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The End (2007/04/26)

After 91 released versions (and a few weird versioning schemes), I have finally decided to stop all Apollo development for good. And, unlike in the past, this time I really mean it. I will not be releasing any updates anymore.

Big thanks to everyone for the great support over the past nine years!

Apollo 37zz (2007/01/18)

Download Apollo 37zz with the following fixes and improvements:

iPod shuffle Manager (2007/01/13)

Not really related to Apollo, but if you own an iPod shuffle and don't really like iTunes that much, check out my iPod shuffle Manager.

Apollo 37zy (2006/10/23)

Download Apollo 37zy with the following fixes and improvements:

Apollo 37zx (2006/06/12)

Download Apollo 37zx with the following fixes and improvements:

Remote control for Sony-Ericsson phones (2006/05/18)

If you own a Sony-Ericsson mobile phone, check out the bluetooth remote control by Volker Didier.

Apollo 37zw (2006/05/12)

Download Apollo 37zw with fixes for Windows XP repaint issues.

Apollo 37zv (2006/04/01)

Download Apollo 37zv with the following fixes and improvements:

Apollo 37zu (2006/03/19)

Download Apollo 37zu with a fix for streaming crash introduced in 37zt. I always forget to test streaming.

Apollo 37zt (2006/03/18)

Download Apollo 37zt with the following fixes and improvements:

Apollo 37zs (2006/03/15)

Download Apollo 37zs with a couple of vital fixes. Obviously, I didn't test 37zr very thoroughly...

Apollo 37zr (2006/03/14)

Download Apollo 37zr with the following fixes and improvements:

Apollo 37zq (2005/10/03)

Download Apollo 37zq with the following fixes and improvements:

Equalizer preset converter (2005/08/31)

Check out EQF2EQ by Marius Negrutiu. It's a command line utility to convert Winamp equalizer presets into Apollo equalizer preset format.

Native hotkeys plug-in for Apollo (2005/07/05)

Check out the new native hotkeys plug-in for Apollo. It supports crossfades and also provides alarm functions.

Apollo 37zp (2005/06/20)

Download Apollo 37zp with a fix to a serious deadlock problem in 37zo. Didn't test 37zo too much...

Apollo 37zo (2005/06/17)

Download Apollo 37zo with the following fixes and improvements:

Apollo 37zn (2005/05/05)

Nothing new really, just download Apollo 37zn with the following fixes and improvements:

Apollo 37zm (2005/02/10)

Download Apollo 37zm with the following fixes and improvements:

Apollo 37zl with killer sound quality (2005/01/27)

Download Apollo 37zl with a slightly better perfoming decoder. If you are interested in the compliance test results (see the 2004/11/29 news article or the FAQ section), the results for Apollo 37zl 24-bit output are RMS level 7.169×10−10 and maximum difference 1.192×10−7.

Apollo 37zk (2005/01/26)

Download Apollo 37zk with the following fixes and improvements:

Apollo 37zj (2005/01/10)

Download Apollo 37zj with the following fixes and improvements:

Apollo 37zi (2005/01/02)

Download Apollo 37zi with the following fixes and improvements:

If you are interested in the compliance test results (see the news article below), the results for Apollo 37zi 24-bit output are RMS level 5.252×10−9 and maximum difference 1.192×10−7.

Apollo 37zh and sound quality (2004/11/29)

Download Apollo 37zh with some sound quality improvements in the MPEG decoder.

The sound quality of the decoder has improved quite a lot during the last three releases. To prove this, I measured the difference of Apollo 37zh 24-bit output to the MPEG-1 audio layer 3 compliance test reference signal (ISO/IEC 11172-4). More info on the test and results for a bunch of other players (including an old version of Apollo) can be found here. The results for Apollo 37zh 24-bit output are RMS level 6.835×10−9 and maximum difference 1.192×10−7.

