Topic: IPOD SUPPORT (Read 45728 times)

SteveG · « **on:** May 21, 2003, 05:32:11 am »

Hello All,

For anyone who is new to MC, please be sure to get the latest version.

If you want to read an excellent help file (thanks Adam) on using MC and iPod please go to....

http://www.home.earthlink.net/~ashawley01/

For additional information, please check the previous help thread at...

http://www.musicex.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=MediaCenter;action=display;num=1051037810

For any issues not covered, please post below and someone will respond ASAP.

Thanks,

Steve (JRiver)

mcphzgig · « **Reply #1 on:** May 21, 2003, 06:13:12 am »

I can successfully upload MP3s from MC 9.0.174 to my 20Gb iPod from my Laptop (1.2GHz Pentium III, plus 1394 PCMCIA adaptor). Windows XP Pro.

However, no success uploading from my main home computer (profile below) through Creative Audigy Platinum built-in Firewire ports. Firewire ports have Creative-supplied Unibrain Firenet drivers loaded.

Upload appears to proceed (albeit slowly), then completes with an MC error message indicating failure for all files with error code 23.

Following this failure, iPod has lost track of all files previously uploaded (from Laptop), although they still appear to occupy iPod space. Only remedy is to reformat.

What does error code 23 mean, and how can I overcome the problem? (all my 1000's of mp3s actually live on the main computer, not the laptop!)

System info:

Media Center Registered 9.0.174 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Jukebox\

Microsoft Windows XP Workstation 5.1 (Build 2600)
AMD Athlon 1210 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 523 MB, Free - 261 MB

Internet Explorer: 6.0.2600.0000 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82 (xpclient.010817-1148) / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2600.0000 (xpclient.010817-1148) / Shell32.dll: 6.00.2600.0000 (xpclient.010817-1148) / wnaspi32.dll: Internal ASPI Layer

Ripping / Drive D: Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer CD Type:Auto Read speed:Max
Drive E: Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer CD Type:IDE Read speed:Max
Digital playback: Yes / Use YADB: Yes / Get cover art: Yes / Calc replay gain: No / Copy volume: 32767
Eject after ripping: Yes / Play sound after ripping: No

Burning / Drive E: IOMEGA CDRW9600INT-B Addr: 1:0:0 Speed:24 MaxSpeed:24 Use MJ Engine:Yes
Test mode: No / Eject after writing: Yes / Direct decoding: Yes / Write CD-Text: Yes
Use playback settings: No / Normalization: None

JorgeGVB · « **Reply #2 on:** May 21, 2003, 06:47:42 am »

From the previous support thread from SteveG....

My best guess is that there may be a problem with the file paths for those files. You can confirm this by trying to play those files from within MC. If there is a problem, the files will not play.

Steve,

You were correct. Apparently, when I tried to incorrectly upload the file to my iPOD the computer just concidered it another hard drive. So the path name was changed to another drive letter within MC. I just needed to reimport them into MC to resolve the issue.

Thanks again,
Jorge

Phil Lee · « **Reply #3 on:** May 21, 2003, 06:59:51 am »

Quote

However, no success uploading from my main home computer (profile below) through Creative Audigy Platinum built-in Firewire ports. Firewire ports have Creative-supplied Unibrain Firenet drivers loaded.

There are loads of people who have had problems uploading to their iPods using the Audigy firewire port. Most people ended up buying an additional firewire card as the only way to resolve their problems. I believe a possible solution is to disable networking via the firewire port on the Audigy. The simple fact is though that iPods don't get on well with Audigys.

sirshambling · « **Reply #4 on:** May 21, 2003, 08:33:23 am »

Steve,

Just a quick note to say that my Ipod is working extremely well now - the link with MC9 seems to be very secure.

Thanks for all your work and help.

John

SteveG · « **Reply #5 on:** May 21, 2003, 09:26:46 am »

mcphzgig,

Phil's advice is on the money (thanks Phil). Error code 23 is a generic Windows error which means.. "Data error (cyclic redundancy check). "

John,

Thanks.

willrmc · « **Reply #6 on:** May 21, 2003, 05:23:55 pm »

steve, i've been having some problems for some time now. it seems that certain albums (they always begin with a) have a problem duplicating themselves and being all out of order. for instance if you go to albums in ipod, "abbey road", "a rush of blood to the head", and "Ágaetis Byrjun" appear on the list twice. if you select one of the albums the songs are usually out of order. however each time i sync, different albums (although they always start with "a") will be affected. for instance, sometimes "a rush of blood to the head" appears on there 3 times. then the next time i sync it will be fine. i was also having a problem with "a hard days night" but i renamed it to just be "hard day's night" and it works fine now.
I have reformatted my ipod multiple times and have deleted the albums from my library and reimported them and even deleted and reripped them. still nothing. this has been happening for me for at least a month but i never bothered reporting it. i will send you my itunes database file and maybe that will help. such a weird problem. has anyone else encountered this? try checking on your ipod, you might just not have noticed it yet. hopefully we can figure this out. and i know if anyone can its you steve.

thanks in advance.
-

SteveG · « **Reply #7 on:** May 22, 2003, 07:19:48 am »

willrmc,

I cannot duplicate this. Can anyone else? If no one else can, I will presume the Plugin does not have a bug and I can try to make some suggestions on how you may be seeing the results you are getting.

