Read on and enjoy. Great job R?mi! R?mi: Hello Dane. First, since how long are you a member of the Be community?
Dane: 1998 or... well, 1998 would be correct.
R?mi: So did you start with BeOS 4.5?
Dane: I bought BeOS 4, and when it came out in the Spring for PC, I jumped on it. Then I immediately started lebuzz.com to cover BeOS audio. That was actually in January of 1999.
R?mi: Ok... and why did you jump to BeOS ? Where have you heard of it?
Dane: I first saw a demo of it on a tech TV show. Having tried to work in audio under Windows for years, I was very anxious to move to BeOS to do my audio stuff.
Dane: Yes, BeOS 4 installed fine on the P266 II I had then. I was stunned to realize how fast my computer hardware actually was. I was so used to it running dog-slow under Windows. Really restored my faith in PC hardware.
R?mi: Fast, working well... does it still feel the same? Do you think that the spirit of Be Inc is still haunting our computers? (OS X and XP are now close to be fast and stable)
Dane: Hehe... Sure! The faster, newer hardware just makes BeOS fly even faster. XP is definitely more stable than older versions of Windows, but it's still doggy compared to BeOS on the same machine. BeOS is amazing for its ability to playback audio smoothly even while undergoing a huge processor burden from other tasks. I was just on the phone with a guy inquiring about TuneTracker. In the backgound, I heard his station sputtering and stammering when he opened up Windows Explorer. He had XP.
R?mi: Funny for you... not for him actually ;) Is BeOS your primary OS? And which version are you using?
Dane: I use about half BeOS and half Windows. I have to still use Windows for certain "productivity tasks" that BeOS doesn't handle yet.
R?mi: Like?
Dane: I am pretty entrenched in Photoshop for graphics design, Word for word processing, and Access for database. And... unfortunately... SoundForge for audio editing. So far there still isn't a very credible tool for doing sophisticated audio editing under BeOS.
R?mi: Aren't you using Gobe? Refraction?
Dane: I'd use Gobe if my printer worked with BeOS. Refraction is good, but I've been on Photoshop for so many years that it seems a little silly to move at this point. Too many client files in PSD format. :-) I think it's just fine to use the best tool for each job, regardless of the OS it's on. I'm not a purist in that sense.
R?mi: You didn't tell me which BeOS version you're using! ;-)
Dane: Oh, I have BeOS 5 PE here, and on a test machine, Zeta RC1, SP2.
R?mi: What you think of Zeta? And is TuneTracker planned to be released officially with Zeta?
Dane: Zeta seems really nice. The latest service pack really does deliver a nice stable product. Yes, TuneTracker will definitely be released with Zeta, and we have plans to also release Zeta with TuneTracker at some point as well.
R?mi: And will TuneTracker 3 be Locale Kit ready?
Dane: TT1 had one that supported the major languages. TT2 didn't. TT3 will again, a very complete one. The only catch is that our documentation, which is huge, will HAVE to stay in English. We could never translate it all. :-) (There's not enough money in the world to pay for all the translating that would have to be done. We're over 180 pages of docs now.)
R?mi: What about TuneTracker sales? Are they good? Enough? Getting bigger?
Dane: TuneTracker sales are good and steadily improving. I won't discuss sales figures, but suffice it to say we are definitely getting popular, especially among smaller stations. The word is getting around, because of the quality of the product, and also because we support them very very well. People are rather amazed at how well they're taken care of, given the price of the product.
R?mi: Great! What were your plans when Be Inc fell?
Dane: We were so confident in both the product and the potential of BeOS that we actually didn't even first release TuneTracker until AFTER the focus shift thing. When Be, Inc sold its assets to Palm, that didn't really bother us at all. BeOS 5 is perfectly great for our uses, and with YellowTAB and OBOS here as well, we're rockin'.
R?mi: Sure... how many people are working on the TuneTracker system?
Dane: It varies, depending on development cycles, but ranges generally from three to five working on various projects.
R?mi: Are they using BeOS/Zeta on a professional/personal way other than on TuneTracker?
Dane: Yes. But like me, not for everything. I don't think anyone can use BeOS for everything they need to do at this point, unless their needs are limited to some basics.
R?mi: You don't think someone can use BeOS as their single OS?
Dane: Sure, if their needs are simple and basic. If they are trying to do high-level productivity, the tools just aren't there yet. But for basic stuff, web browsing, text editing, chatting, file-sharing, web editing, things like that, BeOS is just fine. And of course, audio playback!
R?mi: Of course! So, what do you think is missing in Zeta?
Dane: Support from the BeOS community... and it's a shame. I think we need to get behind Zeta and support it, and encourage the people involved. Actually most people in the community support it.
R?mi: So... about TuneTracker 3. What improvements are planned, other than the support for more languages we were taking about a few lines back?
Dane: TuneTracker 2.1 and TT2 Pro came out in September of this year (2003). We are now in the early stages of planning and development of TuneTracker 3, which will definitely be a MAJOR jump in features, etc. It will have an entirely new graphical user interface that I think broadcasters will really appreciate. We have plans for important new user-configurable features, more options, a nicer experience for DJs doing live shows, drag-and-drop playlist editing, custom-configurable overlaps between songs, lots of things.
R?mi: Sounds great!!! Have you taken a look at other apps on other platforms to improve those new functionalities?
Dane: Yes we have. We looked at many of them. I won't name names though. It's safe to say there are certain features which are common to some of the main ones that will also be common to us. Plus we'll be doing some things they are not. Suffice it to say, we have always been way below them in price for similar features and performance, and that will continue. If anything, people will be getting even more for their money in TT3.
R?mi: With TuneTracker 3, will you try to catch bigger fish?
Dane: Yes, to a degree, we would like to be appealing to larger stations, but our main target is and will remain the little guys. They've suffered for years from overpriced software they couldn't afford. So our whole purpose in life is to make really great broadcast software accessible to the smallest of broadcasters.
R?mi: When do you think TT3 will be available?
Dane: We're hoping to have TT3 finished before the end of 2004. It's a major labor of love. Involving major labor. :-) The GUI has already been designed... it's really very nice to look at.
(I have tried in vain to pick up a screenshot... but Dane told me that improvements will surely be done, so the final release can be partially different)
R?mi: New sound file formats are making noise... like the AAC from Apple... will you still using MP3?
Dane: If SoundPlay eventually supports AAC, we will too. For now, we're happy to be able to handle all the many formats SP handles such as WAV, AIFF, MP3, MP2, ADPCM, etc.
R?mi: On which version of BeOS will TT3 will be provided? Dev Ed? Max Ed? 5 Pro? Zeta?
Dane: We'll ride with anybody. :-) Any version that supports TuneTracker and SoundPlay well is very welcome.
R?mi: So an opensource one can, without any problem? Dev Ed for example?
Dane: Any version that supports SoundPlay can probably run TT without any problems.
R?mi: A question from one of our readers: "Is Cedric Degea one of the coder behind TT3 too?"
Dane: We have a policy of not revealing our programmers' names, to protect their privacy.
R?mi: Thanks for all the time you give to me!! Thanks very much!!
Dane: Glad to. Feel free again, to follow-up if you have more questions later! Nice website, by the way... looks good. Keep up the good work on it.
