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[TXgary]

Have used with itunes 11 and everthing appears to work fine.
I only use itunes to sync to my iphone and ipad, doing all of my work in MC.
It does create the playlists, and syncs fine on the surface.  Have not had a chance to dig into it.

[prod]

Yes, everything seems to be working fine with iTunes 11. Post here if you experience any problems.

[Magic_Randy]

I've had no issues using MCiS with the latest version of MC18 and iTunes 11.

[winniew]

MC iTunes Synchronizer doesn't work for me with the actual build 18.0.90.

I think it's related to this issue:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=76211.msg516406#msg516406

Hopefully it will be working in the next build?

[bspachman]

Thanks for the reassurance! First sync w/iTunes 11 also proceeded normally, including adding and removing tracks from the iTunes DB.

brad

[winniew]

MC iTunes Synchronizer doesn't work for me with the actual build 18.0.90.

I think it's related to this issue:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=76211.msg516406#msg516406

Hopefully it will be working in the next build?

With the new Build 18.0.94 iTunes Synchronizer works again (with iTunes 11.0.0.163)!

[helpme]

iTunes Sync now failing for me with error:-

"An error occurred filling the playlist tree. Try loading MC manually first."

MC and iTunes already loaded before starting synchronizer

MC Version 18.0.103

iTunes 11.0.0.163

Sync v6.01

MS Vista Home Premium SP2

[prod]

iTunes Sync now failing for me with error:-

"An error occurred filling the playlist tree. Try loading MC manually first."

MC and iTunes already loaded before starting synchronizer

MC Version 18.0.103

iTunes 11.0.0.163

Sync v6.01

MS Vista Home Premium SP2

I've seen this before when somehow two playlists exist in MC with the same name. Shouldn't happen but I've seen it. Look for any irregularities like this in your playlists.

[helpme]

Thanks for the suggestion.

I have checked playlists and can't see any duplicates.

This is a recent issue and I haven't changed playlists for some time.

I had created a new library. (without any playlists) so I deleted the library to test but that made no difference.

Anything I can check or post to assist?

Stephen

[helpme]

I have upgraded to MC 18.0.104 and the problem has gone.

Not sure if this was as the result of the new version or my messing about with libraries and playlists.

Stephen

[prod]

Thanks Stephen for posting back with the solution.

Happy New Year everyone!

[nitz369]

Okay I have been playing with this as a solution to converting FLAC to MP3 to maintain my iPhone. I only want iTunes to show the files in selected playlists and I have not played with the commandline yet.

I am sure I will have other questions but one that just came up is why are we not using the "Automatically add to iTunes" folder? I can setup MC to sync a handheld which will convert FLAC to MP3 and place all playlists synced in this folder and iTunes adds all new files everytime I open it?

[nitz369]

Okay I have been playing with this as a solution to converting FLAC to MP3 to maintain my iPhone. I only want iTunes to show the files in selected playlists and I have not played with the commandline yet.

I am sure I will have other questions but one that just came up is why are we not using the "Automatically add to iTunes" folder? I can setup MC to sync a handheld which will convert FLAC to MP3 and place all playlists synced in this folder and iTunes adds all new files everytime I open it?

I may have just figured it out, you cannot remove files and have a clean synced playlist, whatever you add will get double added when you resync... Okay off to try the command line...more questions to come.

[nitz369]

1st question:

Following guide to convert FLAC...

My current MC library is not fully updated to my new naming scheme. My new scheme is \Artist\Year - Album - Quality, but many albums are just \Artist\Album so does it matter that my directory structure is not universal?

[prod]

1st question:

Following guide to convert FLAC...

My current MC library is not fully updated to my new naming scheme. My new scheme is \Artist\Year - Album - Quality, but many albums are just \Artist\Album so does it matter that my directory structure is not universal?

You may have to elaborate, I'm not sure what it is you're trying to do.

[nitz369]

You may have to elaborate, I'm not sure what it is you're trying to do.

Okay so let me start from the beginning because I cannot get this to work at all and I desperately want this to work. I am following FLAC Guide.

