INTERACT FORUM
Windows => Third Party Plug-ins, Programs, and Skins => Topic started by: prod on April 30, 2009, 11:38:37 am
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Updated 23rd February 2015
Now free and open source! https://github.com/prod1/mcis
MCiS is an application that synchronizes MC and iTunes ratings, play & skip counts, last played & skipped dates. It also exports fields such as Name, Artist, Album, Compilation and Lyrics flags from MC to iTunes, and Album Rating information from iTunes to MC. As well as this, MCiS can automatically import files to and remove any broken links (missing file links) from the iTunes library.
This is how the general synchronization process works;
The first time the sync is run is slightly different to subsequent runs, the following happens in the first run that doesn't happen in subsequent runs;
- Three fields are added to the MC library; iTunesRatingSync, iTunesPlayedCountSync and iTunesSkippedCountSync.
- An aggregate play count is reached for each track by adding the number of plays in iTunes and the number of plays in MC.
- An aggregate skip count is reached for each track by adding the number of skips in iTunes and the number of skips in MC.
- If the track is rated in iTunes but NOT rated in MC the rating in iTunes is used. Otherwise the rating in MC is used.
As opposed to subsequent runs when;
- An aggregate play count is reached for each track by adding the number of plays in iTunes since the last sync and the number of plays in MC.
- An aggregate skip count is reached for each track by adding the number of skips in iTunes since the last sync and the number of skips in MC.
- If the rating since the last sync is now different in MC the MC rating is used. If the rating since the last sync is the same in MC but different in iTunes, the iTunes rating is used.
Assuming the various options are selected, the following happens on all syncs;
- The latest Last Played date for each track is used.
- The latest Last Skipped date for each track is used.
- If the track has Mix Album set to 1 in MC, Compilation in iTunes is set to true. If the track has Mix Album set to 0 in MC, Compilation in iTunes is set to false.
- Any other selected fields are also sync'd to iTunes if different
- Any files of the specified types that exist in the MC library but not in the iTunes library are imported
- Any entries in the iTunes library where the physical file can not be found are removed
- Playlists and contents are sync'd across to iTunes
Only tracks that already exist in both the iTunes and MC libraries are sync'd.
MCiS can also synchronize your playlists from MC to iTunes. Smartlists are also sync'd - they are created in iTunes as normal playlists. There are two choices;
- Synchronize to the root playlist folder in iTunes
- MCiS will create the playlists directly under the Playlists section in iTunes. Playlists will be removed from iTunes where a playlist exists in MC but has not been selected for synchronization. Also, a playlist will be removed from iTunes where the parent folder is selected for synchronize and the playlist does not exist in MC.
- Synchronize to a specifed folder in iTunes
- You specify a folder in which to put the playlists in iTunes (note that this should be a unique name in your iTunes playlist folders). Note that all existing playlists in this iTunes playlist folder you specify will be deleted. If the iTunes playlist folder does not exist, MCiS will create it. MCiS will sync the MC playlists you select into that folder.
Right-clicking a playlist in the tree will present a menu;
Rebuild instructs MCiS to always rebuild from scratch the playlist or playlist group. Rebuilding from scratch merely clears out all the tracks from the iTunes playlist before inserting them again - this guarantees the sequence in which they are inserted is the same as the sequence in MC. However, it is much slower - you may want to do this when the sequence is important, can not be duplicated using the playlist sorting options in iTunes, and has changed since the first time the playlist was sync'd.
Shuffle shuffles the playlist (or the children playlists if it is a playlist group) in either MC or iTunes, dependent on the following conditions;
- Playlist is standard playlist or smartlist, Shuffle selected, Rebuild not selected = playlist is sync'd from MC to iTunes and then shuffled in iTunes
- Playlist is standard playlist, both Shuffle and Rebuild selected = playlist is shuffled in MC and then rebuilt exactly as is in iTunes
- Playlist is smartlist, both Shuffle and Rebuild selected = Shuffle is ignored, playlist is rebuilt exactly as is in iTunes
Hide prevents the playlist (and any children if it is a playlist group) being seen in MCiS. You can click on the hide/show hidden playlists button to reveal hidden playlists and un-hide them if desired. Even if a hidden playlist is checked, it will not be sync'd.
Untick only appears if Manage ticks with playlists is checked. This unticks all tracks in iTunes that appear in the playlist. All other tracks are ticked.
Remove Tracks will remove all tracks in the selected MC playlist from the iTunes library.
The option Synchronize On-The-Go playlists from iTunes to MC synchronizes all On-The-Go playlists from iTunes to MC under the MC playlist group "On-The-Go" (directly under the playlist root). Caution: if you already have an "On-The-Go" playlist group directly under the playlist root in MC, rename it or it will be lost when using this option.
There is no installation, just unzip the contents of the file and run it. By default on the first run nothing is selected to be synchronized, and MCiS will do nothing until you press the Synchronize button.
Screenshots:
(http://www.mediafire.com/convkey/7cda/6efer4sfraro75wzg.jpg)
(http://www.mediafire.com/convkey/01fc/k4k9c4e83w7i1aazg.jpg)
I suggest you backup your MC and iTunes libraries before synchronizing the first couple of times. MCiS doesn't alter libraries directly but through interfaces exposed by MC and iTunes.
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.
A few tips for speeding up sync'ing;
- Retrieving lyrics from iTunes can be a costly business and slows the sync down - so only check the lyrics option if necessary
- Selecting "neutral ground" in the iTunes tree can speed the sync up because the iTunes UI won't need to update each time a change is made
- Likewise in MC, if intensive visualizations are running and Playing Now is selected this can slow the sync down
Please also note that, depending on the tag being changed and how your MC and iTunes are configured, the MC and iTunes interfaces will write the new value to the file tag also.
MCiS includes the ability to sync using MC expressions by right-clicking the desired field. However, this should be used with the utmost care. Remember that altering a field in iTunes will in many cases write the value to the tag of the physical file also - and this in turn may then be picked up in MC, overwriting your original values! The outcome depends on your configuration in iTunes, MC and MCiS. You need to know exactly what you are doing to use this option, if you are not sure, please ask about it here on the MC forums or leave it alone. This option is included to allow the user to swap fields over, for instance use Composer for Artist, Album Artist (auto) for Sort Album Artist or such like. That's not all though, any expression, simple or complex, may be entered to be sync'd to the destination file. I personally recommend using this mainly with the iTunes Sort fields or when using the Use Alternative File Keys option.
Tested using MC12, MC13, MC14, MC15, MC16, MC17, MC18 and iTunes 8, 9, 10, 11.
Source (https://github.com/prod1/mcis)
Binary [zip] (https://github.com/prod1/mcis/blob/master/MCiS_6.0.2.zip?raw=true)
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Added;
- If the track has Mix Album set to 1 in MC, Compilation in iTunes is set to true. If the track has Mix Album set to 0 in MC, Compilation in iTunes is set to false.
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look forward to trying this out :)
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Cool hope you find it useful :)
Forgot to mention the first sync is a bit slow because there's a bit more work to do. Subsequent syncs are much faster.
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very interesting!
you do not plan to publish the source code? Perhaps this is an occasion to explore the framework for me)
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you do not plan to publish the source code?
It hadn't really occurred to me, wouldn't have thought many people would be interested in that to be honest. No current plans to, but I'll give it some thought.
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One of the reasons I've held off buying an iPod is the issue of MC support... I'll definitely keep an eye on this - nice work prod :)
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One of the reasons I've held off buying an iPod is the issue of MC support... I'll definitely keep an eye on this - nice work prod :)
iPods will work with MC. iPhone and Touch will not.
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One of the reasons I've held off buying an iPod is the issue of MC support... I'll definitely keep an eye on this - nice work prod :)
Cheers!
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Excellent Prod... thanks for your efforts.
Unfortunately, i can't get it to sync for some reason... i run your program, it goes through and analyzes all of the tracks, but then doesn't sync 'em ("successfully analyzed 7648 tracks of which 0 were syncronized" is the message i get).
The program did create the custom data fields in MC13, but didn't write anything to them.
Is there some configuration i'm missing? Both libraries are on the same drive; the music files are stored on another drive on the network.
Any thoughts?
Thanks
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Yes I think I know what's up. The program uses the filename as a key - so first it gets the filename in iTunes, then looks for that same filename in MC. So if there's a difference between the filenames, it won't find the corresponding file in MC and will just continue to the next file.
Next time I get into it I'll put in some extra logging so you can see what's going on; it'll probably be Tuesday, unless I get a bit bored over the weekend!
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Thanks Prod.
Is it possible that the filenames are stored differently in each database? Both MC and iTunes are pointed to the same music directory on a shared drive on another PC... when i look in the XML for each (assuming i'm looking in the right spot! :) ), they are different. Here's an example:
MC13: <Field Name="Filename">\\Musicserver\mp3\Van Halen\Balance\Van Halen - Balance - 10 - Baluchitherium.mp3</Field>
iTunes: <key>Location</key><string>file://localhost//Musicserver/mp3/Van%20Halen/Balance/Van%20Halen%20-%20Balance%20-%2010%20-%20Baluchitherium.mp3</string>
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I sanitise the iTunes filename so they should turn out the same.
I did change the way it gets the filename yesterday - are you using the latest version? (v1.3)
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Yes, i'm using Version 1.3
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I've not tested it with network paths - I'm sure that has something to do with it. I'll test it myself and see what happens.
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Hi rowens I tested it with network paths and it worked fine (for me :)). I'll put some more logging in to give us some more info when this happens.
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Hi rowens I tested it with network paths and it worked fine (for me :)). I'll put some more logging in to give us some more info when this happens.
Thanks Prod!...
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I've made another batch of changes to it now so it is more configurable. See the updated screenshot at the top.
Also, if you go into the About box, there are two config settings;
- Run in Test Mode - this makes no direct change to either library, but it goes through the motions and writes to the log so you can see what will happen if you run it for real.
- Log Files Not Found - writes an entry to the log if a file exists in your iTunes library but the application can't find the file in your MC library
rowens let me know what your log comes up with - run it in test mode first. If you want zip the log and send it to my email address.
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Thanks prod.
I ran it in test mode and it seems to be working fine now :-)
It generated a list of 1100 or so files to sync. I'll run it for real this evening when i'm home and not doing it through RDP.
I do have a question, though. I was testing some other things (stacks, etc), so i set up a TEST library in addition to my main MP3 library (the one i want sync'd with iTunes). I noticed that in the MP3 library, the new iTunes-related fields were successfully added - however, in the TEST library, these new fields are not present.
Is there a way to control which library your program looks at? from an MC13 perspective? I'm just hoping to better understand so i don't get into problems in the future :-)
Thanks again!
BTW - the new configuration options are great... being able to push down Genre changes is gonna save me a bunch of time!
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Glad to hear it's working & helping you out ... I had a quick look and I reckon it will just use the current library at the moment, i.e. the library you last had loaded - I think (at least that's the behaviour I saw).
I'll stick a text box in somewhere so you can type in a specific MC library name. Looks like I can't change libraries through the COM interface, it always takes the currently/last loaded library.
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Thanks Prod!...
Seconded. Nice little app!
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Thx!
Just made a small update - the disc and track counts are calculated much faster now.
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Hi!
Sounds great. A little question about the filename.
Yes I think I know what's up. The program uses the filename as a key - so first it gets the filename in iTunes, then looks for that same filename in MC. So if there's a difference between the filenames, it won't find the corresponding file in MC and will just continue to the next file.
Do you use the file extension also in the key? That is if I sync a ape-file as m4a with only the extension changing, do I get a differnece or not?
BR John
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Hi, I'm afraid so, the full pathname is used actually - this way the program knows it has the right file in both libraries.
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Do you use the file extension also in the key? That is if I sync a ape-file as m4a with only the extension changing, do I get a differnece or not?
I've thought of a simple way of implementing this ... basically through a new field in the MC library enabling you to specify any key you like alongside any file. For example "C:\Music\Bob Dylan - Like A Rolling Stone.ape" in the MC library could map to "C:\iTunes Music\Bob Dylan - Like A Rolling Stone.m4a" in the iTunes library.
Is this what you mean?
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Yes, that's what I mean. The general idea is ultimately to be able to sync apes/flacs as m4a:s to my iPhone and keeping the tags. I use neroaac-encoder to encode to m4a but all the tags gets stripped along the process (perhaps there's a way to keep the tags?). I haven't tried your plug-in yet but from what I read one would be able to update the MC-tags into iTunes as long as the names match... Hence my question about the extension.
And yes, I could always use mp3 and get the tags but there's more fun in doing it the hard way (to a point).
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And yes, I could always use mp3 and get the tags but there's more fun in doing it the hard way (to a point).
:) I understand completely.
I think it's a great idea to be able to have your MC and iTunes libraries pointing to different locations... that way nothing you do in iTunes will directly do anything to your MC library. Plus, if you have all your APE files in MC (like you do) and your converted mp3/m4a's in iTunes you can easily keep them in sync.
So, new version;
- Added new setting Use Alternative File Keys - when this is checked the program will look for a field in MC called iTunesFileKey. If this field is not empty, the contents are assumed to be a filename to be used to sync against instead of the filename proper (the one the program already has). If the field is empty, the filename proper is used.
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Great! Thanks!
Will try, but it will take a couple of days until i may get some computer time granted at home where my iTunes library are (there are 3 users at home with facebook addiction ::) )
[And extremely stupid of Apple to restrict sync of iPhone to 1 iTunes only]
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Added Album Rating sync from iTunes to MC, fixed a couple of logging bugs.
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v1.9.5: Added three more options in the About box;
- Refresh Podcasts before sync - before the sync starts, tells iTunes to refresh podcast feeds
- Synchronize iPod after sync - when sync is finished, tells iTunes to sync any connected iPod/iTouch/iPhone
- Quit iTunes - when the sync is finished, quits iTunes
Synchronize iPod after sync and Quit iTunes can't be used together as the quit command is aggressive - meaning it'll quit before the iPod sync is finished.
Also, the app will not check that all pending downloads have been done (as a result of refreshing the podcast feeds) - it assumes that in the time it has taken to complete the sync process, the refresh was completed, which in the vast majority of cases will be true.
More about Album Ratings:
Two fields are added in MC - Album Rating and Album Rating Calculated. The former contains the Album Rating set in iTunes, the latter contains whether this rating was calculated by iTunes or set manually in iTunes. The app also puts the string "Calculated Rating" in the Category field in iTunes (I believe this is normally only used in Podcasts) for those tracks where the rating is calculated and not set manually by the user. All in all, this makes it possible to make proper use of Album Ratings in both iTunes and MC whilst not corrupting song rating smart lists in either app. Note this is currently a one-way thing - from iTunes to MC.
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How exactly does this work? It syncs all tracks in iTunes with all in MC, or is there any way to select what parts to sync?
I'm just thinking that this might take a long time if the libraries are big enough.
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Very basically, the process goes like so;
- Get all tracks currently in the iTunes library
- For each track in iTunes
- Find the track with the same filename in the MC library
- Compare the fields the user has chosen to sync
- Make alterations in each library as necessary
The first sync takes a while (30 mins perhaps longer based on a 11,000 track library) to complete, depending which and how many fields you've chosen to sync. Subsequent syncs are much faster.
On my machine it takes just over a minute to sync approx 11,000 tracks, with on average probably 100 changes to be made per day. Mostly those changes are last played & skipped, play & skip counts and song & album ratings.
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Nice. That sounds promising. Just hope there are ways to maintain the two libraries easily when it comes to imports and other tag updates. If there is, I'd most defiantly consider one of those "magical" iPhones.
Thanks for making this. I'm sure you've made the life a bit easier for some.
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Just hope there are ways to maintain the two libraries easily when it comes to imports and other tag updates.
That's the point of the app really, so I don't need to maintain two libraries. I do all my tagging in MC (except Album Ratings), then run the sync app and I don't need to do anything in iTunes.
In terms of importing files you do have to add any new files into iTunes so the app will know to sync them. Files have to exist in both libraries to be sync'd... the app does not import files to either library.
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I see. I'll give it a go when I grow tired of my Nokia then :)
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v1.9.6: Added option in the About box: Add Folder.jpg to Podcasts. When checked, for any audio Podcasts in iTunes that have no cover art; if Folder.jpg exists in the same folder it is added to the podcast as album artwork.
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If I understand this corectly, this app would allow my to port my MC ratings over to iTunes 8 and then use iTunes to sync my iPod Touch.
MC apparently won't work with the iPod Touch if you load iTunes 8 (although apparently Winamp will :( )
Is my understanding correct?
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Yep you are bang on. :)
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Does this require that both iTunes and MC exist on the same machine, or can it read the iTunes libarary from one machine and the the MC library from another? If they both must be on the same machine, what about the dire warnings about not installing the latest iTunes (required from iPhone/iPod Touch support) alongside MC?
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Yes, iTunes and MC must exist on the same machine.
As for the dire warnings, I believe the reality of the situation is that it is more of a moral argument, where JRiver are everything good about the world, and Apple are all that is bad. ;)
Seriously though, I run the two together at the same time every day and haven't had any problems.
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prod,
You're lucky. If iTunes decides to update your ipod and changes the database format, MC won't work again.
Apple is fine about many things, but not about this one. It's good for them and bad for their customers.
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In my experience iTunes asks me if I want to update the firmware rather than doing it automatically.
When you say "MC won't work again" perhaps you mean MC won't successfully sync your iPod again?
I have set MC to ignore my iPods and have the Options>General>Advanced>Features>iPhone Support option (whatever that actually does) turned off, maybe that's why I'm lucky.
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When you say "MC won't work again" perhaps you mean MC won't successfully sync your iPod again?
Yes.
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v1.9.7: Added command line arguments;
- /StartSync starts synchronization on startup
- /ExitAfterSync exits once synchronization has successfully finished
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I'd love to make this work, but I keep getting this error:
<Result EndDateTime="2009-05-31T16:16:45">Unable to cast COM object of type 'System.__ComObject' to interface type 'iTunesLib.IITFileOrCDTrack'. This operation failed because the QueryInterface call on the COM component for the interface with IID '{00D7FE99-7868-4CC7-AD9E-ACFD70D09566}' failed due to the following error: No such interface supported (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80004002 (E_NOINTERFACE)).</Result>
using v1.9.7 with MC 13.0.170 and iTunes 8.1.1.10 on Windows XP Pro SP2.
I've tried on two different computer with the same libraries (MC and iTunes) and I get the same error and I think it's coming from something the program doesn't like in my iTunes library.
edit: should have given more info.
This is with a rather large library (about 25000 files) and I kept getting the error after the program analyzed close to 19000 files. Just to see if it was a size issue, I deleted about 7000 files from the iTunes library, but I got the same error very close to the end of the process.
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I'm giving this a whirl for the first time, too....
iTunes 8.2.0; MC 13.0.171
Library size of over 14k tracks, and the following errors:
<Result EndDateTime="2009-06-01T22:46:05">Value cannot be null. Parameter name: key</Result><Result EndDateTime="2009-06-01T22:36:30">An item with the same key has already been added.</Result>
Thoughts?
brad
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Sounds like you both have files or occurrences in your iTunes library that I've not accounted for. Should be quite straightforward to fix I'll get back here later.
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v1.9.8;
- Fixed: Instance of MC & iTunes were sometimes not being released properly
- Fixed: Non-physical tracks/tracks with no filename causing exception
- Fixed: Ratings were not being sync'd from iPhone>iTunes>MC in some cases
Let me know if this solves your problems guys ....
