Switch Mac (free and plus) crash converting MP3 to AAC

[vilain]

 

I refuse to give this company any money given that the responce to problems in this forum seems minimal. I won't buy any of their software because it crashes right out of gate.

 

I'm running MacOS X 10.4.8 with 1.5GB RAM. I put 20 or so MP3 files to convert to AAC format. I select average bit rate to 64 (these are booktapes). And both the free and the Plus application crash when I click on Convert. The crash log says:

 

Host Name: kosh

Date/Time: 2006-12-19 21:20:57.767 -0800

OS Version: 10.4.8 (Build 8L127)

Report Version: 4

 

Command: aacenc

Path: /Library/Application Support/NCH Swift Sound/Components/aacenc

Parent: Switch [13871]

 

Version: ??? (???)

 

PID: 13927

Thread: Unknown

 

Link (dyld) error:

 

Library not loaded: /opt/local/lib/libfaac.0.dylib

Referenced from: /Library/Application Support/NCH Swift Sound/Components/aacenc

Reason: image not found

 

 

Where is this dynamic library supposed to come from? /opt/local doesn't exist on my system. Someone made a poor programming assumption (or the converter for this format isn't included with the software).

[nchtj]

hi, first of all nobody is demanding any money from you, if you dont want to pay for something that is your decision to make. next, we are working through another release of switch on mac, but there may not be a resolution within the next few weeks. finally, if you were to read the post at the top of these forums, the forums are for the community they are not regularly manned by NCH staff.

 

problems with software are always going to happen (take a look at Microsoft), but we will continue to work on resolving them. If you don't feel like waiting then you are welcome to move on, that is your decision to make.

[vilain]

hi, first of all nobody is demanding any money from you, if you dont want to pay for something that is your decision to make. next, we are working through another release of switch on mac, but there may not be a resolution within the next few weeks. finally, if you were to read the post at the top of these forums, the forums are for the community they are not regularly manned by NCH staff.

 

problems with software are always going to happen (take a look at Microsoft), but we will continue to work on resolving them. If you don't feel like waiting then you are welcome to move on, that is your decision to make.

 

I figured after look through the forum that the lack of response was because the developers didn't frequent it. After all, they'd be undercuting their pay-per-support-incident business model.

 

I really question the ethics of offering a product that is plainly broken for sale as a fully functioning product. In the US, there are consumer protection laws about such things. At the very least, Switch should be removed from NCH's web site. If NCH's site was hosted in the US, I'd be reporting this fact to their upstream ISP and the local AG's consumer fraud department. Oz must not be as strict about such things.

 

In any case, I've found other tools, more in keeping with the Macintosh shareware approach (buy it and support is free forever). I realize there are other support models, but I'm not really interested in supporting them, especially when both the free and professional products don't work out of the box.

[nchtj]

thanks for the feedback (genuinely), we'll pass it on to our manager for comment. i myself am not in a position to do much unfortunately, but I'll do what I can.