Signal 1.2
Signal 1.2 is here! This release brings some long-awaited changes for Mac and Windows Mobile users, and performance improvements across the board. It’s available now on the downloads page and through the built-in software update.
Indexing Performance
Media library indexing performance received a lot of attention in this update and has been significantly improved. In addition to being much faster, indexing is now performed on a low-priority background thread so an automatic re-index for a large library will not impact the performance of other applications on your computer. The re-indexing triggers have also been made more intelligent so that trivial changes to the library will not trigger a re-index.
Faster Album Art
Album art is now optimized on the server for the device requesting it. This results in smaller files to transmit over the network and faster updates for all clients.
Mac: System Preference Pane
Signal has been moved from a standard application running in the dock to a background application controlled through System Preferences.
Note: Signal now requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later.
Mac: Automatic Library Updates
Mac users can now benefit from a feature that has been in the Windows version for a while - automatic media library updates. Signal will detect changes to the iTunes media library so as you add or remove songs these modifications are reflected within Signal. As soon as a change is detected the media library view is automatically refreshed, so if you happen to have the podcast view open when a new podcast finishes downloading the new entry will show up automatically.
Windows: Launch on Startup
The Windows server now has an option to start Signal automatically when Windows starts. The server application has been designed to use as few resources as possible when no clients are connected, so you can leave it running and it will be there when you need it.
Windows Mobile: Softkeys
The toolbar and menu items have been reworked as softkeys to integrate better with Windows Mobile 5 and later devices.
Note: Signal now requires Windows Mobile 2003 or later.
Windows Mobile: Smooth Library Scrolling
Windows Mobile is the first to client platform to benefit from the improved media library data transfer in Signal 1.2. Reading media library information from the server is now much faster, allowing for live scrolling of the media library on the device.
The complete list of changes is available in the release notes. Enjoy!