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[jplandry]

Hello All,

I am another potential Media Center user switching over from iTunes.  I'm sick of the inflexibility of iTunes and  am impressed with the power of Media Jukebox/Media Center.  However, like many other power users lulled by the shiny polish on iTunes, I have lavished a lot of time adding metadata to my iTunes library, only to eventually realize how horrible iTunes is at doing this.  However, I'm not willing to leave this work behind.  To make the switch, at least my Ratings, Play Counts, and hopefully Last Time Played values from the iTunes library must be imported properly for all my files.  Unfortunately, despite reading what I could find on these forums about importing from iTunes, I haven't been able to successfully do this.

Let me give you some specific details.  My iTunes version is 7.6.0.29; currently, all of the music files are stored in the usual "My Documents/My Music/iTunes Music" folders.   I downloaded Media Center 12.0.515 and am running it in the 30-day trial.  I have tried importing using a few methods, but let me describe one in detail.  I tried to import albums from one artist as a test.  I let Media Center import those files by pointing it to the artist's folder.  Media Center proceeded to import the files and read values from the MP3 tags, including album art (for those albums that I manually added art to, as opposed to let iTunes do it), comments (important, since that's where I've added my tags), and lyrics.  Of course, the ratings, play count, and last date played were not imported since that is stored in the iTunes library file.  In iTunes, I exported a play list for the artist as an XML file.  I then had Media Center import this playlist.  Media Center then assigned the correct Ratings to the files, but not the correct play count or last time played.  Is this still a problem with the import features of Media Center or am I missing something?

I want to switch over, but I won't until I can get the information I want from iTunes without too much hassle.  Any input would be welcome.

Thanks,
jplandry

[Matt]

Try exporting an iTunes playlist then importing it into Media Center using File > Import Playlist.  iTunes metadata should come along for the ride.

[JONCAT]

Welcome!

Maybe this will help mate:

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=46859.msg321621#msg321621

DC

[jplandry]

Thanks Matt and Doctor Cilantro.  I actually read the post you pointed to and tried it out several times before resorting to posting here myself.  What I'm seeing is that the iTunes "Play Count" field is not being properly converted to Media Center "Number Plays" field.  The "Ratings" and "Last Played" date fields do seem to be importing properly using this method.  I can't seem to find any settings or import options in Media Center that would effect this, so I'm assuming there is a problem with the importing.

When I import a specific playlist containing songs I've recently played since I've been using the version of iTunes I listed earlier, I see that the Play Count is not properly converted to "Number Plays".  However, when I import my entire iTunes library, I noticed that *some* of the songs in the library do in fact have the correct  "Number Plays" value corresponding to the "Play Count" values in iTunes.  I inspected a coupled of these songs and noticed that they haven't been played in quite awhile, probably before that last time I updated iTunes (to the version I listed).

[hit_ny]

What I'm seeing is that the iTunes "Play Count" field is not being properly converted to Media Center "Number Plays" field. 

However, when I import my entire iTunes library, I noticed that *some* of the songs in the library do in fact have the correct  "Number Plays" value corresponding to the "Play Count" values in iTunes.  I inspected a coupled of these songs and noticed that they haven't been played in quite awhile, probably before that last time I updated iTunes (to the version I listed).

Has the xml export format for "Play Count" changed between your Itunes builds or maybe there is a simple syntax error. From the referenced thread above, "Play Count" is described as...

Code: [Select]

<key>Play Count</key><integer>3</integer>
Can you paste here what the exported xml says for "Play Count" for files that *do* import correctly as well as ones that do not.

[jplandry]

Well, this is getting a bit frustrating.  I tried to replicate the phenomenon, but after mucking around, nothing I  import using "Import Playlist" has any value in "Number Play Counts".  So I decided to uninstall and completely delete the J River folder a reinstall, since I had been importing files and then File->Library->Clear Library many times.

