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[mindracing]

What does "some portable files are not in MC data base and could not be..." message mean when synching with sync data to MC checked?

And, why, after synching, does the 'retreiveing file info' box run twice?

Is there a plan to sync the on-the-go playlist?

Can MC be made to autostart on ipod connection?

Thanks for helping me catch up.

[canaro99]

Steve and Shawn,

Thanks for the ideas and the help.

I unistalled everything related to apple and ipod (except MC) and then reinstalled updater starting at 1.2. When I finally got to 1.3 (I also unistalled the iPod Manager) and updated and restored my pod it communicated.

Upon synching files (both mp3 and converted ape) the resultant display shows many playlists missing, although the files are on the pod. I found that going back and resynching, at first, would add the playlist info. As my number of files increased (currently 459) MC consistently crashes (build 305) when I try this additional synch to "complete" the playlist info.

Any ideas??

Thanks.

[btvillarin]

Crud.

Today, I restored my iPod to see if it'd help with the playlists "disappearing" sporadically.  Three successful syncs later, and it happens again.

I'm using build 305 right now.  I sure hope this can get fixed!  

[park]

Hi,
I'm using media center build 9.1302
Some problems I've noticed about the plugin:

When I plug my ipod in, even though its set to autosynch, nothing happens. I have to click on the portable tool down at the bottom.

If I rename a file in MC, that is also on the ipod, and then synch with the ipod, after the info has been synched from ipod to MC and error message appears, saying: Failed to update some songs...
This happens every subsequent synch and is annoying. I have to rebuild the ipod database to overcome this. I also tried to find the files that i changed on the ipod and manually delete them, and then resynch again  (thought this might be quicker). If I try to do that though (manually delete the files) I find that each song in that album is on the ipod twice, but when i try to delete them all half of them cause an error -2.  so they dont delete, and i get the "some files couldnt be updated" error again on next synch.
I guess that maybe the delete files not in synch is not working properly, or the updating of tags on ipod isnt working properly.

The delete files not in synch takes ages.

when searching for songs on the ipod (using media center) the screen update after every key press. Annoying because its refreshing 4000 files after each letter. it should refresh after the whole word has been typed, or after you press enter.

Other than that, all is sweet. And its cool having the ratings and last played info updating properly. now my smartlists are beginning to reflect my music habits. nice.

[TimB]

What I'd like to know is when is a track considered as 'listened too'.

Is it as soon as it starts playing or when it finishes?

I was out in the car with my iPOD today and some of the tracks I listened to aren't listed in 'heard today' but it may be because I didn't hear them thru.

Trivial I know but nice to know all the same.

Thanks.

I think (tho' not 100% sure) the answer to this is that MC itself considers a song listened to when its past half way played.  However the iPod waits until the track is played to the actual end until it marks it as played.

I kinda like both together strangely enough.

-=Tim=-

[mcphzgig]

Tonight, using MC 9.1.305 / iPod Plug-in 9.0.76.

I synchronized six new playlists, full of new tracks.

These playlists and the new tracks all loaded to the iPod OK.  BUT all the other playlists disappeared.

Synching again, selecting all my current playlists, restored them to where they should be.

20Gb Series 2 iPod.

[btvillarin]

What???  Where's the iPod plugin v9.0.76?  The only one I see here is 9.0.38.  BTW, is the date format on those pages 1) dd-mm-yyyy or 2) mm-dd-yyyy?  If it's 1, then I need to download it.  LOL

[Vivvy]

On .305 and still having the problem with PC playlists not downloading to the iPod with tunes.  I have to manually add the downloaded songs to the iPod playlists (which have the same playlist name as their PC counterparts.)  Why?

[mindracing]

I've just been playing with my Belkin recorder and it works great.

It creates a directory called Recordings on the iPOD.

Do you anticipate any synching problems with this?
Could MC sync this folder as well? I now this won't be a top priority but it would be an excellent facility.

If you don't have a Belkin recorder and need some support from this end just ask.

Thanks

Ash

[SteveG]

tlongacre,

MC is currently designed to allow multiple playlists with the same name. This is a case of MC's design winning over iPod's implementation.

John (Canaro),

We have to solve this one step at a time. As of Friday you had what appeared to be a hardware problem ( the disconnect stuff) and a problem with playlists. Unless the hardware problem is solved, this could very probably effect the correct creation of the playlists. Are you still having the problem with iPod spontaneously disconnecting?


