Topic: Portable Drive plug-in (Read 4821 times)

JoshuaHorowitz · « **on:** August 11, 2003, 09:34:50 pm »

I just came back from a long trip and was very excited to find that a new Portable Drive plug-in had been developed. Although it looks great, I have several concerns:

Although this is mildly unimportant, I repeatedly get an error message reading: "An invalid argument was encountered." It doesn't seem to influence anything, but it is certainly annoying and somewhat disturbing.
More importantly, there seems to be nowhere where the list of files to be uploaded is displayed (and perhaps edited). This is probably a bug or a tremendous lack of insight on my part (the latter being not entirely unlikely).
I can not specify the root folder for the upload. As I store my music in a subdirectory, this is a bit of a problem.
There seem to be none of the nifty playlist-synchronization features I would like. If there are, how do I access them?

Thanks!
Joshua Horowitz

SteveG · « **Reply #1 on:** August 12, 2003, 05:33:52 am »

Joshua,

What version of MC do you have? Can you get the latest?

Quote

I repeatedly get an error message reading: "An invalid argument was encountered." It doesn't seem to influence anything, but it is certainly annoying and somewhat disturbing.

What are you doing when this happens?

If you have MC 91.226 you can either drag and drop files or playlist/smartlists onto the root icon of your Portable Drive. After you do this, if you click on the drive letter you will see the files "In Queue" and be able to enable other features such as file conversion.

If you prefer, you can right click on the drive letter and select 'Synchronize' and send whole playlists easily.

Steve

JoshuaHorowitz · « **Reply #2 on:** August 12, 2003, 02:17:19 pm »

Ah, I'm still on 9.1.203 (a true Luddite, I am). Anyhow, that all sounds great! I'll probably stick with my current version for a bit before being adventurous and switching. Great work though!

Just out of curiousity, can you select the root directory of transfer? If so, I'll love this feature when I will the power to leave my cocoon of stability. If not, it is still a bit of a problem, and I would like it if this could be added.

Thanks again!
Joshua Horowitz

SteveG · « **Reply #3 on:** August 13, 2003, 08:42:17 am »

Quote

Just out of curiousity, can you select the root directory of transfer?

Not sure exactly what you mean. There is a new feature that allows the tranfer to automatically create folders and subfolders on the player. One option allows you to use the filename path. When this is selected if you have a 'Filename' path of C:\Music\mytrack.mp3 and then transfer to your portable, your file will end up in a comparable path in a folder called 'Music'.

Maybe this is what you are after?

jleerigby · « **Reply #4 on:** August 13, 2003, 08:58:14 am »

Quote

Ah, I'm still on 9.1.203 (a true Luddite, I am). Anyhow, that all sounds great! I'll probably stick with my current version for a bit before being adventurous and switching.

I think it's more adventurous to stick with such an old build of a beta that's full of early bugs.

JoshuaHorowitz · « **Reply #5 on:** August 13, 2003, 07:33:13 pm »

SteveG:

What I meant was that I store my music on my Archos in a folder "Music" below the root folder. From what I saw I surmised that, although the plug-in could make folders and name files after ID3 tags, it could only place these structures directly below the root. I need them to be made directly below the folder "Music". Example: "E:\Music\Artist\Name.mp3" as opposed to "E:\Artist\Name.mp3". The copy-directories-from-hard-drive-location thing doesn't work, as my music is stored on my HD in a way that is completely different from how I want it on my Archos. I still want to be able to make folders on the portable HD based on ID3 tags, I just want a bit more flexibility. Maybe this is already possible? If not, it would be very nice if it could be implemented (a new option: "Destination Folder" (or something)). If this is still cryptic, I'd be happy to reexplain or help.

Thanks
Joshua Horowitz

SteveG · « **Reply #6 on:** August 14, 2003, 08:24:47 am »

Joshua,

Thanks for clarifying what you are after. I can implement something like this in the future. If you do not see it after a while, please remind me.

Steve

JoshuaHorowitz · « **Reply #7 on:** August 20, 2003, 03:59:20 pm »

Oh, also (I could be missing something):

It seems that even if you can make pretty ID3-tag-named folders, the actual filenames of the MP3s on the portable drive are identical to their filenames on the original HD. It would be nice if this too was ID3-customizable.

Thanks!
Joshua Horowitz

SteveG · « **Reply #8 on:** August 22, 2003, 10:14:58 am »

This too can be implemented in the future.

Steve

JoshuaHorowitz · « **Reply #9 on:** September 02, 2003, 03:28:45 pm »

Hey, I just wanted to bring this back up with a bit of a new request. First of all, I still need to have a customizable root folder and ID3-customizable filenames. But I'd like to clarify what I wanted by "playlist-synchronization".

