Changelog (Songs-DB)

Songs-DB 1.4 Beta 5 (Builds 536, 538, 540)

• Added minimization to the 'Now Playing' window (click the minimize button on the player)
• Added support for standard editing to the Properties pane (Ctrl-C, -B, -V, -Z)
• Added config entry for background thread priority and changed the default to 'Lower'
• Added 'Unknown Rating' to 'Files to Edit'
• Added multiple Delete options to the Now Playing node--it's now possible to delete tracks directly from the Now Playing node.
• Added Move options for Library Location nodes--you can move the entire folder or just the contents in the Library.
• Improved CPU utilization on playback
• Improved deletion--previously used settings are saved
• Fixed editing of Track Artist in properties pane/tracklist (it's a bit smarter so Album Artist doesn't always change)
• Fixed pressing on 'Now Playing' node doesn't initiate playback
• Fixed duplicate DB entries when copying from Library/Locations folder to My Computer folder
• Fixed problems playing multiple tracks via Windows Explorer integration
• Fixed tracklist/folders don't refresh on Copy/Move move operations for My Computer&Library nodes
• Fixed ambiguity in deletion of Library Location nodes via deletion options
• Fixed failed deletion of the currently playing track
• Fixed slow performance for display of entire collection (> 2000 tracks)
• Fixed problem when burning to a non-empty CD-RW
• Fixed cropped dialogs on systems using high dpi/font settings
• Fixed multimedia keyboard problems--again
• Fixed problem re. duplicate entries from playlists (when in root)
• Fixed problem with writing ID3 mood tags
• Fixed misc. UI cleanup issues (config panels, properties panel, Freedb results, etc.)
• Fixed problem with CD Location properties that occurs when editing track properties for an uninserted CD
• Fixed export status bar and incorrect dialog
• Fixed Auto-rename deletes files when renaming to same name
• Fixed Auto-rename doesn't immediately update formats when new format is chosen
• Fixed cannot rename/auto-rename currently playing Track
• Began separating strings into resource files for localization
• Added shortcut on toolbar for 'Now Playing' and modified shortcuts for improved usability

Songs-DB 1.4 Beta 4 (build 519)

• Made a number of additions/improvements to CD burning, playback and freedb lookups.
• Added digital Audio CD playback (CD Reader plug-in) which solves bugs with concurrent ripping&playback.
• Added genre/year to the Freedb query results dialog
• Improved CD properties--genre/year are shown even if not saved to the library
• Fixed problems with CD autoplay on some systems
• Fixed hangs on CD burning on some systems via more conservative defaults
• Fixed redundant Freedb queries
• Added limited support for general plugins (minimally tested with SQR-soft ACF controller)
• Improved playlist import (by default no longer assigns Playlist title/# to empty Track title/track# fields)
• Improvements (minor) to Advanced Search usability
• Moved Files to Edit:Accessible Songs to Playlists:Accessible Tracks
• Fixed problem with OGG Album Artist tags being imported incorrectly
• Fixed Sleep Timer
• Fixed database problems for users upgrading from Songs-DB 1.3
• Fixed double database entries which occurred occasionally
• Fixed search functionality which wasn't working for some fields (e.g. lyrics)
• Fixed bitrate and khz indicators for Flac, Ape, MPC, and AAC input plug-ins
• Fixed default autoplaylists so that they're not deleted when database is cleared
• Fixed File Monitor so that it only monitors for file types that are checked in the 'Add Folders' dialog
• Fixed display of multiple artist albums in Genre subnodes
• Fixed Player configuration dialogs when accessed via the Songs-DB player
• Fixed crash in decode.exe when attempting to normalize a video file
• Fixed occasional crash on rapid restart + CD+G plugin crash on exit
• Fixed copying a file to /Library/Locations now adds the file to the library
• Fixed access violation when clicking the right portion of the status bar
• Fixed problem with filename character mappings

Songs-DB 1.4 Beta 3 (Build 506)

• Added File Associations to the installer
• Added installer for MAD MP3 input plugin
• Improved numeric keypad shortcuts. <+> activates playlist, = 'Play Now'
• Fixed player plugin functionality--now usually works with SQRsoft crossfader
• Fixed player volume and balance controls for default CD plugin
• Fixed first track is played twice when shuffle is enabled
• Fixed CPU→100% upon enabling Winamp 2.91 as the default player
• Fixed double-click of currently playing track doesn't restart the track
• Fixed player 'play' button plays selected track instead of active track
• Fixed context menu inaccessible in Windows XP task bar
• Fixed inability to analyze volume of an OGG file while MP3 tracks are playing
• Fixed status bar for OGG conversion operations
• Fixed occasionally corrupt freedb queries
• Fixed Freedb lookup doesn't occur when CD is inserted and Songs-DB isn't running
• Fixed popup occasionally doesn't appear (e.g. play track twice in a row)
• Fixed occasional crash on exit