For comparison, the same values for the latest MAD decoder (MPEG Audio Decoder 0.15.1b) built with accuracy optimizations enabled and 24-bit output without dithering are RMS level 8.804×10−8 and maximum difference 4.768×10−7. The difference is quite obvious and favorable to Apollo: RMS level is over ten times the one produced by Apollo 37zh and the maximum difference is four times the one by Apollo (interestingly the results for MAD 0.11.4b seem to be somewhat better than for the latest one but they are still worse than Apollo's). Actually, the maximum difference of Apollo's output is the smallest possible deviation in 24-bit data, the only smaller possible value would be zero. This means that at any time, Apollo's output is either exactly the same as the reference output or differs from it by the smallest unit expressible in 24-bit data. Of course, this only goes for the provided test signal, but it should give some picture about the sound quality.

Apollo 37zg (2004/11/17)

Download Apollo 37zg with the following fixes:

WavPack plug-in (2004/10/19)

WavPack input plug-in is now available for Apollo. Check out WavPack homepage to learn more about the clever format and to download the plug-in.

Having trouble playing WAVs with Apollo 37zf? (2004/04/01)

If you downloaded Apollo 37zf yesterday, redownload and reinstall it now to get a version that plays WAV files in correct speed.

Apollo 37zf with 24-bit and 32-bit support (2004/03/31)

Download Apollo 37zf with the following fixes and changes:

Apollo 37ze (2004/03/02)

Download Apollo 37ze with the following fixes and changes:

Apollo 37zd (2004/02/16)

Download Apollo 37zd with the following fixes and changes:

Apollo 37zc (2003/10/30)

Download Apollo 37zc, which fixes a weird lock-up occuring on some systems.

Apollo 37zb (2003/10/29)

Including the common controls manifest resource in Apollo in order to provide XP look and feel proved to be a bad idea. So, if you have experienced weird GUI problems under XP, version 37zb should fix these. However, if the new style worked for you and would like to continue using it, download this file and place it in Apollo installation directory.

Download Apollo 37zb with the following fixes and changes:

Apollo 37za (2003/10/24)

Download Apollo 37za with the following fixes and changes:

Apollo 37z (2003/10/22)

Download Apollo 37z with the following fixes and changes:

Apollo 37y (2003/10/01)

Download Apollo 37y with the following fixes and changes:

Apollo 37x (2003/09/19)

Fixed an ugly GDI resource leak in the mini window. Download Apollo 37x immediately.

Another module player plug-in for Apollo (2003/09/10)

An input plug-in for module playing based on MODPlug is now available. Check it out at the plug-ins page.

Apollo 37w (2003/09/09)

Download Apollo 37w with the following fixes and changes:

Apollo 37va and BASS module plug-in (2003/08/06)

Native Apollo input plug-in for module playing is now available. Check it out at the plug-ins page.

Also download Apollo 37va with a minor fix to file size display.

Apollo 37v (2003/06/19)

Download Apollo 37v with the following fixes and changes:

Apollo 37ug (2003/05/29)

Fixed a few annoyances and added a couple of features for my own amusement. This is what's new in version 37ug:

Apollo 37uf but still busy (2003/05/15)

I'm still very busy, but I needed to fix a couple of bugs that I found very annoying. So, here's version 37uf with following fixes:

Apollo 37ud and imminent busyness (2003/03/18)

There won't be any new Apollo updates for some time. This is due to the busyness in work in the near future and to that fact that I really should start to devote time to my master's thesis. This also means that I won't be able to reply to email concerning Apollo. So don't be angry if you don't get a reply — all of the messages will be read eventually but they won't be replied.

Apollo 37ud is now available with the following fixes and additions.

About minimization and tray icon (2003/03/11)

Please note that Apollo cannot be minimized to the tray icon using the normal minimization button anymore. There is now a separate button for it in the main toolbar.

