2006's news archive

Merry Christmas and happy new year to everybody.

What a year. Mp3 Filter conversion to dupeGuru ME. dupeGuru PE. Windows GUI conversion from Delphi to C#. I told you last year that 2006 would be my most productive year ever. Now I gotta slow down a bit or I'll overheat.

• Improved the caching system. This makes duplicate scans significantly faster.
• Improved the rename file dialog to exclude the extension from the original selection (so when you start typing your new filename, it doesn't overwrite it) (Windows).
• Changed some menu key shortcuts that created conflicts (Windows).
• Fixed a bug preventing files from "reference" directories to be displayed in blue in the results (Windows).
• Fixed a bug preventing some files to be sent to the recycle bin (Windows).
• Fixed a bug with the "Remove" button of the directories panel (Windows).
• Fixed a bug in the packaging preventing certain Windows configurations to start dupeGuru at all.

• Improved Id3v2.4 tags decoding to support some malformed tags that iTunes sometimes produce.
• Improved the rename file dialog to exclude the extension from the original selection (so when you start typing your new filename, it doesn't overwrite it) (Windows).
• Changed some menu key shortcuts that created conflicts (Windows).
• Fixed a bug preventing files from "reference" directories to be displayed in blue in the results (Windows).
• Fixed a bug preventing some files to be sent to the recycle bin (Windows).
• Fixed a bug with the "Remove" button of the directories panel (Windows).
• Fixed a bug in the packaging preventing certain Windows configurations to start dupeGuru at all.

• Changed the Windows interface. It is now .NET based.
• Added an auto-update feature to the windows version.
• Changed the way Mass Rename handles empty tags. Instead of putting "(none)" where there is no tag, musicGuru just doesn't rename the file, and put it in the "(not renamed)" directory.
• Added blue coloring for locations based on a removable media.

• Fixed a mishandling of ".app" files (OS X).
• Fixed a bug preventing files from "reference" directories to be displayed in blue in the results (Windows).
• Fixed a bug preventing some files to be sent to the recycle bin (Windows).
• Fixed a bug in the packaging preventing certain Windows configurations to start dupeGuru at all.

• Fixed a bug with directory states.

• Fixed a bug with directory states.

• Fixed a bug with directory states.

• Fixed a bug causing the ignore list not to be saved.
• Fixed a bug with selection under Power Marker mode.

• Changed the Windows interface. It is now .NET based.
• Added an auto-update feature to the windows version.
• Changed the way power marking works. It is now a mode instead of a separate window.
• Removed the min word length/count options. These came from Mp3 Filter, and just aren't used anymore. Word weighting does pretty much the same job.
• Fixed a bug sometimes making delete and move operations stall.

• Fixed a bug causing the ignore list not to be saved.
• Fixed a bug sometimes making delete and move operations stall.

• Changed the Windows interface. It is now .NET based.
• Added an auto-update feature to the windows version.
• Changed the way power marking works. It is now a mode instead of a separate window.
• Changed the "Size (MB)" column for a "Size (KB)" column. The values are now "ceiled" instead of rounded. Therefore, a size "0" is now really 0 bytes, not just a value too small to be rounded up. It is also the case for delta values.
• Fixed a bug sometimes making delete and move operations stall.

• Changed the Windows interface. It is now .NET based.
• Added an auto-update feature to the windows version.
• Changed the way power marking works. It is now a mode instead of a separate window.
• Changed the "Size (MB)" column for a "Size (KB)" column. The values are now "ceiled" instead of rounded. Therefore, a size "0" is now really 0 bytes, not just a value too small to be rounded up. It is also the case for delta values.
• Removed the min word length/count options. These came from Mp3 Filter, and just aren't used anymore. Word weighting does pretty much the same job.

• Improved speed and memory usage of the scanning engine, again. Does it mean there was a lot of improvements to be made? Nah...

• Added an auto-update feature in the Mac OS X version (with Sparkle).
• Added a "Remove Dead Tracks in iTunes" feature in the Mac OS X version.
• Improved speed and memory usage of the scanning engine, especially when the scan results in a lot of duplicates.
• Improved VBR mp3 support.
• Fixed a bug preventing some duplicate reports to be created correctly under Windows.

I often try new stuff, and when it's interesting, it's dangerous for me to get hooked. This time, it was C#. At first, it was just to try, and then, I ended up re-implementing dupeGuru's windows interface in C# and Python for .Net. And while looking for an implementation of a TreeView with columns, I stumbled upon TreeViewAdv. It's a nice component, but I made so many changes to it that I ended up making my own fork of it. Therefore, you can probably expect a .NET release of my applications shortly.

• Improved speed and memory usage of the scanning engine, especially when the scan results in a lot of duplicates.
• Now I wonder if Sparkle is going to work well...

• Added an auto-update feature in the Mac OS X version (with Sparkle).
• Fixed a bug preventing some duplicate reports to be created correctly under Windows.

I release today musicGuru 1.2.0, which feature a quite big under-the-hood re-factoring. There isn't any new features (except slightly better overall performances and auto-update), but some will come pretty soon.