Steve

JorgeGVB · « **Reply #8 on:** May 22, 2003, 12:52:21 pm »

Quote

There are loads of people who have had problems uploading to their iPods using the Audigy firewire port. Most people ended up buying an additional firewire card as the only way to resolve their problems. I believe a possible solution is to disable networking via the firewire port on the Audigy. The simple fact is though that iPods don't get on well with Audigys.

I have an Audigy 2 and the firewire port works fine with my iPod.

Kurt Young · « **Reply #9 on:** May 22, 2003, 02:07:18 pm »

Quote

I have an Audigy 2 and the firewire port works fine with my iPod.

Aye, in the past year or so of being an iPodder, I've seen about a 50% success rate with Audigy cards. Some work, some don't, and there doesn't seem to be a pattern.

mcphzgig · « **Reply #10 on:** May 22, 2003, 02:14:25 pm »

My 20Gb iPod only seems to retain the Composer list from the most recent upload.

E.G. If I upload in two batches, then the Composers from the first batch no longer display when Browsing by Composer.

Is this how the iPod works, or an MC issue?

sub-24 · « **Reply #11 on:** May 23, 2003, 06:53:22 am »

Just got me new ipod and it is all working perfectly with MC.

Only thing i have noticed is that most of my music files are either MP3 - 320 or .ape

I have set it to convert everything to mp3 - 192 which seems ot work perfectly.

Only thing is out of about 300 files done so far it is leaving about 10% of them in my temp directory either as file.mp3.xxxxx or as file.wav

Shouldnt these be deleted automatically.

Also- anyone got a recomnedation for better headphones.

JimH · « **Reply #12 on:** May 23, 2003, 07:19:44 am »

Are some of your files read only?

sub-24 · « **Reply #13 on:** May 23, 2003, 07:35:16 am »

Just checked about 10 examples.

None are read only.

Actually ive just noticed that all the .XXXX files are 0bytes in size.

Its not a major prob as i just delete them when i'm done.

How about the Headphones then.

Phil Lee · « **Reply #14 on:** May 23, 2003, 07:55:32 am »

This isn't a problem with MC9 but it may shed some light on why songs get cut off on the iPod.

Yesterday I decided to re-rip my favourite CD's using LAME 3.90.2 as an external decoder. I ripped one CD whilst at work using MC9 but couldn't synch the files to my iPod since it synchs with my home PC. Instead I got clever, a little too clever as it happens.

I looked at my iPod folder using MC9 to see which folders the 10 tracks from the CD were in on the iPod and what they were called, for example F01/681.mp3. I then created the same file/folder structure on my PC with the newly ripped files and copied them to the iPod manually, overwriting the original versions of the files.

The new MP3's are ripped with --alt-preset standard which resulted in a higher average bitrate than the original ones. The tracks are still listed on the iPod correctly since they have the same names, locations etc as the original ones. The only change is in the bitrate.

When I play them on the iPod the last 20-30 seconds are cut off. When I look at the iPod in MC9 the bitrates are lower than the bitrates for the files in the MC9 library. Obviously MC9 must tell the iPod the bitrate of the files during the synch, even when they are variable bitrate files, and if there is a discrepancy, the iPod can't play the entire length of the track.

Maybe people who are getting their files cut off should have a look at the bitrates displayed on their iPod and for the original files to see if they are the same. If the bitrates on the iPod are lower the songs will get cut off.

SteveG · « **Reply #15 on:** May 23, 2003, 12:00:33 pm »

Everyone,

There is a new Plugin posted (v 9.0.20). Do not get it unless you read this.

I made some changes in the way MC and the Plugin communicate and I think the transition will be seamless. But to be extra safe, here is the deal. MC 9.0.177 includes the necessary changes to run with the new Plugin. It should continue to be compatible with older plugins. The new Plugin, once installed, will not work with older versions of MC (pre 9.0.177). The new plugin is not automatically installed with MC although I will change this next week if there are no problems.

The new plugin (with MC 9.0.177) will resolve any crashing issues involving tag info that included semicolons. There should also be an increase in speed of data reporting and uploading. Finally, the feature of skipping conversion (transcoding) of files that already exist on iPod is now enabled (by default).

The ability to report space info for synching will grow out of these changes.

mikeh,

The new plugin should resolve the issue of 0 byte files you mentioned

Phil,

Thanks for your detective work. I cannot duplicate your results. Even if I set the iTunesDB bitrate to 0, I do not have a problem with files being cut off.

mcphzgig,

I cannot duplicate what you are seeing. Can anyone else? If so, please give me additional instructions.

