Topic: Palm Pilot / Memory Card Handhelds (Read 4385 times)

Folbo · « **on:** June 14, 2003, 10:26:20 am »

I have a palm pilot with an SD card. I use a card reader to access the SD card, and it shows up on my W2k system as drive G.

How do I "write" to this card, or rather a folder on this card?

I use the word "write" (or possibly 'burn'?) instead of drag and drop (which sort of works) because ...

a) all my files need converting from .ape/.mpc. The alternative is storing 2 copies of everything

b) Drag and drop ignores the audio analysis, and thus I end up with tracks of differing volumes

c) drag and drop cause MC to freeze as it cannot find a server on G:? I cannot remember the exact error, but it is as if MC cannot cope with the slow write speed of my card reader/SD card

According to the plug-in page
"Plug-ins are required for handheld devices that are
not detected by your PC as a fixed or removable drive ". Thus I presume that there is a mechanism in there somewhere.

PS. I had a look a MJ ver 5 the other day (I found an old archive)

wow! what great work you guys have done!

Many Thanks, Martin

Galley · « **Reply #1 on:** June 14, 2003, 10:39:54 am »

I guess that's one downside to using a non-standard format. All of my files are MP3's, so I can drag them to my 256MB SD card in my Plam Zire 71. Does your Palm support RealOne Player? ROP will auto-convert the files when you transfer them to RealOne Player for PalmOS. I'm not sure if it supports those filetypes, though.

Galley · « **Reply #2 on:** June 14, 2003, 06:41:45 pm »

I had been use RealOne Player to transfer my Mp3's, but used MC9.0 to do it today. I inserted my 256MB SD card into my Lexar 6-in-1 reader, and it appeared as drive J:\. I did not download a plug-in of any kind. I selected some files and there was an option to send the to J:\. Apparently MC9 is smart enough to know to put them in the \AUDIO folder. When you click on the card in the file tree, a new pane opens, showing you the songs that have been placed in the queue. When you are finished, press the upload button. Overall it worked well, and was quite fast, but the thing that I didn't care for was having to scroll through a hundred artist folders to select songs, and then having to scroll back to the bottom to see how much room I had left. ROP is much better in this aspect.

Galley · « **Reply #3 on:** June 14, 2003, 06:42:25 pm »

Oh yeah, it does give you the option of converting the files when they are transferred.

SteveG · « **Reply #4 on:** June 15, 2003, 09:09:50 am »

Folbo,

When you have your files "Queued" click on the 'Options' button to see conversion options.

Galley,

Try right clicking on your drive letter and check out the syncrhonization option. You can use this to send smartlist or playlists.

Quote

I didn't care for was having to scroll through a hundred artist folders to select songs

Can you elaborate on this. I don't follow the problem and would like to improve it if I can. If the problem is scrolling through the library for files to send, I think synchronization and smartlists are the answer.

Galley · « **Reply #5 on:** June 15, 2003, 11:22:19 am »

Quote

Folbo,

Can you elaborate on this. I don't follow the problem and would like to improve it if I can. If the problem is scrolling through the library for files to send, I think synchronization and smartlists are the answer.

RealOne Player opens a new window for you to choose files. Please view the screenshot I have uploaded to my site. In it, I have selected several songs to add to the card, (knowing that only one, "Salvation" would fit). When I clicked the AddClips button, it showed me that the other three songs would not fit. (note: this was taken on my laptop, which has only a few folders of MP3's on it).
http://www.stuffyougottahave.com/galley/images/ROPaddclips.jpg

Using SmartLists doesn't really help, because I usually just browse through the artist folders, looking for what I want. Maybe I could create a SmartList to select songs that would fill the 256MB card.
As it is now, there is no way for me to instantly tell how much room is left on the card. If I am sending songs to a portable device, I need to see the used space and the available space at all times.

Perhaps this has already been improved somewhat with version 9.1.

