SuperSync Music Manager for Linux

[supersync]

Hi Everyone,

SuperSync is an iTunes media manager, that allows users to manage music, which includes Sync, Merge, Remove Duplicates, creating a central repository, across computers & NAS in the network. Basically, simplifying music management across home/office. You can find out more on http://www.supersync.com

We have our binaries available for Mac & Windows users, but recently, we have released the Linux flavor as well.

We have a Debian version and a Fedora version.

We are planning to make these available to the Linux community and also have these integrated with KX Studio and AV Linux.

We need the help of the community to guide us as well as feel free to download the linux flavor of SuperSync and try it and give us your feedback on its integration within your Linux environments.

We havent made the linux link public as of yet, but you can PM me or email me at darshin@supersync.com and I could provide you with the link.

Any help and guidance would be highly appreciated. This is our effort and two cents to contribute to the music community to cover all three bases of OS flavors: Mac, Win & Linux

Looking forward to the guidance in making SuperSync available as an integrated App in KX Studio & AV Linux too, along with the base distros.

Regards,
Darshin

[superprick]

sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssspppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[tatch]

cool that you're looking out for linux but i don't see why an itunes media manager would be useful for linux, which itunes doesn't even support right now. Would this be for if you have other iDevices? Also not sure how useful people will think this is in media creation distros like AVL or KXS, it might make more sense to target normal distros like Ubuntu/Mint/Arch/Fedora/etc.

[asbak]

iTunes... on Linux... lulz, what a daft idea. Why on earth would one want to pollute Linux with the Apple Experience, iTunes and iTunes related fluff. If I'd wanted iTunes and its underlying ecosystem of malware I'd have bought a Mac.

I sincerely hope this software stays the hell out of KXStudio and AVLinux. It has a place - with the Mac market.

The last thing I'd want is for unwanted software to start collecting and syncing my data around the Internet.
iTunes, Cloudsyncing, zeitgeist = work of Satan.

[supersync]

First of all, whoever has tagged this as a spam, it is NOT a spam. Kindly do not consider this as a spam, its a request.

Thanks to everyone who has shown interest or given interesting input.

Secondly, the idea is not bringing an iTunes scenario but to help efficient music management within the network. Generally, users have 2-3 computers in the network, and if they want to share the music or create a music server on Linux, which integrates with the rest of the environment including Macs & PCs, we are trying to work on providing a bridge which enables simple, fast and efficient way of managing, syncing music, playlists, etc across the Linux/Mac/PC environment.

We already have SuperSync version for Mac, PCs and NAS (QNAP, Synology, etc). SuperSync on NAS typically handles a job of making the NAS behave a music server and users just efficiently sync from Mac/PCs, creating a central repository.

We were exploring an idea of including Linux in the scheme and reaching out to the Linux musicians community, to enable a more efficient and capable management of music if they had more than just Linux in their environment (which is a very common scenario).

However, for everyone who has shown interest via emails and PM, I really appreciate your keenness to help. We had a couple of issues reported by our testing team and hence our currently rectifying the same. The new build should be ready soon and I would be sharing the update as soon as the new package is ready to test.

Thank you for the support.

Regards,
Darshin

[GMaq]

Hi,

As a Linux user and maintainer of one of the mentioned distros I find the response to supersync's post appalling..

As an example I have a huge iTunes collection that started before I became a Linux user an I also have teenagers and other family members who use Apple and Windows as well as Linux, one of the biggest things to adjust to when migrating to Linux was the loss of support for my music library and legacy support for my iPod etc.. I don't think this is an uncommon scenario in many households so if someone is going to bridge the gap and make sharing a music library across a cross-platform home network easier... why the "torches and pitchforks" response right off the bat ?!

Frankly I'm embarrassed at the "welcome" given to SuperSync

If you don't like or need to integrate with iTunes on other platforms then nobody is forcing this software on you...

@Darshin,

I'm the maintaner of AV Linux and am currently on a development hiatus due to several factors however I am very interested in taking a better look at your link in speaking with you about integration wihin AV Linux in the future... Please feel free to PM me to discuss

Thanks for you efforts and reaching out to the Linux Audio community...

[asbak]

why the "torches and pitchforks" response right off the bat ?!

- Because it has zero bearing and I mean absolutely ZERO bearing on audio production.
- Because this isn't a Mac / iTunes forum.
- Because I don't want software pushed on me that syncs my data. For example, if it were inserted into some kind of distro by default or installed by default with a suite of what I naively believed were audio production packages for Linux, this would be AN ENORMOUS NEGATIVE in my opinion.
- If I really absolutely truly fully hey shoooo wow must have Mac / iTunes ecosystem stuffs, I can go to his website and get it from there.

What I don't want is to have this stuff unwittingly pushed on me through distros and suites and then find out about it afterwards or have to waste time to remove it or start having to go over suites and distros with a fine tooth comb to start finding these kinds of unwanted packages.

It's a commercial product intended for Mac lovers. I'm not one. I don't want anything to do with Mac or their proprietary and DRM ecosystems. I'm a Linux user for a reason. People who absolutely must have this kind of thing can get it from elsewhere. Sticking it in distros and pushing it on end users just wouldn't be very cool.

