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[park]

I see that in this and the next few builds, lots of stuff is going on and stability might be an issue.

I am using .91 and it is working great. The only other bit of functionality i want is the aforementioned, being able to update ratings in in MC and Ipod and the most recent update sticking after a synch.

Any chance of releasing just an ipod plugin that has this incorporated, while the problems in the main program are ironed out?

Ta,

Bri

[thtv01]

Steve - per your instructions added a few purchased iTunes files to the ipod using iTunes and then copied the iSCInfo file to another spot on my pc's hard drive.  Reinitialized my ipod in MC and added some iTunes files.  Then I proceeded to copy the iSCInfo file back to the iTunes folder on the ipod.  However it was already there.   Not sure why?  Am I suppose to copy the one I saved off over this one.    I then disconnected my ipod and tested the m4p files.  They played on the ipod  This is great!!!

I then reconnected my ipod and did a full sync.  The m4p files still worked .  Then I checked several mp3 files and they worked as well.

Then comes the bad news.
I then attempted to play one of my Audible files.  No go on them.
It does nothing at all.  So I as stated before, when ever I have m4p files from iTunes in my MC library then the Audible files fail to play on the ipod.  Any thoughts on this?

Maybe I should try syncing one of my Audible files with iTunes and then check the iTunes folder in Explore to see if there are any changes.

Thanks
Tim

[thtv01]

 
Everything works now!  (mp3, aa & m4p)

I did several different test but I'm almost definitely sure that the thing that fixed the Audible files was just deleting them from my MC library and then re-importing them again.

From a clean ipod, I drag dropped just one .aa file over and tested it.  It played so I reconnected then drag dropped my iTunes (paid for) m4p files to the ipod and tested them.  They played so I rechecked the .aa files and it still played as well.  Then I did a complete sync of my whole MC library and re-tested all three files types.
All worked so I'm off to celebrate!

Steve - I still didn't have to copy the iSCInfo file over to the ipod iTunes folder.  It seems that when I followed your instructions the first time and did the sync of a few iTunes m4p files to the ipod using the iTunes program that this some how just added the iSCInfo file to the iTunes folder on the ipod.   So I'm thinking that just using iTunes to sync my songs once fixed my problem.  Hopefully I won't have to do that with future purchased files.  I'll buy another file and import it into MC, sync and then test it out.

Hopefully this isn't to confusing.  It's getting late and I might be getting sloppy.

Thanks so much for your support on the ipod stuff!  You guys are top notch!
Tim

[vph]

Steve -

Have you considered running for President?  Or at least for the governor of California?  Between crowfan, thtv01, and myself I believe you have the farm team for a grassroots movement...

Yes, the iSCInfo file worked.  I, however, do not have thtv01's luck in that when I format, it all goes away and I needed to manually copy the iSCInfo file back onto the iPod.  Which brings me to an interesting question:  why did it work for you every time without exception?

One other item.  After I did the iTunes copying bit I closed down iTunes and launched MC.  However, when I went to reference my iPod in MC I was treated to the standard and usual Media Core dump/abend/explosion which ensues almost every time I'm forced to deal with  iTunes then open MC.  Anybody else have this form of entertainment/excitement with the mega-inferior iTunes?

Regardless, I'm a happy puppy.  And I'm serious about running for office.  Your platform should be something like  "Steve for President:  He won't screw up the country too bad and he *deals* when it comes to troubleshooting and customer support.  Rah."

VPH

[riokarma]

dallardice:

STEVE:

Doing some digging around on my wife's iPod that I've populated using iTunes.  There is a file on there "iTunesPlaylists" that increases by 8 bytes with the addtion of each new smartlist.  Seems to me that this is where the rules are stored for these.

'Course you probably already knew this.

Now, it's just a matter of figuring that file out.  

Adam

At the risk of being pushy, I wanted to ask on the latest status of the "dynamic smartlist updating on the ipod" endeavor.  The smarties have found the file, but for a nontechie, do we expect to have mc 9's smartlists updating dynamically on the ipod anytime soon?  Or is this something that is too big of a task and will be introduced a couple months down the road?

Thanks

[thtv01]

After everything worked....

I bought another song from iTunes to make sure that I wouldn't have problems in the future with m4p files.  Added new song to ipod via MC and all is good.  (m4p, aa & mp3's still all play).

Has anyone tried to run the 'analyze audio' feature on an m4p file?
I'm just currious.  