• Changed the music collection format to a SQLite based format. It makes musicGuru generally faster.
• Added an auto-update feature in the Mac OS X version (with Sparkle).
• Fixed numerous small bugs.

• Added an auto-update feature in the Mac OS X version (with Sparkle).
• Fixed a bug sometimes causing inaccuracies of the Match %.

• Fixed a bug preventing some duplicates to be found, especially when scanning lots of files.

• Fixed a bug (no, not the same as in 5.1.0) preventing some duplicates to be found, especially in huge collections.

• Added XHTML export feature.
• Fixed a bug preventing some duplicates to be found when using the "Filename - Fields (No Order)" scan method.

• Added XHTML export feature.

• Fixed a bug with the cache system.

• Added the ability to search for scaled duplicates.
• Added a cache system for faster scans.
• Improved speed of the scanning engine.

• Improved speed of the scanning engine.
• Improved the display of pictures in the details panel (Windows).

The Mac OS X version of dupeGuru Picture Edition didn't work on PowerPC macs. Fixed it.

Say hello to the all new and shiny dupeGuru Picture Edition! This edition of dupeGuru can find duplicates among pictures of different format and quality.

• Initial release.

• Fixed a bug sometimes making the collection updating procedure to fail.
• Fixed a bug in the mp3 decoding unit.

• Added sticky columns.
• Fixed an issue with file caching between scans.
• Fixed an issue preventing some duplicates from being deleted/moved/copied.

• Added sticky columns.
• Fixed an issue with file caching between scans.
• Fixed an issue preventing some duplicates from being deleted/moved/copied.

• Fixed an issue with ignore list and unicode.
• Fixed an issue with file attribute fetching sometimes causing dupeGuru to crash.
• Fixed an issue in the directories panel under Windows.

• Fixed an issue with ignore list and unicode.
• Fixed an issue with file attribute fetching sometimes causing dupeGuru ME to crash.
• Fixed an issue in the directories panel under Windows.

• Improved the speed of musicGuru when adding songs.
• Replaced the 2 locations drawers by a single location panel under Mac OS X.

• Fixed an issue in the duplicate seeking engine preventing some duplicates to be found.

• Fixed an issue in the duplicate seeking engine preventing some duplicates to be found.
• (Yeah, I'm in a bug fixing frenzy right now :) )

• Fixed an issue with the new track column occasionally causing crash.
• Fixed an issue with the handling of corrupted files that occasionally caused crash.

• Improved unicode support.
• Improved MP3, WMA and AAC metadata decoding.
• musicGuru is now a Universal application under Mac OS X.

• Improved unicode support.
• Improved the "Reveal in Finder" ("Open Containing Folder" in Windows) feature so it selects the file in the folder it opens.

• Improved unicode support.
• Improved the "Reveal in Finder" ("Open Containing Folder" in Windows) feature so it selects the file in the folder it opens.

• Added the the Track Number detail column.
• Improved the ignore list system.
• Fixed a bug in the mp3 metadata decoding unit.
• dupeGuru Music Edition is now a Universal application on Mac OS X.

I received my new Intel iMac Friday. Pyobjc 1.4, now supporting universal binaries, was released in June. Everything is there for me to produce universal binaries. I release dupeGuru 2.2.6 today as a universal application. I will do the same for dupeGuru ME and musicGuru this week.

• Improved the ignore list system.
• dupeGuru is now a Universal application on Mac OS X.

• Improved VBR mp3 metadata decoding.
• Fixed an issue that occasionally made dupeGuru ME crash on startup.

• Improved application (.app) dupe detection on Mac OS X.
• Fixed an issue that occasionally made dupeGuru crash on startup.

Since the beginning of July, I was on a hiking trip in Gaspesie, on the International Appalachian Trail. I originally wanted to walk the whole Quebec part of it (Matapedia to Cap Gaspe. About 650 km), but after about 200 km, in the middle of the Matane Wildlife Reserve, when the Chic Chocs mountains begin to be quite high, I realized that neither my training or my footwear were adequate for this. Therefore, I'm back earlier than I expected, and I'm back to work. I'll train harder for my next try.

• Fixed an issue with Move and Copy features.

• Fixed an issue with Move and Copy features.

• Improved duplicate scanning speed.
• Added a warning that a file couldn't be renamed if a file with the same name already exists.

• Improved duplicate scanning speed.
• Added a warning that a file couldn't be renamed if a file with the same name already exists.

• Added "Rename Selected" feature.
• Fixed some minor issues with "Reload Last Results" feature.
• Fixed ignore list issues.

• Added "Rename Selected" feature.
• Improved MP3 metadata decoding.
• Fixed some minor issues with "Reload Last Results" feature.
• Fixed ignore list issues.

• Fixed occasional progress bar woes under Windows.
• Nothing has been changed in the Mac OS X version, but I want to keep version in sync.

• Fixed occasional progress bar woes under Windows.
• Fixed a bug in the registration system under Windows.
• Nothing has been changed in the Mac OS X version, but I want to keep version in sync.

dupeGuru Music Edition 5.0.0 is finally there. It replaces Mp3 Filter and features a completely redesigned interface, as well as support for Mac OS X.