Button for tray icon minimization

Yes, I know a better place for the button would be in the title bar. But then I would have to write separate code for Win XP and older versions of Windows to retain the look and feel and I just won't do it. My suggestion is to learn to use the keyboard short cut Shift + - (the minus sign on the numeric keypad).

Apollo 37uc (2003/03/07)

If you use programs which access Apollo with standard Winamp 2.x means (like Smartie) get Apollo 37uc now. Otherwise, don't bother.

Apollo 37ub (2003/03/05)

Apollo 37ub is now available with the following fixes.

Apollo 37u (2003/03/03)

Apollo 37u is now available with the following changes and fixes.

Apollo 37ta (2003/02/20)

Fixed one fatal bug in version 37t. Get version 37ta here.

Apollo 37t (2003/02/18)

Apollo 37t is now available with the following changes and fixes.

Apollo 37sa (2003/02/07)

A couple of fixes for bugs (streaming and ID3 tag title creation) in version 37s. Get it here.

Apollo 37s with streaming (2003/02/06)

Apollo 37s is now available with the following changes and fixes.

Added a couple of FAQs (2003/01/13)

I added a couple of frequently aseked questions to the FAQ section.

Apollo 37r (2003/01/10)

Apollo 37r is now available with nothing new. Download at will.

If you use Winamp 2.x input plug-ins despite the support being experimental you might want to disable track information retrieval for all tracks (see Options dialog->Playlist) to make playlist loading faster.

Apollo 37q (2003/01/03)

Apollo 37q is now available with nothing new actually.

Apollo 37p with experimental Winamp 2.x input plug-in support (2002/12/19)

Apollo 37p is now available with the following changes and new features.

Only Winamp 2.x input plug-ins that use the output plug-in for output are supported. Furthermore, only plug-ins that can have two identical versions of itself attached to one process can be used. This unfortunately rules out the MAD decoder plug-in, though I think that a simple rebuild of the plug-in with a different compiler and linker should make it work since the behaviour is obviously not intentional.

Please note that the Winamp input plug-in support is experimental and you should use it on your own risk. There are inherent differences between the input system of Apollo and Winamp so the support is really quite a tweak. One of the consequences of the differences is that retrieving information for tracks will take quite a long with Winamp input plug-ins since they are not able to provide sufficient data without starting the playback. Thus a mock playback must be started for each track which is added to the playlist. Also the bitrate information shown on the playlist may not be correct with all plug-ins. Streaming with the Winamp's default decoder doesn't seem to work either.

Apollo 37o (2002/12/16)

Apollo 37o is now available with the following changes.

Apollo 37n (2002/12/04)

Apollo 37n is now available with the following changes.

Apollo 37m with fixed DirectSound support (2002/11/26)

Apollo 37m is now available with the following fixes.

A couple of new plug-ins (2002/11/15)

If you are interested in playing WMA files with Apollo check out the plug-ins section. Also an alternative OggVorbis plug-in is now available which supposedly has a better support for international code pages.

I am aware of a fatal bug in the DirectSound support of Apollo, which simply makes the DirectSound output unusable with newer DirectX versions. I will fix the bug in the future, but currently I don't even have a C++ compiler installed. In the meantime, stick to the Wave Mapper or just switch to another player.

Apollo 37l and a couple of FAQs (2002/08/15)

I added a few frequently aseked questions to the FAQ section.

Please stop asking me for new features. I have really ceased the development and I only fix some bugs for my own convenience!

If you still use Apollo, be sure to download version 37l. Also, the OggVorbis plug-in is now compiled with the latest SDK, so if you dig Ogg files don't forget to download it.

Apollo 37k (2002/06/12)

Fixed a bug with VBR MP3s containing ID3v2 tags. Be sure to download version 37k.

Apollo 37j (2002/06/07)

Fixed a couple of bugs. Download version 37j.

FLAC plug-in (2002/02/12)

Big thanks to Albert Vik who has kindly created a FLAC plug-in for Apollo. You can download the plug-in from the plug-ins page.