For reference:  MC9.292 and 2nd gen ipod with v1.3
Thanks again!
Tim

[vph]

When I sync I get the following message:  

"The following is a list of files that failed to transfer with an error code."  

In the list box I get:

"G:\iPod_Control\Music\F03\185633.mp3-2"

This is then followed by an information popup window containing no message.

I have "Delete unselected files from Portable" selected in my synchronize options.

What does it mean?  I look in Explorer for the file on the iPod but don't see it (probably b/c I selected that sync option?).  Any idea what I should do about it?  Why the follow-on empty popup?  As you might expect, I'm short one track on the iPod (4227 in MC vs. 4226 on iPod).  How can I figure out what track it causing the problem? Should Steve's application for Supreme Ruler of the Known Universe now be reconsidered?  

And yes, I just reformatted and resync'd - I had to in order to get Steve's miracle solution to work.  

UPDATE:  I randomly stumbled onto the missing track - it had a 0 bitrate and when I played it in the iPod it kicked back to the main menu like before Steve's miracle hack.  The track also wasn't playing in MC.  I noticed it had a long, long file name "Bruce Springsteen - The Wild The Innocent And The E Street Shuffle - 01 - Rosalita (come out tonight)".  I modified the file name, reimported it, and it now plays in MC.  I then deleted the 0 bitrate track out of the iPod but the sync still errored out.  I then drag and dropped the clean track to the iPod and then sync'd.  Strangely enough, I still got the error on the sync but the track now plays on the iPod with no problems.  You're going to tell me to reformat and resync, aren't you?  Sigh.  Another 35 minutes to load...


VPH

[Radiant]

I'm having a persistent problem with MC incorrectly displaying the amount of free space on my iPod.  

I select 2 smartlists to sync, with the "Delete unselected files from Portable" option selected when I sync and the "*.* GB available after sync message" is always off by @ 9GB.  When I try and unselect all my smartlists, the message says I have 9 GB available after sync.

I'm not sure why it's doing this, but it's been like this for at least a week.

I'm using two Smartlists:

Modifier: Full Albums Limit: 300 Minutes No Duplicates: [Artist], [Name]

The other Smartlist is just a list of specific Artists that I have checked, in order to keep them on the iPod all the time.

Any ideas why MC thinks I am missing half of my iPod's space?

Thanks!

---

Media Center Registered 9.1.291 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\

Microsoft Windows XP  Workstation 5.1 Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
Intel Pentium 4 2522 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 1047 MB, Free - 701 MB

Internet Explorer: 6.0.2800.1106 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2800.1226 / Shell32.dll: 6.00.2800.1233 (xpsp2.030604-1804) / wnaspi32.dll: 4.60 (1021) , ASPI for Win32 (95/NT) DLL, Copyright © 1989-1999 Adaptec, Inc. / Aspi32.sys: 4.60 (1021)

Ripping /   Drive E:   Copy mode:Normal   CD Type:Auto   Read speed:Max
  Drive F:   Copy mode:Normal   CD Type:Auto   Read speed:Max
  Drive G:   Copy mode:Normal   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: HL-DT-ST CD-RW GCE-8481B    Addr: 1:1:0  Speed:48  MaxSpeed:48  BurnProof:Yes
  Test mode: No /  Eject after writing: Yes /  Direct decoding: Yes /  Write CD-Text: No
  Use playback settings: No /  Normalization: None

[vph]

Has anyone tried to run the 'analyze audio' feature on an m4p file?
I'm just currious.  

thtv01 -

You just beat me to the same question - I've tried to run the analyze audio feature on an .m4p and nothing happens.  The queued tracks just sit there.  I wanted to run a test to try a combination of both m4p and mp3 but all my mp3s have been analyzed.

VPH

[ged]

Using the latest build of mediacenter registered. Program loads OK but when i try to access IPOD get a media center core crash.
Any ideas as to fix. Do i need to de-install and install - but which version?

[park]

I decided to download and try the new build (.93) in spite of my previous reservations, just to try the ratings and last played stuff. works fine. (except obviously for the lack of a right click menu.)

Ratings I had changed independantly in MC and on the Ipod over the last week , all seemed to stick. I had only changed the ratings on either the ipod or MC (not changed the same file on both) so cant give my experiences with that.

but now i am happy. i can do everything that i want with the ipod again.

thank you.

[tlongacre]

Yes, the iSCInfo file worked.  I, however, do not have thtv01's luck in that when I format, it all goes away and I needed to manually copy the iSCInfo file back onto the iPod.  Which brings me to an interesting question:  why did it work for you every time without exception?