• Current iTunes library: D:\iTunes Me\ so page 1 section 1 iTunes preparation is good.
• MC Preparation - Portable Folder Setup: Number 8f: This was my original question, not all of my folders follow 1 specific rule, so I left this as the default Artist / Album. Will this be okay since all of my music is not in this exact format.
• MC Database Filed Setup: Number 7: So if all of my music is stored in d:\My Music\ and my iTunes Library is d:\iTunes Me\ would my expression be Replace([Filename (path)],D:\My Music\,D:\iTunes Me\)Replace([Filename (name)],flac,mp3)? That is what I currently have.
• Synchronizer is setup exactly as the guide states, now if I just run the program without any commandline and hit sync it will sync to itunes and put maybe half of my music library, but all I was is 1 single playlist transferred to iTunes so I am trying to commandline
• I have a standard playlist I created called iTunes, it is not a smartplaylist, I have already done the Sync to handheld in MC. So here is my commandline that I am using MCiTunesSynchronizer.exe /Playlist:"iTunes" The program pops up and it will not sync at all. Here is the error from the log <Result EndDateTime="2013-01-12T08:30:52">Could not find any tracks in MC.</Result> Currently there are 5 FLAC tracks and 1 MP3 track in that playlist that I am using for testing purposes

So what am I doing wrong? Even when I did not use the commandline it did not sync everything over to iTunes.

[milehigh]

I seem to be having a problem importing files into Itunes now.  It really slows down and then I can see that itunes is adding new tunes and processing artwork, etc (this window has never shown up in the past).  I push stop in itunes and it stops processing but then MC Sync doesn't add any more files.

Any suggestions?  When in itunes I select movies just so that doesn't slow it down by constantly updating.

Thanks.

[nitz369]

Okay so let me start from the beginning because I cannot get this to work at all and I desperately want this to work. I am following FLAC Guide.

• Current iTunes library: D:\iTunes Me\ so page 1 section 1 iTunes preparation is good.
• MC Preparation - Portable Folder Setup: Number 8f: This was my original question, not all of my folders follow 1 specific rule, so I left this as the default Artist / Album. Will this be okay since all of my music is not in this exact format.
• MC Database Filed Setup: Number 7: So if all of my music is stored in d:\My Music\ and my iTunes Library is d:\iTunes Me\ would my expression be Replace([Filename (path)],D:\My Music\,D:\iTunes Me\)Replace([Filename (name)],flac,mp3)? That is what I currently have.
• Synchronizer is setup exactly as the guide states, now if I just run the program without any commandline and hit sync it will sync to itunes and put maybe half of my music library, but all I was is 1 single playlist transferred to iTunes so I am trying to commandline
• I have a standard playlist I created called iTunes, it is not a smartplaylist, I have already done the Sync to handheld in MC. So here is my commandline that I am using MCiTunesSynchronizer.exe /Playlist:"iTunes" The program pops up and it will not sync at all. Here is the error from the log <Result EndDateTime="2013-01-12T08:30:52">Could not find any tracks in MC.</Result> Currently there are 5 FLAC tracks and 1 MP3 track in that playlist that I am using for testing purposes

So what am I doing wrong? Even when I did not use the commandline it did not sync everything over to iTunes.

Okay I seemed to have troubleshooted much of this already, I moved the playlist to its own playlist group and changed my commandline to /Playlist:"iTunes\iTunes" unchecked alternative keys, changed files to sync to mp3 only and it works, which means I am stuck on this Alternative key issue.

So here is my current Key:
Replace([Filename (path)],D:\My Music\,D:\iTunes Me\)Replace([Filename (name)],flac,mp3)

All of My music is in D:\My Music\
iTunes Library is D:\iTunes Me\

Here is the directory structure of some of the files in the playlist:
D:\My Music\Kanye West\2012 - Good Music Cruel Summer - [FLAC]\06 Kanye West & DJ Khaled - Cold.flac
D:\My Music\A$AP Rocky\LIVE LOVE A$AP\02 Peso.flac

Here is what they get converted when I do a handheld sync:
D:\iTunes Me\Good Music\Cruel Summer\06 Kanye West & DJ Khaled - Cold.mp3
D:\iTunes Me\A$AP Rocky\Livelovea$Ap\02 Peso.mp3

Is this not working because the converted directory structure is not the exact same as the original? And if that is the problem this could get really ugly for me since not all of my directories follow the same rules.

