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[laerm]

So I'm excited to be getting an iPhone, but I'm not at all excited about having to use iTunes to deal with music. I have read a lot of threads, but I haven't been able to get a good handle on the best way to do this.

Now, the MC/iTunes library sync software, I am unclear as to what it does exactly. I see it syncs playback data between the two libraries, as well as syncing/converting playlists and so on. Now, is my understanding correct that it does not enable MC to sync music to an iPhone, right? So the final word is that I have to install iTunes to sync music to an iPhone.

My monkeywrench is that my music library lives on a NAS. I don't want to think about the horror of installing iTunes on my media center PC (it's kind of old) and watch it chew on 60000 files that take up 750GB. I foresee losing many files.

Now, I already have iTunes on my MacBook...syncing an iPhone there would be a piece of cake. Though I'd still have to make a library on my laptop, but I give that machine a far better chance of making a 60000 file library without losing files and confusing itself. If this would work, this is fine with me (and obviously keeps MC safe and happy).

Has anyone reached the crossroads I am about to reach, and, if so, what did you do? I'd love to hear any and all advice on the matter.

Thanks very much everyone...
Micah

[Robo983]

I too just got an Iphone but not to load and play music on. I have other MP3 players I do that with that I like better. I intend to use mine mostly for the cool Apps and internet access.

However, I did load a few albums on the Iphone. I have all my media on a network share. I loaded iTunes on my office PC (not my HTPC) that is where I use MC to sync my MP3 players and have had not problems. I turned off all the stuff that allows iTunes to manage music so it would not mess with what MC tagged and filed them as. I then did a folder import in iTunes of that network folder. I exported all my playlist to a format iTunes liked, one that includes the file path not the relative, and put them in a play list folder and imported each playlist. I do not have many playlist and they never change so this was not a problem for me. I do not think iTunes allows you to import the whole folder with all your playlists so I imported each one but I have less than 30.

I would not recommend loading it on your HTPC for the reasons you mentioned and iTunes if running has a nasty habit of stealing focus for no known reason to me.

The next thing I did was purchase Plug Player (PP) from the App store. It allows you to access all your music in MC as well as your playlists. You can also use xpTunes found on the Third party links on this forum to play/control music on your HTPC but it does not group to album level for Artist or Genre/Artist/Album and just gives you a list of all the songs in a Genre or by an Artist. xpTunes has a free trial and recommend trying it as it may be what you are looking for to control your HTPC music from your iPhone. The other alternative is Rivermote but is limited to only controling/playing your play lists on your HTPC. This is how I use my iPhone for music. I do not think I have played 5 minutes of music from the Ipod app but that may not work for you. I like the access that PP has to my entire MC library and play lists and it has the capability to control MC but doesn't work real well but Bob is looking into it (also a link in the Ipod Forum).

I also purchased from the App store "Air Mouse" that I use to control MC in Theater View like a gyration remote, very cool.

Anyway, I hope this helps. I hate iTunes and can never seem to get it to do what I want...hasn't changed much in years with respect to that so I try to limit my contact with it to just backups and software updates.

[laerm]

Hey, thanks for the feedback —

However, I did load a few albums on the Iphone. I have all my media on a network share. I loaded iTunes on my office PC (not my HTPC) that is where I use MC to sync my MP3 players and have had not problems. I turned off all the stuff that allows iTunes to manage music so it would not mess with what MC tagged and filed them as. I then did a folder import in iTunes of that network folder. I exported all my playlist to a format iTunes liked, one that includes the file path not the relative, and put them in a play list folder and imported each playlist. I do not have many playlist and they never change so this was not a problem for me. I do not think iTunes allows you to import the whole folder with all your playlists so I imported each one but I have less than 30.

How large is your library? In other words, how long did iTunes take to import what you imported? I have such a large library, I'm pretty paranoid about what iTunes will do to it and how long it will take to do its thing, even if I do have the iTunes managing preferences turned off.

