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[tlongacre]

Steve,

I actually noticed this problem with the prior version of MC11 (.163? I think), but then I upgraded and have the same problem.

I have a playlist. This playlist has been fine for a long time (back to v. 10 at least). But after .163, I went to play it on the iPod and two odd things:

1)  the first song was skipped, just skipped
2)  another song has all the right textual info on the iPod, but it is the wrong song (another song with the same name, by a different artist on a different album).

So, after upgrading to .168, I deleted the playlist from the iPod and re-synced it. I checked it on the desktop -- while viewing the iPod via MC11, I tried the first song and it played. I tried the other song and it was the correct one.

However, when I went to play it on the iPod again -- aack, I get the same results. 

  - Tracy

[SteveG]

Tracy,

Do you get warnings prior to your syncs about duplicate files? If so, this would be the root of the problem.

Steve

[tlongacre]

Well, yes I did get a warning about two duplicate files, but they weren't the files in question. Why would that cause this problem?

[SteveG]

When you have duplicate files on iPod and in MC (duplicate being defined as the same Name, Artist, Album, Genre and Track Number) and you sync with 'delete unselected files' checked, MC must guess at which file is to remain and which one is to transfer. This may cause things to get mixed up in the database. I have not tested this thoroughly to try to replicate it, but it is my best guess as to where the problem might be.


Try the following, for the song that is the 'wrong song' don't browse to it in your playlist on iPod, instead browse to it under 'Songs' and see if it is right or wrong.  This test  may make my theory above obsolete.

Steve

[tlongacre]

Okay, I tried what you said. Browsing by songs on the iPod, I get the same results as trying to play via the playlist, that is -- the wrong song in one case and a "skipped" song in the other case.

But here's the thing --

re: the "wrong" song -- the ONLY thing that is the same is the name of the song ("Angel"), the artist, album, and everything else are totally different.

re: the "skipped" song -- I have no other song with the same name ("When I reach the place I'm going").

Also, I never had this problem before, as I mentioned, for the past year.

Oh, and I even tried dragging and dropping the right version of "Angel" (which would avoid the "delete unselected files" issue, I would think), but I still had the same problem *on the iPod*. As I mentioned, if I have the iPod connected and view it through MC, then I get the correct song in *both* cases.

[SteveG]

tlongacre,

I am not sure how it got messed up. If you can, please get 11.0.174. I made some synchronization changes that could affect this. Delete the songs that are problematic from iPod (not with the sync but with a right click on the files from within MC) then try again. If things are still messed up, reinitialize, make modifications in MC so you do not get the duplication warnings and try again and somewhere in all of that I am confident the problem will go away.

Steve

[tlongacre]

Okay, I did the first step (using .174, deleted files off iPod from within MC, resynced). This solved the problem with the "Angel" file (same name of song, different artist). Now I have the correct song.

But it didn't solve the problem with the other song (which happens to be the first one on the list). This one still gets skipped on the iPod.

Reinitializing will wipe the iPod, won't it? Don't really wanna do that.

How can we identify the problem with this first song?

[SteveG]

Reinitializing will wipe the iPod, won't it?

Yes.

What does MC report for 'Duration' for the skipping file on iPod when viewed from MC?

Try deleting the file from iPod and then drag and drop that one file onto iPod and transfer it see if it is skipped when you browse to it on iPod.

You could also try emailing me the file and I will see if I can replicate the skipping.

steve @ jriver.com

[tlongacre]

Been busy and unable to get to this.

Duration is listed as 2:49

The song plays fine within both MC and iTunes (playing it from the iPod in both cases), but it always skips on the iPod.

When I try to delete the song, I get a "file deletion error" and a listing of the song and it is not deleted.

[SteveG]

Tracy,

If you are playing the file in iTunes, the database is getting rewritten and could cause problems. Delete the file from within iTunes and try resending it in MC. Or, to do a good test, initialize the iPod and try transferring the one file and see the results. Or, email me the file and I will see if I can replicate the problem.

Thanks,

Steve

[tlongacre]

Steve,

Okay, I initialized the iPod and resynced. (This was a *very* painful process with v. 180 as the entire sync module moves so slowly as to seem completely unresponsive at times-- click to select on playlist, freeze for awhile, click to select another playlist, freeze for awhile, notice that space count is wrong, close MC and reopen. Geez louise. . .)

But it did not resolve the problem. This same song still gets skipped on the iPod when I try to play it .

I'm gonna send you the song to take a look at.