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Hey prod,
Thanks for the turn-around! I'm still seeing the following error with 1.9.8:
<Result EndDateTime="2009-06-02T09:24:29">An item with the same key has already been added.</Result>
I would assume from reading the discussion above that the 'key' in question is the filename, right? I've looked a lot, but can't seem to find any duplicate filenames--not that the filesystem would allow it....
Is there a way to tell which file is throwing the error? Is it the one immediately prior to the ending notation in the log?
brad
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Hey prod,
Thanks for the turn-around! I'm still seeing the following error with 1.9.8:
<Result EndDateTime="2009-06-02T09:24:29">An item with the same key has already been added.</Result>
I would assume from reading the discussion above that the 'key' in question is the filename, right? I've looked a lot, but can't seem to find any duplicate filenames--not that the filesystem would allow it....
Is there a way to tell which file is throwing the error? Is it the one immediately prior to the ending notation in the log?
brad
Hmm, no there's no telling which file it is unless I put in some more logging detail .... but you're right, the key in question would definitely be the filename - which options do you have selected? (including the About box)
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sorry, I didn't wait for the update and fixed the problem by deleting some more files from iTunes and reimporting them. I still don't know which one(s) was creating the issue.
So, everything ran smoothly with 25k files.
Now, the issue I have is that I also use xpTunes and it seems that it doesn't play well with MC iTunes Synchronizer. Whenever xpTunes is running MCiS is unable to find MC. Same thing if I close xpTunes: it leaves an instance of MC running that MCiS can't recognize (stuck on "Looking for MC 13") and that can't be closed either. The only way to get rid of it so that MCiS can run another "clean" instance of MC -and by that, I mean an instance it can recognize to start the sync- is to kill the Media Center process in the task manager.
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Not much I can do about that - must be something to do with the internal workings of MC and/or xpTunes. All I am doing at that stage is requesting a COM interface to MC, if MC denies the request or doesn't respond there's very little I can do. :(
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Hmm, no there's no telling which file it is unless I put in some more logging detail .... but you're right, the key in question would definitely be the filename - which options do you have selected? (including the About box)
All of the combo boxes are checked in the main window under the categories "Fields to aggregate" and "Fields to export from MC to iTunes".
In the 'About' window, all I have checked is "Log files not found".
Earlier in the thread, you mentioned that you sanitize the filenames. Could I have an edge case that is causing otherwise different filenames look the same after the sanitization routine?
Also, I'm assuming that when we've been discussing filenames, we REALLY mean full pathnames (M:\blah\blah\blah\file.m4a), right?
brad
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Yep, full pathnames - I don't suppose you're using a file system that's case sensitive?
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brad,
I've put v1.9.9 up just for you... ;)
This will give you some more information in the error message i.e. the pathname that's causing the problem.
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OK!
iTunes 8.2.0; MCiS 1.9.9; MC 13.0.171
Here's the new error:
<Result EndDateTime="2009-06-03T08:55:20">Duplicate album file key encountered: M:\Mine\Soundtrack\L.A. Confidential\01 - Jerry Goldsmith - Badge of Honor.apl</Result>
Nothing looks like a duplicate on my end--but I'm not entirely sure what I should be looking for. :)
Also, I'm just using NTFS on my music drive ('M' is a mapped drive letter to a homebuilt NAS), so no case-sensitivity as far as I know.
brad
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Funny one this... it's to do with the Track and Disc counts. So I've deduced that either (1) the file is part of more than one album (I'm not sure how that could be possible) or (2) the file is for some reason being returned more than once in the GetAlbumFiles call to MC (which returns a file's fellow tracks in an album).
I've made a change (v1.9.9.1) which will fix the problem if it is reason (2). If this doesn't work the problem is reason (1), so let me know and I'll fix that too.
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fyi, posted the question there (with more info):
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Alas, no luck with v. 1.9.9.1:
<Result EndDateTime="2009-06-03T17:59:22">Duplicate album file key encountered: M:\MINE\SOUNDTRACK\L.A. CONFIDENTIAL\01 - JERRY GOLDSMITH - BADGE OF HONOR.APL</Result>
It's strange that's it's choking on an apl file that isn't even in the iTunes Library. The corresponding m4a file IS in the iTunes Library. They are the only 2 copies of that track that exist anywhere on the server or in the libraries.
Is it something silly like having periods and spaces in the directory name (L.A. Confidential)?...or maybe I should Anglicize the spelling of 'Honour' :)
More seriously, I will try deleting that track from both libraries to see what happens next.
brad
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fyi, posted the question there (with more info):
I agree with Messiahs, I don't think this is an xpTunes problem. There's something up with MC that can be demonstrated simply with the following javascript;
var oMC = WScript.CreateObject("MediaJukebox Application");
WScript.DisconnectObject(oMC);
oMC = null;
This code will run over and over with no problems as long as MC was not running before running the javascript.
However, run MC first and then run the script. The script runs OK first time, but subsequent runs don't work (there is a timeout - you should eventually see an error dialog).
You will see the same behaviour with MCiS. I'm releasing the COM objects fully and successfully, I've been tearing my hair out trying to get MC to let go but I'm only doing the same with iTunes and iTunes exits gracefully.
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Alas, no luck with v. 1.9.9.1:
Ah well, it's narrowed the field down to one or two lines of code at least. I'll get back to you with a fix.
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Ok should be fine now, it will now gracefully ignore any duplicate track siblings and carry on... v1.9.9.2. I guess I'll have to add a new feature to it now to push it up to v2.0 :)
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I hate being the bearer of bad news, but I think we've taken a step back...
The latest (1.9.9.2) chokes more often.... :(
<Result EndDateTime="2009-06-03T21:17:40">An item with the same key has already been added.</Result>
...and isn't including the filename any longer...
brad
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@prod
thanks for testing the CreateObject-behaviour.
cheers
Markus
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I hate being the bearer of bad news, but I think we've taken a step back...
Oh cr*p, sorry I knew I shouldn't have put something out so late....
Try again, v1.9.9.3. I deliberately input some duplicates to test it out, should be fine.
thanks for testing the CreateObject-behaviour.
No probs.
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Now, the issue I have is that I also use xpTunes and it seems that it doesn't play well with MC iTunes Synchronizer. Whenever xpTunes is running MCiS is unable to find MC. Same thing if I close xpTunes: it leaves an instance of MC running that MCiS can't recognize (stuck on "Looking for MC 13") and that can't be closed either. The only way to get rid of it so that MCiS can run another "clean" instance of MC -and by that, I mean an instance it can recognize to start the sync- is to kill the Media Center process in the task manager.
I'm hoping this is fixed now with v1.9.9.4. If an instance of MC already exists I don't bother creating a new one, but use the existing one. This solves the problem I was having, hopefully it should solve yours too.
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prod,
You are clearly on a bug-busting roll! 1.9.9.3 was working much better for me for quite some time. I noted in the log several files that were causing it to choke in previous runs.
However (and you knew this was coming), I've stumbled on some 'catastrophic' errors:
<Result EndDateTime="2009-06-04T08:34:05">Catastrophic failure (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8000FFFF (E_UNEXPECTED))</Result>
This one occurred after it synced a WAV file, but I don't know what one it was working on when it failed.
I had another 'catastrophic' failure yesterday with an earlier version when I tried to multi-task in iTunes while the sync was running. I opened an "Get Info" window on a track that had already been synced. When I switched back to iTMS, it had stopped, with an error message in the main interface window.
I will try removing the WAV files from my iTunes library to see if it helps solve the first problem....
brad
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haha yep getting through those bugs... I hope.
Right, catastrophic errors ... iTunes doesn't like to be used much while the sync is going on. I've come across this myself - I thought about giving a less alarming error message, but sometimes it's good to spread a bit of panic :)
Certainly, the "Get Info" dialog causes it every time, basically iTunes tells MCiS that it's busy doing something else now so get lost.
However, it shouldn't happen if you're leaving it alone to do its thing. Sounds like it's not consistently happening, that right?
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However, it shouldn't happen if you're leaving it alone to do its thing. Sounds like it's not consistently happening, that right?
You are right, catastrophic errors are not consistent (except in the case of using iTunes while the sync is running).
The one that popped up in the log file (in the <code> block above) seems to have been caused by a WAV file getting synced. I'm in the middle of another run with 1.9.9.3--having deleted the WAV files from the iTunes library--and the sync has proceeded normally through 9000 of 14000 tracks so far...
brad
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Strange that individual files would cause an error ... still, I've put a bit of handling in there (v1.9.9.5) so that if an error occurs during sync to an individual file, an error is reported in the log and the sync continues to the next file. That way an error particular to a certain file doesn't cause the whole sync to stop.
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I'm hoping this is fixed now with v1.9.9.4. If an instance of MC already exists I don't bother creating a new one, but use the existing one. This solves the problem I was having, hopefully it should solve yours too.
Yes, fixed. Thanks
Markus
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Strange that individual files would cause an error ... still, I've put a bit of handling in there (v1.9.9.5) so that if an error occurs during sync to an individual file, an error is reported in the log and the sync continues to the next file. That way an error particular to a certain file doesn't cause the whole sync to stop.
This fix works! I had finally gotten 1.9.9.3 to get through all of my files, but only by deleting all of the WAV files from the iTunes library.
I then added the WAV files back to the iTunes library and ran another sync with version 1.9.9.5.
The 1.9.9.5 sync completed 'successfully', although every WAV file generated the following error in the log:
<Error Message="Error encountered while synchronizing field Lyrics: Catastrophic failure (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8000FFFF (E_UNEXPECTED))" />
The funny thing is that iTMS did actually sync some of the fields before crapping out on the various WAV files. Track numbers, titles, albums, genres all synced. I don't think the other fields did....
Hope this info helps track down whatever is happening with WAV files.... I'm ecstatic that a few (well about 130) tracks don't screw up the remaining ones.
Thanks!
brad
brad
-
Cool. I'll probably tweak this a bit so it'll continue syncing other fields and report all the fields that cause an error.
If you try manually putting the lyrics (using iTunes) into one of the WAV files that errored out, what happens?
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v1.9.9.6; Made the sync a little more forgiving of errors encountered whilst sync'ing certain fields. All errors are reported to the log, but failure of one field will not necessarily mean the failure of others.
-
I wonder if part of the issue in this specific case is that iTunes doesn't allow you to add artwork or lyrics to a WAV file. The tabs don't even exist in the user interface.
If I add lyrics to a WAV file with MC13, then run a sync with v1.9.9.5, the same error is written to the log.
Running a sync with v1.9.9.6 does do a better job. It still gives an error (below), but seems to sync other fields after the error is thrown. The error now reads:
<Error Field="Lyrics" Message="Catastrophic failure (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8000FFFF (E_UNEXPECTED))" />
brad
-
iTunes obviously doesn't support lyrics in WAV files... perhaps a solution would be to convert to another format for use in iTunes and use the Alternative File Keys option?
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v2.0;
- Added command line argument; /RunMinimized
- Add new option in About box; Minimize iTunes before sync
-
Will this add/remove files that are/are not in the MC library to/from the iTunes library?
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Nope, though I was thinking of an option to add iPhone/iTouch compatible files to iTunes if they exist in MC but not in iTunes.
I don't want to overstep the line with it and it become a migration tool, this is just a tool for getting my MC stuff with tags intact on to my iPhone.
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Nope, though I was thinking of an option to add iPhone/iTouch compatible files to iTunes if they exist in MC but not in iTunes.
I don't want to overstep the line with it and it become a migration tool, this is just a tool for getting my MC stuff with tags intact on to my iPhone.
Yes that's a good aim. And auto adding files to the itunes library when they exist in the MC one would be useful for synching new music to the iPhone.
I can't wait to try this out one day. If you ever get the plugin to work on a mac based itunes library file (which I keep on the server and so is accessible from any windows pc), then I'll be first to test.
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v2.1; Added option to import files into iTunes.
I'll have a look at a Mac-friendly option at some point, when I've got a couple of hours to spare learning Applescript maybe!
-
How does this work with flax files? ITunes won't automatically convert them to mp3 or sac during sync to the iPhone will it?
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No it won't. I put the Use Alternative File Keys option in for this.... basically in MC, say you have a file called "C:\Music\Bob Dylan\Bob Dylan - Like A Rolling Stone.flac" and you make an mp3 copy of it with a filename of "C:\iTunes Music\Bob Dylan\Bob Dylan - Like A Rolling Stone.mp3" then you can sync the fields between those two files.
To do this add the MP3 version to your iTunes library then add a string field in MC called iTunesFileKey. Type "C:\iTunes Music\Bob Dylan\Bob Dylan - Like A Rolling Stone.mp3" in it for the file "C:\Music\Bob Dylan\Bob Dylan - Like A Rolling Stone.flac". The MP3 version should not be contained within your MC library, only the iTunes library.
Make sure Use Alternative File Keys is selected and when you sync, it will sync the selected fields from the FLAC file in MC to the MP3 file in iTunes (and vice versa).
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Hi,
I used this program for the first time and it added a bunch of erroneous informatoin to my itunes library - specifically - last played dates and last skipped dates.
The last played data appears to be correct in MC - indicates not played - but it entered the date of 1/1/1970 in itunes. For these same songs - if there was a skipped date in MC - these matched correctly in itunes but for those who didn't have a skip date in MC (never skipped)- Itunes liste 1/1/1970. Hopefully this makes sense.
All files are mp3's. Here is a small sample from the log - it appears that the log enters 12/31/69 and then it is changed to 1/1/1970 in itunes. Not sure why though?
<SynchronizeResults StartDateTime="2009-06-11T21:56:07">
<Track Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\Robin Thicke\Robin Thicke - The Evolution Of Robin Thicke\01 - Got 2 Be Down (Feat. Faith Evans).mp3">
<Category ChangedIn="iTunes" OldValue="" NewValue="Calculated Rating" />
<LastPlayed ChangedIn="iTunes" OldValue="(null)" NewValue="1969-12-31T16:00:00" />
<LastSkipped ChangedIn="iTunes" OldValue="(null)" NewValue="1969-12-31T16:00:00" />
</Track>
<Track Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\Robin Thicke\Robin Thicke - The Evolution Of Robin Thicke\02 - Complicated.mp3">
<Category ChangedIn="iTunes" OldValue="" NewValue="Calculated Rating" />
<LastPlayed ChangedIn="iTunes" OldValue="(null)" NewValue="1969-12-31T16:00:00" />
<LastSkipped ChangedIn="iTunes" OldValue="(null)" NewValue="1969-12-31T16:00:00" />
</Track>
<Track Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\Robin Thicke\Robin Thicke - The Evolution Of Robin Thicke\03 - Would That Make U Love Me.mp3">
<Category ChangedIn="iTunes" OldValue="" NewValue="Calculated Rating" />
<LastPlayed ChangedIn="iTunes" OldValue="(null)" NewValue="1969-12-31T16:00:00" />
<LastSkipped ChangedIn="iTunes" OldValue="(null)" NewValue="1969-12-31T16:00:00" />
</Track>
I have the full log if you need it but it all pretty much looks the same.
As an fyi for the above songs noted -
MC = never played/never skipped
IT = last played 1/1/1970 - last skipped 1/1/1970
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Interesting... looks like the app may be getting negative values from the dates in MC, or possibly it's a daylight savings/timezone calculation gone wrong. I'll have a look.
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v2.1; Added option to import files into iTunes
Thank you so much! I wasn't expecting that one. I had iTunesLibraryUpdater running as a scheduled task and can now get rid of it (+ MC iTunes Synchronizer is faster).
Now, if you found a way of syncing playlists (or maybe even smartlists?) between MC and iTunes that would be just perfect.
The last played data appears to be correct in MC - indicates not played - but it entered the date of 1/1/1970 in itunes. For these same songs - if there was a skipped date in MC - these matched correctly in itunes but for those who didn't have a skip date in MC (never skipped)- Itunes liste 1/1/1970.
I see the same thing, which doesn't bother me that much since I've actually not played or skipped anything in either MC or iTunes before 1970 ;)
edit: however, I just realized that because of the discrepancy it creates between the two libraries all the files that have never been played are synced every single time.
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edit: however, I just realized that because of the discrepancy it creates between the two libraries all the files that have never been played are synced every single time.
Yep I need to fix that... I'm changing the way all dates are processed in the next version that will fix this, plus I'm making some speed improvements that should see most sync times decrease by a quite a bit. Once I've got some minor issues (bugs :) ) worked out I'll stick it up.
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I'm seeing this in the log file:
<AlbumRatingCalculated ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="" NewValue="Yes" />
I have the "fields to export from itunes to MC" : "Album Rating" UNChecked.
Should this be setting the value to yes with the checkbox cleared?
Not sure what the AlbumRating field is for as far as MC is concerned....
Also, how are folks handling deleted files? i.e. track is rated as 3 star. Sync is run. Song gets updated to 3 star rating in MC.
MC's playlist says not to sync 3 stars to itunes folder. Song file gets deleted from itunes folder. Deleted song still shows up in itunes library. Can your program clean these up?
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I'm seeing this in the log file:
<AlbumRatingCalculated ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="" NewValue="Yes" />
I have the "fields to export from itunes to MC" : "Album Rating" UNChecked.
Should this be setting the value to yes with the checkbox cleared?
Not sure what the AlbumRating field is for as far as MC is concerned....
This is happening for me too. Every time i run the program, entire library is synced only with this log entry for each file.
<Track Filename="D:\Public\Music\10,000 Maniacs\10,000 Maniacs MTV Unplugged\03 - Candy Everybody Wants.mp3">
<AlbumRatingCalculated ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="" NewValue="Yes" />
</Track>
<Track Filename="D:\Public\Music\10,000 Maniacs\10,000 Maniacs MTV Unplugged\04 - I'm not the Man.mp3">
<AlbumRatingCalculated ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="" NewValue="Yes" />
</Track>
<Track Filename="D:\Public\Music\10,000 Maniacs\10,000 Maniacs MTV Unplugged\05 - Don't Talk.mp3">
<AlbumRatingCalculated ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="" NewValue="Yes" />
</Track>
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I'm seeing this in the log file:
<AlbumRatingCalculated ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="" NewValue="Yes" />
I have the "fields to export from itunes to MC" : "Album Rating" UNChecked.
Should this be setting the value to yes with the checkbox cleared?
This is happening for me too. Every time i run the program, entire library is synced only with this log entry for each file.
This is a logging bug it won't cause any major problems for now, I've fixed it in the next version.
Not sure what the AlbumRating field is for as far as MC is concerned....
There is a good interface for setting album ratings in iTunes, so I use MCiS to export them to MC in order to base view schemes and smartlists on the resulting info.
Also, how are folks handling deleted files? i.e. track is rated as 3 star. Sync is run. Song gets updated to 3 star rating in MC.
MC's playlist says not to sync 3 stars to itunes folder. Song file gets deleted from itunes folder. Deleted song still shows up in itunes library. Can your program clean these up?
Probably quite easily yes. Bit dangerous that one though.
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v2.2;
- Reworked to improve sync times
- Fixed: Logging error causing Album Rating Calculated field to be reported as changed every sync
- Fixed: Played/skipped dates in some cases where the track was never played/skipped were ending up as a date before 1/1/1970
- Moved Import files to iTunes of types option to About box
- Added new Only sync files of types option to About box; this option will speed up the initial loading of the MC library as MCiS will skip any files not of the types listed
- Ratings are now represented in the log in iTunes format (scale of 0-100)
Those affected by the played/skipped dates bug may experience a slower initial sync with this version while MCiS corrects those erroneous dates, but subsequent syncs will speed up.
