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Audacity 1.3.x portable

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temp4746
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Audacity 1.3.x portable

I wish you will make audacity 1.3.x version/s portable, Even if its still in beta.

The version currently avalible (1.2.6) is extremely old and i really need some of the newer features...

John T. Haller
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Release

We should really get on Audacity to just finalize 1.3. It seems that it will be stuck in perpetual beta. We don't normally roll out beta apps (they are beta for a reason) except where testing of them is easier in portable form (like Mozilla apps). The one exception is MPlayer as they'll probably never have a 'stable' release.

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solanus
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Audacity has a roadmap

Here:
http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php?title=Roadmap
It looks like they are only intending for 1.4 and 2.0 to be released as "Stable".
EVERYTHING in between will be beta.

What's weird is that the 1.4 "Stable" release is intended to have less features than 1.3.6 - and then they will follow with a 1.5 beta that has those features turned back on!

It really looks like all the real fun in the app will be happening only in the betas, which kind of sucks if we can't use them.

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temp4746
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Audacity 1.3.x portable

The reason its needed is that audacity latest version will allways be in beta.
The 1.2.6 was appearently done in November 16, 2006~.

A stable release from them is rare, its like saying that you wont use gmail because its still beta :P.

Some products seem to be quite weird with their defintion of beta and stable...

NathanJ79
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Common with freeware

It's always been common for freeware to use "beta" as an excuse to say "if it doesn't work for you it's not our fault". Same for using

temp4746
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Audacity "betas"

Thats why i really think we also need to have audacity "betas" portable.

The last stable release was something like 4 years and once they release another stable soon enough it will stop getting updates to and we will have to wait another 4 years or so for a new portable version...

Scrape
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Audacity has its own portable version

Just a quick note... Audacity 1.3 has its own portable version.

http://tinyurl.com/dxt3ff

Obviously it won't integrate with the PortableApps menu, but it's certainly a simple solution.

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temp4746
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Then why not package it as a portableapp? (.paf)

If it already has a portable version why not just package it as a portable app and put it on the site it doesn't even require much of an advanced launcher. just making sure the lame mp3 encoder and ffmpeg doesn't leave any traces.

EDIT: As it seems Audacity will be in a perpetual beta state till the end of time.
Even if they ever release a stable version soon enough they will make another beta and all the new features and development will only be in it for a few good years.

EDIT 2: Do you see what i mean?
Now they released Audacity 1.3.8, Still beta of course we might even have an Audacity 1.3.9 before they release a stable and even after they will quite immediatly plan to release a new beta where all development will take place for a bunch of years yet again. common Audacity 1.2.6 is like 4+ years old!!!

Chris Morgan
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Unstable branch

The 1.3 line (minor number is odd) is an unstable line. 1.4.0 will be a stable release. This used to be normal practise, now it's less common. GnuCash is another which does this.

John has said a few times why Inkscape 1.3 isn't going official: beta.

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“A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” – Proverbs 15:1

temp4746
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Yes i know

Many programs use that convention of version numbering.

But also many suscumb to staying in beta permanently (perpetual beta), Many also after releasing a stable soon after return to beta state again.

It became a ridiculous convention that just confuses people.

Look at gmail it recently "graduated" from beta change and the ONLY change that was done to make it final is removing the silly beta logo, it was completly stable even during the beta phase and even had full documention.

Thats why i think we need Audacity 1.3.x avalible as a PortableApp as its one of those programs that just stays in beta for no apparent reason (similar to what vlc was some time ago) even if audacity has a stable release in the past it seems that all new releases for some time now will be beta and once there will be a stable they already declared that soon new releases will be beta to (releasing 1.5 soon after releasing 1.4)

EDIT: Well what do you know. 1.3.9 was released, seriously does ANYBODY here even bother to read this...

I think they have their on portable version which you can exploit to easily make a portableapps format version.

Guess next up 1.3.10. Blum

NathanJ79
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See this thread...

https://portableapps.com/node/19705

See that thread. It's the "Outdated PortableApps" thread, and the conversation I am referring to will not be up there long; it's staff's practice to purge replies after a while (usually, when the app being discussed gets updated).

Seems like the biggest issue is the Audacity team's misuse of the term "beta", which we all agree is rubbish. JTH points out that the beta releases lack documentation and translations, the latter of which seems to be the main showstopper.

