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[Magic_Randy]

Steve,

Thanks...

I'm not happy with the way Apple did this release.  MusicMatch has always been a problem.  With this release the integration is very strange.  No matter what you do to get rid of MusicMatch automatically taking over, it just keeps coming back.  The only thing you can really do is totally un-install it.  

I'm also having problems with other basic functions, like running their updater.

Anyway, I'll be happy when I can use MC9 again.

Randy

[SteveG]

Everyone who has a new iPod.......

Please get the most current Plugin (v 9.0.16) which was just posted and will be included in the next MC build.

Kurt has posted some excellent suggestions for how to get new iPods to work with MC at http://www.musicex.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=MediaCenter;action=display;num=1052154467.


For anyone who does not follow these instructions and installs MusicMatch, here is what  I suggest. This will cause you to lose your data on iPod and start clean.

1) Uninstall MusicMatch or at least rename the folder in Program Files from MusicMatch to something else (i.e. MusicMatchIsAPain)

2) Disconnect your iPod.

3) Reset your iPod by depressing Menu and Play/Pause.

4) Connect iPod and run MC.

5) Right click on iPod and select "Format iPod".

If at any time you get stuck or have crashes, on your iPod go to iPod_Control\iTunes and delete the iTunesBackup file. At that point you should be able to run MC and then reformat.

[Magic_Randy]

Steve,

Everything's perfect.

You did more in 1 day to make the new iPODs  work correctly than Apple and MusicMatch did with many months of collaboration.

I followed your instructions and within 1 hour was up and running with MC9.  This includes uninstalling MusicMatch, cleaning up all of the MusicMatch stuff I could find that was not removed by their uninstall (deleting directories under program files), reformatting my iPOD, and a full sync.  By the way, I have 5530 songs, so most of the hour went into the sync.  As a point of reference, once I was able to do a full sync with MusicMatch and it took almost 4 hours.  Another point, your sync works, MusicMatch's sync has many problems.

Congratulations and thanks.

Randy

[gpvillamil]

Kurt,

I could not duplicate these. I synched my "All music" Smartlists, and  played a song that had not synched yet but had no problems. I also tried modifying the smartlist during the synch and everything seemed OK.

Anyone else seeing this?

Steve

I am seeing this, constantly. Any activity while syncing will crash MC. I'm using the 2nd to last build 9.168 and the latest iPod plugin.

[Kurt Young]

I am seeing this, constantly. Any activity while syncing will crash MC. I'm using the 2nd to last build 9.168 and the latest iPod plugin.

Strangely enough, I haven't encountered this since I posted about it.  Perhaps now that you've posted about it, gpvillamil, your luck will improve too!  

[canaro99]

Hi,

I just connected my iPod (20gig) to MC9 to resynch after a month out of town.

Everytime I right click on the drive designation to synch, MC crashes. Any ideas?

Thanks,

John

**************

Media Center Registered 9.0.170 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\

Microsoft Windows 2000  Workstation 5.0 Service Pack 3 (Build 2195)
Intel Pentium 4 2408 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 523 MB, Free - 225 MB

Internet Explorer: 6.0.2800.1106 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.81 / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2800.1106
Shell32.dll: 5.00.3502.6144 / 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: Yes /  Calc replay gain: No /  Copy volume: 32767
 Eject after ripping: Yes /  Play sound after ripping: Yes  Soundfile:   C:\WINNT\Media\chimes.wav

Burning /  Drive E: LITE-ON  LTR-48125W         Addr: 1:0:0  Speed:48  MaxSpeed:48  Use MJ Engine:Yes
 Test mode: No /  Eject after writing: Yes /  Direct decoding: Yes /  Write CD-Text: No
 Use playback settings: No /  Normalization: None

[JimH]

Are you using the latest iPod plug-in?  It changed a day or two ago.

[canaro99]

Hi Jim,

Thank you. I double checked. 9.0.170 and plug-in 16.

I'm back at my office right now and the iPod is home (I also realize I forgot to logout when I left).

The program said an error file was being created. Would this file be of help? Is it in the Dr Watson file?

John

[SteveG]

John,

There is probably something wrong with your iTunes Database. If you don't mind reformatting, try running the iPod Updater and then right click on your iPod from within MC and select "Format". After this you should be all set.