[nitz369]

Okay I seemed to have troubleshooted much of this already, I moved the playlist to its own playlist group and changed my commandline to /Playlist:"iTunes\iTunes" unchecked alternative keys, changed files to sync to mp3 only and it works, which means I am stuck on this Alternative key issue.

So here is my current Key:
Replace([Filename (path)],D:\My Music\,D:\iTunes Me\)Replace([Filename (name)],flac,mp3)

All of My music is in D:\My Music\
iTunes Library is D:\iTunes Me\

Here is the directory structure of some of the files in the playlist:
D:\My Music\Kanye West\2012 - Good Music Cruel Summer - [FLAC]\06 Kanye West & DJ Khaled - Cold.flac
D:\My Music\A$AP Rocky\LIVE LOVE A$AP\02 Peso.flac

Here is what they get converted when I do a handheld sync:
D:\iTunes Me\Good Music\Cruel Summer\06 Kanye West & DJ Khaled - Cold.mp3
D:\iTunes Me\A$AP Rocky\Livelovea$Ap\02 Peso.mp3

Is this not working because the converted directory structure is not the exact same as the original? And if that is the problem this could get really ugly for me since not all of my directories follow the same rules.

Getting a little further in this process by myself...

So I was looking at the individual iTunesFileKey for each file in my library and 2 things are apparent:
1) I DO need to have the EXACT same directory structure when the conversion from flac to mp3 happens in the iTunes folder.
2) For some reason my current iTunesFileKey is not changing the directory, just the extension.

This is getting complicated...

[MrC]

So I was looking at the individual iTunesFileKey for each file in my library and 2 things are apparent:
1) I DO need to have the EXACT same directory structure when the conversion from flac to mp3 happens in the iTunes folder.
2) For some reason my current iTunesFileKey is not changing the directory, just the extension.

This is getting complicated...

See if this thread helps:

   http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=71202.0

There is another one, but it is in the beta group and I don't know if you can read it.  I'm going to leave the link below, in the hopes that the thread can be moved into the MC18 area - there's nothing beta about the thread:

   http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=71377.0

The jist of that thread was an expression I posted for glynor:

In that case, here's a simpler version:

M:\iTunes_cache\RemoveLeft([Filename (path)], 3)/
if(regex([Filename (name)], /#\.(mp3|mp4|m4a|m4v|m4p|m4b|m4r|jpg)$#/),
   [Filename (name)], Filename(,0).mp3)

Strips the first 3 components from the path (e.g. M:\) and appends the desired M:\iTunes_cache\.  I did it this way, so you can assign the value to a library field (e.g. [_iTunesCacheFolder]) and replace "M:\iTunes_cache" above with [_iTunesCacheFolder].

and

I'm using this and it seems to be working:

[iTunesFileKey] M:\iTunes_cache\RemoveLeft([Filename (path)], 3)if(regex([Filename (name)],/#\.(mp3|mp4|m4a|m4v|m4p|m4b|m4r|jpg)$#/),[Filename (name)],Filename(,0).mp3)

I removed my fancier method of allowing the M:\iTunes_cache\ item to be a field instead of just a string while I was debugging this, but that wasn't the problem.  The problem was the escaped space before the if() function from your example.

I think this is going to work splendidly.  It is costing me around half-a-TB of storage, but that's a small price to pay.  I might move the storage off of my M drive at some point though...  Either that or modify my method to only sync non-supported file types to the iTunes cache, and leave the mp3s, m4a, m4b, and other mp4 files pointing to their original source files.

I doubt I'll do that, though.  I like this method, even though it creates a ton of duplicates, for two reasons:

1. it allows me to use MC's High Quality Portable compression mode for all of the MP3s synced to my devices, which saves a bunch of space.

2. it is safer.  iTunes never touches my "real" files, only copies.