Songs-DB 1.4 Beta 2 (build 503)

• Added Files to Edit/Unclassified nodes
• Added Send to Folder (Explorer)
• New directory selection dialogs with option to create directories
• Improved performance of 'Add Tracks' and 'File Monitor' after the database is initially populated
• Improved representation of inaccessible CDs in Now Playing node
• Reduced skipping that occurs when editing tags of a track that's playing
• Improved plug-in UI
• Improved CD insertion--CD is no longer automatically added to the library
• Improved status bar UI
• Fixed problem with incorrect reads of small percentage of MP3 header attributes
• Fixed database issues resulting from upgrades of Windows 9x to Windows 2000 or Windows XP
• Fixed a small number of cases of failed tag updates for incorrectly formed tags
• Fixed screen refresh problems when inserting/removing CDs / Clicking 'Update' in properties editor
• Fixed tracklist sorting problems that occur when no track is selected
• Fixed tree refresh problems-new entries are no longer added to the bottom of the tree
• Fixed problems with using the property editor for tracks in the Now Playing node
• Fixed UI problems with Freedb query results selection
• Fixed problems in which prevented the File Monitor from updating library without a restart of Songs-DB
• Fixed drag&drop of ratings
• Fixed tooltips in the tracklist--they always appear now
• Fixed AutoPlaylists--they work again
• Corrected errors&grammar in startup tips/error messages/icons/several dialogs

Songs-DB 1.4 Beta 1

• added internal equalizer
• added full OGG Vorbis support (including encoding)
• added DSP plug-ins support
• added m3u playlist import when files are added to the Library
• improved auto-tag function to enable selective edits/updates
• improved auto-rename function to enable selective edits/updates
• added auto-tag&auto-rename + arrows to the properties dialog
• added ability to browse Tracks by decade, then by year
• added new tree node "Unsynchronized Tags"
• added ability to associated Songs-DB with audio files to be the default player
• improved rating system - now 5 star system, preference changed to audio quality
• improved file sytem scanning to yield more accurate Track information
• added many new library scanning options, including automatic File Monitoring
• added support for proxy server for freedb connection
• added filename and type columns, path is no longer shown by default
• added delete to recycle bin (this is now the default)
• improved/overhauled the setup dialog--now integrated and easier to understand
• added ability to dock the internal player to several positions + new default location
• many improvements in in-place editing (either tree and song list)
• improved menu structure and visual representation
• improved tree structure and visual representation
• improved context menu structure
• added support for reading MusicMatch tags
• improved / simplified support for Multiple Artist Albums
• improved choices for removing songs from the database
• shift-left and shift-right move focused column in song list
• improved/simplified mask usage
• added Rip CD function
• added ability to change track properties while the track is playing
• support for track#'s greater than 100
• new task-oriented online help, with context sensitive links via
• new now playing node
• new player skins and integration of skins&backgrounds
• new bundled plug-ins
• added support for 'play next'
• improved the default configuration and some terminology based on user feedback
• improved d&d within now playing and playlist nodes
• improved integration between the 'Now Playing' dialog and the Library
• improved differentiation between deletion from playlist/Library/filesystem
• fixed problem with saving customized tracklist columns order and loading
• fixed numerous refresh bugs
• corrected updating of tags in numerous situations
• corrected normalization of ripped tracks
• corrected small search bugs
• corrected Location node artist and album lists
• corrected ogg channels handling
• corrected just one instance starting option
• corrected sticky properties form closing
• fixed freedb connectivity problems
• fixed genres list in properties dialog
• fixed problems with 'always on' Properties dialog
• fixed search conditions for Advanced Search
• fixed several shortcuts that didn't work, and added new ones
• fixed to Main Panel and Now Playing counters
• fixed occasional interruptions in the 'Now Playing' queue
• fixed drag& drop / cut&paste of tracks between nodes
• fixed drag&drop / cut and paste of Location nodes
• corrected loss of focus when sorting the track list
• fixed hierarchy problems in Location subnodes
• fixed usage on mainpanel
• fixed edits of empty properties on the main panel (switched to a grid)
• fixed numerous problems related to freedb query results
• fixed access violation when editing .ogg track properties
• fixed availability of context menus in some situations
• fixed access violation when renaming Artist to existing artist
• fixed double-click timing in main panel / single-click timing for in-place edits
• fixed application freeze when using context menus while tracklist is updating
• fixed delete is inactive in several views when it shouldn't be
• fixed rapid deletion of albums → access violation error
• fixed many more smaller bugs and made numerous minor improvements