I recommend always backing up your iTunes and MC libraries before running a new version of MCiS.
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Doesn't work at all now.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<SynchronizeResults StartDateTime="2009-06-14T11:20:52" Options="1000000001f000">
<Result EndDateTime="2009-06-14T11:26:31">Catastrophic failure (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8000FFFF (E_UNEXPECTED))</Result>
</SynchronizeResults>
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It must have been doing something for nearly 6 minutes. Prob something to do with those broken links you mentioned earlier.
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It must have been doing something for nearly 6 minutes. Prob something to do with those broken links you mentioned earlier.
Quite correct.
I used the itsvf program to clean up the itunes library and remove references to the missing files.
I really hate having to use 3 different programs just to sync ratings I make on the iphone back to MC.
So, in review, here's what I'm doing:
1) flacs are imported into MC library.
2) sync to portable folder in MC. MC converts the flacs to mp3. Adds new files and deletes some if they no longer belong on the iphone.
3) itunes library looks at files in folder referenced in step 2. This is a temp folder as far as I'm concerned.
4) run itsvf program, which adds new mp3's to the itunes library and removes deleted mp3 files from the itunes library. As far as I can tell, this is necessary since itunes is so inferior that it has no watch folder functionality built in to keep the library in line with the actual files in the folder.
5) Rate songs either in itunes or MC.
6) Run your program to sync the rating changes.
I'd really like to remove the need for the itsvf program if at all possible. There's 4 programs involved here and they must be run in a specific order. Would like to simplify more if it's possible.
Is this how everyone else with flac or ape are handling this?
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I get this error now:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
- <SynchronizeResults StartDateTime="2009-06-14T22:24:40" Options="100000000001000" ImportFileTypes="mp3">
- <Track Filename="D:\Public\Music\Madness\Divine Madness\11 - Cardiac Arrest.mp3">
<Rating ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="0" NewValue="60" />
<Category ChangedIn="iTunes" OldValue="Calculated Rating" NewValue="" />
</Track>
<Result EndDateTime="2009-06-14T22:27:05">Catastrophic failure (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8000FFFF (E_UNEXPECTED))</Result>
</SynchronizeResults>
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Looks like albums with characters such as / and , and & are causing issues with matching up the alternative file keys.
Here's a couple of examples. I can email you a complete log file if you need it.
<Track Filename="E:\Users\brian\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\Rick Springfield\Shock_Denial_Anger_Acceptance\Will I.mp3">
<Error Message="File not found in MC library" />
</Track>
<Track Filename="E:\Users\brian\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\Say Anything\Was A Real Boy\Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too.mp3">
<Error Message="File not found in MC library" />
</Track>
<Track Filename="E:\Users\brian\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\Sevendust\Chapter Vii_ Hope & Sorrow\Contradiction.mp3">
<Error Message="File not found in MC library" />
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Looks like albums with characters such as / and , and & are causing issues with matching up the alternative file keys.
Can't reproduce this... are you absolutely sure those entries exist on the drive and are referenced in the iTunesFileKey field in the MC library?
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v2.4;
- Reworked About box and renamed it Settings
- Fixed: Exception occuring on encountering broken links (missing files) in iTunes (introduced in v2.2)
- Added new option Fix Broken Links in iTunes to settings; when selected MCiS will remove any entries in your iTunes library where the file is missing
- Added Artist field to field export options
- More speed improvements
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Can't reproduce this... are you absolutely sure those entries exist on the drive and are referenced in the iTunesFileKey field in the MC library?
I'll try again after I load 2.4 update tonight.
What I've done is set up the itunesfilekey field in MC as a calculated field using this expression:
E:\Users\brian\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\[Artist]\[Album]\Replace([Filename (name)],flac,mp3)
Now with an album having slashes in the name, the itunesfilekey ends up something like:
E:\Users\brian\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\Rick Springfield\Shock/Denial/Anger/Acceptance\song.mp3
The log file shows file not found as you're substituting in underscores.
Either it needs more cleanup by your utility or I'll need a more powerful expression that can handle all the culprits (slash, &, colons are the ones I've noticed so far). I'm gonna work on the expression to use the Filename(path) field instead of the Artist and Album fields.
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The iTunesFileKey must be a valid path & filename that points to a file on disk where iTunes is locating its version of the file ... so therefore the iTunesFileKey can't contain /*?"<>|
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I was recently getting 'File not found in MC' errors with the newer versions as well... After tearing my hair a bit, I realized I had "Access Control" turned on in MC--which hides certain tracks from the library entirely.
Turning off access control and syncing again eliminated those errors for me...
Just another idea!
brad
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downloaded most current version and received the following error:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
- <SynchronizeResults StartDateTime="2009-06-15T09:03:20" Options="74000000043e000" SyncFileTypes="mp3;wav;wma" ImportFileTypes="mp3;wav;m4a">
<Result EndDateTime="2009-06-15T09:27:57">Duplicate MC cache key encountered: K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\Bee Gees\Bee Gees - Greatest - Disc 1\(05) Stayin' Alive.mp3</Result>
</SynchronizeResults>
I did have 2 files with the same name in the above folder and MC actually showed that I had 3 - I deleted the extra file in the folder, deleted all entries in MC, resynced the library and currently am in the process of re-running it (I have 70k plus songs so it takes a bit of time). Will let you know if anything else pops up.
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downloaded most current version and received the following error:
Yes, if your MC library is a bit messed up it will likely cause problems with the sync - there are a lot of checks & handling in MCiS to make sure it doesn't do any further damage to an already damaged library.
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There's a problem with the new Remove Broken Links option - I recommend not using it till I've fixed it. I've removed the link for the time being.
-
As previously mentioned - I have a large library - MC Sycn was running fine and then I got the following error:
</Track>
<Result EndDateTime="2009-06-15T13:41:50">Insufficient memory to continue the execution of the program.</Result>
</SynchronizeResults>
My log file is 19,416 kb.....
I am going to try and run it again - maybe it will not have to resync the whole library?? But maybe there is something you can do for the memory issue.
As a request - it would be awesome if this could add playlists to Itunes - I like to create smartlists in MC then you can export all the playlists - which exports the smartlist results as playlists - and places them in the MC 13\Library\Playlists folder. I would sweet if you could place the playlists you want synced into a folder called - MC/ITUNES playlist sync - then export the files and then when you run this program it adds the playlists in that folder to itunes.
Please let me know if you need additional data regarding the memory issue...
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v2.5 fixes an issue with removing broken links in iTunes.
Please let me know if you need additional data regarding the memory issue...
Both libraries are cached so if you've got 70,000 in each library that's a fair chunk of memory. I'll have a look though see if there's something I can do.
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Definite memory issues for me..... :( Version 2.5 seems worse than 2.4 (at least 2.4 got through quite a bit before it happened). I will try a restart and make sure everything is closed to see if it works better.
-
v2.6;
- Further speed improvements
- Uses less memory
broncodan - the app only caches the MC library now so the memory footprint should be a lot smaller. I'm looking at syncing playlists across at some point, when I've got enough time I'll look at it.
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Haven't tried the new version but I noticed in 2.5 that the ratings don't seem to be working correctly:
I had this song rated as a 5 star song in MC with no rating in itunes - after running version 2.5 it changed the rating in MC to 0 stars and the rating in itunes to 0!
</Track>
<Track Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\The Rolling Stones\The Rolling Stones - More Hot Rocks (Disc 2)\01 - She's a Rainbow.mp3">
<Rating ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="100" NewValue="0" />
<Category ChangedIn="iTunes" OldValue="" NewValue="Calculated Rating" />
<AlbumRating ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="60" NewValue="0" />
<AlbumRatingCalculated ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="True" NewValue="False" />
Here is the log result from a song that worked correctly:
</Track>
<Track Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\VARIOUS ARTISTS\Mixed Pop - Rock CD's\AM Gold\AM Gold 1966\13 - The Monkees - I'm A Believer.mp3">
<Rating ChangedIn="iTunes" OldValue="0" NewValue="20" />
<AlbumRating ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="0" NewValue="80" />
<AlbumRatingCalculated ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="False" NewValue="True" />
I am not sure why this is happening - as it isn't happening with all songs.
It appears to be tied into the Album rating field - I noticed that all of the songs that were were rated in MC and now have no rating in MC - the album rating field=0 (I believe you have that coming back into MC from Itunes). All songs in MC that had a rating - no longer have a rating and the album rating is 0.
It also appears that it may somehow to be tied into compliation albums - as it appears that the majority of the ratings that went from MC to Itunes correctly were from compilation albums. It could be a coincidence since my Various Artist album folder is noted towards the beginning of the log - but there are albums that I have in the various artist folder that are NOT various/multiple artist albums and those ones all got reset to zero.
And to throw another wrinkle into the mix - some of the single artist albums worked correctly:
</Track>
<Track Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\Will Smith\Will Smith - Willennium\03 - Freakin' It.mp3">
<Rating ChangedIn="iTunes" OldValue="0" NewValue="20" />
<AlbumRating ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="0" NewValue="40" />
<AlbumRatingCalculated ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="False" NewValue="True" />
Sorry I can't narrow it down a bit better but I am not a programmer and can only see trends in the log and in the libraries. One thing to check would be to make sure that the program is checking each song in a particular order - song rating before album rating - becasue if the album is set to zero that would automatically set the songs to zero, followed by if song was never played or skipped then there shouldn't be a play dateIt could be that this has to do with the memory thing?
And finally I am also seeing the below entry in the log for a lot of songs (I don't know if this is just some sort of check that is done for all songs).
</Track>
<Track Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\Robin Thicke\Robin Thicke - The Evolution Of Robin Thicke\03 - Would That Make U Love Me.mp3">
<Category ChangedIn="iTunes" OldValue="" NewValue="Calculated Rating" />
I will wait to run 2.6 or a newer version until I hear back from you.
Hope this helps. Thanks.
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Hmm how bizarre...
Could you give me the first couple of lines of the log (I'm interested in the Options attribute).
The logic goes like this - for a 5 star rating in MC to be changed to 0 star the following conditions would normally be required;
- 5 star in Rating field in MC
- 5 star in iTunesRatingSync field in MC
- 0 star in Rating field in iTunes
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Here it is:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<SynchronizeResults StartDateTime="2009-06-15T21:52:48" Options="4000000043e000">
Just as an fyi - The itunes library started out with NO song ratings or Album ratings. The only data that I have in itunes that would be transferred to MC that is there is the playcount, skip count, last played and skipped date.
I don't understand the logic of why MC rating would change? (at least on the initial sync). I was under the impression that the MC rating would always take precedence. From page 1:
If the track is rated in iTunes but NOT rated in MC the rating in iTunes is used. Otherwise the rating in MC is used.
I did just think of something though - I may not have cleared all the new columns added to MC by the Sync program (from older runs) and maybe that is messing it up a bit. I will make sure that I clear all that data before I run it. I guess that would make sense on a second sync - 5 in MC, 5 in MC ratings sync, 0 in itunes = 0 in MC?
I have both of the libraries back up so I have just reset them to what it was before I ran 2.5. Let me know if I should clear anything else in MC (can't clear much in ITunes since it pretty much is locked down). :)
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I've been through the logic it looks sound, I've also tested the same conditions and works fine here. Are you sure the following steps or very similar didn't happen? Because this is normal behaviour.
- Start - iTunes rating: 0, MC rating: 5, iTunesRatingSync: -1
- Run very 1st sync
- Now - iTunes rating: 5, MC rating: 5, iTunesRatingSync: 5
- iTunes rating changes from 5 to 0
- Now - iTunes rating: 0, MC rating: 5, iTunesRatingSync: 5
- Run sync
- Now - iTunes rating: 0, MC rating: 0, iTunesRatingSync: 0
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Let me delete all the MCSync Columns and try again with 2.6.
-
I deleted the 3 new columns. Should I clear the data in the Album Rating Calculated and the Album Rating column?
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I deleted the 3 new columns. Should I clear the data in the Album Rating Calculated and the Album Rating column?
Nope just the three sync columns.... iTunesRatingSync, iTunesPlayedCountSync, iTunesSkippedCountSync.
It's important on the initial sync that iTunesRatingSync either doesn't exist or is -1, anything else the app assumes an initial sync has been done previously.
By the way, I've used the Category field for the "Calculated Rating" stuff so I can tell the difference in iTunes between a calculated rating and a user entered one. If you've ever used Album Ratings in iTunes and then tried to set up song rating-based smartlists you'll know what I mean.
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Got it....
Sorry mate it's my fault, I've found the bug and you're right it was introduced in 2.5.
To get round it, create the iTunesRatingSync yourself before your initial sync, and set it to -1.
Or wait 5 mins for the fix.
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OK should be fixed in v2.7 - the iTunesRatingSync was being wrongly initialised to zero. Should have been -1. Caused problems on initial syncs only.
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will download and run 2.7 now.... may take a bit.
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2.7 working great for me! Perfect.
Thanks
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Okay!!! :) Got it to work. It took about 2 hours to run. The only fields I had selected to sync were the standard ones (rating, skip/play count, date last played/skipped and album rating back to MC). I didn't have any of the tag information going from MC to Itunes.
Here are some interesting stats:
MC Library total MP3's = 62742/Itunes = 62709 (difference of 33) - at least 11 of these are protected files that itunes can not import.
MC # songs rated = 15997/Itunes = 15949 (difference of 48)
MC Sync - analyzed 62710 (which is weird because Itunes only lists 62709 files) - & Synced - 62683 (difference of 18)
Files not found in MC library = 6
Probably not able to figure out where these minor discrepancies lie. I did not have the add to Itunes preference checked becasue I wasn't sure if that was working.
Final log entry:
</Track>
<Result EndDateTime="2009-06-16T15:48:55" Analyzed="62710" Synchronized="62632" Imported="0" Removed="0">Successful</Result>
</SynchronizeResults>
I may not have ever mentioned it but I hate Itunes and Love MC - so this is a great tool for me so I can use my Ipod Touch.... while still being able to use MC! Thanks for your hard work Prod.
Now to that playlist thing.... ;)
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anyone having success using this with MC14?
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anyone having success using this with MC14?
Yes, I've been using it with 14.
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Yes, I've been using it with 14.
thanks zxsix...
prod - i just upgraded to MC 14 (and removed MC13 entirely) and i'm getting the following error:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
- <SynchronizeResults StartDateTime="2009-06-16T18:28:22" Options="26000000000e000" SyncFileTypes="mp3">
<Result EndDateTime="2009-06-16T18:28:22">Could not access J River Media Center. Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {572802D5-FBF6-4C30-89CA-BDF2CE4AEC2B} failed due to the following error: 80040154.</Result>
</SynchronizeResults>
thoughts?
thanks
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nevermind....reinstalled MC14 and all is well...
thanks again prod for all your efforts.
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Cheers guys, glad to hear it's working well.
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v3.0, from the top of the post;
From v3.0, MCiS can also synchronize your playlists from MC to iTunes. You must pick a folder in which to put the playlists in iTunes (note that this should be a unique name in your iTunes playlist folders). Note that all existing playlists in this iTunes playlist folder you specify will be deleted. If the iTunes playlist folder does not exist, MCiS will create it. MCiS will sync the MC playlists you select into that folder. Smartlists are also sync'd - they are created in iTunes as normal playlists.
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Couple of noteworthy things on syncing playlists....
- MC play/smartlists are only refreshed and then read, they are not otherwise touched
- Each selected MC play/smartlist and its associated folders are sent across to iTunes
- If the playlist already exists in iTunes it is not deleted, but any files in it are sync'd exactly from what is in the corresponding MC play/smartlist, i.e. files will be both added and removed according to what is in the MC play/smartlist
- Any play/smartlists or playlist folders that exist in iTunes under the specified folder but aren't selected for sync are deleted in iTunes, i.e. under the specified folder in iTunes you should have an exact match of playlists and structure to what has been selected in the playlist listbox in MCiS
Hope this clears up any ambiguity, but if you have any questions or problems feel free to let me know.
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I've got this syncing ratings and last played info successfully now using the alternative file keys option and my flac library in MC.
So, I thought I'd try out the new playlists feature.
I checked a handful of playlists and let 'er rip.
In itunes, under the playlists tree a new MC Playlists branch was created.
The names of the playlists were added in itunes under this branch.
However, when I click on any of those playlists in itunes, they are empty.
I imagine this has to do with the alternate file key?
Any way to get the playlists over there correctly using flacs and the alternate file key field?
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However, when I click on any of those playlists in itunes, they are empty.
I imagine this has to do with the alternate file key?
Ok should be fine now... Yes it was the alternative file key causing it - v3.0.1 should fix that little problem.
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Have made some UI changes in v3.1, plus if a playlist folder is selected any new playlists created in that folder in MC will automatically be selected for sync in the future.
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Tried both 3.01 and 3.1 but the itunes playlists get created with no contents still.
Prior to trying it, I deleted the MC Playlists branch out of itunes completely.
Then selected a couple of smartlists from MC to be syncd.
Above your progress bar I see it naming the playlist and the track count for each list is shown.
The playlists get created in itunes but there are no tracks shown in it.
The xml log file shows
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<SynchronizeResults StartDateTime="2009-06-19T10:39:05" Options="61000000083e000" SyncFileTypes="mp3;wav;wma;flac;ape;apl">
<Result EndDateTime="2009-06-19T10:43:34" Analyzed="2588" Synchronized="0" Imported="0" Removed="0">Successful</Result>
</SynchronizeResults>
Again, this is flac files using the alternative file key setting.
Sychronized 0 would be correct, since the ratings and playcounts had previously syncd properly.
The only change expected here would be the addition of the playlists to itunes.
Any other info I can provide?
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Tried both 3.01 and 3.1 but the itunes playlists get created with no contents still.
:-[ Somehow the fix didn't get in ..... I swear I fixed it, but must have been too early in the morning, I hadn't had my coffee. Download it again it should be fine now, I didn't bother incrementing the version #.
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:-[ Somehow the fix didn't get in ..... I swear I fixed it, but must have been too early in the morning, I hadn't had my coffee. Download it again it should be fine now, I didn't bother incrementing the version #.
Working now, thanks!
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I've improved the speed of the playlist sync in v3.2, where files already exist in the playlists it is faster.
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I just made another quick change to v3.2 but I'm feeling lazy and can't be bothered upping the version number ... this small change makes adding tracks to playlists when those tracks don't already exist a fair bit faster, so overall in 3.2 playlist syncing should be fairly quick. So those who've already downloaded 3.2, maybe you'd like to download it again. That'll be it for today. :)
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quick question..... as you post these upgrades, the config file is included in the zip file.
I am guessing sometimes we need to use that one (like when you added the playlist functionality) and other times we probably don't need to overwrite our settings. Can you make this apparent when we need to replace settings file?
I've been referring to the date of the settings file in the meantime.
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Yep no worries I'll let you know in the future ... the last change to the settings file was v3.0.
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Utility is working very well so far.
Having an issue with adding new tracks to itunes though.
Scenario: Song is flac in MC library.
Track is sync'd to a handheld folder and converted to an mp3 by MC.
The alternate path field in MC points to that mp3 file.
In your utility, the option 'use alternative file keys' is checked.
The option to 'import files into itunes' is set to mp3;flac.
I have a playlist that I want to sync to itunes.
It gets properly created in the itunes library.
Prior to running your utility, some of the tracks included in the playlist already exist in the itunes library and some of them do not.
Based on the settings, I assumed that if the track doesn't exist in itunes, that your utility would see that the 'import files to itunes' is enabled, and then use the alternate file key field and add those mp3 files to the library.
