[kutjong]

As you probably know, the Secret Rabbit Code resampler is the best available resampler plugin for fb2k.
Recently some months ago, SRC was updated (took only 4 years) to 0.1.3 with the following change:

Quote:

Version 0.1.3 (Mar 23 2008) Huge quality improvements to two best SINC based converters.

So why hasn't the fb2k plugin been updated for 0.1.3? I emailed the author of SRC asking this, and here's his reply:

Quote:

Basically, the situation is this: - I don't use windows, nor do i use foobar. - Making that plugin took up many hours of my time. - I am a highly paid professional software engineer and I value my time even more highly than my employer. - I have so far received 8 payments of $10 for this plugin. - $80 does not come anywhere near paying me for the time I have already spent on this. Unless I get a whole bunch of donations, I don't see much chance of a new foobar plugin happening. Furthermore, noone else can legally do a plugin either because I own the copyright to the Secret Rabbit Code resampler and its license is not compatible with the foobar itself.

I find it very depressing that he's only received $80 in donations for his work thus far!

Follow-up:

Quote:

Doing a new version of should take no more than 2 hours. When contracting I normally charge $75/hr. So if you can get 15 people to donate $10, I'll roll a new version. That will pay me for this version, but I'd still like to more than 15 donations in the longer term.

So anybody want join in and donate?

If you're skeptical on the improvements made in 0.1.3, they're explained here.

 

[jiiteepee]

Ha ha...

The guy who's behind this re-sampler plug-in project seem to have big expectations in cashing people through donations since the version number is now 0.1.3 ... I suppose the next version becomes numbered as 0.1.4 ... there are many updates needed till final version (v. 1.0) which I guess comes out as commercial product then.

jiitee

 

[Sovkiller]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kutjong /img/forum/go_quote.gif As you probably know, the Secret Rabbit Code resampler is the best available resampler plugin for fb2k. Recently some months ago, SRC was updated (took only 4 years) to 0.1.3 with the following change: So why hasn't the fb2k plugin been updated for 0.1.3? I emailed the author of SRC asking this, and here's his reply: I find it very depressing that he's only received $80 in donations for his work thus far! Follow-up: So anybody want join in and donate? If you're skeptical on the improvements made in 0.1.3, they're explained here.

So he is asking for donations, and spent almost the same time or more, that he would spent on the upgrade, just updating the website to show the differences. IMO he would spent that time releasing the new version instead of the differences on the website...

 

[techniqu]

that seems pretty petty if you ask me. it seems like he made this plug-in to try to trick people into "donating" him money, which he thought would end up being more than what he'd get for selling it. what an ass. if he is so highly paid what does he care of a mere 150$?

 

[kutjong]

The point is that he doesn't see any point in updating the plugin because it looks like nobody respects his work, even though the SRC plugin is probably the best on-the-fly resampler out there!
Guys, you have to remember that freeware is usually also used by the authors themselves, they then have a reason to update the project.
Erik here has provided us a great plugin for an application and operating system that he doesn't even use himself. If that's not for goodwill, I don't know what is.

People usually show their gratitude towards free software by supporting the development and making donations. Thus far he's only received $80 from eight individuals for his work that's been available for many years. What does that tell him? Simply it tells him that people don't value his work at all.
Also please note that it's not possible to donate for the SRC project itself, donations are only meant for developing the plugin.

Quote:

if he is so highly paid what does he care of a mere 150$?

It would only be a waste of time for him, because:

1. He would never use the plugin himself
2. Nobody seems to value his work

Why would he waste time developing this plugin, if he could be contracting for $75/hr? Just because he's such a nice guy? I'm sorry but it seems there will be no further development for this plugin, unless it is shown that his work really is appreciated.

 

[regal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by techniqu /img/forum/go_quote.gif that seems pretty petty if you ask me. it seems like he made this plug-in to try to trick people into "donating" him money, which he thought would end up being more than what he'd get for selling it. what an ass. if he is so highly paid what does he care of a mere 150$?

Why don't you design a resampler plug-in then?


Its not about the money, they guy just wants some respect from people like you who expect to have everything handed to them freely.

Time is valuable to people who actually have jobs and this designer deserves a little respect. Its attitudes like yours that derail DIY audio endeavors.

 

[kutjong]

Quote:

Originally Posted by regal /img/forum/go_quote.gif Its not about the money, they guy just wants some respect from people like you who expect to have everything handed to them freely. Time is valuable to people who actually have jobs and this designer deserves a little respect. Its attitudes like yours that derail DIY audio endeavors.

I agree with you 100%.

It does seem that people nowadays take for granted that software like this is available and just download it. And then if they have problems they whine about it on forums and expect them to be fixed asap, like there was some corporation developing this stuff... In reality it's just some guys who do it on their freetime, primarily for their own use. Developers such as Erik here really deserves our respect since he's created software just for our use, not for his own.

