fre:ac version 1.1.4 has been released on 14th February 2021.

This is a service focussing on minor improvements and bug fixes. fre:ac 1.1.3 adds support for HDCD decoding, improves tagging support and usability of the tag editor, updates codecs to the latest versions and fixes several issues found in earlier releases:

• Improvements
  
  • Improved support for reading CD-Text
  • Added an HDCD decoder DSP filter
  • Added catalog number and barcode fields to tag editor
  • Added file type associations to macOS app, so fre:ac is offered for opening audio files
  • Added quality (VBR) setting to FDK-AAC configuration dialog
  • Improved MP3, AAC and Opus encoding performance by up to 30%
  • Improved multi-monitor support on X11 based systems
  • Discs of multi-disc albums are now shown separately in tag editor album mode
  • Update only changed fields when making edits in tag editor album mode
  • Added support for Replay Gain values in MP4 and WMA metadata
  • Do not override settings with default values when using freaccmd's --config option

• Bug fixes
  
  • Fixed invalid length written to very long Opus and Speex files (longer than 12 ½ hours at 48 kHz)
  • Fixed decoding of some very short Opus, Vorbis and Speex files
  • Fixed written MP4 chapters being invisible to some applications when using Nero AAC
  • Fixed hang/crash when opening WavPack, Musepack, TAK and OptimFROG files with chapters
  • Fixed issues submitting CDDB information for new CDs (without existing entries)
  • Fixed issues handling long path/file names on Windows
  • Fixed output sample rate being limited to 192 kHz
  • Fixed freaccmd randomly failing to process files in rare cases
  • Fixed bad user interface colors on some Linux distributions

• Codec support
  • Switched from FAAC to FDK-AAC for AAC encoding

Upgrading to fre:ac v1.1.4 is strongly recommended for users of earlier releases.

The new release is available in the downloads section. Please report issues on the GitHub issue tracker or by email to support@freac.org.

Just in time for the first Apple Silicon Macs being delivered to end users, fre:ac is now available for this new generation of Macs.

To support the different types of Macs, the macOS version of fre:ac is now available in two flavors:

• For Intel and PowerPC Macs running macOS 10.x, download freac-1.1.x-macos10.dmg
• For Intel and Apple Silicon Macs running macOS 11.0, download freac-1.1.x-macos11.dmg

Head over to the downloads section to get the Apple Silicon version or any other variant of fre:ac.

fre:ac version 1.1.3 has been released on 11th October 2020.

This is a service with only minor feature updates and improvements. Instead, the focus is on compatibility and bug fixes. fre:ac 1.1.3 adds support for macOS 11.0 Big Sur, updates codecs to the latest versions and fixes several issues found in earlier releases:

• General changes
  
  • Added support for macOS 11.0 Big Sur
  • Switched to using GNUdb as the default CDDB database service

• Improvements
  
  • Command line codec configuration now allows specifying additional arguments
  • Improved cue sheet encoding detection to support system codepage and UTF-8 without BOM
  • freaccmd now splits cue sheets to individual tracks unless an output file is specified
  • freaccmd now supports a --split-chapters option to split files into individual chapters
  • Added <profile> placeholder for output folder configuration setting, resolving to user profile
  • Added file type and audio CD associations to Linux/FreeBSD and Windows Store app
  • Added an option to suppress "No entry found" messages for automatic CDDB queries
  • Improved detection of sampler CDs when querying CDDB information

