Topic: POST IPOD SUPPORT QUESTIONS HERE (Read 44859 times)

rhaehnel · « **Reply #150 on:** December 13, 2003, 05:27:46 pm »

Things are not well in MC 10 land.

I tried to sync up to the pod after ripping a new cd and I lost all my playlists. No big deal, I'll just do a 'rebuild database' and then a resync. No go, playlists are a out of whack w/ songs in playlists where they dont belong. Ok, so I'll just do an 'initialize' and then add a m4p from iTunes(so I can play my purchase songs). iTunes crashes while trying to access the iPod. Ok, I'll download the latest and greatest iTunes- still no go as it still crashes. I guess I'll do a 'restore' from the iPod updater. After doing the 'restore' iTunes can access the 'pod, so I copy over a m4p and do a 'initialize' from MC10. I then do a quck sync of 2 smartlists(127 songs) and ... low and behold the songs get copied over, but the playlists are not on the iPod! It lists a blank line and the 'on the go' playlist, but nothing else. Just for kicks I try to access the iPod from iTunes and, my bad luck continued, iTunes crashes every time.

I guess for the time being I'm just going to try syncing w/ MC10 and deal w/ not being able to play m4p songs- hopefully that will at least work.

I just purchased MC10 and I'm not ready to give up yet, but this is *very* frustrating.

I guess I should add that I'm running 10.0.15 w/ the latest handheld plugin.

a2hoo · « **Reply #151 on:** December 14, 2003, 04:34:25 pm »

steve
on a related topic, will MC 10 support .aac tags? I understand you may not support encoding into .aac but I am getting frustrated with the lack of ability to use tags on .aac in Media Center

I love Media Center but its lack of support for this standard is making it hard for me to keep using it (I rip all of my new tracks into .aac because it is superior to mp3 and ipod freindly.)

Thanks for your efforts here. I can tell this is a tedious project you have and are doing great work! If only apple was nice....

SteveG · « **Reply #152 on:** December 14, 2003, 07:10:31 pm »

Everyone,

Sorry for the continued problems. Can anyone reliably replicate neo's report.....

Quote

* Changing smartlists between the time you hit "sync" and the time the smartlists actually syncs.

Anyone who has a playlist disapearance problem, email me your iTunesDB so I can try to diagnose tomorrow.

Thanks.

steve @ jriver.com

MarkGrigsby · « **Reply #153 on:** December 15, 2003, 08:17:54 am »

Steve,

I can confirm that I have the problem even though I do not make any changes during the sync process - I usually click 'sync' and leave it well alone!

Sorry, can't send my DB today - stuck at work

Mark

SteveG · « **Reply #154 on:** December 15, 2003, 10:16:27 am »

Can anyone duplicate the disappearing playlists with 'Delete unselected files" deselected?

Steve

btvillarin · « **Reply #155 on:** December 15, 2003, 12:21:19 pm »

Crud, I'd try that out, but I'll be busy basically all day. I can't remember if checking that box mattered or not. I'll post back as soon as I can test that...

MarkGrigsby · « **Reply #156 on:** December 15, 2003, 12:50:53 pm »

Steve,

I never use 'delete files' and I have the problem all the time. I used to use this option, but when the playlists disappear it seems to make iPod think that lots of my files should be deletd too! Hence, I can't just to a 'rebuild', I need to retransfer loads of stuff.

Anyhow, I just came hope, synced (with 'sync data to MC' checked - though this seems to make no difference) and lost my playlists. I had made some changes to some (non-smart) playlists, and added 12 songs to a smartlist. iTunes DB in the mail...

Mark.

SteveG · « **Reply #157 on:** December 15, 2003, 04:07:03 pm »

Everyone,

I rewrote a section of code which I think is the probable cause of the problems. Let's hope all is now well.

Please download tonight's v 10 or plugin 9.0.86 and reinitialize and then retest. For anyone who doesn't want the hassle, just wait a few days.

Thanks for the continued help and patience.

a2hoo,

Full support of AAC tags is expensive and not planned at this time.

Steve

btvillarin · « **Reply #158 on:** December 15, 2003, 05:21:01 pm »

Steve:

Where is it? You haven't updated the Plugin page yet...

neo · « **Reply #159 on:** December 15, 2003, 07:54:49 pm »

Steve, Bryan:

I thought maybe it was just labeled wrong, but no, it's still the old version.

n

packyb · « **Reply #160 on:** December 15, 2003, 11:16:47 pm »

Quote

Thanks for getting to this Steve, that seemed to fix one part, but now there is a new set of issues.