Thanks for the offer for the error file, but it won't be of much help.


gpvillamil,

Can you get the latest version and try again.  If you see the problem can you give me instructions on how to duplicate it consistently in one example (i.e. start synch, play a file).


Steve

[mclaugh]

I was unsucessful moving smartlists from one playlist group to another- I created a "not on ipod" group to move some lists to, and don't see a right click option (either cut/paste or move smartlist) to move my smartlists without changing them into regular playlists.
Can someone help me?
I have .169, winXP, and everything else is pretty much working fine- I just want to know how much space I've got left on my Ipod.
Thanks.

Here's what I've done to monitor the space on my iPod.

First I created 2 playlists groups, one called iPod and the other called Not on iPod. The iPod group contains the smartlists that I want on the iPod. The Not on iPod group has the smartlists that don't fit or I don't want on the iPod.

When I click on the iPod group I can see how much space they will take up on my iPod on the MC9 status bar at the bottom right hand corner. If the iPod group contains too many files I move the smartlists I don't want on it from the iPod to Not on iPod group.

When I synch I make sure all the smartlists in the iPod group are ticked and the ones in the Not on iPod list aren't ticked.

[SteveG]

mclaugh,

Just drag and drop the smartlist to the group and it will be moved.

Steve

[canaro99]

Steve,

Just got home. I started the procedure this morning and found that the synch failed-- "not enough capacity."

I reformatted again and retried. This time successful.

(One question: I have 4,273 audio files (not all of them on iPod) and the message said "synching 8161 files." Am I correct in assuming this is the sum of all titles in the total number of playlists?)

One final point: When using the eject device option from the right click menu, I get the unsafe disconnect message from the computer. I have been using a utility someone mentioned sometime ago to disconnect with no problem, but it would be easier to disconnect within MC.

Thanks for the help and the good work.

John

[SteveG]

John,

Am I correct in assuming this is the sum of all titles in the total number of playlists?)

Yes.

In regards to the eject, what operating system do you have? Also, do you have one of the new iPods (in the last week or so) or an older one?

Steve

[YamunOson]

I'd been using MC9 with my ipod with no problems until yesterday, when I downloaded the newest version of MC. Now, when I click on my iPod in the CD, DVD, Handhelds menu, MC crashes. I've been trying to download the newest version of the iPod plugin, but keep getting the message "Failed to connect to a server. Reason: not found." This occurs within the JRReader downloader, not my browser. Any ideas?

Thanks, Dave

[YamunOson]

NM, Steve picked up my message in another thread and fixed the problem. Thanks, Steve!

Dave

[YamunOson]

Well, I downloaded the newest version of the plugin, but MC still crashes every time I try to click on my iPod in the CD, DVD, & Handhelds menu. I redownloaded and reinstalled both MC and the iPod plugin, but to no avail.

Dave

[SteveG]

Dave,

Try running the iPod updater on your iPod. This will remove all of your data, but should help. After you do this, try clicking on your drive letter and then right click and select "Format".  After this, you should be all set.

Steve

[canaro99]

Steve,

Thank you for your input.

Re Your Question: In regards to the eject, what operating system do you have? Also, do you have one of the new iPods (in the last week or so) or an older one?

I am operating with Win2000 Pro and I have a 20gig iPod purchased around September last year. (I have not upgraded the firmware from 1.21 yet).

Sys info below:

Media Center Registered 9.0.171 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\

Microsoft Windows 2000  Workstation 5.0 Service Pack 3 (Build 2195)
Intel Pentium 4 2456 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 523 MB, Free - 319 MB

Internet Explorer: 6.0.2800.1106 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.81 / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2800.1106
Shell32.dll: 5.00.3502.6144 / 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: Yes /  Calc replay gain: No /  Copy volume: 32767
 Eject after ripping: Yes /  Play sound after ripping: Yes  Soundfile:   C:\WINNT\Media\chimes.wav

Burning /  Drive E: LITE-ON  LTR-48125W         Addr: 1:0:0  Speed:48  MaxSpeed:48  Use MJ Engine:Yes
 Test mode: No /  Eject after writing: Yes /  Direct decoding: Yes /  Write CD-Text: No
 Use playback settings: No /  Normalization: None

[YamunOson]

Steve,

Thanks again for your prompt and helpful tech support. I'm still in the trial period for MC, but I'll definately be purchasing it. I've never used a program that had such a great relationship between the developers and users.

