Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[m1abrams]

Well it started with all my coverart images on the ipod classic missing after syncing.  I figured maybe the db got corrupted so I initialized the ipod and did a resync.  Coverart came back however now the wrong coverart is match to the albums.

[m1abrams]

So no one else has had this issue?   Should I re-initialize and try and rsync it again?  Or should I wait until the next release?

[rossp]

I think there are a few issues with ipod and cover art especially with the iTouch. Swellguy is looking into them.

Ross

[SwellGuy]

What firmware version are you running? Are you jumping between iTunes and MC?

We've tested with v1.1.1 and v1.1.2 and can't reproduce the anomaly.

[m1abrams]

Using v1.1.2.

I installed itunes to update the firmware.  Then restored the ipod and removed itunes and resyncd the ipod

I have not yet done a reinitialize and resync since the problem happened, hoping someone else would have seen this problem too and a fix could be made.

I have syncd new albums and those seem to be ok with the coverart.  I also noticed that on albums the really small coverart image you see when browsing albums is correct however the bigger track coverart is incorrect.

[SwellGuy]

There is a running index for the album art and I'm wondering if it's posible that we made it as far as incrementing the index but then writing the image to the iPod failed. This would throw the indexing off. Is the album art correct for some of the first albums in the original transfer?

[m1abrams]

hmmm, that may be hard for me to determine.  Over 5000 tracks.  I will see if any are correct.  I have not seen one yet that is though.

[Mr. Odd]

I also just performed a sync and lost all my cover art on the iPod. Details:

iPod Classic 160 (almost full, if that matters)
Firmware 1.1.2
MC v515
No other media manager installed (i.e. no iTunes - ever)

The iPod is brand new, I had used Mediamonkey once and found it didn't work properly and produced scrambled album art on the iPod. Dumped it, installed MC, reinitialized and reloaded everything. Joy! Everything worked great, syncing worked fine. Performed multiple syncs over the past week - no problems. Last night I did a sync just to update the smartlists and *bam*, no album art on the iPod today.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

[JimH]

You can right click on the device in MC and update its firmware.

Apple keeps moving the shells around to make it difficult for other apps to support the iPods.

[Mr. Odd]

Jim - thanks but I don't understand your response. The firmware is already the most current.

[JimH]

Unless you buy an iPod with the latest firmware, you can't get it now without installing iTunes.  That's why I posted what I did.

[Mr. Odd]

Jim - I'm really confused. My issue is that after a routine sync with MC, all my cover art on my iPod (with the latest firmware) has disappeared.

[edbro]

Jim - I'm really confused. My issue is that after a routine sync with MC, all my cover art on my iPod (with the latest firmware) has disappeared.

Same here with an 80GB Classic

[SwellGuy]

How big are the ithmb files in the \iPod_Control\Artwork folder on your classic?

[edbro]

ArtworkDB - 4.14MB
F1055_1.ithmb - 18.7 MB
F1060_1.ithmb - 117 MB (one hundred seventeen, no decimal pt)
F1061_1.ithmb - 3.52 MB
F1068_1.ithmb - 18.7 MB

6,769 tracks

[edbro]

I decided to wipe the iPod clean and start all over again (even though I had just done this last night). I deleted all the music on the iPod from inside MC. Your request to check the file sizes prompted me to check them again after deleting all the music. I was surprised to see that after MC supposedly deleted all the music files, there were still hundreds of mp3s still on the iPod. There was also still all the ithmb files. So, I used my file manager to manually deleted all the music folders and all the files in the Coverart directory and resynched. Now the iPod shows all the proper coverart.

So, that fixes it but it brings up the question of why does MC report that it deleted all the files on the iPod when in fact, it doesn't. Mind you, I have only used MC to sync this iPod since the last time I initialized it in MC, and that was many months ago.

P.S. the file sizes of the ithmb files are exactly the same as the last time I reported before deleting all the music and starting over.