The MC decode/encode/transfer process appears to be working. It still stutters/freezes for a few seconds after each time it transfers (The "Please Wait: Analyzing Audio Files..." prompt appears). Also, the "Device Transfer in Progress" only appears for the first transfer of 10 songs. For each apparent subsequent transfer, only the "Please Wait: Analyzing Audio Files..." prompt pops up, and then the songs appear in MC to have been transferred to the iPod.

But now, the new problem is that after I transfer songs and eject my iPod, there appears to be no songs/artists/albums on it. When I go to iPod Settings>About, it shows that the space is being used, but that there are no songs. When I plug the iPod back into my pc and launch MC, MC shows that the songs are on the iPod.

For example, I just uploaded three CDs to the iPod, and in MC everything went well. It shows that there are 40 files, using .1 GB of space and that the iPod has 27.6 GB of Free Space. Then I eject, the iPod, go to Settings>About, and it shows that there is indeed now only 27.6 GB of free space, but that there are no songs on the iPod. Re-attach to pc, and MC shows that the songs are on the iPod.

A couple of other things:

When I go to iPod Updater and perform a Restore, when it gets to the end of the Restore process it displays a prompt that it "Can't Unmount iPod." I can't remember if this is normal, but I have been ejecting it manually, and it seems to work fine.

In XP, when I go to Start>Programs>iPod> Ipod Manager, there is a red "X" through the iPod icon. The Manager still launches, but this is different than it was before.

I apologize for including so much detail, but I guess I am hoping that the more information you have, the better the chance that this problem can be rectified.

wow. i realize there is a lot going on right now, and i wanted to re-post this as a reminder, as my ipod has been out of commission for going on 5 days. i think that my ipod software was corrupted in this process, and i can no longer completely uninstall it (even tried re-installing from the original cd). i tried downloading the latest MC and the plugin, but am having same problem as described above - no songs showing up on ipod.

i guess what i am saying is, i need help.

MarkGrigsby · « **Reply #161 on:** December 16, 2003, 05:32:41 am »

Steve,

So far so good

I downloaded V10 just to test this, initialized, synced, disconnected, added files, synced and... playlists all there! This exact same test has failed many times (apart from 9.0.83 I think), so looking good. I disconnected, changed / added lists, re-synced again and all still working well.

I have my fingers crossed. Thanks very much for all your work here - looks like it has finally resolved it. Worth the $10 upgrade fee just for your efforts!

Mark.

neo · « **Reply #162 on:** December 16, 2003, 08:49:34 am »

packyb:

Reset your pod:

http://www.ipodlounge.com/forums/showthread.php?s=6c8a1b5cd8d30f65cca588244e4a2c06&threadid=14409&highlight=reset

then start from scratch.

n

SteveG · « **Reply #163 on:** December 16, 2003, 09:05:29 am »

Everyone,

Plugin 9.0.86 is now up. Sorry for the delay. Mark, thanks for the positive feedback.

packyb,

Please get the latest plugin or version 10 and then if you are having problems initializing the iPod, format your iPod from Windows. Disconnect and reconnect, run MC and it will prompt you to Initialize. Do this and then you should be good to go. The changes I made should positively affect the conversion problem you had.

btvillarin · « **Reply #164 on:** December 16, 2003, 09:07:28 am »

Thanks Steve!

btvillarin · « **Reply #165 on:** December 16, 2003, 10:27:18 am »

Steve:

Plugin didn't work. I initialized beforehand, sync'd most all my playlists, listened to some songs while in the shower, sync'd again, bye bye playlists. ?

SteveG · « **Reply #166 on:** December 16, 2003, 11:01:38 am »

Bryan,

If you want, send me your iTunesDB. Lets let some others try it out to confirm if the problem is the plugin or something peculiar to you. All seems well for Mark still.

Steve

packyb · « **Reply #167 on:** December 16, 2003, 11:50:37 am »

That pretty much solved everything Steve. Thanks!

