

Dear News.YC: please review my Mac app, Evom - Disparity
http://thelittleappfactory.com/evom/
As I imagine a lot of people have Macs here, I thought it appropriate to post this. It's a desktop app for ripping videos from the web and converting movies to a format suitable for iTunes &#38; iPod. So those bittorrent videos can finally find a place in iTunes &#38; your iPod. You can rip movies straight from YouTube by dragging the url icon into the app.
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patio11
I have seen a few of this types of apps come through the Business of Software
forums. Generally, a large portion of the enthusiasm for applications like
this seems to be that people want to go to Youtube and download movies for
free. These people are, for obvious reasons, not the best people in the world
to sell software to.

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jpcx01
Thats a good point. There's tons of free youtube downloaders anyways (I
especially like keepvid.com). But I sort of like how Evom is a dual way
helper, plus it'll re-encode the video for iPod.

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pieter
It would be nice if you describe on the page what Evom converts _to_.. Why
would anyone need this app? That's not clear from the text, a bit more clear
from the screenshots.

That said, I haven't tried it yet, but will try it later today.

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derefr
I thought it was pretty evident from the icon: portables, like iPods.

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taitems
It's really not. You have to cater to your dumbest user, not your smartest.

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Derferman
I was pleasantly surprised when dragging a Youtube link into the drop area
worked exactly as I had hoped. The video even downloaded in 1280 x 720. The
next time I need a video off Youtube, Evom will be the app I use.

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kierank
You're using FFmpeg in there somewhere so you'll need to offer your copy of
FFmpeg's source if you've used the LGPL version. If you've used the GPL
version then your whole app will need to be GPL.

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dchest
FFmpeg binary is compiled with "--enable-gpl". So yes, either author should
recompile it with GPL disabled or release the source code of his application.