Galley · « **Reply #6 on:** June 15, 2003, 11:23:47 am »

OK, I tried version 9.1. I selected one file, and then sent that to drive H:\. I then clicked the handheld icon and it synchronized the file. The only problem is that it put the file in the root, not in the AUDIO folder.

I also prefer how ROP converts the filename to Artist-Track Name.mp3 during the transfer. Of course, that's not a big deal if you are using ROP for PalmOS, since it reads the ID3 tags and displays the songs as Track Name - Artist when selecting them from the list. Other players, such as Pocket Tunes or AeroPlayer, simply display the file name. I prefer the way ROP does it.

http://www.pocket-tunes.com/
http://www.aerodromesoftware.com/

SteveG · « **Reply #7 on:** June 15, 2003, 01:57:24 pm »

Galley,

If you want the files to go to the "AUDIO" foler, either drag and drop the files to that folder, or after you drop one to that folder you can right click on MC files and do "Send-To" and MC will remember that folder. I will check out your other suggestions and screen shots tomorrow when I am not on such a slow connection.

Steve

SteveG · « **Reply #8 on:** June 16, 2003, 07:17:06 am »

Galley,

Now that you have tried 9.1 hopefully your space reporting issue is resolved. The synchronization dialogue reports the available space after the transfer as you select files and the queue files reports this information as well.

In regards to the file rename issue, can you try exploring the right click on the drive letter "Rearrange Upload Folders" option. This will allow MC to create folders based on tag information on your removable drive.

Galley · « **Reply #9 on:** June 16, 2003, 08:57:55 am »

Quote

Galley,
In regards to the file rename issue, can you try exploring the right click on the drive letter "Rearrange Upload Folders" option. This will allow MC to create folders based on tag information on your removable drive.

I selected three tracks from Evanescence, and then dragged them to the H:\AUDIO folder in the file tree and they synchronized. From there I pressed the upload button. I had previously selected the "Rearrange Upload Folders" option and chose "Artist-Album". The three tracks were not transferred to the AUDIO folder, but were created in a new folder at the root level called "Evanescence-H_". It also created a sub-folder called "Fallen" (the album title). The actual files were not renamed as I would've liked them to be.

The resulting filename was
H:\Evanescence-H_\Fallen\04 - My Immortal.mp3

SteveG · « **Reply #10 on:** June 16, 2003, 11:30:10 am »

Galley,

The folder naming problem you reported was a bug and will be fixed in the next Plugin and MC version.

The request to select a folder other than the root for the subfolder creation and the option to rename files at will from the tags will be added but are not currently available.

Steve

Galley · « **Reply #11 on:** June 16, 2003, 09:21:56 pm »

Thanks for the great tech support. I will be looking forward to the new version.

SteveG · « **Reply #12 on:** June 17, 2003, 05:26:29 am »

Galley,

Plugin 9.0.29 is posted if you want to give it a go.

Steve

Galley · « **Reply #13 on:** June 17, 2003, 06:17:32 am »

Quote

Galley,

Plugin 9.0.29 is posted if you want to give it a go.

Steve

The very first time I clicked on the AUDIO folder, the ID3 tags appeared, as if I was looking at my library. After doing a synching, it only showed the filename and filepath. One reason I like it that way, is that it makes it easier to find tracks that I want to delete. I name my tracks "01 - Track Name.mp3", and since they are sorted by filename, I don't see the tracks listed by album, for instance.
I tried the "Use Filename Path" in the upload options, but then it created the files in the exact same path as they appear on my laptop, (which is the intention, I guess).

Ingo · « **Reply #14 on:** June 17, 2003, 06:31:08 am »

SteveG,

I realy start to like that plugin (using it with my Archos)... just a few thoughts:

1. the cd burner part uses album artist (auto) for artist\album which works a lot better than real artists ....
2. I like cd burner's tree interface.... any chance you could add it to the handheld plugin as well?
3. in the plugin's options dialog I can set a volume label. It allways reverts to 'Portable Drive' and seems to be ignored anyway (my Archos is labled JUKEBOX)
4. I'd like to keep my Archos accessible on C:\mount\ARCHOS instead of J:\ (due to some problems with explorer and long names....) but MC doesn't recognize it when it doesn't have its own drive letter. Any chance you could change that too?
5. please change the icon... it doesn't fit with the rest ;-) is's so boring, black and white, ....
6. didn't you add an option to use a base folder on the destination some builds ago? did you remove it again?