One minor thing: When transferring to the device, it shows the "Transferring Files To Device" pop-up for the transfer of the first 10 songs, but for each subsequent transfer, there is just the pop-up "Analyzing Audio Files..." Just cosmetic, but the important thing is that it seems to work perfectly - which is all i really care about.

MarkGrigsby · « **Reply #168 on:** December 16, 2003, 01:16:57 pm »

Steve,

Looks like I spoke too soon.. I imported another CD, synced and playlists gone

As I was having a few other bug issues with V10, I decided to go back to V9.16 for now. I reinitialized once more using V9 / plugin 9.0.86, followed exactly the same steps as I did this morning, and my playlists went. I thought maybe it was something different in V9 / V10, so I went back to V10, reinitialized, did exactly the same as this morning, and playlists disappeared...

Seems totally random cause, but happens maybe 70% of the time.

Maybe you could please add some logging, to finally get to the bottom of it? I'm still happy to help test as much as I can, but until there's some definite worth to the testing (e.g. to produce log files for you), I'm running out of patience (with the syncing, not with you!)

Cheers,

Mark.

rhaehnel · « **Reply #169 on:** December 16, 2003, 06:21:23 pm »

It sure looks good from my end!

I installed 10.0.16 and reinitialized my iPod and after throwing everything but the kitchen sink at it my playlists are still present and accurate!

I tried like crazy to break this build- I must have sync'd 7 or 8 times, I added and deleted songs from smartlists and regular playlists, I imported new songs into MC and deleted some also, I sync'd to MC from the pod and did a sync w/ 'delete files' checked and after all that all my playlists are still there!

Thanks steve!

NickM · « **Reply #170 on:** December 16, 2003, 06:55:09 pm »

MC recognises my iPod, lists the songs on it ( no previous synhronistation ). As soon as I click on the "+" to expand the iPod (listed as "F"), MC exits. I have tried this with 91308, 91310 and 91316 with the same results. I have tried it using a Firewire connection and a USB connection, again the same problem.

I have preivously installed various versions of MC10, but went back to 9 as I thought this was the cause of the problem. Could MC10 hav else soemthing behind? Or is this something else...

nick

Media Center Registered 9.1.310 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\

Microsoft Windows XP Workstation 5.1 Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
Intel Unknown 595 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 523 MB, Free - 198 MB

Internet Explorer: 6.0.2800.1106 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2800.1276 / Shell32.dll: 6.00.2800.1233 (xpsp2.030604-1804) / wnaspi32.dll: Internal ASPI Layer

Ripping / Drive E: 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 E: TEAC DW-224E Addr: 1:0:0 Speed:24 MaxSpeed:24 BurnProof:No
Test mode: No / Eject after writing: Yes / Direct decoding: No / Write CD-Text: No
Use playback settings: No / Normalization: None

aussie1 · « **Reply #171 on:** December 16, 2003, 08:03:45 pm »

I just purchased an iPod and I'm setting it up to work with MC 9.1.308 using plug-in 9.0.86.

My first question: When I expand the contents of the drive letter, I see icons for Albums, Artists, Genres, and Playlists. Is there one for composer? Do you plan to add it?

Thanks,
S

neo · « **Reply #172 on:** December 16, 2003, 08:10:02 pm »

Steve:

My playlist disappearing problem now appears to be fixed. However, my ratings are getting blown away. This also happens when I make any rating changes on the pod and try to sync them back into MC. I sent you the itunesdb.

n

a2hoo · « **Reply #173 on:** December 16, 2003, 08:53:12 pm »

Steve
I understand ..ac tags are expensive. But if MC 10 does not support tags for .aac (even if it is read only) then your ipod support is very very weak. I know you are working your a** off on getting this plugin to work. It is a reality that many (if not most) ipod users will have .aac tags in their library at some point. If they cant use MC to play them ,then what good is MC??? Not supporting .aac tags, means I cor ther users can't have MC assign these files to playilists. This would be a problem.

Please reconsider this move. In all seriousness, if you cant do .aac, then your hard work is of little value.