Songs-DB 1.3 Release 5

• added more WMA attributes (according to Windows Media 9)
• new tray icon menu items and mouse commands (click=Play/Pause,Double Click=Restore, Drag Left=Previous,Drag Right=Next Track,Drap Up=Volume Up,Drag Down=Volume Down)
• new tray icon menu - Playlist - shows part of the current playlist
• new tray icon menu - Volume - allow changing of volume
• playlist scrolls automatically during drag&drop now
• playlist does not skip to the current track unnecessary anymore
• ballon hints on new track are shown just once
• open in new window function was enhanced for all folders
• corrected appearance for non-standard Dot Per Inch screen settings
• playlists behaviour improved for move and delete of songs
• corrected problem for songs removed from DB but still in the playlist
• corrected bug: properties dialog caused access violation in some cases
• corrected bug: playback of locked mp3 files
• corrected bug: drag&drop error when dropping in the scrollbar
• corrected occasional problems with help file showing
• small memory leaks removed

Songs-DB 1.3 Release 4

• new lame encoder included
• new id3lib included
• some improvements in mp3 encoding code
• tagging improved (read-only files, newly encoded files)
• new Compiled HTML Help file (.chm) was created
• corrected problem with playback of incorrect files
• corrected reading of WMA attributes (track length)
• an option added to calculate normalization for just not yet calculated files (default)
• delete key works well in the in-place editor now
• some smaller modifications

Songs-DB 1.3 Release 3

• send to ... funtion was added (can send to playlist, classification and folders)
• playlist window can be made transparent (Windows ME, 2000, XP)
• new track can be announced by a ballon hint (Windows ME, 2000, XP)
• media label is shown instead of "?" in "path" column when a media is not present
• freedb multiple matches are correctly parsed now
• freedb query always scans media and stores result to the database
• keys work correctly in the internet browser now
• individual artists can be removed from the database
• there is a new option to allow just one instance of Songs-DB
• properties of the currently playing song can be shown on top (and automatically updated)
• progress bar for scanning files is now more realistic
• length of MP3 files is read from ID3v2 tags (when present)
• shift-Del deletes songs with just a single confirmation
• corrected toolbar appearance when WinAmp is the default player
• corrected reading of track number from ID3v2 tags
• corrected calculation of the total length for big collections
• improved reading of various artists CDs from CDPlayer.ini file
• added Barnes&Noble, CDUniverse, PlayCentric, AllPoster and AllMusic web pages
• other minor improvements

Songs-DB 1.3 Release 2

• using of WinAmp input plug-ins for decoding is more compatible now
• output plug-ins are no longer all initialized to a fixed volume and balance
• new plug-in configuration options were added to the player's context menu
• scan media dialog does not have floppy drives selected by default
• toolbars are correctly resized
• freedb is automatically queried after audio CD scan just when connected to internet
• minimized player improvements (time output)
• elapsed/remaining time is now changed by a left click
• question for new media label is shown just for CDs
• some other smaller improvements

Songs-DB 1.3

• added audio CD burning support (Nero is required to be installed)
• support for format plug-ins which allow scanning and tagging any file format
• added format plug-in for Ogg Vorbis
• any input plug-in can be used now for getting song length (so virtually any file format is at least partially supported now - by means of WinAmp2 plug-ins)
• any input plug-in can be used for converting song to other format
• artists and albums node allows to apply a filter
• incremental search works for the currently sorted column (and title by default)
• most of fields can be edited directly in the main song list
• removing songs from a playlist and the cache doesn't cause list refresh anymore
• player responds to mouse wheel (volume, balance and position)
• database was converted to use general sort order by default
• file size was not shown in the computer node
• comments and lyrics fields are now in Courier New font (fixed width of all characters)
• added player pop-up menu
• songs properties dialog can be shown as always on top
• mp3 songs length is more accurately calculated now
• new version of id3lib was included
• original title field is now stored in id3v2 tag
• the internal player can show either elapsed or remaining time
• screen flickering of some components was removed
• windows XP status bar drawing bug was fixed
• improved audio CD grabbing (works even with virtual drives on Windows NT,2000 and XP)
• scripts error messages were improved
• copy and move logic was improved (cache is used, messages on error)
• some other small improvements

