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30 Most Recent RSS FeedCBR and All That
OK, so we know that unchecking AAC VBR in Preferences > Advanced > Importing actually gives you ABR (Average Bit Rate) encoding and checking it gives you VBR_Constrained. I just put up a script that uses afconvert to import CD tracks as old-style CBR (Constant Bit Rate). However, even this apparently does not provide a constant bit rate. For example, after ripping a few tracks with it and attempting to join and export them in QuickTime, I do not get the pass through option. Checking their info with the QT Inspector the bit rates are indeed slightly different. Here's what's weird: CD tracks I ripped with a pre-v7.5 iTunes without VBR also have slightly different bit rates, but QT allows the export as pass through. I've gotta do some research.
NEW: Rip AAC Old School v0.9
Now that iTunes doesn't rip or convert AACs using constant bit rates (see this MacFixIt article), users of Join Together can't take advantage of the Pass-through option, which encodes the final joined file much faster. Rip AAC Old School is an AppleScript wrapper for the command line tool afconvert. It will rip CD tracks as AAC using Constant Bit Rate (CBR) so that ripped tracks will all have the same bit rate. I tested it pretty thoroughly here, but I'm still keeping my fingers crossed.
AAC VBR Bug NOT a Bug
According to this article at MacFixIt, "it now appears that this [is} neither a bug in QuickTime nor a bug in iTunes; in fact, it's not a bug. What's happened is that the meaning of the choices you make in iTunes has changed (without, as usual, any explanation or notice from Apple)." For more, read the entire article.
QuickTime 7.3 Bug - AAC VBR, Whether You Want It Or Not
This thread and this thread at Apple Support Discussions describes a bug in QuickTime 7.3 which ignores your iTunes VBR (variable bit rate) settings for importing or converting AAC tracks. As a result, you always get VBR. (Thanks to Correspondent Christian who pointed this out to me when describing a problem with the "Pass-Through" setting of Join Together. This option will only be available if your selected tracks all have the same bit and sample rate. Of course, if they are VBR, they won't all have the same bit rate and Pass-Through won't be available.)
I smell iTunes 7.5.1 and/or QuickTime 7.3.1 coming soon. At least, I hope that's what I smell.
Dupin v1.1.3 Released
I've updated Dupin to version v1.1.3. There apparently is a bug in Leopard that affects German and Dutch systems, and maybe others, which causes some time and date conversion errors (specifically, conversion of date strings that contain the abbreviation for the month of March/M?rz/maart). This latest version of Dupin works around the March Bug and, thus, prevents a sorting error on systems affected by it.
Script Search
Finally got the script search form at the top of every page working properly again--well, pretty much. Because of some MySQL problems about a month or so ago, I neglected to update the search code and only recently figured out the problem. If You Wanna Know: the script search is a (simple) FULLTEXT search on the database using IN BOOLEAN MODE.
UPDATED: Join Together v5.1.3
Join Together has been Leopardized and updated to version 5.1.3. Along with compatibility with Mac OS 10.5, I've also added a new icon, a "Comments" tag entry for the final joined file, and a "Check For Update" menu option--you'll want to be using this in a few weeks ;)
iTunes 7.5 Released
Apple has released iTunes 7.5. I've had a quick look and it doesn't look like there are any new AppleScript features, but I'll know more after a little more investigation.
iTunes Library Manager v5.1 Released
iTunes Library Manager has been updated to version 5.1. This is really just a maintenance release to make the GUI compatible with Mac OS X 10.5. However, I did add a "Check For Updates" menu option so that it no longer automatically checks for updates at startup. More to come in the next update, perhaps a month or so from now.
Dupin v1.1.2 Released
I have fixed a couple of issues with Dupin in version 1.1.2, now available for download. Some Leopard users were seeing an error at startup about a string coercion; this is fixed. Also, a problem with video Sample Rates (there aren't any) was fixed.