Ashley,

I regularly experience the same thing re the playlists.

When you see this, please send me the iTunesDB or try to find a pattern of how to recreate the problem.

What I'd like to know is when is a track considered as 'listened too'.

When the track is played all the way through. This is iPod's design.

What does "some portable files are not in MC data base and could not be..." message mean when synching with sync data to MC checked?

You have files on your iPod that are not in the MC database. This can happen when you transfer files to iPod, then delete them from the MC database and reimport them. This could very possibly be the cause of synching problems for you.

And, why, after synching, does the 'retreiveing file info' box run twice?

This is a result of some recent changes to the tree in MC. It should be fixed in the next MC build.

Is there a plan to sync the on-the-go playlist?

Yes, that is the plan, as is dynamic playlist support. This is a difficult project without any specs from Apple, but I am trying.

Can MC be made to autostart on ipod connection?

Maybe in the future.

Do you anticipate any synching problems with this? (Belkin)

Not sure. I don't have one yet.

Bryan,

After you see the problem, email me your iTunesDB file from the iPod and I will see if I see any problems. Are you reimporting tunes that are already on the iPod? What did you do differently between successful synch 3 and then the fourth?

9.0.76 is part of MC 9.1.305

Park,

When I plug my ipod in, even though its set to autosynch, nothing happens.

This was broken recently. The next MC build should resolve it.

If I rename a file in MC, that is also on the ipod, and then synch with the ipod, after the info has been synched from ipod to MC and error message appears, saying: Failed to update some songs...

I cannot duplicate this. Are you sure you are not reimporting any songs at the same time into MC? That woud explain the  - 2 error. It would also explain why the delet files not in synch takes a long time. If you are not reimporting, are you manually renaming the song or using 'Rename files from properties'?

mcphzgig,

You should check all the playlists that you want to have on the iPod at the end of the sync before synching. If you select less than all, the files will remain but not the playlists (assuming you do not have delete files not in synch checked).


Vivvy,

More info please. Synching or drag and drop? Have you reimported tracks? Have you reinitialized?

[btvillarin]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for taking the time to sift through the latest batch of questions from us.  You rock man...

Let's see...if this happens again, I'll email you my iTunesDB file.  I'm 100% sure that when I'm synchronizing, the majority are the same tunes. There's a few that might be new, due to a smartlist I setup to have songs rotated that haven't been played in a week.  Between the successful and unsuccessful sync, nothing changed.  I might've rated a few, but in the syncs before, they never affected anything. It seemed to be at random.

I think I'm going to be restoring a system image of my computer (messed up a few things), so I'll be backing up my library and getting MC reinstalled...probably going with 9.1.304.  That's the latest stable version, correct?

I'm thinking that since Adam (Shawley) doesn't have the iPod utility on his computer, maybe I should do without it as well.  The reinitializing option does the same thing as a restore with the iPod utility, right?  So, when I get my main system restored, I'll see if that variable was the weird cause of our playlists disappearing.  If not, you'll most likely be receiving my iTunesDB file in a day or two.

[ashawley]

btvillarin:

By Pod Utility do you mean iPod Manager?  No, I don't have that installed.  But even w/o it, you can still do Restores with the Updater by going to Start>Programs>iPod.  It's in there, it's called System Software [/i]x[/i] (the version number of your Updater).

iPod Manager is just a launcher for the program.

Adam

[btvillarin]

Adam, I meant iPod System Software 2.1.  I don't have iPod manager.  So, I guess that theory goes out the window.

[ashawley]

btvillarin:

OK, yeah, you want to keep that installed (the Updater).  It doesn't have any effect on anything anyway....

Adam

[mindracing]

What does "some portable files are not in MC data base and could not be..." message mean when synching with sync data to MC checked?

You have files on your iPod that are not in the MC database. This can happen when you transfer files to iPod, then delete them from the MC database and reimport them. This could very possibly be the cause of synching problems for you.

Thanks for that Steve,

What's strange is that the message came after doing a format of the iPOD and then a full sync with MC, having deleted no files or reimported any.

Is there a simple way to compare what's on the iPOD with what MC thinks is on there to find the rogue files?

[francelonian]

I'm confused since I see posts about Audible files not playing correctly on the iPod...