Having done that, then I imported the playlist shown below (I will show the first entry to keep it compact).    As you can see from the XML, the file hasn't been played in quite sometime.  The modification data may around the time I upgraded iTunes to the build I'm using now.  After importing this XML file into Media Center, I see that the Ratings and Last Played fields are correct, but the Number Plays field is blank.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
   <key>Major Version</key><integer>1</integer>
   <key>Minor Version</key><integer>1</integer>
   <key>Application Version</key><string>7.6</string>
   <key>Features</key><integer>5</integer>
   <key>Show Content Ratings</key><true/>
   <key>Music Folder</key><string>file://localhost/K:/James'%20Documents/My%20Music/iTunes/iTunes%20Music/</string>
   <key>Library Persistent ID</key><string>3F67715071D7DE3E</string>
   <key>Tracks</key>
   <dict>
      <key>1593</key>
      <dict>
         <key>Track ID</key><integer>1593</integer>
         <key>Name</key><string>Lies Of Serpents, A River Of Tears</string>
         <key>Artist</key><string>Zao</string>
         <key>Album</key><string>Where Blood And Fire Bring Rest</string>
         <key>Genre</key><string>Metalcore</string>
         <key>Kind</key><string>MPEG audio file</string>
         <key>Size</key><integer>2553735</integer>
         <key>Total Time</key><integer>159425</integer>
         <key>Disc Number</key><integer>1</integer>
         <key>Disc Count</key><integer>1</integer>
         <key>Track Number</key><integer>1</integer>
         <key>Track Count</key><integer>10</integer>
         <key>Year</key><integer>1998</integer>
         <key>Date Modified</key><date>2008-01-25T00:40:43Z</date>
         <key>Date Added</key><date>2003-11-03T07:30:49Z</date>
         <key>Bit Rate</key><integer>128</integer>
         <key>Sample Rate</key><integer>44100</integer>
         <key>Equalizer</key><string>Rock</string>
         <key>Comments</key><string> &#60;Complete Album&#62; &#60;Christian&#62; &#60;Metal&#62; &#60;Metalcore&#62;</string>
         <key>Play Count</key><integer>13</integer>
         <key>Play Date</key><integer>3266759248</integer>
         <key>Play Date UTC</key><date>2007-07-09T00:07:28Z</date>
         <key>Rating</key><integer>100</integer>
         <key>Album Rating</key><integer>100</integer>
         <key>Album Rating Computed</key><true/>
         <key>Normalization</key><integer>16166</integer>
         <key>Persistent ID</key><string>EDD33643E0188850</string>
         <key>Track Type</key><string>File</string>
         <key>Location</key><string>file://localhost/K:/James'%20Documents/My%20Music/iTunes/iTunes%20Music/Zao/Where%20Blood%20And%20Fire%20Bring%20Rest/01%20Lies%20Of%20Serpents,%20A%20River%20Of%20Tear.mp3</string>
         <key>File Folder Count</key><integer>4</integer>
         <key>Library Folder Count</key><integer>1</integer>

[JimH]

      <key>Comments</key><string> &#60;Complete Album&#62; &#60;Christian&#62; &#60;Metal&#62; &#60;Metalcore&#62;</string>
         <key>Play Count</key><integer>13</integer>
         <key>Play Date</key><integer>3266759248</integer>
         <key>Play Date UTC</key><date>2007-07-09T00:07:28Z</date>
         <key>Rating</key><integer>100</integer>

I'm not certain whether the MC name is correct, but try using notepad to change this:

>Play Count<

to this:

>Number Plays<

[Alex B]

The Play Count field in an iTunes XML file works for me.

I just tested it again. Here's my test file:

Code: [Select]