Ingo

Ingo · « **Reply #15 on:** June 17, 2003, 10:12:06 am »

just had another idea:

how about using yadb-track-id to make sure files that are already on the device don't get copied again.....

Ingo

(this could be an option for finding duplicates in the library as well....)

SteveG · « **Reply #16 on:** June 17, 2003, 03:06:13 pm »

Galley,

Get the latest Portable Drive Plugin (v 9.0.30) and the display of the tag information should work. The downside is, this may be slow on certain removable drive type players.

Ingo,

Quote

1. the cd burner part uses album artist (auto) for artist\album which works a lot better than real artists ....

I will fix this.

Quote

2. I like cd burner's tree interface.... any chance you could add it to the handheld plugin as well?

Which one is the one you like?

Quote

3. in the plugin's options dialog I can set a volume label. It allways reverts to 'Portable Drive' and seems to be ignored anyway (my Archos is labled JUKEBOX)

I cannot duplicate this. The Plugins options volume label is not designed to modify the volume label on the player. It is designed to allow MC to recognize a volume label other than the default (in your case JUKEBOX).

Quote

4. I'd like to keep my Archos accessible on C:\mount\ARCHOS instead of J:\ (due to some problems with explorer and long names....) but MC doesn't recognize it when it doesn't have its own drive letter. Any chance you could change that too?

This is not possible without some larger changes.

Quote

5. please change the icon... it doesn't fit with the rest is's so boring, black and white, ....

OK

Quote

6. didn't you add an option to use a base folder on the destination some builds ago? did you remove it again?

No, this still needs to be added.

Ingo · « **Reply #17 on:** June 17, 2003, 03:37:55 pm »

Hi SteveG,

1: (album artist) thanks
2: (cdburner's tree interface....)
there's more than one? only found one.... it
- shows the structure int the tree pane
- allows to manually rearange stuff
- allows to rename folders
- handheld path (in list pane) doesn't show destination path, just J:\
can't do that with handheld as the structure isn't shown...

3: it reverts to the default whenever I install a new version... and even if I don't change it, the plugin still recognizes my archos, so do we still need that option?

4: (mounting jukebox to C:\mount\jukebox)
ok... I guessed that.... and I can live with it...

5,6: great ;-)

and a new one:
7. after uploading MC (the plugin?) seems to keep a hand on the last folder. This keeps winXP from 'ejecting' the drive until MC is closed....

Ingo

SteveG · « **Reply #18 on:** June 18, 2003, 09:00:40 am »

Ingo,

Quote

2: (cdburner's tree interface....)

You are referring to the tree when burning a data CD. This can be added but will be a while, it is pretty complicated.

Quote

3: it reverts to the default whenever I install a new version... and even if I don't change it, the plugin still recognizes my archos, so do we still need that option?

The new version behavior is expected. Since your Archos has a volume label that is anticipated by MC, your setting does not matter.

Quote

7. after uploading MC (the plugin?) seems to keep a hand on the last folder. This keeps winXP from 'ejecting' the drive until MC is closed....

After uploading MC refreshes the tree and sets the focus to the Portable Drive. I think this is how it should work.

SteveG · « **Reply #19 on:** June 18, 2003, 02:05:29 pm »

Quote

the cd burner part uses album artist (auto) for artist\album which works a lot better than real artists ....

This is added in build 9.1.202 of MC.

Ingo · « **Reply #20 on:** June 19, 2003, 01:28:07 am »

Thanks for explanations and bug fixes....
Looking forward to the tree interface (no problem to wait a while)....

Ingo

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Author Topic: Palm Pilot / Memory Card Handhelds (Read 4385 times)