Comments on: foobar2000 Is Dead or Dying: Part 1 http://www.kilobitspersecond.com/2008/05/09/foobar2000-is-dead-or-dying-part-1/ A blog about Ubuntu, typography, and contemporary technologies. Wed, 01 Feb 2012 02:49:47 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: Jay http://www.kilobitspersecond.com/2008/05/09/foobar2000-is-dead-or-dying-part-1/#comment-24624 Jay Fri, 29 Jul 2011 23:29:46 +0000 http://www.kilobitspersecond.com/?p=276#comment-24624 It was always so funny to me how reclusive Peter was, how he had this small priesthood making release announcements for him on the forums. In any case I run Banshee in Ubuntu now. I've learned that there's no such thing as a good music player at this point, and probably never will be, so I've largely stopped worrying about it. It was always so funny to me how reclusive Peter was, how he had this small priesthood making release announcements for him on the forums.

In any case I run Banshee in Ubuntu now. I’ve learned that there’s no such thing as a good music player at this point, and probably never will be, so I’ve largely stopped worrying about it.

]]> By: Woot http://www.kilobitspersecond.com/2008/05/09/foobar2000-is-dead-or-dying-part-1/#comment-24612 Woot Sat, 16 Jul 2011 08:59:20 +0000 http://www.kilobitspersecond.com/?p=276#comment-24612 Foobar200 development stopped with the leaving of cwbowron, acropolis and those. This happened due to the lack of Peter and some zealots to understand what criticism means. The developer is extremely thin skinned and all in all very unfriendly towards 3rd party developers. This is way many left the boat. Today, only minimal development is going on, and this is only some minor stuff like metadata compliance atc. A dying project, a missed opportunity, but which could be expected because we know Peter... Foobar200 development stopped with the leaving of cwbowron, acropolis and those. This happened due to the lack of Peter and some zealots to understand what criticism means. The developer is extremely thin skinned and all in all very unfriendly towards 3rd party developers. This is way many left the boat.

Today, only minimal development is going on, and this is only some minor stuff like metadata compliance atc.

A dying project, a missed opportunity, but which could be expected because we know Peter…

]]> By: grrrrrr http://www.kilobitspersecond.com/2008/05/09/foobar2000-is-dead-or-dying-part-1/#comment-24320 grrrrrr Mon, 07 Feb 2011 10:48:54 +0000 http://www.kilobitspersecond.com/?p=276#comment-24320 grrrr foobar is so fucking dead it's making me sick. most components are shit nothing ever gets done or completed, everything bugs around like hell, there's no single working lyrics plugin atm, fuck this fucking shit grrrr foobar is so fucking dead it’s making me sick. most components are shit nothing ever gets done or completed, everything bugs around like hell, there’s no single working lyrics plugin atm, fuck this fucking shit

]]> By: Andrew http://www.kilobitspersecond.com/2008/05/09/foobar2000-is-dead-or-dying-part-1/#comment-13763 Andrew Wed, 14 Jan 2009 09:13:03 +0000 http://www.kilobitspersecond.com/?p=276#comment-13763 A while ago, I used Foobar because I was sick of iTunes & Winamp. The small foot print was great as opposed to the other bloat ware. Unfortunately I was unaware additional components at the time for additional features. So I eventually fell back to Winamp, much to my own dislike. After giving Songbird ago, I enjoyed the ease of use of additional themes and features but the 250mb memory it sucked up shocked me. I am sure there is logical explanation but when my laptop only has 1gb of ram it is totally unacceptable. Then I came across FofR. It looked great, from that it lead on finding out all the other amazing components (gapless playback, silence removal, lyrics, quick search, dsp for headphones). I thought I had hit the holy grail of music players & addon. To my dismay, I found out the incompatibilities between the new Foobar and FofR. The cancellation of development of Panels UI. It was really quite a sad story. I will still go ahead and use it for the additional components, but when the developers could have made something great. Something that blew everything else out of the water in every category. Now I just think what of what a missed opportunity it was. A while ago, I used Foobar because I was sick of iTunes & Winamp. The small foot print was great as opposed to the other bloat ware. Unfortunately I was unaware additional components at the time for additional features. So I eventually fell back to Winamp, much to my own dislike.

After giving Songbird ago, I enjoyed the ease of use of additional themes and features but the 250mb memory it sucked up shocked me. I am sure there is logical explanation but when my laptop only has 1gb of ram it is totally unacceptable.

Then I came across FofR. It looked great, from that it lead on finding out all the other amazing components (gapless playback, silence removal, lyrics, quick search, dsp for headphones). I thought I had hit the holy grail of music players & addon.

To my dismay, I found out the incompatibilities between the new Foobar and FofR. The cancellation of development of Panels UI. It was really quite a sad story.

I will still go ahead and use it for the additional components, but when the developers could have made something great. Something that blew everything else out of the water in every category. Now I just think what of what a missed opportunity it was.