[nitz369]

See if this thread helps:

   http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=71202.0

There is another one, but it is in the beta group and I don't know if you can read it.  I'm going to leave the link below, in the hopes that the thread can be moved into the MC18 area - there's nothing beta about the thread:

   http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=71377.0

The jist of that thread was an expression I posted for glynor:

and

Okay we are getting closer, just trying to understand that last expression, I just copied and pasted exactly as it was and it just changed D:\My Music\ to d:\iTunes Me\

This gets me thinking, if I set conversion and sync directory to \ it will just place music files in the d:\iTunes Me\ folder, which is fine with me, now need an expression that removes all directories except D:\iTunes Me\

[nitz369]

Okay iTunesFileKey FIXED!!!

D:\iTunes Me\Replace([Filename (name)],flac,mp3)

Works perfect now iTunes File Key and the files that are synced through the handheld are a perfect match

Now sync still will not work!

<Result EndDateTime="2013-01-13T20:41:25">Could not find any tracks in MC.</Result>

[MrC]

Okay iTunesFileKey FIXED!!!

D:\iTunes Me\Replace([Filename (name)],flac,mp3)

Works perfect now iTunes File Key and the files that are synced through the handheld are a perfect match

Now sync still will not work!

<Result EndDateTime="2013-01-13T20:41:25">Could not find any tracks in MC.</Result>

Are all your music files actually in D:\ITunes\Me?  There are no sub-folders below?

[nitz369]

Are all your music files actually in D:\ITunes\Me?  There are no sub-folders below?

I think if I understand the process correctly the answer would be YES, When I pushed "Sync Handheld" in MC, it coverts/copies to D:\Itunes Me\ with no directories, so every time I sync I have files in my original Music directory (D:\My Music\) and a copy in the iTunes directory (D:\iTunes Me\)

Is that what is supposed to happen?

[MrC]

It is correct if you have MC converting files directory to that location.  I asked, because I think most of us have the handheld sync engine place files under a folder tree, such as (the simplified):

  [Album Artist (auto)]\[Album] [Disc #]

using the Audio path expression in the handheld sync options.  (this way, there are no track name collisions across albums)

[nitz369]

Well that would be good too, but I want to get this thing to work 1st. So now I am lost as to what to do. It still will not sync.

used /Playlist:"iTunes\iTunes" to open program, and yes I have a playlist group underneath the playlist heading in MC labeled iTunes and a playlist inside there labeled iTunes, again this is just being used for my troubleshooting purposes in order to get this to work.

[nitz369]

OMG! It works!

Stupid mistake was stopping it, in Itunes synchcronizer I had mp3,flac instead of mp3;flac.

Wow that was dumb!

Thanks for the help, now its time to perfect this and get my phone full up.

[glynor]

There is another one, but it is in the beta group and I don't know if you can read it.  I'm going to leave the link below, in the hopes that the thread can be moved into the MC18 area - there's nothing beta about the thread:

   http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=71377.0

That thread was the lynchpin for me getting MCiS set up the way I have it now.  It would be VERY GOOD if Jim or someone moved that to the public board (nudge).

Also, you can automate the sync to your handheld, but you can only automate one.  So, on my server, the only Handheld I have added is one called iTunes that syncs my whole master iTunes MCiS "device" over to my "iTunes Media" folder.  Then, in Windows's Task Scheduler, I have it run:

mc18.exe /mcc 23015, 0

Twice daily.  It works beautifully, but I can't add additional Handhelds to that copy of MC or it could get messed up, and I can't (easily) have a second, separate list for something else (I'd like to have one that syncs my entire music Library over to my mac, for example).

I really, really, really wish there was a "named handheld" /Sync command line option for MC18.exe.

PS.  And, while you're at it, I'd love a /silent option too that keeps it from showing the sync Action Window (maybe unless there are errors).  Every time I use MC on my server machine, I have this:

[simonmason]

Is this built in sync directly to a device hooked to the machine via USB?  I still prefer the MCIS approach as it can run unattended - sync to iTunes which then distributes the information to all of my attached handhelds over wifi.  I did need to get another small utility (iTunes Folder Watch) that watches music folders to ensure that iTunes has any new music that I add to JRiver.  Seems to work.