[edbro]

After successfully synching my iPod yesterday I added a new album to the device today. Now I have lost all my coverart again. It seems that MC can handle the coverart on a clean iPod but if you later add anything, the thumbs database gets corrupted.

[JimH]

Are you still using 512?  518 is on the MC12 board now.

[edbro]

Are you still using 512?  518 is on the MC12 board now.

Media Center 12.0.518 Registered -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 12\

Microsoft Windows XP  Workstation 5.1 Service Pack 3 (Build 2600)
AMD Unknown 2409 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 2097 MB, Free - 1698 MB

Internet Explorer: 7.0.5730.13 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82.2900 / Shlwapi.dll: 6.0.2900 / Shell32.dll: 6.0.2900 / wnaspi32.dll: N/A
Ripping /   Drive F: BENQ    DVD DD DW1650     Mode:Normal  Type:Auto  Speed:Max
  Drive G:   Mode:Normal  Type:Auto  Speed:Max
  Digital playback: Yes /  Get cover art: Yes /  Calc replay gain: Yes /  Copy volume: 32767
  Eject after ripping: Yes /  Play sound after ripping: No 

Burning /  Drive F: BENQ     DVD DD DW1650      Addr: 0:0:0  Speed:48  MaxSpeed:48  BurnProof:Yes
  Drive G: _NEC     DVD_RW ND-3550A    Addr: 0:1:0  Speed:48  MaxSpeed:48  BurnProof:Yes
  Test mode: No /  Eject after writing: Yes /  Direct decoding: Yes /  Write CD-Text: Yes
  Use playback settings: No /

Portable Device Info
  Removed devices:

Device info dump for 'Apple iPod Classic (H:)':

WMDMName: (H:) ED'S IPOD
DeviceUID: $$?$storage#removablemedia#7&1c3af95a&0&rm#{53f5630d-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}$0
CanonicalName: \\?\storage#removablemedia#7&1c3af95a&0&rm#{53f5630d-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}$0
VendorName: ; VendorID: 1452
ProductID: 4705; FirmwareVersion: 1.62
WMDMSerialNumber: NULL
WMDMWriteOurOwnPlaylists:
DeviceType: 3; DeviceID: 000A270015462A74; DeviceName: iPod; UnsupportedDevice: 0
IsDrive: 1; DriveLetter: H:; DrivePath: ; MainDriveLetter: H:
IsJanusCapable: ; IsIpod: 1;iTunesDBVersion: 29
SupportsAlbumArt: 1; AlbumArtEnabled: 1; CoverArtTagRule: 0; SaveCoverArtToFolderJPG:
GetPlayStatsFromDevice: 0; SupportsFolders: -1; PlaylistFormat: 0; EjectMode: 0; AlwaysPumpCOMMessages: 0
SupportedFileTypes: mp3;wav;mp4;aa;m4a;m4b;m4p;aiff;aif;bmp;jpg;jpeg;gif;tif;tiff;png;sgi;psd;mov;m4v
ContextMenus: Delete

MemoryTypes: Internal Memory

InstallURL:
ApplicationName: Media Center
ImageName: Apple iPod Classic
RootBasePath:
AudioBasePath: Music\[Artist]\[Album]\
ImageBasePath: Images\
VideoBasePath: Video\
DataBasePath: Data\
PlaylistBasePath: ROOT\
DatabaseBasePath:
AudibleBasePath: Audible\
MatchKeyExpression: If(IsEqual([Media Type], Image), Clean([Name], 3)
[File Size, 0]
, [Name]
Clean([Artist], 2)
[Album]
[Genre]
TrackNumber()
[Media Type]
)
ChangeKeyExpression: If(IsEqual([Media Type], Image), , [Rating]
[Composer]
)
ResyncIfDateModified: 1


Interface Plugins:
  last.fm
  Library Server
  TiVo Server
  UPnP Server
  Data Master (Active)

[Mr. Odd]

Yep, I can report the same behavior: 160G iPod Classic, latest firmware 1.1.2, MC 518 - initialized, reloaded everything, album art showed up. Just did a sync to add a playlist and no more artwork. 