• Bug fixes
  
  • Fixed possible conversion thread hangs when using external encoders
  • Fixed possible crash related to drag & drop handling on Windows
  • Fixed crash when writing fields containing only whitespace to certain tag formats
  • Fixed glitches in WAV/AIFF output when processing samples outside the -1.0/+1.0 range
  • Fixed possible hangs when opening WAV/AIFF files > 2 GB or with a broken chunk structure
  • Fixed inability to open WAV/AIFF files with long paths on Windows
  • Fixed writing wrong offsets to single file cue sheets when the resampling DSP filter is enabled
  • Fixed writing invalid chapter offsets to Opus files with source sample rates other than 48 kHz
  • Fixed writing invalid MP3 bitstreams in rare cases in SuperFast mode
  • Fixed wrong length detection for MP3 files with invalid chapter data
  • Fixed parsing of cue sheets with minute/second values missing leading zeros or longer 99min
  • Fixed parsing of embedded cue sheets without FILE designations
  • Fixed ripping progress for other drives stalling while one drive is ejecting
  • Fixed inability to pause or stop single output file verification
  • Fixed log files being archived despite disabling the corresponding option
  • Fixed various issues with multi-monitor support on macOS
  • Fixed user interface glitches after closing dialogs in tabbed mode on macOS
  • Fixed Shift+Pos1/End shortcuts being interpreted by the joblist and edit fields simultaneously

• Codec support
  • Switched from libav 12.3 to FFmpeg 4.3.1 for auxiliary format support
  • Added support for using the Core Audio codec of iTunes 12.10.9 and later

Upgrading to fre:ac v1.1.3 is strongly recommended for users of any earlier releases.

The new release is available in the downloads section. Please report issues on the GitHub issue tracker or by email to support@freac.org.

fre:ac version 1.1.2 has been released on 20th June 2020.

This release introduces UI scaling to the system font size by default, adds support for theme colors and dark mode on Linux/FreeBSD, updates codecs to the latest versions and fixes several issues found in earlier releases:

• Improvements
  
  • Scale UI to adjust to system font size by default
  • Added support for theme colors and dark mode on Linux/FreeBSD
  • Improved handling of maximized window state on Linux/FreeBSD and macOS
  • Removed non-working option to not lock CD trays while ripping
  • Stop ripping before trying to eject a disc
  • Write audio data CRC to log files when ripping
  • Write MD5 checksums to log files when verifying files
  • Write log entries when replacing existing files

• Bug fixes
  
  • Fixed length of last chapter of some audio books being detected as 0:00
  • Prevent interpreting numerical IDs or dates at the beginning of file names as track numbers
  • Fixed a possible source of random crashes when adding files to the joblist
  • Fixed possible crash when importing MP4/M4A files
  • Fixed possible crash when encoding in SuperFast mode
  • Fixed some graphics glitches on macOS

Upgrading to fre:ac v1.1.2 is strongly recommended for users of any earlier releases.

The new release is available in the downloads section. Please report issues on the GitHub issue tracker or by email to support@freac.org.

fre:ac version 1.1.1 has been released on 19th April 2020.

This release comes with minor improvements as well as codec and translation updates and fixes several issues found in earlier releases:

• Improvements
  
  • Improved file size and bitrate calculation for chapters and cue sheet tracks
  • Added <discid> placeholder for use in filename patterns
  • Added an optional disc ID column to the joblist
  • Added an option to eject the disc after ripping to freaccmd
  • Allow specifying device path instead of drive number in freaccmd

• Bug fixes
  
  • Fixed crash of freaccmd when querying CDDB while DISPLAY variable is not set
  • Fixed ripping of first CD track in paranoia mode on Windows
  • Fixed several issues creating CBR MP3 files in SuperFast mode
  • Fixed calculation of track conversion speed factor in log files

Upgrading to fre:ac v1.1.1 is strongly recommended for users of fre:ac v1.1 and earlier releases.

The new release is available in the downloads section. Please report issues on the GitHub issue tracker or by email to support@freac.org.

Windows 10 users can now download fre:ac from the Microsoft store:

With the store version, installation, updates and removal are all handled by the Microsoft store, just like with any other Windows app.

The store version comes with the same feature set as the regular installer and .zip packages, except for the freaccmd command line interface not being included. Please use the self extracting installer or .zip package if you need command line conversion support.