NickM · « **Reply #174 on:** December 17, 2003, 05:00:29 am »

Not sure if anyone has done extensive research on this, but I had to restore my iPod from HDD... First time I did it with Firewire, then as I had plenty of time on my hands, reset it and did it again with USB2.
For 4,800 MP3 files, the USB2 restore was 35% faster.
I did not use MC, just explorer with the whole of the iPod_Control directory.

nick

bdjohns1 · « **Reply #175 on:** December 17, 2003, 12:59:28 pm »

Quote from: a2hoo on December 16, 2003, 08:53:12 pm

Steve
I understand ..ac tags are expensive. But if MC 10 does not support tags for .aac (even if it is read only) then your ipod support is very very weak. I know you are working your a** off on getting this plugin to work. It is a reality that many (if not most) ipod users will have .aac tags in their library at some point. If they cant use MC to play them ,then what good is MC??? Not supporting .aac tags, means I cor ther users can't have MC assign these files to playilists. This would be a problem.

Please reconsider this move. In all seriousness, if you cant do .aac, then your hard work is of little value.

Actually, it is of value, as long as MC9/10 is all you're using for music (as I am) - AAC file info can be written to MC's own library, which is used to sync tracks to the iPod, so the iPod sees the basic info correctly. Sure, you might need to fill in the genre info, but you can use "fill in properties from filename" to get the essentials. Playback works perfectly, provided you have the iTunes software installed - I've been ripping all my albums into AAC format since that got working last month.

The issue is cost, quite frankly. I think Dolby is the company which owns the AAC codec, and they charge pretty steep prices. Apple can afford to eat it, since they're making mad $$$ on every iPod they sell. JRiver probably can't. Even as a paid add-on, for the number of people who use it, it would be expensive. Other programs (foobar2000, etc) will tag files, but I kinda doubt they're doing it entirely legally. Same reason something like FAAC/FAAD isn't bundled - the legality is questionable at best. The only legal ways to encode AAC on a PC AFAIK are:

1) Nero 6
2) iTunes
3) QuickTime 6.4 Pro (which can do batch conversions using "autoit" or some other automation script program)

I use the external encoder hooks in MC9 with a script that interfaces to QT to do all of my encoding, then tag genre, year, etc by hand if needed.

Sure, I'd like to drop an iTMS song right into MC and have all the tags work perfectly, but I'm willing to live with the current situation and keep the cost of MC in line.

schwaa · « **Reply #176 on:** December 17, 2003, 02:14:23 pm »

Sound Check... It has been a while since I have checked the boards on this, but is there any use of turning Sound Check On at this point with Media Center .316?

Also, on a non-Media Center interface question, has anyone used the Alarm Clock on iPod? I cannot get it to do anything but Beep. If I try to change the sound by selecting a playlist, it just goes back to Sound = Beep.

SteveG · « **Reply #177 on:** December 17, 2003, 03:49:24 pm »

Everyone,

rhaehnel, packyb, and neo (regarding playlists), appear all set with playlist issue. I just posted plugin 9.0.87 to try to resolve outstanding issues for Mark, neo (ratings), and Bryan.

NickM,

Please try again with 9.0.87 and initialize from MC. If, after the intialize, you still cannot expand the +, try formatting from Windows, disconnect and reconnect the iPod and then initialize from MC.

aussie1,

This is possible and can be done in the future.

a2hoo,

We have not exhausted all avenues to get this to work, but the simple solution of licensing is too expensive.

bdjohns1,

Thanks for your post.

schwaa,

I do not think sound check will make a difference. I have not solved how to get the alarm to play a playlist yet.

MarkGrigsby · « **Reply #178 on:** December 17, 2003, 05:02:52 pm »

Steve,

Without a re-initialize, I did some syncing (added files) - worked fine. Looking good, as it almost always fails that particular test. I wanted to delete some files from iPod, so I removed a couple of playlists, synced with 'delete files', and again all was well.

I was so confident, thought I'd do some major changes to my playlists (renaming / creating / moving files around). Next time I synced (with 'sync data' checked but not 'delete files'), it told me 'some files are not in MC database', but rather than a file list it just had a line - - - - - - - - . This was odd, as I had last time deleted files during sync, and had not deleted any files from MC in between times. After this sync, my playlists disappeared.

I will try in the morning from a freshly re-initialized iPod, and let you know how that goes. Maybe some of my deletions etc caused the problem. I did delete something from MC and re-import, but I synced after the delete before the re-import...

Thanks anyway - hope I have good news tomorrow!

Mark.

neo · « **Reply #179 on:** December 17, 2003, 07:53:07 pm »

Steve:

Same as yesterday. Sending you itunesdb.

n

btvillarin · « **Reply #180 on:** December 17, 2003, 09:19:52 pm »

Steve:

Here's my results so far...

