Harman's How to Listen Software is Now Available For Download

tonmeister2008

WBF Technical Expert
Jun 20, 2010
210
6
0
Westlake Village,CA

Well, it's been some time coming, but the listener training software Harman How to Listen is finally available for free download here. This beta software is available in both Mac OSX and Windows versions.

We are pleased to offer the software packaged with four high quality music samples, courtesy of Bravura Records. The 24-bit music tracks are provided in both 96 kHz and 48 kHz formats in order to be compatible with older PC sound cards. We hope you try the software, and find that it improves your critical listening skills. This is a work in progress, and we expect to add more features and training tasks to this public version of the software over time. Enjoy!
 

RBFC

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
5,158
46
1,225
Albuquerque, NM
www.fightingconcepts.com
Sean,

This is great news. Audio has been around too long to have a schism between science and audiophilia. You and Harman should be congratulated for working to narrow the gap!

Good to see you back.

Lee
 
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Speedskater

Well-Known Member
Sep 30, 2010
941
15
368
Cleveland Ohio
Webroot is a very cautious spyware program. It often displays warning about the most trusted sites. Let's see what other spyware program's think.
 

andy_c

Well-Known Member
Sep 24, 2010
189
0
921
www.andyc.diy-audio-engineering.org
Sean,

People running Vista and Windows 7 are having problems getting the program to work.

One problem is that it prompts the user for WAV files, then apparently does a copy and rename, placing them into the "programs" subdirectory of Harman International\How To Listen. This is a no-no under Vista and Windows 7. Microsoft has protected the Program Files and Program Files (x86) directories and their subdirectories in Vista and Windows 7 so that only programs running with administrator privileges can do such writes.

The workaround I use is to create a directory under the root called something like "Old Programs", then install each such misbehaving program into its own subdirectory under that. A user-created directory such as "Old Programs" does not have the protection that Program Files and Program Files (x86) do, making it okay for a program installed under "Old Programs" to write files to its install directory or a subdirectory of that. This worked for me, and also a user on another forum who had the same problem.

This is a kluge though. The correct solution is to put these files in the user's AppData folder. When this is done, each Windows user has their own unique AppData folder assigned to them at login time, making the program's self-contained multiple-user login feature (which has the password bug as has been noted elsewhere) redundant. This solution should work under XP, Vista and Windows 7.
 

tonmeister2008

WBF Technical Expert
Jun 20, 2010
210
6
0
Westlake Village,CA
Sean,

People running Vista and Windows 7 are having problems getting the program to work.

One problem is that it prompts the user for WAV files, then apparently does a copy and rename, placing them into the "programs" subdirectory of Harman International\How To Listen. This is a no-no under Vista and Windows 7. Microsoft has protected the Program Files and Program Files (x86) directories and their subdirectories in Vista and Windows 7 so that only programs running with administrator privileges can do such writes.

The workaround I use is to create a directory under the root called something like "Old Programs", then install each such misbehaving program into its own subdirectory under that. A user-created directory such as "Old Programs" does not have the protection that Program Files and Program Files (x86) do, making it okay for a program installed under "Old Programs" to write files to its install directory or a subdirectory of that. This worked for me, and also a user on another forum who had the same problem.

This is a kluge though. The correct solution is to put these files in the user's AppData folder. When this is done, each Windows user has their own unique AppData folder assigned to them at login time, making the program's self-contained multiple-user login feature (which has the password bug as has been noted elsewhere) redundant. This solution should work under XP, Vista and Windows 7.

Thanks for your feedback. I will pass this along to the software developer. To be honest, I don't think it has been thoroughly tested on Vista and Windows 7 -- since we have only Windows XP machines (and a few Macs slipped in the back door) at work. However, this sounds like an easy fix.
 

tonmeister2008

WBF Technical Expert
Jun 20, 2010
210
6
0
Westlake Village,CA
Sean,

People running Vista and Windows 7 are having problems getting the program to work.

One problem is that it prompts the user for WAV files, then apparently does a copy and rename, placing them into the "programs" subdirectory of Harman International\How To Listen. This is a no-no under Vista and Windows 7. Microsoft has protected the Program Files and Program Files (x86) directories and their subdirectories in Vista and Windows 7 so that only programs running with administrator privileges can do such writes.