If you don't transfer .mp4 to iPod and use MC for Audible, this should cause no problems. If you have .mp4 and Audible content, follow the instructions above and all should be well.

I was having trouble with Audible content also.  But no longer, since I:

 - stopped editing the tags on the Audible files
 - download with Audible Manager but install with MC
 - they get lost in your files, so in MC put them in a Plalist yourself (eg "Audible").

Now, no problem, though I did have to reinitialize a couple of times on the road to wisdom

One last thing - when playing an Audible file, touch the center spot once on the iPod and you will see hash marks on the progress bar - they are chapter markers and you can jump back and forth to them ...

[mindracing]

I can echo the above. I've found exactly the same.

On an unrelated topic, what is the difference between Album Artist and Album Artist (Auto)?

I can see the difference in the results but can't determine the rule.

Also, is it possible to have just the name of the playlist on the iPOD rather than the name followed by (group - group - name)?

I'd really appreciate an explanation of what the Set Upload Volume adjustment dialogue does. What is the difference between replay gain and adjust all file volumes?

Thanks for your help.

[gbdesai]

Ok.  Let me know what I need to supply to diagnose the problem (if anything), but I am having the same Playlist sync problem that others describe.  I successfully synced my iPod (iPod 30GB w/ Dock connector using USB 2.0, did a restore to v2.1, initialized with MC9 306 Plugin 76).  Everything worked great, music converted from APE to MP3, 2 playlists synced properly.  Yesteday I added some manually created playlists (rather than smartlists).  I added them to the synchronization list and synced.  Now when I look at the iPod in MC9, I see that the first several files in the playlist were not actually files that I selected to be in the original playlist, in fact, the original playlists in MC9 are fine.  Plus when I eject the iPod and go to playlists I have just a single blank (no name) playlist that has nothing in it and my On the Go list.

Another thing.  I get the "Please wait... Analyzing Device" dialog  anytime I do anything (RIP a CD while the cursor is on the tree in the handheld section, delete a playlist off the iPod, refresh the view, etc.) and it takes about 1 to 3 minutes to disappear and yield control of MC9 back to me.   Am I doing something wrong?

Finally, being my first post, I should let you know that this is one amazing piece of software.  I am a software analyst by profession and the work you guys are doing far exceeds the quality, thoroughness, ease of use, and value of almost anything I have ever seen.  Great job and thanks!

Gautam

[SteveG]

Bryan,

9.1.304 or the latest should all be fine. Please let me know how it turns out.

Ashley,

There is not a simple way. I could make a plugin that would give us some info. Let me know if you see it again and I will email you something to debug it.

Album Artist(Auto) will use 'Album Artist' if it is available and if not, then Artist.

The group name in the parenthesis is necessary for now.

Set Upload Volume Adjustment - 'Apply Replay Gain' will adjust the volume on iPod by the Replay Gain value in MC. The arrow box associated with that checkbox will boost or decrease the volume that amount in addition to the Replay Gain. 'Adjust all file volumes' will simply boost or decrease volumes on iPod by the percentage shown.


Francelonian,

Thanks for the post. I am not sure what you mean by "they get lost in your files" but creating a smartlist or playlist are good ideas.


Gautam,

In regards to the playlists disappearing, something is corrupting your iTunesDB file. What happens if you reinitialize your iPod (right click on the drive letter) and then sync the manual playlists one at a time. If it messes up, please email me your iTunesDB file from the iPod (in the iPod_Control\iTunes folder on iPod). (steve @ jriver.com)

Do you mean the 'Retrieving File Info' message or 'Analyzing Devices'?

Thanks for the compliments.

[mindracing]

Ashley,

There is not a simple way. I could make a plugin that would give us some info. Let me know if you see it again and I will email you something to debug it.

I do get this every time. Send me the file and I'll get at it.

Thanks

Ash

[btvillarin]

What if I said that maybe I found a weird solution about our playlists disappearing?

For me, I have to move the cord from computer to power charger.  When I want to initiate a sync, I sometimes have the cord already plugged into the iPod when I plug it into the computer.  But now, I'm removing it from the iPod, plugging the cord into the computer, waiting a few seconds, then plugging the iPod in.  The last two syncs have been good so far.  Maybe when I get to 10, I can start goin' nuts in happiness...

