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Always

Remember to bookmark or set a page notifier on the History page. I update that page every week with what's new, if you're into that sort of thing

August 15, 2014: Blog moved again

really here now

June 20: Blog moved

I'm now on Facebook

May 1 2013: code server is back

whew!

April 28 2013: Just about to call it "1.0" and the code server dies

So, i'm moving my servers to a new location. I have the main kJams server which runs the web sites, and a second server which runs mail and the source code server, Perforce (P4) So I temporarily am using a 3rd party mail server, and was just "doing without" the P4 server, since it would only be a few days of outtage. Also, i cloned the main kJams server to a macmini, and left that in place, while i move the production servers. So, i get to the new location and turn them on, the kJams one comes up just fine, but lo and behold: the mail/p4 server won't power up. FFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU. Crap. I have some spare parts back at the old server location, i pray to the computer gods that they are enough to get the server up, but the problem is i won't be back at the old location for another week, then it'll be another TWO weeks before i'm back at the new location. Which means i'm without my p4 server for almost a month. which is really, really, REALLY lame for me, as i'm trying to get 1.0 out. :( By the way, do you have any spare Xserve G5 parts?

April 2013

So wow i realize i just haven't blogged here in forever *AGAIN*. Generally i've been ignoring this blog since I'm now on Facebook

April 2012

So wow i realize i just haven't blogged here in forever. What am i working on? Getting Windows done so it has parity with Mac, then getting 1.0 done. Just finished the Server for Windows. coming soon: WMV video file support. Update: i got WMA support but i've deferred WMV for now.

11/11/11 11:11:11 - I did not do this on purpose i swear

Nov 2 2011: Apple Abandons QuickTime for Windows

Please sign the petition! Apple is still taking money for QuickTime 7 Pro licenses on Windows, but they won't give you any tech support. QT Win is "end of life'd" as they say. Apple's official position is now "DTS does not provide QuickTime code-level support for windows". Full story here.

Aug 18 2011: Site Update

Thanks to Bradley, yet again, we've got the WIKI and the Forums updated to latest.

And a friendly note to Apple: Fuck You! :D

Yes, we spent ALL DAY backing out of the fiasco that was "Let's update to Lion Server!" Did you know, that when you update to Lion Server, it *removes* all your web sites? and PHP? That there is no longer any way to maintain virtual hosts? That even configuring them via command line is near impossible, even for a veteran unix guru? That apple is fucking over all their high end customers? And not gently? So we're stuck on Snow Leopard Server for the foreseeable future, unless some enterprising company comes along and writes up some Server Admin tools that ACTUALLY WORK on Lion.

June 8 2011: Big News!

The Big News is we now have Chartbuster Library Streaming!! OMG! If you're just starting out as a KJ, you suddenly have instant access to an awesome library for like $20 per month!

Also, i finally got me one of those tweeter things!

June 3 2011 The push for "1.0" and "Secret Big News"

So i'm putting "fast search" on the side burner for now (still working on it, but on the side), so i can concentrate on getting kJams polished up for the "1.0" release. Mostly stuff for Windows remains plus some minor things (notably: the "search paths" pref panel) and language translations. In other news, i have an awesome new something coming for aspiring new KJs just starting out with no library!! Or for anyone looking to get access to a big library of songs for cheeeeeeeeeap! Check back here next week!

Feb 4 2011 Fast Search

In case you're wondering what i'm doing, i'm working on converting the DB to use SQL, so we can get instant sorting and fast searches. Sorting is working already. YAY.

Sept 28 2010 Just Saying Hi

Haven't said hi here in a while, things are coming right along with the Windows version, it's nearly up to par with mac. yay!

Feb 6 2010 Server Upgrade

Once *again*, thanks to the Most Aweseome™ Bradley, i've got my server upgraded to latest OS (Snow Leopard), including new installation of Wiki and Forums, among other things, and many fires put out. I couldn't do it without you Brad, you totally rock.

Update: oh and sorry but since Jan 30th i've not been able to follow up on crash reports. I'll get back to them ASAP.

Jan 27th 2010 kJams for Windows

Ok, my skunkworks project is kJams for Windows

Dec 31 2009 - All Wheels are Squeaky! (Or: no more squeaky wheels!)