The next thing I did was purchase Plug Player (PP) from the App store. It allows you to access all your music in MC as well as your playlists. You can also use xpTunes found on the Third party links on this forum to play/control music on your HTPC but it does not group to album level for Artist or Genre/Artist/Album and just gives you a list of all the songs in a Genre or by an Artist. xpTunes has a free trial and recommend trying it as it may be what you are looking for to control your HTPC music from your iPhone. The other alternative is Rivermote but is limited to only controling/playing your play lists on your HTPC. This is how I use my iPhone for music. I do not think I have played 5 minutes of music from the Ipod app but that may not work for you. I like the access that PP has to my entire MC library and play lists and it has the capability to control MC but doesn't work real well but Bob is looking into it (also a link in the Ipod Forum).

I also purchased from the App store "Air Mouse" that I use to control MC in Theater View like a gyration remote, very cool.

I'm not looking to use the iPhone as a remote, as I already have a very good setup for that. The MC-iTunes library synchronizer, have you any experience with that?

Thanks again...

[Robo983]

It did take a long time to import the folder. I only have 80Gb or a little over 20K files all MP3. I also imported my Music Videos and Pictures. I can not say for sure. It was a long time. Much longer than MC would take. I did it once and their was network share problem and got the files with no links problem and couldn't figure out how to fix just those like you can in MC. The music took an hour or two. The Music Videos and Pictures I started at night and let run over night so I do not know but I checked after a couple of hours and it wasn't done.

I wouldn't think it would change anything if you had it set not too but I guess it does have to open the file to read the tag and could screw that up some how. We all use MC because it does all this stuff so much better than iTunes and the so called competition so it may not be worth the risk with such a large library but I can say I have not seen any problems. If it does give you trouble you could have MC write the tags to file from your library.

As for MC syncing with the iPhone via the MC-iTunes library synchronize I have not done. I keep intending to read that thead but it hasn't been a priority for me since I do not use it for an IPOD ever.

You can't load your whole library on your iPhone so I would think that PP is a good fit for you too. Can't take your tunes with you though if that is a problem.

[laerm]

It did take a long time to import the folder. I only have 80Gb or a little over 20K files all MP3. I also imported my Music Videos and Pictures. I can not say for sure. It was a long time. Much longer than MC would take. I did it once and their was network share problem and got the files with no links problem and couldn't figure out how to fix just those like you can in MC. The music took an hour or two. The Music Videos and Pictures I started at night and let run over night so I do not know but I checked after a couple of hours and it wasn't done.

Yeah, I figure I'll have to leave the house for a weekend or something.

You can't load your whole library on your iPhone so I would think that PP is a good fit for you too. Can't take your tunes with you though if that is a problem.

I had looked at the PP app a while back...I don't think I understand its features fully. First off, I don't use DLNA (haven't been able to figure it out yet), so that might be why I don't get it. The PP app allows me to use it as a DLNA client, which means I can stream media over my network from MC to it, right? That's great, but it's highly unlikely I'm ever more than 20 feet from speakers in my house, so kinda moot for me. Unless it streams media through the network, so I can listen to music when I'm away through the 3G network. That would be useful, but I can see it as being unreliable and glitchy.

Micah

[JimH]

I had looked at the PP app a while back...I don't think I understand its features fully. First off, I don't use DLNA (haven't been able to figure it out yet),...

It isn't complicated.  Here's where to start:
http://wiki.jrmediacenter.com/index.php/DLNA

[laerm]

It isn't complicated.  Here's where to start:
http://wiki.jrmediacenter.com/index.php/DLNA

Ah, yes, I suppose I should have phrased my statement better. I understand what it is and what it's supposed to do, but I couldn't get it working between MC as a server/player/renderer and my MacBook as a controller (tried a few apps). Then I realised that it's really unnecessary for my needs, as I have a small place. Thanks though...

Micah

[prod]

You can use the MC & iTunes Synchronizer without having to import everything into iTunes.... you can have iTunes use its own exclusive folder which MC manages. User "zxsix" documented this in a PDF - ZxsixsGuideToSyncingLossless.pdf.

[laerm]

You can use the MC & iTunes Synchronizer without having to import everything into iTunes.... you can have iTunes use its own exclusive folder which MC manages. User "zxsix" documented this in a PDF - ZxsixsGuideToSyncingLossless.pdf.

Ahh, now that looks more like what I'm after. This should suit me great. Thanks very much!

Micah