foobar2000 0.9.6 beta 5 is out and about!
A new foobar2000 beta just got released: 0.9.6 beta 4.
Just as I was downloading the new beta, I decided to take advantage and test the portable install option. It seems to have worked perfectly, and it’s now playing happily my favorite 4hero album 
The process is pretty straightforward (a few screens are included below).
Nothing goes better with my newly acquired Daft Punk “Alive 2007″ CD than a new foobar2000 release. The album was swiftly ripped and encoded with Exact Audio Copy and now sits comfortably in foobar’s media library.
This second beta for foobar2000 0.9.6 includes media library improvements as well as a nice treat for people who like to always have their prizes utilities with then on a USB stick.
*** WHAT’S NEW IN FOOBAR 0.9.6 BETA 2 ***
- “portable” option in installer
- fully automatic media library folder watching
- media library honors “hidden” flag set for files
- builtin matroska support (if you have previously installed a component for this, you should uninstall it now)
- new converter UI
(For more, check the full changelog and release notes.)
*** FOOBAR 0.9.6 BETA 2 DOWNLOADS ***
Get it now: Download foobar2000 0.9.6 beta 2
exe installer, 2.84MB, MD5 sum: 12648218959E336352EFCA4831776A14
After a few days of quiet, a new foobar2000 beta is out and about. foobar2000 0.9.4.1 Beta 1 aims at improved compatibility and, as expected, fixes some bugs too.
This version plays well with the MP4 tracks encoded by recent versions of iTunes: foobar2000 can do “gapless” playback of such files.
Some issues regarding tagging specification/implementation for the Vorbis and APE formats have been fixed as well, along some other (unspecified bugs).
*** WHAT’S NEW IN FOOBAR2000 0.9.4.1 BETA 1 ***
- Improved compliance with Vorbis Comment and APEv2 tag specifications
- Added gapless playback of MP4 files encoded with new iTunes
- Various bug fixes
*** RELEVANT LINKS ***
Download foobar2000 0.9.4.1 Beta 1 (.exe installer, 1.6MB, md5=AB4421E21B3FE02192C7006B03FB6DA5)
Lightweight, but as well-equipped and charming as James Bond, foobar2000 has gone forward another step in its evolution cycle by reaching version 0.9.4 final.
So what’s new in this new release of the audio player that’s either liked or hated by most people? Well, for one thing, it starts and shuts down faster and the standard installer includes freedb support.
What else? Handling of MP3 files has been improved (”fix headers” and other useful tools), the LAME version/settings used to encode MP3s can be detected, ID3v2 workarounds have been added for some errors in MP3 files caused by buggy implementations. foobar2000 0.9.4 even knows how to work with WMA tags.
Something interesting happened to the “properties window”: it has two tabs, “metadata” and … “properties” (not so original, is it). The first tab displays all the information extracted from ID3 tags and the like. The second tab is all about the actual file: location, size, bitrate, duration, sample rate and so on…
Want to find out more? Check out the changelog below…
*** WHAT’S NEW IN FOOBAR2000 0.9.4 ***
- Properties dialog improvements
- Startup/shutdown speed optimizations
- Added LAME version and partial settings detection for MP3 files
- Replaced old “Fix MP3 Header” command with a new set of MP3-related utility commands
- “ID3v2 Writer Compatibility Mode” with workarounds for common bugs in other software’s ID3v2 implementations
- “Copy” button in components list
- freedb support now included with the installer
- Rewritten embedded cuesheet metadata handling
- Rewritten ReplayGain info editor dialog
- ABX bugfixes
- Added WMA tag editing support
*** RELEVANT LINKS ***
Download foobar2000 0.9.4 (.exe installer, 1.6MB, md5=28F2F9EA5BDD625DD59E2661A2DAF7D2)
foobar2000 is a simple but powerful audio player featuring support for many popular and rare formats, either out of the box or by using additional components.
So what’s up with version 0.9.4 Beta 1 ?
Well, for starters, there is freedb support included in the standard installer, the ID3v2 writer functionality has been updated with workarounds targeting errors in other programs’ ID3v2 implementation and the properties window has been improved.
foobar2000 0.9.4 Beta 1 even starts up and shuts down faster than its previous installments, and can detect the LAME codec version and settings (partially) that were used to encode MP3 files.
See below for the full changelog information.
*** WHAT’s NEW IN FOOBAR2000 0.9.4 BETA1 ***
- Properties dialog improvements
- Startup/shutdown speed optimizations
- Added LAME version and partial settings detection for MP3 files
- Replaced old “Fix MP3 Header” command with a new set of MP3-related utility commands
- “ID3v2 Writer Compatibility Mode” with workarounds for common bugs in other software’s ID3v2 implementations
- “Copy” button in components list
- freedb support now included with the installer
- Rewritten embedded cuesheet metadata handling
- Rewritten ReplayGain info editor dialog
*** RELEVANT LINKS ***
Download foobar2000 0.9.4 Beta 1
Visit foobar2000 homepage
Read detailed foobar2000 version history
foobar2000 is a simple but powerful audio player featuring support for many popular and rare formats, either out of the box or by using additional components.