Please note that I have nothing to do with the plug-in, so don't thank or blame me.

If you are using Apollo to listen to 24 or 32 bit WAVs, be sure to download version 37i.

History repeats itself (2002/01/03)

It seems that audiogalaxy.com has abandoned me. =( But, for now on http://www.iki.fi/hy/apollo/ will always get you to the correct homepage.

If you are using Windows XP, be sure to download version 37h.

OggVorbis plug-in (2001/09/03)

Big thanks to Ihar Filipau AKA Philips who has kindly created an OggVorbis plug-in for Apollo using the Vorbis SDK. You can download the plug-in from the plug-ins page.

Please note that I have nothing to do with the plug-in, so don't thank or blame me.

Don't get too excited (2001/02/20)

I've fixed some bugs that I've found annoying myself and decided to put the fixed version into distribution. It's called Apollo 37g. Grab it from the download page, if you're interested.

Please note that this doesn't mean that I'm developing Apollo again. No way. I don't want to receive any bug reports either. Sorry. =(

Final place of rest at Audiogalaxy (2000/02/20)

Apollo homepage has moved to its final home at Audiogalaxy. Grab the new Apollo 37 (the one which does not say Anti-millennium release) while visiting, I have included one minor bug fix in it.

I'm wired and I'm tired (1999/11/21)

I'm tired of developing Apollo. The main reason for this is, that I'm very unsatisfied with the design and architecture of the code so it's a real pain to develop it any further. The only reasonable way to continue the development would be to redesign the whole system and recode it from scratch. And that I won't do. It wouldn't be worth the time it would take.

I've not yet decided whether to release the source code (partially or as whole) or not. You should know that you cannot affect the decision by sending me requests by email.

Here's Apollo 37 — Anti-millennium release (I'm pretty fed up with all this millennium hype) which will be the last Apollo as we know it. While downloading it, you might want to familiarize yourself with smoothism and hopefully try it out.

Have a merry Christmas and buy yourself some real records for Christmas (e.g. those recorded by Telarc) and sense the fine art of not ruining the audio experience by false storing and sound manipulation.

New domain (again) + Apollo 36 (1999/11/02)

It seems that I have a very bad luck with hosts. First the Helsinki University of Technology then GrooveClub.com and now MP3 2000. Luckily Cyberwiz from the MP3 Place kindly stepped in to help me.

Cyberwiz also set up a discussion board for Apollo. It is primarily meant for heavy duty Apollo users (radio stations, mp3-jockeys etc.) as a place where they can share their experiences and technical solutions.

Apollo 36 still lacks many features I would like to have included in it, but I felt I should release it anyway. So here it is:

And while downloading Apollo 36, visit the Hunger Site and donate food to the hungry people around the world. The best part is that you don't even need to pay for the food you donate.

Oh, one more thing. If you are using the Scheduler plug-in, get the latest version from the plug-ins page.

Apollo 35 released (1999/09/29)

I decided to release Apollo 35 although it doesn't include all the features and fixes I might have promised. You can read the reasons for this from the previous news article.

If you are using the Scheduler plug-in, be sure to grab the updated version from the plug-ins page. It should work better with Apollo 35.

Slowing down — again (1999/09/28)

I decided not to quit my job so now that the semester has started there is going to be a major slowdown in the development of Apollo. This also means that I cannot keep up with the pace of incoming emails concerning Apollo, so do not except a very prompt answer. No I am not stopping the development entirely, after all, I am a big Apollo user myself and suffer from the same bugs and lack of features as other users.

Apollo 35 should be released in a couple of weeks. The main improvement is that it fixes the problems with MPEG layer 2 files.

Apollo 34 released (1999/09/03)

Looks like the development is getting more serious again...