Everyone,

Have a good weekend, I am off to fire up the grill.

Steve

bspachman · « **Reply #16 on:** May 24, 2003, 07:55:53 am »

I hate to post on a weekend--well, a weekend for most of you (darned entertainment industry...), but I've stumbled on a bug and am trying to pin down if it's an MC issue or an iPod software issue.

The newest generation of the iPod includes a feature called "On-the-Go" playlists. It's supposed to serve as a song queue, where you can be playing tunes and add additional ones to the end of the queue.

Now, there are documented problems on other discussion boards about how the feature doesn't work as it ought. Most notably, while actively playing from the OTG Playlist, songs added to it are recognized, but not played when the original songs run out.

However, my problem is with the song order. I'm usually an album listener, so I like to pick a few albums and add them to the OTG playlist. The problem is that the track order is messed up. Sometimes only a couple of tracks are inverted, but other times, the entire album is in a random order.

I've made sure that shuffle mode and repeat modes are turned off on the iPod--it doesn't make a difference. My 2 guesses are:

1) MC9 is messing with the track order somehow when copying songs to the iPod, so I'm actually getting some kind of "internal DB order" instead of "track number order" with this feature.

2) Apple has something else wrong with this feature...

Any ideas?
Brad

SteveG · « **Reply #17 on:** May 24, 2003, 11:52:53 am »

Brad,

I do not have the iPod with me to test this. Perhaps someone else can try to verify what you are reporting and if they can see it, I will get on it next week if not before.

Steve

Skeet · « **Reply #18 on:** May 24, 2003, 12:09:38 pm »

I'm having a nightmare.

I've been so looking forward to getting my Ipod, and I can't get it to work at all. Any help would be much appreciated. I've been following the help file at the beginning of this link. I'll talk you through my problem (day).

1. I have MC 9.0.174 running on Windows XP. I've been using MJ for years have about 40gb of music and am quite familiar with it.

2. I've got a brand new 30 Gb Ipod, one of the new models. Obviously I don't want to use MusicMatch so have skipped the installation of it as recommended by apple.

3. My firewire card does not charge the Ipod. I understand that this is the case with some cards, and I can live with it until I get a new one.

4. Following the guide, I've connected the ipod through the cradle to the PC, it shows up as drive G in windows. The guide says to rename the drive IPOD. When I attempted to do this, it said I couldn't rename the drive until it was formatted, so I accepted the option to format. 30 minutes later, it says the format is complete. For good measure I do a reboot.

5. The guide says I have to then format the Ipod for MC from within MC. I don't have the option to do this from a right click, though I do have the option to synchronise files.

6. ALL this time, the ipod is displaying "do not disconnect"

7. So I line up a small playist of 20 tunes to sychronise, and set it off. MC displays the files as they're going through. It all looks good.

8. MC completes it's synchronisation. The Ipod is still displaying "do not disconnect", and isn't responding to any pressing of buttons. I seem to be able to explore the Ipod from MC and view the playlist.

9. Ignoring the Ipods "do not disconnect" message, I pull it out of it's cradle. It then displays "OK to disconnect" with a big tick. But still none of the buttons work. I can't even turn the thing off.

I walked 4 miles this morning to get this. I've spent a weeks wages. And I'm very frustrated. Please help before it flies out the window.

JimH · « **Reply #19 on:** May 24, 2003, 12:48:19 pm »

Did you find Adam's help file? Link is in the first message of this thread.

"Do not disconnect" is normal when the iPod is connected. It should be ejected with a right click on the iPod drive in MC.

You may be looking at the drive under "My Computer" in MC. That won't work. Find it in the MC tree with "CD, DVD, and Handhelds". Click on the + to open this section.

Format it with a right click from the same place.

If that doesn't work, try connecting directly to the PC, without a cradle.

If that doesn't work, reinstall the iPod software from the disk that came with it. When it starts to install Musicmatch, cancel.

Then try the format.

Also, once you have selected the files, click on the drive under "CD, DVD, and Handhelds" and then press "upload". You should see your files "queued" just before you do this.

Endymion · « **Reply #20 on:** May 24, 2003, 01:04:40 pm »

Skeet,
Step 9 of your procedure killed you.

Here's how to recover
1) Flip the switch at the top of the IPOD to the locked position and then back to the unlocked position. Then press both the menu and play buttons and hold them until the IPOD reboots. You should be good to go unless the drive got messed up when you disconnected.

2) When you need to remove something in Windows XP, you have to use the safely remove hardware icon that you will find on the right side of your task bar. It looks like a little green arrow over a rectangle representing a removable drive. Double click on that icon to bring up the dialog window, select the apple computer ipod and then click the stop button. When windows reports that it is safe to remove and the IPOD screen stops saying do not disconnect then you can remove the IPOD.

If you have corrupted the drive, reformat again.

Endymion · « **Reply #21 on:** May 24, 2003, 02:44:37 pm »

Where can I find the new plugin (v 9.0.20)? I went to the plugin download page and only saw .19 listed. I downloaded it anyway and the plug in manager says its .19. I did clear my browser cache before downloading.

