Omni Encoder 1.0 Released, A graphical, multi-format front-end and EAC plug-in Options

[Jebus]

Omni Encoder is a graphical, multi-format front-end and EAC plug-in.

Supported Formats:
Lame MP3, Ogg Vorbis, Musepack, FLAC, WavPack, Monkey's Audio, Nero and iTunes AAC, Apple Lossless

Features:

• Graphical interface (no editing config files)
• Optional EAC integration (like MAREO, REACT or WACK et al.)
• Automated album art downloading from Amazon.com
• Album or track ReplayGain analysis, adjustment and/or tagging
• Tag conversion between formats
• Directory layout creation based on tag info
• Extendible, modular design (only install the features you want)
• Open source license (GPLv2)

A lot of improvements have been made since the early betas last summer - please check it out and give me feedback!

Download it here (requires the .NET 2.0 runtime)

08/30/07: Updated to version 1.4.2.

This post has been edited by Jebus: Jan 4 2008, 21:47

[Moguta]

Hey, Omni Encoder is a pretty nice program. I just have a few feature suggestions...

* An "Add Folder" command that brings up a directory tree.
* Options for the user to specify where the files for the various encoders are found. (I keep single audio codec folders that all my rippers/frontends reference so I can quickly plop a new encoder version into the appropriate directory w/o having to copy it into every individual program's folder... but Omni doesn't seem to allow for this.)
* An advanced "command line override" for those who want to tweak around with the command lines directly instead of relying on the GUI settings... also, this gives better forward compatibility, so that if Omni development halts and the encoders change their commands or syntax, Omni won't then become completely useless.

Thanks for reading, and hopefully considering.

Also, I'm now noticing that it doesn't seem to read track number tags if they're formatted for multiple disc albums (such as "2-03" for disc 2 track 3). The FLAC comment field doesn't seem to be copied over either. And could you please clarify that "Delete" in the Edit menu actually means Clear or Remove... I was worried it might physically delete my files.

This post has been edited by Moguta: Jan 8 2007, 09:37

[Jebus]

Hey, Omni Encoder is a pretty nice program. I just have a few feature suggestions...

* An "Add Folder" command that brings up a directory tree.
* Options for the user to specify where the files for the various encoders are found. (I keep single audio codec folders that all my rippers/frontends reference so I can quickly plop a new encoder version into the appropriate directory w/o having to copy it into every individual program's folder... but Omni doesn't seem to allow for this.)
* An advanced "command line override" for those who want to tweak around with the command lines directly instead of relying on the GUI settings... also, this gives better forward compatibility, so that if Omni development halts and the encoders change their commands or syntax, Omni won't then become completely useless.

Thanks for reading, and hopefully considering.

Also, I'm now noticing that it doesn't seem to read track number tags if they're formatted for multiple disc albums (such as "2-03" for disc 2 track 3). The FLAC comment field doesn't seem to be copied over either. And could you please clarify that "Delete" in the Edit menu actually means Clear or Remove... I was worried it might physically delete my files.

* You can just drag/drop the folder and it will add everything underneath it in the tree.
* I might make it possible instead to replace the .exes with shortcuts. While it is usually safe to do so, sometimes different versions might cause weird behaviour, so I really like the idea of having "official" versions of things. Will ponder.
* No to the command-line override. If there is an option you need, and it isn't supported, AND you can justify why you want it, then I might add it. Otherwise no. The LAME GUI, for example, follows the LAME dev GUI recommendations, and they don't want this option added. If you want to break your files with weird-ass options, you're on your own (source code is available ).
* Yeah, its set to ignore track numbers that aren't numbers. And only the fields you see already are currently written. I'll be adding more flexible tagging options in the future.
* Changing "delete" to "remove from list" sounds like a good idea.

This post has been edited by Jebus: Jan 8 2007, 15:13

[Moguta]

* You can just drag/drop the folder and it will add everything underneath it in the tree.
* I might make it possible instead to replace the .exes with shortcuts. While it is usually safe to do so, sometimes different versions might cause weird behaviour, so I really like the idea of having "official" versions of things. Will ponder.
* No to the command-line override. If there is an option you need, and it isn't supported, AND you can justify why you want it, then I might add it. Otherwise no. The LAME GUI, for example, follows the LAME dev GUI recommendations, and they don't want this option added. If you want to break your files with weird-ass options, you're on your own (source code is available ).
* Yeah, its set to ignore track numbers that aren't numbers. And only the fields you see already are currently written. I'll be adding more flexible tagging options in the future.
* Changing "delete" to "remove from list" sounds like a good idea.

* True, but you could also drop individual files into the window, and yet there is an "Add File" command. I was just suggesting an "Add Folder" too, since there's only one action in that File menu...
* Not all of the command line options will 'break' or even modify the encoding. A simple -V 2 --vbr-new --tc "LAME v3.97 -V 2 --vbr-new", for example, is certainly harmless. You could even make it a general toggleable setting, "Enable advanced command line options", and popup a little warning/confirmation dialog asking if they really want to mess with the program's commands and possibly mess up the encoding.
* Good to know the tagging will be improved... it's a bit of a misnomer at this point to say that Omni preserves the original tags when it only copies over a select few fields.
* ~ThumbsUp~

I recognize that this is your program, and that you're free to do with it as you will... to implement or refuse to consider features at your discretion. Just espousing my own personal opinions & desires for such a frontend.

Speek's Multi frontend has been my program of choice for a long time. I love everything about it except the lack of ID3v2 tagging, and was hoping Omni would be able to do much of the same without that problem. But with the tagging somewhat incomplete, and the lack of Multi's powerful yet simple customization, I'll probably be sticking with Speek's offering for at least the moment. =/

This post has been edited by Moguta: Jan 9 2007, 02:54

[Jebus]

I recognize that this is your program, and that you're free to do with it as you will... to implement or refuse to consider features at your discretion. Just espousing my own personal opinions & desires for such a frontend.

I will add an "add folder" option as you've suggested in version 1.3... I just wanted you to know that the drag/drop functionality was there too.

I changed the "preserves tags" feature to "converts tags," which is a subtle distinction you are right. Whichever solution I implement for this is going to break my current tagging API, so it is scheduled for version 2.0. As mentioned above, I will ponder an elegant solution to this issue, because I do understand many people use tags that I myself don't.

As for linking to alternate codecs? I'll let you place them somewhere in PATH instead of just requiring their presence. Gonna have to add minimum version checking though, as well. Scheduled for 1.3.

I do appreciate your feedback, but don't let it hurt your feelings if I reject some of them.

This post has been edited by Jebus: Jan 9 2007, 05:41