Ok. You may have noticed I'm completely back in the saddle. I am again responding to each and every single crash report, and I am furiously fixing every bug that I see. You may have noticed several recent improvements, like, for example, far fewer crashes, and no stutter at all in the Video window. I am still holding off on tackling major new features (DVD / VCD ripping and playback, search paths, transparent video, add to library actually copying, consolidate, crossfade, etc) because I'm trying to get my skunkworks project completed.

Sept 10 2009 - Sound Choice

ZOMG! Some of the Sound Choice library, published by Stingray Music, branded as "Karaoke Channel", sold by Karaoke Locker (of Venue VJ fame) is now available in the new "Karaoke Locker" music store! (did you keep all that straight??)

Jun 18 2009 - Pew! Pew! Pew!

Did you notice the web server just got approximately a jillion times faster? Thanks to Brad (again!) we have successfully migrated the web services from my old (but still sturdy!) "2 core G4 XServe" (2x2.3GHz) to my new "8 core Intel XServe" (2x3GHz Quad). Wicked YAY! Did I break anything?

And by the way I'm somewhat back to almost normal availableness now. kJams proper is still in sortof maintenance mode while I work on my SkunkWorx™ project, which you can easily guess or glean by poking around the site, I'm sure. Once I'm done with that, rest assured I'll be full-bore on completing the features and polish for "Version 1.0 Golden Master".

Jan 2 2009 - Clean Slate

I have a brand new wiki installation (yay SEARCH WORKS again! and section editing, and it's faster!), and a brand new email server! that works! YAY! And a brand new Forums too! All up to date!! (not to mention all the behind the scenes goo necessary for that like PHP, MySQL, etc etc). And all this is thanks to Brad, who is hyper fantastic with his Unix Kung Fu.

Dec 22 2008 - And what is my karma with email?

My mail server is down again, for no reason anybody can determine. It went down last night, so i haven't gotten any email starting on the 21st. Please send mail to davecotter at me dot com. Update: It's back, please disregard.

Aug 30 2008 - Music Store, Apology

Music Store: In case you haven't noticed, there's now a Music Store inside kJams. It's the TriceraSoft library, with over 16,000 songs. Just twirl down the little triangle next to the Shopping Bag, and click TriceraSoft. I get paid when you buy a song, so please buy all your songs this way! :D More stores are on the way.

Apology: I've been out of the loop a lot. I don't follow up on crash reports. The deal is we're still in "squeaky wheel" mode. Sending a dozen crash reports will not get my attention. If you're having a crash bite into your workflow that keeps biting, send me a personal email explaining. I have very very little time at the moment so that's the only way i'll know about your bug. Please do always send crash and random bug reports, i'll get to them eventually and i want to know about them all.

Also, if you've tried to email me and i have not responded, please blame my mail server, because i *always* respond to *every* non-crash-report email. I have been hacked and my mail server is very sick and barely limping. I'm officially begging for help from some Guru versed in OSX Mail Server / Unix / EIMS. If sending me an email doesn't work, PLEASE CALL ME and leave a message!! (fone number on this page)

Jul 25 2008 - The squeaky wheel gets the oil

Since the beginning i've been actively chasing down every crash report submitted, typically the moment they come in. Well, sadly, for the time being, i can't be doing that. So you can keep sending them in, but i may not see them for a month or more, till the next time i have some time to plow thru them. If, however, you write directly to me about a vexing bug that you need fixed because it's blocking your workflow, then i'll work with you immediately and i'll fix it and send you a private new release.

Jun 24 2008 - Really *really* not available now

Okay well my "life crisis" of february ended up putting me in a position of having *more* free time, so tho it sucked, i actually got to work on kJams more, and be much more available to take calls and help with bugs. Well, the corner has turned and now i'm in the crisis part where i have *much less* free time. Sadly this puts kJams into "triage and maintanance" mode, i'm not actively working on new stuff right now. But i'll still try to help you and i'll still try to fix bugs for you. If i don't get back to you please just send me another email, it's a bit crazy for me right now and it may take a couple pokes to get me to snap out of it.

Jun 12 2008 - Mood: Sad

Still not a happy camper. But I've discovered Sanskrit Chanting. That's good. I've always known about it really, but now i'm actually *doing* it like ALL THE TIME. It really helps. Hey, you really should listen to Shanti Shanti, they are soooo wonderful!!

