Hey guys. I've been an on/off lurker for a little while, and mostly just look for info, and keep myself safe from the forum debates etc, but lately, I've been extremely confused about something. I'm referring to which Oggdrop version to use. Is the most recent one, the one which is a combo, GT3B1? Or GT3B2 ? I'm also curious to know why there isn't a sticky for most recently uptated versions or something ?

It gets very confusing (for me anyway, perhaps I'm a very special boy ? ) reading through pages of posts where alot of the versions look similar, and the information is sort of mixed up because of typos etc...

Also, when going to RereWares, are the versions there the most recent/updated ?

Regards,
B

GT3b2 is the combo one that was released earlier this week. It combines the libraries for Xiph's version 1.0.1 for the lower -q settings and Garf's GT3b1 for the upper -q settings. John33 put the two together so that you wouldn't have to ask which version to use anymore. (Thank you, John )

As for rarewares, the versions there are either a) the most stable and recent (generally no alphas), b) the most well tuned/tested, as is the case for Lame 3.90.3 There may be the rare case in which something has been updated, but no one told John33 or rjamorim. But once they're told of a newer version, it gets put up quickly.

There is a sticky thread: http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/show.php/showtopic/15049

Let me know if there is something that is not clear, confusing, or is missing. Thanks.

Alright, I"m Juuuust about with ya guys ! Still a wheeee bit confused, but this time only by author and location, not by version name. I got myself this : oggdropXPd V.1.7.5 using GT3b2 based on LibVorbis v1.0.1 2003-12-11 over at the rarewares site. So is that NOT Johns version ? That's what is confusing me. Oh, and I did see that link you provided, but I wasn't sure about those there either because if you look at the first two, they're listed as "ICL compiles" whereas on the bottom, the ...aah, nevermind, Ok...I see where it says they're Johns compile versions. Tell me please, what exactly does XPD denote ? I'm most likely getting confused with what XPD and ICL are in relation to the builds...

Is there a way to tell which builds are always Johns...or someone's who'se is better than preceeding ones ?

Thank you so much for helping me out, I was going daffy. Well, still am, but that's natural.

Actually, most of them are John's version in some way. He's the author of OggdropXPd, and frankly, GT3b2. Using his programming ingenuity, he merged GT3b1 and the most recent version out of Xiph.

I have no idea why he decided to call it XPd, you'll have to ask him that. ICL refers to the Intel Compiler, which means that the program was compiled using that Library. I believe that they will run faster than other compiles, but I'm not sure on that.

Hmmm, time a short history, I think!!

I developed oggdropXPd over the last couple of years because I rather liked the original oggdrop concept but thought it somewhat feature starved. I've tried to keep it at least 'up with the game' so far as features in oggenc were concerned, and 'ahead of the game' wherever it made sense. However, there will always be things that individuals would like added that may look trivial, but aren't!!

Why the XPd? Partially to differentiate from the original, slim version, and partially to indicate capability. XP, as in for the eXPerienced user, and later I added the d when I added the decoding/playback options.

The latest version will always appear at Rarewares first and any appearance elsewhere, although I have no objection, will have been copied from Rarewares.

Current versions:

The 1.0.1 compiles use the standard 1.0.1 release libraries which have had some tuning in respect of the lower bitrates, but are essentially the same as release 1.0 so far as the higher bitrates are concerned. That version is there for those who get a 'warm, fuzzy' feeling from using the 'official' libraries.

The GT3b1 compiles use Garf's tunings which are based on release 1.0 libraries. The tuning efforts bring improvements to the quality of higher bitrate encodings, but at the expense of using about 10% extra 'bits'. The 'floggy', ultra low bitrate experimental code was never made available via oggdropXPd.

The GT3b2 compiles are a result of merging Garf's higher bitrate GT3b1 tunings into the new official 1.0.1 release libraries. The 'floggy' code has been omitted. These compiles bring the benefits of the lower bitrate improvements made in the 1.0.1 libs together with Garf's higher bitrate improvements providing probably the 'best' ogg vorbis encoding libraries currently available.

I think that's about all there is to be said!!