Apollo 33 released (1999/08/30)
New site, new version (1999/08/08)

It's been a looooong time since last update. The guys at GrooveClub let me down and closed the site without warning. Luckily Potential from MP3-2000 was kind enough to provide me with a new host.

I also took some time work on Apollo. Lots of bug fixes and a couple of new features. And most importantly, Apollo now includes a full documentation! Here is the usual update list:

Apollo 31 with the most annoying bugs fixed (1999/05/13)

I finally found some time to fix the most annoying bugs in Apollo. I also did a small comparison between the realtime equalizers of Apollo and Winamp. Check out the interesting results.

CD Reader plug-in for Apollo (1999/03/17)

The CDDA input plug-in by Vladimir Kopjov is now available. Go to CD Reader homepage and try it out. Now you can listen to your audio CDs with Apollo and have a full crossfade and equalizer support! With this plug-in Apollo is the only CD player for Windows to provide a realtime equalizer.

Apollo XXX - probably the last Apollo ever (1999/03/12)

Starting next week I will be spending my spare time by working at BasWare. This naturally means that I won't be developing Apollo anymore. I'll fix only the most serious bugs that I find myself, so don't bother sending bug reports. I hope Apollo doesn't wither and die, though, and pretty soon (in a few days, I presume) a CD input plug-in will be released for Apollo (by Vladimir Kopjov). I'll add it to the plug-ins page when it's ready. With it Apollo will be the first CD player for Windows to have a realtime equalizer. Nice.

So anyway, Apollo 30 doesn't really have any new features, but it fixes some bugs. Grab it, it might be the last version of Apollo you'll ever see.. I also put a simple scheduler plug-in for Apollo to the plug-ins page with which it is possible to schedule different playlists or tracks to start at a specific time (handy for radio stations).

In case someone wants to continue developing Apollo, I will be happy to sell the source code, but the price will be at least 10 000 USD, maybe 100 000 USD. Just mail me if you are interested.

Apollo 29 with comfort for Delphi developers (1999/02/26)
Apollo 28 with AAP enhancements and fixes (1999/02/16)
Apollo 27 with lots of fixes (1999/02/02)
Apollo 26 with realtime equalizer for all formats (1999/01/22)

And you thought you'd never see an equalizer in a WAV-player... If you are developing input plug-ins, please get an updated version of RAWInput.zip.

Apollo 25 with lots of new stuff (1999/01/15)

It has been a while since the last update, but after a nice and relaxing Christmas vacation I finished the stuff I promised a few weeks ago. I haven't tested it too much, so I hope it works.

Apollo 24 (1998/12/09)

Fixes in the DirectSound support and advanced playlist system. No need to download unless you use either of them.

Merry Christmas (1998/12/06)

My schedule is going to be pretty tight because of the exams, so no new releases before Christmas (unless there are some really nasty bugs in Apollo 23). After Christmas, however, I will continue to develop Apollo. Some of the upcoming features include support for Winamp visualization and digital signal processing (DSP) plug-ins. Also the decoding system will be changed to use input plug-ins. The input plug-ins, however, will not be Winamp compatible, since the Winamp-style does not allow continuous playing. In fact the Apollo input plug-in format will be somewhat simpler than Winamp's. There will be no need for the input plug-ins to communicate with the output system, start separate threads, worry about the frequency analyzer data or anything like that. Their function will solely be to provide the audio data. But enough said. Wait and see it yourself. Meanwhile, have a merry Christmas!

Apollo 23 (1998/12/06)

Just a couple of bugs in the playlist system. Nothing new. No need to download if Apollo 22 seems to work fine with you.

Apollo 22 with DirectSound support (1998/12/02)
"Be a Force for Change" (1998/12/01)

The 1998 World AIDS Day theme, Be a Force for Change, conveys to young people that their concerns, ideas and support for this year's initiative are needed and desired. The myriad of factors that enhance the connection between young people and the HIV/AIDS pandemic warrant immediate attention from individuals, organizations and communities not only in the United States but in countries around the globe. (AIDS-dot-ORG)

Check out The Body for more information on World AIDS Day 1998

Way to go Finland! (1998/11/24)

Finland has just become the first country ever to win both world championship series of FIA (Formula 1 and World Rally Championship) at the same year. Also Tommi Mäkinen became the first rally driver to win the World Rally Championship three times in a row.