[lalittle]

Just to add to this, we just ran into a similar issue (along with some other iPod syncing bugs) with a 160 GB iPod Classic using build 518.  Cover art did some really odd things each time a sync was done -- after one sync, all songs had the same cover art.

Larry

[m1abrams]

Yep with 518, I initialized my ipod.  Did an initial sync and cover art looked right.  But on second sync some albums started getting mixed up coverart.

In future updates could it also be possible to just sync coverart?  Having to reload a 160GB ipod for coverart is not pleasant .

[SwellGuy]

How many files were transferred in the first sync? in the second sync?

[edbro]

How many files were transferred in the first sync? in the second sync?

1st - 6769
2nd - 12

[m1abrams]

How many files were transferred in the first sync? in the second sync?

1st: 5879
2nd: less than 10

[matsukaze ninja]

Not sure if a new thread should be started, since I just saw this with build 520.

Had ~3500 songs on the ipod (put there by 518), cover art looked fine.  Ripped
two CD's (~18 songs), synced.  Now there is no (visible) cover art on the ipod.

-glenn

[m1abrams]

I also am still having problems with build 520 and coverart.

After 520 was installed I initialised my ipod because its coverat db was hosed.  Resync'd it and all the coverart was back for ~5900 tracks.  Resync it a second time for about 30 tracks and now every track has the same coverart.  Note though that in album view the small artwork is correct, it is the larger artwork seen while player the track that is wrong.

[matsukaze ninja]

I can confirm.  An initialize followed by a full sync seems to be fine.  But a subsequent sync of a small number of files hoses up the works.  First time I ended up with no art across the board (that was my prior post).  Did an initialize and full sync, all was good again.  Then ripped several more albums and synced.  This time most of my albums now have the art from one particular new album (all the same).

Also, in my case too it is the "big art" that shows up when playing a song and when using cover flow that is confused.  The small version that appears when browsing is fine.

Just in case it helps any with debugging, I do note that each album that was newly transferred actually has the correct art for itself.  Also, any albums that really do have no associated art still correctly display no art (as opposed to incorrect art).

-glenn

[Matt]

I can confirm.  An initialize followed by a full sync seems to be fine.  But a subsequent sync of a small number of files hoses up the works.  First time I ended up with no art across the board (that was my prior post).  Did an initialize and full sync, all was good again.  Then ripped several more albums and synced.  This time most of my albums now have the art from one particular new album (all the same).

Also, in my case too it is the "big art" that shows up when playing a song and when using cover flow that is confused.  The small version that appears when browsing is fine.

Just in case it helps any with debugging, I do note that each album that was newly transferred actually has the correct art for itself.  Also, any albums that really do have no associated art still correctly display no art (as opposed to incorrect art).

-glenn

How large are the cover art files in the artwork folder on the iPod?  Our only guess is that something overflows when the file gets too large, but we haven't been able to reproduce it.

[matsukaze ninja]

How do I find out that information (size of cover art files on iPod)?

-glenn

[Matt]

How do I find out that information (size of cover art files on iPod)?

-glenn

Look at this folder in Explorer (you'll have to enable viewing of hidden folders):
[iPod drive letter]:\iPod_Control\Artwork

How big is the largest ithmb _before_ and _after_ it gets goofed up?

Thanks.

[Mr. Odd]

Since upgrading to 520 and re-initializing & loading almost a full 160Gb Classic, I've sync'd twice with no cover art disappearance. Hopefully it's a trend that will continue!

[m1abrams]

Since upgrading to 520 and re-initializing & loading almost a full 160Gb Classic, I've sync'd twice with no cover art disappearance. Hopefully it's a trend that will continue!

On the syncs have you sync'd files with new artwork?

