Hydrogenaudio is happy to announce that we will be hosting RareWares -site from now on.
The new address is: http://rarewares.hydrogenaudio.org

RareWares offers compiles of useful audio/media related software, often hard to find elsewhere.

The new site design was done by rc55 (Ruairi Fullam) so you can give him feedback about it.

RareWares is administrated by rjamorim (Roberto José De Amorim).

very nice to see! awesome layout. this really is the organization that has been needed for a while - on all of the programs & external links to codecs & binaries.

what happened to lamedrop 3.92 version?

excellent work!

-onthejazz

John doesn't need to put mirror 1,mirror 2,etc on his poor little sig any more, just http://rarewares.hydrogenaudio.org/

And I look at the FAQ question




/edit
grammar (as always )

//edit

add FAQ question




-Why crap about WMA ? It's free and with WMEv9 we can choose It have DRM or not, and the quality sure surpass MP3
-Forgot the famous Xing Encoder



I still thinks that Ogg Vorbis, RealAudioV8 or WMA are VERY GOOD under 64 kbps
highest quality @ High bitrates = lossless encoder (FLAC,Monkey,etc), not MPC

great work and idea

but i wouldn't call it rarewares anymore. i would call it audioware or something. when i gave the link of the old rarewares site to some of my friends who are new to ogg vorbis for example they didn't really trust it because of the name "rarewares" and the url. they prefered using some outdated version (of oggdropxd for example) from the official vorbis site instead of using the updated ones from rarewares. just a suggestion from my experiences...

Links > Project Mayhem? Maybe this should be changed....

Thanks a lot.

But more tweaks are on the way. Just you wait...



OMG! I must have dropped it along the way between Brazil and California.

I'll return there and look for it. As soon as I find it, I'll place it where it belongs.



@ everyone else: Thanks a lot! Please keep the suggestions coming. They are very, very welcome, and I promise I'll implement them (if feasible) AFA possible. The ones you suggested already have been already implemented.

( I might take some time to do some updates, since I'll travel tomorrow morning to the beach. Will be back next Sunday. But surely John33 and Ruairi will be able to keep it up )

That's a nice idea. But there are two issues:

1st - everyone got used to RareWares. It's been the page's name for almost 20 months! And I've grown very fond of that name...

2nd - RareWares isn't only audio anymore. Since some months ago, I have been hosting video binaries (You can find them at the MPEG4 section)

As for your friends: Shame on them.

But, sure, if you guys want keep suggesting names. Maybe you could suggest something that makes the transition really worth it?

Kind regards;

Roberto.

Roberto's Audio Kingdom! (And Ruairi and John33's Fiefdoms)

It's good to see HA hosting RareWares, a site that was probably linked to more often than any other external site, and an important audio-compression resource. The redesign is definitely nice-looking and easy to navigate, and I'm assuming there are no more bandwidth/storage worries! One small request: I would prefer a larger font, or at least a font sizing that responds to Internet Explorer's "font size" command.

I'm eagerly awaiting the upcoming site tweaks...

ok, i'd like to request on the portal page, maybe above or below the board navigation section (on the far left at the top), a section with links to the sites hosted within hydrogen audio, RareWares, Foobar2000, etc.. and any Guides or Tools that will be or already are a part of this site.

Notice not a link to the forums like across the top of the page, but like a Links or Tools box, to get to these hosted portals/sites. Just like the Board Navigation box.

B)

thanks! onthejazz.

wow jkml talk about a jinx

Is it possible to add links to sites hosted by Hydrogen Audio on the latter's front (portal) page? Otherwise, new visitors might not be able to find these sites easily.

Yes, there are plans to do something like this, but on a larger scale (part of a complete portal redesign). Right now it's not at the top of the priority list. For the time being, the Documentation Project framework takes that spot (and will continue to do so until it goes public).

SometimesWarrior, onthejazz, jkml: These kinds of requests (design, etc.)should be addressed at Ruairi, since I can't code HTML for toffee.

Hopefully, he'll notice this thread soon and implement these suggestions.