Thanks!

Dave

[BumJr]

I am having a problem synching in MC9 to my new 30 GB iPod.

I am using a Sony Vaio (built-in iLink) running Windows 98SE.

Following recommendations of this and similar forums, my computer has never seen MMJB.  I only used the Apple CD to do a restore from explorer and have never AutoRun the Apple CD.

I have MC9 version 9.0.170 (still on my 30-day temp license) with Handheld plug-in 9.0.016.  Despite the listing of newer versions on the forum, if I check for updates within MC9 it says there are no new updates.  Also, if I try to download the 9.0.017 version of the iPod plug-in, it fails with the message "Failed to install package.  Destination file in use.  c:\windows\temp\ipod\hh_portable.dll."

Despite MC9 crashing a few times, I have managed to rip three CDs for practice at 160 kbits/s into mp3 format using "Digital Secure" and the mp3 plug-in encoder based on LAME.  These files seem to play fine under MC9.

I have modified the tags to suit my needs and created 4 playlists from the files with no problem.

My iPod has been restored (several times now after each set of problems).  I connect the iPod to the computer and it recognizes it.  I get the "Do not disconnect" screen (I assume this is normal) and if I use the 6-pin connector it charges (my computer has both 6 and 4-pin connectors).  I can see the drive in Explorer.

MC9 recognizes the iPod and I follow instructions to format the iPod under MC9.  That takes a few seconds.

I then right-clicked on the iPod and chose "synchronize files".  I choose the 4 playlists that I created (I have also tried this with just one playlist).  MC9 does its thing and I get a message "File Upload Error" with a long list of the files that didn't get uploaded.

In MC9, the playlists appear under the iPod icon but there is only one line with an 8-digit track number (example 18665516), a duration of 93:02:47 and a bitrate of 1.

There is nothing on the iPod except once I saw one of the playlists named but there was nothing else there.

Any suggestions to correct my problem would be greatly appreciated.

Also, once this is solved, does anyone have a suggestion about naming conventions in the iPod database, specifically how many characters should I limit things to in naming a playlist, Artist, Album, Composer, etc, givien the font that is used in the iPod.  My iPod will be used almost 100% for classical music.  Each movement of a piece is a separate file and my playlists list the movements of a given work.

Thank you.

[JimH]

Others will be able to help more, but try exiting MC and installing the iPod plug-in from these pages while it isn't running.

[SteveG]

BumJr,

For any of the files that fail to transfer, can you play them from within MC?

If so, try synching one of the default playlists (i.e. one hour- random) and see if that works.


John,

I cannot duplicate this.  Do you get that unsafe message all the time or only some of the time?

[cct1]

Ok, I've got a MAJOR problem now--MC9 won't synch at all.

I have a 20gb 2nd generation ipod, I restored with 1.2.6, reformatted with MC9, and it won't synch.

When I synch, it runs through all the files at about 800 mb/s, but doesn't send a single one over--I get an error list with my mp3's on it.  Just wondering if something in the new ipod plugin is interfering with the older ipods.

Media Center Registered 9.0.172 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\

Microsoft Windows Me
Intel Pentium III 929 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 392 MB, Free - 164 MB
Resource Info: System - 33 %, GDI - 81 %, User - 33 %

Internet Explorer: 6.0.2800.1106 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.81 / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2800.1106
Shell32.dll: 5.50.4134.100
wnaspi32.dll: 4.71 (0002) , ASPI for Win32 (95/NT) DLL, Copyright © 1989-2002 Adaptec, Inc. / Aspi32.sys: N/A

Ripping /   Drive E:   Copy mode:ModeSecure   CD Type:Auto   Read speed:Max
 Drive F:   Copy mode:ModeSecure   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 F: YAMAHA   CRW2200E           Addr: 0:1:0  Speed:20  MaxSpeed:20  Use MJ Engine:Yes
 Test mode: No /  Eject after writing: Yes /  Direct decoding: Yes /  Write CD-Text: No
 Use playback settings: No /  Normalization: None
 

[lukecro]

I don't have an Ipod . . . but I'm encountering the same install error as others here . . .

failed to install:   hh_portable.dll

As far as I can tell, this install failure doesn't affect me at all . . . MC9 runs fine on this PC . . . but I'm curious as to why this install failure keeps happening (it happens during every update from within MC9 as well as when I've tried clean installs) . . . and this has been happening for a while now (many builds), but only on my PC laptop at home, not on my work PC.