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Major Version</key><integer>1</integer>
<key>Minor Version</key><integer>1</integer>
<key>Application Version</key><string>7.4.2</string>
<key>Features</key><integer>1</integer>
<key>Show Content Ratings</key><true/>
<key>Music Folder</key><string>file://localhost/C:/iTunes/</string>
<key>Library Persistent ID</key><string>D4B7C21F164A509B</string>
<key>Tracks</key>
<dict>
<key>69</key>
<dict>
<key>Track ID</key><integer>69</integer>
<key>Name</key><string>test (1.1)</string>
<key>Artist</key><string>test</string>
<key>Composer</key><string>Beethoven</string>
<key>Album</key><string>gaps</string>
<key>Genre</key><string>Classical</string>
<key>Kind</key><string>MPEG audio file</string>
<key>Size</key><integer>100919</integer>
<key>Total Time</key><integer>5041</integer>
<key>Track Number</key><integer>1</integer>
<key>Track Count</key><integer>2</integer>
<key>Year</key><integer>1963</integer>
<key>Date Modified</key><date>2008-06-29T18:44:29Z</date>
<key>Date Added</key><date>2008-06-18T22:19:54Z</date>
<key>Bit Rate</key><integer>160</integer>
<key>Sample Rate</key><integer>44100</integer>
<key>Play Count</key><integer>7</integer>
<key>Play Date</key><integer>3297620664</integer>
<key>Play Date UTC</key><date>2008-06-29T18:44:24Z</date>
<key>Persistent ID</key><string>A7AA125647D3E8E9</string>
<key>Track Type</key><string>File</string>
<key>Location</key><string>file://localhost/C:/iTunes/test%20(1.1).mp3</string>
<key>File Folder Count</key><integer>2</integer>
<key>Library Folder Count</key><integer>1</integer>
</dict>
<key>70</key>
<dict>
<key>Track ID</key><integer>70</integer>
<key>Name</key><string>test (1.2)</string>
<key>Artist</key><string>test</string>
<key>Composer</key><string>Beethoven</string>
<key>Album</key><string>gaps</string>
<key>Genre</key><string>Classical</string>
<key>Kind</key><string>MPEG audio file</string>
<key>Size</key><integer>100919</integer>
<key>Total Time</key><integer>5041</integer>
<key>Track Number</key><integer>2</integer>
<key>Track Count</key><integer>2</integer>
<key>Year</key><integer>1963</integer>
<key>Date Modified</key><date>2008-06-29T18:44:36Z</date>
<key>Date Added</key><date>2008-06-18T22:19:54Z</date>
<key>Bit Rate</key><integer>160</integer>
<key>Sample Rate</key><integer>44100</integer>
<key>Play Count</key><integer>15</integer>
<key>Play Date</key><integer>3297620669</integer>
<key>Play Date UTC</key><date>2008-06-29T18:44:29Z</date>
<key>Persistent ID</key><string>A7AA125647D3E8EB</string>
<key>Track Type</key><string>File</string>
<key>Location</key><string>file://localhost/C:/iTunes/test%20(1.2).mp3</string>
<key>File Folder Count</key><integer>2</integer>
<key>Library Folder Count</key><integer>1</integer>
</dict>
</dict>
<key>Playlists</key>
<array>
<dict>
<key>Name</key><string>playcount</string>
<key>Playlist ID</key><integer>393</integer>
<key>Playlist Persistent ID</key><string>474BD1F59F7B8455</string>
<key>All Items</key><true/>
<key>Playlist Items</key>
<array>
<dict>
<key>Track ID</key><integer>69</integer>
</dict>
<dict>
<key>Track ID</key><integer>70</integer>
</dict>
</array>
</dict>
</array>
</dict>
</plist>


The numbers 7 and 15 appeared correctly in MC's "Number Plays" library field.


jplandry,

Please create a new XML playlist of one specific track that does not import the "Number Plays" value to MC and post it here. I would like to try it, but I need a complete playlist.

[jplandry]

Thank you all for persisting with me on this issue.  This type of attention to detail is definitely one of the appeals Media Center has to me...  Back to the issue at hand.

(1) First, I'd like to point out that my XML file was generated with iTunes 7.6 (see the code) while Alex B's XML file was generated with iTunes 7.4.2 (see his code).

(2) Unfortunately, JimH's suggesting of modifying the iTunes 7.6 XML file manually had no effect.  The Number Plays field remained blank.

(3) Given that Alex B said his worked, I copied his code and pasted into a new XML file.  I then replaced the file location tags (for the first track in his play list) with the test file.  I then cleared Media Centers library and imported the playlist.  The playlist was imported *with the play counts as listed in Alex B's file*, but linked to my test file.  So, indeed the iTunes 7.4.2 output seems like it would work for me as well.  Unfortunately, I upgraded way back when. 

I have not yet scoured the files to pick out differences, but I will.  Let me post the code from my two test XML files.