[edbro]

Since upgrading to 520 I have synched successfully 3 times without losing my coverart. But, tonight I tried once more and the cover art was gone.   I did look at the thumbs before and after.

Before the sync, the largest file was F1060_1.ithmb at 102MB.  The problem is that I noticed I had a duplicate of that file named F1060_1(1).ithmb, also 102MB. I don't believe this is supposed to be that way. I might as well delete it now that all my coverart is gone anyway.

After the sync the F1060_1.ithmb went down to 16.9MB and the F1060_1(1) stayed at 102MB.

My artwork.db file went from 5.24MB before the sync to 4.19MB after the sync.

I had approx 6800 files before synching and I added 29 new files from 2 albums. Ipod Classic 80GB, MC reports 49.4GB of 74.3GB used.

I know you guys are looking hard at this and I appreciate it. This is very frustrating to have to constantly wipe it clean and reload.

[JimH]

Thanks for the details.

[Matt]

After the sync the F1060_1.ithmb went down to 16.9MB and the F1060_1(1) stayed at 102MB.

That's a very big clue.  That's likely a temporary file that we created, and it wouldn't be left around unless something went wrong.

We'll look closely at the code tomorrow.  I also wonder if one of the many iTunes services could be running and locking the file? (AppleMobileDevice, iPodService, etc.)

Does anyone else with the problem have an extra *(1) file in that folder?

Did you happen to save a log from the time it goofed up the iPod?

Thanks.

[edbro]

I also wonder if one of the many iTunes services could be running and locking the file? (AppleMobileDevice, iPodService, etc.)

Does anyone else with the problem have an extra *(1) file in that folder?

Did you happen to save a log from the time it goofed up the iPod?

Thanks.

No log file saved. I do not have any iTunes services running. I don't even have it installed.

[m1abrams]

Ok I do not have any itunes services running or installed on this machine.  I use a vmware install to actually update the firmware .

My Artwork folder after the problem has the largest file F1060_1.ithmb at 94MB.  I do not have any *(1) files.  Sorry I do not have a file size before the problem.  My total number of tracks is ~5900 with almost every one having cover art.

[lalittle]

Ok I do not have any itunes services running or installed on this machine.  I use a vmware install to actually update the firmware .

My Artwork folder after the problem has the largest file F1060_1.ithmb at 94MB.  I do not have any *(1) files.  Sorry I do not have a file size before the problem.  My total number of tracks is ~5900 with almost every one having cover art.

Are you guys seeing inconsistencies with the number of files "re-check sync" gives you?  I'm wondering if the cover art issue is somehow related to the re-check sync issue.

Thanks,

Larry

[matsukaze ninja]

Okay, initialized, copied over full collection.  ipod Artwork folder looks like:

ArtworkDB    2,200 KB
F1055_1.ithmb    9,184 KB
F1060_1.ithmb   57,400 KB
F1061_1.ithmb    1,727 KB

Ripped one new album (12 songs).  Plugged ipod back in and synced.  Ejected.

Now all large art (e.g. cover flow and the "now playing" picture) are copies
of the cover of the one new album I just synced.  Artwork folder:

ArtworkDB          2,210 KB
F1055_1.ithmb        32 KB
F1060_1.ithmb  57,600 KB
F1061_1.ithmb    1,733 KB
F1068_1.ithmb        32 KB

"Date modified" on all files is the time I did the latest sync.

Hope that helps shed some light!

I also turned on logging just for the sync run, then turned it off again.  If
you want it, let me know who to email it to or how to attach it to a posting.
I think it's too long to post directly as text, unless you're good with that.  It's
798 lines long.

-glenn

[matsukaze ninja]

And by the way, for whatever reason I haven't seen the "recheck sync" issue in
a while.  Sorry, I can't remember now if I've seen it since 520 or not.

-glenn

[Matt]

We have one idea that may explain the problem.  The iPod uses / in filenames, and Windows normally uses \ in filenames.  There are some places where we aren't converting from / to \.