This isn't the case. After running your utility, the playlist in MC has 135 tracks.
In itunes, it only has the 31 tracks that were already in the library. It did not import the other 104 tracks into itunes.
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File not found issue:
Albums with the & symbol are failing.
Both MC and itunes show E:\Users\brian\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\Post-Grunge\Red\Innocence & Instinct\Confession.mp3 in the path.
Your error message is:
<Track Filename="E:\Users\brian\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\Post-Grunge\Red\Innocence & Instinct\Confession.mp3">
<Error Message="File not found in MC library" />
Need to clean up the & part.
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Tried version 3.2 (from yesterday), My library was previously synced before (see previous post)- so this isn't an initial run.
Here are some of the results:
1 - It appears that alot of changes were made to the album rating column. Nothing changed in my library since the last sync so I was surprised to see the below entries for alot of the tracks in my library. Not sure why the Album rating is being changed as nothing changed from the previous sync (here are a few examples - it doesn't appear to be anything consistent and maybe this is the correct handling of these items based off the ratings?)
</Track>
<Track Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\Ziggy Marley\Ziggy Marley And The Melody Makers - The Best Of (1988-1993)\02 - Look Who's Dancin'.mp3">
<AlbumRating ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="0" NewValue="20" />
<AlbumRatingCalculated ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="False" NewValue="True" />
<Track Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\Wilson Phillips\Wilson Phillips - Wilson Phillips\ (02) Release Me.mp3">
<AlbumRating ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="60" NewValue="40" />
</Track>
</Track>
<Track Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\Will Smith\Will Smith - Willennium\01 - I'm Comin'.mp3">
<AlbumRating ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="0" NewValue="40" />
<AlbumRatingCalculated ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="False" NewValue="True" />
I did go back and look at my old library before THIS sync - and it appears that it is just updating the files that had a zero rating or files that didn't match - which is wierd becasue I would have thought that it would have synced up the FIRST time I ran the program. So it seems like this is the correct handling. Just wanted to let you know - maybe you fixed something between the older version and the one I used.
2 - I had the option of adding files to itunes checked and the following items happened - it added several songs here is an example of what happened:
<ImportToiTunes Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\VARIOUS ARTISTS\SOUNDTRACKS\American Graffiti - Disc 2\12 - The Big Bopper - Chantilly Lace.mp3">Successful</ImportToiTunes>
And then it messed up the rating on the song:
<Track Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\VARIOUS ARTISTS\SOUNDTRACKS\American Graffiti - Disc 2\12 - The Big Bopper - Chantilly Lace.mp3">
<Rating ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="100" NewValue="0" />
<Category ChangedIn="iTunes" OldValue="" NewValue="Calculated Rating" />
</Track>
When it is adding new tracks it probably should bring them over with the MC ratings and not re-rate them (as if this is a second sync) - becasue this is the initial time these files are brought into Itunes.
Due to the fickleness of itunes libraries - at least mine - constantly noted as damaged - I am unable to get to a previous version to check if the files that were added were in itunes prior to the sync or not.
3 - I also had the remove dead files from itunes - So in the same run after #2 I found the following entry in the log:
<RemoveFromiTunes Artist="The Big Bopper" Album="American Graffiti - Disc 2" Name="Chantilly Lace - The Big Bopper - Chantilly Lace">Successful</RemoveFromiTunes>
So it is adding them and then turning right around and removing them. But I checed itunes and this file is still listed as in the library and it is still in MC except that the rating is now zero stars. in both places. (Before the sync - this file was previously rated 5 stars)
4 - and finally - playlists - I had it checked to add playlists from MC to itunes - the MCsync program hung up about 2/3rds the way through - but it appeared that it added several playlists to itunes - but if I selected the playlist in itunes - it is blank.
Unfortunately the log didn't provide any error messages.
One question I have - with each new version you put out should we be deleting the itunes columns that are added by previous versions and starting fresh? My guess would be yes but want to make sure. (I didn't do this this time).
Hope this helps in someway
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Based on the settings, I assumed that if the track doesn't exist in itunes, that your utility would see that the 'import files to itunes' is enabled, and then use the alternate file key field and add those mp3 files to the library.
Currently MCiS won't import files that don't exist in the MC library. As those files don't strictly exist in the MC library (they're only referenced in the iTunesFileKey field), they won't be imported. It'll be easy to implement this though in the next version.
Need to clean up the & part.
This is a red herring... "&" is a special character in XML and is treated as a command. When you need "&" as simple text it must be entered as "&", so XML readers will read it correctly. What I'm saying is that the "amp;" part is added only for the XML log, and isn't included in the filename search. I'll add some more logging for when this occurs so we can more accurately pinpoint the problem.
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Right, where to start? ;)
First let's clear this one up;
One question I have - with each new version you put out should we be deleting the itunes columns that are added by previous versions and starting fresh? My guess would be yes but want to make sure. (I didn't do this this time).
No, leave those columns alone. I don't foresee any future version requiring that those fields be deleted.
Ok, your other Q's;
1 - It appears that alot of changes were made to the album rating column. Nothing changed in my library since the last sync so I was surprised to see the below entries for alot of the tracks in my library. Not sure why the Album rating is being changed as nothing changed from the previous sync (here are a few examples - it doesn't appear to be anything consistent and maybe this is the correct handling of these items based off the ratings?)
If the album rating value is different in MC to the value in iTunes, it will change it to the value in iTunes (if the option is selected). Simple as that.
Now, understand the album rating can change in iTunes without you knowing. For instance, you may have an album that has one track that is rated 4. This means iTunes will rate your album automatically as a 4-star album. If you then rate another two tracks in that album 2 stars then the album rating will automatically drop to 3 stars. And the dance goes on. If you then rate the album yourself as 4 stars, then iTunes will not automatically do anything to it from that point. All these changes would be sent across to MC if you checked the option.
Furthermore, as MC doesn't support Album Ratings out of the box this is an iTunes to MC only thing. That means if you start rating albums in MC, the next time you sync the new values in MC will be overwritten by the values in iTunes.
2 - I had the option of adding files to itunes checked and the following items happened - it added several songs here is an example of what happened:
<ImportToiTunes Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\VARIOUS ARTISTS\SOUNDTRACKS\American Graffiti - Disc 2\12 - The Big Bopper - Chantilly Lace.mp3">Successful</ImportToiTunes>
And then it messed up the rating on the song:
<Track Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\VARIOUS ARTISTS\SOUNDTRACKS\American Graffiti - Disc 2\12 - The Big Bopper - Chantilly Lace.mp3">
<Rating ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="100" NewValue="0" />
<Category ChangedIn="iTunes" OldValue="" NewValue="Calculated Rating" />
</Track>
When it is adding new tracks it probably should bring them over with the MC ratings and not re-rate them (as if this is a second sync) - becasue this is the initial time these files are brought into Itunes.
Due to the fickleness of itunes libraries - at least mine - constantly noted as damaged - I am unable to get to a previous version to check if the files that were added were in itunes prior to the sync or not.
3 - I also had the remove dead files from itunes - So in the same run after #2 I found the following entry in the log:
<RemoveFromiTunes Artist="The Big Bopper" Album="American Graffiti - Disc 2" Name="Chantilly Lace - The Big Bopper - Chantilly Lace">Successful</RemoveFromiTunes>
So it is adding them and then turning right around and removing them. But I checed itunes and this file is still listed as in the library and it is still in MC except that the rating is now zero stars. in both places. (Before the sync - this file was previously rated 5 stars)
If you rename a file in MC then run the sync with import & remove both on, it will first add the new filename and then remove the old filename. I'll put a failsafe in to make sure newly imported tracks have their fields sync'd only one-way from MC to iTunes. I can only imagine that the iTunesRatingSync had somehow got to zero before it was added to the iTunes library.
4 - and finally - playlists - I had it checked to add playlists from MC to itunes - the MCsync program hung up about 2/3rds the way through - but it appeared that it added several playlists to itunes - but if I selected the playlist in itunes - it is blank.
What was in the message above the progress bar when MCiS hung up? Did it create all your selected playlists or just some? Could you let me know your desired playlist structure so I can recreate it and test myself?
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v3.3
- When using Use Alternative Keys and Import file to iTunes options, MCiS will import the filename contained in the field iTunesFileKey
- When Use Alternative Keys and Log Files Not Found selected, check is made to see if the file actually exists on disk and logs accordingly
- When Import file to iTunes is selected, on importing a file the initial sync fields in MC are initialized in order to treat the file "as new"
There is a small change to the config file.
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Walked through my normal routine of adding a new album to MC, tagging it, etc.
Then ran your util to have it add that album to itunes.
This all works flawlessly now!
Your options to add and delete songs from the itunes db allowed me to stop using the cumbersome itsfv utility I was using before.
Your playlist sync feature allowed me to stop using 2 different itunes databases to handle 2 different devices. Now I can manage both iphones with a single itunes db and have the playlists dictate which songs get to which device.
This cuts my workflow and the number of steps quite a bit.
Easier is always better.
Thanks for your hard work on this and implementing suggestions.
I owe you a virtual beer at least.
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Enhancement request:
Logging options similar to MC. You have the checkbox option to log files not found already.
Perhaps a couple more of these to allow disabling certain specific log items.
For my use, the importtoitunes function, I would disable the unsuccessful items from the log since I will have so many each time.
I would want to log the successful ones, however.
No biggie, I've been doing text searches to see which ratings were updated in MC and which songs were added to itunes successfully.
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If you rename a file in MC then run the sync with import & remove both on, it will first add the new filename and then remove the old filename. I'll put a failsafe in to make sure newly imported tracks have their fields sync'd only one-way from MC to iTunes. I can only imagine that the iTunesRatingSync had somehow got to zero before it was added to the iTunes library.
What was in the message above the progress bar when MCiS hung up? Did it create all your selected playlists or just some? Could you let me know your desired playlist structure so I can recreate it and test myself?
1 - I didn't rename any of the above files - in fact nothing changed since my first sync so I was surprised that it was adding and then removing the files (and in fact it didn't even remove them from Itunes so I am curious as to what happened).
2 - The message above the progress bar - if I remember correctly was something about loading playlist. Before it froze it appeared that it had created some playlists - the MC playlist folder was in itunes with several playlists noted below it. After the freeze the playlists remained in itunes - but when i selected anyone of them they were blank.
My playlist structure in MC = In left pane - Playlists - then under that I have folders - and in those folders I have the playlists/smartlists (there are some playlists and some smartlists in each folder). So Playlists, Playlist collection 1 (folder), then multiple playlists. I also have a few that actually have another folder with more playlists (so there could be playlists/smartlists - 3 folders deep - e.g Playlists, Playlist collection 1 folder, another folder, then multiple playlists.) I think this is what you are asking and I hope this makes sense.
I have reverted back to an earlier version of MC where all the data is correct - If I want to make sure the ratings in itunes match MC then I need to make sure that the ratings sync column value = -1?
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Thanks for your hard work on this and implementing suggestions.
I owe you a virtual beer at least.
You're very welcome and thanks. :)
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1 - I didn't rename any of the above files - in fact nothing changed since my first sync so I was surprised that it was adding and then removing the files (and in fact it didn't even remove them from Itunes so I am curious as to what happened).
I'm also curious but I'm unable to reproduce it. The logic here is incredibly simple - if the track has no filename then it's a broken link - remove it. There's not much to get wrong. Does this happen consistently?
2 - The message above the progress bar - if I remember correctly was something about loading playlist. Before it froze it appeared that it had created some playlists - the MC playlist folder was in itunes with several playlists noted below it. After the freeze the playlists remained in itunes - but when i selected anyone of them they were blank.
Again, does this happen consistently?
My playlist structure in MC = In left pane - Playlists - then under that I have folders - and in those folders I have the playlists/smartlists (there are some playlists and some smartlists in each folder). So Playlists, Playlist collection 1 (folder), then multiple playlists. I also have a few that actually have another folder with more playlists (so there could be playlists/smartlists - 3 folders deep - e.g Playlists, Playlist collection 1 folder, another folder, then multiple playlists.) I think this is what you are asking and I hope this makes sense.
There shouldn't be any problem here - I've tested with much deeper folder groups with various playlists and smartlists.
I have reverted back to an earlier version of MC where all the data is correct - If I want to make sure the ratings in itunes match MC then I need to make sure that the ratings sync column value = -1?
Reset iTunesRatingSync to -1 and iTunesPlayedCountSync & iTunesSkippedCountSync to zero.
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v3.4
- Fixed UI glitch caused MCiS to appear "hung" whilst removing tracks from playlists - it just wasn't updating the progress message & bar
- Playlist creation and sync is fully logged
- More log options via the Settings dialog
The configuration file has changed and is included in the zip.
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Had some trouble with the new build.
Getting an HRESULT error message now.
Here's the first line of the log file so you can see settings and the very last line showing the error.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<MCiS Version="3.4.0.0" StartDateTime="2009-06-22T20:08:31" Options="ffc0e0400083e000" SyncFileTypes="mp3;flac" ImportFileTypes="mp3;flac" iTunesPlaylistFolder="MC Playlists" ExportPlaylist0="BRIAN\All (5 stars)" ExportPlaylist1="BRIAN\Fav Bands" ExportPlaylist2="BRIAN\Gothic (5 stars)" ExportPlaylist3="BRIAN\Unrated By Album" ExportPlaylist4="BRIAN\Unrated By Song" ExportPlaylist5="BRIAN\Unrated Random" ExportPlaylist6="MARY\Always Available" ExportPlaylist7="MARY\Unrated">
<Result EndDateTime="2009-06-22T20:15:53">Exception from HRESULT: 0xA0040202</Result>
</MCiS>
Some of the files where itunes looks were deleted. Your plugin has always removed those from the itunes db properly before, but this time I noticed they are still in there with the ! icon indicating a missing file.
I disabled the "fix broken links in itunes" setting and then the sync completed, albeit, leaving the broken links ;)
I then re-enabled the setting and manually deleted all tracks in itunes with the ! indicator.
Your utility was then able to comlete sync successfully.
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Steps to reproduce the error.....
1) sync libraries successful.
2) change rating of one song in MC from 0 to 3 stars.
This change causes the song to no longer be included in MC's smartlist.
Because of this, MC removes the mp3 file from the folder that iTunes looks at.
3) Run your sync utility. Options for import files to itunes and fix broken links are checked.
4) previously the utility would remove the song properly from itunes db. This time the song remains there with the ! icon indicating a missing file.
5) Utility gets the HRESULT error message.
If I uncheck the 'fix broken links' setting, then the sync completes (other than leaving orphans in itunes db).
Check that checkbox and sync again, and get another HRESULT error.
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Yep got it .... was trying to log details of a track that had been deleted. :(
v3.4.1 fixes it, it's up now.
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Yep got it .... was trying to log details of a track that had been deleted. :(
v3.4.1 fixes it, it's up now.
fixed confirmed. back to running smoothly now.
question: in the options, the setting for refresh podcasts.... I assume that means on the itunes side, correct?
question: do you expect podcast management to happen in itunes or in MC?
If podcasts exist in MC, does your util put them in itunes so that they show up on iphone as a podcast?
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Question - when transferring playlists does it take a long time? MC Sync - is still running - it indicates - "Searching For Playlists\Albums\playlist 1". Playlist 1 is the last playlist in the folder.
When I look at itunes - I can see all the playlists listed under MC Playlists (including playlist 1)
When I look at MCSync - The stop button is still present (it doesn't indicate that the program has stopped)
When I look in the task manager - MCSYnc, Itunes, nor MC are using any CPU??
Just wondering if something is going on in the background and the program is still working or if it has frozen? I know that it takes quite some time for itunes to load a playlist in so I am guessing this is a similar situation?
I have to leave overnight so I guess I will leave it alone but it does seem to be taking quite some time.
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Mine runs in less than 10 minutes for a library of ~55000.
There was one point where I noticed the progress info wasn't changing.
It eventually started counting again and finished successfully.
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I have changed my workflow a bit in order to test this plugin; syncing my iphone through windows inside bootcamp (Sounds worse than it is!). Excellent work on this plugin. Until Apple open up the iphone we all have to live with itunes to some degree. This plugin at least means that we can minimize the amount of time that itunes needs to be open in order to sync our phones.
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One thing though, it looks like it is analyzing my whole library including the photos and videos. Is there any way we could put a filter on it to choose just audio?
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I have the most recent build (3.4.1) and since a couple builds back I keep getting this error:
<Result EndDateTime="2009-06-24T07:22:23">An item with the same key has already been added.</Result>
I think it happens right after one of my MC playlists is synchronized to iTunes. What I'm sure of is that the error happens before at least one of my playlists can be synchronized.
I've tried running the sync with the "Use alternative file keys" option checked, no success.
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OK bear with me, I've just had my wisdom teeth out and I'm pumped up on painkillers...
question: in the options, the setting for refresh podcasts.... I assume that means on the itunes side, correct?
Yes correct.
question: do you expect podcast management to happen in itunes or in MC?
If podcasts exist in MC, does your util put them in itunes so that they show up on iphone as a podcast?
In iTunes I'm afraid. I tried to do this but it looks like it's not possible. I do intend to revisit it though.
Question - when transferring playlists does it take a long time? MC Sync - is still running - it indicates - "Searching For Playlists\Albums\playlist 1". Playlist 1 is the last playlist in the folder.
When I look at itunes - I can see all the playlists listed under MC Playlists (including playlist 1)
When I look at MCSync - The stop button is still present (it doesn't indicate that the program has stopped)
When I look in the task manager - MCSYnc, Itunes, nor MC are using any CPU??
Just wondering if something is going on in the background and the program is still working or if it has frozen? I know that it takes quite some time for itunes to load a playlist in so I am guessing this is a similar situation?
I have to leave overnight so I guess I will leave it alone but it does seem to be taking quite some time.
Shouldn't take that long but it sounds like it's waiting for iTunes. Like zxsix, sometimes I've noticed that processing stops for 20 seconds or so while iTunes does "something", but it shouldn't go on for long.
Excellent work on this plugin.
Thanks park...
One thing though, it looks like it is analyzing my whole library including the photos and videos. Is there any way we could put a filter on it to choose just audio?
In the settings dialog there's a check & text box that specifies which file types to sync; Only sync file types. With this checked, it'll skip any files in MC that aren't of a file type in this semi-colon delimited list. Obviously it still has to go through each file though to find out which to skip and which to cache.
I have the most recent build (3.4.1) and since a couple builds back I keep getting this error:
<Result EndDateTime="2009-06-24T07:22:23">An item with the same key has already been added.</Result>
I think it happens right after one of my MC playlists is synchronized to iTunes. What I'm sure of is that the error happens before at least one of my playlists can be synchronized.
I've tried running the sync with the "Use alternative file keys" option checked, no success.
I thought I had these caught to give a more meaningful message. You might have a duplicate key in your iTunesFileKey field somewhere if you're using Use Alternative File Keys. I'll have a look when I'm feeling a little better.
Cheers guys.
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Well - I got home today and it was still stuck at the same message as when I left. I clicked the stop button and nothing happened so I closed it down. I used version 3.4.1 - I had deleted the MCSync columns from my MC library prior to starting so this was a clean run.