Thanks,
John

mcphzgig · « **Reply #22 on:** May 25, 2003, 03:15:29 am »

Quote

There are loads of people who have had problems uploading to their iPods using the Audigy firewire port. Most people ended up buying an additional firewire card as the only way to resolve their problems. I believe a possible solution is to disable networking via the firewire port on the Audigy. The simple fact is though that iPods don't get on well with Audigys.

Bought the additional Firewire card, installed it and connected the iPod through it. PROBLEM IS that the uploading performance is exactly the same - poor.

Lost approx. 600 VBR mp3s out of 2200 in the first upload attempt. Faulty transfer is about 80% repeatable on the tracks that have a problem. BUT one time in five, I will get a previously faulty track through on its own.

Error code is generally 23. Individual tracks seem to abort part way through their own upload.

I followed the instruction manual for removing the Audigy-supplied networking driver and they have gone - most of the time. Makes no difference.

Is there any link or links available to a list of other Audigy sufferers? Although the evidence doesn't point so strongly to the Audigy IEEE 1394 ports, now that it is duplicated using third-party PCI ports.

Anyone have any ideas on how to 'cleanse' the Windows XP IEEE 1394 drivers, without having to reinstall Windows?

sirshambling · « **Reply #23 on:** May 25, 2003, 09:47:39 am »

quote author=SteveG

There is a new Plugin posted (v 9.0.20). Do not get it unless you read this.

Steve,

Can't find this on the usual download page.

Have you hidden it somewhere else?

John

ashawley · « **Reply #24 on:** May 25, 2003, 10:35:24 am »

Quote

Bought the additional Firewire card, installed it and connected the iPod through it. PROBLEM IS that the uploading performance is exactly the same - poor.

Lost approx. 600 VBR mp3s out of 2200 in the first upload attempt. Faulty transfer is about 80% repeatable on the tracks that have a problem. BUT one time in five, I will get a previously faulty track through on its own.

Error code is generally 23. Individual tracks seem to abort part way through their own upload.

I followed the instruction manual for removing the Audigy-supplied networking driver and they have gone - most of the time. Makes no difference.

Is there any link or links available to a list of other Audigy sufferers? Although the evidence doesn't point so strongly to the Audigy IEEE 1394 ports, now that it is duplicated using third-party PCI ports.

Anyone have any ideas on how to 'cleanse' the Windows XP IEEE 1394 drivers, without having to reinstall Windows?

Open up device manager (right click My Computer>Properties, then click the Hardware tab). On the Hardware tab will be Device Manager.

Then, delete the iPod drive (under disk drives) and the delete the firewire cards (under 1394 Host Controllers). To delete them, right-click and select "Uninstall".

Then do a reboot. Windows will install any needed drivers.

I'd stick w/the new card, although it might be the even the new card doesn't work w/the iPod.

Cards that I recommend....

Adaptec 4300 (the cadillac of cards)
Orangelink cards from OrangeMicro
Belkin cards (not the ones from Apple
Usually any cheap VIA chipset-based card will work.

Good luck....

Adam

Philippe · « **Reply #25 on:** May 26, 2003, 12:16:56 am »

Hi,

I switched last week from 88 to 176, then 177. With 177, MC does not seem to see my iPod anymore : when clicking on the E spot, I get an empty error box, then often MC would crash. However the E drive structure is visible in explorer, and BTW the iPod works fine...

Any idea? The iPod plugin installed with MC 177 is (still?) 9.0.19.

Thanks,

- Philippe

Media Center Registered 9.0.177 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Jukebox\

Microsoft Windows 2000 Workstation 5.0 Service Pack 3 (Build 2195)
Intel Pentium III 365 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 327 MB, Free - 114 MB

Internet Explorer: 5.50.4807.2300 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.81 / Shlwapi.dll: 5.50.4807.2300 / Shell32.dll: 5.00.3502.5436 / wnaspi32.dll: Internal ASPI Layer

Ripping / Drive G: Copy mode:ModeSecure CD Type:Auto Read speed:Max
Digital playback: Yes / Use YADB: Yes / Get cover art: No / Calc replay gain: No / Copy volume: 32767
Eject after ripping: Yes / Play sound after ripping: No

Burning / No burners found.
Test mode: No / Eject after writing: Yes / Direct decoding: Yes / Write CD-Text: No
Use playback settings: No / Normalization: None

JimH · « **Reply #26 on:** May 26, 2003, 04:15:49 am »

Try updating the plug-in.

Philippe · « **Reply #27 on:** May 26, 2003, 04:48:47 am »

Jim,

I'd tried that before reporting the issue but the latest plugin published seems to be 9.0.19 (May 15).

I have re-installed 176 but it didn't work.

Thanks for standing behind your products even on holiday

- Philippe

Skeet · « **Reply #28 on:** May 26, 2003, 05:29:40 am »

Thanks Jim, I finally got it going. I think it was down to a number of problems. I think I was following Adams instructions TOO precisely, as I hadn't installed the Ipod manager software.
Installing this helped, as you might imagine.