COOL, nice website, better than prev.

little typo:
Volumax compile date should read: Mar 9 2003

I like the new layout, but prefer the old colors (black on white rocks!)

Just fixed it. Thanks a lot for reporting.



Well, maybe Ruairi will make user-selectable layouts?

Congratulations Roberto!!!, I like the layout and design of the site,

Adding a border="0" attribute to the rarewares logo would be nice - my IE6 browser puts a great big blue border around it because it's a hyperlink.

Don't you already know that IE is retarded?

Anyway, the page looks great, but there should be a link to HA on the front page...

Yes I already know that IE is retarded.

This doesn't mean that you should deliberately make your site look weird for 95% of your viewers.

As Ruairi has put border="0" on every other hyperlinked image, I suspect this was just overlooked for the main logo.

I personally find the design a little hard to read, in the program listings they are a little too close together

The site is however much improved, giving a small description of each file is a real help for those who don't know the exact filename & version they are after

Keep the RareWares name, warez is spelt with er, a z.

It's very specifically NOT spelt with a 'z' because they are NOT 'warez' in the accepted sense.

Love it very much!


but

ditto the comment about the blue border around the site name - should go IMO (but I'm no style guru!!!!!!!)

to make it obvious that it's not warez, you could call it that, or make that a tag line - RareWares - no warez, just quality (or something)

And Ruairi (who seems to be a great guy) has comitted my number 1 pet hate in web design (though I've done it many times too) - he's fixed the font size! Now look pal - it might be your web site, but it's displaying on my PC! I'm not a n00b - I found the option to change the text size in my browser back in 1994, and I've set it to the size that I want - don't you go messing with it! (please - note the smiley - I'm sure you will)

Seriously, the most annoying thing on the web is/was for sites to make their entire content "font size=-1" - which basically means "Take the font size that the user has chosen because it's the right size for them, and make it a bit smaller so they can't quite read it so comfortably anymore!" I know you've used CSS to fix it exactly, rather make it relative, but it that still makes it just a bit too small for me, and could be much worse for others. I think it would be better to allow the size of most of the text to default to whatever the browser normally does.

Anyway, apart from that, it's a great redesign, and good to know that HA has it safely hosted.

Cheers,
David.

P.S. It seems to re-load every single image for each and every page on the site - even the images that are the same on each page, and even when you re-visit the same page. Maybe it's a problem my end, but I'd expect them all to be cached locally, but they don't appear to be.

great news,

desing is nice, (i think absolute fixed size is at the moment the only simple way to make the page appear the same in ie and mozzila based browsers), anyway, i would make the contents b/w, that way the navigation will look more logical as well, since it will 'stand up a bit'...

(btw, there was nothing wrong with the old 'design' - was clear and simple)

edit: and why not make the same logos as in navigation appear on selected pages as well? (like mp3 -> mp3)

Great idea and great layout !!!

If I have to make a suggestion, maybe the rows of programs are very close together... I don't know, when I look at them globally they don't seem like a set of programs, but like an single bunch of text.

Well, maybe I'm just being too demanding... forget it.

Great idea, Great work.

OK, blue border eliminated.

Please add ALT attribute to graphics,
some guys here still sometimes use text browsers
(well, me - ELinks)

yup...


like R. say.. 1. 2.
+
a third issue.. am pretty shure..(w00t) the "rare"
comes out of "not-so-very-common-to-come-by"..

but now when the site is under HA.
a namechange is possible.. but me
personally.. kinda like the name..
and wouldn`t change it.
the tools provided.. isn`t average
user stuff yet..

HA. isn`t yet SO known..
(the name & knowledge.. maybe..but not the url..)
a little more PR. is due.. me think..

Call it mediawares then

I just tested the site with IE 6, and I guess john33 fixed the problem except for the "Lossless" page.

Edit: BTW, I loved it. Good job.

Very cool site. Nice work!