Developers can create foobar2000 components easily, by using the software development kit (SDK) available for download on the foobar2000 homepage.
Formats supported out of the box:
- MP1, MP2, MP3, MP4, MPC,
- AAC,
- Ogg Vorbis, FLAC / Ogg FLAC,
- WavPack, WAV,
- AIFF, AU, SND,
- CDDA
Formats supported by using optional downloadable components:
- Monkey’s Audio
- ALAC
foobar2000 0.9 Final has been released, bringing forth various improvements for:
- User interface (GUI) – usability, responsiveness
- Format support, file handling and association
- New and rewritten components
- Security enhancements
- Better network code
For detailed information, see below for the full changelog info.
Unfortunately for Windows 95/98/ME/NT4 users, these operating systems are not supported anymore; foobar2000 requires at least Windows 2000 to run.
The version being currently worked on is foobar2000 0.9.2. The fourth beta has been recently released, fixing some bugs and adding native support for the Nero Digital AAC encoder.
*** WHAT’S NEW IN FOOBAR2000 0.9.2 FINAL ***
- Native support for new free Nero Digital AAC encoder
- New “Advanced Preferences” page
- More compatible MP4 tagging scheme
- New CD ripping UI
- Added “directory context menus” feature to file type associations
- Support for realtime DSP preset editing through DSP Manager page
- Fixed various networking issues
- APL support (no longer maintained) moved to a separately downloadable component (Monkey’s Audio support)
- Various cosmetic changes
- Various other bug fixes
*** RELEVANT LINKS ***
Download foobar2000 0.9.2 Final (.exe - 1.44MB)
foobar2000 Homepage
foobar2000 Forums
Download foobar2000 optional components
foobar2000 Wiki
foobar2000 is a simple but powerful audio player featuring support for many popular and rare formats, either out of the box or by using additional components.
Developers can create foobar2000 components easily, by using the software development kit (SDK) available for download on the foobar2000 homepage.
Formats supported out of the box:
- MP1, MP2, MP3, MP4, MPC,
- AAC,
- Ogg Vorbis, FLAC / Ogg FLAC,
- WavPack, WAV,
- AIFF, AU, SND,
- CDDA
Formats supported by using optional downloadable components:
- Monkey’s Audio
- ALAC
After a long time in which development slowed to a halt, foobar2000 0.9 has been finally released, bringing forth various improvements for:
- User interface (GUI) – usability, responsiveness
- Format support, file handling and association
- New and rewritten components
- Security enhancements
- Better network code
For detailed information, see below for the full changelog info.
Unfortunately for Windows 95/98/ME/NT4 users, these operating systems are not supported anymore; foobar2000 requires at least Windows 2000 to run.
The version being currently worked on is foobar2000 0.9.2. The fourth beta has been recently released, fixing some bugs and adding native support for the Nero Digital AAC encoder.
*** WHAT’S NEW IN FOOBAR2000 0.9.2 BETA 4 ***
- Support for realtime DSP preset editing
- Native support for new free Nero Digital AAC encoder
- APL support (no longer maintained) moved to a separately downloadable component (Monkey’s Audio support)
- Added “directory context menus” feature to file type associations
- Various bug fixes
*** WHAT’S NEW IN FOOBAR2000 0.9.1 ***
- Faster Ogg Vorbis tag editing.
- Official ASIO support (downloadable separately).
- Improved compatibility with buggy soundcard drivers.
- Added DSP preset switching functionality.
- Workedaround buttons display problems on Windows 2000.
- Improved “random” button action with album/directory shuffle.
- Added WMA playback support.
*** WHAT’S NEW IN FOOBAR2000 0.9 ***
- Reworked UI structure, removed various redundant / rarely used features.
- New: Media Library, replacing old “database” functionality.
- Improved playlist management - better handling of multiple playlists, native multilevel undo and more.
- Changes in title formatting script (field remappings) to make common operations easier.
- New: Converter, replacing old “Diskwriter” component. Includes album image writing (cuesheet creation, direct encoding to MP4 with chapters), preview generation and multi-CPU optimizations. Most popular encoders are supported out-of-the-box; more encoders can be added using generic commandline encoder setup.
- Improved support for specific file formats: faster tag updates with MP3 and FLAC, new native ID3v2 support, rewritten MP4 support now including chapters, rewritten cuesheet handling with improved handling of embedded cuesheets, improved AAC streaming support, and more.
- Various speed optimizations, improved UI responsivity during time-consuming operations; better handling of overkill playlist scripts.
- New: file type associations page in preferences.
- New and improved ReplayGain scanner with proper multichannel support and multi-CPU optimizations; now with option to apply RG adjustment directly to audio data in MP3 files.
- Improved audio CD support, with simple secure ripping functionality.
- Rewritten network code.
- Improved security by replacing various third party libraries with own implementations.
- Various usability improvements.
- Dropped Windows 95/98/ME/NT4 OS support. Windows 2000, XP or newer is now required.
*** RELEVANT LINKS ***
Download foobar2000 0.9.2 Beta 4 (.exe - 1.44MB)
foobar2000 Homepage
foobar2000 Forums
Download foobar2000 optional components
foobar2000 Wiki