[Jerommeke]

Man, take a look at this thingy. I saw it on VT today... I was interested in it immediately. My experiences:

- it isn't such a CPU hog as iTunes is!
- it has got a slightly better sound I think
- it is somewhat faster in playlist building and also plays badly decoded MP3's where iTunes refuses them

(that's the pros)

and now the cons Cause there always have to be cons

- the sorting in the playlist is absolutely rubbish. I can not sort by Track-Album-Artist combined if you know what I mean.
- browsing by entering the first letters doesn't work, for example: if you type OKAY for searching a song which starts with OKAY it searches for a song starting with an O, then starting with a K, an A and a Y. That's absolutely unusable and should be fixed.

And a suggestion: an optional played song window like iTTool has got for iTunes would be cool too.

For the time these cons are still there I will choose iTunes, as it works only 15 days and paying for a not fine working product issomething I will never do, but it is surely interesting. What do you think?

[ckohler]

I'm definatly going to download and try this when I get home. The biggest feature is by far the following:

-Broadcast: Use this plugin to broadcast your music to the world via a Shoutcast/Icecast/Flycast or compatible server.

This makes MacAMP Lite X is the ONLY program for the Mac (besides MacAMP for OS9) that allows live re-encoding and broadcasting to a Shoutcast server. It may also work with Live365. This is huge for people interested in DJ'ing an MP3 radio station from within OSX.

[Jowy]

Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any easy way to import my lists from iTunes w/o copying each file one at a time...

[SteevAK]

It's nice. It very rarely gets above 10% CPU usage, and never above 12%. Nice and slim too. My only complaint right now is that it doesn't let me put it on my secondary monitor. Oh, and it's $12 to use after the 14 day trial period.

[awe]

Okay, I don't want to be offending, but I have to get rid of the following:

MacAmp X Lite is the best example of some developers ripping the opensource community and making money with it:

MacAmp X Lite uses f.e. LAME for MP3 encoding and LibMikMod for Module playback, without even stating that they are using this libs, which is required by the GPL, beside of releasing the sourcecode of the derrived product. Not very encouraging for the opensource developers of the libs. Did the developers even create something else than the UI [Maybe the MP3 playback engine is even based on MPG123, who knows]?

[SubbandSW]

awe> This is entirely incorrect. The mod plugin is in no way derivative of libmikmod. Our Millennium plugin is derived from the original amp sources, by PlayMedia Software and it is fully licensed. As for the Lame code, you're absolutely right, this was not properly credited. this is indeed an oversight, however, it is being amended. If you take a look at the broadcasting docs on OS 9 for MacAmp 2, proper credit is given. So did we create something other than the UI? Yes-every line of code, including every plugin beyond the MP3 encoding sources used in the Broadcast plugin.

-Paul Kafasis
[email protected]
Subband Software

[SteevAK]

So, CPU usage jumps between 3-4% when equalizer and bass boost is used. That's okay though, it's still 5% less than iTunes and has more functionality (AIFF encoding, speed, ogg encoding, broadcasting, etc.). I think I'll be buying this little app. The encoding to AIFF is really nice for me since FCP3 seems to goof up mp3s. I'll use up the rest of my trial period before I make the final decision.

Now, if it could just incorporate the library features of iTunes. . .

[waffffffle]

SO what's the difference between this app and regular old MacAMP? Why is this one "lite?" It seems to have all the features of the old MacAMP. I am most interested in using MacAMP for broadcasting however I can't test it because my Live365 account got cancelled due to inactivity and they now charge to stream. I was wondering if you can stream without the assistance of a server like live365. Here at school I have a good amount of bandwidth, and at home I have a bunch of friends with cable connections that could help to spread the stream better. I used MacAMP a couple of times to broadcast live concerts of my band but since I had to boot into 9 to use it all the time I barely did it. I'd like to know if the Pismo's line in jack is supported by MacAMP lite. I have yet to find a program that actually works with the line in jack.

[SteevAK]

Originally posted by waffffffle:
<STRONG>SO what's the difference between this app and regular old MacAMP? Why is this one "lite?" It seems to have all the features of the old MacAMP. </STRONG>

I believe it is Lite because it has the trimmed down GUI. I know that was the difference between MacAmp 1.0 and MacAmp lite. I could be completely wrong though.

SubbandSW: Are you guys working on the port of MacAmp 2.0? If so, when do you expect to release it?