Songs-DB 1.2 release 6

• album details dialog was redesigned
• new Enter key shotcuts
• new drag&drop possibilities (for categories)
• added some song list shortcuts
• audio CDs are sorted after data CDs (in the Media and Database node)
• corrected wrong grabbing offsets of tracks
• added jumps to Computer and Database folders
• added an option to normalize songs during conversion
• normalization column added to the main song list
• added new genre (id 126..147)
• genre handling improved (better parsing and storing in ID3 tags)
• some smaller improvements

Songs-DB 1.2 release 5

• freedb support for "various artists CDs"
• rewritten all Windows XP incompatible code
• distributed with the latest Lame MP3 engine
• Freedb query is possible now even for not yet scanned audio CD
• improved HotKey functionality (more switches)
• custom field handling corrected

Songs-DB 1.2 release 4

• Windows XP themes support was corrected

Songs-DB 1.2 release 3

• grabbing of mixed audio and data CDs was corrected
• grabbing was one frame shorter
• some small improvements

Songs-DB 1.2 release 2

• executable is not packed anymore (caused problems on some machines)
• corrected startup of the application
• corrected database values for newly converted songs
• added better freedb time-out handling
• added total file size to the status bar
• added new fields to the main song list: File Size, BPM, Sample rate, Channels
• some other small corrections

Songs-DB 1.2

• added script support
• added AutoPlaylists (playlists with songs selected by a query)
• the main tree was completely redesigned
• newly added songs are listed in a special playlist (in Playlists node)
• improved Drag&Drop support
• added back and forward tree node buttons
• corrected WMA input plugin
• changed bitrate, channels and sample rate showing logic in the internal player
• shuffle logic was corrected
• support for WinAmp2 plug-ins was improved
• added support for WinAmp2 general plug-ins (gen_*.dll)
• user is asked for volume label just for removable media
• incremental search logic was corrected
• corrected DB error messages
• added new query fields (particularly categories)
• improved query dialog showing logic
• changed main toolbar's icons and play toolbars are hidden for the internal player
• songs are no longer removed in threads (was a bit confusing)
• added web node with links to various web pages
• added Album Details dialog with album cover and "Info/Buy" link
• freedb support improved
• a check for a new version of Songs-DB available was added
• several smaller bugs corrected

Songs-DB 1.1

• new plug-ins for audio CDs and WMAs
• custom genres can be added (any string can be entered in song's properties dialog for genre name)
• improved connection to the database
• corrected current playlist node
• added the help file and the manual
• some other fixes

Songs-DB 1.1 beta

• a new option to turn off warnings when song to be played is not accessible
• a new version of ID3Lib (solves some problems with tagging MP3 files)
• after conversion, song is added to database and tagged
• an option added to automatically set ID3 tag after song's properties edit
• added an option to import track # from .m3u playlist (instead of ID3 tag)
• added an option to query freedb automatically after an audio CD is scanned
• some small changes and bugfixes
• a command line option /NoSplash to prevent showing splash screen during startup

Songs-DB 1.1 alpha 3

• added normalization of volume (!)
• handling of first song's letters changed
• rewritten songs showing window (now looks like playlist window)
• few small bugs corrected

Songs-DB 1.1 alpha 2

• memory is now released correctly when compressing WMAs
• corrected network node browser labels

Songs-DB 1.1 alpha

• added an internal player compatible with WinAmp (skins and plug-ins)!!!
• new properties added for each song: Tempo, Mood, Occasion, Preference
• browsing possibilities added for song properties
• new node Network added for browsing local network
• tray icon (can be disabled)
• corrected DB access (problem with non-english version of MDAC)
• corrected CDDB(Freedb) access
• bugs fixes

Songs-DB 1.0 beta

• optional jitter correction for CD audio grabbing
• possibility to setup each CD-ROM drive for grabbing (frames to read, jiter correction, ...)
• corrected MP3 encoding
• insert and eject of CD causes refresh of related data immediately
• a pop-up menu for the currently playing song
• several bugs corrected

Songs-DB 0.9 beta

• this file has started, until now there were too many changes...