How to D/L & Install Reference on top of Rel 11?

[tpx]

A few years ago I did a trial of DMC Rel. 11 and am now thinking of trying/buying Reference 13.3 for the new features it has, such as AR & track/album identification with metadata.

1. Do I need to uninstall Rel 11 first? (Under the FAQ I saw compatibility issues with 11 vs. 12, am assuming the same for 13.3)

2. If I D/L and install the DMC 5.3MB file, is it automatically a full-featured Reference installation at that time? If not, where is the Reference D/L?

3. Will the fact that I did a trial of Rel. 11 prevent me from doing a trial of 13.3 now?

4. After installation: If I already have existing WAV, MP3 & FLAC files, will the Reference metadata extras be able to correctly identify and/or rename them? Also, will the CD Writer do the same on the fly, such as writing CD Text with Artist, Title of files that are now 'Track 1', 'Track 2', etc.?

TIA, looking forward to digging in and HOPING this is my LAST stop as in 'one stop shopping'.

[xoas]

Re: How to D/L & Install Reference on top of Rel 11?

The compatibility guidelines are exactly the same for Music Converter r11 and r13 as they are for r11 and r12.1. These programs need to be installed to separate folders. Codecs and any associated programs (dB Audio Player, Sveta and CD Writer r1 and r2, and the Legacy Codecs are associated versions of Music Converter up to r11.5; CD Writer r3 and the dB Poweramp Renaissance Player and the current codecs listed in Codec Central are associated with all versions of Music Converter from r12 and later) need to be installed to completely separate folders. I am not sure you need to uninstall r11 before you install r13 (but you do have to install to a different folder in any case). I believe that it does make a difference in terms of which program is installed first and which is installed in terms of which will come up automatically on the right-click menu. I believe this is covered in the compatibility guide.

R13 should be able to manage all of the tag information and files that you created with r11 but this assumes that you have the correct codecs installed. You have to think of these as 2 distinct program suites (the first being R11 and associated rograms and the older Legacy Codecs, the second is R13 and its associated programs and the current Codec Central codecs). These suites might as well be from 2 different companies in the sense that they are written with different code for each. This is why the compatibility guidelines are so important.

As for your 2nd and 3rd questions, they may be inter-related. If you can download a trial of R13 it will be the Reference version but I am not sure whether you are entitled to another trial or not (I leave that issue to Spoon and LtData). Short of having an answer from them, you could try to download the trial and I believe that the worst that can happen is that you will get a message that you are not eligible for a trial download. In that case you will have to purchase the registered Reference version disrectly (which you would have had to do at the end of the trial period anyway).

I hope this is helpful. If you have other questions, please feel free to ask.

Best wishes,
Bill

[tpx]

Re: How to D/L & Install Reference on top of Rel 11?

Thanks, Bill. I appreciate you taking the time out for such a comprehensive answer.

I'm really not interested in having both installed, or learning more about maintaining compatibility, so what would make most sense to me is to completely erase r11 from my system. I thought I read somewhere that removal completely erases all traces. Then again, I don't know if that applies to r11, and I also remember reading that there is a removal .exe, which begs the question why it would be necessary. Any idea where I can find it?

I'm trying to keep this manageable, as I'm sure there will be a learning curve for Reference if/when I try it. Also, I would hate to completely erase r11 only to find that there's no r13 trial, in that case I would rather spend my time and effort on other things. Plus, I don't think I'm going to buy it sight unseen. I'll wait to see what those folks say about the trial. Thanks again.

[LtData]

Re: How to D/L & Install Reference on top of Rel 11?

The Reference trial gives you a new trial, since your previous trial was for the PowerPack.

Uninstalling dMC leaves behind some of your settings, it does NOT fully delete itself off of the hard drive. Remember that r11/r1.5 is the last version of dMC to include Aux Input.

[tpx]

Re: How to D/L & Install Reference on top of Rel 11?

Thanks, I think I'll uninstall r11 and reinstall r13 to a different subdirectory and hopefully will avoid all the compatibility issues by doing that; I would hate to have to tend to compatibility issues with something that is no longer there! BTW, aren't there registry keys that I can just delete after the uninstall to more completely remove r11?

As for my question *blooper*4, is there another forum where I should post it? AR better than EAC AR & track naming & writing are the main reasons I am thinking of going w Reference, Thanks.

[LtData]

Re: How to D/L & Install Reference on top of Rel 11?

Missed your *blooper*4 question:
No, dMC only downloads meta-data when you are ripping CDs.

[tpx]

Re: How to D/L & Install Reference on top of Rel 11?

Missed your *blooper*4 question:
No, dMC only downloads meta-data when you are ripping CDs.

Have been trying to evaluate the product, I'm having real problems right now. The biggest one is that it won't accept ANY key disc for Acuraterip, even though I have found several that EAC liked and used just fine. Every time it asks me, I say 'Yes' and it instantly says that it doesn't match. there is no pause whatsoever, and I am thinking it's not even checking.

So I haven't even ripped a single CD yet, what am I doing wrong? I am also seeing other things that don't look right, such as hitting 'PLAY' on a track in the ripper, and it just goes 0:00 on every track and doesn't play anything, and the default settings are for it do do 'Burst' mode (!). I had read somewhere that this ripper was so advanced that it would Burst first, and if the Accuraterip didn't match THEN it would do Secure and if that didn't work it would do Paranoid. Everything I see is as manual as EAC is, and I already know how to use EAC.

Any hints would be appreciated, thanks.

[tpx]

Re: How to D/L & Install Reference on top of Rel 11?

Have been trying to evaluate the product, I'm having real problems right now. The biggest one is that it won't accept ANY key disc for Acuraterip, even though I have found several that EAC liked and used just fine. Every time it asks me, I say 'Yes' and it instantly says that it doesn't match. there is no pause whatsoever, and I am thinking it's not even checking.

So I haven't even ripped a single CD yet, what am I doing wrong? I am also seeing other things that don't look right, such as hitting 'PLAY' on a track in the ripper, and it just goes 0:00 on every track and doesn't play anything, and the default settings are for it do do 'Burst' mode (!). I had read somewhere that this ripper was so advanced that it would Burst first, and if the Accuraterip didn't match THEN it would do Secure and if that didn't work it would do Paranoid. Everything I see is as manual as EAC is, and I already know how to use EAC.

Any hints would be appreciated, thanks.

Oh, I almost forgot: It won't rip anything at all! EAC rips no prob, this is what I get with this ripper:

Error ripping to FLAC, 'Track 1' to 'D:***.flac'
Unable to read CD, check CD disc (frame LBA 0 ripping 26 frames track end LBA 18350) [clRipperBurst::Rip]

[Spoon]

Re: How to D/L & Install Reference on top of Rel 11?

CD Ripper >> Options >> set Communication to Windows Built-in.