[glynor]

Is this built in sync directly to a device hooked to the machine via USB?

No.

I'm syncing to a folder on my hard drive, and then using MCiS to sync the contents of that folder to my iTunes.  I do this so that:

1. It doesn't matter what source format my files are in in MC.  I have a wild mixture of MP3, APE, FLAC, and other esoteric file formats stuffed in there.  This Handheld sync converts them all to "High Quality Portable" MP3 into an iTunes_Media folder on my M: drive (which is not "watched" by MC itself).  The nice thing about using MC's Handheld engine to do this is that you can tell it to sync "High Bitrates and Unsupported Formats".  That way, my M4B audiobooks stay in the nice, iDevice-friendly M4B source format (they're just copied over intact), while FLAC gets auto-converted to LAME -v5 MP3, and higher-quality MP3s from Amazon or whatever get "downscaled" to the more-iDevice-storage-size-friendly MP3 version as well.

2. iTunes doesn't get to "touch" my real source files ever, preventing it from mucking about with my tags, or otherwise doing nefarious things with the files.

This does, of course, "cost" the extra disk space for the duplicates.  However, even with ~60k files, since I use the "High Quality Portable" settings in the sync (which is good enough for a portable device hooked up to my car stereo), it works out to less than 1/2 a TB, which is well worth it for me.

I'm finally writing up an in-depth description of my system, which I'll be posting over on the iDevices board when it is done (and I'll update this post with the link when I finish, so check back).

[escaflo]

Hi all,

Not sure if I am doing anything wrong here. Recently I got myself an iPhone 5 and have been trying to use MCiTS to sync just some playlist over to iTunes.

The problem is that the sync always take ages (I've to leave it running overnight.). It doesn't matter if it is the first sync or the second sync, but it will always take ages.

Below is my setup:

My music is store on H:\Media Center Music
With the following structure underneath it: [Genre]\[Album Artist]\[Album]\
And the filename of the songs are: [Track #] - [Artist] - Left([Name],30)

I've setup a handheld sync using MC to sync and convert music to a folder for iTunes called: F:\iTunes Cache\ and it only syncs certain playlists.

I've setup my iTunesFileKey library field as:
F:\iTunes Cache\[Genre]\[Album Artist]\[Album]\if(regex([Filename (name)],/#\.(mp3|mp4|m4v|m4p|m4b|m4r|jpg)$#/),[Filename (name)],Filename(,0).mp3)
(PS: Thanks MrC)

If I check the iTunesFileKey field for m4a, flac, ape, it shows the file:
H:\Media Center Music\Soundtrack\Various Artists\C Soundtrack\07 - C Soundtrack - Weldgun.flac
F:\iTunes Cache\Soundtrack\Various Artists\C Soundtrack\07 - C Soundtrack - Weldgun.mp3
Which seems right.

So I've setup MCiTS to sync as follow:
Synchronize MC playlists to iTunes playlist folder: To Root Folder
Check playlists: Two of the same playlists that I sync for the handheld device settings in MC.

Fields to aggregate all unchecked.
Fields to export from iTunes all unchecked.
Fields to export from MC all unchecked.

Use alternative File Keys checked
Only synchronize files of types: mp3
Fix broken links in iTunes checked
Import files to iTunes of types: mp3;wav;m4a;flac;ape
Log: <ImportToiTunes> (fail) unchecked <FileNotFound> unchecked, the rest of it checked.

I am not sure if I am doing anything wrong but every time I run a synchronization, it takes up to a few hours to complete it.

Just a note is that I got about 65,000 songs in my library. I understand if the first time it is slow, but I am not sure why it is so slow every time.

Hope someone can guide me to solving this issue.

Thanks!

[simonmason]

I have 32000 files and it takes ages every time.  It always was slow but it seems to have gotten worse with newer versions of iTunes.  Unfortunately, I don't think the program is supported any more.

[prod]

I support it when required and have the time. There's little I can do about iTunes being slow/crap.

A trick is to keep iTunes thin by only syncing over the files/playlists you want on your device. You can also reduce the scope of the sync by using the /Playlist command line argument. Both these things can drastically reduce your sync time.

