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More => Old Versions => JRiver Media Center 21 for Windows => Topic started by: dseeger on February 28, 2016, 07:51:44 am

Title: MC 21 Export Playlist to iTunes incl. flac
Post by: dseeger on February 28, 2016, 07:51:44 am
Hi,
I would like to export specific playlists to itunes, but I found 2 problems.

1. The Export to Itunes button only exports mp3 files, no flac. And there isn`t an option to include flac to mpc conversion. If I choose this otion all my playlist are also presented in itunes (e.g. my cool songs).

2. I create a new virtual device and set the directory path similar to itues media. WIth this option all flac files are converted into mp3, but no playlists are visible in itunes. I tried all playlist format withoiut any success.

Is this not working, or did I something wrong, because the combination of both features is exactly what I`m looking for. I don`t want to use an separate tool, like MCituessync.

Best Regards
Dieter

Title: Re: MC 21 Export Playlist to iTunes incl. flac
Post by: ferday on February 29, 2016, 06:41:37 am
Maybe because iTunes doesn't read FLAC ;)

Try here for some help
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=95016.0
Title: Re: MC 21 Export Playlist to iTunes incl. flac
Post by: dseeger on February 29, 2016, 07:59:28 am
I know that itunes doesn`t support flac, that a shame. Therfore I used the handheld sync with flac conversion to mp3, that works fine for me, only the playlists are not synced?
Title: Re: MC 21 Export Playlist to iTunes incl. flac
Post by: blgentry on February 29, 2016, 08:17:04 am
With handheld sync, you can choose the playlists you want synced.  Put Xs next to those playlists, and it will sync all the songs in the playlists, plus the playlists themselves.  Playlists, by default are put into a directory called "Playlists".  You can change the location in the definition of the handheld.

Brian.
Title: Re: MC 21 Export Playlist to iTunes incl. flac
Post by: dseeger on February 29, 2016, 10:27:13 am
Thanks Brian,
playlists are now synced in the Playlists folder, but they still not visible in itunes itself. Which playlist format is the correct one, I use m3u (relative paths) ?

Regards
Dieter
Title: Re: MC 21 Export Playlist to iTunes incl. flac
Post by: blgentry on February 29, 2016, 04:53:46 pm
You'll have to play with it to see.  Or do some research.  I'm just not sure which format Itunes wants.  I'd think that M3U would work.

However, I don't think itunes will automatically import *any* playlist.  I think you have to do that manually, but importing each list individually.  The version of Itunes I have has File > Library > Import Playlist as a menu item.  I'd expect that to be similar for other versions.  You might have to click on Playlists first for the menu item to show up.  Another of Apple's horrid design decisions with itunes.  ...and I LIKE Apple!  I'm typing this on a Macbook Pro, which I use for MC also.  :)

Brian.
Title: Re: MC 21 Export Playlist to iTunes incl. flac
Post by: glynor on February 29, 2016, 05:17:54 pm
I just wanted to point out that you'd really be better served by MCiS.
Title: Re: MC 21 Export Playlist to iTunes incl. flac
Post by: dseeger on March 01, 2016, 03:32:42 am
Many Thanks for your quick suggestions, but I thought that MC has build in this feature "sync playlists" already, because it`s working smoothly within the feature "export to itues & iphone". Maybe MC is writing directly into the itunes database. Do you know if somebody fro MC is in this forum, they presumably will know how this is implemented. My idea was to avoid any further applications like MCIs, but I will test it. I treid to manually imported all kinds of MC produced playlists, without success. It seems to be itunes is using a differnet frmat, or better content within the lists.
Title: Re: MC 21 Export Playlist to iTunes incl. flac
Post by: glynor on March 01, 2016, 04:53:17 pm
So... Just to make sure there is no confusion. There are basically three ways you can accomplish syncing Playlists to iTunes. Each works a bit differently and has different capabilities.

1. Using MC's built in Export to iTunes function:

This is available via File > Export to iTunes & iPhone. This writes directly to iTunes' database and allows you to export Playlists from MC into iTunes. However, it does not convert source files, so all files in the selected playlists must already be in an iTunes compatible format.

2. Using MC's Handheld Sync tool:

You can set up any folder on your hard drive as a "virtual handheld" in MC, which will allow you to convert files on the fly to iTunes compatible formats (converting, for example, FLAC to ALAC or MP3). This tool can also export Playlists in a variety of formats. M3U files are a pretty simplistic "universal" format which iTunes supports.

iTunes will not automatically import the Playlists you exported, however, nor will it generally automatically import the files. You'll need to manually import the M3U files into iTunes (open them with iTunes). iTunes is somewhat dumb about importing relative paths, though, so you might need to use the full path option when exporting the M3U.

3. prod's MCiS tool:

This is a tool that syncs between MC and iTunes (and the reverse) made by super-awesome user prod. It works very well and can handle updating existing playlists, handling alternate files (for files that are FLACs in MC but need to be MP3 or ALACs in iTunes) and a variety of other options. It also does not automatically convert files for you, but can be used alongside MC's Handheld Sync option, and can be fully automated.  More details in prod's thread here:
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=51734.msg353066#msg353066

Even better, this tool is now free and open source.
Title: Re: MC 21 Export Playlist to iTunes incl. flac
Post by: glynor on March 01, 2016, 04:54:06 pm
Do you know if somebody fro MC is in this forum, they presumably will know how this is implemented.

JRiver staff monitors all posts on this forum, but we're answering your questions, so they won't chime in unless we say something dumb or wrong.
Title: Re: MC 21 Export Playlist to iTunes incl. flac
Post by: dseeger on March 03, 2016, 05:05:42 am
Many thanks for your patience to explain the differnt options, I really appreciate it :-) . Manual import of playlists is now working for me, I just had a quick look into MC ItunesSync and will  try to get it work. This forum is really great!
Title: Re: MC 21 Export Playlist to iTunes incl. flac
Post by: Shasta Mike on March 10, 2018, 09:10:35 pm
Since this thread is two years old, is this still the best way to import from MC23 to an iPhone?