Feb 13 2008 - Not Available

I'm having a kindof life crisis right now. If you have a total emergency emergency, contact me and i'll do what i can to help. But i'm pretty much just not going to be available for a bit, i can't tell how long.

Jan 28 2008 - New Goodness Soon

Well i got my Verizon FIOS and it totally completely rocks. I am thrilled to be a "legitimate" web host and server, with a real business class ISP. Not much else to report, but you may be siked to know what's coming down the pipe: Arbitrary Metadata Per Song. Do you know what this means? It means we'll finally be able to save any kind of information for each song in the database. Anything, and any arbitrary amount of it too! That means things like: custom volume, keywords, what key is it in, color label, custom keywords, if it is a duet, kids song, explicit lyrics, album artwork (?), composer, grouping, beats per minute, disc number, disc ID, compilation, OH AND LYRICS OMG, start time / stop time, equalizer preset, and guess what else? you can add your own columns that i haven't even thought of yet! they can bee an integer, a real, a popup, a color, a text string, a time, a date, whatever you want. Can you start to feel the goodness? After that i'm going to press hard to finish the "search paths" feature, so those of you who have libraries that you've downloaded or "add to library"-d, that you want to move somewhere else, can simply re-point them in the prefs (just like the "kJams Music Folder" does now), rather than making symbolic links or some such crazy stuff.

Nov 7 2007 - Catastrophic server upgrade

So i upgraded the sever to Leopard and NOW I HAVE NO GOL-DURND MAIL! Sorry, there is simply no way to email me. DAM DAM DAM DAM!!! I've lost ALL emails sent to me in the last 3 days, with no way to get them back. And I still don't have email. this is the suckiest upgrade ever. Update: It's back. Sadly I lost all mail sent between Nov 5 and Nov 7. If you sent me an email during that time, please resend!! Up-Update: Okay shifting the blame now: it's not Leopard at all, in fact Leopard has been great. It seems Comcast (our favorite ISP) has taken the opportunity to block port 25, both incoming and outgoing (that means email for you non-techies). Well, you know what I say to you Comcast? I say "Gosh Darnit Comcast!" I'm switching to Verizon (i know i know, the "other" evil empire, but at least they won't block me). New fiber to be installed next thursday YAY!

Aug 25, 2007 - Meta Mania & a new Bug Reporter

You may have noticed you can now right click on the Column Headers and get a list of meta data columns that you can add and/or remove at your whim! This is starting to kick some serious ass! Very soon you'll be able to add *customized* columns that show whatever *you* decide, you won't be limited to picking ONLY the ones i've included! Also up soon is using Aliases in the database rather than file paths, so your songs will be much more immune from getting lost if you rename or move them!

This just in: I've added a new Bug Reporter!! Please use that to report bugs and request features!!!

July 11, 2007 - OMG Remote Control

I love my iPhone!

April 27, 2007 - More Meta

The next release will see the first real overhaul of how I handle meta-data internally. In the past the meta data was stored in custom coded "instance variables" directly in the song object. Now i've written a generic data handler based on key-value pairs, and all the meta is now stored inside this container. This probably doesn't mean anything to you non-programmer types, but what it means for me is: i can now very easily add any kind of data to a song (or a playlist, or playlist item, or whatever) without having to write tons of custom code to support it. Coming up next is the ability to show columns for each type of data: currently, the columns you see in the browser are hand coded, that means to add a column i have to write a ton of support code for each individual column, a major hassle. In the new scheme, I can use a single generic column handler for ANY type of data. You probably don't care, but it's a pretty big deal to me. Warning: this is bound to introduce new bugs.

Jan 30, 2007 - The First Fruit

The first fruit of the overhaul is real ID3 meta tag management. This now means, eg: when you're doing "add to library" that there is no need to do interpretation, it just "knows". Also, when you edit meta info, the tags in the files are updated. For good measure i've thrown in VorbisComments and QuickTimeMeta handling as well. Handling arbitrary meta data per item has to come before arbitrary custom columns in the browser view, to give you something to view in the first place! :D

Jan 9, 2007 - I've started the big push

Okay i've been procrastinating this whole database overhaul long enough. I've started designing the new database. This one includes arbitrary customizable meta data per whatever (song, singer, playlist, CD, iPod, Venue, Rotation, etc etc), arbitrary custom columns per list, instant sorting, playlists of playlists, ie: folders, singers can have multiple favorites / burn lists, the Venues list living inside the Sources list, the list of every CD you've ever stuck in your computer living in the Sources list, never ever again get the "PLI Index map out of date" nor ID conflicts, ability to edit meta info any time, even before during after a rip, get and submit from freedb even without the CD in the drive, plus plus plus. And some cool things that are still under wraps, related to "filler" sequencing. This will take a long time.