Nobody here has made an argument that I have seen that says 1.3.x is not stable. In fact, I've heard it's more stable than 1.2.6. Neither of them have crashed on me or done anything weird, but in any case, it's silly to hold back because Audacity is slacking on the translations. PortableApps.com has its own translators anyway, for the platform at least. Drop the English language file and have people translate it. I disagree that the lack of translation should be a showstopper, though.

Furthermore, JTH said there that a "beta" release here on PortableApps.com is not out of the question. It just won't work with the updater. Probably won't be featured on the main page, either. But hey, that's fine.

scriptdaemon
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> Probably won't be featured

> Probably won't be featured on the main page

The Firefox and Google Chrome betas get to the front page, don't see why Audacity betas wouldn't.

temp4746
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Well what do you know...

Well what do you know... version 1.3.10... (Beta) -.-"

I think I made my point clear enough already -.-

Mir
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yes you did.

yes you did.

temp4746
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1.3.11

Yay 1.3.11 and they are planning a 1.3.12 ...

Mir
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what ever makes you happy

what ever makes you happy dood!

solanus
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Audacity Stable Release info

For those of us that like the 1.3.x branch of Audacity and would love to see it portablized here, here's some info about their policies on releases, what the holdup is all about, and how in one way it kind of contradicts itself!

First, they use bugzilla, and any bugs that are P1 or P2 will prevent a stable release.
http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Bug_Lists

There are still 7 P2 bugs left
List of P2 bugs

However, they also admit that none of their releases meet the stable release criteria for Windows 7, including 1.2.6!
http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Release_Policy#.27Stable.27_relative_t...
They should be releasing 2.0 "stable" soon - for pre-Windows Vista, which means that from that bug list, only 4 bugs apply.

All that being said, Audacity 1.3.11 is still the best version out there. I'm running it on W7 (using their portable release and Chris' Portable Launcher), and I use it ALL the time with no real issues.
The only things I need to do is
1. Avoid the NOOB mistake of deleting files in my project while I'm working on it.
2. Spent an extra 10 seconds fiddling with the input sliders during the initial setup but then I don't have to touch it again .

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John T. Haller
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Unfortunate, Worrying

So, it would seem that they currently have no stable release at all that properly supports Vista and Windows 7. And that 2.0 won't properly support them either. And that there's no ETA on 2.0 let alone the release that comes after that that will properly support Windows after XP.

Keep in mind that Windows Vista is 19% of all PCs and Windows 7 is 8.2% of all PCs. So that's 27.2% of Windows PCs unsupported by Audacity. And climbing fast.

Maybe we should switch to the beta so at least it's better supported on Windows Vista/7.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

NathanJ79
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1.3.11 works fine in Win7

1.3.11 works fine in Windows 7. I read what you said before about their "bugzilla" keeping them from releasing builds with P1 and P2 bugs reported, not sure if that's related, but I have no problem using Audacity 1.3.11 in Windows 7.

Again, the beta is fine. Audacity betas are more stable than some peoples' stable releases. Not calling anyone here out but I'm sure y'all have, at some point, encountered software that felt like a beta. Every time I play a Guitar Hero game I feel like a beta tester, and those go through Microsoft QA (or at least Activision's, which should mean something). Oh, and the first Assassin's Creed. Talk about buggy! And this is commercial software, games which have made a ton of money.

The beta also works by installing Audacity 1.2.6 from here and replacing the contents of the app\Audacity folder with the contents of the Audacity 1.3.11 zip file. So those who know the beta is fine and want to use it already can. Not sure how portable it is in that setup, but it's worked well for me.

solanus
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Bugzilla is just their bug tracking system

It's also used by Firefox and other apps.
The Bugzilla system includes 5 bug severity levels, P1 (worst) to P5 (mildest).
So, the Audacity devs have decided that anything they rate as P1 will prevent any release, and anything they rate as P2 prevents a "stable" release.

And I agree with you about the definition of "stable" - Audacity works fine, does everything it's supposed to, doesn't crash, and I've been using it for years with great success. (Calling the beta version "not feature complete" is just plain incorrect. It has all the features of the "stable" one and quite a bit more) I've personally come to terms with their pickiness and terminology. At least they are an active team, and they are continuously improving.

BTW, my other favorite beta app is the PA.c menu! I can't remember the last time I settled for the stable version; I totally skipped 1.6 because I wanted to keep my themes.
Give me the features, and I'll put up with the quirks!

I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you.

tgrantt
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Inputs

I downloaded 1.3.11 and tried to use it. It seems like a good upgrade, but won't recognize my USB headset. If I read the Bugzilla right, that is a known bug. Hope they get on that.

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