First, here is the complete code for my iTunes 7.6 plalist which does *not* import the Play Count:

Code: [Select]

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Major Version</key><integer>1</integer>
<key>Minor Version</key><integer>1</integer>
<key>Application Version</key><string>7.6</string>
<key>Features</key><integer>5</integer>
<key>Show Content Ratings</key><true/>
<key>Music Folder</key><string>file://localhost/K:/James'%20Documents/My%20Music/iTunes/iTunes%20Music/</string>
<key>Library Persistent ID</key><string>3F67715071D7DE3E</string>
<key>Tracks</key>
<dict>
<key>1593</key>
<dict>
<key>Track ID</key><integer>1593</integer>
<key>Name</key><string>Lies Of Serpents, A River Of Tears</string>
<key>Artist</key><string>Zao</string>
<key>Album</key><string>Where Blood And Fire Bring Rest</string>
<key>Genre</key><string>Metalcore</string>
<key>Kind</key><string>MPEG audio file</string>
<key>Size</key><integer>2553735</integer>
<key>Total Time</key><integer>159425</integer>
<key>Disc Number</key><integer>1</integer>
<key>Disc Count</key><integer>1</integer>
<key>Track Number</key><integer>1</integer>
<key>Track Count</key><integer>10</integer>
<key>Year</key><integer>1998</integer>
<key>Date Modified</key><date>2008-01-25T00:40:43Z</date>
<key>Date Added</key><date>2003-11-03T07:30:49Z</date>
<key>Bit Rate</key><integer>128</integer>
<key>Sample Rate</key><integer>44100</integer>
<key>Equalizer</key><string>Rock</string>
<key>Comments</key><string> &#60;Complete Album&#62; &#60;Christian&#62; &#60;Metal&#62; &#60;Metalcore&#62;</string>
<key>Play Count</key><integer>13</integer>
<key>Play Date</key><integer>3266759248</integer>
<key>Play Date UTC</key><date>2007-07-09T00:07:28Z</date>
<key>Rating</key><integer>100</integer>
<key>Album Rating</key><integer>100</integer>
<key>Album Rating Computed</key><true/>
<key>Normalization</key><integer>16166</integer>
<key>Persistent ID</key><string>EDD33643E0188850</string>
<key>Track Type</key><string>File</string>
<key>Location</key><string>file://localhost/K:/James'%20Documents/My%20Music/iTunes/iTunes%20Music/Zao/Where%20Blood%20And%20Fire%20Bring%20Rest/01%20Lies%20Of%20Serpents,%20A%20River%20Of%20Tear.mp3</string>
<key>File Folder Count</key><integer>4</integer>
<key>Library Folder Count</key><integer>1</integer>
</dict>
</dict>
<key>Playlists</key>
<array>
<dict>
<key>Name</key><string>Zao - Where Blood And Fire Bring Rest</string>
<key>Playlist ID</key><integer>116587</integer>
<key>Playlist Persistent ID</key><string>53D7AF3850CD88CD</string>
<key>All Items</key><true/>
<key>Playlist Items</key>
<array>
<dict>
<key>Track ID</key><integer>1593</integer>
</dict>
</array>
</dict>
</array>
</dict>
</plist>

Okay, next is my modified version of Alex B's code (note that the test file gets the wrong track name, etc.; the point was just to see if the Play Count of 7 showed up associated with the imported file, and it did):

Code: [Select]

