Topic: IPOD SUPPORT (Read 41655 times)

SteveG · « **Reply #150 on:** June 30, 2004, 11:14:49 am »

Bill,

Sorry for the delay. There are many projects going on here at once. My best guess is there will be a new build before the end of the week.

Steve

bjevers · « **Reply #151 on:** July 01, 2004, 10:42:58 pm »

Thanks ph_bradley and everyone else, worked great.

Madcow · « **Reply #152 on:** July 07, 2004, 12:08:08 pm »

Steve, any idea at all when 150 is coming out? Having spent several weeks trying to help you track down the ratings bug, I'm now mad keen to get hold of the fix and get back to rating my tracks. It's been an awfully long time between builds.

SteveG · « **Reply #153 on:** July 08, 2004, 08:27:53 am »

Madcow,

Sorry, but I am not sure. We keep thinking any day but it has been delayed.

Steve

sirshambling · « **Reply #154 on:** July 12, 2004, 05:12:21 pm »

Steve,

Been waiting for Build 150 to sort out my strange negative and "year" problems in the "last played" field so after d/loading it went straight to connecting the Ipod.

I cleared the field in MC10 so that all my files now showed "never played" and synched to the Ipod wit hthe "send data to MC" option UNTICKED as I believed that MC would then overwrite the gibberish on the Ipod. But it didn't - still the same silly numbers.

So I tried to clear the filed on the Ipod while it was still connected and although the filed showed "never played" when I synched with "send data to MC" option TICKED the "never played" field in MC was overwritten with gibberish again and the Ipod showed the same false data.

So I don't where to go from here - can you help me to get both the Ipod and MC at least showing "never played". Also will the Ipod now keep proper records of "last played" so I won't get into this state again?

TIA. John.

park · « **Reply #155 on:** July 12, 2004, 08:34:56 pm »

Sorry to cross post, but i figure my bug post should be here too:

Still seeing negative numbers for last played on ipod.

When viewing the contents of the ipod iteself (not tried synching), the last played dates for my recently played songs show -5****** and then songs that havent been played show from 4-30 years ago.

This happens whether i set the time zone on the ipod to Tokyo or Tokyo DST.
(However, if i switch between these time zones the last played dates do seem to change. In Tokyo time zone some of my files show as never played, but in Tokyo DST all of the files appear to have been played within the last 36 years. Pretty good going considering I'm 25)

SteveG · « **Reply #156 on:** July 13, 2004, 10:19:57 am »

John and park,

The problem is that there is old corrupt data in your iTunesDB file. One solution would be to reinitialize your iPod. If you don't want to do this, try deleting your Play Counts file (in iPod_Control\iTunes) and then do a 'Rebuild database from iPod' in the right click menu for your iPod in MC. This will remove your playlists and reset your files with no play count and no last played time. Subsequent syncs should then be OK.

Another option is to delete the files with the messed up values and then resend them to iPod (assuming the values are corrected in MC).

Steve

sirshambling · « **Reply #157 on:** July 13, 2004, 12:59:27 pm »

Thanks Steve.

Tried the deletion of the playcount file but "upload info from Ipod" stuck at aboout 20% and froze MC - got the "not responding" message from Task Manager.

So I've initialised and starting again.

One thing I thought was strange though - the "number plays" field which is populated correctly in MC shows a zero on the Ipod. I've synched with the "send data to MC" unticked so I thought the number of plays would be transferred correctly.

SteveG · « **Reply #158 on:** July 13, 2004, 01:23:25 pm »

John,

The playcounts data does not sync from MC to iPod. Number of plays implies the number of times a file has played on iPod since the last sync. After the data is synched into MC, the count is reset to 0.

Steve

sirshambling · « **Reply #159 on:** July 13, 2004, 01:26:36 pm »

Thanks again Steve, I understand.

sirshambling · « **Reply #160 on:** July 14, 2004, 03:45:27 pm »

Steve,

I'm sad to report that - even after a new initialisation yesterday - all the files on the Ipod are again showing massive minus numbers in the "last played" column.

The exceptions are the tracks I played today which seem to be showing the right time. Everything else is completely up the spout! Again!

I haven't been near Itunes - just initialised yesterday, synched all my tracks and playlists from MC, played a few tracks from a playlist on the Ipod and reconnected it.