 

[techniqu]

I'm not taking it for granted. I appreciate any type of work. But to literally demand respect (especially in the form of "donations") is childish and petty. If i was using his plug-in I would have donated if it was good work (like I have with a few other free programs), but DEMANDING respect is just nonsense. I feel sorry for the fact that his good programming has gone to waste, but I don't pity people who designed something only to want some type of return whether it be from money, popularity, or community support. It was their choice.

If he finds it a waste of his time thats fine, but seems like he only finds it a waste of time because hes was not getting recognition for it.

 

[kutjong]

Well, wikipedia is demanding donations all the time, do you think that's wrong? Almost all free software development is run by donations, take Azureus for example. It would never be in this state without donations. It is the donations that keep these projects running and Erik also bluntly says this on his page:
Quote:

If you're using the Secret Rabbit Code Resampler plugin for Foobar 2000 and think its the best converter you have, you should consider donating US$10 to ensure that this plugin continues to be updated as new versions of Foobar are released.

On top of this, he simply doesn't have any use for the foobar plugin himself, so why would he keep developing the plugin for us if not for donations?

But I have to admit that it seems a little greedy since he isn't allowing anybody else to continue his work on the plugin, but maybe Erik has just become frustrated with the plugin because of the amount of work it has required but not gotten any donations for it. I bet it would be very exasperting for him if somebody else would continue development and in return receive lots of donations, I know it would be for me if I was in his situation.

 

[n3rdling]

Don't mean to derail your thread, but would a person only use a software resampler like SRC with a card like an audigy? Would you use this with a good DAC like a Pico or DAC1, or do those do better resampling on their own via hardware? Thanks.

 

[darckhart]

Disclaimer: I have never used the SRC plugin nor do I intend to.

His blunt demand for monetary donations to update the plugin disgusts me. If you're going to write software to sell, sell it. Don't make any pretense. If you're going to write software for free, then don't EXPECT donations. It's not a complicated situation at all.

If SRC was intended as a foobar plugin, I am going to assume that he wanted to release it as such, a free plugin for use, in which case I would assume some thread on hydrogenaudio was filled with user input during its initial creation. Money is not the only form of users showing support. I'm sure several HA members would have volunteered for beta testing, submitting bug reports, giving each other general support, etc. while he was developing the plugin and if he had stated that he was not willing to develop further at the end, at least he could give others the opportunity to take up the reins if he would pass them over. Of course, his replies seem to indicate that his plugin was never meant for free use/distribution in f2k anyway...

 

[spacemanspliff]

lol

HOW could you sell software nowadays?

Torrents have done huge damage to online commerce.

I support his attitude. If he does not use it himself then it is worth paying him for improvements. Especially for the best software out there. Be objective. If you were in his shoes I am certain you would be pissed off too.

 

[carlosgp]

Aside these discussions, it seems that there is no real demand for his plugin. Little more can be said.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Quote:

Originally Posted by n3rdling /img/forum/go_quote.gif Don't mean to derail your thread, but would a person only use a software resampler like SRC with a card like an audigy? Would you use this with a good DAC like a Pico or DAC1, or do those do better resampling on their own via hardware? Thanks.

That is an interesting question, and I think it is part of the issue here. Most people who care about upsampling/resampling are going to have hardware that does it. I just don't think there are that many people really interested in his software, and a lot of people who use foobar are into the "don't mess with the signal" mentality, and would prefer to leave the source at it's original sampling and bit rates.

I admit that I do personally use it, as my DAC/amp (Hippo Hi-Fi Bloat) does not resample on its own (heck it doesn't even have its own volume knob), and it does work quite well from what I can tell (there is a noticeable difference between 96khz and the standard 44.1 of most of my music, although it is not as much as that between 16 and 24 bit). If I had a different setup, it is quite likely I would not be using the software, and I even turn it off fairly often as it doesn't necessarily sound better for quite a bit of songs.

I appreciate the guy's work, but his attitude is very offputting. Considering how entrenched in the open-source movement he seems to have an attitude very different from what that whole thing is about. I'm not saying he's not entitled to feel a bit bitter about it, but if he was looking for appreciation or validation he won't find it in the money he received from it. That's just me and he's entitled to his opinion.

 

[darckhart]

Quote:

Originally Posted by spacemanspliff /img/forum/go_quote.gif lol HOW could you sell software nowadays? If you were in his shoes I am certain you would be pissed off too.

Certainly. I'm not saying his emotions aren't justified either. I'm merely pointing out that it seems that his priority and work model is monetary compensation for work done. Therefore, he should not say, "I want DONATIONS." He should say, "Here is the PURCHASE PRICE of the upgrade."

Quote:

Originally Posted by darkswordsman17 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Considering how entrenched in the open-source movement he seems to have an attitude very different from what that whole thing is about.

This was my exact impression.