Anyway, with LGPL (I assume the point of your comment is educational, and you
don't really need the source code for FFmpeg SVN-r17142), author can just
provide instructions for downloading the source code for this revision from
FFmpeg SVN, as written here: [http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-
faq.html#AnonFTPAndSendSourc...](http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-
faq.html#AnonFTPAndSendSources)

~~~
kierank
Yes, assuming they haven't modified FFmpeg.

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jedc
A quick usability thing... your main icon features an iPod, so my immediate
thought was that it was something to manage photos/videos on an iPod/iPhone.
That doesn't quite match to your app which is web & desktop based.

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pieter
OK, after testing I have mixed thoughts. The interface is OK (though you
really need a way to close the registration pane / beta warning), but the
conversion process is painfully slow. It's been converting a 22 minute movie
for the past 40 minutes now, and the bar is only at ~15%.

Also, do you really need the 'step 1 of 2' thing? Can't you just leave that
out, and adjust the progress bar accordingly? Using multiple steps is
confusing, as you have no idea how far the conversion really is.

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pieter
OK, I'm going to stop this now. It's been running for more than 4 hours, and
still isn't halfway through step 1.

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jpcx01
Conversions stalled for me too. This app is busted

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jmtulloss
A few things:

Your site needs a favicon

I don't understand how to get videos off the web.

From your web page, it's not clear to me what your product does. _Convert &
transfer movies from your computer and the web._ could be simplified to
something like "Get your movies anywhere."

When I open the app, nothing happens. It should open the "Open" dialog by
default, I think.

The site looks great, and the app is quite clean. Nice work!

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hbien
I like the window that says "Drop movies, folders, or movie links" with a big
drop icon, no need to have the open dialog by default =]. I would probably
hate having a dialog open right when the app starts.

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jmtulloss
I didn't see that. When does that come up?

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jawngee
A couple of things...

First, great app. Very useful.

But, since most of these videos are already H.264 mpeg-4's, why the need for
the conversion step, instead of simply wrapping it up in a quicktime container
(if you even need to do that)? Conversion is painfully slow.

The popup dialogs are annoying.

Is there a bookmarklet? That would be awesome.

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costan
The conversion is useful so the videos take up less space on iPhones / iPods.
I use TubeTV, and I definitely appreciate the feature, because most of my
iPhone's memory is taken up by music videos off of YouTube right now.

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pingswept
Well-chosen name! If anyone ever creates a gripe site about your app called
noevom.org, you can destroy their credibility by calling them nothing more
than a front for moveon.org! Brilliant!

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jpcx01
I love it. I can just drag my Youtube links from the browser address bar over
to the Evom dock icon and it queues it up for download. It would be nice to be
able to set a "default" capture type so it was automatic.

Also, some kind of bookmarklet would be nice. Maybe you can set your own
system url handler which would make it easy to catch the links.

The popups are royally screwed up. There's no way to get rid of them (close).
Examples are the beta notice, and the "Register..." popup.

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Disparity
Thanks for the feedback.

Yes, there is a bookmarklet and we'll be adding it to the website soon (or
straight into the app). If you want it now, add this to your bookmark bar:

javascript:document.location.href='evom://'+escape(document.location.href)

And we'll look into getting those popups fixed.

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dhimes
Clean site and nice design. I don't have a Mac so I can't comment on
performance, but on your home page "Macs spare power" should be "Mac's spare
power" under "Built for speed."

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cubicle67
May I suggest packaging it as a dmg instead of a zip? Doesn't make much
difference other than that's what's usually expected

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jpcx01
I hate DMGs. I know it seems to be the most common way of installing stuff,
but, really, what's the point? I have to mount, drag, unmount. Zip's
automatically get extracted by Safari, and you just drag it where you want it
(or launch it from Downloads). One step, vs 3 steps.

A short example: my uncle's been using a mac for 5 years and still has
absolutely no idea how to install programs on mac because of this convoluted
process. DMGs need to die.

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Zev
Why use a dmg instead of a Zip? See Apple's docs,
[http://developer.apple.com/documentation/developertools/Conc...](http://developer.apple.com/documentation/developertools/Conceptual/SoftwareDistribution/Containers/Containers.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/10000145i-CH4-SW4)

Also, you could have taken 30 seconds in the past 5 years to explain to your
uncle how to install Mac apps. Instead of, you know, ranting about how its
convoluted the entire time. All you have to do is say "Double click it and
drag and drop the file to /Applications." — Though thats irrelevant now, since
Safari now handles dmg's with a .app the same as if it would when extracting a
zip.

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jpcx01
Gee, what a great idea. I've explained a hundred times. It doesn't stick.

An icon comes up, and people click on it. It's natural and there is no
indication of what you've done wrong. Then later, they have no idea where the
app went.

DMGs serve no practical purpose. They are confusing to new users, and wasted
clicks for power users.

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whughes
You should consider adding support for ripping mp3s/aac from the videos, if
it's not there already. Besides the obvious pirated music part, there are the
various amateur performances and talks which people might want to listen to
from YouTube.

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Zak
Very convenient, though I do have a feature request: make export as only audio
an option. Yes, the most common use of that may not be entirely legitimate,
but your users will want it. Trust me.

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Disparity
Yes, we're adding that feature soon. Thanks for the feedback! :)

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ivankirigin
Can it convert avchd .mts files?

I'd love it if it did. One big reason to get a Flip over other camcorders is
the ease of putting the vids online.

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jarrodtaylor
How about making the 'add to iTunes' step optional? Laptops and large video
collections just don't mix.

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aupajo
Awesome icon, did you make it yourself or get it made?

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nick007
sweet app... i'd pay money for this

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Disparity
Thanks for your valuable feedback. :P

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geuis
You need a text input in the app for pasting urls. Should be next to the Open
button. Not everyone has screen real estate to have the browser and your app
open.

In FF3, highlighting and dragging the URL doesn't work. I have to drag the
favicon.

It worked really well on a couple of test porn videos. =)

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mj1903
Thanks for your feedback! We are looking into adding a bookmarklet to make
opening URLs easier.

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psyklic
You should package it as an installer rather than a ZIP! Didn't get a chance
to try it though.