Dec 15, 2006 - You do not have the POWER!

Yeah we lost power last night around 10pm, was out until about 12:30 in the afternoon today. The server, of course, was down.

Nov 3, 2006 - QuickTime coming soon

I'm hard at work on incorporating real QuickTime export for CDGs and import while ripping. For export this means the ability to export to any QuickTime type, including 3G, iPod, MPEG4 etc etc, and you can create as many "preset" output options as you like, and simply pick from your list when you want to change the type. My plan is to make KJ AppleScriptable, so you can easily request it spit out a song in a format at a location. For ripping, it means you'll finally be able to rip in AIFF, AAC, WAV, (in addition to LAME MP3), and i'll be dropping support for "rip with iTunes". Same story there about how you can set up all the presets you like and just pick one quickly.

Also, kJams is now available 日本翻訳. Go get it! (same download) Update: QuickTime is here.

Oct 3, 2006 - Multilingual

this is a test:
<multilang> @en Text in english @fr Texte en français @de In Deutsch @jp 日本翻訳 </multilang>

July 25, 2006 - Updated Site

Finally huge thanks to Bradley, who got the web site updated to use Wiki 1.7.1 and Forums 2.0.21.

July 19, 2006 - Cool New Features

Oh recently I added the ability to import and play many QuickTime movie types, including KAR and MIDI, with pitch bending. Also new: when you burn a CD+G disc, your pitch changes are burnt to the disc.

June 12, 2006 - Universal Binary done!

It's official. 1.0d43r6 is the first official Universal Binary. [get it]!

May 15, 2006 - Update on the Universal Binary

I'm back from my vacation. I went to Japan, Las Vegas and Hawai'i! Japan pix are already posted.

There are 4 things that stand in the way of the Universal Binary:

1. Convert to XCode and get compiling and running (Very Hard)
2. the LAME Framework & Quicktime Component (Moderately Hard)
3. the burning plugin (easy)
4. eSellerate (Time consuming but otherwise easy)
5. the inevitable Bugs (Time consuming)

You'll be happy to know that 1 and 2 and 3 are DONE!!! Yes, today you can download the Universal Binary of the LAME Installer. What's left is the farkin' eSellerate update, they require you to use a whole new format, so I have to go and read a buncha manuals and learn a whole new system, and get that integrated grrrrr. So it could still be a coupla weeks. The Burning Plugin, i'm sure you've known, has been done for a while, I just haven't gotten eSellerate integrated, glad I didn't even start now that I know i have to use a whole new system.

May 6, 2006 - I'm Psyched

Well, if you're paying attention you will have seen I've passed thru my doldrums. I'm still on vacation tho, so it won't be full swing 'till i get back. Just thought you'd like to know if you didn't already. You can keep finer-grain tabs on my mood by watching the Version History page.

Mar 28, 2006 - I'm tired

You may have noticed i've been a little slow to respond lately. And slow to fix bugs. Well, truth be told, I'm tired. I miss my wife on the nights I program, I need more hugs, and I've been feeling that more lately. And I just wish I had a dozen people to help me work on kJams, but it's all me and only me, and it's lonely. And I'm just a little burned out. I'm not finished, not by a long shot, but I just thought I'd let you know what the story is so you don't think i fell off the earth. So it'll be maybe slow going for a bit. But my programming attention comes in waves, been that way for years. So you can expect it to pick up again eventually.

Mar 18, 2006 - Fixed those crashers, and GigaBit ethernet

Well, you'll *all* be relieved to know that i've finally gotten a solution to those spurrious crashers related to the Spooler. I've completed my proof of concept code, and it works. I'll be working this sunday (tomorrow) to fully implement it and hope for a release sunday night! Other good news, mostly for me, is I now have my GigaBit ethernet switch in place, so my network is running at full speed. I'm not sure you'll see such an improvement (my outbound signal is limited to 768 kbps or something 346 kbps), but boy my LAN just screams now.