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Major Version</key><integer>1</integer>
<key>Minor Version</key><integer>1</integer>
<key>Application Version</key><string>7.4.2</string>
<key>Features</key><integer>1</integer>
<key>Show Content Ratings</key><true/>
<key>Music Folder</key><string>file://localhost/K:/James'%20Documents/My%20Music/iTunes/iTunes%20Music/</string>
<key>Library Persistent ID</key><string>D4B7C21F164A509B</string>
<key>Tracks</key>
<dict>
<key>69</key>
<dict>
<key>Track ID</key><integer>69</integer>
<key>Name</key><string>test (1.1)</string>
<key>Artist</key><string>test</string>
<key>Composer</key><string>Beethoven</string>
<key>Album</key><string>gaps</string>
<key>Genre</key><string>Classical</string>
<key>Kind</key><string>MPEG audio file</string>
<key>Size</key><integer>100919</integer>
<key>Total Time</key><integer>5041</integer>
<key>Track Number</key><integer>1</integer>
<key>Track Count</key><integer>2</integer>
<key>Year</key><integer>1963</integer>
<key>Date Modified</key><date>2008-06-29T18:44:29Z</date>
<key>Date Added</key><date>2008-06-18T22:19:54Z</date>
<key>Bit Rate</key><integer>160</integer>
<key>Sample Rate</key><integer>44100</integer>
<key>Play Count</key><integer>7</integer>
<key>Play Date</key><integer>3297620664</integer>
<key>Play Date UTC</key><date>2008-06-29T18:44:24Z</date>
<key>Persistent ID</key><string>A7AA125647D3E8E9</string>
<key>Track Type</key><string>File</string>
<key>Location</key><string>file://localhost/K:/James'%20Documents/My%20Music/iTunes/iTunes%20Music/Zao/Where%20Blood%20And%20Fire%20Bring%20Rest/01%20Lies%20Of%20Serpents,%20A%20River%20Of%20Tear.mp3</string>
<key>File Folder Count</key><integer>2</integer>
<key>Library Folder Count</key><integer>1</integer>
</dict>
<key>70</key>
<dict>
<key>Track ID</key><integer>70</integer>
<key>Name</key><string>test (1.2)</string>
<key>Artist</key><string>test</string>
<key>Composer</key><string>Beethoven</string>
<key>Album</key><string>gaps</string>
<key>Genre</key><string>Classical</string>
<key>Kind</key><string>MPEG audio file</string>
<key>Size</key><integer>100919</integer>
<key>Total Time</key><integer>5041</integer>
<key>Track Number</key><integer>2</integer>
<key>Track Count</key><integer>2</integer>
<key>Year</key><integer>1963</integer>
<key>Date Modified</key><date>2008-06-29T18:44:36Z</date>
<key>Date Added</key><date>2008-06-18T22:19:54Z</date>
<key>Bit Rate</key><integer>160</integer>
<key>Sample Rate</key><integer>44100</integer>
<key>Play Count</key><integer>15</integer>
<key>Play Date</key><integer>3297620669</integer>
<key>Play Date UTC</key><date>2008-06-29T18:44:29Z</date>
<key>Persistent ID</key><string>A7AA125647D3E8EB</string>
<key>Track Type</key><string>File</string>
<key>Location</key><string>file://localhost/C:/iTunes/test%20(1.2).mp3</string>
<key>File Folder Count</key><integer>2</integer>
<key>Library Folder Count</key><integer>1</integer>
</dict>
</dict>
<key>Playlists</key>
<array>
<dict>
<key>Name</key><string>playcount</string>
<key>Playlist ID</key><integer>393</integer>
<key>Playlist Persistent ID</key><string>474BD1F59F7B8455</string>
<key>All Items</key><true/>
<key>Playlist Items</key>
<array>
<dict>
<key>Track ID</key><integer>69</integer>
</dict>
<dict>
<key>Track ID</key><integer>70</integer>
</dict>
</array>
</dict>
</array>
</dict>
</plist>
Okay, so I will look at the files and experiment a little more myself, but there's what I've got so far in case anybody wants to try.

Thanks
jplandry

[JimH]

We may need to change our import of iTunes playlists to get the result you want.  It's reasonable to want it.  Stay tuned.

[jplandry]

Well, to help the effort to correct the issue in later builds, I have found a way to modify my iTunes 7.6 XML file so the Play Counts are properly converted to Number Plays.

The complete modified code is below.  Sorry, I don't know a way to highlight a section within the code, so let me show some snippets to point out the change.  In the original there is a stretch of fields:

<key>Comments</key><string> &#60;Complete Album&#62; &#60;Christian&#62; &#60;Metal&#62; &#60;Metalcore&#62;</string>
         <key>Play Count</key><integer>13</integer>
         <key>Play Date</key><integer>3266759248</integer>
         <key>Play Date UTC</key><date>2007-07-09T00:07:28Z</date>
         <key>Rating</key><integer>100</integer>
         <key>Album Rating</key><integer>100</integer>

Recall for this case, Play Count does not read in correctly, but Play Date (I don't know if it comes from Play Date or Play Date UTC in Media Center), and Rating do.  So I decided to move the Play Count tag as follows:

<key>Comments</key><string> &#60;Complete Album&#62; &#60;Christian&#62; &#60;Metal&#62; &#60;Metalcore&#62;</string>
         <key>Play Date</key><integer>3266759248</integer>
         <key>Play Date UTC</key><date>2007-07-09T00:07:28Z</date>
         <key>Rating</key><integer>100</integer>
         <key>Play Count</key><integer>13</integer>
         <key>Album Rating</key><integer>100</integer>

In this case, the Play Date, Rating, and Play Count are read into the appropriate fields in Media Center.