One other item.  After I did the iTunes copying bit I closed down iTunes and launched MC.  However, when I went to reference my iPod in MC I was treated to the standard and usual Media Core dump/abend/explosion which ensues almost every time I'm forced to deal with  iTunes then open MC.  Anybody else have this form of entertainment/excitement with the mega-inferior iTunes?

Regardless, I'm a happy puppy.  
VPH

VPH,

Hmm, why are you happy? I also have the Media Core problem and then I'm stopped -- I can't initialize or format my iPod in MC and can't get anywhere. How do you get around the Media Core issue?

[kadish]

Just to add to the chorus of success stories, I am also able to now listen to iTunes purchased songs via MC/iPod by doing the file copy workaround.  Thanks Steve!

Eugene

[tlongacre]

Questions:

1.  in ashwaley's tutorial, he says our iPods must be named "IPOD". Is this still true?

2.  is it possible (has anyone tried, is it theoretically possible?) to use MC9 with two different iPods? Particularly one 2gen iPod and one 3gen iPod? The friend who is buying my iPod's computer is on the blink and it'll probably be a a couple of months before she can afford a new one. I thought she might be able to still use my computer to transfer music.

3.  I got the new iPod (3gen 40 gigs -- yee ha!) to work with iTunes, but I can't seem to get it to work with MC. iTunes doesn't come up automatically and I stopped the iPod service before opening MC9. But when I try to initialize the iPod in MC9 -- or do anything (when I click on the I: drive under CDs etc.) I get the Media Core error box and MC closes. How do I get around this?

- Tracy


3G 40gig iPod

Media Center Registered 9.1.291 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\

Microsoft Windows XP  Workstation 5.1 Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
AMD Athlon 1993 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 523 MB, Free - 350 MB

Internet Explorer: 6.0.2800.1106 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2800.1226 / Shell32.dll: 6.00.2800.1233 (xpsp2.030604-1804) / wnaspi32.dll: 4.71 (0001) , ASPI for Win32 (95/NT) DLL, Copyright © 1989-2002 Adaptec, Inc. / Aspi32.sys: 4.71 (0001)

Ripping /   Drive G:   Copy mode:Normal   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: Yes  Soundfile:   C:\WINDOWS\Media\Windows XP Exclamation.wav

Burning /  Drive G: PLEXTOR  CD-R   PX-W4012A   Addr: 1:0:0  Speed:40  MaxSpeed:40  BurnProof:Yes
  Test mode: No /  Eject after writing: Yes /  Direct decoding: Yes /  Write CD-Text: No
  Use playback settings: No /  Normalization: None

[SteveG]

Skeet,

If the iPod is reported as nearly full in Explorer and MC the tracks are proabably on there. If iPod is not recognizing them, something probably got screwed up in your database perhaps as a result of another program interfering. Try right clicking on your iPod drive letter and do a "Rebuild database". This will wipe out your playlists (but not your files) and then do a resync to recreate your playlists.

Bri,

The iPod code is tied in with the new changes. If you are hesitant because of stability, sit tight for a few days.


Tim,

Thanks for the update regarding .aa. It appears that when you transfer aa or mp4 files with iTunes it generates an Iscinfo file which unlocks the playback of these files. Once you have these files on your iPod you are good to go. When you initialize with MC, these files are not deleted.

In regards to 'analyze audio' this will not work on AAC files.


VPH,

I think the difference between you and thtv1 is that when he did not format, he initialized (cleaned) the iPod. In his example the ISCInfo did not get deleted, because I do not delete it on Initialization. Formatting in Windows will definitely wipe this file out and it will need to be recopied or automatically recreated by copying a protected file with iTunes.

It probably worked for me because I was always testing back and forth with iTunes to figure out what was going on so the file kept getting recreated. It started failing after a format for me yesterday which gave me the clue I needed to figure this out.

After you copy a file with iTunes you should definitely reinitialize your iPod in MC and then run as far away as possbile from iTunes (in regards to your iPod).

Error code '2' is a Windows error which means "The system cannot find the file specified". Was that Springsteen track an .m4a? I use Quicktime to get the duration for .m4a files and there appears to be a problem with opening filenames which are too long (> 64 characters) which results in a duration of 0 which causes lack of playback.