Since it works for us, even without converting, we don't know if changing this will help.  We'll have a build available soon for people to test.

Fingers crossed.

[Matt]

Please try this build and let us know if you're still able to reproduce the problem:
ftp://ftp.jriver.com/pub/downloads/MC12/MediaCenter120522.exe

Thanks for all the help.

[edbro]

Sorry, not there yet. I installed 522 and deleted all files off the iPod. Then I synched 250 files and the coverart looked fine. I then synched another 250 files and the coverart was gone again. The largest ithmb file did increase from 3.32MB to 8.2MB.

Another thing I noticed is that MC left 12 music files on the device after it said it removed them all. I remove all by navigating to the iPod from within MC, selecting all files and then deleting. I was watching the progress in my file manager and when it was done were 12 files remaining in the music subdirectories. I manually deleted them from my file manager.

[Matt]

Sorry, not there yet. I installed 522 and deleted all files off the iPod. Then I synched 250 files and the coverart looked fine. I then synched another 250 files and the coverart was gone again. The largest ithmb file did increase from 3.32MB to 8.2MB.

What if you initialize, sync 250, unplug, then connect, and right-click the iPod and pick Compact?  I'm wondering if parsing / saving the database is enough to cause the problem, or if it only fails when adding new files.

Thanks.

[edbro]

Sorry, I don't want to initialize. I have a DRM'd game on there that can't be transferred with MC. I don't even have iTunes loaded and I don't want to install it just for that. I can't live without my Sudoku!

I deleted all again and synched another 250 files. Everything looked fine. I ejected/reconnected, compacted the database and ejected again. It still looked good. I added another 50 files and those all look good too. Another 80 and still fine. Another 300 still fine. Another 2200 and still fine. Compacted DB again and still fine. Transferred all the rest, 3893 files and now my coverart is nowhere to be seen.

[Matt]

Sorry, I don't want to initialize. I have a DRM'd game on there that can't be transferred with MC. I don't even have iTunes loaded and I don't want to install it just for that. I can't live without my Sudoku!

I deleted all again and synched another 250 files. Everything looked fine. I ejected/reconnected, compacted the database and ejected again. It still looked good. I added another 50 files and those all look good too. Another 80 and still fine. Another 300 still fine. Another 2200 and still fine. Compacted DB again and still fine. Transferred all the rest, 3893 files and now my coverart is nowhere to be seen.

It's strange that it fails sometimes, and not others.  And since it failed once with only 250 files, I don't think it's related to the number of files.

We're a bit stumped.  Adding more logging to everything iPod cover art related for a special test version might be a good next step.

On the reaching for straws front, is there any chance a virus checker could be getting in the way?

[m1abrams]

Well I have not had a chance to test 522.  However I am not running an AV program.

It seems to happen for me and and at least one other person fairly regularly.  It did not start happening to me until version 512.  I am running Windows XP Pro, syncing FLAC formatted files that reside on an smb share.   However I use the conversion cache with the cache files residing locally.  itunes is only installed on a vmware machine that is used only for firmware updates.

Could the issue be related to the size of coverart we have in a specific file?

[edbro]

No virus checker loaded on my machine.

[lalittle]

My brother's system is syncing mp3's directly (i.e. no conversion necessary), so this does not appear to be linked to conversion.  I'm not sure what virus checker he's using, but I'm pretty sure he's using one.

It's strange that it fails sometimes, and not others.  And since it failed once with only 250 files, I don't think it's related to the number of files.

I think the behavior is actually pretty consistent for at least two people here (and possibly more -- I can't remember now)  The first sync works, but an "update" sync causes the cover art to malfunction.  Also, it happens to my brother's iPod when only syncing a single new album, so it happens with far fewer than 250 files, which of course emphasizes what you said about it not being related to the number of files.

Thanks again for all your help with this,

Larry