]]> By: super7 http://www.kilobitspersecond.com/2008/05/09/foobar2000-is-dead-or-dying-part-1/#comment-12344 super7 Thu, 11 Dec 2008 05:33:25 +0000 http://www.kilobitspersecond.com/?p=276#comment-12344 I too respectfully disagree. What caused me to flock to foobar was not it's aesthetics even though the things that people using Panels or Columns was appealing. What piqued my curiosity about foobar was and still are from the audio side of things: the numerous DSP components, the low resource footprint, and the audio fidelity (which was better than Winamp at the time of my switch). Masstagger, support for FLAC and monkey formats, and the superior media library management capabilities were also a bonus. Of course, with proper work an open source program can (and perhaps will) become a successor for foobar. But its been my assessment that much of the audio industry is bent on destroying anything that tries to apply open source to audio (example: why won't my iPod support FLAC natively, yet will run unprotected wma?!?!). And I won't hold my breath for a breakthrough open source project that can match the modularity, flexibility and fidelity of foobar. So while maybe foobar is seeing a decline from the aesthetic and the friendliness of its user base, in my heart it will always have a place for what is beneath the eye-candy. I too respectfully disagree. What caused me to flock to foobar was not it’s aesthetics even though the things that people using Panels or Columns was appealing. What piqued my curiosity about foobar was and still are from the audio side of things: the numerous DSP components, the low resource footprint, and the audio fidelity (which was better than Winamp at the time of my switch). Masstagger, support for FLAC and monkey formats, and the superior media library management capabilities were also a bonus.
Of course, with proper work an open source program can (and perhaps will) become a successor for foobar. But its been my assessment that much of the audio industry is bent on destroying anything that tries to apply open source to audio (example: why won’t my iPod support FLAC natively, yet will run unprotected wma?!?!). And I won’t hold my breath for a breakthrough open source project that can match the modularity, flexibility and fidelity of foobar.
So while maybe foobar is seeing a decline from the aesthetic and the friendliness of its user base, in my heart it will always have a place for what is beneath the eye-candy.

]]> By: keitarNo http://www.kilobitspersecond.com/2008/05/09/foobar2000-is-dead-or-dying-part-1/#comment-12104 keitarNo Sat, 06 Dec 2008 11:08:18 +0000 http://www.kilobitspersecond.com/?p=276#comment-12104 While the PanelsUI craziness just stopped, it's coming back with Panel Stack Splitter and EL Playlist, and it's inside Columns UI. The titleformat language was clearly NOT designed for interface purposes, but you have to admit : having that level of control over your player is "cool". For a striking example, see this : http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=67465 Also, nice blog. While the PanelsUI craziness just stopped, it’s coming back with Panel Stack Splitter and EL Playlist, and it’s inside Columns UI.
The titleformat language was clearly NOT designed for interface purposes, but you have to admit : having that level of control over your player is “cool”.
For a striking example, see this :
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=67465
Also, nice blog.

]]> By: nascent http://www.kilobitspersecond.com/2008/05/09/foobar2000-is-dead-or-dying-part-1/#comment-11408 nascent Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:58:22 +0000 http://www.kilobitspersecond.com/?p=276#comment-11408 Great article, but I have to disagree. What ensures foobar's longevity, is the fact these components aren't default with foobar. By default foobar has the basic, low-resources setup. That is what has ultimately killed Winamp. By default winamp comes with everything, all enabled by default and toolbars etc on top of it. Yes you can custom install and reduce this stuff, but the average user doesn't. Which is why Nullsoft concentrate on adding to the bloat instead of improving the core functionality. Great article, but I have to disagree. What ensures foobar’s longevity, is the fact these components aren’t default with foobar. By default foobar has the basic, low-resources setup.

That is what has ultimately killed Winamp. By default winamp comes with everything, all enabled by default and toolbars etc on top of it.

Yes you can custom install and reduce this stuff, but the average user doesn’t. Which is why Nullsoft concentrate on adding to the bloat instead of improving the core functionality.

]]> By: Jay http://www.kilobitspersecond.com/2008/05/09/foobar2000-is-dead-or-dying-part-1/#comment-5243 Jay Mon, 02 Jun 2008 18:55:04 +0000 http://www.kilobitspersecond.com/?p=276#comment-5243 Thanks Mishail. And thanks for pointing out <a href="http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=62286" rel="nofollow">that API news</a>. As you can see, I wrote this almost a year before posting it, and I haven't been following the forums as closely as I used to. The abandonment of several components that I consider crucial to my foobar setup has left me using 0.9.4.x, and trends like the one described in this post left me with a diminished enthusiasm for the player in general. In 2005 and 2006, things looked great, but now I just don't know. My money is on <a href="http://www.getsongbird.com/" rel="nofollow">Songbird</a> for the future; but until it's perfected, my obsoleted yet functional foobar setup will have to do. Thanks Mishail. And thanks for pointing out that API news. As you can see, I wrote this almost a year before posting it, and I haven’t been following the forums as closely as I used to. The abandonment of several components that I consider crucial to my foobar setup has left me using 0.9.4.x, and trends like the one described in this post left me with a diminished enthusiasm for the player in general. In 2005 and 2006, things looked great, but now I just don’t know. My money is on Songbird for the future; but until it’s perfected, my obsoleted yet functional foobar setup will have to do.

]]> By: Mishail http://www.kilobitspersecond.com/2008/05/09/foobar2000-is-dead-or-dying-part-1/#comment-5211 Mishail Sat, 31 May 2008 02:02:42 +0000 http://www.kilobitspersecond.com/?p=276#comment-5211 Very interesting thoughts. It seems that recent changes in foobar2000 (deprecation of metadb_display_hook API)are intended against that "Dead or Dying". Thanks for posting that. Very interesting thoughts. It seems that recent changes in foobar2000 (deprecation of metadb_display_hook API)are intended against that “Dead or Dying”.

Thanks for posting that.

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