[MrBS]

Originally posted by SteevAK:
<STRONG>So, CPU usage jumps between 3-4% when equalizer and bass boost is used. That's okay though, it's still 5% less than iTunes and has more functionality (AIFF encoding, speed, ogg encoding, broadcasting, etc.)...The encoding to AIFF is really nice for me since FCP3 seems to goof up mp3s. I'll use up the rest of my trial period before I make the final decision. .</STRONG>

iTunes has AIFF encoding. And quicktime can export mp3s (or any other sound file it can read) to aiffs as well.
~BS

[hmr]

Hm... I don't know what's wrong with my system, but MacAMP Lite uses around 7-10% of my CPU. I was really hoping I would see something around 3-5, as 10% is WAY to much for simply playing MP3s. Even mpg123 uses 5-10% here, but 1% max on my Linux system :-(

[awe]

SubbandSW : If your "Mod Decoder" is not based upon Libmikmod, how do you explain symbols like f.e. "MikMod_critical" and "MikMod_errno"? Sorry but after having a close look at the symbol table it looks like a major mikmod rip-off.

[jguidroz]

I liked what I saw of MacAmp Lite, except I had one problem. It kept losing sound on one channel. I started up itunes with MacAmp Lite running, and sound was low. After quitting the program, itunes played louder. Yes I checked itunes for losing sound on one channel to make sure it wasn't my speakers. Everything was fine with itunes.

Program is good. Like the custom UI for it and the ability to skin it.

[Millennium]

Interesting. I used MALT way back in The Day (it was the only thing I ever found that could get MP3 files working on an original 6100/60). Will my old code still work, or am I going to have to get a new one?

I must say, however, that I'm not particularly keen on paying extra for Ogg playback support, and I doubt many users will be. Might I suggest moving Ogg playback into the standard plugin suite, but leaving encoding in the Power Pack? Perhaps moving MP3 encoding to the Power Pack also, to compensate for the loss of one plug-in there?

[SubbandSW]

awe&gt; Dmitry Boldyrev, Subband Software's co-founder, worked with Jean-Paul Mikkers on MikMod, before it ever was libMikMod. When Jean-Paul became uninterested in MikMod, it was GPL'ed and became libMikMod. Our MOD Plugin is based off MikMod. Libmikmod is a case of Open Source developers continuing the work of one individual developer, it was not an open source project to begin with. If you have further questions, perhaps you'd like to email us, instead of libeling us in a public forum.


Millennium&gt; Unfortunately, your old code will not work. As for Ogg decoding, this is a thought, perhaps we will move it. However, for MP3 encoding, we can't just slip it in as a replacement, as there are heavy licensing fees associated with MP3 encoding (and decoding). That does further the argument for making Ogg Decoder free, as we'd rather support Ogg voer MP3.

Please feel free to direct all questions to [email protected].

[SteevAK]

Originally posted by MrBS:
<STRONG>

iTunes has AIFF encoding. And quicktime can export mp3s (or any other sound file it can read) to aiffs as well.
~BS</STRONG>

I can't find iTunes encoding from mp3 to AIFF. Maybe I'm missing something entirely. Yeah, I can use QT for exporting to AIFF as well, but this does a lot more than that. It's just an extra perk.

SubbandSW, are you going to make an X version for MacAmp2.0? If so, when is expected to be released?

[el_humpo]

Originally posted by Millennium:
Interesting. I used MALT way back in The Day (it was the only thing I ever found that could get MP3 files working on an original 6100/60). Will my old code still work, or am I going to have to get a new one?

Ha! I remember the first time I ever heard of mp3s, I used Vamp to play em on my old 6100! Of course, I had a 14.4 kbps dialup, so I didn't download many...

[gee308]

Originally posted by SubbandSW:
<STRONG>awe&gt; Dmitry Boldyrev, Subband Software's co-founder, worked with Jean-Paul Mikkers on MikMod, before it ever was libMikMod. When Jean-Paul became uninterested in MikMod, it was GPL'ed and became libMikMod. Our MOD Plugin is based off MikMod. Libmikmod is a case of Open Source developers continuing the work of one individual developer, it was not an open source project to begin with. If you have further questions, perhaps you'd like to email us, instead of libeling us in a public forum.


Millennium&gt; Unfortunately, your old code will not work. As for Ogg decoding, this is a thought, perhaps we will move it. However, for MP3 encoding, we can't just slip it in as a replacement, as there are heavy licensing fees associated with MP3 encoding (and decoding). That does further the argument for making Ogg Decoder free, as we'd rather support Ogg voer MP3.

