Topic: Can I update ipod without the actual music files present? (Read 4405 times)

JustinChase · « **on:** November 12, 2004, 04:26:26 pm »

I realized that in my haste to get ready for the trip, I forgot to select the 'replay gain' and 'increase volume' options when I uploaded to the iPod. In my defense, I had to reinstall MC on a friends machine to do this, since mine has been sold.

Anyway, I would like to rectify this oversight, but the music files are stored on a hard drive, in a box, at my parents house. i do have a backup of the library file available, and of course the ipod. Is there any way to install MC on a different machine, upload the library, and fix this somehow?

I have to leave the internet cafe now, so I'll have to check back later.

Thanks.

SteveG · « **Reply #1 on:** November 14, 2004, 05:57:10 pm »

Justin,

If you cannot access the files, you would need to copy all the files from iPod to another PC and then import the files into MC and redo the replay gain and increase volume option. That is not a great option for you. Sorry.

Steve

JustinChase · « **Reply #2 on:** November 17, 2004, 06:15:52 pm »

Will MC figure replay gain on m4a files?

I don't want to adjust the replay gain figures for the songs, I just want to tell MC to 'normalize' volume, and increase the overall gain in the transfer.

I was hopeful that since I didn't actually need to do anything with the files, just how the iPod handles the files that are already there.

Also, I have made some changes to ratings, and want to update the library to reflect this, and then re-synch the iPod so the playlists (which aren't dynamic yet, are they) on the iPod reflect the correct ratings.

Does that make sense?

Can it be done?

Will the process of re-synching cause the files to be copied from the iPod to the computer I use to make this work?

SteveG · « **Reply #3 on:** November 18, 2004, 09:41:16 am »

Quote

Will MC figure replay gain on m4a files?

No, it can only figure it for files it can open natively.

Quote

Also, I have made some changes to ratings, and want to update the library to reflect this, and then re-synch the iPod so the playlists (which aren't dynamic yet, are they) on the iPod reflect the correct ratings.

If you have the option for 'Sync data to MC' checked as soon as you select the synchronization dialogue the rating is synched from iPod to MC if the rating has changed since the last sync. During synchronization no files are copied from iPod to the PC.

Steve

pank2002 · « **Reply #4 on:** November 21, 2004, 04:28:10 am »

euVolume Booster will do it:
http://www.espen.se/index.php?subaction=showcomments&id=1088783648&archive=&start_from=&ucat=3&category=3

JustinChase · « **Reply #5 on:** November 21, 2004, 04:13:21 pm »

Quote from: SteveG on November 18, 2004, 09:41:16 am

Quote
Also, I have made some changes to ratings, and want to update the library to reflect this, and then re-synch the iPod so the playlists (which aren't dynamic yet, are they) on the iPod reflect the correct ratings.

If you have the option for 'Sync data to MC' checked as soon as you select the synchronization dialogue the rating is synched from iPod to MC if the rating has changed since the last sync. During synchronization no files are copied from iPod to the PC.

Steve

Will this also allow me to update the iPod to reflect the rewly rated songs in the correct playlist? In other words, once the rating gets changed in my library, do/can i re-synch to have the iPod have the newly 4 star tracks show up in the 4 star playlist? Does that make sense?

Also, will I actually have to copy the music files to the computer to get any of this to work, or will copying the library be enough?

Thanks again.

SteveG · « **Reply #6 on:** November 21, 2004, 08:40:26 pm »

Justin,

It depends on how you have your sync set up. If you have smartlists in MC based on ratings and you sync ratings from iPod to MC, then the MC smartlists should update and if you then sync those smartlists to your iPod the changed files should be reflected on iPod if the files are being added.

Quote

Also, will I actually have to copy the music files to the computer to get any of this to work, or will copying the library be enough?

Not sure what you mean here. Are you talking about trying to sync iPod to MC without any of the files actually existing on the PC with MC?

Steve

JustinChase · « **Reply #7 on:** November 23, 2004, 09:33:58 pm »

Quote from: SteveG on November 21, 2004, 08:40:26 pm

Quote
Also, will I actually have to copy the music files to the computer to get any of this to work, or will copying the library be enough?