The workaround I use is to create a directory under the root called something like "Old Programs", then install each such misbehaving program into its own subdirectory under that. A user-created directory such as "Old Programs" does not have the protection that Program Files and Program Files (x86) do, making it okay for a program installed under "Old Programs" to write files to its install directory or a subdirectory of that. This worked for me, and also a user on another forum who had the same problem.

This is a kluge though. The correct solution is to put these files in the user's AppData folder. When this is done, each Windows user has their own unique AppData folder assigned to them at login time, making the program's self-contained multiple-user login feature (which has the password bug as has been noted elsewhere) redundant. This solution should work under XP, Vista and Windows 7.

We've posted an update (2.03) that fixes the Windows bug related to prompting listeners for programs that were not bundled with the software. Make sure you create a new username/password account after installing it. The issue with permissions on Windows Vista/7 will be fixed in the next build, but for now you can use the work-around of installing it in a different directory as you suggest.

To download version 2.03 visit:
http://harmanhowtolisten.blogspot.com/2011/01/welcome-to-how-to-listen.html
 

c1ferrari

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
May 15, 2010
2,162
51
1,770
Fabulous...

Serious fun, here!
 

JasonI

New Member
Dec 3, 2010
67
0
0
I've been looking forward to this release since your first blog post. Can't wait to give it a shot. Thanks for your efforts, Sean. I'd be interested to see if any of the audiophile crowd gets anything out of it.
 

Phelonious Ponk

New Member
Jun 30, 2010
8,677
23
0
I've downloaded the files and it installs "successfully" but when I try to open it I get a message about international files not being present...?

Tim
 

tonmeister2008

WBF Technical Expert
Jun 20, 2010
210
6
0
Westlake Village,CA
I've downloaded the files and it installs "successfully" but when I try to open it I get a message about international files not being present...?

Tim

Did you install version 2.03? Are the permissions set to read/write on the application folder, and the "Harman International" Application Support folder?

After installing version 2.03, you need to create a new username/password account. Otherwise, it will attempt to use a previous sessions xml file. Alternatively, you can delete the previous application support folder prior to install but it deletes previous results.

The application support folder on Mac is located in the following path: "MacIntosh HD\Library\Application Support\Harman International\

Moving forward, we are working on a method where installing a new version of the application will merge your new results with stored results from previous versions.
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
Installed on Windows 7 x64. Worked like a charm. Did a quick test until it got to 4 EQ bands. It is like a game show, starting from simple and getting harder :). How many bands does it get to Sean?

I remember playing with EQ and always being surprised at what the dials did. What we think is high or low frequency often is not.
 

Phelonious Ponk

New Member
Jun 30, 2010
8,677
23
0
Installed on Windows 7 x64. Worked like a charm. Did a quick test until it got to 4 EQ bands. It is like a game show, starting from simple and getting harder :). How many bands does it get to Sean?

I remember playing with EQ and always being surprised at what the dials did. What we think is high or low frequency often is not.

Yes, the real shocker is that almost everything is in the "middle."

Tim
 

c1ferrari

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
May 15, 2010
2,162
51
1,770
I remember playing with EQ and always being surprised at what the dials did. What we think is high or low frequency often is not.

I know...isn't this a great learning tool?! I recently acquired some tapes that were EQ'd for vinyl processing -- as I comprehend it: bass summed into mono and perhaps, modulated so it can be tracked by a cart AND highs emphasized because these are lost in the vinyl production process.

Now, I'm looking into getting a great parametric EQ -- Massenburg 8200, so I can listen to the EQ'd tapes on my home rig.
 

tonmeister2008

WBF Technical Expert
Jun 20, 2010
210
6
0
Westlake Village,CA
Installed on Windows 7 x64. Worked like a charm. Did a quick test until it got to 4 EQ bands. It is like a game show, starting from simple and getting harder :). How many bands does it get to Sean?

I remember playing with EQ and always being surprised at what the dials did. What we think is high or low frequency often is not.
I can't recall but I think it goes to at least up to 24 bands or higher.
 

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