Here are parts from the log:
options:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<MCiS Version="3.4.1.0" StartDateTime="2009-06-23T12:08:10" Options="ffc0280000c3e000" ImportFileTypes="mp3;wav;m4a" iTunesPlaylistFolder="MC Playlists" ExportPlaylist0="Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\" ExportPlaylist1="Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\AM Gold Collection" ExportPlaylist2="Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\Blues Masters Collection" ExportPlaylist3="Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\CDX Albums" ExportPlaylist4="Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\Chillout Albums" ExportPlaylist5="Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\Funk Essentials Collection" ExportPlaylist6="Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\Ken Burns Jazz Collection" ExportPlaylist7="Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\Motown Collection" ExportPlaylist8="Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\New Wave Hits Of The 80's Collection" ExportPlaylist9="Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\Old School Rap Collection" ExportPlaylist10="Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\Rock Of The 80's Collection" ExportPlaylist11="Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\Soul Collection" ExportPlaylist12="Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\Sounds Of The 70's Collection" ExportPlaylist13="Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\Star Lounge Collection" ExportPlaylist14="Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\The Philly Sound" ExportPlaylist15="Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\The Rolling Stone Collection 1967 - 1992" ExportPlaylist16="Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\The String Quartet Collection" ExportPlaylist17="Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\Tour Of Duty Collection" ExportPlaylist18="Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\Ultimate 70's Collection" ExportPlaylist19="Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\Ultra Lounge Collection" ExportPlaylist20="Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\Wax Trax Collection">
It also did a bunch of strange things by adding playcount and skip counts to songs that didn't have any changes!!!
<Track Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\Lyle Lovett\Lyle Lovett - The Road To Ensenada\02 - Her First Mistake.mp3">
<SkipCount ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="1" NewValue="2" />
<SkipCount ChangedIn="iTunes" OldValue="1" NewValue="2" />
</Track>
<Track Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\Loverboy\Loverboy - Loverboy Classics - Their Greatest Hits\01 - Turn Me Loose.mp3">
<AlbumRating ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="80" NewValue="60" />
<PlayCount ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="3" NewValue="6" />
<PlayCount ChangedIn="iTunes" OldValue="3" NewValue="6" />
<SkipCount ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="2" NewValue="4" />
<SkipCount ChangedIn="iTunes" OldValue="2" NewValue="4" />
I had the option to add missing tracks to itunes and to clean deadlinks (and it did this for several songs) - it tried to import 13 - was successful on 6 of them:
<ImportToiTunes Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\VARIOUS ARTISTS\Mixed Pop - Rock CD's\Classic Live Performances\03 - Lynyrd Skynyrd - Free Bird (Live).mp3">Successful</ImportToiTunes>
For those 6 it then did the following:
<Track Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\VARIOUS ARTISTS\Mixed Pop - Rock CD's\Classic Live Performances\03 - Lynyrd Skynyrd - Free Bird (Live).mp3">
<Rating ChangedIn="iTunes" OldValue="0" NewValue="20" />
<AlbumRating ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="20" NewValue="40" />
Then:
<RemoveBrokenLink Artist="Lynyrd Skynyrd" Album="Classic Live Performances" Name="Free Bird">Successful</RemoveBrokenLink>
The above track is in both the MC and Itunes library
And finally the playlists/smartlists (these were actually all smartlists in MC):
<CreatedPlaylist Playlist="MC Playlists" />
<CreatedPlaylist Playlist="MC Playlists\Dan's Smartlists" />
<CreatedPlaylist Playlist="MC Playlists\Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists" />
<CreatedPlaylist Playlist="MC Playlists\Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\AM Gold Collection" />
<CreatedPlaylist Playlist="MC Playlists\Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\Blues Masters Collection" />
<CreatedPlaylist Playlist="MC Playlists\Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\CDX Albums" />
<CreatedPlaylist Playlist="MC Playlists\Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\Chillout Albums" />
<CreatedPlaylist Playlist="MC Playlists\Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\Funk Essentials Collection" />
<CreatedPlaylist Playlist="MC Playlists\Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\Ken Burns Jazz Collection" />
<CreatedPlaylist Playlist="MC Playlists\Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\Motown Collection" />
<CreatedPlaylist Playlist="MC Playlists\Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\New Wave Hits Of The 80's Collection" />
<CreatedPlaylist Playlist="MC Playlists\Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\Old School Rap Collection" />
<CreatedPlaylist Playlist="MC Playlists\Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\Rock Of The 80's Collection" />
<CreatedPlaylist Playlist="MC Playlists\Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\Soul Collection" />
<CreatedPlaylist Playlist="MC Playlists\Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\Sounds Of The 70's Collection" />
<CreatedPlaylist Playlist="MC Playlists\Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\Star Lounge Collection" />
<CreatedPlaylist Playlist="MC Playlists\Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\The Philly Sound" />
<CreatedPlaylist Playlist="MC Playlists\Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\The Rolling Stone Collection 1967 - 1992" />
<CreatedPlaylist Playlist="MC Playlists\Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\The String Quartet Collection" />
<CreatedPlaylist Playlist="MC Playlists\Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\Tour Of Duty Collection" />
<CreatedPlaylist Playlist="MC Playlists\Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\Ultimate 70's Collection" />
<CreatedPlaylist Playlist="MC Playlists\Dan's Smartlists\Album Collection Smartlists\Ultra Lounge Colle
I can see the folder and the playlist in Itunes but when I click on the playlist in itunes it is completely blank.
sorry for the long post. Hope this helps.
Wisdom teeth... Ouch - been there done that..... ICE and drugs!!! :)
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Wisdom teeth... Ouch - been there done that..... ICE and drugs!!! :)
Yeah that was a painful couple of days! Paracetamol/tylenol seems to be doing the job now so no need to be spending my days in the clouds any more.
So, now I'm thinking straight, the reason you're getting the changes to your skipped and play counts is because you've reset the iTunesSkippedCountSync and iTunesPlayedCountSync fields. If you need to reset them so no changes will be made, set them to the current play and skip counts in MC. Or delete the columns and then reset all your play and skip counts in iTunes. These counts are combined, not merely exported.
I'll further illustrate. First time you sync you have the following conditions;
File1:
PlayCount in iTunes is 1
PlayCount in MC is 56
SkipCount in iTunes is 0
SkipCount in MC is 4
iTunesPlayedCountSync is -1
iTunesSkippedCountSync is -1
MCiS will set PlayCount in iTunes & MC to 57 (1+56), and skip count in iTunes & MC to 4 (0+4), so condition is now;
File1:
PlayCount in iTunes is 57
PlayCount in MC is 57
SkipCount in iTunes is 4
SkipCount in MC is 4
iTunesPlayedCountSync is 57
iTunesSkippedCountSync is 4
Then, say you played the file a couple of times on your iPhone, and played once skipped once in MC, so the conditions are now;
File1:
PlayCount in iTunes is 59
PlayCount in MC is 58
SkipCount in iTunes is 4
SkipCount in MC is 5
iTunesPlayedCountSync is 57
iTunesSkippedCountSync is 4
MCiS will set PlayCount in iTunes & MC to 60 (57 + (59-57) + (58-57)), and skip count in iTunes & MC to 5 (4 + (5-4) + (4-4)).
Then, you delete the sync columns that MCiS has created and populated
Next time you sync you have the following conditions;
File1:
PlayCount in iTunes is 60
PlayCount in MC is 60
SkipCount in iTunes is 5
SkipCount in MC is 5
iTunesPlayedCountSync is -1
iTunesSkippedCountSync is -1
MCiS will think a sync has never occurred and set the play count in MC & iTunes to 120 (60+60) and skip count to 10 (5+5). Setting those sync columns to zero would have the same effect.
Regarding your playlists, does this "hang" happen every time? If you leave the playlists as created in iTunes (but empty) and rerun the sync does it work OK?
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I have the most recent build (3.4.1) and since a couple builds back I keep getting this error:
<Result EndDateTime="2009-06-24T07:22:23">An item with the same key has already been added.</Result>
I think it happens right after one of my MC playlists is synchronized to iTunes. What I'm sure of is that the error happens before at least one of my playlists can be synchronized.
This is because you have a playlist with the same track (and I mean exactly the same) in it more than once. I'll look at getting around this, or at least have it not cause an error.
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I'll look at getting around this, or at least have it not cause an error.
That would be nice because it's likely to happen again: I found the duplicate in my 'To Listen' playlist, and I'm pretty sure I will add again songs I forgot were already in there.
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v3.4.2;
- Fixed duplicate entries in playlists were causing an exception
- Putting the exact text RebuildOnSync: Yes in the notes of your MC playlist will tell MCiS to rebuild that playlist in iTunes from scratch every sync, i.e. the playlist in iTunes will be cleared, then the tracks will be added.
The RebuildOnSync: Yes option is for when it is important the playlist be in the same sequence as the one in MC and changes are likely to be made to it in the future. On the initial sync of the playlist the playlist in iTunes will always be the same and have the same sequence as the playlist in MC, but if, for instance, a track was inserted at item 5 in a 10 track playlist in MC, the playlist in iTunes won't continue to have the same sequence - the track that is missing in the iTunes playlist would merely be added to the end. Using this option makes populating the playlist a little slower, but ensures the sequence is the same.
broncodan; I've put a failsafe in the code that manages playlists, it may sort out your infinite loop problem, or at least lead us closer to solving it.
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Had successful sync with prior version.
Installed the latest build just now and ran it after adding the notes to my smartlists. Wanted to try that out.
Here's the end of the logfile. Unsuccessful sync resulted.
<DeleteFileFromPlaylist Playlist="BRIAN\Gothic (5 stars)" Filename="E:\Users\brian\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\Gothic\Entwine\Dieversity\Refill My Soul.mp3" />
<Result EndDateTime="2009-06-26T15:49:45">Value of '64' is not valid for 'Value'. 'Value' should be between 'minimum' and 'maximum'.
Parameter name: Value</Result>
</MCiS>
This is definitely related to the new RebuildOnSync: Yes feature. When I removed that from my MC playlists, then it sync'd completely and successfully.
I then put it back on one of the smartlists, and the error returned.
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works like a charm for me (not using the RebuildOnSync option though). Thanks!
I was kind of joking when I first asked you to implement the playlists sync feature, but you did, so I'm going to throw that other one out: truly awesome would be some sort of sync of playcounts and last played between MC, iTunes, and ... last.fm. I know this would a totally different area and I realize that it would be a one-way sync with last.fm, but one can dream (I believe last.fm probably has the most accurate record of my playcounts -although that is changing a bit now that scrobblers don't work on my jailbroken iPhone 3.0...). There's a program out there that does the sync between last.fm and itunes, but it's not very user friendly and in a few cases not very accurate.
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Had successful sync with prior version.
Installed the latest build just now and ran it after adding the notes to my smartlists. Wanted to try that out.
Here's the end of the logfile. Unsuccessful sync resulted.
<DeleteFileFromPlaylist Playlist="BRIAN\Gothic (5 stars)" Filename="E:\Users\brian\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\Gothic\Entwine\Dieversity\Refill My Soul.mp3" />
<Result EndDateTime="2009-06-26T15:49:45">Value of '64' is not valid for 'Value'. 'Value' should be between 'minimum' and 'maximum'.
Parameter name: Value</Result>
</MCiS>
This is definitely related to the new RebuildOnSync: Yes feature. When I removed that from my MC playlists, then it sync'd completely and successfully.
I then put it back on one of the smartlists, and the error returned.
Yeah it was a progress bar thing whilst clearing out the playlist.... fixed now in v3.4.3.
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works like a charm for me (not using the RebuildOnSync option though). Thanks!
I was kind of joking when I first asked you to implement the playlists sync feature, but you did, so I'm going to throw that other one out: truly awesome would be some sort of sync of playcounts and last played between MC, iTunes, and ... last.fm. I know this would a totally different area and I realize that it would be a one-way sync with last.fm, but one can dream (I believe last.fm probably has the most accurate record of my playcounts -although that is changing a bit now that scrobblers don't work on my jailbroken iPhone 3.0...). There's a program out there that does the sync between last.fm and itunes, but it's not very user friendly and in a few cases not very accurate.
It's a good idea - but I think the best implementation would be to have the MC last.fm plug-in automatically sync play stats to MC. MCiS would then automatically pick these up and sync up iTunes. Not sure who wrote this plug-in (was it JR?) but this function would seem well within its scope.
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Yeah it was a progress bar thing whilst clearing out the playlist.... fixed now in v3.4.3.
fix confirmed
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Hey Prod,
Success!!! I finally got a good sync to go through to itunes. I discovered that I had a ram unit that had gone bad, took that out and it helped significantly (imagine that!).
It looks like it updated correctly in itunes and MC and the playlists came across too.
Didn't try to add any new tunes or remove dead links but will try that next - as I have added some new stuff to my library.
Great Job!!! Thanks for all your help. Hope your jaw is feeling better - Margaritas also work to dull the pain... :)
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Excellent, glad you've sorted it. The jaw is getting much better each day thanks, looking forward to a t-bone and a few beers... for now though, the margaritas will get me through :)
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Hi Prod...
I've been out of town and did not keep up with this thread over the past couple of week. Looks like you created a very compelling application.
I have 3 iPods (2 classics and 1 Nano) and 2 3g iPhones. Because of the iPhones, I've been syncing using iTunes. Of course I continue to manage everything in MC. I don't really mind using iTunes to sync, because there are other things it does that I need anyway (iPhone Apps, etc.). But it's been a struggle to keep iTunes in sync with MC.
When I mange my library in MC (add to, rename files, etc.) iTunes is a problem. I've been adding to the iTunes library manually and using iTSfv (had used iTLU before that) to clean up the dead tracks.
I've been manually maintaining some duplicate smartlists in iTunes (as smart playlists) and totally given up on maintaining any playcounts, data last played, etc.
So it looks like I can use your application to automate everything I do today plus things I've given up on. At the same time I can retire these other weird utilities. ;D
Am I understanding this correctly?
EDIT: are the MC APIs you're using the same for MC13 & MC14? (e.g. your software should run the same regardless of the MC version?)
Randy
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I can answer this.
Using Prod's utility, you can get rid of iTSfv completetely. You also won't need to run the import function in itunes to add anything to the itunes library anymore.
The utility works fine with both MC13 and MC14 versions.
I'm running it now with the latest MC14 build.
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I can answer this.
Using Prod's utility, you can get rid of iTSfv completely. You also won't need to run the import function in itunes to add anything to the itunes library anymore.
The utility works fine with both MC13 and MC14 versions.
I'm running it now with the latest MC14 build.
Great...
I'm tempted to start playing with it now, but I think I'll wait for the long holiday weekend coming up.
Randy
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Great...
I'm tempted to start playing with it now, but I think I'll wait for the long holiday weekend coming up.
Randy
Hi Randy, from what you say you need it I think it'll be right up your street ... let me know if you have any problems/issues with it.
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Hi Randy, from what you say you need it I think it'll be right up your street ... let me know if you have any problems/issues with it.
Thanks Prod...
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v3.4.5; Added support for multiple libraries via command line arguments:
- /LibraryIndex - Loads the MC library at the specified zero-based index (in MC's Library Manager)
- /LibraryName - The name of the MC library specified in LibraryIndex
- /LibraryPath - The path of the MC library specified in LibraryIndex
When using /LibraryIndex, either /LibraryName or /LibraryPath must be used along with it. If no library arguments are specified the currently loaded library is used.
Also;
- Fixed Using RebuildOnSync: Yes option on a playlist not previously sync'd caused an error
-
Randy, is you library made up of mp3 or flac files?
If flac, I should have a step-by-step document available very soon that would be helpful.
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Got the following error message - running version 3.4.3:
<AddFileToPlaylist Playlist="Misc Playlists\Golf combo" Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\Scorpions\Scorpions - Crazy World\ (01) Tease Me Please Me.mp3" />
<AddFileToPlaylist Playlist="Misc Playlists\Golf combo" Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\Van Halen\Van Halen - Best Of Volume 1\ (12) Poundcake.mp3" />
<DeleteFileFromPlaylist Playlist="Misc Playlists\Golf combo" Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\Scorpions\Scorpions - Deadly Sting- The Mercury Years - Disc 2\ (07) Tease Me Please Me.mp3" />
<Result EndDateTime="2009-06-29T01:06:00">Value of '3' is not valid for 'Value'. 'Value' should be between 'minimum' and 'maximum'.
Parameter name: Value</Result>
</MCiS>
Was running smoothly up to this point so I am not sure what happened. It is weird that it was deleting a song from the playlist - as this is the first time this playlist was being imported. This is a smart playlist - when I pulled it up in MC - the above song only appears once (from the Deadly Sting album).
Not sure what other info you need.
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Got the following error message - running version 3.4.3:
<AddFileToPlaylist Playlist="Misc Playlists\Golf combo" Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\Scorpions\Scorpions - Crazy World\ (01) Tease Me Please Me.mp3" />
<AddFileToPlaylist Playlist="Misc Playlists\Golf combo" Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\Van Halen\Van Halen - Best Of Volume 1\ (12) Poundcake.mp3" />
<DeleteFileFromPlaylist Playlist="Misc Playlists\Golf combo" Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\Scorpions\Scorpions - Deadly Sting- The Mercury Years - Disc 2\ (07) Tease Me Please Me.mp3" />
<Result EndDateTime="2009-06-29T01:06:00">Value of '3' is not valid for 'Value'. 'Value' should be between 'minimum' and 'maximum'.
Parameter name: Value</Result>
</MCiS>
Was running smoothly up to this point so I am not sure what happened. It is weird that it was deleting a song from the playlist - as this is the first time this playlist was being imported. This is a smart playlist - when I pulled it up in MC - the above song only appears once (from the Deadly Sting album).
Not sure what other info you need.
Tiny addendum to v3.4.5 ;)
- Fixed Using RebuildOnSync: Yes option on a playlist not previously sync'd caused an error
Edit: Not completely sure this is what caused it... let me know if you get it again.
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Edit: Not completely sure this is what caused it... let me know if you get it again.
Found another place where this could happen... fixed in v3.4.6.
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Last few builds. The .config file hasn't changed and shows an older modifed date.
I only pulled the .exe from the .zip file and overwrote the existing one.
Did not overwrite the .config file.
Start up the utility and find that all the boxes in the main screen and in the config window have been reset to unchecked.
Have to go through and save the settings again.
Not sure why it's getting wiped out with the old .config file still in the folder.
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Randy, is you library made up of mp3 or flac files?
If flac, I should have a step-by-step document available very soon that would be helpful.
All my music is 320kbs CBR mp3. Arguably not the best, but for me it makes up for it in portability. Thanks for the offer anyway, I'm sure there are others with flac files.
Randy
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Preparing for the weekend...
Currently I have MC12, MC13, and MC14 installed. How does MCiS know what I want to synchronize and where the libraries are? Of course I should probably use this as an excuse to move from MC13 to MC14 and uninstall the other versions.
Randy
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I always have MC14 and iTunes open when I start it. It uses whatever MC library is open.
I did run it one time without MC open and it still grabbed the library, so I have to assume it's getting a "last used library" setting from MC.
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Currently I have MC12, MC13, and MC14 installed. How does MCiS know what I want to synchronize and where the libraries are? Of course I should probably use this as an excuse to move from MC13 to MC14 and uninstall the other versions.
It'll use the last installed MC, whichever registered itself last.
By default MCiS uses the last or currently loaded library ... if you want to specify the library, use the /LibraryIndex and /LibraryName or /LibraryPath arguments when you're loading MCiS.
As for what to sync, as long as Import File Types is OFF, nothing will be sync'd that isn't in your iTunes library. So if you have 10 tracks in there, it'll attempt to sync those 10 tracks. If Import File Types is ON, then it'll import the MC tracks to iTunes that it doesn't find in iTunes.
