Since tfabris and mcomb had a peek at the latest features in the player software I couldn't keep them a secret any longer.

If you like to live life dangerously and feel like trying a release that is potentially even more unreliable than the average beta release then this might be for you.

A beta 11 pre-release is available at http://www2.empeg.com/upgrades/test/beta11pre/

The files are not complete as is the case for a full release. The .upgrade file only contains the actual software (i.e. no kernel, no boot code, no cheese) so it won't stomp over custom kernels. The emplode zip only contains the emplode executable and a newly required DLL.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention. It has proper immediate shuffle. Don't get too excited (yes, I'm talking to you Tony!)

--
Mike Crowe
I may not be speaking on behalf of empeg above :-)

Oh, I almost forgot to mention. It has proper immediate shuffle. Don't get too excited (yes, I'm talking to you Tony!)

I was plenty excited about it when Hugo showed it to us. I'm pretty impressed with what I saw.

I assume that the version you just posted was a little bit farther along than the version Hugo showed us. There were a couple of things that hadn't quite been implemented yet in the one he showed us. But it was pretty great nonetheless.

For anyone who's interested, off the top of my head, the new stuff I saw in the software was:

- "0" key on the remote control shuffles and unshuffles immediately, while the current song still plays. There is a slight pause in the song as it mashes the playlist (I assume that the larger your playlist, the longer the pause). I forgot to ask how it handles the case of multiple occurrences of the current song in multiple sub-playlists.

- Other number keys on the remote keypad were set up to "search for same". For instance, one of the buttons would search for the same artist, another button would search for the same year, another button would search for the same genre. In other words, let's say you're listening to a big random playlist. A B-52's song comes on. You decide you want to hear more B-52's. You hit the appropriate number key on the remote, and it displays a short text message at the top of the screen to tell you it found some more B-52's successfully (although this text message had not been completed in the version that Hugo showed me). The current song keeps playing, but the rest of the songs in the playlist are now B-52's tunes. I'm pretty sure that it reshuffles the playlist so that the same playlist is still there, it just added the B-52's songs to after your song in the playlist.

- The new playlist code had broken the "Now and Next" screen temporarily, but that was going to get fixed pretty quick. I don't know if it's fixed in the version that was just posted.

I'm a little groggy after some late-night filking last night, so I'm not remembering much else right now. What else was in that version?

___________
Tony Fabris

Also, I forgot to suggest holding the bottom button in this release. You never, know some of you might mind it useful.... :)

--
Mike Crowe
I may not be speaking on behalf of empeg above :-)

For those of you wondering what Mike is on about, holding down the bottom button on the unit now toggles the info screens on and off. So some of those of you avoiding the beta10a new "feature" might be more inclined to upgrade now.

__
Unit serial number 47 (was 330 in the queue)...

Yea!

A fix for the Windows 2000 problem is now available in the same place.

--
Mike Crowe
I may not be speaking on behalf of empeg above :-)

You have managed to rewrite Windows? Microsoft will be so happy ;-)

-Mike

Does this link still work on the new website?

Paul.

Paul Haigh, 6GB, Blue
Reg: 4120 - Serial 00254

Okay, that really was a stupid post. Apologies.

(Oh, and BTW it does).

Cheers,

Paul.

Paul Haigh, 6GB, Blue
Reg: 4120 - Serial 00254

It works because it's actually linked to the old upgrade site, which we haven't taken down yet. I'm gradually transfering stuff to the new support/downloads section - the source code went up yesterday, along with a PDF of the new user guide.

Rob

Just had a look at the new user guide... Very nicely done... =)

Jazz
(List 112, S/N 00030, 4 gig blue)

I didn't notice an 'Interim' section on the new web site...

Paul

Paul Haigh, 6GB, Blue
Reg: 4120 - Serial 00254

Interim releases are going to be very unofficial - probably only announced on here, and linked direct to the appropriate files.

(Unless Mike really wants them on the web site for all and sundry to get in trouble with).

Rob

The new web site says to refer to past release notes if jumping a few versions when upgrading, but the older notes aren't on the new site anywhere. Not sure if any of the older notes are needed, but someone might need access to them.

(Can't wait for the MK II, now that a Solo 9300 replaced my empeg for MP3 music)

Good point, I'll include the old release notes in the documentation section sometime soon.

Rob

*blush* Thank you, myself and Rob spent many late nights working on it...
And Mike did an excellent job as proof-reader.

--
David
// I'm probably not speaking on behalf of empeg here...

Apart from the initial flurry after it was released we haven't received a lot of bug reports about beta11pre. Does that mean that people ran it for a while and then went back to beta10a or does it mean that in general it worked properly for people and they are still running it?

I'm trying to gauge whether to release beta11pre2 or go straight to beta11 proper.

--
Mike Crowe
I may not be speaking on behalf of empeg above :-)

I'm running pre11 and I've had a few sync problems, but other than that it seems fine.

Paul.

Paul Haigh, 6GB, Blue
Reg: 4120 - Serial 00254

I'm still on 10a and will be for a while, partly coz I am very dubious of pre-releases (we know you got all the reported bugs out quick guys), and partly coz I can't put 11pre on.

I should have it one in a weeks time.

Proud owner of #161

Perhaps the non standard packaging of the release put
some people off?

(Oh and by the way I've now hopefully fixed all of the broken links on the old articles on the BBS which didn't
have Icons associated with them - Hopefully this will stop
my error_log filling up! My sql is a bit rusty so I might have broke something else wih my update so shout up if you see anything odd!)

Cheers

PaulH

I put pre11 on the same day it became available, and I have used it since.
Haven't had any problems with it.

TommyE

I've been running it since release, no problems.

__
Unit serial number 47 (was 330 in the queue)...

Been running 11pre since it was released, and haven't any problems, sync or otherwise.

I can't say I've used all the features much (apart from the info/visuals toggle )

Geoff
---- -------
Saving hard for a Mark 2...