Beta Bugs

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Moderator: Martin Hairer

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pkaganis
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Beta Bugs

Post by pkaganis »

Martin:

As you know, I've tested Beta 4 & 6 with regards to the track title. Although you fixed the track numbering in beta 6, I'm finding that the beta versions are unstable as they crash whenever I import an MP3 file. It doesn't have a problem with a wav file, at least I didn't get an error as of yet. It doesn't appear to be a size issue as I originally thought because the wav file was 850 MB and worked where the MP3 was 27MB and no good. I also saw a beta 7 and downloaded it but it had the same results.

I've already sent in a trouble log via email. I guess this is expected of a beta version so I hope I helped the cause.

PK

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Martin Hairer
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Beta Bugs

Post by Martin Hairer »

I've already sent in a trouble log via email. I guess this is
expected of a beta version so I hope I helped the cause.
Strange, I didn't receive them... Could you please send it again?
Regards,

Martin

HairerSoft
http://www.hairersoft.com/


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pkaganis
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Post by pkaganis »

The log was automatically sent when Amadeus aborted. I'll have to look in my sent folder to see where it was sent.

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Tristan
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Re: Beta Bugs

Post by Tristan »

pkaganis wrote:I'm finding that the beta versions are unstable as they crash whenever I import an MP3 file.
I've encountered the same issue in the beta versions.

Amadeus Pro 1.2.1 imports MP3s without any problems. But the 1.3 betas, when using the default behavior, fail to open any MP3s for me (even MP3s encoded by Amadeus). In my case, opening an MP3 didn't always initiate a crash - instead, the file would silently fail to open, and Amadeus' CPU activity would max out until the application was quit.

I'd managed to forget about my encounter with this issue because as soon as it surfaced, I activated a quick workaround that Martin had previously mentioned, and it permanently solved the problem for me. Martin's workaround exploits the fact that Amadeus Pro is capable of using QuickTime in addition to mpg123 to open MP3 files.

Open Terminal and type:

defaults write com.HairerSoft.AmadeusPro HSReadMp3WithQuickTime 1

This forces Amadeus Pro to use Quicktime to open MP3s. If you ever need to revert to the default behavior, type:

defaults write com.HairerSoft.AmadeusPro HSReadMp3WithQuickTime 0

Just now, I tentatively reverted to the default behavior and found that, as before, I'd lost the ability to open mp3s in the current beta releases. So, back to QuickTime for now.

Martin has always been quick to track down and eliminate bugs like this, so I have no doubt that he'll be able to resolve the underlying problem before the next official release.

pkaganis
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Post by pkaganis »

Tristan:

I will try this option. The error message I received does mention mpg123 so I will revert to quicktime to see if this eliminates the problem in the betas.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Perry

pkaganis
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Post by pkaganis »

Tristan:

As a follow up, I changed the defaults and now beta 8 is able to import MP3's.

Thanks again for the suggestion.

Martin/Tristan:

Would I have to revert back to mpg123 when the next release comes out or do I leave QuickTime?

sdfalk
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Post by sdfalk »

If at all possible, I'd love to be a beta tester

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Tristan
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Post by Tristan »

sdfalk wrote:If at all possible, I'd love to be a beta tester
Stephen,

The current beta version is kept at http://www.hairersoft.com/Downloads/AmadeusPro.zip

Martin often announces updates to this version in these forum discussions. So keep your eyes peeled. :shock:

If you find a bug and you're pretty sure it really is a bug, email Martin with details. If you think your fellow Amadeus users might be able to help you figure something out, post in the forum first.

I think that's the extent of the system, such as it is.

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Tristan
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Re: Beta Bugs

Post by Tristan »

Since Martin hasn't announced the news here yet, I'll trumpet it myself so this thread can have a happy ending.

He has tracked down & squashed the "MP3 file opening" bug. (It had to do with the way mpg123 was compiled, linking to a library present only on systems with developer tools installed.)

As of the current version (1.3 b9), MP3s should open fine again using the default configuration. You can set HSReadMp3WithQuickTime back to 0 if you want to download the new beta and make sure it's working for you.

Tristan

p.s. On a related note, why does seeing bugs get fixed make me so irrationally exuberant? Am I alone in this weird reaction?
Last edited by Tristan on Fri Mar 14, 2008 12:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Martin Hairer
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Beta Bugs

Post by Martin Hairer »

Thanks Tristan. Let me just add that there are at least three reasons
why you may want to use mpg123 instead of QuickTime:

1. It is faster. (I don't have any serious statistics to back this up,
but on my iMac, a 50 minutes file takes about 10 seconds to open with
mpg123 and 15 to open with QuickTime.)

2. It better handles the sizes of Mp3 files: QuickTime adds a short
piece of silence at the beginning of an Mp3 files when it decodes it.
The LAME Mp3 encoder adds a tag that tells the decoder the length of
that piece of silence. The latest version of mpg123 (which is what the
beta version uses) can read this tag and throw away that useless
silence accordingly.

3. Unlike QuickTime, it supports Mp2 files.

Regards,

Martin

HairerSoft
http://www.hairersoft.com/


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pkaganis
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Post by pkaganis »

Martin:

I concur with your last post and I have some facts to support it.

I am now using Beta 9 and tested a 5 hour file and compared it to Quicktime vs mpg123.

It took Quicktime 3:31 to open the file as compared to MPG123's 1:52. The Quicktime file had 52 milliseconds of silence at the front of the file where the MPG123 file had 0 milliseconds.

I haven't had any issues opening any mp3's since using beta 9. Thanks for the bug fixes and I'll keep you posted if I find any other.

Perry

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Re: Beta Bugs

Post by Chucko »

Tristan wrote:p.s. On a related note, why does seeing bugs get fixed make me so irrationally exuberant? Am I alone in this weird reaction?
You must be a closeted developer. :wink:

-- Chuck, writes code for a living

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