Complete code:

Code: [Select]

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Major Version</key><integer>1</integer>
<key>Minor Version</key><integer>1</integer>
<key>Application Version</key><string>7.6</string>
<key>Features</key><integer>5</integer>
<key>Show Content Ratings</key><true/>
<key>Music Folder</key><string>file://localhost/K:/James'%20Documents/My%20Music/iTunes/iTunes%20Music/</string>
<key>Library Persistent ID</key><string>3F67715071D7DE3E</string>
<key>Tracks</key>
<dict>
<key>1593</key>
<dict>
<key>Track ID</key><integer>1593</integer>
<key>Name</key><string>Lies Of Serpents, A River Of Tears</string>
<key>Artist</key><string>Zao</string>
<key>Album</key><string>Where Blood And Fire Bring Rest</string>
<key>Genre</key><string>Metalcore</string>
<key>Kind</key><string>MPEG audio file</string>
<key>Size</key><integer>2553735</integer>
<key>Total Time</key><integer>159425</integer>
<key>Disc Number</key><integer>1</integer>
<key>Disc Count</key><integer>1</integer>
<key>Track Number</key><integer>1</integer>
<key>Track Count</key><integer>10</integer>
<key>Year</key><integer>1998</integer>
<key>Date Modified</key><date>2008-01-25T00:40:43Z</date>
<key>Date Added</key><date>2003-11-03T07:30:49Z</date>
<key>Bit Rate</key><integer>128</integer>
<key>Sample Rate</key><integer>44100</integer>
<key>Equalizer</key><string>Rock</string>
<key>Comments</key><string> &#60;Complete Album&#62; &#60;Christian&#62; &#60;Metal&#62; &#60;Metalcore&#62;</string>
<key>Play Date</key><integer>3266759248</integer>
<key>Play Date UTC</key><date>2007-07-09T00:07:28Z</date>
<key>Rating</key><integer>100</integer>
<key>Play Count</key><integer>13</integer>
<key>Album Rating</key><integer>100</integer>
<key>Album Rating Computed</key><true/>
<key>Normalization</key><integer>16166</integer>
<key>Persistent ID</key><string>EDD33643E0188850</string>
<key>Track Type</key><string>File</string>
<key>Location</key><string>file://localhost/K:/James'%20Documents/My%20Music/iTunes/iTunes%20Music/Zao/Where%20Blood%20And%20Fire%20Bring%20Rest/01%20Lies%20Of%20Serpents,%20A%20River%20Of%20Tear.mp3</string>
<key>File Folder Count</key><integer>4</integer>
<key>Library Folder Count</key><integer>1</integer>
</dict>
</dict>
<key>Playlists</key>
<array>
<dict>
<key>Name</key><string>Zao - Where Blood And Fire Bring Rest</string>
<key>Playlist ID</key><integer>116587</integer>
<key>Playlist Persistent ID</key><string>53D7AF3850CD88CD</string>
<key>All Items</key><true/>
<key>Playlist Items</key>
<array>
<dict>
<key>Track ID</key><integer>1593</integer>
</dict>
</array>
</dict>
</array>
</dict>
</plist>


[hit_ny]

The complete modified code is below.  Sorry, I don't know a way to highlight a section within the code, so let me show some snippets to point out the change.  In the original there is a stretch of fields:

<key>Comments</key><string> &#60;Complete Album&#62; &#60;Christian&#62; &#60;Metal&#62; &#60;Metalcore&#62;</string>
         <key>Play Count</key><integer>13</integer>
         <key>Play Date</key><integer>3266759248</integer>
         <key>Play Date UTC</key><date>2007-07-09T00:07:28Z</date>
         <key>Rating</key><integer>100</integer>
         <key>Album Rating</key><integer>100</integer>

Recall for this case, Play Count does not read in correctly, but Play Date (I don't know if it comes from Play Date or Play Date UTC in Media Center), and Rating do. 

