beaTunes News

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

EA5 for beaTunes 2.1

beaTunes2 logoAnother 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

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.

Update

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

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posted at 09:38 0 comments

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

EA4 for beaTunes 2.1

beaTunes2 logoI'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

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.

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posted at 04:45 0 comments

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Update for Last.FM tag importer

beaTunes2 logoThis 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!

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posted at 13:34 0 comments

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

beaTunes on par with other key analysis tools

beaTunes2 logoThe 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%.

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posted at 10:05 0 comments