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[crowfan]

Hi all,

I'm considering purchasing a 30GB iPod soon.  I was looking through the iPod support topic below, and was wondering whether the iPod works well with MC9.  There seem to be some issues, especially with playlists.

What I want to do is place my entire 16 GB library onto my iPod, as well as create playlists on MC9 and have them available on the iPod.  In the future, I'd like to be able to sync, downloading any new songs from the library into the iPod, as well as any new playlists.

The playlists should just be a collection of songs that exist in the library, really just a way to sort them (as opposed to downloading two copies of the songs to the iPod, one for the library and another for the playlist), correct?  

How does all this work with the iPod and MC9?  I was just curious to know before I drop 500 beans for this thing.  I love MC9 and don't want to have to use any other software (*ahem* MMJB *ahem) to sync.

Thanks in advance.

[JC]

I have a 30GB iPod and MC 9.1.199 works without any main problems right out of the box (I have WinXP pro).

WinXP sees the iPod as a drive, which is all MC needs to work with the iPod. MC works much better than MMJB although there are a few issues to work out (it appears my iPod acts a bit strange with some very minor issues).

I would not hesitate to recommend MC9.1 as the music jukebox of choice for use with the iPod. Don't even install MMJB when you get your iPod.

BTW - your interpretation of playlists is correct, they are basically "instructions" that compile already existing songs into organizational lists. Not duplicate copies of existing songs.

If you have any specific questions, you can ask here, or over at www.ipodlounge.com, they have a Media Center 9 section.

[crowfan]

Does the iPod use the MC9 tags to organize, or the ID3 tags?  I went through my library upon import and changed all the artist names, etc. to look the way I want, and it's perfect right now -- using the MC9 tags.  I don't want to have to redo it all again for the iPod.  I may be misunderstanding how the tagging works in MC9....

Thanks for all the info

crow

[SteveG]

Crow,

The information sent to the iPod is whatever is reported in MC.

Steve

[crowfan]

Thanks for the information, I think I'm gonna take the plunge......

Glad to see that I'm not gonna have to redo those artist and file names....

crow

[Kurt Young]

Out-of-the-box, with a new "third generation" iPod (the ones with the dock connector on the bottom and the backlit buttons) goes like this:

1.  put in the CD and cancel EVERYTHING that autopops.
2.  search the CD for "updater.exe" -- copy it to your desktop or wherever you'd like to store it.
3.  Plug in and run updater.exe.  Use it to "restore" your iPod.

-- see, the iPod comes out of the box formatted HFS+ for a Mac.  You MUST run this updater, which will format it FAT32 for windows.

4.  Once the restore is done, fire up MC9.  Go to the "CD, DVD, and Handhelds" section and look for a little palm-pilot style icon (ahem, Steve, ).  Click it and you may get a "you need to format your iPod" message.  Do so.

-- "formatting" with MC doesn't format the drive, like the updater does.  Rather, it just clears out the iPod_Control folder and recreates pertinant data.  You'll only have to do this once, if everything works well, and it takes just a second to do.

5.  Right-click the iPod, select synchronize, and then just put a tick in the box next to each playlist you want to appear on your iPod.

6.  After a sync, each playlist and smartlist that you sync will be on your iPod, along with (only one copy of) each song called out on these playlists.

It's remarkably fast, easy, and smooth.  Enjoy!!

[crowfan]

Kurt,

Thanks for that, it really helps.

Does the same method apply for loading the entire library?  I'd like to sync all songs, not just the ones that appear in playlists.

I'm sure this'll be painfully clear to me when I actually buy the iPod and plug it in.  Now I just have to get to the store...

Thanks

[LynnL999]

The easiest way would be to use the "All Music" smartlist. Then it will update automatically

Auto Smartlists?  Are the coolest thing ever.  You can have songs on many smartlists/playlists without having to duplicate the files!  I have "All Music" and "Pop/Rock Singles" (smartlists) and "Walking Songs" (playlist) -- some songs are on all three, but there's only one copy of the song on the iPod (or PC harddrive).

Lynn

[kwake]

All this talk of iPods is giving me the itch to upgrade from my Intel Pocket Concert Audio unit!

Can anyone tell me if they have been able to audition both units side by side and if the iPod has a similar internal amplifier sound quality? I find the Intel to be the best sounding portable music player I've ever owned - and would be hard pressed to lay down big bucks for anything inferior, even if it means 25 times the storage and the ability to sync with MC9. Sound quality is very important to me.

Any feedback greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Kwake