You'll see that MCiS iterates through every entry in your MC library (even if you only have 10 tracks in your iTunes library). This operation doesn't do any sync'ing but does cache the library into memory. The "Only sync files of type" checkbox controls what is cached and what is skipped. Anything not cached will not be sync'd.
Clear as mud ::)
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v3.5;
- Added option Rebuild playlists from scratch. When selected this will clear all playlists before populating, unless the Notes (in MC) of the playlist contain the exact phrase RebuildOnSync: No
- UI change - wanted more playlists shown on-screen
- Major configuration file changes, configuration file no longer included in zip. I'm afraid you'll have to re-enter your configuration one more time.
- "Zxsix's Guide To Syncing Lossless" PDF document included in zip
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It'll use the last installed MC, whichever registered itself last.
Just to clarify...
I have MC12, 13, 14 installed.
The last install was MC14. So only MC14 would be sync'd, even if my primary library is in MC13.
Another example, if I had installed MC13 after MC14, it would be syncing MC13 and not touch MC14.
I'm not asking for any kind of changes, I just want to understand what to expect. I only have MC12 because of some Holiday visualizations from G-Force. And I'm ready to switch from MC13 to MC14 anyway. This is probably a good excuse to uninstall MC12 & 13.
-
You should be able to get the gforce viz working in MC14 with a few registry edits and copying the .dll files from MC12's visualizations subfolder to MC14's visualizations subfolder.
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A couple of errors on my last sync (version 3.5):
the following tracks are unable to be imported:
<FileNotFound Pathname="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\The Roots\The Roots - Phrenology\15 - ().mp3" />
<FileNotFound Pathname="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\The Roots\The Roots - Phrenology\16 - ().mp3" />
<FileNotFound Pathname="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\The Roots\The Roots - Phrenology\18 - ().mp3" />
<ImportToiTunes Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\The Roots\The Roots - Phrenology\15 - .mp3">Unsuccessful</ImportToiTunes>
<ImportToiTunes Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\The Roots\The Roots - Phrenology\16 - .mp3">Unsuccessful</ImportToiTunes>
<ImportToiTunes Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\The Roots\The Roots - Phrenology\18 - .mp3">Unsuccessful</ImportToiTunes>
I believe that this has something to do with the parentheses - as there are a couple of other songs that have these in them that are also not being imported.
It also hung on me - it seemed to be checking a playlist that was in itunes and not in MC. One I created in itunes and isn't in MC. I am currently re-running to see if I can reproduce (and I will note the comment above the progress bar - as the program was hung and it shut down before I could click back).
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Hi,
Very interested. Just a couple of questions:
- Does it work with MC.12? (neither 13 nor 14 can be installed in this machine).
- MC library is 370,000+ mp3. Just want to sync 4 and 5-star songs, so iTunes library could be around 20,000 or 25,000 mp3. Is that too much? Will it work?
Thank you.
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v3.5.1; Added command line argument /ViewScheme
Updated post at the top with following;
Argument usage:
MCiTunesSynchronizer.exe [/StartSync] [/ExitAfterSync] [/RunMinimized] [/LibraryIndex:n [/LibraryName:"sss"] [/LibraryPath:"ppp"]] [/ViewScheme:"vvv"]
Where n is the numbered index of the library to use, sss is the name of that library, fff is the path of that library and vvv is the name of the viewscheme (e.g. "Audio\Albums\MyView").
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Just to clarify...
I have MC12, 13, 14 installed.
The last install was MC14. So only MC14 would be sync'd, even if my primary library is in MC13.
Another example, if I had installed MC13 after MC14, it would be syncing MC13 and not touch MC14.
I'm not asking for any kind of changes, I just want to understand what to expect. I only have MC12 because of some Holiday visualizations from G-Force. And I'm ready to switch from MC13 to MC14 anyway. This is probably a good excuse to uninstall MC12 & 13.
I'm not exactly sure ... I imagine that one of two things will happen when asking the OS for the MC interface;
- The OS will return the latest version, no matter what was installed when.
- The OS will return the last registered version (i.e. the last install)
I personally think (this contradicts what I said before) that the former will happen, but I may be wrong. However, if you open up the version of MC you want to sync with first, it'll use that version. The log will tell you which instance of MC is being worked on, so if you start the sync, click stop straight away, then open the log you'll have your info. Don't worry, the sync caches the MC library first before doing anything so you have plenty of time to click "Stop". Hope that helps.
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A couple of errors on my last sync (version 3.5):
the following tracks are unable to be imported:
<FileNotFound Pathname="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\The Roots\The Roots - Phrenology\15 - ().mp3" />
<FileNotFound Pathname="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\The Roots\The Roots - Phrenology\16 - ().mp3" />
<FileNotFound Pathname="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\The Roots\The Roots - Phrenology\18 - ().mp3" />
<ImportToiTunes Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\The Roots\The Roots - Phrenology\15 - .mp3">Unsuccessful</ImportToiTunes>
<ImportToiTunes Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\The Roots\The Roots - Phrenology\16 - .mp3">Unsuccessful</ImportToiTunes>
<ImportToiTunes Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\The Roots\The Roots - Phrenology\18 - .mp3">Unsuccessful</ImportToiTunes>
I believe that this has something to do with the parentheses - as there are a couple of other songs that have these in them that are also not being imported.
It also hung on me - it seemed to be checking a playlist that was in itunes and not in MC. One I created in itunes and isn't in MC. I am currently re-running to see if I can reproduce (and I will note the comment above the progress bar - as the program was hung and it shut down before I could click back).
Parentheses don't cause problems... I've loads of files myself with all sorts of strange characters in them. From the look of it MCiS is going through all the right moves but iTunes is refusing to add those files for whatever reason. I've not changed this section of the code for some time now.
All playlists in iTunes are checked to see if they are under the folder specified in MCiS, so this is normal. At this stage clicking Stop should stop the process, and the failsafe mechanism I put in should carry on to the next playlist eventually. I can reduce the timeout so let me know the exact circumstances are - you must have something rather unusual going on in your iTunes library (a playlist with "infinite parents" in iTunes will cause this, but that should obviously not happen).
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Hi,
Very interested. Just a couple of questions:
- Does it work with MC.12? (neither 13 nor 14 can be installed in this machine).
- MC library is 370,000+ mp3. Just want to sync 4 and 5-star songs, so iTunes library could be around 20,000 or 25,000 mp3. Is that too much? Will it work?
Thank you.
Hi, not tested with MC12 but I don't see why not. I don't believe the COM interface has changed much (or at all) since MC12. Your library should work fine. Use the new /ViewScheme argument to maybe cut down the amount of work the sync has to do. Caching 370,000 files only to sync 25,000 would be a bit wasteful!
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I'm not exactly sure ... I imagine that one of two things will happen when asking the OS for the MC interface;
- The OS will return the latest version, no matter what was installed when.
- The OS will return the last registered version (i.e. the last install)
I personally think (this contradicts what I said before) that the former will happen, but I may be wrong. However, if you open up the version of MC you want to sync with first, it'll use that version. The log will tell you which instance of MC is being worked on, so if you start the sync, click stop straight away, then open the log you'll have your info. Don't worry, the sync caches the MC library first before doing anything so you have plenty of time to click "Stop". Hope that helps.
Thanks...
I'm looking forward to the long weekend and will give it a go.
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Hey Prod,
Could not reproduce the hang up that I got. to your comment about the "Stop" button - when it hung up - I pushed the stop button and it didn't "Stop" or I didn't have enough patience. Seems okay now.
I do have a request though - when I ran it a second time through - I unchecked several playlists (in hopes that it would be quicker) - I didn't realize that those playlists would be deleted from itunes (I know - duh - MC Synchronizer) - Is there a way to put the option in to leave previously added playlists in itunes?
Or I guess I could move them out of the MC sync folder after I transfer them over and that would work?
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Hi, not tested with MC12 but I don't see why not. I don't believe the COM interface has changed much (or at all) since MC12. Your library should work fine. Use the new /ViewScheme argument to maybe cut down the amount of work the sync has to do. Caching 370,000 files only to sync 25,000 would be a bit wasteful!
Thanks, prod.
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How do we figure out what to put on command line switches for LibraryIndex?
I've tried 0 through 4 and none work.
Get timeout searching for specified library.
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Could not reproduce the hang up that I got. to your comment about the "Stop" button - when it hung up - I pushed the stop button and it didn't "Stop" or I didn't have enough patience. Seems okay now.
In that case I think perhaps iTunes was blocking MCiS. Pressing Stop should be quite immediate. If it's any help, closing iTunes should stop the whole process cleanly (you'll probably get a "catastrophic error" or such-like but this is handled cleanly) rather than having to force everything down with task manager.
I do have a request though - when I ran it a second time through - I unchecked several playlists (in hopes that it would be quicker) - I didn't realize that those playlists would be deleted from itunes (I know - duh - MC Synchronizer) - Is there a way to put the option in to leave previously added playlists in itunes?
Or I guess I could move them out of the MC sync folder after I transfer them over and that would work?
I think yes, if it doesn't need syncing, take it out of the sync folder. MCiS won't touch any playlist not in that folder.
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How do we figure out what to put on command line switches for LibraryIndex?
I've tried 0 through 4 and none work.
Get timeout searching for specified library.
It's the zero-based (first item is 0) sequential order of the listing in Library Manager in MC. If you are using /LibraryName in conjunction with it, this must be the exact name of the library and it is case-sensitive. If using /LibraryPath it is not case sensitive but must match the entry in Library Manager.
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It's the zero-based (first item is 0) sequential order of the listing in Library Manager in MC. If you are using /LibraryName in conjunction with it, this must be the exact name of the library and it is case-sensitive. If using /LibraryPath it is not case sensitive but must match the entry in Library Manager.
Turns out I had the library name and index correct.
It works if I use just those settings.
But when I try to add on the viewscheme setting, it throws up the usage window trying to show me the correct syntax.
Here's what I'm using: /ViewScheme:"Audio\Tools\MCItunesSynchronizer"
That is the way it shows on the tree in MC and it's a match for case sensitivity.
ETA: I tried to simplify and tried /ViewScheme:"Audio" and that didn't work either.
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It's working fine here... sure you've no spelling errors in the arguments? What's your full command line?
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You should be able to get the gforce viz working in MC14 with a few registry edits and copying the .dll files from MC12's visualizations subfolder to MC14's visualizations subfolder.
Thanks...
I'll try to figure out the registry edits.
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(http://www.pix01.com/gallery/4B42178B-BC8D-4448-AFC3-647A05D1211B/MCiS/623562304_orig1.jpg)
A few tips for speeding up sync'ing;
- Retrieving lyrics from iTunes can be a costly business and slows the sync down - so only check the lyrics option if necessary
Just confirming things...
In the options there is a list of "Fields to export from MC to iTunes". But in the tips, it says Retrieving lyrics from iTunes can be costly. I thought the only things coming from iTunes to MC were the the things under "Fields to aggregate" and "Fields to export from iTunes to MC" options.
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It's working fine here... sure you've no spelling errors in the arguments? What's your full command line?
E:\Program Files\J River\itunessync\MCiTunesSynchronizer.exe /LibraryIndex:0 /LibraryName:"NASLibrary" this works.
E:\Program Files\J River\itunessync\MCiTunesSynchronizer.exe /LibraryIndex:0 /LibraryName:"NASLibrary" /Viewscheme:"Audio" doesn't work and pops up the Usage info window.
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Just confirming things...
In the options there is a list of "Fields to export from MC to iTunes". But in the tips, it says Retrieving lyrics from iTunes can be costly. I thought the only things coming from iTunes to MC were the the things under "Fields to aggregate" and "Fields to export from iTunes to MC" options.
Yep that's right, but I still have to retrieve the selected fields from both libraries so I can compare their values.
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E:\Program Files\J River\itunessync\MCiTunesSynchronizer.exe /LibraryIndex:0 /LibraryName:"NASLibrary" this works.
E:\Program Files\J River\itunessync\MCiTunesSynchronizer.exe /LibraryIndex:0 /LibraryName:"NASLibrary" /Viewscheme:"Audio" doesn't work and pops up the Usage info window.
? I'm scratching my head. This works OK for me. What about using /Viewscheme:"Audio" on its own?
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Yep that's right, but I still have to retrieve the selected fields from both libraries so I can compare their values.
Got it....
I have my lyrics embedded in the file anyway. So I will turn this field off.
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Got it....
I have my lyrics embedded in the file anyway. So I will turn this field off.
Just for info, when I switch lyrics on, it takes around 4 times longer to do a sync (around 8 mins instead of 2!). Doesn't make a hell of a difference in many cases, but it's just something I noticed when I was developing it.
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When you sync Playlists, it looks like the MC Smartlists are brought over as regular Playlists in iTunes. Is it possible to convert a Smartlist in MC to a Smart Playlist in iTunes?
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When you sync Playlists, it looks like the MC Smartlists are brought over as regular Playlists in iTunes. Is it possible to convert a Smartlist in MC to a Smart Playlist in iTunes?
Short answer is no. ;D
An explanation though; considering the gulf between the power of MC's smartlists and the power of iTunes smartlists this would be an impossible task. Besides, I don't see any benefit because in all cases once the sync is finished they will contain exactly the same tracks, regardless of their being smart or normal.
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Short answer is no. ;D
An explanation though; considering the gulf between the power of MC's smartlists and the power of iTunes smartlists this would be an impossible task. Besides, I don't see any benefit because in all cases once the sync is finished they will contain exactly the same tracks, regardless of their being smart or normal.
I guess I knew that. The iTunes Smart Playlists are not very smart.
I know the results are the same anyway. Are the iTunes Playlists from MC Smartlists rebuilt from scratch every time I sync? The reason I ask is the sync of the playlists is taking longer than the sync of the libraries.
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Unless you check the "Rebuild playlists from scratch" checkbox or use the RebuildOnSync: Yes option they won't be rebuilt. Second time round should be a hell of a lot faster.
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? I'm scratching my head. This works OK for me. What about using /Viewscheme:"Audio" on its own?
Tried
"E:\Program Files\J River\itunessync\MCiTunesSynchronizer.exe" /ViewScheme:"Audio"
and
"E:\Program Files\J River\itunessync\MCiTunesSynchronizer.exe" /ViewScheme:"Audio\Artists"
Both pop the info window.
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Tried
"E:\Program Files\J River\itunessync\MCiTunesSynchronizer.exe" /ViewScheme:"Audio"
and
"E:\Program Files\J River\itunessync\MCiTunesSynchronizer.exe" /ViewScheme:"Audio\Artists"
Both pop the info window.
I'm stumped. Try downloading again, perhaps a rogue version escaped. :-\
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Everything appears to be working perfectly ;D ;D ;D
Even when I clean up my MC library by fixing a track name and renaming the files, all of my history is still maintained. Even using multiple utilities before I would lose the last played info in iTunes.
Anyway, this is great. From what I can see this solves the problem that the iTouch and iPhone users have.
Even for iPods, this works fine for syncing. The biggest issue I had if I used iTunes is lack of good smartlist functionality. I would use smartlist in MC and use them to sync the iPod. Now I can use the smartlist in MC and send it to iTunes to be used for syncs. That way all of my syncs (iPhones & iPods) can be done with a single method.
Randy
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I'm stumped. Try downloading again, perhaps a rogue version escaped. :-\
That did it. I was on 3.5. Upgrading to 3.5.1 worked fine without any changes to my shortcut.
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You should be able to get the gforce viz working in MC14 with a few registry edits and copying the .dll files from MC12's visualizations subfolder to MC14's visualizations subfolder.
Thanks... that worked.
So now MC12 & MC13 are retired. All that is left is MC14.
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question: do you expect podcast management to happen in itunes or in MC?
If podcasts exist in MC, does your util put them in itunes so that they show up on iphone as a podcast?
Just to let you know I've looked at this and it's not workable. Both MC and iTunes make it impossible to put together a decent implementation from a third party app ... I did the best I could muster but I deemed it bad and scrapped it. if you want podcasts in the Podcasts section of your iPod, you have to manage your podcasts from within iTunes (which ain't all that bad a podcast interface, imo).
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v3.5.2 logs the name of the specified view scheme and fixes a minor logging bug; an incorrect analyzed total was being reported.
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here's a question and maybe an idea for a new feature: would it be possible to export MC's calculated album rating to iTunes' album rating? My reason for wanting to do this is that iTunes initially calculates album rating based on an average of individual tracks ratings, but I don't think it ever updates the album rating afterwards when you change the rating of individual tracks. You can manually change the album rating (change hollow stars into full stars) but it has the annoying effect of changing individual tracks rating to match the overall rating of the album.
Hope you see what I mean (and hope it can be done, which I'm not sure since it looks like it's impossible to use album avg rating as a field for searches and smartlists in MC).
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As far as I'm aware, there is no MC calculated album rating?
I don't think it ever updates the album rating afterwards when you change the rating of individual tracks.
iTunes does recalculate that album rating (as long as it has not been set manually) when you change individual track ratings.
You can manually change the album rating (change hollow stars into full stars) but it has the annoying effect of changing individual tracks rating to match the overall rating of the album.
Yeah I noticed that and got round it ... MCiS only sync's individual track ratings that have been set by the user, the computed ones are ignored. Checking "Album Rating" in MCiS sets two fields in MC - Album Rating and Album Rating Calculated - with this combination you can set your views or smartlists accordingly. However, this is a one-way sync so changing the values of those fields in MC will cause them to be overwritten on your next sync.
Back to that "annoying effect of changing individual tracks rating" in iTunes - MCiS sets the field Category (an iTunes field) to "Calculated Rating" if the rating is zero. This allows you to set up smartlists in iTunes that give you your desired results when ratings are used in the rules - you add another rule to say Category does not equal "Calculated Rating". That filters out the spurious tracks where the individual rating has been influenced by the album rating.
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v3.6;
- Speed improvement in sync'ing playlists
- Playlists that are flagged to be rebuilt are presented as bold in the tree
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v3.6.1 fixes a very minor logging-only bug regarding track numbers.
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I was about to say that it didn't work on my system, but it just did! On Windows 7RC, it just seems that you have to run the app as administrator. It took me a few days to discover that.
It is amazing what a good night of sleep can do for the mind ...
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Hey Prod,
running 3.6 - I still get an error when syncing playlists. The program freezes up and when I push the stop button - it doesn't stop. If I close down Itunes - it doesn't stop. I did go to the task manager and shut down a program listed as "Mediac~1.exe". Once I do this - the program stops and provides the following error message:
<Result EndDateTime="2009-07-13T07:45:43">The remote procedure call failed. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800706BE)</Result>
</MCiS>
Please let me know if you need anything else.
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Hey Prod,
running 3.6 - I still get an error when syncing playlists. The program freezes up and when I push the stop button - it doesn't stop. If I close down Itunes - it doesn't stop. I did go to the task manager and shut down a program listed as "Mediac~1.exe". Once I do this - the program stops and provides the following error message:
<Result EndDateTime="2009-07-13T07:45:43">The remote procedure call failed. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800706BE)</Result>
</MCiS>
Please let me know if you need anything else.
Hey dan - "Mediac~1.exe" is J River MC, it must be stalling during the playlist sync - and it shouldn't do that. When the sync freezes up, what is the progress text above the progress bar exactly?
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v3.8.1;
- Added option to sync to the iTunes "Sort" fields
- Added ability to edit the expression that is used to retrieve the value of a field from MC, thus allowing the user to control exactly what is sent where in iTunes - please heed the warning below
To use expressions, right-click on the field checkbox you wish to edit the expression of. Any questions let me know.