• Complete rewrite
• Changed "Mp3 Filter" name to "dupeGuru Music Edition"
• Now runs on Mac OS X.

dupeGuru 2.2.0 is available, featuring most of the nice stuff that was added to dupeGuru Music Edition, as well as a new icon. Whew, big day!

dupeGuru Music Edition Beta 5 (The first public beta was beta 4) is available. You can get it for Windows [link no longer valid] and for Mac OS X [link no longer valid].

• Added destination path re-creation options.
• Added an ignore list.
• Changed the main icon.
• Improved dramatically the delta values feature.

Mp3 Filter is going to have a new name: dupeGuru Music Edition 5.0. A public beta version of it is available for Windows [link no longer valid] and for Mac OS X [link no longer valid]. dupeGuru ME is like dupeGuru, but it has more information columns (Duration, Bitrate, ID3 tag...) and more scan types (compare by tag and compare by audio content).

I published dupeGuru 2.1.2 today, which features a new "Match similar words" option.

• Added the "Match similar words" option.
• Fixed Power marking issues under Mac.

The more I listen to the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs album, Show Your Bones, the more I like it. It probably means that it will go in my top albums list. It went like this for pretty much all of them: I don't really like it at the first listening, and like it more with each listening session, until it gets among my favorites. It happened for the 3 best albums ever: Modest Mouse - The Moon And Antarctica, The White Stripes - White Blood Cells and The White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan. Elephant doesn't qualify because Seven Nation Army and The Air Near My Fingers were groovy from the first listen and will probably be until the last.

Enough. I published dupeGuru 2.1.1. It has a couple of bugs related to the Power Marker fixed, as well as a new, really nice option. This option is "Display delta values for duplicates". When you turn it on, the Size, Creation and Modification columns display the difference between the duplicate's value and its reference's value. For example, if a duplicate is 1.2 MB and its reference is 1.4 MB, the Size column will display -0.2. This feature really gets useful when used with the Power Marker.

• Added the "Display delta values" option.
• Improved Power marking sorting speed under Mac.
• Fixed Power marking sorting issues.

• Fixed a critical bug introduced in 4.2.5: Files couldn't be deleted anymore!
• Fixed some more issues with WMA decoding.
• Fixed an issue with profile wizard.

Released today, Mp3 Filter 4.2.5 has exclusion patterns and WMA decoding issues fixed.

• Added a test zone in the Exclusions profile section.
• Fixed a bug with exclusion patterns.
• Fixed an issue occuring when reading some kinds of WMA files.

There's a new dupeGuru version (2.1.0) today with a new nice little feature: Power Marking. Power Marking lets you make block selections that weren't possible before (such as easily select all duplicates having a specific extension).

• Added the Power Marker feature.
• Fixed a column sorting bug. The results would sometimes lose their sort order.
• Fixed a bug with the Make Reference feature. The results sometimes wasn't correctly refreshed after the reference switch.

I published musicGuru 1.1.0 today. Design Board interface and speed are the two main improvements in this version. Next target, Mp3 Filter!

• Improved speed. Especially on Mac OS X.
• Improved the Add Location interface. It went from a wizard to a simple dialog.
• Improved progression feedback for Mass Rename and Split features.
• Improved Design Board interface for the Windows version.
• Fixed bug in the Split dialog.
• Fixed bug in the CD recording process.

• Fixed an issue occasionally occurring when trying to reload results from removable media that is no longer present.

That's it, dupeGuru 2.0 is now released. This version is a complete rewrite, and it now runs on Mac OS X.

• Complete rewrite.
  
• Now runs on Mac OS X.

dupeGuru 2.0 development is pretty advanced right now. Today, I publish a beta version of what will be dupeGuru 2.0. You can download either the Windows version [link no longer valid] or the Mac OS X version [link no longer valid].

musicGuru 1.0.8 was released today. It includes some more minor bugfixes.

• Fixed occasional problems when reading unicode in wma and mp3 files.
• Fixed unicode issues for Win98 users.
• Fixed a DLL dependency bug.

musicGuru 1.0.4 was released today. It includes a couple of minor bugfixes.

• Fixed problems when reading some kind of wma files.
• Fixed occasional errors when saving music collection.

• Fixed MPL occasional issues when saving.
• Fixed m4p (protected AAC files) bitrate reading.

• Added a "custom capacity" option in the splitting panel.
• Fixed issues with disc recording.
• Fixed occasional inaccuracies in the Info panel.

• Fixed issues with the registration system.
• Fixed issues packaging issues in the windows MSI.

webGuru had a couple of long standing issues that I had to fix, and that's what I did, now that I'm not 100% focused on musicGuru anymore. If you already have a prior version of webGuru installed on your computer, please uninstall it before installing this one.

I released musicGuru 1.0.1 today. The initial release had a couple of minor issues. Of course, they are now fixed.

• Improved memory usage of the Design Board.
• Improved the Design Board by making it case insensitive.
• Fixed issues with disc recording.
• Fixed issues with very long filenames in Windows.
• Fixed issues with the Splitting Options dialog.

That's it! musicGuru 1.0 is finally out, both for Windows and Mac OS X. You can take a look at it here.

• Initial release.