My music collection is considerably greater in size than 20GB, the capacity of my MP3 player. So how I would like to use Media Center is that I would have a special playlist that would contain all the files I wanted to have in some specific folder on my handheld (thus incorporating my "root-folder specification" request). I would be able to "sync" this playlist to the folder. All files on the playlist but not in the folder would be transferred to the handheld (with the correct ID3-named folders and filenames, of course). All files in the folder but not on the playlist would be deleted from the handheld (so I could make room for new transfers). Other little cosmetic things would be done of course, like deleting empty folders, but that's the general idea.

I wouldn't have brought up such an elaborate request, but I gather that this is what can be done with the iPod plugin. If it's way too much trouble, thats quite all right, I'd just like to be able to do the root-folders and filenames (sorry if I'm being a bit repetitive). Currently MC is somewhat unusable for copying music to my Archos, but if these two small features were added (and especially if the big one was added) it would be perfect.

Thanks!
Joshua Horowitz

SteveG · « **Reply #10 on:** September 03, 2003, 01:38:20 pm »

Joshua,

The next build of MC will include a right-click option to set the root folder for uploads. This will only work for synching because without synch you should drag and drop to the appropriate folder.

In regards to the file naming from tags, why not name the files the way you want on your PC before the transfer?

JoshuaHorowitz · « **Reply #11 on:** September 03, 2003, 06:46:58 pm »

Steve,

First of all: what exactly do you mean by "synching"? When I set a new root directory and folder schema and tell some files to be sent to "E:", they get copied as if there was no root directory specified. I assume there is some major feature I'm missing. What is synching?Maybe what I mentioned in my last post? Or am I way too optimistic?

On the subject of file-naming: My files are structured differently on my PC than how I want them on my Archos. Currently the structure on my Archos is "Artist\Name.mp3". On my PC, however, I have it either in the form "Artist - Name.mp3" or "Artist\Album\# - Name.mp3" (depending on source). Neither of these conform with what I want it to be copied as. I could make temporary copies, rename files from properties, and transfer, but that would be way too tedious for as elegant a system as Media Center. It would be really cool if this were automatic.

A grand multitude of thanks!
Joshua

SteveG · « **Reply #12 on:** September 04, 2003, 06:26:31 am »

Joshua,

Try right clicking on your drive letter and select the option for 'Synchronize files' . This allows you to take Playlists/Smartlists from MC and automatically send them to your player. The folders will be created automatically.

Also, in addition to using the 'Send-To', try dragging files or playlists and dropping them directly on the removable drive letter.

My comment on filenaming was specific to the filename, not to the whole folder structure. So in the example where a file resides in C:\My Music\My Artist\My Album\01-IamAritst-IamAlbum-Mytrack.mp3, the '01-IamAritst-IamAlbum-Mytrack.mp3' is what is relevant.

bennyd · « **Reply #13 on:** September 04, 2003, 07:03:43 am »

- If dragging and dropping to the Action Pane removable drive, can it also take the defined root directory ?
Now it takes always the root

- Can in the action pane also show how many files are already in the queue just like the CD-Burner ?

- Also, After uploading to my archos and then pushing F5 in MC to refresh, my drive dissapears from the devices. Upon restarting MC, it appears again.

Media Center Registered 9.1.244 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\

Microsoft Windows XP Workstation 5.1 Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
Intel Pentium 4 2605 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 523 MB, Free - 256 MB

Internet Explorer: 6.0.2800.1106 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2800.1226 / Shell32.dll: 6.00.2800.1233 (xpsp2.030604-1804) / wnaspi32.dll: 4.57 (1008) , ASPI for Win32 (95/NT) DLL, Copyright © 1989-1997 Adaptec, Inc. / Aspi32.sys: 4.57 (1008)

Ripping / Drive F: Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer CD Type:Auto Read speed:Max
Drive G: Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer CD Type:Auto Read speed:Max
Drive H: Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer CD Type:Auto Read speed:Max
Digital playback: Yes / Use YADB: Yes / Get cover art: Yes / Calc replay gain: Yes / Copy volume: 32767
Eject after ripping: Yes / Play sound after ripping: Yes Soundfile: chord.wav

Burning / Drive G: PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-105 Addr: 3:0:0 Speed:16 MaxSpeed:16 BurnProof:Yes
Test mode: No / Eject after writing: Yes / Direct decoding: No / Write CD-Text: Yes
Use playback settings: Yes / Normalization: None

SteveG · « **Reply #14 on:** September 04, 2003, 01:14:30 pm »

bennyd,

Your first two requests are in the next MC build. I cannot duplicate the refresh problem. Any other instructions on how to get it to occur?