Also because the Ipod was not charging on the firewire. It never had enough battery life to last the initial 25 Gb sync, so was dieing and corrupting the disk or something. So I synced in batches, doing a full charge in between.

Thanks for your help. It took a day to sort out, but I'm happy now!

SteveG · « **Reply #29 on:** May 26, 2003, 10:08:45 am »

Phillipe,

There is probably a flaw with the iTunesDatabase.
Try running the iPod updater and then reformat the iPod from within MC.

Everyone,

In regards to Plugin 9.0.20, there must be a problem with the weblink. For now, just use 9.0.19 and I will check it out tomorrow.

Endymion · « **Reply #30 on:** May 26, 2003, 11:59:26 am »

I'm seeing the same problem as Philippe with .177 and .19. The IPOD and MC get in a state such that if I try to start MC with IPOD already attached, MC will crash immediately. If I have MC up first and plug in the IPOD, MC will crash as soon as I open the handhelds section. If I use the updater to restore IPOD then reformat with MC, I can get it working again and download songs but after a couple sessions, we're back to the crash mode. I'm always using the safely remove hardware feature to remove the IPOD and confirming that both XP and the IPOD are happy before physically disconnecting the cable.

This didn't happen before I moved to .177.

Another piece of info: If I use the IPOD updater to restore after a MC crash, it will do the restore but complain at the end that it couldn't unmount the IPOD. If I do the restore after rebooting, I don't have that problem. It seems like something in .177 is not properly finishing a transaction and causing the database to get corrupted.

I have not been able to figure out a way to get out of the bad state without using the updater to restore.

John

Media Center Registered 9.0.177 -- D:\Program Files\J River\Media Jukebox\

Microsoft Windows XP Workstation 5.1 Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
Intel Pentium 4 1593 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 523 MB, Free - 246 MB

Internet Explorer: 6.0.2800.1106 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2800.1106 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shell32.dll: 6.00.2800.1145 (xpsp2.021108-1929) / wnaspi32.dll: Internal ASPI Layer

Ripping / Drive E: Copy mode:ModeSecure CD Type:Auto Read speed:Max
Drive I: Copy mode:ModeSecure CD Type:Auto Read speed:Max
Digital playback: Yes / Use YADB: Yes / Get cover art: Yes / Calc replay gain: No / Copy volume: 32767
Eject after ripping: Yes / Play sound after ripping: Yes Soundfile: D:\WINDOWS\Media\chord.wav

Burning / Drive E: HP DVD Writer 200j Addr: 3:1:0 Speed:12 MaxSpeed:12 Use MJ Engine:Yes
Drive I: CD-R/RW RW7060S Addr: 1:3:0 Speed:6 MaxSpeed:6 Use MJ Engine:Yes
Test mode: No / Eject after writing: Yes / Direct decoding: Yes / Write CD-Text: No
Use playback settings: No / Normalization: None

mindracing · « **Reply #31 on:** May 26, 2003, 06:44:43 pm »

I'm not experiencing this problem. I do notice, however, that when using eject device from within MC the iPOD is ejected (shows safe to disconnect message on iPOD) but Windows XP Safely Remove Hardware utility shows it as still connected.

30GiPOD
Media Center Registered 9.0.177 -- C:\Program Files\Media Center\

Microsoft Windows XP Workstation 5.1 Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
Intel Unknown 178 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 383 MB, Free - 141 MB

Internet Explorer: 6.0.2800.1106 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2800.1106 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shell32.dll: 6.00.2800.1145 (xpsp2.021108-1929) / wnaspi32.dll: N/A
Ripping / Drive D: Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer CD Type:Auto Read speed:Max
Digital playback: Yes / Use YADB: Yes / Get cover art: No / Calc replay gain: Yes / Copy volume: 32767
Eject after ripping: No / Play sound after ripping: No

Burning / Drive D: TOSHIBA CDRW/DVD SDR2102 Addr: 1:0:0 Speed:8 MaxSpeed:8 Use MJ Engine:Yes
Test mode: No / Eject after writing: Yes / Direct decoding: Yes / Write CD-Text: No
Use playback settings: No / Normalization: None

snooden · « **Reply #32 on:** May 26, 2003, 09:16:01 pm »

I was successfully using an older beta version of MC9 and the Ipod pluggin for several syncs. Having now updated my software to the latest version of both MC9 (9.0.175) and the IPOD pluggin (9.0.19), MC crashes when I click on the IPOD in MC. (I get a blank warning sign with H. in the title bar). Windows then asks to send an error report. I have tried connecting the IPOD before and after I boot up MC 9, to no avail. Any thoughts?