Frankly I'm embarrassed at the "welcome" given to SuperSync

I've never been prouder. It's embarrassing that it's even being considered for inclusion in a Linux Audio Production suite.

If you don't like or need to integrate with iTunes on other platforms then nobody is forcing this software on you...

If it's slipped into distros then it is being forced on me because now I have to figure out how to get rid of the damn thing and hope I don't break something or some kind of dependency in the process or find that it is difficult or near impossible to uninstall and / or de-activate. We're already seeing increasing problems of this sort with zeitgeist, GeoIP tracking, Ubuntu's ill-conceived search data collection and theft etc.

If this made its way into Mint or Ubuntu or Debian or Fedora it would be just as annoying.

By all means, let those who want it buy it. Just leave the rest of us out of it.

[GMaq]

@asbak,

Ummm when I do audio production... I listen to the finished "productions" in a music library (it certainly doesn't have to be iTunes) so I think saying it has zero bearing is a bit of a dramatic stretch.. it may not be what YOU want or like but I find it as relevant and useful as many other small utilities that get announced here...

If this program comes in a distro (and very likely would never ship by default in Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu or Mint) it isn't going to auto-launch and sync anything, and doubtless it can be uninstalled with package management if you don't like it...

You may have valid reasons to dislike Apple or iTunes and that's totally cool, I don't disagree with your right to like or use whatever you want, That said I don't think there is any call for bad manners (and to be "proud" of that kind of behavior is something I really can't comprehend)...

Anyway, that's all I'm going to say about it, I'm guessing it's not going to carry much weight anyway...

[asbak]

Bad manners?

It's like when cult members or "charity collectors" turn up at one's house unsolicited and push their unwanted beliefs and monetary demands on you. It gets old real fast.

The Mark Shuttleworth / Ubuntu type argument of "oh so you found out about us opting you in automatically to data collecting wares you were dumb enough not to know or care about, haha, but you can uninstall it if you like" is totally lame.

Many people use Linux for good reason, one of those reasons being the expectation (although some distros like Ubuntu fail on this point) that the baseline is reasonably free from adware, spyware and malware. What they don't expect (as happened with Ubuntu) is that the distribution will be crammed with, amongst other things, hidden unwanted data collection mechanisms.

"Privacy" disclaimers are meaningless. Once data is collected by third party mechanisms and rerouted through external storage infrastructure that data isn't private any longer. Not even if the producer of that solution's original intention was to keep it private. By definition it is not possible and believing otherwise is naive and foolish.

Encryption and security mechanisms? Haha.... try telling that to all the celebrities who had their dodgy photos shared with world-and-dog.

The average person new to the Linux Audio game trying out his or her options has little way of knowing whether pre-baked distro comes with these kinds of "enhancements to brighten up their lives" because they'd naively assume that it's just a baseline Linux distro with Audio Production add-ons and a bit of tuning done to make it all play nice. What they don't expect to get is a malware infested suite masquerading as a Linux Audio Production distribution.

The philosophies behind the Mac model of computing (handing over tons of money to the Cult Of Mac, having your user experience fixed and regulated for you by Cult Of Mac, having "convenient syncing mechanisms to distribute and back up your data" baked into the core system etc etc) is antipodal to the BSD/Linux way of computing.

iTunes is a paradise for security exploits and data gathering. iTunes and its offshoots are abominations which belong on a Mac. Not on Linux. Not even on Windows.
Finding out via this thread that there are intentions afoot to push this on me and other Linux users (and thankfully I don't seem to be the only one annoyed and alarmed by this) is upsetting.

Why wouldn't I be hostile towards unwanted, unwelcome malware?
Thanks, but no thanks, really. Demanding a "polite" reaction to this development is like apologising to the guy who just took your wallet and gave you a black eye.

There's no reason to not be crystal clear on just how unwelcome this product is and how presumptuous the pusher is in his intentions to ram it down our throats via KXStudio and AVLinux where we would have no choice but to accept it, wouldn't even be aware of it unless we happened upon it by chance or via constant investigation of our systems and then wasted time and effort to get rid of it, hoping that we didn't run into dependency issues along the way as is already happening with zeitgeist and totem?

Guys like myself don't have a hope of re-inventing a malware free Audio Distro and replicating the incredible development effort that's gone into something like KXStudio and its myriad of individual packages created by so many selfless developer heroes. Where do we turn to once more and more malware starts slipping into this previously untainted world and we now have to keep monitoring for it and try to keep up with sanitizing the OS? At that point one may as well give up and cave into Mac & Windows.

Thankfully this particular example won't be getting into KXStudio but it is seemingly already under way into AVLinux. That disqualifies AVLinux for me, right there. Show-stopper.

[GraysonPeddie]

People who do not care for iTunes are part of the minority. Deal with it. People use MP3s and AACs to play music. They don't care about open source codecs such as FLAC and OGG. They have never heard of these codecs before.

Give SuperSync a d**m chance. You hate iTunes? Why don't you hate yourself? ZERO PEOPLE will force you to use it!