Please feel free to direct all questions to [email protected].</STRONG>

Hope you guys settled your differences. SubbandSW, you know how linux users are, they suspect someone is using their GPL'd code and scream "murder". Linux people take code from the various *BSDs often and have the nerve to relicense their code under the GPL. The BSD crowd doesn't b*tch. And no, the BSD crowd DOES NOT take code from the linux crowd. Most of the world's networking stacks come from the BSD TCP/IP stack. The satisfaction that someone is using your code should be enough. Forcing people to release their source code if they also use a little GPL'd code is almost as bad as the "evil" licenses.

awe, sorry for trolling, its just that I hear linux users often accusing and screaming about someone stealing GPL'd code. Sometimes that is what happens, but many times its not true. In the end, all that happens is hurting the wrong person. If companies are stealing GPL'd code often, I don't understand it, many times when there is GPL'd code, there is also another set of code that has similar functionality, but is under the BSD license, like wget and curl. For many open source projects to gain acceptance, the only way possible is to use a BSD style license. For example, PHP, postgreSQL, and Apache. But as you know, many programs make it big under the GPL such as KDE, gnome, Samba, MySQL. So for you companies out there that want to "steal" GPL'd code, try to get BSD code first!!!! =)

[yaro]

SubbandSW,
I wish your aiffwriter would work like it does in os 9 etc. That is, save the output file including streams of whatever to disk. I guess may be that API is not availabel for osx. What it does now is simply convert an audio file to aiff.

[kangoo_boo]

the only big prob in macamp is that u never know if it will be updated one day
i mean theses guys took forever to port it to osx (altough it's good) so even if the app is _really_ very promising i *fear* that we'll see no cool updates anytime soon bug may be bugfixes
(cool updates: oggvorbis support, better playlist, etc)

please please subband software team tell me i'm wrong

[SubbandSW]

First, please guys, direct questions to [email protected] so they can definitely be answered.

Now, some answers:

SteevAK&gt; MacAmp for OS X is currently under heavy development. No release date has been set however.

yaro&gt; You're incorrect here, AIFF Writer works exactly the same as it did under 9. What you want is the AIFF Carbon Copy feature that the Sound Manager Output plugin had, which allowed MacAmp to save an audio to AIFF. It will be returning. Additionally, a new Millennium MPEG Decoder plugin with recording ability (That is, the ability to record MP3 streams in MP3 format) is currently being tested for release.

kangoo_boo&gt; We've been around for over two years now, and have done a decent job of supporting our products. MacAmp Lite has not been ported to OS X at all, it is all completely new code. The plugins were ported, but otherwise, it is entirely new code. This accounts for the delay in shipping an OS X product. likewise, MacAmp X is being rewritten entirely in Cocoa, so it's taking some time. But do you really think we'll ahve no new updates? Who releases a 1.0, then let's it die? That's absurd. We'll be here, supporting the app, and all the others, for awhile. Not to mention, we already have support for Ogg Vorbis encoding and decoding...

So again, questions to [email protected] and feature ideas/requests to [email protected]

Thanks!

[MrBS]

Originally posted by SteevAK:
<STRONG>

I can't find iTunes encoding from mp3 to AIFF. Maybe I'm missing something entirely. Yeah, I can use QT for exporting to AIFF as well, but this does a lot more than that. It's just an extra perk.
</STRONG>

They did stick it in there in an odd way. Go to preferences, and select the importing tab. "Import Using:" then select the aiff option. Now when you rip a cd it will make AIFF files. If you want to convert prexisting MP3s, you can now go to the "Advanced" menu and the "Convert to" will now end with "AIFF". Then you need to select the file from the finder. Not the best implementation, but it's there.
~BS

[rob7erto]

Originally posted by SteevAK:
<STRONG>It's nice. It very rarely gets above 10% CPU usage, and never above 12%. Nice and slim too. My only complaint right now is that it doesn't let me put it on my secondary monitor. Oh, and it's $12 to use after the 14 day trial period. </STRONG>

Why not use Audion 2.61 than? It has a far superior feature set (more features than iTunes even) and it manages to use only 8-10% of the CPU while still looking cool.

Only drawback to Audion is that the playlist isn't as nice as iTunes'. It is far superior to MALT though...

R