1. Initialize
2. Sync "Best" SL
*Disconnected iPod, playlists OK*
3. Rated 5 songs
4. Sync "Best" and "Rock Stuff" SL
5. Rated 5 songs
6. Sync "Best", "Rock Stuff" and "NR" SL
7. Rated 5 songs
8. Sync "Best", "Rock Stuff", "NR" and "Pop n Stuff" SL
*Disconnected iPod, playlists OK*
9. Rated 5 songs
10. Sync "Best", "Rock Stuff", "NR", "Pop n Stuff" and "Comedy" SL
*Disconnected iPod, playlists OK*
11. Rated 10 songs from "NR" SL on iPod
12. Sync "Best", "Rock Stuff", "NR", "Pop n Stuff" and "Comedy" SL
*Disconnected iPod, playlists OK*
13. Sync "Best", "Rock Stuff", "NR", "Pop n Stuff", "Comedy", "3+", "Best 12 Days" and "1 Week Old" SL
*Disconnected iPod, playlists OK*

So far, so good(?)

mindracing · « **Reply #181 on:** December 17, 2003, 09:42:01 pm »

Quote from: schwaa on December 17, 2003, 02:14:23 pm

Also, on a non-Media Center interface question, has anyone used the Alarm Clock on iPod? I cannot get it to do anything but Beep. If I try to change the sound by selecting a playlist, it just goes back to Sound = Beep.

I've found the same. Can anyone try it using a playlist that has been created using iTUNES and see if that works?

I have been attempting to use it with the Belkin recorder that has a speaker, with the same results as schaa. I did get it to work when I had iTUNES installed however.

btvillarin · « **Reply #182 on:** December 17, 2003, 11:39:46 pm »

14. Listened to some songs on iPod, maybe 20 from various playlists and select Artists (Linkin Park)

15. Sync'd "Best", "Rock Stuff", "NR", "Pop n Stuff", "Comedy", "3+", "Best 12 Days" and "1 Week Old" SL
*Playlists Choke*

Hey Steve, perhaps you'd like to run a Remote Assistance via MSN Messenger to see what the matter is with me? *LoL* This bug is frustrating, I can't imagine how much more for you. $:-\$ I'm glad you've been stickin with it, though.

NickM · « **Reply #183 on:** December 18, 2003, 02:36:25 am »

SteveG,
Many thanks, loaded 9.0.87 and that did the trick.

Suggestion for a (small) additional feature. From what I see, rescuing information from your iPod back to a PC can be done two ways; by re-building MC or by viewing the files on the iPod and selecting copy to PC.

I have just had to do this and did not chose the first option as there were damaged files on the iPod – and I didn’t know which ones. So, I chose the second option , but all the files were copied to the PC with no directory structure. This meant, that if a song was stored with name only and similar names ran across different albums, I had no other choice but to overwrite…

So, I would suggest that the copy to PC option has a facility to rebuild a directory structure on the destination drive. Failing that, an option to rename duplicates so there would be no overwrites.

nick

gpvillamil · « **Reply #184 on:** December 18, 2003, 03:55:52 am »

Just noticed that the iPod volume adjustment now lets you go over 12db for Replay Gain - nice, works good.

No problems with playlists on my end.

A feature request: when using Album Artist (auto) on a sync, is it possible to rename the track name with the artist appended at the end?

So in the library it would be:

Name: Misirlou
Artist: Dick Dale
Album: Pulp Fiction

and on the iPod it would be:

Name: Misirlou - Dick Dale
Artist: multiple artists
Album: Pulp Fiction

Since the iPod scrolls long titles, the artist info at the end of the song would eventually be visible. This way we get benefit of tidier artist list, without losing artist info on compilations.

Does this make sense?

Thanks for the great work!

MarkGrigsby · « **Reply #185 on:** December 18, 2003, 05:03:26 am »

Steve,

This really seems a bit random for me. I would say that the reliability has maybe improved to ~50%, but not much more :

Test A

1) Init
2) Sync
3) Disconnect - OKAY
4) Import music
5) Sync
6) Disconnect - OKAY
7) Import music

Sync
9) Disconnect - PLAYLISTS GONE

Test B

1) Init
2) Sync
3) Disconnect - OKAY
4) Import music
5) Sync
6) Disconnect - PLAYLISTS GONE

I restored my MC library, to start at the same 'position 1' in each test. Also, I used the same files in the 'Import Music' on both. No idea at all why one failed and one not.

