fre:ac version 1.1 CVS

fre:ac is a free and open source audio converter for various formats.
It supports audio CD ripping, tag editing and video downloads and converts
the following audio formats:

	- MP3
		- using the LAME MP3 encoder		(http://lame.sourceforge.net/)
		- using the mpg123 decoder		(http://www.mpg123.de/)
		- using the MAD MP3 decoder		(http://www.underbit.com/)

	- MP4/M4A AAC
		- using the FAAC/FAAD2 codec		(http://www.audiocoding.com/)

	- Windows Media Audio				(http://www.microsoft.com/)

	- Xiph Foundation codecs
		- Opus					(http://www.opus-codec.org/)
		- Vorbis				(http://www.vorbis.com/)
		- Speex					(http://www.speex.org/)
		- FLAC					(http://flac.sourceforge.net/)

	- Apple Lossless (ALAC)
		- using the libav ALAC encoder		(http://www.libav.org/)
		- using David Hammerton's ALAC decoder	(http://www.craz.net/)

	- Musepack					(http://www.musepack.net/)
	- WavPack					(http://www.wavpack.com/)
	- Monkey's Audio				(http://www.monkeysaudio.com/)
	- TAK						(http://www.thbeck.de/)

	- various other formats
		- using the libsndfile library		(http://www.mega-nerd.com/)
		- using the libav codec library		(http://www.libav.org/)

Further codecs (including Nero's HE-AAC encoder) can be used as external
plug-ins (see the manual for installation instructions).

fre:ac uses the CDRip library for audio ripping on Windows.
fre:ac uses the cdio library for audio ripping on Linux and NetBSD.
fre:ac uses the cdparanoia library for audio ripping on FreeBSD and OpenBSD.

Code from FAAD2 is Copyright (c) Nero AG, www.nero.com

History
-------

	Version 1.1 CVS (December 2013)

		- renamed project to fre:ac - free audio converter
		- ported to Linux, Mac OS X, Solaris, FreeBSD, OpenBSD and NetBSD
		- added Estonian, Croatian, Portuguese, Bulgarian, Vietnamese, Hebrew, Arabic, Afrikaans, Catalan, Valencian and Galician language support
		- added German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Portuguese, Czech and Greek user guides
		- added several translations for the installer
		- converted input and output filters to BoCA components
		- implemented new configuration dialog
		- added support for multiple configurations
		- redesigned progress display area
		- new dialog to confirm overwriting of existing files before conversion
		- completely reworked LAME configuration dialog
		- added a simple tag editor
		- added video downloader extension
		- added Monkey's Audio encoder/decoder
		- added Speex speech encoder/decoder
		- added Windows Media Audio encoder/decoder
		- added Opus audio encoder/decoder
		- added support for command line encoders/decoders
		- added support for the mpg123 MP3 decoder
		- added support for the MAD MP3 decoder
		- added TwinVQ VQF decoder support
		- added support for AAC synchronizing (needed to read ripped AAC streams)
		- added support for the VisualOn AAC encoder
		- added support for the Fraunhofer FDK AAC encoder/decoder
		- added support for reading simple audio files using libsndfile
		- added support for cover art in MP4 files
		- added support for reading and writing MP4 chapters
		- added support for MCDI frame in ID3v2 tags
		- added support for gapless MP3 decoding
		- added RIFF tagging support (using LIST INFO and Cart chunks)
		- added support for Ogg FLAC files
		- added support for wildcards in arguments to freaccmd
		- added support for encoding to single file with freaccmd
		- added support for large fonts
		- changed default output directory to "My Music" folder
		- added <disc> pattern
		- added <directory> pattern to allow preserving existing directory structures
		- added <filetype> pattern
		- added <installdrive> pattern for use in output directory name
		- added preview to CDDB match selection dialog
		- added an option to automatically select the first CDDB match
		- added support for CDDB queries using HTTP GET
		- added context menu for text edit fields
		- label/publisher and ISRC information is now preserved during conversion
		- added support for reading ISRC codes from CDs
		- added ripping speed configuration option
		- added CD read offset configuration option
		- added configuration option to keep converted tracks in joblist
		- added configuration option to add encoded files to joblist
		- added support for loading cuesheets
		- added support for reading and writing Vorbis files with .oga extension
		- added support for XSPF, Windows Media and PLS playlists
		- added a slider for seeking during playback
		- making better use of multi-core CPUs when encoding/decoding
		- miscellaneous other speed optimizations
		- the time left indicator now shows hours if necessary
		- the five last used file name patterns are now saved for later use
		- greatly improved case conversion functions
		- conversion progress is now shown in the taskbar on Windows 7 and later
		- skipping tracks is no longer possible when converting to a single file
		- fixed CJK editor appearing offset in Windows Vista/7/8 default designs
		- fixed ID3v2 cover data not being displayed in iTunes
		- fixed writing of bad ID3v2 tags when iconv.dll is not available
		- fixed ID3lib to read and write correct ID3v2.4 tags
		- fixed writing of ID3v1 tags when encoding VBR or ABR MP3s
		- fixed automatic reading of CD contents on disc insert
		- fixed creation of cuesheets for multiple tracks in a single file
		- fixed total progress bar not working correctly with many tracks in joblist
		- fixed crash when encoding to single MP4 file
		- fixed unwanted downsampling when encoding to low bitrate MP3
		- fixed Vorbis (and FLAC) comment tag reading
		- fixed not writing Xing header when using LAME presets
		- fixed crash when trying to open unsupported Sun Audio (.au) files
		- fixed and improved decoding of raw audio formats WAVE, AIFF and AU
		- fixed last track of CD-Extra discs being two seconds too long
		- fixed encoding empty tracks when no CD is inserted
		- fixed various CDDB issues
		- fixed HTTP proxy authentication
		- fixed freaccmd crashes
		- fixed support for various artists CDs
		- improved CDDB data sanity check
		- improved title info editing user friendliness
		- improved support for network files and directories
		- raised maximum file name length on NT systems
		- NT SCSI mode is now used by default to access CD drives on NT systems
		- fixed ASPI error message being displayed on systems without optical drives
		- installer improvements
		- lots of fixes to the command line encoder
		- fixed uninstaller not working when run directly
		- added native x64 platform support
		- upgraded Bonk to version 0.12
		- upgraded FLAC to version 1.3.0
		- upgraded FAAC to version 1.28
		- upgraded FAAD2 to version 2.7
		- upgraded LAME to version 3.99.5
		- upgraded Vorbis to aoTuV beta 6.03
		- upgraded Ogg library to version 1.3.1
		- upgraded CDRip to version 1.24 (with cdparanoia III version 10.2)
		- upgrade to MP4v2 v2.0.0
		- lots of other fixes

Requirements
------------

	Requirements for running the binaries:

		Supported operating systems:
			- Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7/8.x (older Windows version might work with some limitations)
			- Mac OS X Leopard or later
			- Linux (most modern distributions should work)
			- FreeBSD/PC-BSD (tested on FreeBSD 9.1)
			- NetBSD (tested on NetBSD 6.0, NetBSD 5.x and earlier releases are not supported)
			- OpenBSD (tested on OpenBSD 5.3)
			- Solaris (tested on Solaris 11)
			- GNU Hurd (tested on Debian Sid)
			- QNX (tested on QNX 6.5)

		Minimum hardware requirements:
			- Intel Pentium 4, PowerPC G4 or ARMv5 CPU
			- 256 MB RAM
			- 50 MB free disk space

		Recommended hardware specs:
			- Intel Core i3 CPU
			- 1 GB RAM
			- 10 GB free disk space

	Additional requirements for compiling the sources:

		All platforms:

			- smooth v0.8.72.0 CVS (http://www.smooth-project.org/)

		Windows:

			- MinGW GCC v4.0+ (http://www.mingw.org/) or Microsoft Visual C++ v10.0

		All Linux and Unix platforms:

			- GCC v4.0+

			- libbz2, libcairo, libfaac, libfaad2, libjpeg, libmp3lame, libmp4v2, libmpg123,
			  libogg, libopus, libpng, libspeex, libvorbis, libx11, libxml2, libXmu

			Linux:

				- libasound2, libcdio, libcdio-paranoia, libgtk2

			Solaris:

				- audio headers

	Additional optional software:

		- On Windows, Winamp plug-ins can be used if they are present in the 'plugins' directory.

		- Several external codecs can be used with fre:ac. Please see the manual for more details.

Known problems
--------------

	All platforms:

		- There are the following restrictions on the input file format:

			- LAME:
				- audio must be at standard rates (8, 11.025, 12, 16, 22.05, 24, 32, 44.1, 48 kHz),
				  can be converted by LAME

		- Resampling is only supported with LAME. Input files must be at the desired output
		  sampling rate unless you are encoding with LAME.

		- fre:ac is currently limited to a maximum of 2 audio channels

	Windows specific problems:

		- There are the following restrictions on the input file format:

			- BladeEnc:
				- audio must be at 32, 44.1 or 48 kHz

			- TwinVQ:
				- audio must be at 22.05 kHz (24 and 32 kBit) or 44.1 kHz (48 kBit)

	Mac OS X specific problems:

		- Audio CD ripping does not work

	Solaris specific problems:

		- Audio CD ripping does not work

	Linux and Unix specific problems:

		- There are no application packages for fre:ac yet, so you need to install dependencies manually for now.
		  Please just extract the contents of the archive to your home directory.

Special thanks to
-----------------

	- Paul Francis Harrison for developing the Bonk format
	- Albert L. Faber for his excellent CDRip Ripping Library

	- the translators: Eric Le Carre (French),
			   Marco D'Amato (Italian),
			   REIKA (Japanese),
			   Federico Reddig and Will (Spanish),
			   Jose Maria Vera Somoza (Spanish, Latin American),
			   Nikolaos-Ioannis Galanis (Greek),
			   Evgeny Kozlov (Russian),
			   Henryk Ning (Chinese, traditional),
			   Joeyong Jen (Chinese, simplified),
			   Michal Trzebiatowski and Darek Rzeznicki (Polish),
			   Peter Toth (Hungarian),
			   Andrij Ilechko (Ukrainian),
			   Wim Garreyn and Thomas De Rocker (Dutch),
			   Neboja Nikolic (Serbian),
			   Jan Parttimaa (Finnish),
			   Julius Faltus (Czech),
			   Escada (Portuguese, Brazilian),
			   Odyssey (Korean),
			   Jan Arni Jacobsen (Danish),
			   Mikael Hiort af Orns and Anton Mjoernebrant (Swedish),
			   Peter Krajcar (Slovak),
			   Andreas Normann Aanonsen (Norwegian),
			   Vincent Rateau (Esperanto),
			   Cako (Turkish),
			   Naglis Jonaitis (Lithuanian),
			   Borca Alin and Laurentiu Bubuianu (Romanian),
			   El libre (Catalan),
			   Vjatv (Valencian),
			   Jose Goncalves (Portuguese),
			   Meelis Pasieko (Estonian),
			   Goran Bekic (Croatian),
			   Eduardo Estvez (Galician),
			   Phan Anh (Vietnamese),
			   Ilan Tsmeret (Hebrew),
			   Eman Ali Fhoula (Arabic),
			   Martin Deyanov (Bulgarian),
			   Cois Wiid (Afrikaans)

	- Hans-Juergen Bardenhagen for his help and suggestions for the FAAC encoder
	- all the testers and everyone who submitted bug reports

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The official fre:ac homepage: http://www.freac.org/

robert.kausch@freac.org,
Robert Kausch