Mar 13, 2006 - New XServe up and running!

It's unusual for me to have so many blog entries, but i'm just SO stoked! The web site wiki is much faster now. Note i'm still on running 10baseT net gear, I get my GigaBit switch in a few days, so that might help a little too. And my favorite news of today is i finally fixed that audio stuttering bug! If you've got an older system, even 500 MHz, NO audio pops or stutter any more!

Mar 9, 2006 - New Computers

Tonight is my programming night, i hope to fix the ripping bug and the crash-hang on quit bug. Meanwhile, I just bought an intel dual MacMini, so the universal binary of kJams isn't far away, and *my* favorite news is I just got a Dual 2.3 G5 XServe to run the site. After this weekend you can expect much faster page load times.

Feb 23, 2006 - Update

Well, as most of you are probably aware, I had a pretty lame release recently, just a kajillion bugs and so many crashes. So i've been in panic mode (along with the rest of you trying to run shows) for the past month. I am praying to the Code Gods that i can get these bugs under control and release a stable version for you all. Needless to say this fiasco has put Burning on hold, I can't take the time to work on it while so many of you are unable to run your shows!

Jan 18, 2006 - More Burning News and Bugs

Frackin' fantastic news on the Burning front: I've actually successfully burned my first Karaoke CD!! Yes! You heard it here first! The thing frickin' works!!! Now it'll take me a few weeks to package it up in a nice user interface, but the point is, Burning is now FOR REAL and is no longer just a hope! Unrelatedly: I've fixed a dozen bugs or so but there's one left that I feel must be quashed before making another release. Sooooon!!

Jan 14, 2006 - Burning News and Bugs

Good news on the Burning front, i've got enough info from Apple to start building the burning plugin. Bad news is there are a slew of "thread" bugs in the current release. They appear as spurrious crashes that seem unrelated. I'm presently mutexifying and serializing everything

Jan 12, 2006 - New server installation up and running

Well THAT didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped. Gall Durn! If anything could possibly theoretically go wrong, it WILL go wrong, that's like a law or something. But I persevered, pushed, kept marching on, tried plan B, C, D and EFG, and I can finally say, the server is "back", completely, *AND* I have a verified, working, complete backup. I took this vacation to *work* on kJams, but i've spent probably HALF of it dealing with the frackin' server!! Yeeesh! Brad thinks it could be bad RAM, which *would* explain everything, actually.

Jan 10, 2006 - re-installing the server today

My 2 new drives are "out for delivery" right now. I've put the server onto the iMac, this means slow server performance for today. Normally it runs on my Titanium 15" PowerBook, but i'm using that right now to do installs (it has a DVD drive, the iMac does not). Anyway, the server should be back to it's "normal" speed tonight. One day I'll get an XServe. mmmmmmmmmmmm

Jan 8, 2006 - Brand new installation coming

I just bought 2 new firewire 7200 rpm drives, one for the server and one as a backup. When they arrive tomorrow I'm going to do a clean fresh install from scratch (shudder) of the entire web site, and keep a running backup. I've been using these Notebook drives and they just seem to fail too often.

Jan 7, 2006 - Mail limping along

Thanks to my Favorite Person In The World™ Bradley, my mail box has been resurrected. I am now getting mail again directly from my server. That same day my friend Nik helped fixed the bug reporter. Since the 4th i have not been able to get bug reports due to the failure of my mailbox. Now both problems have been resolved.

Jan 4, 2006 - Catastrophic Server Failure

I had the server's HD go bad on me tonight. Just wouldn't boot. I rebooted from the 10.4 Server Installer CD and it said "this disk is reporting hardware failue" and it refused to work with it. Dam. So I pulled it out and plugged it into my WiebeTech Notebook DriveDock, and was able to mount it, so I CarbonCopyClone'd it to another drive, and that's what's running now. But the wiki broke complaining about some SQL files needing to be restored from a backup, luckily there were some sitting right there, so I put them in and it seems to work. Not so fast with my mail authentication. I don't know what to do there so for now i'm forwarding to another account. It may be a few days before I can get back to real work here.