Same as for btvallarin - more than happy for you to use my iPod / PC as a test. Netmeeting etc would be fine. I work as an IT manager, so spend much of my time in Netmeetings...

gpvillamil · « **Reply #186 on:** December 18, 2003, 08:07:16 am »

Oh, and a quick one: I know you added some extra space between the playlist name and the group (in parentheses), even though you thought it looked funny. I agree - take away the extra spaces. My playlist names are all just long enough that I get (... right at the edge of screen.

Any thoughts?

Madcow · « **Reply #187 on:** December 18, 2003, 12:30:44 pm »

Importing ratings back into MC from the iPod no longer appears to be working under 9.0.87.

I rated a couple of albums today and the ratings won't transfer back to my PC when I select "Import iPod data to MC". This has always worked previously.

SteveG · « **Reply #188 on:** December 18, 2003, 02:15:29 pm »

Everyone,

I am going to list current feature requests which I can get to eventually so we are on the same page ( in no particular order):

1) Rework the Playlist path in parentheses
2) Add option for artist to append to Name.
3) Alarm playlist playback
4) AAC tags
5) Dynamic Playlist support
6) Composer listing in tree.
7) Rename on copy from iPod to PC to avoid overwrites

Madcow and neo,

Using 9.1.316 and 9.0.87 plugin, I cannot duplicate this. Please try a simple test. Change the rating on one song on iPod when it is disconnected from the PC. Right click on iPod drive and select "Import iPod data to MC" and check if the rating is updated in MC. Neo, thanks for the iTunesDB, but the rating info is in your PlayCounts file. No need to send that yet.

Mark and Bryan,

Playlists are better for most, but obviously not for you all the time. Could you try the following:

1) Create a new library and import some songs in. Sync them to iPod. Make sure all is well.

2) Import more songs. Try again.

I am working off a theory that there is something amiss with your MC library which may cause the problem. If you could do this test, it would help.

Thanks.

Steve

Madcow · « **Reply #189 on:** December 18, 2003, 02:29:59 pm »

Quote from: SteveG on December 18, 2003, 02:15:29 pm

Using 9.1.316 and 9.0.87 plugin, I cannot duplicate this. Please try a simple test. Change the rating on one song on iPod when it is disconnected from the PC. Right click on iPod drive and select "Import iPod data to MC" and check if the rating is updated in MC.

Now I'm really confused. I just tried this and it worked - changed one song from three stars to one star, imported the data back to MC and it changed on MC.

Yet the two albums that I rated today - which have both been on my iPod for a while, and there's nothing unusual about them - aren't transferring. They're rated on the Pod, but on MC they are still unrated. So something is amiss, but I have absolutely no idea what.

FYI, this is using 10.0.18. I don't really want to have to download and reinstall 9.1.316 unless I absolutely have to....

EDIT. I've just had a thought. My PC DB and iPod DB are slightly out of sync (I've ripped a few albums into MC which I haven't yet transferred to my iPod. I didn't want to sync in the direction of the Pod until I'd transferred today's ratings back to the PC, in case I lost them). Would this make a difference? Usually I'm diligent about only applying changes to one device and syncing before making any changes to the other one... but maybe the fact there are extra albums in the PC library that the iPod isn't expecting is confusing the sync of ratings back to the PC? I don't know how this works so I can't say, but I wonder if this is a possibility.

btvillarin · « **Reply #190 on:** December 18, 2003, 03:00:40 pm »

Steve:

Is there a minimum amount of playlists I need to create? I'll be trying this later on tonight, I believe.

I'm also starting to think my library is messed up...or something. I'd be really ticked though, because I've rated quite a number of songs. *shrug*

Thanks for keeping an open mind to the community, no matter what MC bashers say.

Bryan

SteveG · « **Reply #191 on:** December 18, 2003, 04:54:36 pm »

Bryan, Mark and Playlist problem people,

Please initialize and get 9.0.88. After examining Mark's latest iTunesDB I noticed a problem that MC listed more files than iPod did. I figured out what could cause this and repaired it. If you do have any further problems, please examine the filecount as reported by MC and then compare to iPod.

