FLAC Frontend

[Greengoat]

Ah, I was down a little too far. I was in the extras section.

# FLACdrop, an Oggdrop-like frontend for Windows, or the even more versatile oggdropXPd.
# FLAC frontend, a Windows GUI, or the even more versatile Multi frontend.
# Frontah, a new frontend to many codecs, including FLAC. Still in beta but has good reviews.
# MAREO is a "virtual" encoder that can be used with ExactAudioCopy to encode to multiple formats (including FLAC) at once while ripping.

[RainDawg]

Originally Posted by Greengoat

And back to dawg, so I can make md5 files for flac using shntool, but that's not the same as a ffp? I thought they both check only the audio, and nothing else, so why wouldn't they both work. Not meaning to be a pest, I just what to learn how to do this right.

You're not a pest...it's a valid question. The FLAC fingerprint is indeed an md5 checksum of the original uncompressed audio data, and will yield the same result as the shntool md5 in terms of the number. The major difference is that the FLAC fingerprint is encoded directly into the header of the file when it is encoded, and the "fingerprint" function metaflac.exe just extracts this text from the file and collates it into a text file. The shntool md5 will go ahead and compute it, taking quite a bit more time. The text of the shntool md5 is also formatted slightly differently....but if the checksum result isn't identical, you have corrupted FLAC files that won't extract or play without error.

With FLAC files, the "right" way to do it doesn't require shntool at all. Just take the fingerprint and record that into a xxxx.ffp.txt file for future reference. You can also use Frontend's "test" function to actually go ahead and check that checksum value against the contents of the tile to confirm that your files are not corrupted.

I hope this makes a bit more sense.....

[Greengoat]

Yes, it does. Especially the part about saving some time by using flac frontend vs. shntool for checking it.

[malick]

Hey Greengoat, while reading your post I saw...

Originally Posted by Greengoat

...the only thing I could get to work is to have the shntool files copied to the show directory then run a command prompt and use this "shntool md5 *.shn>>shntool.md5.txt" and of course change it to flac for flac files. Worked just fine.

you can save yourself a step, assuming you're on XP, by dropping a copy of SHNTOOLS into C:\WINDOWS\system32 and whenever you open a command prompt, you can just type in "shntool" and the program will run. Of course you'll still have to navigate over to the appropriate folder. I think in older Windows OS's you put SHNTOOL in the Windows\Command folder if you're still running one of those versions.

[diggrd]

Originally Posted by malick

Hey Greengoat, while reading your post I saw...



you can save yourself a step, assuming you're on XP, by dropping a copy of SHNTOOLS into C:\WINDOWS\system32 and whenever you open a command prompt, you can just type in "shntool" and the program will run. Of course you'll still have to navigate over to the appropriate folder. I think in older Windows OS's you put SHNTOOL in the Windows\Command folder if you're still running one of those versions.

Yes that's one part of my "easy" method but in no way does my easy way remove the command line (I like DOS) the other part is to create a command prompt here right click option allowing me to right click the folder where the files are and proceed with the arcane commands of shntool

[malick]

diggra, thanks, hadn't known that trick before. one less step for me now.

[Greengoat]

Great, I'll be sure to give those a try. Thanks.

[Greengoat]

Originally Posted by RainDawg

I am very interested in hearing about this as well, and would be happy to writeup some guides for the FAQ on whatever method you're referring to. I've actually been working on coding a frontend for shntool because I searched far and wide and was unable to find any GUI for it. Please fill us in!

I searched wider.. ...and found this GUI for shntools - http://sourceforge.net/project/showf...ease_id=230527

The only problem is whenever I try to drag and drop a shn file over to the app I get a runtime error, then the app closes.

"Runtime error '5';

Invalid procedure call or argument"

I can't quite make out what shntools is doing in the background, but it looks like it's saying something like, illegal helper program.

[RainDawg]

Not to be really picky Goat, but the name of the program is shntool, no s. That might confuse some people.

Anyway, thanks for the link. It looks interesting, but I tried this and couldn't get it to do anything either. Looks like this is something someone was playing with, and this version really shouldn't have been released .

It doesn't work at all for anything other than shn, and when I do use an shn I get the same bad result you did.

[Greengoat]

Found this, haven't tried it yet. http://research.umbc.edu/~hamilton/cgreenshntool.html

[Greengoat]

Might have been for an old release of shntool.


Notice the lack of the "s".

But the source code is there, and could be a start for writing a new code. Since this is open source anyone is free to use it right?

[RainDawg]

Well, the shntool source is indeed open a free to use, but under the GPL agreement. This means that if you take parts of it, you must refer anyone who uses the software to a link where they can access the original file and source code.

So technically, someone could take the individual functions and re-crete them in another standalone pacakge. It's just that no one has done this yet.

[dacrawdaddy]

Also, here's part of an old post from STG cached @ Google:
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache...2menu%22&hl=en

"If you have mkwAct installed, then right click on the folder you want to make the MD5 for and you'll see the option "Generate MD5 signatures". The MD5 will generate checksums for everything in the folder..."

In other words, mkwACT has a windows context menu option installed which allows you to right-click a folder, then select the option to generate an md5 checksum file inside of that folder. I've been using this for at least a year now, and I think it did come with the mkwACT package I have (0.97 beta1), although I'm not sure if that's where I got it.

[katnapz]

Originally Posted by dacrawdaddy

"If you have mkwAct installed, then right click on the folder you want to make the MD5 for and you'll see the option "Generate MD5 signatures". The MD5 will generate checksums for everything in the folder..."

But the problem with that (if I read the FAQ correctly) is that mkwAct generates a "wholefile" md5, which isn't as good (or accepted) here on TTD.
See:
http://www.thetradersden.org/forums/...aq=md5#faq_ffp
"Note: Wholefile md5 checksums are the type generated by programs such as mdsum, mkwact, and others. Please read on to understand why these are forbidden as the primary form of file verificaton at The Traders' Den."

You might want to start getting away from mkwAct in any case as it has known issues in XP. I can't use it on mine with much reliability...If I need to do anything with mkwAct I have a 98SE system I move things to.

...the topic of how much longer will SHN be around could be a completely different thread...

[RainDawg]

Right...the mkw generated wholefile md5s are pretty useless. I like that option for DVD seeds, but for lossless audio trading it's just not practical to use that.