I guess try it out, especially if you sync more than two times a day.

[Vivvy]

Vivvy,

More info please. Synching or drag and drop? Have you reimported tracks? Have you reinitialized?


Drag and drop.  Reimported from where?  These were loaded from MC.  Reinitialized before initial install of MC.

[SteveG]

Ash,

The change has to occur in MC. I made a modification so that you will see the numbers of the files that are not found in the next build of MC. You will need to match them with the files on iPod to figure out where the problem is.

Bryan,

Let me know what you find.

Vivvy,

Reimported into MC. When MC installs it imports files from your PC. You can manually reimport and if you delete files that are in MC and then reimport them into MC while the files are still on iPod, it would explain what you are seeing. Try the reinitialize again.

Steve

[gbdesai]

In regards to the playlists disappearing, something is corrupting your iTunesDB file. What happens if you reinitialize your iPod (right click on the drive letter) and then sync the manual playlists one at a time. If it messes up, please email me your iTunesDB file from the iPod (in the iPod_Control\iTunes folder on iPod). (steve @ jriver.com)

Do you mean the 'Retrieving File Info' message or 'Analyzing Devices'?

Ok. I will try what you suggest when I get home today.

On the second note, I am getting the Analyzing Devices dialog.  The only other device I have is my CD/DVD burner.  It only happens when the iPod is actively connected and is visible in the tree view.

[bvm]

The group name in the parenthesis is necessary for now.

I find it annoying, too.  But I was wondering, since all you're trying to do is ensure unique names, why not insert a bunch of extra spaces between the user-given playlist name and its parenthesized parent.  That would make the Playlist menu on the iPod itself a lot easier to read (which is all I care about -- I rarely look in the ipod tree in MC).

[bvm]

I'd really like it if right-clicking on the ipod drive in "CD, DVD & Handhelds" didn't feel compelled to refresh the view pane (this happens if I was looking at some other view at the time).  It's especially annoying if what I'm bringing up that menu for is going to immediately destroy the contents of that pane (e.g., Eject).

(Actually, it's annoying that any time one switches views to the iPod, it has to go fetch everything from the device again.  Do you just not want to have to remember the contents, or are you worried that I'm changing the contents behind your back?  If the latter, which is surely an unusual thing to do, I'd be happier if there were a Refresh command to handle that situation.)

By the way, what does the menu item "Enable Auto-Eject on Close" mean?

[crowfan]

I'd really like it if right-clicking on the ipod drive in "CD, DVD & Handhelds" didn't feel compelled to refresh the view pane (this happens if I was looking at some other view at the time).  It's especially annoying if what I'm bringing up that menu for is going to immediately destroy the contents of that pane (e.g., Eject).

(Actually, it's annoying that any time one switches views to the iPod, it has to go fetch everything from the device again.  Do you just not want to have to remember the contents, or are you worried that I'm changing the contents behind your back?  If the latter, which is surely an unusual thing to do, I'd be happier if there were a Refresh command to handle that situation.)

Yeah, I agree. It's a little frustrating.

By the way, what does the menu item "Enable Auto-Eject on Close" mean?

With this option selected, when you close MC, the iPod is automatically ejected (OK to remove from the dock). This feature snuck in under my radar somehow, and I was quite happy to discover it.  

crow

[Niro]

Ok this is gettin pretty annoying.  It happened again...a lil differently this time tho'.  I synch'd my ipod today after work and everything looked ok...even the ratings I changed on the ipod transferred over to MC, but now there's nothing on the ipod.  This time, even when I try browsing the ipod from MC9 nothing shows up, but it still says only 14gb free (out of 37).  Selecting the restore db from ipod option when right clicking on the ipod drive letter restored all the songs, but not the playlists.  I had to synch again to restore the playlists.

[willrmc]

yeah, i agree with 6400 songs it takes a while for mc to load the songs each time i click on the drive. it would be great if it remembered it after clicking it once.

[btvillarin]

Man, I think I might be onto something...

Four syncs, still going well.  Hope my posting about this doesn't annoy anyone.  And by the way, I haven't restored my system yet like I said I was.  

Once I hit 10 syncs, then perhaps that should throw up a flag?  What bug would this be caused from?  The iPod or MC9?

Weird....

[mindracing]

This my be relevant to the above problem or not. Here goes anyway.