Can you suggest anything else? Getting a bit frustrated by this now as it worked so well for so long with previous builds of MC10.

Thanks. John.

SteveG · « **Reply #161 on:** July 14, 2004, 04:20:08 pm »

John,

Lets narrow down the scope of what is different between what you are doing and what I am. Here is a test that works flawlessly for me. Please try it and let me know the results....

1) Initialize iPod.
2) Create a playlist with 10 files.
3) Remove all Playcount and last played date info for the 10 files.
4) Sync.
5) Unplug iPod and play some files.
6) Reconnect iPod and look at the files from within MC. Verify that playcounts and last played times are correct
7) Open the sync dialogue. Note that the "Sync data to MC' box is checked.

Start sync.
9) Look in MC to verify that files in the playlist are all accurately updated with the correct last played time.
10) Disconnect iPod.
11) Play some additional songs.
12) repeat steps 6-9.

Please let me know the results of this test and lets go from there.

SouthsideIrish · « **Reply #162 on:** July 15, 2004, 09:53:00 am »

First sync

Played Songs 1, 2, and 3 completely, and they were updated correctly on the sync. Song 4 was stopped before it was completely played, and ended up getting a negative number in the last played.

Second Sync

Played songs 4 and 5 completly. All songs in playlist except the most recently played now have a negative number.

sirshambling · « **Reply #163 on:** July 15, 2004, 01:25:38 pm »

Hello Steve,

Thanks very much for the detailed instructions.

Followed them to the letter and:-

steps 1 thru 8 (ie the first synch/play/check/synch) worked fine. Files on both Ipod and MC10 showed the correct data in "last played" and "number plays" fields.

but repeating the process as you suggested (ie steps 6 thru 9) for the second time showed that all the tracks on the Ipod had the correct 1 or 0 in the "number plays" field, but only the ones played had the correct time in the "last played" field. The others (ie the ones that I HADN'T played with 0 in the "number plays" field) have got minus numbers ranging from -278512:36.44 to -578566:23:18 on them in the "last played" field.

Really weird how it worked once then didn't work a second time!

In view of this I haven't synched these back to MC again.

Hope this makes some sense and that you can figure out whats happening! Thanks once again.

John

SteveG · « **Reply #164 on:** July 15, 2004, 01:35:02 pm »

SouthsideIrish,

When you say songs 1, 2 and 3 played you appear to have gotten to step 5. At step 6, when you reonnected, did song 4 or any file appear with an incorrect time when viewed in MC before you synched?

Thanks,

Steve

park · « **Reply #165 on:** July 15, 2004, 06:45:57 pm »

I have done an initialize and synhed too. Then before even playing any files on the ipod. I did a resynch because I changed my mind about some albums i wanted on the ipod. But I got negative numbers come back again.

I will try Steves steps again later.

SouthsideIrish · « **Reply #166 on:** July 15, 2004, 07:52:44 pm »

Before the sync, all files appeared with the correct time in MC10. After the sync the only file that had a negative number was the one track that was not completely played.

The next time, before the sync, tracks 1,2,3 had a correct value in last played on MC10, and track 4 had a negative number. I had played tracks 5 and 6 to completion and stopped track 7 early. On this sync, all last played values were set to negative numbers, including the onese never played. The only correct one was track 6, which was the last one played.

Bill

SteveG · « **Reply #167 on:** July 16, 2004, 09:42:51 am »

park,

Did you reset the values in MC before the sync. If they were corrupt before the sync and after the intialize, they will continue to be wrong.

Bill,

Quote

Before the sync, all files appeared with the correct time in MC10. After the sync the only file that had a negative number was the one track that was not completely played.

I want to clarify this point. Before the sync , when you viewed the files on iPod with MC 10 they had the correct time? In other words, when you clicked on the playlist under iPod in MC 10 you saw the files with the correct times reflected for what you just played on iPod before you reconnected?

Steve

SteveG · « **Reply #168 on:** July 16, 2004, 10:01:36 am »

Everyone,

If you are having any problems, please click on this link and get the latest update to make sure you have Plugin 9.0.125.

http://ftp.jriver.com/pub/downloads/music/tmp/hh_portable.mjp

Thanks.