I just made  it bold
can't do it with (code) so used (quote)

So I decided to move the Play Count tag as follows:

<key>Comments</key><string> &#60;Complete Album&#62; &#60;Christian&#62; &#60;Metal&#62; &#60;Metalcore&#62;</string>
         <key>Play Date</key><integer>3266759248</integer>
         <key>Play Date UTC</key><date>2007-07-09T00:07:28Z</date>
         <key>Rating</key><integer>100</integer>
         <key>Play Count</key><integer>13</integer>
         <key>Album Rating</key><integer>100</integer>

In this case, the Play Date, Rating, and Play Count are read into the appropriate fields in Media Center.

I think you may have found a bug in the MC's iTunes playlist import routine

It's odd that Play Date is imported in the modified list.

Can you confirm that Comments & all other fields import correctly ?

Not sure if you are aware but in the Action Window, (Alt+Enter to make it appear), there is a pulldown menu to its top left to 'Show all fields'. If you then do a Ctrl+G, MC will collapse the tree and expand the action window to the max for easy viewing.

Alternatively (this might be more effective), just add all relevant tags as Columns to Playing Now via Customise Current View (right click on any column Header in PN to display the option).

Then all you have to do is scroll horizontally in PN to spot any missing tags in your imported playlist.

[SwellGuy]

We can't reproduce the problem using iTunes 7.6.2 generated playlists. If you send me (rick at jriver dot com) a copy of a small playlist (one or two files) that has been directly exported from iTunes (hasn't been manually edited) we will take a look at it.

[Alex B]

We can't reproduce the problem using iTunes 7.6.2 generated playlists. If you send me (rick at jriver dot com) a copy of a small playlist (one or two files) that has been directly exported from iTunes (hasn't been manually edited) we will take a look at it.

Did you test the following code from jplandry's post?

...
First, here is the complete code for my iTunes 7.6 plalist which does *not* import the Play Count:

Code: [Select]

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Major Version</key><integer>1</integer>
<key>Minor Version</key><integer>1</integer>
<key>Application Version</key><string>7.6</string>
<key>Features</key><integer>5</integer>
<key>Show Content Ratings</key><true/>
<key>Music Folder</key><string>file://localhost/K:/James'%20Documents/My%20Music/iTunes/iTunes%20Music/</string>
<key>Library Persistent ID</key><string>3F67715071D7DE3E</string>
<key>Tracks</key>
<dict>
<key>1593</key>
<dict>
<key>Track ID</key><integer>1593</integer>
<key>Name</key><string>Lies Of Serpents, A River Of Tears</string>
<key>Artist</key><string>Zao</string>
<key>Album</key><string>Where Blood And Fire Bring Rest</string>
<key>Genre</key><string>Metalcore</string>
<key>Kind</key><string>MPEG audio file</string>
<key>Size</key><integer>2553735</integer>
<key>Total Time</key><integer>159425</integer>
<key>Disc Number</key><integer>1</integer>
<key>Disc Count</key><integer>1</integer>
<key>Track Number</key><integer>1</integer>
<key>Track Count</key><integer>10</integer>
<key>Year</key><integer>1998</integer>
<key>Date Modified</key><date>2008-01-25T00:40:43Z</date>
<key>Date Added</key><date>2003-11-03T07:30:49Z</date>
<key>Bit Rate</key><integer>128</integer>
<key>Sample Rate</key><integer>44100</integer>
<key>Equalizer</key><string>Rock</string>
<key>Comments</key><string> &#60;Complete Album&#62; &#60;Christian&#62; &#60;Metal&#62; &#60;Metalcore&#62;</string>
<key>Play Count</key><integer>13</integer>
<key>Play Date</key><integer>3266759248</integer>
<key>Play Date UTC</key><date>2007-07-09T00:07:28Z</date>
<key>Rating</key><integer>100</integer>
<key>Album Rating</key><integer>100</integer>
<key>Album Rating Computed</key><true/>
<key>Normalization</key><integer>16166</integer>
<key>Persistent ID</key><string>EDD33643E0188850</string>
<key>Track Type</key><string>File</string>
<key>Location</key><string>file://localhost/K:/James'%20Documents/My%20Music/iTunes/iTunes%20Music/Zao/Where%20Blood%20And%20Fire%20Bring%20Rest/01%20Lies%20Of%20Serpents,%20A%20River%20Of%20Tear.mp3</string>
<key>File Folder Count</key><integer>4</integer>
<key>Library Folder Count</key><integer>1</integer>
</dict>
</dict>
<key>Playlists</key>
<array>
<dict>
<key>Name</key><string>Zao - Where Blood And Fire Bring Rest</string>
<key>Playlist ID</key><integer>116587</integer>
<key>Playlist Persistent ID</key><string>53D7AF3850CD88CD</string>
<key>All Items</key><true/>
<key>Playlist Items</key>
<array>
<dict>
<key>Track ID</key><integer>1593</integer>
</dict>
</array>
</dict>
</array>
</dict>
</plist>