Why is this happening, and will with dll failure affect me in any way?

I'm running Windows 98SE on the PC in question, with MC9.0.172.

[SteveG]

cct1,

Can you play the files from within MC? If so, what happens if you drag and drop one file onto the iPod and then select "Upload"?

lukecro,

I don't have an Ipod . . . but I'm encountering the same install error as others here . . .

failed ot install:   hh_portable.dll

Can you elaborate on what error you are seeing?

[mcphzgig]

I an using a 20Gb Mk II iPod (bought it two weeks too early, although actually I prefer the controls to Mk III), and MC9 Build 168.  2027 tracks loaded in the iPod.

Two problems:

1)  Whenever I add tracks to the iPod from newly ripped CDs, it forgets about all the Composers it previously had, and subsequently only knows about the Composers for the newly uploaded tracks.

2)  I discovered a had a faulty track (audio glitch from a power surge or whatever during ripping).  So I deleted it from the iPod, & re-ripped it.  However, no amount of synchronizing or queuing/uploading it will get it into the iPod.  It doesn't appear still to be in the iPod, but is detected as a duplicate (I then choose overwrite), and then fails to upload.

Am I doing anything wrong?

[cct1]

cct1,

Can you play the files from within MC? If so, what happens if you drag and drop one file onto the iPod and then select "Upload"?

lukecro,


Can you elaborate on what error you are seeing?

MC9 itself, other than synching with the ipod, is working flawlessly--the files play fine, ripping/encoding is working great--it's simply a synching issue with the ipod.  This is the first time I've tried to synch since you all changed the ipod plugin--I think that's where the issue is.

When I try to synch my playlists, it runs through all the songs, but none of them are being transferred--when I used to synch in the past, during the synch, MC9 would blaze over the songs that were already on my ipod, and slow down when it came to a new one--now it just blasts right through the synch, but without downloading anything.

No matter if I try to synch, or upload the file by "drag and drop", I get the same error message: "File upload error transferring....and then all the file names.

Synching was working perfectly before downloading the last build; this is the first build I've downloaded since the new plugin.  Maybe we'll need an ipod plugin for the older ipods, and one for the newer ipods..


BTW, I can still synch with my ipod using ephpod  (blech!!) so I know the ipod itself isn't to blame.

I've seen and received some messages from others over at the ipodlounge with problems with playlists, and synching since the latest plugin, but I'm still trying to get specifics from them.

And thanks for the reply on Mother's day, and a sunday to boot!!


Edit:  Ok, this is really weird--I tried it again tonight, still no songs, but it transferred all the playlists  (again, nothing were in them though).

[mcphzgig]

My problem #2  (see Reply #75) seems to be related to cct1's.

When trying to synchronize a group of new tracks for a second time (including the one replacement file, as I mentioned), I saw the same error message with a long list of file names.

Same error message again (for one file) when I tried to upload the single repacement track on its own.

[cct1]

My problem #2  (see Reply #75) seems to be related to cct1's.

When trying to synchronize a group of new tracks for a second time (including the one replacement file, as I mentioned), I saw the same error message with a long list of file names.

Same error message again (for one file) when I tried to upload the single repacement track on its own.

Yep, that's the same problem--and that's what happend to me the first time I tried to synch with the new plugin.  I wasn't as smart as you though, I reformatted/restored in hopes that that was the issue, but it's an issue with MC9 simply not sending the songs over  (but it does send the playlists {empty though} over.

[SteveG]

cct1, mcphzgig, BumJr,

I cannot duplicate what you are reporting, so lets try to make sure we are comparing apples to apples.

The following instructions will cause you to lose the data on your iPod, but will help get to the bottom of what is going on for you. Please get MC 9.0.172 before doing this test.

1) Run iPod Updater and format you iPod

2) Run MC and right click on your iPod drive letter and select "Format"

3) Copy 5 files to iPod using drag and drop and see if everything works well.

4) Create a Playlist and populate it with 5 songs. Synchronize this playist and check if everything is still working.

5) Rip a CD.

6) Add some songs from the newly ripped CD to the Playlist you created in step 4 and then resynch the Playlist.