From the top;
From v3.8, MCiS includes the ability to sync using MC expressions. However, this should be used with the utmost care. Remember that altering a field in iTunes will in many cases write the value to the tag of the physical file also - and this in turn may be then picked up in MC, overwriting your original values! The outcome depends on your configuration in iTunes, MC and MCiS. You need to know exactly what you are doing to use this option, if you are not sure, please ask about it here on the MC forums or leave it alone. This option is included to allow the user to swap fields over, for instance use Composer for Artist, Album Artist (auto) for Sort Album Artist or such like. That's not all though, any expression, simple or complex, may be entered to be sync'd to the destination file. I personally recommend using this mainly with the iTunes Sort fields or when using the Use Alternative File Keys option.
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Hey Prod,
I don't exactly remember the wording - syncing playlist or something - but the problem seems like it could be related to directory depth - I have previously had this happen before and it seems it hangs when the playlists jump from 2 or 3 folders deep and then the next playlist is back at the main level (e.g. playlists/folder/folder, then the next playlist is located at the playlist level).
I unchecked the playlist that it was hanging on and it seemed to be working.
Trying to sync over 100 playlists and it is taking forever though.... I started last night:
<MCiS Version="3.6.0.0" StartDateTime="2009-07-13T18:33:51" Options="FFC0280000800000" ImportFileTypes="mp3;wav;m4a"
and pushed stop this morning and it wasn't completed:
<Result EndDateTime="2009-07-14T07:43:50">User aborted.</Result>
One thing I noticed that seems weird is that there are several files the program is adding to a playlist and then for some reason deleteing:
<AddFileToPlaylist Playlist="Dan's Smartlists\Artist Hits Smartlists\The Who Hits" Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\The Who\The Who - My Generation - The Very Best Of The Who\ (04) Substitute.mp3" />
<AddFileToPlaylist Playlist="Dan's Smartlists\Artist Hits Smartlists\The Who Hits" Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\The Who\The Who - My Generation - The Very Best Of The Who\ (13) Baba O'Riley.mp3" />
<AddFileToPlaylist Playlist="Dan's Smartlists\Artist Hits Smartlists\The Who Hits" Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\The Who\The Who - Who's Better, Who's Best\02 - Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere.mp3" />
<AddFileToPlaylist Playlist="Dan's Smartlists\Artist Hits Smartlists\The Who Hits" Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\The Who\The Who - My Generation - The Very Best Of The Who\ (07) Happy Jack.mp3" />
<AddFileToPlaylist Playlist="Dan's Smartlists\Artist Hits Smartlists\The Who Hits" Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\The Who\The Who - My Generation - The Very Best Of The Who\ (08) Pictures Of Lily.mp3" />
<AddFileToPlaylist Playlist="Dan's Smartlists\Artist Hits Smartlists\The Who Hits" Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\The Who\The Who - Who's Better, Who's Best\01 - My Generation.mp3" />
<AddFileToPlaylist Playlist="Dan's Smartlists\Artist Hits Smartlists\The Who Hits" Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\The Who\The Who - Who's Better, Who's Best\05 - I'm A Boy.mp3" />
<DeleteFileFromPlaylist Playlist="Dan's Smartlists\Artist Hits Smartlists\The Who Hits" Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\The Who\The Who - Who's Better, Who's Best\07 - Pictures Of Lily.mp3" />
<DeleteFileFromPlaylist Playlist="Dan's Smartlists\Artist Hits Smartlists\The Who Hits" Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\The Who\The Who - My Generation - The Very Best Of The Who\ (03) My Generation.mp3" />
<DeleteFileFromPlaylist Playlist="Dan's Smartlists\Artist Hits Smartlists\The Who Hits" Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\The Who\The Who - My Generation - The Very Best Of The Who\ (05) I'm A Boy.mp3" />
<DeleteFileFromPlaylist Playlist="Dan's Smartlists\Artist Hits Smartlists\The Who Hits" Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\The Who\The Who - Who's Better, Who's Best\19 - Baba O'Riley.mp3" />
<DeleteFileFromPlaylist Playlist="Dan's Smartlists\Artist Hits Smartlists\The Who Hits" Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\The Who\The Who - Who's Better, Who's Best\06 - Happy Jack.mp3" />
<DeleteFileFromPlaylist Playlist="Dan's Smartlists\Artist Hits Smartlists\The Who Hits" Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\The Who\The Who - My Generation - The Very Best Of The Who\ (02) Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere.mp3" />
<DeleteFileFromPlaylist Playlist="Dan's Smartlists\Artist Hits Smartlists\The Who Hits" Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\The Who\The Who - Who's Better, Who's Best\04 - Substitute.mp3" />
I don't know if this is because these are smartlists and when MCSYNC looks at them - the playlists are "re-generated" by MC and the due to the way the playlist is set up - to only select one song with the same artist/name - that the playlists is update and this causes a change from the previous version that was synced?
One suggestion I have - would be a "Pause" button - as the program is pretty memory intensive and it would be nice to be able to pause it if I needed to free up some resources - but still have the ability to restart from where I left off - so that it doesn't have to start at the beginning again.
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I don't exactly remember the wording - syncing playlist or something - but the problem seems like it could be related to directory depth - I have previously had this happen before and it seems it hangs when the playlists jump from 2 or 3 folders deep and then the next playlist is back at the main level (e.g. playlists/folder/folder, then the next playlist is located at the playlist level).
I unchecked the playlist that it was hanging on and it seemed to be working.
Next time make a note of the exact text and let me know. If it was something to do with your folder structure MCiS wouldn't fill the tree with your playlist structure on startup so it cant be that. From the sound of it MC is causing MCiS to sit there waiting for a response when requesting the files within the playlist, but I can't be sure at this point.
Trying to sync over 100 playlists and it is taking forever though.... I started last night:
The sync shouldn't be slow.... For me, playlist sync processes about 400-500 files per second, sync processes at about 150 files per second when doing a "subsequent run", i.e. where there aren't many changes to be made. If you have thousands of changes per sync it will take much longer, but why would there be so many changes in between syncs?
One thing I noticed that seems weird is that there are several files the program is adding to a playlist and then for some reason deleteing:
That's not weird it's doing what it's supposed to do.... MCiS is noticing changes to your smartlist and syncing the changes to iTunes. From looking at your log I can see the files added to the playlist were different to the files later removed.
One suggestion I have - would be a "Pause" button - as the program is pretty memory intensive and it would be nice to be able to pause it if I needed to free up some resources - but still have the ability to restart from where I left off - so that it doesn't have to start at the beginning again.
The sync is supposed to be a merge of the current state of your libraries at a moment in time.... imo a pause button doesn't really fit into that context. If you're having problems with a large sync, you could split the files you want to process into several views in MC and do a sync for each view using the argument /ViewScheme. Sorry don't do that, it'd screw with the playlist sync.
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Just to reiterate please be careful with the new expressions options - if misused it has the potential to muck up your library. But, that said, it adds an extra degree of flexibility to how you sync your stuff over.
A quick tip - it is quicker (on sync'ing) to create a calculated field in MC with your expression and then reference that field in MCiS, than to put the full expression inside MCiS. You then have the added benefit of being able to "debug" your expression within MC before sync'ing.
Also, you may want to make use of the Run in Test Mode option in MCiS in order to make sure your expressions are correct.
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v4.0;
- Added option Synchronize On-The-Go playlists from iTunes to MC - this synchronizes all On-The-Go playlists from iTunes to MC under the MC playlist group "On-The-Go" (directly under the playlist root). Caution: if you already have an "On-The-Go" playlist group directly under the playlist root in MC, rename it or it will be lost when using this option.
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Having trouble getting the latest build.
Fileqube download link hasn't worked all day from here.
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Having trouble getting the latest build.
Fileqube download link hasn't worked all day from here.
I've added an extra download link to RapidShare.
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v4.0.1; UI tweak - expression menu header was behaving like an actual menu item.
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a few questions...
do itunes and mc14 have to both be running for the sync to work?
i have selected my mc smartlist which is all songs rated 3+ stars, and is about ~1400 songs. When I go to iTunes, no playlists from MC are synced. I have the box synchronize MC playlists to folder MC Playlists checked. But I can't seem to find this folder anywhere on my computer to manually import them into iTunes since they aren't showing up automatically.
Also, of the 1400 songs I have rated 3+ stars, only 1290 are rated as such in iTunes when I create a smart playlist manually in there for songs of 3 or more stars.
Any ideas?
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do itunes and mc14 have to both be running for the sync to work?
The sync will load them both up if they are not already running.
i have selected my mc smartlist which is all songs rated 3+ stars, and is about ~1400 songs. When I go to iTunes, no playlists from MC are synced. I have the box synchronize MC playlists to folder MC Playlists checked. But I can't seem to find this folder anywhere on my computer to manually import them into iTunes since they aren't showing up automatically.
The sync-to "folder" isn't a folder on your hard drive - it's referring to a playlist folder in iTunes. Have a look and see if your playlist structure exists in the Playlists section of iTunes. There should be a playlist group called "MC Playlists" in there.
Also, of the 1400 songs I have rated 3+ stars, only 1290 are rated as such in iTunes when I create a smart playlist manually in there for songs of 3 or more stars.
Only tracks are sync'd that exist in both your iTunes library AND your MC library & viewscheme (if specified).
Let me know if this helps any...
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v4.1 has a couple of more UI tweaks
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prod -- the playlists that im suppsosedly syncing do not appear in the iTunes structure
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prod -- the playlists that im suppsosedly syncing do not appear in the iTunes structure
How about the tracks themselves? Are they both in MC and also in iTunes?
If not, do you have the "import files to itunes" setting checked?
You might wanna post a screenshot of your settings and a copy of the log file.
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prod -- the playlists that im suppsosedly syncing do not appear in the iTunes structure
In that case;
- You have Run in Test Mode checked in the Settings dialog, or;
- You do not have Synchronize MC playlists to folder checked, or;
- You do not have any playlists selected in the tree - note that for a playlist to be selected for sync, it must be checked, not just selected
Failing these, post your log file or send it to me and I'll have a look (my email address is in the Settings dialog).
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prod-- i emailed you.
i also see that it's going alphabetically and when it gets to a song by The Who, it fails. And then it never gets to syncing the playlists (I assume that's done after all the songs individually are done). I looked at the log and couldn't immediately tell why it is failing, but that does seem to be the problem.
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Steve I've had a look at your xml log and it appears that the error is occurring whilst the log is being written. This could happen for a few reasons, for example the disk on which the program is being executed runs out of space, or the network connection to the drive is lost.
Make sure MCiS is running on a local fixed drive with plenty of space. In the meantime I'll make a change to how these kind of errors are handled and release it later today.
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v4.2; Added Log to Clipboard option in Settings dialog
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In the meantime I'll make a change to how these kind of errors are handled and release it later today.
Decided to add a new option to log to the clipboard instead .... I decided that if logging fails the sync should stop - otherwise you'd end up with no log.
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Not sure what the issue causing my sync to fail was, but it is gone in v4.2. Sync worked great, playlists are there, was able to update my iphone. Thanks a ton...
EDIT: okay, not quite perfectly. the sync appeared to finish this time, and the playlists are there. but there are some oddities. a handful of songs are missing, and it appears that there are thousands of duplicates. i am first going to just restore my MC library to a few days ago and then delete my iTunes library and go from there.
do i have to import all my folders into iTunes before i run the sync, or will it detect the ~70,000 songs in my MC library and import them all on its own?
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EDIT: okay, not quite perfectly. the sync appeared to finish this time, and the playlists are there. but there are some oddities. a handful of songs are missing, and it appears that there are thousands of duplicates. i am first going to just restore my MC library to a few days ago and then delete my iTunes library and go from there.
do i have to import all my folders into iTunes before i run the sync, or will it detect the ~70,000 songs in my MC library and import them all on its own?
Before doing anything drastic you could try checking the "Import files to iTunes" and "Remove Broken Links in iTunes" options and running a sync .... that should sort out the handful of songs that don't exist in your iTunes library, and may sort out anything a little bit off in iTunes. Not sure why you'd have duplicates ... do you mean in your library or your playlists?
MCiS will import those files automatically for you, may take some time though ... if you're going to do that you should download v4.2.5, you reminded me that MCiS won't continue if the iTunes library is empty - I'd been meaning to take that condition out but forgot, thanks for the reminder.
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v4.5; some UI changes to the Settings dialog, put tooltips in there to describe each option.
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v4.5; some UI changes to the Settings dialog, put tooltips in there to describe each option.
Error on two of the tooltips. They reference comma-delimited list of file types.
Should be semicolon-delimited.
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Thanks zxsix I'll fix that later.
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v4.5.2;
- Fixed: Couple of tooltips said comma-delimited rather than semi-colon delimited
- Added tool tips to main sync dialog to explain the options there
- Increased tool tip hide delay from 5secs to 30secs
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One possible improvement:
You may have noticed that the playlist on the iPod Classic do not have a hierarchy when synced using JMC, but have one when synced using iTunes - the same one as the playlist folder structure in iTunes.
When the playlists used for syncing the iPod Classic with iTunes are the ones made on JRiver MC, they appear on the iPod in a structure under the "MC Playlists" folder. I don't know if I'm being clear.
I'm trying to find a way to get rid of that hierarchy on the iPod Classic, that is, to get rid of the "MC Playlists" folder on the iPod. Maybe something could be done about that later.
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Really, it does that? I had no idea. I wonder why the iPhone/iTouch doesn't have that? >:(
I've just tested it on the missus's nano and I see what you mean... I'll look at it.
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I just discovered that too. And thanks for this fantastic soft!
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Thanx .... ok I think I've got the logic down with this little problem. You opened up a can of worms there Hertz!
So, in v4.6 the two playlist sync choices are now;
- Synchronize to the root playlist folder in iTunes
- MCiS will create the playlists directly under the Playlists section in iTunes. Playlists that already exist in the root of the Playlists section in iTunes but are not selected for synchronize will not be removed. However, a playlist will be removed from iTunes where that playlist's parent folder is selected for synchronize and the playlist does not exist in MC.
- Synchronize to a specifed folder in iTunes
- You specify a folder in which to put the playlists in iTunes (note that this should be a unique name in your iTunes playlist folders). Note that all existing playlists in this iTunes playlist folder you specify will be deleted. If the iTunes playlist folder does not exist, MCiS will create it. MCiS will sync the MC playlists you select into that folder.
The latter choice is the same as it was before (that is, the only choice that existed before), I just included it to be thorough.
Give me a shout if that's not so clear.... :-\
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v4.6 - full list of changes;
- Added option to synchronize playlists to the root of the iTunes Playlists section
- Fixed On-The-Go playlists sync option was being ignored if Synchronize playlists to MC wasn't selected
- If the phrase HideFromSync: Yes exists in a playlist's or playlist group's notes the playlist or playlist group (inc. children) will not appear in the tree for sync
- RebuildOnSync: Yes or RebuildOnSync: No can now be specified in the notes of playlist groups
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That was fast!
Thank you, I will try that.
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It works perfect.
Thank you.
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Prod,
I love the MC iTunes Syncronizer, but I want to ask one question.
If you knew when you started that this was going to be such a big job, would you have even started? This is turning into a full blown application with lots of features and options. Not complaining at all, but you sure must have invested a huge amount of time on it.
Randy
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Hmm would I have even started? Tough one... :) At first I thought it was a very simple concept and easy to implement, so didn't think I'd be spending much time on it. In fact the first incarnation took me just a couple of hours, which when I think about it now was merely the groundwork - but at the time it made a huge difference to the way we managed our iPods. So once my interest was piqued with that initial success, I started thinking about what else it could do... and the suggestions from others have been excellent.
I've enjoyed it so of course I'd do it all over again - plus there's no way I would ever go back to all that messing about to get the household's several iPods sync'd properly. Putting up with one media player's idiosyncrasies was bad enough, but putting up with two was unbearable - I never knew what was going to happen when I (or anyone else) plugged an iPod in. Being the tech-savvy person of the house the tech support calls were getting tiresome. There is no better way to manage your audio than with MC, but there is no better way to sync your iPod-related device than with iTunes - it just works (though I realise that Apple are the prime manipulators of that particular situation). So, I suppose MCiS was born of frustration.
I said to the wife the other day "Right, that MUST be it, I can't believe there's anything more to add to this bl**dy software!". She replied "You always say that"..... ::)
I believe it's been well worth the time spent, very glad you all appreciate it.
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I said to the wife the other day "Right, that MUST be it, I can't believe there's anything more to add to this bl**dy software!". She replied "You always say that"..... ::)
I think your wife has you figured out. :)
I agree with you that MC is the best tool to manage your library. Also, iTunes is best way to sync the iPhones/iPods. Maybe Apple should not be so closed and disruptive, but they are. Even if they were not, there are also things like the App Store that can only be synced from iTunes anyway.
I was originally pushed back to iTunes for syncing when I got my first iPhone. I then found that if I have to use iTunes for the iPhone, it's would easier to use iTunes for all Apple devices (I have many iPhones and iPods). So I've been using MC to manage my library and iTunes for all of my syncing.
So thank you for building MC iTunes Synchronizer. It is a bridge between MC and iTunes that provides seamless support the Apple products. ;D
Randy
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I tried the Synchronizer today and am very, very appreciative of not only the effort, but also the excellent program. Thank you. Thank you.
One quesiton though,
I am only interested in synching in one direction - from MC (using MC14) to Itunes. I want I tunes to have only the playlists I have on MC (I live through playlists) and I never ever want any changes to the MC library. I often change my playlists, however, and they need to be updated (synched) in Itunes. I have no need for any special fields in Itunes.
Are there settings or non-setting that ensure only one way synchng.
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I may have two more small issues.
First, the track ratings do not seem to sync from iTunes to MC. Thought I generally don't need anything to sync this way round, I do need the track ratings to sync from the iPod/iPhone to MC, which means that if I use iTunes to manage the Pods, I need the track ratings to sync from iTunes to MC.
I thought the "Fields to aggregate/ratings" checkbox would do the trick, but it doesn't.
No big deal, I can use the on-the-go playlists instead.
Second, the MC/iTunes sync does not seem to delete tracks in iTunes when they are no longer in MC. Maybe there is something in iTunes to do that automatically though, I don't know.
Now, again, it is no big deal: iTunes will simply tell me that the said tracks will not be synced to the Pod. It looks funny but I can live with it.
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Actually, the no-delete issue does create a small problem.
Example: I change the "album" field on a track in MC. Then I sync with iTunes.
Now, in the iTunes library, I have the track twice: one with the new "album" field, which works ; one with the old "album" field, which does not (iTunes tells me it can't find it).
Now, when I sync the iPod/iPhone, iTunes loads the "new" track into the Pod, which is good. But it does not remove the old one, because it thinks it is still in its library and, as a consequence, should remain on the Pod.
So there is a certain potential for trouble here, when you think about it!
Sorry if I opened up a new can of worms!
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I tried the Synchronizer today and am very, very appreciative of not only the effort, but also the excellent program. Thank you. Thank you.
One quesiton though,
I am only interested in synching in one direction - from MC (using MC14) to Itunes. I want I tunes to have only the playlists I have on MC (I live through playlists) and I never ever want any changes to the MC library. I often change my playlists, however, and they need to be updated (synched) in Itunes. I have no need for any special fields in Itunes.
Are there settings or non-setting that ensure only one way synchng.
Thanks jack... at the moment there is no option to do this, though it may be possible to open the MC library read-only. I'm not sure what other problems that might cause, but I can do a quick test to find out.
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I think your wife has you figured out. :)
Oh definitely... :)
Cheers Randy.
