# MediaRip v2.0 RC1 Release Notes

## Status

MediaRip v2.0 RC1 is a release candidate for non-technical user distribution.
It packages the completed M1-M9 feature set and release audit fixes.

## Included

- Multi-source MP3 downloads through yt-dlp.
- Download history, duplicate detection, recent downloads, and live queue UI.
- Playlist downloads and playlist/channel subscriptions.
- Metadata tagging, album art embedding, and album metadata cleanup.
- Spotify link support as metadata-only search input.
- Smart search and bulk search downloads from typed song names.
- One-click yt-dlp updater button.
- Analytics dashboard based on local history.

## Distribution Notes

- Build from a clean checkout using `BUILD.md`.
- Do not bundle FFmpeg or aria2c. Users must install FFmpeg separately; aria2c
  is optional.
- If bundled yt-dlp behavior becomes stale, users can run the in-app
  `Update yt-dlp` action. For frozen builds, rebuilding with the updated
  dependency is recommended before redistribution.

## Validation Checklist

- `run_tests.bat` passed.
- Clean PyInstaller build completed from current source and produced
  `dist\MediaRip.exe`.
- Smoke checks covered:
  - YouTube URL metadata/search dry-run.
  - Spotify metadata dry-run.
  - Smart search dry-run.
  - Playlist enumeration dry-run.
  - Analytics helper against sample/local history data.
- Startup checks covered missing config and missing history DB in an isolated
  temporary home directory.

## Known Limitations

- The app does not include FFmpeg.
- Some sources can break when site markup changes; update yt-dlp first.
- Spotify is metadata-only and depends on public Spotify embed metadata plus
  yt-dlp search results.
- yt-dlp may warn that no supported JavaScript runtime is installed for some
  YouTube extraction paths. This did not fail RC1 smoke checks, but installing a
  supported runtime may improve future YouTube compatibility.