7) See if everything works.


I need to try get a baseline to compare what is going on for you. If you could do the test above and let me know, that would help.

Thanks,

Steve

[cct1]

cct1, mcphzgig, BumJr,

I cannot duplicate what you are reporting, so lets try to make sure we are comparing apples to apples.

The following instructions will cause you to lose the data on your iPod, but will help get to the bottom of what is going on for you. Please get MC 9.0.172 before doing this test.

1) Run iPod Updater and format you iPod

2) Run MC and right click on your iPod drive letter and select "Format"

3) Copy 5 files to iPod using drag and drop and see if everything works well.

4) Create a Playlist and populate it with 5 songs. Synchronize this playist and check if everything is still working.

5) Rip a CD.

6) Add some songs from the newly ripped CD to the Playlist you created in step 4 and then resynch the Playlist.

7) See if everything works.


I need to try get a baseline to compare what is going on for you. If you could do the test above and let me know, that would help.

Thanks,

Steve

I have tried steps one through seven with the previously noted results.  It just isn't sending anything over, except a bunch of empty playlists, or nothing at all, if I try to drag and drop.  Again, having answered a few other posts over at the ipodlounge, I think there are several others with this problem.  Everything worked fine prior to the change in the ipod plugin  (anyway I can get the previous one back?? ).

Again, I can see it cycling through every song, at about 700mb/s, it just isn't downloading them for whatever reason.  And this is on a freshly restored (1.2.6) and reformatted (for MC9) 20 gb ipod.


Maybe it's something specific to Windows ME, as it doesn't appear everyone is having this problem.

[SteveG]

cct1,

Can you verify the files are not there by going to your iPod drive letter in Explorer and then look in the iPod_Control\Music  F** folders to verify there are no files.  

Make sure that when you right click on the iPod in MC you do not see an option for "Show All Files". If you do, that is your problem. I will test on ME to verify no problems there.

I know you have done tests similar to what I spell out here before, but if you could do this exact test, that would be helpful.

Thanks,

Steve

[cct1]

Steve,

Can you verify the files are not there by going to your iPod drive letter in Explorer and then look in the iPod_Control\Music  F** folders to verify there are no files.  

I've already done that--no files are there.

Make sure that when you right click on the iPod in MC you do not see an option for "Show All Files". If you do, that is your problem. I will test on ME to verify no problems there.

I will check on this one tonight.  Where would the "Show All Files" be--on the grey menu that pops up when you right click on the ipod?


Thanks,

Chris

[Kurt Young]

Steve,



I've already done that--no files are there.


I will check on this one tonight.  Where would the "Show All Files" be--on the grey menu that pops up when you right click on the ipod?


Thanks,

Chris

Aye, when you right-click, you'll either see "Show all files" or "Show queued files only" near the top of the context menu.

[SteveG]

Call off the hounds.

There is a problem on Windows ME that I can verify regarding file transfer. Let me try to get this fixed before the end of the day.

Steve

[cct1]

Thanks Steve--glad to know that you were able to verify the problem  (and from past experiences I know you'll be able to fix it)!

[SteveG]

I will have to attack this again in the morning.  

Thanks,

Steve

[SteveG]

Everyone who is using 98 / ME....

Please get the latest Plugin (9.0.18) or download the next version of MC when it becomes available.

A few versions back I made some changes to improve the upload speed. Unfortunately, the code I implemented is not supported in Win 98 / ME. This is now corrected.

Thanks to all for your help in getting to the bottom of this.

Steve

[TimB]

A few versions back I made some changes to improve the upload speed. Unfortunately, the code I implemented is not supported in Win 98 / ME. This is now corrected.

Steve, did you pull the changes or branch the code?

-=Tim=-

[SteveG]

Tim,

I conditionally kept the changes for all systems except 98 and ME.

If you are not on 98 or ME things will remain how they were prior to this build.

Steve

[TimB]

Tim,

I conditionally kept the changes for all systems except 98 and ME.

If you are not on 98 or ME things will remain how they were prior to this build.

Steve

::phew::

-=Tim=-

[livewire313]

I received the following error trying to access my ipod (mk3, 30gb) this evening using mc9.  I have always used mc9 with the ipod and installed everything according to the various preceeding messages. previously, everything has worked great (great job mc9 & ipod developers).