Not sure what you mean here. Are you talking about trying to sync iPod to MC without any of the files actually existing on the PC with MC?

Steve

Yes, I have left on my trip and my original files are on a hard drive stored on a shelf at my folks house. I only have the files on my iPod, but I have a copy of the library on my server.

I want to be able to change ratings on the iPod, update my library with those changes via snyching, then re-synch to get the smartlists corrected on the iPod to reflect the changes I've made. Also, i want to have MC volume level my music, as well as increase the overall volume in the final synch.

I have only found one internet cafe so far that will allow me to install any programs (Media Center), and it doesn't have enough space to copy all of my music to their server, so I can't have the actual files on a machine to do any of this. I am really hoping this is/will be possible.

Unfortunately, I'm leaving the city that has this convenience first thing in the morning. I'm hoping to find such convenience again, but I'm not sure when or where.

Thanks.

SteveG · « **Reply #8 on:** November 24, 2004, 09:40:59 am »

Justin,

This might work. It worked for me in a limited test with the option to update tags in files in MC turned off (since the files don't actually exist). Having said that, if you don't have a way to recreate your files on your iPod, I would be hesitant to do it unless you lose everything.

Steve

JustinChase · « **Reply #9 on:** November 26, 2004, 11:39:26 pm »

I turned off the "Update tags when file info changes" option, and also turned off the "Delete unselected files during synchronization" option in the handheld options, and tried this. It started deleting the files.

It's not so bad, since I'm actually someplace where I can fix this. i have access to a large hard drive, and have all the files on another iPod, so I can just copy the files to the hard drive, and try again.

But, I won't usually have this option. So, can you think of some reason why it worked for you, but not for me? I would love it if this could work in the future, since I will be updating ratings for a while, and would like to update the iPod occasionally after I've done a few hundred changes.

Thanks for your suport, I really do appreciate it.

SteveG · « **Reply #10 on:** December 02, 2004, 05:09:13 pm »

Justin,

If 'Delete Unselected' was unchecked and you were synching, the files should not delete if the tag info is identical in the library and on the iPod. If the rating is different on the iPod when compared to MC and the last synched time is less than when the file was last modified in MC, the file would be removed from iPod and replaced with the one from MC. Perhaps this is what caused it?

Steve

JustinChase · « **Reply #11 on:** December 04, 2004, 10:21:18 pm »

thanks for the info I'm not sure it that was it or not. I'll maybe be able to check into that in the future. I'm finally in Mexico now, so I don't know when I'll have good internet access again.

Thanks for responding.

SteveG · « **Reply #12 on:** December 18, 2004, 01:52:48 pm »

Justin,

Hola to Mexico. - 10 degrees tonight in mpls.

Steve

JustinChase · « **Reply #13 on:** December 19, 2004, 12:35:06 pm »

Ouch!

It's about 75 or so right now. It gets chili at night (about 45 or so), but I'm happy to live with that.

I was able to add dynamic playlists via iTunes before leaving San Diego, and they seem to be working fine, so I think I'll leave well enough alone.

I did check the time on the iPod, and it is correct, so I'm still not sure why it thought those songs were 'older' than the library, but, oh well.

Have a great day everyone!!!

JustinChase · « **Reply #14 on:** January 10, 2005, 07:26:57 pm »

Steve I was getting ready to try this again, since iTunes is not a pleasant thing for me. And because I want to get my library backed up again with more current info.

I was reading your post above, and wondered about something...

Quote

If the rating is different on the iPod when compared to MC

It is

Quote

and the last synched time is less than when the file was last modified in MC

WHAT?!?!?! What does this mean, and how do I find out if it is or isn't? And do you mean the last synched time in MC, or on the iPod? Is there any way to artifically change these values if that's what's causing my issues?

Quote

the file would be removed from iPod and replaced with the one from MC. Perhaps this is what caused it?

Can I prevent this someway, if the above questions don't help do this already?

Does this make sense?

Thanks again

SteveG · « **Reply #15 on:** January 11, 2005, 09:39:40 am »

The last sync time is the time value for the last time a sync between MC and iPod was completed. There is a way to artificially change this but it involves manually editing the registry and the conversion of a real time value to an Apple/Unix time. I do not recommend it.

