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PostPosted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 8:26 am 
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Location: Sunny Central Florida
It would be great to have an "auto-save" feature in ABB, especially for those of us in areas prone to sudden power failures, like summer-stormy central Florida. I have tried to discipline myself to Save after each CD, but invariably it's the times I forget to do so that the power goes out (usually when I'm not home) and I lose all the previously uploaded CD's from my current build. An auto-save feature (or option) would be much more reliable than my memory.
Other than that, I absolutely LOVE this program!
Thank you!
Theresa

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PostPosted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 6:52 pm 
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Does NOBODY else run into this problem? I got a new MacBook Pro, far more reliable than my old flatscreen iMac, so I stupidly stopped "saving" between every CD insertion. Some hiccup just locked up ABB, and NOTHING would let me SAVE at that point. Consequently, Force Quit put me back to square one, well, back to CD ONE, and caused me to have just wasted a couple of hours.

It really seems like an auto-save option wouldn't be a real difficult thing to add. But what do I know....

Grumpy T, holding out hope for 2008

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PostPosted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 3:56 pm 
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Hmm, I never run into that problem, I simply save my audio files in a folder on my mac, then launch ABB, with a preset project (which i never save, so it will be empty the next time I use it). I import my audiofiles, make the chapters, give the correct names, and export it, then close ABB (without saving the project of course)

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PostPosted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 6:14 pm 
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I guess that's one way. I import CD's directly into ABB. If a power issue/interruption occurs (usually caused by our famous Florida storms), or (more rarely) something causes a software crash or lockup, and I have not Saved, the files uploaded to ABB at that point are lost. It is not a common occurrence, and mysteriously only happens when I have forgotten or just neglected to Save. Like tempting Fate - never a good idea. I guess my frustration is aimed more at myself for not remembering or taking the time (like what? 2 seconds?) to Save when I know the consequences. But thanks for the tip!

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PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 5:48 pm 
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out of curiosity; doesnt a MacBook Pro simply run on its batteries unless it is connected to a powered power cable.. and when the power goes out it will simply go to sleep when it is almost out of battery power.. (well it will the still crash if it doesnt have enough power left to keep it in sleep mode...)

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PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 6:44 pm 
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Yes, that is correct. The power-related losses were on my desktop iMac. Now that I have the MacBook Pro, I'd gotten out of the habit of Saving each CD manually because power shouldn't (?) be a problem...until a few weeks ago, when I lost 11 CD's when a weird (non-power-related) lockup occurred, I had to Force-Quit ABB, and then consequently I had to start over from scratch. Just seems like it would be an easy option (auto-save) to add. But I'm pretty well trained now, so as long as my memory holds out, it doesn't really matter.

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PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 2:42 am 
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Are you sure the files were gone? maybe there were still in the project file, but not in the 'Audiobook.plist' file (which is also in the project file), and therefor ABB didnt see them..

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PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 7:48 am 
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I'm not sure I understand which two different files you mean, but when I reboot ABB after the restart, and direct it to reopen an existing file, navigate to the named file created at the beginning of the project, it opens it, and it is now totally empty (size 4k) assuming I had not manually Saved at any point. If I HAD remembered to Save, all the CD's I'd done up to the time when I Saved are there. If for any reason you are about to close ABB without Saving (like doing a Restart for some other reason), it warns you that if you close without Saving you will lose all unsaved information. Is there somewhere else to look for them? If they do exist somewhere else, I would think (or hope) it would tell you so.
I'm halfway through processing a 36-CD book and manually Saving after every CD or 2. It slows down the process, but I know what happens when I tempt Fate. :)
I appreciate your thoughts and suggestions.

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PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 10:48 am 
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during importing into ABB it will store the files in the project file, i looked at the size of a project file during importing and it was.. well more then 4KB.. (more like 200 MB)

I wonder that if ABB would crash, and not simply shut down of its own accord, that it might not remove those files in the project file, and simply leave them there, but will remove them if you try to open the project and it sees that they dont belong there..

so you can try to right click on a project file to 'Show Package Contents' (might need to have XCode installed for that) and see the files in there.. (well not if the size is 4KB..)

(by 'processing' I assume you mean importing them directly from the CD's and not from another place on your HD?)

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PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 11:15 am 
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Yes, as I am importing CD's directly via ABB, the size of the Project File increases incrementally, but that size is not "permanent" if not saved. If I did not manually Save at some point, and a crash or other interruption occurred (we're not talking very frequently here, especially now that I don't rely on the iMac), when I rebooted ABB and told it to open that Existing Project, it was empty and now only 4 kb. One time when ABB locked up on me, before Force Quitting I went to the file itself, in FInder, and Get Info said it was 200MB+ (UNsaved). I even at that point made a Duplicate of that file (no way to Save it, since ABB was locked up), hoping against hope that one would remain. No luck. All contents are gone when I force quit and restarted. Just as it warns you if you close without saving, all unsaved changes WILL be lost, and are. Not a big deal...I've gotten better disciplined to Save. It's only when I get lazy and don't Save that the Audiobook Gods decide to toy with me.
:)

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PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 4:14 pm 
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well just for fun try the Show Package Content on a project file, you will need an installation of XCode to do so (its a free download from apple). it will give you an idea of how a project file is built up, and well, when it is still large the files will be in there. so you can while ABB is crashed, but not yet force quited, go into the project file (via show package content and drag the audio files out of there to a safe place on your HD (you can just move them, so it should only take a second to do so). Then force quit ABB, open the project again (the now empty one, or open a new project, and the drag all the files back in again. so you wont need to import then from the CDs again.. it will mean that ABB need to import them from your HD, so it still wont be super fast. .but faster..

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PostPosted: Sat Apr 19, 2008 5:33 pm 
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I'm going to beat this dead horse one more time. 9 CD's into a 10 CD book, ABB locked up ("not responding" per Force Quit) and I (silly me...) hadn't manually SAVED since disc 3.
Again, it's not the end of the world to go back and do them over again, but certainly annoying to have to repeat the process. It sure SEEMS like programming an Auto Save feature or option into ABB would be such a SIMPLE but much appreciated addition to this wonderful program.
I appreciate the comments from 153957, but I'm not going to D/L and use XCode.

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PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 3:42 pm 
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GrannyMac wrote:
I appreciate the comments from 153957, but I'm not going to D/L and use XCode.



Im not sure if you still need XCode to use 'show package contents' (in leopard)
..you can just try it (right-click on a project/program and see if you can choose that option)

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PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 5:57 pm 
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Oh, NOW I see! So if I were to have a "locked up" situation, I can pull the completed (unsaved) files out or duplicate them and move them to a safe place before I Force Quit? You're right - this would be a real time saver! Thanks!! XCode sounded a bit too much like the old "ResEdit" of decades past, and I learned the hard way to steer clear of things if I did not understand them completely. But THIS I can do! Thank you so much!!
I still think a Save Every ____ option would be better, but I can live with this work-around!
Theresa

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PostPosted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 10:06 am 
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GrannyMac wrote:
I still think a Save Every ____ option would be better, but I can live with this work-around!
Theresa


yep that would be nice.

Apple should make that for all their iWork apps as well..

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