[escaflo]

Hi Prod,

I thought by choosing the playlists to sync over, I am suppose to be only syncing the playlists songs?

That's what I want to do, to sync only the playlist songs and not all 65,000 songs.

The problem is I can't figure out how to do that.

Thanks for all the help and this is a great program. Just that maybe it is the stupid me that can't get it to work the way I needed.

[winniew]

Hi escaflo,
I had the same problem.

In this thread in 2011 I posted my solution:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=51734.msg456491#msg456491

After getting a new Iphone I tried again to transfer my MC-Ratings to itunes 10.5.1.42.
With my rather big MC-Library with more than 90k titles I always had to wait a long time and MCiTunes began importing all my titles to itunes. Hadn't enough patience for waiting.

But today I read the MCiS-Instructions and realised that there is a commandline-mode with switches:
..
/Playlist - The MC playlist (or smartlist) path and name to use. Only tracks in this playlist will be sync'd.
..
Heureka!

Starting MC iTunes Synchronizer with:
MCiTunesSynchronizer.exe /Playlist:"MC2Itunes\to be synced to itunes"
only imports and syncs files in the playlist "to be synced to itunes", that's exactly what I wanted.

Perhaps this is helpful for other users who misunderstood the meaning of ticking in the Playlists-Dialog of the program (without switches).

Hope it helps.

[prod]

Hi Prod,

I thought by choosing the playlists to sync over, I am suppose to be only syncing the playlists songs?

That's what I want to do, to sync only the playlist songs and not all 65,000 songs.

The problem is I can't figure out how to do that.

Thanks for all the help and this is a great program. Just that maybe it is the stupid me that can't get it to work the way I needed.

Hi Escaflo

Thanks for the nice feedback - as Winnie says you can do this with the /Playlist argument. Not very intuitive I guess, there seems to be a common misunderstanding that checking the playlists alters the scope of the sync. If /Playlist isn't specified the whole library is sync'd. Any playlists checked are simply playlists to be exported to iTunes.

So, MCiS will COMPLETELY ignore any tracks not in the playlist specified using /Playlist. For instance, if a track appears in a checked playlist, but is not in the playlist specified in the /Playlist command line argument, the track will NOT be in the resulting playlist in iTunes.

I hope that's a little clearer.

PS: You can specify smartlists using /Playlist, when I talk of playlists, I'm not making a distinction between playlists and smartlists.

[simonmason]

So if i specify:

/Playlist:"PlaylistName" /startsync /exitaftersync

It should only sync that playlist?

I am currently running with this command line and it is analyzing all tracks.  Does it have to perform this step?  Thanks.

[prod]

It will sync only items within that playlist, yes.

You need to specify the full path to the playlist. So if the playlist is located within a number of groups, such as:

Group1
  Group2
    AnotherGroup
      MyPlaylist1

You would specify;

/Playlist:"Group1\Group2\AnotherGroup\MyPlaylist1"

More info here:

The following command line arguments can be used:

• /StartSync - starts synchronization immediately on startup
• /ExitAfterSync - exits once synchronization is complete
• /RunMinimized - runs minimized
• /ExportAggregatesOnlyFrom:MC - Overrides the aggregated field calculations and performs a simple export from MC to iTunes of these fields instead
• /ExportAggregatesOnlyFrom:iTunes - Overrides the aggregated field calculations and performs a simple export from iTunes to MC of these fields instead
• /LibraryName - The name of the MC library to sync
• /ViewScheme - The MC view scheme path to use. Only tracks in this view scheme will be sync'd.
• /Playlist - The MC playlist (or smartlist) path and name to use. Only tracks in this playlist will be sync'd.
• /Settings - use an alternative .settings file, if not specified uses the default MCiTunesSynchronizer.

You can not specify both a view scheme AND a playlist. If neither are specified the whole library is sync'd.