RareMedia is better name

Also please add links to Ogg Vorbis:
http://www.icecast.org/ - Icecast is an audio broadcasting system that streams music in the Ogg Vorbis format, and is available under the terms of the GNU GPL.
http://sjeng.org - home of Garf`s GT3, Vorbis gain, GT2, and Floggy (4kbps Vorbis encoder)
http://ogg.pagina.nl/ - Dutch(?) Ogg Vorbis site
http://www.ogg.prv.pl/ - Polish Ogg vorbis site

Actually the site was called RareWarez at the very beginning (only a few minutes AFAIR ) till someone suggested to change it.

Great work.

And then, there was the RareWare idea - but that's a british video game producer - now nearly defunct. (you probably know them by Donkey Kong Country)

I changed it, but missed uploading it!! All done now.

Thanks everyone for the positive feedback!

The site maintenance has been handed over completely to Roberto so hopefully he can sort out any issues people are having.

We'll be watching this thread for sure, and if Roberto has issues implementing some of the suggestions, for sure I'll be willing to help sort it out.

I also hope Roberto will consider revising some of his recommended suggestions, maybe they are a little out of date. The first thing we wanted to acheive was to get the site sorted and live, now that it is, we'll try to make it as useful as possible for our users.

Thanks once again for all the feedback, it has been tremendously encouraging for me!

Ruairi

Roberto:

Congratulations for your Nice Job. As my english is very poor, I donno how to express my feelings, but I am happy. I was looking a Nice website like Yours and I Found it!




Viva Mexico!

A Mexican Friend from Mexico (Compadre)

Sorry, we speak english here. TOS point 10.

Apologizes! i was Edited my post to English. Sorry for my Mistake!

is it Right?

Thanks.


Viva la Hispanidad, Viva Mexico!

Rarewares is really hard for me to say for some reason. I can't even say it two times back to back without messing it up

[edit] I too think the name should be changed compleately. And no, not because I have trouble saying it

Congratulations. It's a nice site.

@Chencho: maybe you like this:
Aural - Sonido Digital

Much better now.
Tnx HA for hosting it.
Good Job guys: Roberto, John and Ruairi.
:-)

Yes it makes sense in English, don't worry!

Kristian

Kudos for the very convenient and elegant design

My only "complaint" has to do with the chosen font...even though the site doesn't use much text, still I find it difficult to pay attention to the description of the programs (the FAQ seems OK) after a while. Verdana or Aria would be better, but since I'm the only one bringing this up, don't even consider it.

Keep up the good work guys...we all appreciate your effort.

No, we've already bombarded rjamorim and rc55 with the "use sans-serif" talk in the chatroom. You're not alone. rc55 will look into it.

parabéns roberto

I was about to mention the font too, but seeing as its already an issue raised i'm happy to wait for the outcome! Great site though btw!

ahh the font... hadn't notice it since I set up Mozilla Firebird to use my fonts.

Georgia... Serif Fonts...
Look good on print....
But bad on screen...

yup...


@SNYder...

it goes better when you write it doesn`t it

bwt.

@AngelGR

what is the name of the font in your avtar..
i need it for some designwork

Cool, i won't have to keep searching for Johnn33 to find his link to it anyymore as i always forgot to bookmark it!!



On another topic, i don't wan't to sound picky and i may be completly wrong about this an missunderstood what was being implied but doesn't hte RareWares FAQ break the Hydrogenaudio Terms of Service? See below:

Rarewares FAQ --
4. - Do you know where I can get (place your wanted piece of audio warez here)?

Look for a guy called aradzish. That's all I can say.


Hydrogen Audio TOS --
9. Links to copyrighted or illegal material, discussion containing information of how to obtain such material, bypass protection methodologies of such material, or otherwise violate laws pertaining to such matters, will not be tolerated.

Basically all you have to do is type in that name into google and you come across a russian site that, although i can't read Russian, is distributing "(place your wanted piece of audio warez here)" applications.




Again Sorry if i'm incorrect,

Kristian

Kritip,

Good observation. As you may or may not know Rarewares is a straight text dump of the existing site, so that slipped through. I'll give Roberto a nudge.

Cheers,

Ruairi