System Info:

Microsoft Windows XP Workstation 5.1 Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
Intel Pentium 4 2532 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 523 MB, Free - 266 MB

Internet Explorer: 6.0.2800.1106 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2800.1106 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shell32.dll: 6.00.2800.1145 (xpsp2.021108-1929) / wnaspi32.dll: Internal ASPI Layer

Ripping / Drive E: Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer CD Type:Auto Read speed:Max
Drive F: Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer CD Type:Auto Read speed:Max
Digital playback: Yes / Use YADB: Yes / Get cover art: No / Calc replay gain: No / Copy volume: 32767
Eject after ripping: No / Play sound after ripping: No

Burning / Drive E: HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GMA-4020B Addr: 1:0:0 Speed:12 MaxSpeed:12 Use MJ Engine:Yes
Drive F: LITE-ON LTR-48246S Addr: 1:1:0 Speed:48 MaxSpeed:48 Use MJ Engine:Yes
Test mode: No / Eject after writing: Yes / Direct decoding: No / Write CD-Text: No
Use playback settings: No / Normalization: None

SteveG · « **Reply #33 on:** May 27, 2003, 05:29:18 am »

Everyone,

Sorry for the plugin link problem. Plugin 9.0.20 is now available. Do not get it unless you read this.

I made some changes in the way MC and the Plugin communicate and I think the transition will be seamless. But to be extra safe, here is the deal. MC 9.0.177 includes the necessary changes to run with the new Plugin. It should continue to be compatible with older plugins. The new Plugin, once installed, will not work with older versions of MC (pre 9.0.177). The new plugin is not automatically installed with MC although I will change this next week if there are no problems.

The new plugin (with MC 9.0.177) will resolve any crashing issues involving tag info that included semicolons. There should also be an increase in speed of data reporting and uploading. Finally, the feature of skipping conversion (transcoding) of files that already exist on iPod is now enabled (by default).

The ability to report space info for synching will grow out of these changes.

Endymion,

Quote

If I have MC up first and plug in the IPOD, MC will crash as soon as I open the handhelds section.

This really points to a hardware problem not related to the plugin. Also, the constant database corruption would support this theory. Do you have MusicMatch installed? If sp, it could be trying to grab hold of the iPod and causing problems.

Snooden,

Try running iPod updater and then reconnect your iPod. Right click on the iPod drive letter and select "Format".

Mindracing,

I see this too. Disconnecting seems to work fine even though "Safely Remove Hardware" is not updated to reflect the iPod removal.

rikM · « **Reply #34 on:** May 27, 2003, 11:08:42 am »

As a complete new entrant to the MC9 / ipod scene, can I say a huge well-done and thankyou to you Steve, and the other clever folks who developed the ipod plugin.

I've had MC9 for a couple of weeks - already realised it as a huge advance over anything other digital music programs I've tried for PC - I used MMJB for the last year, and the power-up from using MC9 is incredible. Like going from a kid to an adult. I've got about 30Gb of music now, and other programs just don't seem to be able to handle it!

As for the ipod plugin - genius. I've used MMJB with my mate's ipod 2, and it never really seemed satisfactory. I've had my ipod 3 30Gb for 5 days - done about 15 syncs and every one has worked perfectly, with much better speed than MMJB, and much more control.

Thanks again for all your hard work

rikM · « **Reply #35 on:** May 27, 2003, 11:11:13 am »

PS - what's going to happen when iTunes for Windows is released then? Are you guys prepaing for the battle?! ?

SteveG · « **Reply #36 on:** May 27, 2003, 11:28:30 am »

rikM,

Thanks for the comments, that is always nice to hear. In regards to iTunes for Windows, we will fight that battle if and when it comes.

Steve

Kurt Young · « **Reply #37 on:** May 27, 2003, 12:02:37 pm »

Quote

PS - what's going to happen when iTunes for Windows is released then? Are you guys prepaing for the battle?! ?

Bah!! Let the battle come!

I've used iTunes. It's a very nice program. It operates primarily on the K.I.S.S. principle (Keep It Simple, Stupid). You can rip your music, play it, tag it, and make playlists/smartlists with it. That's about it.

No TV tuner. No HTPC front-end. No playback of video files. No advanced tagging or custom fields. Limited smartlist criteria. No customizable view schemes (you browse ONLY by Genre, Artist, or Album).

I anticipate the arrival of WinnieTunes with much enthusiasm. I forsee a domino effect that works a bit like this:

1. WinnieTunes is released. It is compatible with Windows iPods in the same manner that regular iTunes is compatible with Mac iPods.

2. Thus, Apple re-enables all of the things that they've disabled on WinniePods (sound check, playcounts, last played date, on-the-fly ratings).

3. Steve builds the newly-enabled features into MC with the quickness.

4. MC is still more robust and full-featured than WinnieTunes and has perfect iPod support.

WinnieTunes will definitely be a boon for "normal" users. An iPod out of the box with WinnieTunes is better than one with Musicmatch Jukebox. But for power users or users that want more than a "barebones" program like iTunes offers, MC will still be the hero of the bunch.

Heh. Bring it on.

SteveG · « **Reply #38 on:** May 27, 2003, 01:28:13 pm »

Everyone,

This afternoon there will be a new build of MC (9.0.178 ). There is also a new Plugin posted but not included in the build (9.0.21).

Do not get it unless you read this.

I made some changes in the way MC and the Plugin communicate and I think the transition will be seamless. But to be extra safe, here is the deal. MC 9.0.178 includes the necessary changes to run with the new Plugin. It should continue to be compatible with older plugins. The new Plugin, once installed, will not work with older versions of MC (pre 9.0.178). The new plugin is not automatically installed with MC although I will change this soon if there are no problems.

The new features include an available space report on the synchronization dialogue. The available space you see should reflect the files from the selected playlists when added to the iPod and takes into account skipping files that already exist on the iPod. It does not reflect size after conversion but can be modified to do so in the future. Please check it out and let me know if it looks about right.

Kurt,

As always, thanks for the encouragement.

Steve

ashawley · « **Reply #39 on:** May 27, 2003, 03:59:49 pm »

Quote

rikM,

Thanks for the comments, that is always nice to hear. In regards to iTunes for Windows, we will fight that battle if and when it comes.

Steve

You'll win the battle and the war! Kurt is right-on with his comments...

adam

dougf · « **Reply #40 on:** May 27, 2003, 06:35:42 pm »

Steve-
Been a loyal MJ user for quite some time; just downloaded v9 when I bought an IPOD. Great program!

My prob: I set up the IPOD in MC just as requested in these postings. Hooked it up, worked great - loaded 1000 songs in 15 min. However, I added a bunch more songs to MC via CD burn; I went to upload these new ones to the IPOD and my MJ bombed w/no specific error. Multiple computer restarts did not resolve prob. I uninstalled MC and reinstalled. Now MC doesn't bomb, but I can not load more songs to my IPOD. I get a random error box with no text, just a big red circle with white x in it. Seems to recognize the pod, but can't upload.

Any ideas?

Media Center 9.0.175 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\

Microsoft Windows 2000 5.0 Service Pack 2 (Build 2195)
Intel Pentium III 929 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 260 MB, Free - 96 MB

Internet Explorer: 5.50.4522.1800 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.81 / Shlwapi.dll: 5.50.4522.1800 / Shell32.dll: 5.00.3315.2902 / wnaspi32.dll: 4.71 (0001) , ASPI for Win32 (95/NT) DLL, Copyright © 1989-2002 Adaptec, Inc. / Aspi32.sys: 4.71 (0001)

Ripping / Drive D: Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer CD Type:Auto Read speed:Max
Digital playback: Yes / Use YADB: Yes / Get cover art: No / Calc replay gain: Yes / Copy volume: 32767
Eject after ripping: No / Play sound after ripping: No

Burning / Drive D: LG CD-RW CED-8120B Addr: 1:0:0 Speed:12 MaxSpeed:12 Use MJ Engine:Yes
Test mode: No / Eject after writing: Yes / Direct decoding: Yes / Write CD-Text: No
Use playback settings: No / Normalization: None

Magic_Randy · « **Reply #41 on:** May 27, 2003, 06:56:24 pm »

Quote

You'll win the battle and the war! Kurt is right-on with his comments...

adam

iPod users should not worry about iTunes for Windows. Apple will not deliver a product anywhere near as functional or stable as MC9.

There will be no battle, there will be no war, MC9 will simply rule.

The only exception is for those willing to use a simple free package (assuming Apple bundles it instead of MusicMatch).

Randy

ashawley · « **Reply #42 on:** May 27, 2003, 08:08:23 pm »

Steve:

Just to let you know, I used the new plugin tonight and had no problems. I didnt' use any of the transcoding options, but everything worked find on my sync.

The only feedback I have is the Available Space Left After Sync info looks like it's in a form field which might lead the user to think they can change it. Might just want to display the text...just a cosmetic thing..

Adam

nlegs · « **Reply #43 on:** May 27, 2003, 10:08:44 pm »

Hello Guys,

I have a little problem with MC 9.0.177 that it doesn't seem to sync with my iPod properly. For instance I've re-ripped some songs that are already on my iPod to a higher bit rate, I used the same filenames and tag infos as the replaced songs, MC's had no problems updating itself but when I tried syncing with my iPod via playlists, it doesnt seem to reflect the newly re-ripped files, its still showing the previous files. I tried this a few times, even formatted my iPod, but the same result. I would need to delete the existing entries on my iPod before I could have an updated copy on it.

Does anybody encounter the same problem ? Or is this a limition of MC ? Or maybe I'm just missing something.

Appreciate any feedback.

BTW, MC9 is just to great that I won't be anything else for my iPod. Good job and keep it up !!!

dallardice · « **Reply #44 on:** May 27, 2003, 10:51:32 pm »

New to the Ipod world, using MC9 to sync to my 30G Ipod - works like a dream. Great product.