I'm having a little break (a week or so) from the Apollo project so you'll have to wait a while for Apollo 22. Please don't send me bug reports about Apollo 21 reading PLS playlists incorrectly or evaluating !~ operator like ~ in AAP; I'm aware of these already. I won't be answering to the email concerning Apollo during the break either.

Apollo 21 with front end support (1998/11/21)
Apollo 20 and Apollo Advanced Playlist (1998/11/16)

Apollo 20 is released and it introduces a new playlist concept.

FAQ (1998/11/09)

I have added an FAQ section to cover the most frequently occuring issues.

Apollo 19 is here (1998/11/04)
Try disabling the oscilloscope (1998/10/31)

It seems that with some soundcard drivers (especially in Windows 9x) enabling the oscilloscope causes crash-boom-bangs or some other not-so-nice behaviour. I'll try to get this right in Apollo 19, meanwhile just disable the oscilloscope.

Apollo 18 and a new host (1998/10/28)

As you can see, Apollo has moved to a new host. Thanks a lot to Remco B. Brink for providing the host.

Also Apollo 18 is (finally) released with the following new features/changes/fixes:

Busy... (1998/10/25)

I have been pretty busy with my studies and other stuff lately so that's why Apollo 18 is still not released. It should be out sometime next week. Also the Apollo home page will probably move to a new location during next week.

Apollo 17 released (1998/10/05)

Fixed the bug that caused Apollo to crash under some Windows 95/98 systems. Thanks to Lars Härkönen for beta testing!

Apollo 16 released (1998/10/03)
Australian download site (1998/09/30)

New download sites are still welcome. Contact me if you're interested.

Apollo 15 released (1998/09/25)

Just polishing things a little.

Apollo 14 released (1998/09/23)

I haven't had time to do any big improvements, so just a couple of things fixed.

Apollo 12 released (1998/09/16)

Mainly fixes for the harsh bugs in version 11.

Apollo 11 released (1998/09/12)

Added a few features per request.

What decoder engine are you using? (1998/09/07)

That is the question people keep asking me. I added a few explanatory lines to the about page, so check it out.

Apollo 10 released (1998/09/06)
Back to the roots (1998/09/03)

Moved back to the old site. The binaries are now at Eunet Finland's server. If you are running an ftp/http server and you are interested in storing Apollo binaries or even hosting Apollo web site, please contact me.

Get it! (1998/09/02)

Apollo has received a status at WinFiles.com.

New website (1998/09/02)

I had to change web server. Helsinki University of Technology WWW server was jammed because of the traffic at Apollo pages. Hope this one can take it. Don't let the sponsor banner bother you.

Apollo 9 released (1998/09/02)
Added a links page (1998/09/01)

Apollo related links can be found at the links page.

Apollo 8 released - damn hypocrites! (1998/09/01)

This release has nothing much new but a new splash screen. US citizens found the previous one too offending because of the nudity in it.

Apollo 7 released (1998/08/27)

Lots of changes and fixes and stuff...

Apollo 6 released (1998/08/22)

The damn installer wouldn't install COMCTL32.DLL...

Apollo 5 released (1998/08/21)

Optimizations and changes in the decoder.

Apollo 4 released (1998/08/19)

Mostly optimizations in the decoder.

Apollo 3 released (1998/08/15)

The Internet streaming system wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Having said that I hope it works at least at some level. Here is a complete revision list:

Apollo 2 released (1998/08/13)

Just released the second version of Apollo. It's available at the download page. New version fixes a few bugs and has the following new features: