Topic: Any other frustrated mac users?

[som]

I'm frustrated. I bought a dual processor mac G4 from a friend for Christmas and I think I'm firing up the old Windows ME machine for music stuff from now on. What I've found:

- No CDWav equivalent. Yes, I have managed with great effort to split up shows with Audacity and Peak, but there is nothing as simple and elegant as CDWav. There just isn't. (Oh, and fon't forget to fix those SBE's!)

- No CDRWin equivalent. I have Toast, but have to remember to change the 2 second gap *every time* I burn.

- No EAC equivalent. I use xACT which has a CD extraction utility, but the user interface and feedback aren't EAC quality.

- No GoldWave equivalent. I don't do a lot of tweaking, and for the little I do I've found Peak and Audacity too difficult.

I'm sure in all these cases there is other software I could find, but I don't want to spend a boatload of money when there are windows apps that are the standard, at least from what I can find,   

This morning I extracted a CD with xACT and then burned it with Toast. Listening to it in the car I found that several tracks just ended in the middle and it went on to the next track! WTF! This is the 2nd time I've experienced this since getting the mac. I've never had anything like this happen with my Windows tools.

I'm kind of sad....I have heard such great things about the mac and was looking forward to a new experience in computing. At this point, though, I have shows that I am putting off tracking and burning 'cause it's such a pain with the mac tools. That's just not right.

And - to be honest - I'm not too wild about the mac interface in general. For instance, applications remain open even when all windows are closed. And some apps "open" with no window at all, just the title bar and a couple of toolbars. It's just....weird. I have a general sense that I'm "using software" vs. "using a computer". Maybe that's the "ease of use" that is supposedly so much better on a mac. I feel like there's a "layer of abstraction" between me and my computer.

Am I missing something here? Anyone else have a similar experience?

PS - I know this is like arguing religion. Fundamentalists need not respond! 

[ehren]

Well, I'm a mac user who just got a windows machine to use for music editing and as a media server. I didn't want to switch, but the price of new macs is through the roof for a fast desktop and that is ultimately why I went to the pc. I'm a graphic artist and I would never ever give up my powerbook for graphics/pre-press/every day computer tasks, but the windows software you speak of all kicks the macs ass.

My advice would be to pick up a copy of Sound Studio 3.0., it is pretty handy for splitting tracks and basic editing.

[cpatch]

- You can rip tracks onto the Mac simply by dragging them from the CD to any folder (or the desktop) on the Mac. You don't need an app to do this. (If you want to rip to MP3 then use iTunes with the following LAME encoder tool: http://blacktree.com/apps/iTunes-LAME)

- Check out Amadeus II at www.hairersoft.com/Amadeus.html for a more intuitive two-track alternative to Audacity for splitting tracks and tweaking. A steal at $30.

- Have you looked at iTunes for CD burning? You can burn a playlist really easily and you can also set it to no gap between tracks in the Advanced preferences tab in the Burning subtab.

Craig

[spreetaper]

i have been frustrated with not having a cdwav like program.. well as convenient anyways..

but then again i have a pc and a mac and i try to be able to do everything on both and i purchased my mac more for educational reasons and just to broaden my tech background..

my next project is running ubuntu on my old P3 pc.. but thankfully i can port just about every windows app with wine so that solves that problem

[Kevin]

or go all out with pro tools.
I have a mac and PC, personally I love the mac (youll get used to the interface, and if not they have a windows like cover program--interface like windows).  As said previously just simply drag the files wherever you want, personally, only with CD's (not recorded shows) I just import them through Itunes.

[ashevillain]

This morning I extracted a CD with xACT and then burned it with Toast. Listening to it in the car I found that several tracks just ended in the middle and it went on to the next track!

I had this happen too. I wonder if it has anything to do with some sort of copy protection. In my case it seems like it cut off all tracks that were longer than 3 minutes right at 3 minutes.

[brianp]

Track your files in Peak, export tracks. Then go to xACT > fix SBE and output as .flac. That's 3 steps basically.

I have Toast 5.2 on a PowerBook G4, and Ive never had a problem with any cds playing in all sorts of players.

I usually just use iTunes when extracting cds and check use error correction in the preferences, again never any issues.

Sorry to hear your having problems, I'm sure you'll get it worked out and eventually come to love that Mac.

[spearheadtaper]

Sorry to hear your having problems, I'm sure you'll get it worked out and eventually come to love that Mac.

very true....when I first made the switch I kept the old pc in the other room....and the first few weeks I spent more time on the pc......slowly I figured out how to do what I was doing on the windows machine even better on a mac....   and eventually the pc got packed up and put in the attic

[som]

Sorry to hear your having problems, I'm sure you'll get it worked out and eventually come to love that Mac.

very true....when I first made the switch I kept the old pc in the other room....and the first few weeks I spent more time on the pc......slowly I figured out how to do what I was doing on the windows machine even better on a mac....   and eventually the pc got packed up and put in the attic

I've had the PC packed up since Christmas. It's been 2 1/2 months and I'm ready to pull it out again. I've successfully split tracks with a Peak, but it is a pain compared to CDWav. And the crap with the tracks cutting off after a few minutes.....

Track your files in Peak, export tracks. Then go to xACT > fix SBE and output as .flac. That's 3 steps basically.

If there is no SBE on a track, it deletes the track and doesn't convert it to FLAC. Plus, what if you just want to track it and burn to CD? Track with CDWav and burn to CD. That's only 2 steps. To burn to CD with the method above you still need to decode the flacs and burn to disc. 5 steps.

Anyway, I approached it with an open and willing mind, and I'm ready to go back to the PC for music stuff. Apparently others have reached the same conclusion.

[greenone]

Track your files in Peak, export tracks. Then go to xACT > fix SBE and output as .flac. That's 3 steps basically.

If there is no SBE on a track, it deletes the track and doesn't convert it to FLAC. Plus, what if you just want to track it and burn to CD? Track with CDWav and burn to CD. That's only 2 steps. To burn to CD with the method above you still need to decode the flacs and burn to disc. 5 steps.

It only deletes the track if you tell it to delete the source files...and you can fix SBE and output as wav/aiff if you want to avoid those last two steps.

As for the cutting tracks off after 3 minutes, I've NEVER heard of that happening.

For tracks out of order, I've seen that happen on occasion - I think it depends on whether you drag them to the app in the dock vs. dragging them to the Toast window itself.

I'm no fundamentalist or anything, but it stands to reason that you'll be most comfortable with whatever application you learned with first. What I'm reading is that most of the options you're looking for exist within the Mac world, just not the way you're used to. It's like going from eating with a fork and knife to eating with chopsticks - you can still get the job done, it'll just take a little longer until u get used to it.

[cpatch]

I had this happen too. I wonder if it has anything to do with some sort of copy protection. In my case it seems like it cut off all tracks that were longer than 3 minutes right at 3 minutes.

Are you guys using fully licensed copies of Toast?

Craig

[scb]

Well, I'm a mac user who just got a windows machine to use for music editing and as a media server. I didn't want to switch, but the price of new macs is through the roof for a fast desktop and that is ultimately why I went to the pc.

imac is pretty cheap

[scb]

I've had the PC packed up since Christmas. It's been 2 1/2 months and I'm ready to pull it out again. I've successfully split tracks with a Peak, but it is a pain compared to CDWav.

i can't stand peak.  i've never used audacity either.  i use spark, but i know sound studio (which is shareware, right?) gets the job done and it's not anymore steps that cdwav.

on a pc, you split tracks and then encode to flac or shn, right?  on the mac, you split tracks, and the encode to flac/shn can also fix sector boundary errors.  the same 2 steps

If there is no SBE on a track, it deletes the track and doesn't convert it to FLAC.

that's just plain wrong. xact doesn't delete  unless you tell it to delete the originals

Plus, what if you just want to track it and burn to CD? Track with CDWav and burn to CD. That's only 2 steps.

and it's only 2 steps on the mac.  track in whatever you want and burn. 

Anyway, I approached it with an open and willing mind, and I'm ready to go back to the PC for music stuff. Apparently others have reached the same conclusion.

for every mac user who switched to a pc for music stuff, i know 4 who switched from a pc to mac and will never go back

[krebsy]

Just a thought, you may want to get used to the basic mac interface first, then start learning how to do your music related stuff on it.  I had a hard time adjusting to the basic mac interface (programs still open even though windows have been closed, etc.), but once I let go of wanting it to function like windows, I got used to it. Actually it was more accepting the differences rather than getting used to them.  FWIW, I still do my editing, tracking, flacing, etc. on my windows computer just because I'm comfortable with it.  One of these days, I'll learn to do it on my mac.

[scb]

if i were to write a cdwav equivalent for the mac that outputted directly to flac (allowing the mac to do things in all of ONE step), would that make you happy?