Quote

Can I prevent this someway, if the above questions don't help do this already?

Not really.

Steve

JustinChase · « **Reply #16 on:** January 11, 2005, 11:31:45 am »

thanks for the info.

If I can load all the songs onto a machine, synch the iPod to update the ratings, and then resave the library, will that be enough to prevent losing songs in the future due to this situation?

Thanks

Also, in an effort to simply test the transfer with a few songs, I have managed to eliminate all the songs from my iPod, except 6. MC still says I only have 2.2gb available, which makes me think the songs are still on the iPod, but rebuilding from the iPod does not seem to help. Any ideas?

Thanks again.

SteveG · « **Reply #17 on:** January 12, 2005, 09:53:57 am »

Justin,

Maybe this will work. First synch the iPod (with 'delete unselected files' unchecked) to set the last sync time. Then copy the files from iPod to the PC and import them into MC. Then sync and hopefully the ratings will come across. This is not tested and is not part of the design so it may or may not work.

Steve

JustinChase · « **Reply #18 on:** January 12, 2005, 10:31:13 am »

Alright, i gave up on an answer to the problem of getting my old ratings off the iPod, and just initialized it and re-synched with MC. (I'm not at all happy about losing a dozen hours worth of ratings, but oh, well, it's too late now)

I synched with my library, and got all the songs, and old ratings back on the iPod. Then I changed the rating on one song, and re-synched, with the option to update TO MC checked. It deleted the song from the iPod and added it back from MC with the rating in MC. Why did it do this? What do I have to do to get ratings FROM the iPod INTO MC?

Please help me figure this out. I only have this computer for a few more hours today, then all mu music is gonna get wiped, and I won't be able to test anything any more.

I really want to be able to rate music on the iPod, and transfer that back into MC.

Thanks again.

SteveG · « **Reply #19 on:** January 12, 2005, 11:23:21 am »

Justin,

Did you change the rating to a '0'? If so, then the iPod rating will not write into MC.

After a sync, if you have 'Sync data to pc' checked and you modify a rating on iPod the next time you click on 'Synchronization', the rating will be written into MC even if you do not click the 'Transfer' button. At that point you should be able to close the AW and go in MC to the files that you changed the rating on and see the update. This is true if you do not change the rating to '0' in which case MC will not update the rating.

If this is not working, it could be due to the way you are copying the files to the PC. If the date modified for an MC file is more recent than the last sync, the file will not be updated in MC and therefore on a subsequent sync, MC will retransfer the file. This is done to give priority to any changes that occur in MC when both the MC file and the iPod file have been modified since the last sync.

Steve

JustinChase · « **Reply #20 on:** January 12, 2005, 11:42:37 am »

Okay, I think I understand how it is SUPPOSED to work.

I am currently retransferring all the files from the PC, via MC onto the iPod.

I did this last night. I initialized the iPod, and then synched to the iPod. It takes about 1-1/2 hours to do this. When it finished, I unmounted the iPod, changed the rating on only one song, from a 5 to a 1 star. remounted the iPod, and synched to MC with the update to PC options checked. MC deleted the file from the iPod and reloaded the file from the PC in it's place, with the 5 star rating.

I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but I'm willing and able to do a little testing today for a couple more hours, until the Internet cafe gal kicks me outta here.

Thanks again.

Again, I loaded my old library onto this PC. Loaded the music from the iPod onto the PC. massaged the path in MC to reflect the correct path until MC found the files fine. Initialized the iPod, synched to re-load the filed back onto the iPod. I assume this should have made all dates and times correct to one another. changed a rating on the iPod, synched again, and the MC rating overwrote the iPod rating.

Hope this helps, and you can tell me what to do better next time.

Thanks

SteveG · « **Reply #21 on:** January 12, 2005, 02:59:54 pm »

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changed a rating on the iPod, synched again,

At the point where you clicked on synchronization and before you hit transfer, close the Action Window and check if the rating is updated correctly in MC. If so, you should be fine. If not, the rating is not coming back from iPod correctly and may be related to the reimport of the files which is not tested at this time.

Steve

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Author Topic: Can I update ipod without the actual music files present? (Read 4405 times)