@SuperSync, not many people within the Linux community are very friendly here once you start mentioning iTunes. If you mention Windows or Mac, they may take offense at you and what people within the Linux community did to you is uncalled for.

*whew*

--Grayson Peddie

[ssj71]

Wow. I wonder why more corporations don't support linux? :\

SuperSync: I appreciate your effort to make a useful cross platform program. Thanks.

asbak: it sounds like you should probably jump to linux from scratch. You'll never have full control over whats on your computer while using any package manager.

[tramp]

asbak: it sounds like you should probably jump to linux from scratch. You'll never have full control over whats on your computer while using any package manager.

That's stupid ssj71, any linux package management system have a open source base, no matter which flavor you look for, and build packages from open source projects. No reason to u-trust.

You cant compare that with a commercial, close source package which "helps" you to connect to a close source cloud with close source management system.
I fully understand the reserving against this "SuperSync Music Manager" for Linux, and share them.

[ssj71]

asbak: it sounds like you should probably jump to linux from scratch. You'll never have full control over whats on your computer while using any package manager.

That's stupid ssj71, any linux package management system have a open source base, no matter which flavor you look for, and build packages from open source projects. No reason to u-trust.

You cant compare that with a commercial, close source package which "helps" you to connect to a close source cloud with close source management system.
I fully understand the reserving against this "SuperSync Music Manager" for Linux, and share them.

But the problem is that the distro includes non-open source binaries. You can't be sure what is in that blob. Thats all (and it was mostly rhetoric). Many users have no second thoughts about using flash, which is exactly the kind of security hole, closed binary garbage asbak is describing. I use it too. In reality I know that you usually have to opt-in, enabling restricted repos etc. but, again, it was really just rhetoric.

But yes, I see your point. However even though I have no interest in the product or service should we tell them to take their things and go home and NOT SUPPORT LINUX? I think the more effective thing is to state that, this is a closed source package that connects to a closed source cloud with closed source management system, and most of us won't have a lot of interest and let them get on with their day, rather than jumping straight to calling it spam and malware and not getting to some understandable arguments till post #12 in the thread. Suggesting a FLOSS alternative would be appropriate too so that users know what their options can be and the proprietary developer knows what they are up against. It was a call for support, and if you don't want to support them, that's fine, but do we really need to chase them away?

SuperSync is trying to make a living, and has developed a product that could be helpful to some linux users. I'm still glad they went through the effort, even though I never really had any interest in the product. I think those of us who develop software for a living have a different perspective on FLOSS.

I just want people to be nice and not make linux communities that I am part of look like a big nest of pure aspies (though we still love our aspie friends).

[asbak]

I don't have an issue with nor care what people choose to install on their systems. You want to i-Whatever?? Whatever .....
If the owner wants to sell his wares from his website and make a little promotion for it here that's fine too.

However, when a vendor jumps in from out of nowhere and first post informs us that he's planning to push his closed source proprietary non audio-production app (which... oh... also just happens to suck your data off your computer) developed for the i-Crowd into the few viable audio release / distribution systems we have going for us (KXStudio in particular) which have a long and known opensource development cycle involving people we know and trust and who created the code which forms the basis of why many of us switched to Linux in the first place, there is a problem.

If some of you choose not to understand such a glaringly obvious concept nor care that's fine, that's your business. It does beggar the question as to why you even bothered with Open Source and Linux in the first place if all you really wanted was to import proprietary code and payware doing who-knows-what into your systems...... I mean, why couldn't you just have stuck with your Macs and iTunes to your heart's content and said the usual 5 daily prayers at the Apple Temple like the rest?

For the ones amongst us who like having our systems relatively clean it's not realistic to start from scratch to develop our own OS and application suites such as KX. The last thing I want to have to do is to start wondering what non-audio trash, malware, adware, spyware and commercial proprietary code may or may not have slipped in from one day to the next. With a number of well-known Linux distros I already know that they're for the most part Open Source and non-proprietary with a few exceptions such as certain hardware drivers. With most audio-production related apps on KX or ones I compile myself I can get access to the source or at the very least find views on the code by others who have reviewed it so I have some kind of idea as to what I'm getting.

The arguments about "you don't need to use it" or "you can uninstall it" don't cut it. Why should I have to uninstall something that should never have been on the system in the first place? If some of you really need iTunes and related cloud fluff so badly why couldn't you just go buy it direct from the vendor instead of forcing it on the rest of us?

[asbak]

However even though I have no interest in the product or service should we tell them to take their things and go home and NOT SUPPORT LINUX? I think the more effective thing is to state that, this is a closed source package that connects to a closed source cloud with closed source management system, and most of us won't have a lot of interest and let them get on with their day, rather than jumping straight to calling it spam and malware and not getting to some understandable arguments till post #12 in the thread.

It's not about telling vendors not to support Linux. It's about telling them not to push their wares on us, forcing us to take it through the only viable distro/s we have going for us. Frankly it hardly matters if it's inserted into AVLinux because there are alternatives to it out there.

But there aren't alternatives to KX and therefore I don't take kindly to attempts to basically turn me into a hostage for his i-Wares.