Hello!

I would like to ask you several questions regarding VBSpot:

- Do you want the GUI to be a 1:1 clone of EncSpot, or could it also look different? Which items of the GUI do you want to have included for sure?
- Do you use all of EncSpot's features, or only some of them? Please give more information which functions you use and why.
- What kind of a PC will you use to run VBSpot on (CPU, RAM, Video card, OS)

I will update / reply to this topic if more questions come into my mind.

Regards,
Sebastian Mares

Well, I hate to simply bump topics (this will be the first and last one therefore), but I would really like to know your opinion.
If nobody is actually interested, it isn't worth wasting my time on VBSpot's development.

As long as the GUI is easy to use and provides a lot of information about audio files I don't care how it looks. A folder tree would be nice though.
A feature i wouldn't want to miss is the "send to" extension. It would be nice if vbspot would additionally show the rest of the directory's content in which the file the send-to-command has been used on is residing.

Don't get us wrong!! As far as I am concerned, I would love to have a clone of EncSpot for starters. Just because nobody replies, it doesn't mean nobody is interested. It might also mean that nobody has any suggestions for you. Please make an EncSpot clone for starters. Once you are done with it, people will use it and recomend changes (if required). Cheer up.

It would probably help if you could give us a clue what VBSpot is. I assume that it is an encoder detector like EncSpot. I also assume that EncSpot is no longer in development? Of course, I am reading all of this "between the lines" as you didn't provide that info in your post. Am I right?

Sebastian, i really don't use EncSpot that much to remember it, but, i think you should ask more, what functionallity users spect from VBSpot. I don't think EncSpot was that revolutionary in terms of the gui, to copy it. I would like a tool like VBSpot to:

1. accuratelly identify encoder, method, br
2. gui should easilly show this, with sort methods for all major categories: encother, method, br.
3. allow me to move to other folders, and delete files.

i think is a very basic app, to be asking about the CPU, etc, unless you are planing on do it on .NET (PLEASE, DON'T).

Yes, VBSpot is a tool for detecting the MP3 encoder and also for showing information about audio files. I guess that EncSpot is no longer in development, as the site is gone and nothing was heard from the developers.

Don't get too much disturbed about the name - it is possible (chances are pretty bad, though) that VBSpot will be ported to Borland C++. Sebastian Andersson (the other developer I am working with) is currently experimenting with the BC++.

(obviuosly) correct

Encspot GUI was pretty ok i think, i personally like very basic layouts. The thing i liked most was that you could view a whole directory in one screen with the most important info in it. Those colors used to mark the mp3 quality based on encoder version and bitrate was useless imo.

Right click shell extension is significant i think.

I mostly used encoder program, encoder version, bitrate, stereo mode, sample rate, the basic stuff really. I used Encspot to quickly view that information and used my ears for the rest.

computer:
p4 @ 2ghz
512mb ram
64mb gforce
winxp sp1

Don't 4get drag-n-drop!



I second that.

BTW, I hope u are planning to improve on Encspot.
I don't think anybody would be interested in a tool that
does the same or less...

Ok. Now that we have cleared away the haze...YES...I would LOVE to have a replacement for EncSpot. I would agree with BennyX that the whole color coding scheme was pretty much useless. But I will chime in with a "me too" for shell integration. I would also like to see it have the capability of detecting which settings were used in encoding (ie: software 'switches', etc.).

I'm also very much looking forward to VBSpot to replace EncSpot. I would like to see the color coding retained as I'm not that familiar with the qualities of the various encoders.

Will VBSpot be able to handle .mp4, .ogg, .mpc, etc? That would be great!

if you are really considerting other languages, and you being a VB developer, the easiset langauge to move to is Delphi, and then, you can use Kylix to port it to linux! I'm both a VB and a Delphi dev (between other languages), and Delphi is very understandalbe for a VB programmer.

Also, it does not hurts that there are 2 free versions: Delphi Personal, and Kylix Open. Both FREE.