I had similar synching problems with playlists and having to continually restore.

My music files are all on an external firewire drive and I was synching the iPOD via firewire too.

I bought the combined USB2/Firewire cable from Apple and now sync the iPOD using USB. The sync problems would seem to have disappeared. Albiet a lot slower.

The firewire half of the cable is now connected to the mains charger. So. it could be an issue with powering the iPOD from the firewire socket or a firmware issue with my firewire.

[gbdesai]

Mindracing,

I kind of have the setup you describe as having switched to and have the problem.  I have my music on a external USB2.0 drive, I have the iPod connected to power via the split cable (Firewire cable to power and to the PC via the USB 2.0 cable).

Steve,

I tried re-initializing the iPod and things seem to work better.  I am still getting the "Analyzing Devices" dialog for 1 to 3 minutes problem.  

I did a sync with my first smartlist and that worked well.  I then tried to sync with a second (manual) playlist and that transferred my music, but it seemed to transfer about 10-15 files and then seemed to restart the sync dialog to finish the other five.  The result was a playlist that only had the last five songs on it (all of the music made it over fine).  An immediate re-sync seemed to fix the playlist.  I then did the rest of my playlists in a mass synchronize.  When complete, I only saw a single playlist in my iPod.  Again I re-synced immediately and my playlists were back in place.

 Hope this helps shed some light.  I can't figure out an explanation.   Thanks for any help you can provide.

Gautam

[mindracing]

Mindracing,

I kind of have the setup you describe as having switched to and have the problem.  I have my music on a external USB2.0 drive, I have the iPod connected to power via the split cable (Firewire cable to power and to the PC via the USB 2.0 cable).

Steve,

I tried re-initializing the iPod and things seem to work better.  I am still getting the "Analyzing Devices" dialog for 1 to 3 minutes problem.  

I did a sync with my first smartlist and that worked well.  I then tried to sync with a second (manual) playlist and that transferred my music, but it seemed to transfer about 10-15 files and then seemed to restart the sync dialog to finish the other five.  The result was a playlist that only had the last five songs on it (all of the music made it over fine).  An immediate re-sync seemed to fix the playlist.  I then did the rest of my playlists in a mass synchronize.  When complete, I only saw a single playlist in my iPod.  Again I re-synced immediately and my playlists were back in place.

 Hope this helps shed some light.  I can't figure out an explanation.   Thanks for any help you can provide.

Gautam

Gautam,

When I had this problem I noticed that the playlists didn't show up on the iPOD, they did show up as being on the iPOD from whithin MC.

To check this I used Anapod Explorer and the playlists were shown as being on the iPOD too.

Something in the sync causes the iPOD not to recognise the playlists. I have no idea what though.

Maybe you could email your iTUNES DB file to SteveG next time this happens, to see if it is the database or the way that the iPOD is interpreting the datbase that causes this.

[Vivvy]

Steve,
"Reinitialize" is a recurrent instruction that appears just about every day, regardless of product version being supported.  The "last known stable version" yields the suggestion as frequently as the beta versions do.  Reloading thousands of songs with each new problem is less inviting a solution than one would expect for a commercially released product.  Has it only been within the past 30 days that I've been paying attention, or has "reinitialize your iPod" been a staple of JRiver's support portfolio all along?

[tlongacre]

Steve,
"Reinitialize" is a recurrent instruction that appears just about every day, regardless of product version being supported.  The "last known stable version" yields the suggestion as frequently as the beta versions do.  Reloading thousands of songs with each new problem is less inviting a solution than one would expect for a commercially released product.  Has it only been within the past 30 days that I've been paying attention, or has "reinitialize your iPod" been a staple of JRiver's support portfolio all along?

Hmm, well no one on this thread with problems is using a commercially released product. Everyone (so far) is using one of the betas that are full of warnings about issues, instability, etc.

[btvillarin]

About what I posted earlier about plugging in the cable into the firewire port before plugging it into the iPod: that theory is out.  Sixth sync later, that didn't work out well.  A couple songs on a playlist didn't sync the ratings, so I did one more, and the playlists on the iPod were gone.  Oh well.  Restoring my system to that previous image sometime this week.  