Your Update problem resulted because the track was on iPod and then you reimported the track into MC. Whenever you reimport tracks to MC, if they are already on iPod, synching will be weird until you delete the track from iPod.

Thanks for the governor of California recommendation. I will run under the campaign promise "MC for California, always groping for better solutions".


RioKarma,

Too early to say. It appears really difficult to solve but a solution may become apparant after I have time to wrestle with it some more.

Radiant,

When you deselct all smartlists, MC says iPod has 9GB free. Is this true? If so, when you add the smartlists are you sure the files in those smartlists are on iPod? Did you reimport files that are already on your Ipod?

ged,

If you don't mind starting over, Format your iPod from Windows. Disconnect and reconnect your iPod. Run MC and then right click and initialize your iPod for MC and you should be good to go.


park and Eugene,

Thanks.

Tracy,

If you can, follow directions above to ged.
You do not need to name your iPod "IPOD". In most situations, it won't matter what you have named it. If you have problems and have a name other than IPOD, go to Plugin Manager->Portable Drives->Configure and enter whatever name you have given your iPod.

Using two iPods is fine. I would not recommend having them connected at the same time.

[vph]

VPH,

Hmm, why are you happy? I also have the Media Core problem and then I'm stopped -- I can't initialize or format my iPod in MC and can't get anywhere. How do you get around the Media Core issue?

tlongacre -

I'm happy b/c the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and I took second in my Texas Hold'em game I played while reformatting my iPod last night.  That, and b/c Governor Elect Steve (The Crazed Groper) was able to show the path to make my .m4p's work.

You're right, once you get this problem you can't reformat the iPod using MC.  I'm hoping Governor Steve looks into the why of what is causing the Media Core dump in the first place (as well as the "analyze files" issue with m4p).  

When I hit this problem I reformat the iPod entirely, reloading 2.1 through the iPod Updater.  Then you can go into MC, initialize the iPod, and resync.  It doesn't take too long to format - < 3 minutes -  but to reload my 4200+ songs in the sync takes about 35 minutes.  Again, I generally try to stay away from iTunes anyway, and this really only happens if I have the iPod docked when I have iTunes open then shut iTunes then open MC.  

Remember - if you reload 2.1 you will auto-launch iTunes when you dock your iPod (again, Jobs is looking more and more like Gates...).  I recommend docking the iPod, disabling the auto-launch in iTunes, closing iTunes, then launching MC.  MC never Media Core dumps for me after this sequence - it's usually when I manage music when iTunes is open and the iPod is docked that the Media Core dump begins to rear it's ugly head.

Hope this helps.

VPH

[vph]

Using the latest build of mediacenter registered. Program loads OK but when i try to access IPOD get a media center core crash.
Any ideas as to fix. Do i need to de-install and install - but which version?

ged -

Your problem is the same as mine and tlongacre.  Reformat iPod using Updater, initialize in MC, and resync - see my comments above.

VPH

[vph]

Error code '2' is a Windows error which means "The system cannot find the file specified". Was that Springsteen track an .m4a? I use Quicktime to get the duration for .m4a files and there appears to be a problem with opening filenames which are too long (> 64 characters) which results in a duration of 0 which causes lack of playback.

Your Update problem resulted because the track was on iPod and then you reimported the track into MC. Whenever you reimport tracks to MC, if they are already on iPod, synching will be weird until you delete the track from iPod.

Thanks for the governor of California recommendation. I will run under the campaign promise "MC for California, always groping for better solutions".

Steve -

The file was .m4p, not .m4a.  And I did delete it manually from the iPod.  I'll reformat again tonight and see if that clears things up.  Is there an error codes listing available online that I can look up so I don't have to bother you when I hit these types of problems?

And as for Governor in '06 (or the next recall, whatever comes first), I'll be your campaign manager, as long as screening "qualified applicants" for "key roles" is a function of the job (I'll have to ask my wife for permission first, though...).

VPH

[SteveG]

VPH,

In regards to that file, make sure it plays in MC. In regards to the error codes, here is a link to the error codes I am reporting....

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/debug/base/system_error_codes.asp


Glad to know your on board with the Goverorship. I need a signed note from your wife before you get the position

Everyone,

If you get a media core error, feel free to email me your iTunesDB and I will build in further protections against any crash you see. Especially when other applications are trying to take charge of the iPod, it is possible that certain key files may get corrupted. I have safeguarded against this, but if you send me your iTunesDB I can improve this. (steve @ jriver.com)

Also,

This link has grown too large. I will close it and start a new one.