Steve

SouthsideIrish · « **Reply #169 on:** July 16, 2004, 10:47:25 am »

After I installed the new plugin the problems have seemed to go away. I'm on the fifth sync, and everything looks good.

Bill

SteveG · « **Reply #170 on:** July 16, 2004, 12:43:18 pm »

Everyone,

FYI.. Bill (SouthsideIrish)'s problems appear to have gone away with the latest plugin. So in trying to solve this, please be sure you have Plugin 9.0.125.

Steve

sirshambling · « **Reply #171 on:** July 16, 2004, 05:06:12 pm »

Steve,

The new plug in seems to have done the trick - many thanks.

I've synched/resynched a couple of playlists now and all is well.

Further more extensive testing over the weekend.

John.

pank2002 · « **Reply #172 on:** July 18, 2004, 01:04:27 pm »

Steve,
I get a messaged telling me that the DB is too new for this version of MC (v11 build 29) and afterward MC will close down (not crashing.)

I don't know what the problem is. Last version I used was build 23 but it's outdated. I will try the build prior to 28 and see if I can transfer with it.

Thanks,
Rasmus

BTW: I tried to use the plugin you posted earlier but it didn't work.

SteveG · « **Reply #173 on:** July 19, 2004, 10:21:14 am »

Rasmus,

Is that message as soon as you try to open MC, or when you click on iPod?

Steve

pank2002 · « **Reply #174 on:** July 19, 2004, 12:12:26 pm »

I get it when I click on the ipod. I think I got a chrash if I tried to go through the action window, I'm not sure as I have downgraded. build 28 hat the same problem btw. but build 25 seems to work.

SteveG · « **Reply #175 on:** July 19, 2004, 05:15:30 pm »

Rasmus,

Could you check it out with the next build of MC 11 and let me know if it is still there for you?

Thanks,

Steve

packyb · « **Reply #176 on:** July 21, 2004, 05:27:23 pm »

My music is stored on my hard drive in .ape format and is converted when I send it to my iPod. Normally, I convert to .mp3 at 192 bitrate. I decided I wanted to send some music in .mp3 VBR - to try it out. After sending the music to the iPod - converting to .mp3 VBR - I look at the filetype field for those songs, they still read .mp3. Is that correct or should the read .mp3 VBR?

Also, in the Handheld Encoding options at the "Transfer" button stage, there is a choice to set the encoding as "MP3 Encoder VBR" and I have selected the quality as "High." However, next to "MP3 Encoder VBR," there is an "Options" button and when I select that I can choose "Normal," "High Speed" or "High Quality?" Not sure what to do there?

Thanks.

pank2002 · « **Reply #177 on:** July 21, 2004, 05:50:27 pm »

MP3 VBR is still .mp3. VBR=variable bit rate

You should use custum (As quality) and click option and type --aps or --alt-preset fast standard

packyb · « **Reply #178 on:** July 21, 2004, 07:36:38 pm »

Quote

MP3 VBR is still .mp3. VBR=variable bit rate

You should use custum (As quality) and click option and type --aps or --alt-preset fast standard

Thanks for this repsonse. I was mostly trying to confirm that the filetype field didn't indicate that it was .mp3 VBR - but I realize that I can actually just look at the bitrate. why use alt-preset fast standard?

I am still hoping for an explanation of media center's various handheld encoding option settings. Basically, I am willing to sacrifice # of songs, for quality, and just want to know the best way to set that up. (For example, when I chose the 192 bitrate for my .mp3 files, it was considered the minimum bitrate for audiiophiles.)

wickesy · « **Reply #179 on:** July 22, 2004, 02:10:59 pm »

Hi Steve,

I decided to bite the bullet and try MC 11 but I am having problems connecting my Ipod. Here is what I have done:

1) Installed MC11 Build 29 alongside my MC10
2) Started MC11
3) Connected my Ipod. Windows XP Home Edition recognises it as an Ipod and I can see the Ipod_Control, notes folders etc. Windows assigns drive letter K:
4) Click on the + next to Drives and Devices in MC11. MC shows Ipod (K:)
5) Click on Ipod (K:). MC11 states "MC11 has not stored file information for this device. This may take a while but will only need to be done once".
6) Click OK. The view scheme is blank and nothing appears to be happening.

I assume MC should be reading the files on the Ipod but there is no progress bar and even after leaving it for 5 minutes nothing shows up. If I right click on Ipod (K:) I don't see any of the Initialize Ipod or Eject Ipod entries that I am used to from MC10.

Enable WMDM support is NOT checked in options.

I have installed plugin 9.0.125 that you refer to above but that has not helped.

Any ideas? Sorry for the length of the post but I wanted to try and cover everything that you might need to know.

SteveG · « **Reply #180 on:** July 23, 2004, 01:52:43 pm »

packyb,

Quote

I am still hoping for an explanation of media center's various handheld encoding option settings.

Sorry for the delay.

What would you like to know?

wickesy,

Plugin 9.0.125 will definitely not work. You will need to install the next build of MC 11 (11.0.30) which unfortunately is not happening today. Please look for it next week.

Steve

packyb · « **Reply #181 on:** July 23, 2004, 02:19:07 pm »

Quote

What would you like to know?

if i am encoding music into .mp3 VBR, i have been told to select custom and use alt-preset fast standard (both of which i have done). just curious what that means, and how it relates to selecting "High" as the quality?

also, if i were to select "High" as the qualiuty, next to "MP3 Encoder VBR," there is an "Options" button and when I select that I can choose "Normal," "High Speed" or "High Quality?" Not sure what the difference is.

all of this is based on my perameters of sacrificing # of songs for increased quality. (prior to this i encoded my music as .mp3 at 192 bitrate.)

SteveG · « **Reply #182 on:** July 23, 2004, 02:35:57 pm »

packyb..

here is info on VBR from our help file....

Quote

VBR Encoding. You have five bitrate choices to balance compact size vs. sound quality:

o Low. Highest compression. This might be a good choice to fit the maximum number of tracks on a portable MP3 player for example.

o Normal/Low. Near CD quality. This would also be a good choice for portable MP3 players.

o Normal. CD quality. This may be the best choice for most people especially for listening to music on your computer.

o Normal/High. CD quality. This might be a better choice for listening to music on home stereo equipment.

o High. Archival quality. This would be a good choice for top quality home stereo equipment.

If you selet the 'Options' button you can add custom settings to what you selected in the first option.

Steve

packyb · « **Reply #183 on:** July 26, 2004, 10:15:17 am »

thanks steve.

wickesy · « **Reply #184 on:** July 27, 2004, 02:42:15 pm »

Hi Steve,

Just installed MC 11 Build 34 and I can now sync playlists using the Action Window. There is however no synchronize option when I right click on the Ipod under the Drives & Devices branch of the tree. Is this intentional?

SteveG · « **Reply #185 on:** July 27, 2004, 05:00:31 pm »

Yes. The thought was to make the synchronization more obvious by moving it to the Action Window and then remove the duplicate functionality from the right click.

Steve

Seviien · « **Reply #186 on:** July 31, 2004, 02:38:54 pm »

I dont believe MC is updating the playlists on ipod properly.

I have some lists that shuffle in 15 random songs. The playlists are designed to stay at 50 songs apiece, but since installing the lastest build or so, they've been incrementally increasing each time i synch.

I can post my itunes and mc databases if it would be at all helpful.

Seviien · « **Reply #187 on:** August 01, 2004, 08:17:43 pm »

Here's the link for for my ipod and MC databases.

http://home.comcast.net/~zbryanknight/iPodTest.zip

SteveG · « **Reply #188 on:** August 01, 2004, 10:53:23 pm »

Seviien,

I can look at this more closely tomorrow, but when you are synching, do you have the option for 'Delete unselected files' (or something similar to this) checked? If not, this is why the playlists are increasing in size.

Steve

Seviien · « **Reply #189 on:** August 02, 2004, 11:21:28 am »

I'm fairly certain that MC is set to delete unselected songs. Upon every synch, a group of about 150 songs is deleted.
I believe the problem has to do with how the itunes db is written too, since the ipod is misreporting how many songs it has on it. i.e. the number in its "about" page differs from what MC is reporting.

SteveG · « **Reply #190 on:** August 02, 2004, 01:34:32 pm »

Quote

I have some lists that shuffle in 15 random songs. The playlists are designed to stay at 50 songs apiece, but since installing the lastest build or so, they've been incrementally increasing each time i synch.