AppName: media jukebox.exe       AppVer: 9.0.170.0       ModName: hh_portable.dll
ModVer: 1.0.0.0       Offset: 00006960

I received the above error as soon as i click on the handheld item in the tree.  i have tried the standard reboot and reset things and still have the same problem.

help please :-)

[SteveG]

livewire313,

Check to see that you can see the iPod and click on it without error from within Explorer. If everything is OK, try uninstalling the Plugin (Tools->Plugin Manager->Handheld->Portable Drives) and then redownload the iPod Plugin from our website.

http://www.musicex.com/cgi-bin/downloads/mcplugins.pl?type=8

Steve

[livewire313]

Steve,

i have uninstalled and reinstalled the latested plugin with the same results.

i am not certain if this may or may not be an issue, but the last time i was syncing the ipod i had to cancel the process due to an expiring battery ( i waited until the cancel was confirmed and then unmounted the ipod).

to confirm, i can access the ipod through explorer with no ploblems.

how may i be of further assitence in debugging this problem?

[SteveG]

livewire313,

My best guess is that your database got corrupted. If you don't mind losing your data on the iPod, run the iPod Updater and then try again. After you click the drive letter (assuming no crash) right click and select "Format" to get yourself going again.

Steve

[LarryJoe]

Old song cut out problem back with a vegence on new Ipod.  If you recall, there was a problem a bunch of plugins back where ~35% of the songs transfered with MC9 would cut out with about 5-10 seconds left to play.  I ended up switching back to Ephpod temporarily until the issue was resolved.  This was on my "old" 20 gigger.

Now with the new 15GB the problem is back.  This is not the apple bug of poorly encoded songs skipping to the next track.  This is again where a lot of the songs (seems the longer ones) stop playing with 10 seconds to go and then play silence for the last 10 seconds.  I wiped the ipod clean (format from Ipod updater) and loaded up Ephpod then transferred my library and all is fine.  Everything plays perfectly.

Any ideas?  Anyone else got this problem with the new ipods and MC9?

Thanks as usual.

LJ

[SteveG]

LarryJoe,

What version of MC and the Plugin do you have? Also, what Operating System are you running?

Steve

[Palazzo]

I have the crash problem with my not-new iPod, but I'm running XP and the newest plug-in hasn't fixed it.

I was having a problem that the songs where not showing on my iPod listing, just the playlists with nothing listed in them, although all was actually well on the actual pod.

I tried rebuilding and reformating, to no avail. Then I downloaded the new version and the newest plug-in. Now MC9 shows the iPod as being there, but crashes when I click on it to see the files, with a small error box which just contains the following as a message: h.

And this after I changed from Xplay because it stopped letting me shuffle my playlists. Where is the instability here? None of my other hardware is behaving so cranky. Is the iPod just a piece of badly-designed unpredictable...

[bspachman]

Wow! I've finally done it! A 1-week-old 30GB iPod synched up using MC9! Thanks for all the hard work on the plug-in. The constant updates and feature upgrades encouraged me to send lots of money to Apple.

I wanted to ask several questions about what I've been doing and make a couple of suggestions (in no particular order of importance). If you'd rather this post be split out into another thread, please feel free...

1) My entire library of 8000+ tracks are stored in MC as APL files. (Rip a CD as a WAV/CUE combo, then compress the WAV with APE and split it up with the CUE sheet.) Since the iPod doesn't recognize lossless compression (yet), that meant a transcode or a convert operation. For the past 4-5 days, I've been using the "Convert Format" function to change all my APLs to MP3. It worked great overall, however there were a handful of tracks that caused the conversion process to hang. The track would decode to a WAV, but it would never encode as an MP3. The conversion process would just hang. I would have to force quit MC and manually skip those albums. Any input here?

2) The directions for the iPod/MC setup and synching that are pointed to in the help file are a great help! So much so, that you may want to consider actually including them with the MC distribution.

3) With the newer version(s) of MC & the handheld plugin, does the iPod still need to be named "IPOD"? Why the need for that in the first place?

4) My first attempt at synching the iPod failed miserably. I created a smartlist with the rule, "Media Type: audio" and tried to synch that to the iPod. Naturally, there was more music in that smartlist that the iPod could hold. MC chugged away for over an hour, happily downloading. Finally an error dialog appeared saying there were problems synching various files. I unmounted the iPod and looked at the statistics. It said I had 0 songs & 0 free capacity. I don't know if this was an overflow problem or something else...