[Andshep]

Even though MC is a vast improvement on MM, I am still having problems with playing Audible files. I have a 3G Ipod 15Gb, with about 10 Gb of music on it, which I manage through MC. However, I also used to listen to Audible files, but since Ive been using MC I have not been succesful with them. After managing to get MC to put the audible programs on the Ipod, I cant get them to play. When I select an Audible file to play on the Ipod, nothing happens, however when I select play on any of the other tracks (MP3s) that I sync'ed at the same time, they play just fine. I'm using MC 9.1.307 (Regsitered) btw, but not for much longer if I cant get Audible to work. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[canaro99]

John (Canaro),

We have to solve this one step at a time. As of Friday you had what appeared to be a hardware problem ( the disconnect stuff) and a problem with playlists. Unless the hardware problem is solved, this could very probably effect the correct creation of the playlists. Are you still having the problem with iPod spontaneously disconnecting?

Steve,

I've been out of town until yesterday. Thanks for the suggestions. The hardware and auto disconnect seemed to be solved. I reinstalled everything related to iPod.

HOWEVER, playlist names are still missing upon synching. Resynching sometimes will enable the missing names to appear; but most of the time MC crashes within 30 seconds of the resynch.

If this were entirely software, I would think the entire iPod group would be raising hell over this (although I see I am not alone in the missing playlist problem). Could this be related to some corruption in the dbase? If so, how do I correct it?

I really need this problem solved or I need some other iPod software so I can use my (now) paperweight.

Thanks.

[SteveG]

gbdesai,

I am still getting the "Analyzing Devices" dialog for 1 to 3 minutes problem.  

What happens if you do not have a CD or DVD in the drive? What happens if you disconnect your CD/DVD burner? (I want to see what device is causing the 'Analyzing Devices' message. I cannot duplicate it here)

In regards to your specific Playlist issue, I strongly suspect you were doing conversions at the same time. If this is the case, I fixed the problem you were seeing and it will be in the next build of MC.

bvm, will and crow

why not insert a bunch of extra spaces between the user-given playlist name and its parenthesized parent.

Done in the next build. I think it looks akward, but we will see what others think.

I'd really like it if right-clicking on the ipod drive in "CD, DVD & Handhelds" didn't feel compelled to refresh the view pane

In the next build there is an option to "Show files at root" which you can opt out of so there will be no file retrieval at root. I already store the information, the time lag is the time it takes for MC to talk to the plugin. I think this will be a solution.

Niro,

but now there's nothing on the ipod.

Presumably when you disconnect the iPod and go to play. The fact that when you reconnect the files are not viewable under MC tells me that the iTunesDB is not getting written correctly. Could be a hardware issue in that while I am writing the file something disconnects. After it occurs, send me your iTunesDB so I can verify if the file is indeed incorrectly written. (steve @ jriver.com)

Bryan,

Waiting for results and then I will come up with a theory. Thanks.

Vivvy,

Remember you are on the support page here, so you are seeing people who are having issues, not the people who everything is working for. In regards to the reinitialize, when people are having problems, very often they are related to the iPod's interaction with other programs and the hardware itself. In order to quickly flush out these problems, a reinitialize helps to establish as near to a baseline as I can to troubleshoot.  If you are interested in solving a problem you are having, which may or may not be MC's fault, you have to be willing to establish where the problem is. This requires more effort than "It didn't work, fix it".

[SteveG]

Andshep,

Were you running iTunes at all? Are you saying you have never been able to play Audible files when using MC but you were running MusicMatch? If so, can you try reinitializing iPod from MC (you will lose all your data) and then transfer a few audible files and see if you can play them. If you cannot, I have more suggestions if you used iTunes.

John,

I think I remember that you are doing file conversions on the fly. I found and fixed a bug today that would have caused playlists to disappear when doing on the fly conversion of more than 10 files. It is fixed in the next build of MC. Please get it when it becomes available (tonight?) and let me know if you are set.

Steve

[btvillarin]

Steve:

Did you see my reply (#135)?

[canaro99]

John,

I think I remember that you are doing file conversions on the fly. I found and fixed a bug today that would have caused playlists to disappear when doing on the fly conversion of more than 10 files. It is fixed in the next build of MC. Please get it when it becomes available (tonight?) and let me know if you are set.

Steve

I eagerly   look forward to a fix.  ....

Thanks.