I'm looking for a way to prioritise some albums and playlists to the top of the list in my Ipod. Using a hyphen or underscore sorts it to the top of list in MC9, but in the Ipod it sorts by the first alphanumeric character. I found a thread in the Apple support forum which listed suitable sort characters on an Apple, but none work on a PC.

Can anyone suggest a way of prioritising things to the top of a list short of prefixing with a number? Sorry if this is the wrong place, my attempts to get an account on Apple's support page have been about as successful as Apple's support when I had a dodgy firewire card...

Wobbley · « **Reply #45 on:** May 28, 2003, 05:39:14 am »

nlegs,

If the tag info for the tracks is the same, then MC will not replace the songs on the iPod with the more newly ripped versions. MC compares the basic track info, such as Artist, Album, and Song Title, as well as file name when determining what tracks to put on the iPod, and since all of that information is probably the same (I am assuming that the only difference between the old and new versions of each track are probably the file size and the bitrate), MC doesn't (as far as the iPod plugin is concerned) doesn't see a difference, so it will not try and put a "duplicate" of a track on your iPod. The only way to get the newer version onto the iPod is to delete the original from the iPod before syncing the newer versions of the tracks. Maybe, eventually, the iPod plugin could look at bitrate as well when it's trying to determine what songs to actually put on the iPod, and what songs just need to have their tag info updated.

Hope this helps.

Wobbley

SteveG · « **Reply #46 on:** May 28, 2003, 06:16:13 am »

dougf,

Please get MC 9.0.178. I cannot duplicate the crash you report, but one possibility is that some of your tags may have included ";" in the info which would have caused a crash prior to 9.0.177. To resolve the current problem, reformat your iPod with iPod updater (you will lose all your data) and then connect with MC. Right click and select format and then resynch your files.

Adam,

I will make a change to make this look better.

Wobbley,

Thanks for responding to nlegs.

nlegs,

MC assigns a unique id to each file in the database. When you reripped your songs, they were assigned a unique number and are viewed from iPod as separate files from the ones you already have on. If you want to get rid of the iPod files and replace them with the new ones, do a synch with the "delete files not in synch" option selected. When you set up your synch, select all the files you want to have on your iPod and do not select the older copies of your newly reripped tunes. If you do this, the synch will remove the old copies and replace with the new. Remember, you must select all of your music from your library that you want on your iPod when you do this option.

Dallardice,

This is a great place to look for this advice. I will defer to others to give you some good suggestions.

AZ_JazzyJ · « **Reply #47 on:** May 28, 2003, 09:44:49 am »

There is a tremendous amount of information contained within this topic and I know that I have found numerous solutions to problems I have had. I appreciate the community nature that everyone exhibits in helping others to resolve their problems. The one thing I am noticing though is the number of different questions that are contained within this thread. It is at times challenging to follow all the conversations that are going on. Has JRiver considered having a sub-message area dedicated to handheld devices? The number of different threads that are on the message board dealing with the details of portable devices might justify such a change. By having a board devoted to handhelds, it would give everyone one place to look for information regarding Media Center's support and allow users the ability to follow specific threads that they are interested in helping the flow of information.

Just a suggestion.

Jeff

schwaa · « **Reply #48 on:** May 28, 2003, 10:49:00 am »

Ipod support disappeared. It was working, but when I go to Plugin Manager, Ipod is no longer there. When I click on I: under Handhelds, MC crashes immediately (Media Core has encountered a problem...). I am using the most current plug-in, 9.0.21. I have never installed Musicmatch, but of course have installed all other Ipod files for my 30Gb Win Ipod. It is viewable under Explorer, set as Drive I: named IPOD.

Media Center Registered 9.0.178 -- C:\Program Files\Media Jukebox\

Microsoft Windows XP Workstation 5.1 Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
Intel Pentium III 730 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 391 MB, Free - 121 MB

Internet Explorer: 6.0.2800.1106 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2800.1106 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shell32.dll: 6.00.2800.1145 (xpsp2.021108-1929) / wnaspi32.dll: Internal ASPI Layer

Ripping / Drive E: Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer CD Type:Auto Read speed:Max
Digital playback: Yes / Use YADB: Yes / Get cover art: Yes / Calc replay gain: Yes / Copy volume: 32767
Eject after ripping: Yes / Play sound after ripping: No

Burning / Drive E: TDK CDRW121032 Addr: 1:0:0 Speed:12 MaxSpeed:12 Use MJ Engine:Yes
Test mode: No / Eject after writing: Yes / Direct decoding: Yes / Write CD-Text: Yes
Use playback settings: Yes / Normalization: None

Kurt Young · « **Reply #49 on:** May 28, 2003, 11:25:00 am »

Dallardice,

When I sync my iPod with MC9 via playlist sync, all of my playlists appear alphabetized when viewed on the iPod's screen. This is true no matter what playlist group (or subgroup) they're in.

If I want a particular playlist at the top, I prefix it with an exclamation point (!). The !playlists always show up at the top of the list.

INTERACT FORUM

Author Topic: IPOD SUPPORT (Read 45728 times)