Argument usage:

MCiTunesSynchronizer.exe [/StartSync] [/ExitAfterSync] [/RunMinimized] [/ExportAggregatesOnlyFrom:[MC|iTunes]] [/LibraryName:"sss"] [[/ViewScheme:"vvv"] | [/Playlist:"ppp"]] [/Settings:"xxx"]

Where sss is the name of the library to use, vvv is the name of the viewscheme (e.g. "Audio\Albums\MyView"), ppp is the name and path of the playlist (e.g. "Tasks\Miscellaneous\MCiS Sync Playlist"), and xxx is the name of the settings file.

[glynor]

I support it when required and have the time. There's little I can do about iTunes being slow/crap.

A trick is to keep iTunes thin by only syncing over the files/playlists you want on your device. You can also reduce the scope of the sync by using the /Playlist command line argument. Both these things can drastically reduce your sync time.

I found, with my system, just the opposite...  If you have a reasonably small number of files you want to get into iTunes, and those stay reasonably static, then yes, don't do more than you need.

However... If you are trying to send a "changing shuffle" of files from MC to iTunes, then you're going to have trouble.  Because, with each sync, it has to essentially rip everything (or mostly everything) out of iTunes, and then ingest new stuff into iTunes.  You want to avoid the "ingest into iTunes" phase as much as is possible, because that's the part that is slow.  Updating Playlists (even big ones) is pretty fast.

So, another solution is to sync your WHOLE library over to iTunes, once.  That'll take forever (mine took 16 hours or so).  But once it is done, you can accomplish handheld-sync related tasks (shuffling and whatnot) via Playlists that you have MCiS sync to iTunes, rather than adding and removing files from iTunes.  As I mentioned, Playlist sync is fast, if the files themselves didn't move.

That way, MCiS only needs to "change" iTunes when you acquire new content, which should be relatively static (just adding the new/changed stuff since the last sync).

You can do this in concert with using the special MCiS File Key tag and having MC sync your full library to a "handheld" if you want to avoid having iTunes "touch" your "real" files, and to deal with conversion from non-supported file types (FLAC and whatnot).

[prod]

I found, with my system, just the opposite...  If you have a reasonably small number of files you want to get into iTunes, and those stay reasonably static, then yes, don't do more than you need.

Thanks glynor, yes you're right, I guess you've got to find the best method to suit your own setup. I tried to make MCiS largely flexible for that reason.

I am currently running with this command line and it is analyzing all tracks.  Does it have to perform this step?  Thanks.

Sorry Simon missed that question - no it should only analyse the tracks in the playlist you specify.

[glynor]

Prod, I've been meaning to mention for a LONG time...

MCiS when it imports media files into iTunes, triggers iTunes to show the "importing progress spinner bar" UI element.  I've noticed, any ingestion into iTunes that "does this" is slow (even with other tools).

However, if you try the old iTunes Library Updater (which hasn't been updated in forever, but still works), it is able to import/retag files in iTunes somehow without iTunes showing that progress bar thingy, and it seems to do it WAY faster.  There is some other method you can use to get files ingested into iTunes without it being quite so slow, and that guy figured it out (and it still works).

Unfortunately, the home site for that program is now dead.  I have a copy of the most current working build, if you want it.  But, a while back (when he was basically "quitting" on it), he did post this project to SourceForge.  It was supposed to be a re-write, but I don't think it got that far... But still, the import code might be in there, and you might be able to figure out his strategy, if you are interested in improving that performance.

I'd say iTLU is probably 3-6x faster than MCiS at importing new files into iTunes, and WAY faster at removing broken links from iTunes (an order of magnitude).

EDIT:  It looks like it is in C#, and it seems like he has his whole project there (so I doubt it is a new project only partially done).  From his log messages, it looks like he was attempting to refactor it, and gave up.

[prod]

I'll look into that. I know the iTunes SDK exposes a couple of ways of importing, and perhaps a couple of ways of clearing broken links.

There are two methods I'm aware of; importing files on an individual or bulk basis. MCiS does it in bulk, perhaps it's quicker the other way.

[simonmason]

My playlist is in the top level of the playlists so I don't think I need to specify anything other than the name.  I am syncing now, it has been running for almost two hours and has almost completed the analyze stage.  There are about 32,000 files in my library.  The playlist contains 130 files.  This still seems excessive for this type of sync?

