New desktop software for browsing the LibriVox collection

smike · Post by **smike** » February 21st, 2015, 7:55 am

Never mind, scout.

It's been a few years since I made that quicktime experience, so I never even tried itunes. And VLC works fine with M4B files, as I was able to check now, so I have no need for itunes, either.

scout · Post by **scout** » February 23rd, 2015, 1:48 am

Content retracted.

Daniel

smike · Post by **smike** » February 23rd, 2015, 4:29 am

Maybe somebody else knows. I've never used it for anything else but playing audio and video files, and it plays most formats.

smike · Post by **smike** » February 24th, 2015, 12:39 pm

A problem has occurred: my avast was suddenly all warnings and sirens when I tried to open the app. It tells me that it's dangerous and blocks it and puts it in a container before I can even open it.

Do you have any idea what might case this? I tried to download it again, and avast immediately blocked that, too.

Post by **annise** » February 24th, 2015, 12:53 pm

Claudia
It might be better to use the link Dan gives for queries and problems ? http://commonvox.org/le-comments No one here can really help with them.

Anne

smike · Post by **smike** » February 24th, 2015, 12:58 pm

Oh, of course. never thought if that.

However, it would be interesting to know if somebody else here had a similar problem?

dvimont · Post by **dvimont** » February 25th, 2015, 9:40 pm

Hello Claudia,

Yes, Anne was oh-so-right to point you to the comments page on the CommonVox.org website. It's the right place to communicate AND it will get you a much quicker response!

But to quickly give you feedback on your issue: It's evident from a plethora of web-based discussions that the Avast anti-virus software errs on the side of extreme caution when you're trying to install software that is "unknown" to it. Since CommonVox's LibriVox Explorer is beta software with about 30 beta users in the whole wide world, it's not surprising that it's unknown to Avast.

Here's a link to a very brief support video which shows how to create an exception for trusted software in Avast (to essentially tell Avast, "This software's okay. Let me use it!"): http://youtu.be/YGpd9lc4CCE

Speaking of trusted, rest assured that all software that I put out (under the "CommonVox.org" domain and/or under my own name) is code-signed by me with the certificate I obtained from DigiCert (one of the biggest names in the certification business). This means that when you install the software in Windows, you'll be assured that the software comes straight from "Daniel H. Vimont" and NOT a dubious "unknown publisher".

Anyway, sorry about the confusing encounter with Avast! Please come to the comments page and leave me a note if you run into any further problems:
http://commonvox.org/le-comments

Thanks,

Dan

smike · Post by **smike** » February 25th, 2015, 11:39 pm

Thank you, Dan. I left you a message there.

dvimont · Post by **dvimont** » February 26th, 2015, 12:33 am

Good news! CommonVox presents: LibriVox EXPLORER is fully up and running in the Macintosh environment.

After giving it more thorough testing and getting a few loose ends tended to, I'll soon be able to make the Macintosh edition of the software generally available (likely sometime next week). Thanks for your patience, Mac users

!!

dvimont · Post by **dvimont** » February 26th, 2015, 3:02 am

Just to put everyone's (including my) mind at ease after Claudia told us that her antivirus software, Avast, had suddenly begun to quarantine LibriVox Explorer from CommonVox.org, and prevent her from running it (apparently labeling it as potentially being some sort of malware

):

I submitted the application's main Java executable, LibriVoxExplorer.jar, to virustotal.com for a comprehensive analysis against over 50 of the biggest antivirus engines (which includes the Avast engine).

Here are the results, which signal an "all clear" from all the antivirus services (including Avast)

:

https://www.virustotal.com/en/file/21bac8269d1ea74cb47c10c62e1edee9cfb7e11d516ca5a104d9fe9c343fdfab/analysis/1424942390/

So why did Claudia's desktop version of Avast quarantine the application?

I have opened a support ticket with Avast to attempt to find out!

In any event, thanks once again to Claudia for bringing this to my attention.

Dan

smike · Post by **smike** » February 26th, 2015, 4:05 am

Dan, thank you so much for your replies and for trying to get to the bottom of this. I was able to download and re-install it today, without any trouble. It makes me wonder if some avast update created this mess. After all, there are several updates each day, and one may have caused the wrong message.

dvimont · Post by **dvimont** » March 1st, 2015, 6:31 am

kayray wrote:Can't wait to try it on my mac!

The Mac version is now available (release v1.4.1)!!

Come one, come all -->> Mac, Linux, or Windows: http://commonvox.org/le-download

Thanks for all the interest and enthusiasm!!

Dan

dvimont · Post by **dvimont** » March 1st, 2015, 11:06 pm

Release v1.4.2 is now available, with a MUCH MUCH more efficient (not to mention much speedier) Search facility!

http://commonvox.org/le-download

Happisburgh · Post by **Happisburgh** » March 8th, 2015, 7:29 am

Chuckling to myself - I just downloaded this software to try, and got a message pop up from my anti-virus (Avast free version). I'd never seen this one before but it warned that this download seems to be very rare, and no other Avast users had encountered it before. LOL. I should be grateful it was trying to protect me I suppose, and it DID give me an option to continue the download.

Other Avast users, be aware.
Tricia

dvimont · Post by **dvimont** » March 23rd, 2015, 6:42 pm

CommonVox presents: LibriVox EXPLORER is now out of "beta" and into general release (v1.5.1). Thanks to all the beta users who tried out the early releases, particularly those who helped get some initial wrinkles ironed out.

Particularly, thanks to Kara Shallenberg (kayray), who pointed out problems in the "Reader" and "Genre" listings, both of which are now fixed with the lastest release (v1.5.1).

Also, for the technically curious, I'll soon be posting the entire body of Java source code to GitHub.

This will likely be the last major release for some time, as I have to get back to doing more software engineering work that pays the bills. But please don't hesitate to use the problem reporting and comment functions within the application to communicate issues, suggestions, or any other comments at any time.

Have fun exploring. Kudos again to those who've created the wonderful cover art work, which really makes LibriVox EXPLORER from CommonVox.org come to life.