DennisG's dashboard

DennisG replied on September 06, 2009 16:20 to the question "Confused by new preferences" in SuperMegaUltraGroovy:

I think if all a new user wants to do is record a tape by speaking into his Mac's microphone, your documentation has it pretty well covered. It's when you want to do some more advanced things that you discover the holes in the documentation. Where, for example, would I find instructions on how to record an internet stream? I was able to find out by coming to this forum and asking the right questions, but I don't consider a forum to be a suitable substitute for a Help file.

After I started using TapeDeck with version 1.0, I was very enthusiastic about it, and I got several of my Mac-using friends to try it out. To a person, not one of them was able to figure out how to record an internet-radio stream, and monitor it at the same time. Once you learn how, it's pretty easy, but a new user will never learn how by exploring the Help file.

DennisG marked one of Chris Liscio's replies in SuperMegaUltraGroovy as useful. Chris Liscio replied to the question "Confused by new preferences".

DennisG replied on September 04, 2009 23:38 to the question "Confused by new preferences" in SuperMegaUltraGroovy:

It does help. Thanks.

Before I post in public forums, I make a habit of exploring other available sources of information. But, if you don't mind me saying, TD's built-in Help feature is pretty thin.

DennisG asked a question in SuperMegaUltraGroovy on August 31, 2009 19:15:

Confused by new preferences

I downloaded TD 1.2 today, and I've been playing with the preferences. To record an internet stream I set the TD Record Using pref to Soundflower (2ch). I've tried setting the Play Using on both Built-in Output and Soundflower (2ch), but nothing seems to get recorded. I can get it to work by going into the System Settings. I'll assume I'm doing something wrong. Give me a sense of how the System Settings and the TD Preferences should be set -- for both recording and playing back an internet stream, and please explain how the TD Prefs affect what the System Settings are doing. Thanks in advance for your help.

DennisG replied on July 17, 2009 22:32 to the idea "how about tapedeck for iphone?" in SuperMegaUltraGroovy:

One benefit of having an iPhone version of TapeDeck would be to sync tapes with the desktop version. That way we could use mobile TapeDeck to play recorded internet streams without having to export to iTunes, sync them to the iPhone, then dig through a thousand songs to find the streams.

By the way, you guys are taking forever to develop your iPhone version. With all due respect, I'm surprised it's taking so long.

DennisG replied on April 30, 2009 22:18 to the question "TapeDeck recording streaming audio AND live mic!" in SuperMegaUltraGroovy:

Thanks for the quick response, Chris. I had only changed the setting for the output device, and hadn't changed the one for the input device. Once I fixed the input device setting, every was groovy. This was the first time I'd used Soundflowerbed, so I wasn't aware of the setting for the input device.

DennisG asked a question in SuperMegaUltraGroovy on April 30, 2009 19:10:

TapeDeck recording streaming audio AND live mic!

I'm trying to record an internet radio stream, and having a problem. Here's the situation: I fire up iTunes and begin playing my radio station. In System Preferences > Sound, I select Soundflower (2 ch), which properly makes the sound cut out. In order to hear the stream, I load Soundflowerbed, which restores the sound. Here's the problem: after loading Soundflowerbed, everything I record with TapeDeck sounds tinny and includes anything captured over the built-in mic. What's going on?

DennisG replied on September 25, 2008 22:03 to the discussion "Recording internet radio cuts out speakers" in SuperMegaUltraGroovy:

Yep. That did it. Thanks much.

DennisG started a conversation in SuperMegaUltraGroovy on September 21, 2008 14:05:

Recording internet radio cuts out speakers

I use TapeDeck to record live internet radio streams, and I love the fact that I can move the tapes to my iPod for future listening. But there's one thing about the process I simply don't understand: in order for TapeDeck to grab the stream, I have to open System Preferences and switch to Soundflower as my output device. But when I do that, it cuts out the speakers, so I can't listen to the stream while I'm recording it. Is there any way around this?

DennisG asked a question in SuperMegaUltraGroovy on August 13, 2008 19:25:

New tapes

I know this is a ridiculously basic question, but how do you insert a new, blank tape? I would expect to see a "New Tape" menu item under the File menu, but I don't. What am I missing?

DennisG replied on June 06, 2008 00:36 to the question "Cueing up tapes in the tape tray" in SuperMegaUltraGroovy:

That would mean that the Pause key and Stop key do essentially the same thing.

DennisG asked a question in SuperMegaUltraGroovy on May 15, 2008 14:28:

Email chime: friend or foe?

For those of us using Sunflower and TD to record a live stream, will an incoming email register a chime on the recording?

DennisG replied on May 14, 2008 15:17 to the question "Streaming audio - capable?" in SuperMegaUltraGroovy:

Thanks, Chris. I didn't think you were terrible at all -- just a tiny bit disorganized. But I found the video to be very helpful. In fact, I had been resisting trying Soundflower until I saw the video this morning.

Suggestion #1: For your next video, install Soundflower on a system most of your users are likely to own: a standard iMac with no weird sound card to deal with. That was really the major point of confusion in the current video.

Suggestion #2: Post the video prominently on your web site and in this forum so that the link doesn't scroll away. The video is the one thing that convinced me to try Soundflower.

Suggestion #3: One final thing, and I'm sure you've thought of this: it would be very helpful to integrate the Soundflower capability into TapeDeck. It's a little unnerving to have little system utilities running in the background that may cause problems with a system update.

And a question: Does TapeDeck continue to record after the computer goes to sleep?

And an observation: I had to laugh when I saw how many digits are in the registration code. You guys are very optimistic.

Thanks for a terrific product, and I hope a million people become registered owners. I'll do my part to evangelize.

DennisG replied on May 14, 2008 14:03 to the question "Streaming audio - capable?" in SuperMegaUltraGroovy:

I watched the video, installed Soundflower, did a test recording of Radio Paradise, and held my breath as I played it back. It worked. I'm officially a happy guy and now a registered owner of TapeDeck.

You would do well to tighten up that video. Such digressions! But it was a big help. Thanks.

DennisG replied on May 11, 2008 15:15 to the question "Record from browser?" in SuperMegaUltraGroovy:

As much as I love TapeDeck's interface, the ability to record live lectures or from an external source doesn't interest me in the least. What would have excited me is applying this interface to the recording of a stream of internet radio.

From a marketing perspective, I know it's not wise to project my own wants and needs on the universe of potential users, so I won't. But in my community of Mac users, I don't know a single person who did anything more than shrug their shoulders when I asked them if they were interested in recording live lectures or from an external source. The responses changed 180 degrees when I asked them about recording a live radio stream.

TapeDeck is a great, great product that, to me, is tragically flawed. I'd really rather not have to get a second piece of software (and figure out how to use it) in order to accommodate the killer feature TapeDeck should have included in the first place.