[glynor]

There are two methods I'm aware of; importing files on an individual or bulk basis. MCiS does it in bulk, perhaps it's quicker the other way.

From the way it behaves (run it in command line mode) I'm almost positive that iTLU does it one-by-one.

[prod]

My playlist is in the top level of the playlists so I don't think I need to specify anything other than the name.  I am syncing now, it has been running for almost two hours and has almost completed the analyze stage.  There are about 32,000 files in my library.  The playlist contains 130 files.  This still seems excessive for this type of sync?

For whatever reason it's not picking up your /Playlist command. Verify it's correct, try copying it somewhere else, have a look at the MCiS log file for clues. It should only analyse those 130 files.

[glynor]

My playlist is in the top level of the playlists so I don't think I need to specify anything other than the name.  I am syncing now, it has been running for almost two hours and has almost completed the analyze stage.  There are about 32,000 files in my library.  The playlist contains 130 files.  This still seems excessive for this type of sync?

Do you mean the "Loading MC Library" phase, or a later phase?  The loading MC library phase is the "communicating with MC" phase.  This takes a little while with my 36k item sync list, but not more than 5 minutes or so.

However, if you mean the Analyzing phase... It is slow if it is importing new files into iTunes (for the first time) or changing a lot of metadata on the ones that are there.  This should only happen once per file, unless your MC library (or sync list) is changing each time you do it.  Like I said above, the first time I did this, it took 16 hours or so (I don't remember, all day, all night... Maybe even two days), but subsequent syncs are much, much faster (as it only has to update changes).

To be clear: Even if the playlist only contains 130 files, iTLU will still sync the entire MC library over to iTunes itself (including files not in that list).  If you don't use the command line option Prod mentioned (each time you run MCiS).  Checking (or unchecking) the Playlist item from within the MCiS GUI does not remove the files from the sync list, it only removes those Playlists from being added to and maintained within iTunes.

To limit the sync list, you have to use the command line option.

However, mine can run through the analysis phase quite quickly now.  In three or four minutes with 36k+ files, when only a handful changed since the last sync.

[glynor]

Also, verify the Logs, and make sure you aren't getting all kinds of sync errors during that phase.

If you are using the MCiS File Key option, and your expression being used to fill the corresponding tag in MC is bad, you can have all sorts of missing files in the Log.  This makes the Analysis phase go incredibly slow as well.  You don't want MCiS to be trying to sync a bunch of "broken links" to iTunes.  It makes it angry and slow.

If you see File Missing errors in the MCiS logs, then you need to solve that problem first.

Another thing, actually, on this prod...  I think this is because you send the full list to iTunes without checking that the files exist first, so then iTunes has to figure out that they're broken and be all stupid about it.  I think, it'd be WAY faster (though it might hide more problems from the users) if you first check that each file exists, and remove them from the sync list yourself if they're missing (logging the error the same way).

Probably related to the batch ingest mode stuff too.  Again, might be quicker to iterate through the list and add them one by one (and you can error check as you go).

[glynor]

Also, are the files that MCiS is syncing into iTunes on a slow network share or USB drive?  That'll make it take forever.

Works best if the files iTunes gets to see are on a reasonably fast, local drive.  If you only need 130 files, though, you can make MC sync these to a "handheld" on your local drive, and then sync MCiS to those files (using the File Key option I mentioned above, and which is explained in prod's PDF documentation).

I essentially do this with my entire MC library, and even 36k+ files only takes up ~240GB with the handheld sync in MC set to convert them to "High Quality Portable" MP3s (-v5 LAME, which is good enough for my iPhone usage).

[Hedge]

I'm very interested in seeing MCiS on the OSX version.
Why not post all required imports here and I will look up which ones can be used with Mono.

[Cerebro]

Good day!
I also encounter the previously mentioned error message "An error occurred filling the playlist tree." I have not changed any playlists for a while, there are no duplicates.
I am running win8, MC 18.0.144 and iTunes 11.02.026. Are there any options to troubleshoot this?

I attached a screenshot of the error message.

Thanks! Maik