Picard 2.9 Beta 3 released

MusicBrainz Picard
, ,
1

We just released MusicBrainz Picard 2.9.0 Beta 3, please test!

Translators: think about updating translations, there are few new strings (mainly warning dialogs).

6 Likes
2

I love the new information dialogs! These should really go a long way in helping green users understand what they are getting into.

The following are a few minor suggestions that may make them read a little more naturally, but feel free to disregard if too nitpicky :slight_smile: Modifications are in BOLD.

Picard is a very flexible music tagging tool which uses metadata from MusicBrainz for tags and file naming. However, if you do not understand how it works, it’s limitations, or how to configure the program, you can easily make undesired changes to your music files.

We therefore STRONGLY recommend that you:

  1. Read the Picard documentation before using this tool on your music files. This link is also accessible from the “Help” menu.

  2. Start with copies of your music, and in small batches until you are fully confident that your music files will be handled as intended. It is important to note that once Picard changes/updates a file, there is no way to undo any changes.

Picard is open source software written by volunteers. It is provided as-is, and with no warranty. You use Picard at your own risk.

This action will:

  • overwrite existing metadata (tags) within the files
  • rename the files
  • move the files to a different location
    The number of files to be processed is $1

This action cannot be undone

Do you want to continue?

6 Likes
3

2. Make a backup, and start with copies of your music. Test in small batches

I’d make it even more blatantly obvious to make a backup. Also note your typo - batched/batches.

Also a double plus good on seeing these warnings. Easy to dismiss, but hopefully will slow some people down to think.

2 Likes
4

We intentionally kept the message short (actually it was longer at start), because people don’t read long texts.

So even though your suggestions make a lot of sense, please keep in mind we need a clear and short message, adding more details can be counter-productive in this case.

Suggestions going in this direction are more likely to be accepted.
Also, please create tickets so we can keep track of your suggestions.

5 Likes
5

In that case, replace the lot with: “Backup before you mess up.”

(May have been more punchy, but I thought I best not swear) :rofl:

5 Likes
6

Maybe turn on the script
or action of saving updated files to a new folder as a default would help?

7

This needs to be at the top of the message with a stronger back it up.

The rest is TLDR.

1 Like
8

Just enabling will not work well, as there is no proper default to set here. We can do this once we introduce a multi-step first-run setup dialog.

2 Likes
9

I like your suggested changes, and have created a ticket for it in the tracking system.

2 Likes
10

Thank you, @rdswift! :slight_smile:

2 Likes
11

Updating from 2.8.5 to 2.9.0 b3. Receive this error upon installation.

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "tagger.py", line 16, in <module>
  File "PyInstaller\loader\pyimod02_importers.py", line 385, in exec_module
  File "tagger.py", line 123, in <module>
  File "PyInstaller\loader\pyimod02_importers.py", line 385, in exec_module
  File "util\pipe.py", line 55, in <module>
ImportError: DLL load failed while importing win32file: The specified procedure could not be found.

Renaming my existing install folder, and installing into a clean folder has gotten the past the initial error message.

12

What Windows version is this on? Can you share a full debug log output on a new ticket at https://tickets.metabrainz.org/projects/PICARD ?

13

Another question: By default the Picard Windows installer prompts you to do an uninstall of the previous version, which will remove the existing installation folder. This is exactly done because of issues like this. Did you skip this uninstall?

1 Like
14

Would it be possible to disable the pinging sound caused by the new dialogs on Windows? It’s very annoying and users don‌’t have to be notified by sound about a screen they see anyway. I know this can be disabled in Windows, but it would be nice if Picard just wouldn’t make that noise in the first place.

Also, I think the dialogs should have the same title icon as Picard itself. Right now they have a default icon.

15

Which new dialogs make a noise? I just grabbed the stand alone beta specifically because you said this. And it is silent for me on Win10.

16

Both the new user dialog and the save dialog (I think that’s all of them). It may depend on your Windows settings though.

17

That sound is configured in the Windows sound theme. If you don’t want Windows to play that sound on notification dialog you can disable the sound in the Windows sound theme settings. That specific sound is called “Exclamation” in English.

grafik
grafik480×599 20.6 KB

From Picard side there is no option to disable that. The only thing that could be done is not making those dialogs standard notification dialogs. But then we get the opposite requests like “the save notification does not look like a standard notification dialog on my system” and “the save notification does not play the notification sound I have configured in Windows”.

5 Likes
18

Funny, I had system sounds switched off completely in the volume mixer, but that didn’t stop Picard’s pop-ups from making that noise. I had to disable that system sound itself. Picard is also the only software on my pc that makes such a noise, so I assume everything else doesn’t use standard notification dialogs or plays the sound through system sounds? (Meaning that muting system sounds also mutes notification dialogs from those apps.) Is there a way to make Picard play that sound through system sounds?

Long story short: whoever thought that it would be a good idea for computers to make noises to alert users should be shot. Computers have screens, you can see what happens ffs.

1 Like
20

I notice that the latest release does not allow for running two portable installs simultaneously.
For me that is a regression, since I find it useful to be able to compare settings between two installs, and to easily copy scripts from one to another.

It is something I believe should not pose a problem for portable software, so I am not sure why it is not ‘allowed’ anymore?
I have been doing this for many years with Picard and have never run into a single problem.

Could this restriction be removed?

(Win10)

1 Like
21

That’s not specifically related to the portable install. The big change in Picard 2.9 is that it runs by default in single instance mode, where command line arguments get passed to the running instance. Separate versions count as separate instances, but same version by default reuses existing instances.

You can disable this by launching Picard with the --stand-alone-instance command line parameter.

But maybe we should consider not only using the Picard version but also the location of the executable to decide which instances are shared.

4 Likes