Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Agrajag]

I own dBPower Amp but I'm quickly becoming disenchanted with it. I've owned it for some time but I'm growing tired of continual problems that never seem to get addressed and the modular nature of it makes keeping up with it a bit of a chore.

The features I like most in it that I'm looking to replace:

1. Ability to rip music from CD's accurately and into any format desired (I currently am using APE).

2. Ability to copy from my library onto various devices (we own two iPod's and a Rio Carbon) and for each to have their own format and settings. My iPod is the iPod Photo so I use larger MP3's. My wife has a smaller iPod so it's 192k for her. My son has a Rio and prefers WMA.

3. Ability to synchronize between the library and the devices.

How is MC in these areas?

[Agrajag]

Well, so far I've had a bad start.

I downloaded the demo to see what's up and liked what I was seeing, though there was a lot to go through (good thing).

I clicked on a few songs here and there and also looked at ripping (seems I can do what I want as far as ripping to specific formats) and played two songs on the Foo Fighters CD that happened to be in the drive.

I then went back to play a song from my library. It was an older one. Ace of Base's "The Sign". It was playing along and about halfway through I thought I heard it "skip" so I tried to use the slider to back it up a bit. I clicked on the slider and tried to move it back. The song then skipped some more and then the entire computer simply rebooted on the spot.

NOT GOOD.

[Alex B]

1. Ability to rip music from CD's accurately and into any format desired (I currently am using APE).

MC has a very capable secure ripping function (quite similar with what Exact Audio Copy uses). Here is a thread about ripping quality in MC:

Topic: How can I ensure quality of a ripped music file

2. Ability to copy from my library onto various devices (we own two iPod's and a Rio Carbon) and for each to have their own format and settings. My iPod is the iPod Photo so I use larger MP3's. My wife has a smaller iPod so it's 192k for her. My son has a Rio and prefers WMA.

3. Ability to synchronize between the library and the devices.

MC can keep the devices synchronized and convert on the fly.

I then went back to play a song from my library. It was an older one. Ace of Base's "The Sign". It was playing along and about halfway through I thought I heard it "skip" so I tried to use the slider to back it up a bit. I clicked on the slider and tried to move it back. The song then skipped some more and then the entire computer simply rebooted on the spot.

What is the file format? Can other programs play the file without problems?

[Agrajag]

Alex, thanks. The ripping features look good.

The sync'ing looks good but I'm a bit confused by it at the moment. I've created my library (about 1600 songs in APE format) and I added my iPod which currently has all those songs on it.

When I click Sync in MC it's giving me warnings about an inability to sync the Foo Fighter songs that are on the CD in the CD drive. ?? I want it to sync from the library and only the library. I must be missing something.

Also, when I look at the songs on the iPod it includes things NOT on it, including the CD and a bunch referred to as "In Queue".

I was hoping I'd simply get an interface saying "Here are the songs on the device that are not in the library" and "Here are the songs in the library that aren't on the device"

As far as the reboot, as I mentioned above all my songs are in APE format now. MC claims to support it and the dBPower Amp player plays the song fine. I just also played A-Ha's "Take on Me" and part way through the song it literally slowed down like someone had a finger on the record (as if this was a record).

Another one: None of the music has cover art and I see MC has the ability to get the cover art from the Internet. Great! I chose several songs and then told it to get the cover art from the Net. I pop-up appeared and then it went away but still no cover art.

[LonWar]

all my songs are in APE format now. MC claims to support it

You will not find better software for Ape.
Matt, one of the developpers for MC, is the Creator of Monkey's Audio (ape)

[Agrajag]

That's good news. I was using WMA 9.1 Lossless for the flexibility it has but the developer of dBPowerAmp kept saying all my problems were due to problems with that format. I switched to APE and 80% of my problems still remain. It's clear the software has issues and not the format. At this point I'm leaving it with APE and looking for new software.

MC looks good but much of it is going to take a while to get down. Hopefully I get get to the bottom of it all before the trial runs out.

[Alex B]

When I click Sync in MC it's giving me warnings about an inability to sync the Foo Fighter songs that are on the CD in the CD drive.  I want it to sync from the library and only the library. I must be missing something.

Also, when I look at the songs on the iPod it includes things NOT on it, including the CD and a bunch referred to as "In Queue".

MC keeps a database of the CDs too. I don't now how the CD ended up into your iPod sync list. In any case it is not possible to rip tracks directly from an Audio CD to a portable device (I suppose it is an Audio CD, not a data CD).

"In Queue" means that those files are in the sync queue, but not yet transferred.

I don't have an iPod, but I think it would be better to sync a playlist or playlists instead of the complete library. Perhaps the iPod users can give you better tips.

Also, you may want to check the portables forum out: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?board=8.0

Another one: None of the music has cover art and I see MC has the ability to get the cover art from the Internet. Great! I chose several songs and then told it to get the cover art from the Net. I pop-up appeared and then it went away but still no cover art.

MC makes a file tag based search for cover art. I may or may not work depending on many factors. The "Loose" option works better.

As far as the reboot, as I mentioned above all my songs are in APE format now. MC claims to support it and the dBPower Amp player plays the song fine. I just also played A-Ha's "Take on Me" and part way through the song it literally slowed down like someone had a finger on the record (as if this was a record).

The playback problem is not likely caused by the ape files itsef if other programs can play the file normally. (dBPowerAMP uses the reference Monkey's Audio code as well as MC does.)

Go to: Tools > Options > Playback > Output Mode Settings and increase the playback buffering. You can also try to switch between the available output modes: Direct Sound, Wave Out and ASIO (ASIO is available only with some sound cards).