My 2nd attempt at synching went better. I created a smartlist with the following rules, "Media Type: audio, Limit: 25000MB, Modifier: FullAlbums" so that I would leave some wiggle room on the iPod. I reformatted the iPod & tried again. About an hour later I got an error dialog saying several tracks couldn't be transferred, but this time the songs showed up when browsing the iPod in the MC tree and (better yet) showed up in the iPod itself! The error dialog was unsettling. My only guess is that there are filename problems of some kind. What are the circumstances under which this dialog appears?

5) The error dialog about file synch problems showed the full path of the songs that had problems, but spilled very wide on my screen. If I knew how to do screen shots, I'd show you what I meant. It might be better if this dialog was more like the "Import Media..." status dialog in MC. It could show how many songs were queued for transfer, how many were successful, the average transfer speed, and a details button to list the songs and/or problems.

6) The modifier "FullAlbums" in the smart list doesn't appear to work as I expected it to. I expected it to include every track on an album that otherwise satisfies the rules, but it doesn't. As an example, I know my library contains all the tracks from "Abbey Road", but the smartlist only includes tracks 1-6, 8-9, 11-13, 15, & 17. If the album were actually incomplete, it shouldn't be there, but since it is, I would have thought all the tracks would be included.

7) What kinds of transfer speeds are normal? I averaged around 7.1-7.2 MB/sec. What made me happy is that the Adaptec 4300 FireWire card I bought worked great to transfer and to power the iPod.

8) Does the iPod need to be enabled as an external FireWire drive to work with MC?

9) What's with the blank playlist? On the iPod, I can see all the Artist, Genre, and Album info from the iPod DB. There's also the single smartlist I used to synch in the "Playlist" area. However, there's a blank line listed as the first playlist.... I know other folks have seen this, but I never saw why it existed.

10) If MC9 is already running, and the iPod is connected to the machine, it doesn't appear in the Handhelds part of the tree. I have to relaunch MC. Is it possible to auto-recognize that the iPod has been attached?

UPDATE: In fact, I just tried this: MC9 running, plugged in iPod (it wasn't recognized), quit MC, launched MC (iPod drive listed in the Handhelds part of the tree), single-clicked on the iPod drive letter and got the "Media Jukebox.e.exe has generated errors and will be closed...." error. Subsequent attempts to launch MC and work with the iPod always crash the program!!

I'm sure there will be a few more questions, but the crashing problem has prevented me from asking them!

Breathlessly waiting...

Best,
Brad

-----------------------
Portable Drives Plugin 9.0.18

Media Center Registered 9.0.172 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\

Microsoft Windows 2000  Workstation 5.0 Service Pack 3 (Build 2195)
Intel Pentium 4 1791 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 523 MB, Free - 382 MB

Internet Explorer: 6.0.2800.1106 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.81 / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2800.1106
Shell32.dll: 5.00.3502.6144wnaspi32.dll: 4.71 (0002) , ASPI for Win32 (95/NT) DLL, Copyright © 1989-2002 Adaptec, Inc. / Aspi32.sys: 4.71 (0002)

Ripping /   Drive Z:   Copy mode:ModeSecure   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 Z: TOSHIBA  DVD-ROM SD-R1202   Addr: 0:1:0  Speed:16  MaxSpeed:16  Use MJ Engine:Yes
 Test mode: No /  Eject after writing: Yes /  Direct decoding: Yes /  Write CD-Text: Yes
 Use playback settings: No /  Normalization: None

[cct1]

Everyone who is using 98 / ME....

Please get the latest Plugin (9.0.18) or download the next version of MC when it becomes available.

A few versions back I made some changes to improve the upload speed. Unfortunately, the code I implemented is not supported in Win 98 / ME. This is now corrected.

Thanks to all for your help in getting to the bottom of this.

Steve

Steve,

I didn't get the chance to try out the new plugin until this morning--and it worked perfectly--simply outstanding  (fantastic synch speeds)!!!

Thanks for the fix--life is good again!!!

BTW, do you know off hand if MC9 has any plans to support AAC format?  I'm sure this has probably already been asked/addressed elsewhere, I apologize in advance if it has...