I was able to reproduce the problem. I mapped a network path with the drive letter K:, created the following file: K:\James' Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\Zao\Where Blood And Fire Bring Rest\01 Lies Of Serpents, A River Of Tear.mp3 and imported an xml playlist that contained exactly the code from the above quote. The Number Plays field stayed empty.


Then I changed the order of the "Play..." items in the xml file to:

Code: [Select]

<key>Play Date</key><integer>3266759248</integer>
<key>Play Date UTC</key><date>2007-07-09T00:07:28Z</date>
<key>Play Count</key><integer>13</integer>

and imported the file to a different library. This time the Number Plays field was populated correctly.


However, when I imported the original, unaltered xml file several times to new libraries MC was once able to read the "play count" value so the iTunes xml parser appears to be somewhat inconsistent.

[SwellGuy]

We want to test with a freshly exported playlist from iTunes to rule out any problems that may have inadvertantly made their way into the XML.

[jplandry]

As Alex B noted, I posted the unadulterated XML file in my previous post, but I'm more than happy to send a "fresh" one to you through e-mail, SwellGuy.  However, how do you want me to deal with the file location, since presumably that will need to be changed on your local drive.  Also, do you want me to attach the MP3 referred to in the playlist as well?

Also, in response to a question from hit_ny:  The Comments field is not imported correctly from my exported iTunes playlists (neither the unadulterated one or the modified one).  I've been under the impression (maybe mistakenly) that was normal behavior; i.e. that Media Center should get the comments from the MP3 tags in the file itself.  If I "import fields from tags", the Comments field is filled in correctly.  In a similar way, to import the Lyrics, I have to read the MP3 tags.  But the end-of-line characters are read in correctly as I described here (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=47206.0).  Alex B gave a work around for the Lyrics issue. 

Another little detail regarding the values in my comments, since it could well be relevant.  I used the Comments in iTunes to "tag" my files to make smart playlists in iTunes.  The tags look like this: "<tag text1> <tag text2>".  For example, in the playlist I've posted, the Comments should be "<Complete Album> <Christian> <Metal> <Metalcore>".  Clearly, iTunes escaped the "<"  to "&#38;#60;"and ">" to "&#38;#62"; characters in order to store them in the XML file.

[jplandry]

Bump.

Just checking in on the iTunes related import issues.  I've only got 19 days left on the Media Center trial and I still haven't imported any substantial playlists into it to more fully explore the program because my metadata is not transferring over.  Has J River been able to reproduce the problem as Alex B was able to?

Thanks,
jplandry

[Matt]

Bump.

Just checking in on the iTunes related import issues.  I've only got 19 days left on the Media Center trial and I still haven't imported any substantial playlists into it to more fully explore the program because my metadata is not transferring over.  Has J River been able to reproduce the problem as Alex B was able to?

Thanks,
jplandry

We're still hoping for an iTunes playlist that isn't working properly.  Please email it to matt at jriver dot com.

Thanks.

[jplandry]

I sent an e-mail to SwellGuy (Rick) already, and to boot, just as Alex B pointed out, the text I posted earlier in the thread is the unaltered contents of the XML file, exactly as output by iTunes.  However, I will send a fresh playlist exhibiting the behavior I stated to Matt.

[Matt]

Thanks for the files James.

We'll get this fixed in a coming build, promise.

[Matt]

In a version of the player that should be available later this week:

Fixed: iTunes playlist importing could fail on some playlists.
Fixed: iTunes playlist importing didn't properly support Asian characters.

[jplandry]

Excellent.  Thanks for taking care of this.  I look forward to getting to know Media Center better!