Steve

bennyd · « **Reply #15 on:** September 04, 2003, 02:23:21 pm »

It happens when I do NOT choose "None" in "Rearrange upload folders".

The moment I choose eg "Use filename path", after uploading, then hit F5, it dissappears.

I also noticed whatevever options I choose, the path is never displayed on the queued files in MC, it always shows "i:\" and not eg "i:\my music", although it transfer correctly.

Send to option via right click also doesn't use the pre-defined root folder but always uses the real root.

(I tried this with about 10 files)

bennyd · « **Reply #16 on:** September 04, 2003, 02:35:19 pm »

In fact, it also happens when I define a root directory, if I leave the root directory empty (so it doesn't need to create any directory), all works fine, the moment it has to create a directory and or subdirectory, the device disappears after refreshing.

JoshuaHorowitz · « **Reply #17 on:** September 04, 2003, 04:56:55 pm »

I'll test the new version soon (I just downloaded it), but I wanted to explain my problem with not being able to rename files.

As I said, a large number of the files on my PC are in a single folder and have filenames "Artist - Name.mp3". This is not a problem on my computer, as I just use MC and it sorts things out. But if I don't change names and just put things in artist-directories on my Archos, I get a nice little folder full of artist subdirectories, and when I go into any specific subdirectory I get the following:

(International) Noise Conspir...
(International) Noise Conspir...
(International) Noise Conspir...
(International) Noise Conspir...
...

This is just a dramatization (the screen probably holds a lot less text), but you can see how I wouldn't want every file on a device with such a small screen to be prefaced with redundant information that makes it impossible to navigate to the song I want.

Alternatively, if I have an artist with many files in folders with "# - Name.mp3" naming, I get this:

01 - Strawberry Fields Forever
01 - Penny Lane
01 - I Am The Walrus
02 - yadda yadda
02 - ka-chunk ka-chunk
...

You can see why it would be difficult to find a specific song in this kind of system.

I like how I structure music on my PC, and I like how I stucture it on my Archos. With the current limitations of the software these are incompatable, and the addition of a simple feature would make everything work quite nicely. All I need is to be able to name my files "[name].mp3" from ID3 tags.

Thanks.
Joshua

SteveG · « **Reply #18 on:** September 05, 2003, 08:11:17 am »

Joshua,

I see your point. The right click menu is getting too complicated from adding all of these features one by one. When I have some time I will create one dialog to handle all of this, including your request for renaming. I could add a simple item for renaming files by "Name" but then others will want to customize (i.e. Artist-Name, etc.) so I am better off adding it all at once.

If you set the folder renaming to "None" you will see the synchronization option. This will be enabled with the folder option when I revamp what I outlined above.

Bennyd,

I fixed the bug to handle the default root item and the rename folder option. You should be all set. The files do not show the new path when in Queue because MC has no clue about all the renaming. This happens once the files move to the plugin. I am still unable to duplicate the disappearing F5 device problem. Can anyone else?

SteveG · « **Reply #19 on:** September 18, 2003, 09:11:27 am »

Joshua,

Today's build of MC will include a right-click menu option for you to select "Name" to be used instead of "Filename" for users like yourself who have Filename's that are too long for your player.

Steve

Kurt Young · « **Reply #20 on:** September 18, 2003, 12:16:25 pm »

Woah... this is just too weird. Filesystem-browsed handhelds? No database? Who said they were a Luddite again?

(just kiddin')

JoshuaHorowitz · « **Reply #21 on:** September 18, 2003, 05:20:47 pm »

Sorry, but I set the new option to "Name" instead of "Filename", and it still names the copies by their original filenames (I have 9.1.255). Doesn't seem to be working yet for me.

Also, could synchronization be implemented for when you have ID3-based folder-naming?

Thanks for working on this!
Joshua

SteveG · « **Reply #22 on:** September 19, 2003, 01:47:15 pm »

Joshua,

Quote

Also, could synchronization be implemented for when you have ID3-based folder-naming?

Monday's MC will have this included. If you Synch with folder naming your folders will go to Drive Letter\Playlists\PlaylistName\Taginfo\filename.

For example G:\Playlists\MY Favorites\Beatles\White Album\RockyRacoon.mp3

I retested the Filename vs Name and it seems to work. I will have to check further on Monday.

Steve

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Author Topic: Portable Drive plug-in (Read 4821 times)

jleerigby