Lets focus on this. Are you saying you have a smartlist with a limit of 50 songs but after a few syncs to iPod with 'Delete unselected files' checked the playlist appears on iPod with more than 50 songs?

Steve

Seviien · « **Reply #191 on:** August 02, 2004, 04:29:52 pm »

yes.

firmare 1.4 if that helps.

SteveG · « **Reply #192 on:** August 03, 2004, 09:16:51 am »

Seviien,

Is this a relatively new problem for you?

I cannot duplicate it with firmware 1.4. Try creating a playlist of 10 files. Sync it. Replace the 10 files in MC with another 10 files. Sync it. Do you have 20 files or 10 on your iPod in that playlist?

Steve

Seviien · « **Reply #193 on:** August 03, 2004, 06:45:01 pm »

hmmmmm...

I can't seem to reproduce the error using 11.0.47

I suppose that's a good thing.
Though i do feel rather silly...

Thanks Steve

Seviien · « **Reply #194 on:** August 04, 2004, 07:44:10 pm »

Okay...
I'm not crazy.

After a full day of use, my problem is back. I took my ipod to work today, and listened to a handful of different playlists. Upon synching, smartlists configured to have only 50 songs (chosen at random) had more than 50 songs in them. I cannot replicate this error when synching and then *immediately* resynching the ipod after an initialization. It only happens when i use it in a real world context. Which is kinda odd.

Steve, if you would please take a look at the databases i posted earlier. Specifically, look at the "Play 50" grouping of playlists in MC and then in the ipod; they're set to limit to 50 songs within MC, but in the itunes DB they appear to have many more.
I can confirm that songs are being deleted from the ipod each synch.
My thinking is that the songs are being erased from the HD, but that the itunes DB file is not being alerted to the fact they're no longer there.

SteveG · « **Reply #195 on:** August 05, 2004, 04:23:13 pm »

Seviien,

I looked at your library and see what you report, but I cannot duplicate it here. Please try the following. Connect the iPod and sync. Click on the 50 song playlists on iPod from within MC and verify they have 50 files only. Then, disconnect iPod and verify the same on iPod. Repeat this. Before you do this, be sure that 'Delete unselected files' is checked.

Thanks,

Steve

Seviien · « **Reply #196 on:** August 05, 2004, 05:44:44 pm »

I can confirm the "Delete Unselected Files" option is enabled. I can further substantiate that every time i go to synch, i get a dialog box that songs are being deleted.

The P50 lists appear to have more then 50 songs on them while viewing them on the ipod through MC. Clicking on songs i know to be deleted, however, results in an error message that the song cannot be played.

The problem appears to be on both smart and regular playlists:
Lucy Nation's "All Right" should not be on the ipod version of P50 - Rock (alt.)
Ruby Tuesday should not be on the ipod version of the playlist "Hottness"

Moreover, the problem does not seem to occur all the time; i deleted Ruby Tuesday from the MC version of the "hottness" list and i also removed one other song. The other song was removed from the ipod version yet Ruby Tuesday was not.

The zip file below contains both databases and a screen shot of the error message.
http://home.comcast.net/~zbryanknight/MC/iPodTest2.zip

SouthsideIrish · « **Reply #197 on:** August 08, 2004, 10:10:08 am »

I am having almost the same problem with v11. I can't get any of my playlists to properly update, but I don't think they are increasing is size.

Edit
------
I went back to .47 of MC11 and the playlists are being updated correctly, so something is definitely seems to be wrong with .52.

Bill McNair

SteveG · « **Reply #198 on:** August 09, 2004, 02:29:14 pm »

Bill and Seviien,

I found and fixed a bug that I think was causing this behavior in MC 11. Please get the next version and let me know if you are still seeing the problem.

Thanks,

Steve

pank2002 · « **Reply #199 on:** August 16, 2004, 04:09:38 pm »

Hey Stev(i)e Wonder (

)
Would it be possible to let more than one kind of files (ie mp3 and aac files) slip though w/out getting reencoded when using force convertion on upload? This would be great as I currently have some apes which needs to be converted when added, but I would rather keep my mp3 and mp4 as-is.
Thanks,
Rasmus

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Author Topic: IPOD SUPPORT (Read 41655 times)

wickesy

wickesy