Whether it's Bolidesoft's Image Comparer or Audio Comparer, their software seems to suffer from short term memory loss regarding the user-selected similarity %. If my preference is for a 60% tolerance (ie. non-default value) in Audio Comparer, the software should remember it the next time I use the app. From my experience, it's hit or miss- sometimes Bolidesoft remembers but sometimes not.

(5) Bolidesoft's software protection scheme (Obsidium http://www.obsidium.de/show/home/en for Image Comparer and something? quite similar for Audio Comparer) resides in the registry and in my XP win.ini. Bolidesoft, stay the heck out of my win.ini file. I like to labor under the delusion I control my computer rather than it controlling me.

Yes, I know- picky, picky, picky. But darned if I don't feel better now.

[J-Mac]

It's fortunate for us that others like Mindgems are also listening- the competition between Bolidesoft and Mindgems forces continued development of their softwares. If Bolidesoft now supports lossless audio and tag editing, then it's a very good bet Mindgems will incorporate those features soon. Looks like Bolidesoft's Audio Comparer was first released in January 2009 and Mindgems only recently had their first public release of Audio Dedupe, so I'm guessing Bolidesoft had a bit of a head start.

I realize I'm entirely too picky, but Bolidesoft's Audio Comparer has several little issues that annoy me.
(1) I know it's trial software, but do they have to start with the incessant "Do you want to buy now" on day one? Bolidesoft, let me test your software for several days before you begin pestering. Mindgems' Audio Dedupe has a much more low-key approach-- a demo with feature limitations.

(2) AFAIK I must store database files in Audio Comparer; in Mindgems' software you have a "no cache" option. Bolidesoft, I would like the choice.

(3) I would prefer to keep my database files somewhere other than My Documents; Bolidesoft allows me, but nonetheless an empty Audio Comparer folder resides in My Documents. I can delete it, but rest assured it returns upon relaunching the app. Likewise, Audio Comparer has no memory of where I last stored database files; the only location it remembers is My Documents. Therefore, every time I create another database I have to click around like I've never used the app before. Carpal Tunnel, anyone?

(4) Whether it's Bolidesoft's Image Comparer or Audio Comparer, their software seems to suffer from short term memory loss regarding the user-selected similarity %. If my preference is for a 60% tolerance (ie. non-default value) in Audio Comparer, the software should remember it the next time I use the app. From my experience, it's hit or miss- sometimes Bolidesoft remembers but sometimes not.

(5) Bolidesoft's software protection scheme (Obsidium http://www.obsidium.de/show/home/en for Image Comparer and something? quite similar for Audio Comparer) resides in the registry and in my XP win.ini. Bolidesoft, stay the heck out of my win.ini file. I like to labor under the delusion I control my computer rather than it controlling me.

Yes, I know- picky, picky, picky. But darned if I don't feel better now.

-sajman99 (June 26, 2009, 01:32 PM)

I don't think you are being overly picky at all. All that you mentioned are certainly valid annoyances.

Thanks!

Jim

[Dormouse]

I've been reading this thread without ever having used, or realising I had a desire to use, one of these progs. But if they deep scan/listen and check on the net, does this mean that one of the functions is naming tracks recorded from streamed audio?

[Curt]

..., does this mean that one of the functions is naming tracks recorded from streamed audio?

-Dormouse (June 27, 2009, 07:33 AM)

I (too) have been dreaming of such a wonder program!
Now I have instead stopped downloading streams...   


Some radio stations will tag their streams, and some won't. I personally cannot imagine a program naming untagged files (except maybe if they have the exact same length as the official album version, which streamed radio music seldom has); but *I don't know*. So I too will look forward to someone answering your question.

[Innuendo]

RE: Jaikoz

Definitely a user interface only a mother could love. The two words that immediately sprung to mind: Ugly-azz Java.

Yuck! I'll try it out shortly, but Ad Muncher catches the initial User Agreement dialog as a pop-up so my first attempt launching the app resulted in the program being invisible. Not a great start, but I'll persevere.

I'm really enjoying the serious discussion here regarding duplicate finding apps. I'd enjoy it even more if you satisfied users were to coerce the software developers to offer DC members some sweet discounts.

[sajman99]

To be honest, I'm not a hardcore audiophile who can't sleep at night unless my music collection is perfectly organized and categorized. I mean, a few duplicate songs is not really of monumental consequence to me. For that reason, I have decided to sit tight with Mindgems' Audio Dedupe for the time being, and hope they continue to develop their software.

Just in case Curt (or other music nut ) can't get enough of these music analysis tools, I searched around a bit to see what else is available. I found generally positive comments about a software named Phelix- a java-based shareware at http://www.pekarna.si which is described as a "music duplicates tool with acoustical audio matcher. Goal of the application is to find duplicated audio files inside selected folders. Duplicates with bad or missing music-tags but same or similar sound will be detected by audio matcher. Audio matcher will detect duplicates even if audio signals are shifted; started at different moments; if audio signals are ripped with different bit rates; if audio signals are ripped with different volumes."

Phelix's setup file is around 17.38 MB, and it costs $19 for the full version. In case anyone decides to take it for a spin, please let me know if it's a serious contender.
Good Luck, sajman99

[Curt]

Phelix's ... costs $19 for the full version.

-sajman99 (June 27, 2009, 05:22 PM)

+

purchase includes 30-day e-mail support and free updates for 1 year.

-Phonome Labs

Maybe I'll test it during the next week-end; it sure sounds promissing:

Program design of Phelix obliges to concurrent computing paradigm. This is done to get computing power from MultiCore CPU PC systems. User can control the level of concurrency. Performance: 4 audio executions per seconds on AMD Opteron 270 (DualCore) in 1 thread mode, or 7 audio executions per seconds in 2 threads mode (memory consumption: approximately 40MB of RAM for 1000 songs).

Classical audio tags matcher operates on OGG and MP3 files. Music-tags matcher has a very long history and has evolved continuously.

Supported strategies are: Strict Tags strategy, Less Strict Tags strategy. Loose Tags strategy, and [Artist, Song] strategy. Matching can operate in incremental mode. In this mode, user can work on so-far collected duplicates while the matcher processes are in progress.

Program automatically chooses which duplicates will be moved out and which one will be kept. Decision is ruled by 'keep-file-criteria'. Criteria is controlled by user and can include comparisons of: file type, file length, bit rate, song length, number of songs in folder and file creation time. User can manually overrule the program decisions.

Program automatically detects distrusted groups of duplicates. Detection criteria is based on song length deviation and can be controlled by user. Distrusted groups of duplicates can be separated from trusted.

Files are never deleted by this tool, they are removed to the  destination directory. Undo remove operation is supported (if removed files are not deleted by user).

Achieved knowledge about the scanned music can be persistently saved in Phelix's library repository. Stored information will be retrieved from repository when needed to skip the re-execution of jobs that have already been executed in previous runs of application.

Wizards and contextual menu (right-click) are supported to ease the application usage.

[sajman99]

Greetings, I just noticed MindGems has released a newer version of their Audio Dedupe (version 1.2.0.1).

http://www.mindgems....-Dedupe-WhatsNew.htm :
Added support for AAC, MP4, FLAC, AC3, WavPack (WV), Musepack (MPC) and Windows Media Audio (WMA) file formats.
Added support for FLAC, WMA and MP4 tags.
Added AIF as recognized AIFF extension.
User can now quick rename files using F2 or Rename popup menu (only in registered version).
Project modified status in program caption is now updated correctly.

Still no APE support apparently, but it looks like they are moving in the right direction--forward! Good Day, sajman99