MadCow,

When you synched data from iPod to PC did you get a warning that certain files do not exist in MC? This would happen if you transferred files from MC to iPod, rerated them on iPod, deleted and reimported the files into MC and then tried to sync data from iPod to MC.

Anyway, another possibility is that you modified the file in MC (i.e. changed any tag, etc) after your last sync. MC is set to not overwrite the rating in MC if the file is modified in MC since the last sync. This is most likely the explanation.

Steve

btvillarin · « **Reply #192 on:** December 18, 2003, 05:09:35 pm »

Steve:

Request - [Time Saver] Can you please add an advanced option in Columns to Show, so we can use check boxes to choose which columns we'd like...without having to reopen the menu each time.

In regards to the new plugin, I'll try that one out as soon as I can, definitely tonight. I initialized and created a new library, for MP3s only, and tranfserred a bunch over. Should I continue in testing with my fresh library and your previous theory, or test the new plugin? (Well, the new plugin is installed, but I guess I mean testing the problem you think has to do with our personal library.)

Thanks Steve!

- Bryan

Madcow · « **Reply #193 on:** December 18, 2003, 05:41:05 pm »

Quote from: SteveG on December 18, 2003, 04:54:36 pm

Anyway, another possibility is that you modified the file in MC (i.e. changed any tag, etc) after your last sync. MC is set to not overwrite the rating in MC if the file is modified in MC since the last sync. This is most likely the explanation.

Aha. This'll be it - I spent some time the other day consolidating my Genre tags on MC. Serves me right for not being more careful and keeping the PC and iPod better synced.

Thanks for all your efforts - they are really appreciated and I'm sorry this has been a bit of a red herring. I didn't realise MC behaved in this way.

neo · « **Reply #194 on:** December 18, 2003, 08:05:17 pm »

Steve:

Quote

Right click on iPod drive and select "Import iPod data to MC" and check if the rating is updated in MC.

What can I say . . . It is working now, with no observed difference in my actions. I will report back in a couple of days or when I have another problem, whichever comes first.

Keeping my fingers crossed,

n

btvillarin · « **Reply #195 on:** December 18, 2003, 10:30:42 pm »

I wonder if the following method would be a nice workaround to help create a fresh library and keep the ratings intact...

1. Make sure that all your MP3s have a blank comment field.

2. Expand the Media Library tree, and the Audio tree, and select Rating.

3. Click a rating (except the ? ones).

4. Select all the songs that show up.

5. Press Alt + Enter, and the Tag Info window should pop up.

6. The Comment area should be blank, while most the others should indicate <varies>. So, whatever rating section you're under, enter that number in the Comment area.

As far as I know, the Comment tag is stored on the MP3 itself. So, when you create the new library, you can create smartlists based on the comments, and setting the ratings that way.

Would this work?

ashawley · « **Reply #196 on:** December 18, 2003, 11:51:06 pm »

But Bryan, am I missing something? Why go through that hastle? MC9 stores the ratings in the MP3 tags, so if you clear your library and then reimport the tunes the ratings will show up.

As long as you tag and import the songs using MC9.

Adam

btvillarin · « **Reply #197 on:** December 18, 2003, 11:59:12 pm »

Whoa really!?! Man, what a relief! I didn't know it was... Boy, do I feel stupid.

SteveG · « **Reply #198 on:** December 19, 2003, 09:31:14 am »

Good morning all,

The sun is shining here in Mpls and there don't appear to be any fires to put out in regards to iPod. If anyone has problems in the near future, please be sure to get plugin 9.0.88 and we can go from there.

Bryan,

Your suggestion for 'Columns to show' will appear in MC 10 before too long.

Steve

btvillarin · « **Reply #199 on:** December 19, 2003, 09:47:26 am »

Awesome, thanks Steve!

I wasn't aware that the ratings were stored in the MP3s. If I would've known (asked), I probably would have reinstalled and reimported them to see if my library was messed up somewhere.

As of now, things really do appear to be well now! I'm not sure if it was the plugin or the fresh new library, but man...I'm pretty stoked right now.

The only thing I've done so far is rated a few, sync'd, rated a few more, sync'd, listened to some on my iPod only going to bed, sync'd right now...and things are fine. Perhaps there'll be less posting in this thread now while we wait for you to crack dynamic playlists?

Ah, bliss......

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