This little how-to and reference should help others get started using an iPod with JRiver Media Center instead of Apple's iTunes. It's not complete, but I hope it's mostly correct. Experienced users, please reply with corrections and suggestions to help new users enjoy Media Center as much as we do.
The power and flexibility of Media Center comes from the work of the entire JRiver team, but we have only SteveG to thank for making the iPod integration such a smooth experience. Thanks, Steve!
BlueGlow
How to use an Apple iPod with JRiver Media Center- Install Media Center 11+
The iPod plugin is included with Media Center 11. If you tried to install the iPod plugin listed online you should re-install Media Center 11 before starting.
- Start Media Center
Connect and Detect Ipod- Attach/dock the iPod.
- The iPod should be detected automatically and show up as a node in the left hand panel tree view under "Drives & Devices". It can take up to a minute to connect and detect. Once fully connected, the iPod should display the message "Do not disconnect" and show up as a removable drive in Windows Explorer/My Computer.
Initialize iPod (one time)
- If this is the first time connecting the iPod, Media Center should display a dialog giving you the option to initialize the iPod. Take that option and initialize the iPod.
- If the dialog does not display, right click the iPod icon under "Drives & Devices" in the tree view and select "Initialize iPod". This option is only available from the right-click iPod menu in the tree view. It's not available with the Handheld Device icon in the action window.
- Initialize iPod deletes any existing music files in the hidden Ipod_Control directory on the iPod and resets the iPod database files to zero so your iPod will be ready to use with MC. This normally just needs to be done once. It can also be done to reset the iPod to correct problems.
Transfer Files to the iPod- After the initialize step completes, click the Handheld Device menu item in the Action Window (the small pane on the lower left corner of MC) and click Synchronize to see the options for sending MC playlists to the iPod. If your library of music on your computer is smaller than the size of your iPod, just select Synchronize all files and click Transfer. If not, set up some playlists with the music you want to transfer before synchronizing.
- I recommend setting up playlists and using Synchronize/Autosync for transferring playlists and music to the iPod. The "Drop Files Here" option is for a one time music file transfer to the iPod. I don't use it since it doesn't transfer playlists or keep files organized like autosync does.
Disconnect/Eject the iPodBefore you disconnect the iPod from the sync cable or dock, you should notify Windows so that it can finish writing files to the iPod hard drive. In Media Center, right-click on the iPod icon under Drives & Devices and select Eject iPod. When the iPod displays a check mark and 'OK to disconnect' then you can safely remove it.
Managing PlaylistsIf your iPod can hold your entire library of music you just need to sync all playlists, for the rest of us playlist management can be a daily chore/hobby. Many people enjoy using Larry Little's innovative method described
here. I make a separate playlist group called "iPod Playlists" and keep all my playlists and smartlists to be transferred to the iPod in that group. My methods for managing that group of lists is not as clean as Larry's so I won't go into it here, but it works for me since all of my iPod playlists are in one place and it's easy to keep track of.