[SteveG]

Bryan,

Sorry, I missed that. Can you try creating some playlists and then populate them with files and sync them. If all works well, do multiple syncs until you see the problem. My best guess now is that there are some files that may be screwing up the Database. In particular look for the '|' character in any part of the tag. This could cause problems and possibly you have file(s) that are being synched sometimes and other times not (i.e. in a smartlist) which causes the sporadic appearance of your problem.  Any other reliable reproduction of the problem will help.

Steve

[btvillarin]

Steve:

Can you try creating some playlists and then populate them with files and sync them. If all works well, do multiple syncs until you see the problem.

Not smartlists, just plain-jane playlists, right? Like, a few songs that do work. I can do that.

My best guess now is that there are some files that may be screwing up the Database. In particular look for the '|' character in any part of the tag. This could cause problems and possibly you have file(s) that are being synched sometimes and other times not (i.e. in a smartlist) which causes the sporadic appearance of your problem.

Any characters I should look for?  Maybe you've got a good point, because I usually average 2 syncs a day.  If there's a song with a weird character, perhaps that is the problem.  Even better, what should I do to try and find these odd characters?  Can I do it in MC9?

Bryan

[btvillarin]

Steve:

I've figured out the find and replace question myself.  There's a few characters that came to mind that I assumed should be replaced.

° - Alt+0176
… - Alt+0133
| (already on the keyboard)
• - Alt+0149

Under Media Library, I typed in each of the characters above (one by one).  Then, I selected all the songs that resulted, right-clicked, and went to Library Tools > Find and Replace.  In that box, I made sure all the boxes were checked, entered the character in the Find What field, then left the Replace field blank.  A few exceptions were the •, where I entered a dash (-) to replace it with.

I haven't made regular playlists yet, so I'll see how that goes so far.  I hope that's okay for now Steve.    Thanks for that idea!

Bryan

[canaro99]

Steve,

I downloaded 309 (it still shows HH v76). I first started a synch with existing files on the iPod and MC crashed 10 songs into the synch.

I initialized the pod and started over. 195 songs into the synch and most do not have playlist names attached. The program, however, is still running and converting ape files on the fly. At this rate, it will take several hours (14 gig of files). I'll update in the morning.

[canaro99]

Steve,

254 songs into the synching, including "on-the-fly" conversions of ape to mp3 and MC crashed again.

I'm coming to the conclusion that something does not allow graceful otf conversions when synching.

Do I re-rip, convert the ape to mp3 on my hd and then dump the ape files, or is there some other possibility?

P.S. I just tried to synch several mp3 only playlists and MC crashes within 15 seconds.

[parannoya]

I've been using iTunes for a while and this past weekend decided to give MC9 another try.

So I reformatted the iPod, installed latest build, (whatever it was on Sat.), reformatted the iPod, and started from scratch.

I synched my iPod, but afterward found that my Audible files would not play. They appeared on the iPod, but would not play.  

I like MC9, but I switched back to iTunes. I'll check back later when the bugs are worked out.  (I'd stick around to help particpate in the troubleshooting, but since I had to pay $40 just to try MC9.1, I'll pass

[bvm]

Question: does the "Import iPod data into MC" item on the iPod device's right-click menu perform the first step of what a full Synchronize does when "Sync data to MC" is checked, or is it in any way different?  From its name, I'm assuming it's the same, but the warning dialog that pops up ("This will overwrite MC tags with information from iPod") is slightly alarming.  I'm hoping it really means "This will overwrite MC tags with information from iPod, except where you've made changes in MC more recently than your last synch".

By the way, I've noticed recently that the "deleting files not in synch" phase of the synch seems to be taking a lot longer than it used to -- about 50 seconds for my 2700 files.  Is that unusual when, in fact, no files need to be deleted?  (The rest of the synch takes 4-5 minutes, synching a reported 9298 playlist entries.  I'm hoping that can someday be a lot faster, since most of those playlist entries are simple smartlists that could be tiny dynamic playlists   )

[bvm]

bvm, will and crow

why not insert a bunch of extra spaces between the user-given playlist name and its parenthesized parent.

Done in the next build. I think it looks akward, but we will see what others think.

Looks better to me, thanks (in the 309 build).  I wouldn't mind twice that much space, even (the idea being to maximally hide the parent playlist information when looking at the iPod screen -- to me, if all I see after the real playlist name is whitespace followed by ..., that would be excellent).