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First, the track ratings do not seem to sync from iTunes to MC. Thought I generally don't need anything to sync this way round, I do need the track ratings to sync from the iPod/iPhone to MC, which means that if I use iTunes to manage the Pods, I need the track ratings to sync from iTunes to MC.
I thought the "Fields to aggregate/ratings" checkbox would do the trick, but it doesn't.
No big deal, I can use the on-the-go playlists instead.
Second, the MC/iTunes sync does not seem to delete tracks in iTunes when they are no longer in MC. Maybe there is something in iTunes to do that automatically though, I don't know.
Now, again, it is no big deal: iTunes will simply tell me that the said tracks will not be synced to the Pod. It looks funny but I can live with it.
Track ratings should be bi-directional, and I'm not sure why they are not for you, because it's working here no probs. Does the log say it tried to alter the rating in MC? Get one of the files where the rating didn't come across and let me know the values of the iTunes Rating, MC Rating and the MC field iTunesRatingSync.
Your second point - do you have Fix Broken Links in iTunes selected in the Settings dialog?
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Are there settings or non-setting that ensure only one way synchng.
FYI I had a look at optionally making the library read-only and it doesn't look like a good solution to me.
Next version I'll look at putting some kind of "Snapshot to iTunes" option somewhere that will allow the user to simply export all info to iTunes.
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Next version I'll look at putting some kind of "Snapshot to iTunes" option somewhere that will allow the user to simply export all info to iTunes.
Thank you very much!!!
That would make me worry less about unintentional changes to the MC database. I really only want to use ITunes to load the Iphone. I don't need play counts or antyhing.
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In fact, it no longer works. I get a "could not access jriver Media Center" message (besides the "synchronize" button").
I thought I had solved that by running as administrator, but that no longer works (it's on W7RC).
I'll make the verifications when I get it to work again.
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By the way, MC is present as a portable install, so I don't know how MCIS is supposed to find it. The browse button is also inactive.
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Hmm not sure about portable installs. You would at least have to load MC up first before running the sync - a portable install won't be registered so, as you rightly say, MCiS wouldn't know where to find it. The open log button only becomes active when a log exists on disk.
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By the way, MC is present as a portable install, so I don't know how MCIS is supposed to find it. The browse button is also inactive.
A portable install is meant for a USB stick. If you're using a laptop, choose a normal install.
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Prod: both problems apparently fixed using normal install. Thanks.
JimH: portable install could be extremely convenient if you have to wipe your system drive in order to reinstall the OS. Apart from some inconveniences like the one I just encountered (or the fact that the shell functions did not seem to work well), I don't see the advantages of the normal install.
Besides, reinstalling the OS is generally a problem with MC because the Library manager is not very good. I would like to be able to:
- set the library folder on D: once and for all;
- when reinstalling the OS and then MC, simply tell MC to go look for the library in the D: folder where I had put it;
- do all that easily.
Maybe I'm a little bit slow, but the library managing functions seem confusing and not very convenient to me.
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JimH: portable install could be extremely convenient if you have to wipe your system drive in order to reinstall the OS. Apart from some inconveniences like the one I just encountered (or the fact that the shell functions did not seem to work well), I don't see the advantages of the normal install.
Please do not use it for anything other than a USB stick, or portable drive.
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Hertz, you love opening those cans of worms don't you? ;D
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Yes, I must admit.
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v4.6.5 - added command line argument;
- /NoAggregate - Overrides the aggregated field calculations and performs a simple export from MC to iTunes of these fields instead
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Hi prod,
Question for you.
I have 17,504 MP3 files.
When I sync, and nothing is changed, 0 tracks are synchronized. This is what you would expect.
If I include Lyrics, and nothing is changed, 135 tracks are synchronized. I can repeat the synchronization, and it will always synchronize 135 tracks.
So obviously it thinks something has changed, even though nothing has changed.
So here is my question. My lyrics are embedded in the MP3 files (I assume). So what is being synchronized? Are the lyrics also stored in either the MC or iTunes libraries? If the lyrics are stored in the iTunes library, is that what iTunes uses to sync iPods or iPhones? Or will it use the lyrics in the MP3 file.
The reason I ask is I want the lyrics in the iPod and iPhone to be current, but I don't really use iTunes for anything than syncing. So the simple solution may be to not sync lyrics with your MC iTunes Synchronizer. It's also faster.
Randy
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FYI for all of the happy users of prod's MC iTunes Synchronizer. A must have for MC users with an iPhone or iTouch.
If you go to Settings on the main page you will find a button labeled Donate. I suggest clicking on the this button. ;)
I was not aware until recently that this button existed. It is a way to show thanks for all of the effort prod put into this must have application.
Randy
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So here is my question. My lyrics are embedded in the MP3 files (I assume). So what is being synchronized? Are the lyrics also stored in either the MC or iTunes libraries? If the lyrics are stored in the iTunes library, is that what iTunes uses to sync iPods or iPhones? Or will it use the lyrics in the MP3 file.
My lyrics are embedded in the tags.
I don't check any of the boxes in the "fields to export from MC to itunes" section.
Everything that is important to me from that list exists in the file tags.
I get lyrics on the iphone.
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My lyrics are embedded in the tags.
I don't check any of the boxes in the "fields to export from MC to itunes" section.
Everything that is important to me from that list exists in the file tags.
I get lyrics on the iphone.
Thanks...
I'll turn of lyrics and take another look at the other fields. Other than lyrics I had everything set to the defaults.
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Hi prod,
Question for you.
I have 17,504 MP3 files.
When I sync, and nothing is changed, 0 tracks are synchronized. This is what you would expect.
If I include Lyrics, and nothing is changed, 135 tracks are synchronized. I can repeat the synchronization, and it will always synchronize 135 tracks.
So obviously it thinks something has changed, even though nothing has changed.
So here is my question. My lyrics are embedded in the MP3 files (I assume). So what is being synchronized? Are the lyrics also stored in either the MC or iTunes libraries? If the lyrics are stored in the iTunes library, is that what iTunes uses to sync iPods or iPhones? Or will it use the lyrics in the MP3 file.
The reason I ask is I want the lyrics in the iPod and iPhone to be current, but I don't really use iTunes for anything than syncing. So the simple solution may be to not sync lyrics with your MC iTunes Synchronizer. It's also faster.
Randy
Hi Randy
Those 135 tracks - I'm not absolutely sure why it's doing that, my tests regarding lyrics have turned out the same results as any other field. I must admit I don't use lyrics much myself so my tests haven't been what you might call extensive. Perhaps there is a character in them that iTunes "translates" into another character - thereby making the lyrics in iTunes different to those held in MC. This would cause MCiS to keep trying to sync them on every run. If you email me the lyrics for one of those files I can test it out myself and get to the bottom of it. Probably will be something very simple. Or perhaps email me the <Track> section in the log of one of those tracks where it tells of the change?
You are correct that not selecting lyrics makes the sync faster (substantially in my experience). This is due to the internal workings of iTunes - I have no idea why iTunes takes so long to return Lyrics for a track, yet all other fields are returned relatively quickly.
Also you've brought up something I've been meaning to explain for a while. That is, in certain fairly common circumstances, there is no need to select some fields in the export-only section of MCiS. Those circumstances are if the file tags of each individual track are up-to-date. The reason is that when MCiS asks iTunes to return a track, iTunes first reads the file tags and automatically updates *some* fields in its database if they are different. It then returns the track complete with the updated info. And because MCiS asks for every track in the iTunes library, all those tracks are updated. It's kind of like right-clicking a file in iTunes and selecting "Get Info" for every single track in your library. Quite good really, because I know, for instance, that the album artwork is automatically updated in this way if changed using MC. I haven't had the inclination to test this behaviour for every field so sorry I haven't got a definitive list of which fields are updated in this way. It may well be that "Lyrics" is one of those fields.
The MC iTunes Synchronizer is designed in such a way that the less checkboxes you select, the faster the sync will be. Some fields are faster to retrieve than others of course so you may not notice a difference, but as we've all noticed Lyrics are particularly slow.
Hope that clears up any confusion.
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Hi Randy
Those 135 tracks - I'm not absolutely sure why it's doing that, my tests regarding lyrics have turned out the same results as any other field. I must admit I don't use lyrics much myself so my tests haven't been what you might call extensive. Perhaps there is a character in them that iTunes "translates" into another character - thereby making the lyrics in iTunes different to those held in MC. This would cause MCiS to keep trying to sync them on every run. If you email me the lyrics for one of those files I can test it out myself and get to the bottom of it. Probably will be something very simple. Or perhaps email me the <Track> section in the log of one of those tracks where it tells of the change?
You are correct that not selecting lyrics makes the sync faster (substantially in my experience). This is due to the internal workings of iTunes - I have no idea why iTunes takes so long to return Lyrics for a track, yet all other fields are returned relatively quickly.
Also you've brought up something I've been meaning to explain for a while. That is, in certain fairly common circumstances, there is no need to select some fields in the export-only section of MCiS. Those circumstances are if the file tags of each individual track are up-to-date. The reason is that when MCiS asks iTunes to return a track, iTunes first reads the file tags and automatically updates *some* fields in its database if they are different. It then returns the track complete with the updated info. And because MCiS asks for every track in the iTunes library, all those tracks are updated. It's kind of like right-clicking a file in iTunes and selecting "Get Info" for every single track in your library. Quite good really, because I know, for instance, that the album artwork is automatically updated in this way if changed using MC. I haven't had the inclination to test this behaviour for every field so sorry I haven't got a definitive list of which fields are updated in this way. It may well be that "Lyrics" is one of those fields.
The MC iTunes Synchronizer is designed in such a way that the less checkboxes you select, the faster the sync will be. Some fields are faster to retrieve than others of course so you may not notice a difference, but as we've all noticed Lyrics are particularly slow.
Hope that clears up any confusion.
Hi prod,
I sent you an email with an example of the lyrics. I have lyrics for about 16,000 tracks and only 135 appear to be creating trouble. Your probably right, some character is not being interpreted correctly by iTunes.
Do you know what happens when iTunes syncs the iPod/iPhone? Does it use info in the iTunes library or does it use the info in the file tags? I always (I think) have my file tags current. I manage all of this is MC.
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Do you know what happens when iTunes syncs the iPod/iPhone? Does it use info in the iTunes library or does it use the info in the file tags? I always (I think) have my file tags current. I manage all of this is MC.
It uses the info in the iTunes library - any changes made to file tags outside of iTunes won't be picked up by iTunes unless you give it reason to - e.g. running a sync from MCiS or right-clicking the individual file (selecting multiple files doesn't work the same way) and selecting "Get Info".
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Thanks prod...
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Of course incredibly and infamously no matter what you do iTunes will not read from or write to the "Rating" tag. Even tearing your hair out doesn't help. That's another major reason I started writing MCiS, I got so, so tired of sync'ing those ratings manually...
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Of course incredibly and infamously no matter what you do iTunes will not read from or write to the "Rating" tag. Even tearing your hair out doesn't help. That's another major reason I started writing MCiS, I got so, so tired of sync'ing those ratings manually...
That's the #1 reason why itunes cannot even be considered as a contender as a media management application.
#2 reason is no support for common lossless formats such as flac and ape.
#3 reason is calling an xml file a database.
There are many more, but I'll stop there.
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That's the #1 reason why itunes cannot even be considered as a contender as a media management application.
#2 reason is no support for common lossless formats such as flac and ape.
#3 reason is calling an xml file a database.
There are many more, but I'll stop there.
iTunes only has 2 strong points.
#1 it can be used by almost anyone (trade off is it does not do much)
#2 it can sync all of their devices (iPods, iPhones, and iTouch)
That's why MC iTunes Synchronizer is such a great application. You can have the best of both worlds (e.g. not have to live with the trade offs in point #1 but still do point #2).
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Totally agree, MCiT offers the best of both worlds. Another thing it does for me is allow me to use Airport Express for affordable multiroom audio with the great Apple Remote software on Iphone. Until MC comes with native support for hardware players that can be set-up multizone this is the way to go for me.
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iTunes only has 2 strong points.
#1 it can be used by almost anyone (trade off is it does not do much)
#2 it can sync all of their devices (iPods, iPhones, and iTouch)
That's why MC iTunes Synchronizer is such a great application. You can have the best of both worlds (e.g. not have to live with the trade offs in point #1 but still do point #2).
I totally agree : apart from that, iTunes really sucks ! I've been obliged to install it yesterday (iPhone contamination) and I wish I had another solution. Can't wait to try MC iTunes Synchronizer...
Raph
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v4.7.1
- Fixed iTunes inserts linefeeds into Lyrics on sync sometimes causing a perpetual difference - the linefeeds are now stripped out for comparison purposes only
- Changed the way playlists are removed when syncing to the root folder (details follow)
- Synchronize to the root playlist folder in iTunes
- MCiS will create the playlists directly under the Playlists section in iTunes. Playlists will be removed from iTunes where a playlist exists in MC but has not been selected for synchronization. Also, a playlist will be removed from iTunes where the parent folder is selected for synchronize and the playlist does not exist in MC.
EDIT: Found UI bug when using right-click expressions menus - fixed in v4.7.2
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v4.7.1
Fixed iTunes inserts linefeeds into Lyrics on sync sometimes causing a perpetual difference - the linefeeds are now stripped out for comparison purposes only
Fix verified. Thanks...
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Hi Prod, I'm 8-hours into my hate relationship with the son's iTouch but your work has given me (some) hope!
I've a Question on the File Mapping for Lossless (from the very good guide). I have WMA Lossless and also FLAC. My current expression is: Replace([Filename (path)],\\Server\Music\,C:\Users\Lachlan\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\)Replace([Filename (name)],wma,mp3) as I have mostly WMA files but it obviously now does not work with my flac files. Is there:
1) an expression to replace WMA & FLAC with MP3 OR
2) do I need to convert all my FLAC to WMA (or vice versa)
Thanks
Nathan
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This should do it;
Replace([Filename (path)],\\Server\Music\,C:\Users\Lachlan\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\)Replace(Replace([Filename (name)],.flac,.mp3),.wma,.mp3)
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This should do it;
Replace([Filename (path)],\\Server\Music\,C:\Users\Lachlan\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\)Replace(Replace([Filename (name)],.flac,.mp3),.wma,.mp3)
Works perfectly ... given the sync is always to MP3 is it worth just having the expression replace all extensions with MP3?
Thanks for the work on the Synchronizer and please have a pint on me (small donation deposited)!
Nathan
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Cheers! I'll enjoy that later...
I don't think there's an expression that will just replace all extensions with MP3, you have to specify each of them ...
You could keep replacing [Filename (name)] in the expression with Replace([Filename (name)],file_ext_old,file_ext_new) for every single file extension you can think of, but it'd be quite a long expression.
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Thanks - just a thought and as I've only got MP3 / FLAC / WMA I'm all set
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Next version I'll look at putting some kind of "Snapshot to iTunes" option somewhere that will allow the user to simply export all info to iTunes.
Prod,
I used 4.7.2 WITHOUT using the new noaggregate option. However, I also didn't check any fields to aggregate and I didn't check any fields to export to MC. Does that give me a "no change" to the MC library (export only to Itunes)? Or is that a feature perhaps still to come? I am not aware of any changes to the MC library when I updated the Itunes library.
John
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Hi John
If you de-select all fields in the "Fields to aggregate" group, then no change will be made to those fields in either iTunes or MC. Specifying /NoAggregate and selecting those same fields, changes will be made in iTunes but not MC - so those fields essentially become part of the "Fields to export to iTunes" group. That basically creates your "Snapshot to iTunes" feature.
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If you de-select all fields in the "Fields to aggregate" group, then no change will be made to those fields in either iTunes or MC. Specifying /NoAggregate and selecting those same fields, changes will be made in iTunes but not MC - so those fields essentially become part of the "Fields to export to iTunes" group. That basically creates your "Snapshot to iTunes" feature.
Thank you Prod, I thought that was making a snapshot of MC and sending it to Itunes with no changes to the MC database. I am pleased to know that is what is happening.
John
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upgraded to win7 64bit and the functionality, for me, has broken. when i click sync, it says Access to the path C:\Program Files\blahblahblah\MCiTunesSynchronizerSyncLog.xml is denied
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It's trying to write to the log and doesn't have the required access (Write/Create/Delete) permissions in your C:\Program Files\blahblahblah\ folder - try changing those permissions or select the "Log to Clipboard" option instead. Also, delete any existing MCiTunesSynchronizerSyncLog.xml in that folder - it may be locked or the file permissions set to read-only.
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New iPhone uaer having trouble getting this to work.
Runnin MC 14.050 and the latest iTunes. I have a large library (260k songs) and am trying to sync 4 playlists (about 7gb) to my iPhone. I keep getting an out of memory error on the initial sync. It seems to get about 1/2 way through loading the MC library. Is my library too big perhaps? (please say it ain't so!)
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Is my library too big perhaps? (please say it ain't so!)
I'm afraid so - but that's not a problem, you can create a view in MC that contains only the files you want to sync across and then use the /ViewScheme command line argument with MCiS. The synchronizer will then only sync the files in the view you specify.
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v4.8.1;
- New command line argument /Playlist works much the same as the /ViewScheme argument except you can specify a playlist or smartlist
- Improved progress messages when importing files into iTunes
The following command line arguments can be used:
- /StartSync - starts synchronization immediately on startup
- /ExitAfterSync - exits once synchronization is complete
- /RunMinimized - runs minimized
- /NoAggregate - Overrides the aggregated field calculations and performs a simple export from MC to iTunes of these fields instead
- /LibraryIndex - Loads the MC library at the specified zeo-based index (in MC's Library Manager)
- /LibraryName - The name of the MC library specified in LibraryIndex
- /LibraryPath - The path of the MC library specified in LibraryIndex
- /ViewScheme - The MC view scheme path to use. Only tracks in this view scheme will be sync'd. If not specified the whole library is sync'd.
- /Playlist - The MC playlist (or smartlist) path and name to use. Only tracks in this playlist will be sync'd. If not specified the whole library is sync'd.
You can not specify both a view scheme AND a playlist.
When using /LibraryIndex, either /LibraryName or /LibraryPath must be used along with it. If no library arguments are specified the currently loaded library is used.
Argument usage:
MCiTunesSynchronizer.exe [/StartSync] [/ExitAfterSync] [/RunMinimized] [/NoAggregate] [/LibraryIndex:n [/LibraryName:"sss"] [/LibraryPath:"ppp"]] [[/ViewScheme:"vvv"] | [/Playlist:"ppp"]]
Where n is the numbered index of the library to use, sss is the name of that library, fff is the path of that library, vvv is the name of the viewscheme (e.g. "Audio\Albums\MyView") and ppp is the name and path of the playlist (e.g. "Tasks\Miscellaneous\MCiS Sync Playlist").
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I'm afraid so - but that's not a problem, you can create a view in MC that contains only the files you want to sync across and then use the /ViewScheme command line argument with MCiS. The synchronizer will then only sync the files in the view you specify.
Okay - sounds good. Any idea what I am doing wrong now?
I created a View Scheme based on a Playlist Group that has the 4 playlists I want to sync in it.
This is my Command Line:
C:\MCiTunesSynchronizer\MCiTunesSynchronizer.exe /StartSync /ViewScheme:"JensiPhone"
When I run this it launches the sync tool but starts trying to load the whole MC library again. When I view the Scheme in MC it only shows 1234 files for a total of 7.3GB.
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You've got to put the full path and name of the view ... for instance, /ViewScheme:"Music\My View\JensiPhone".
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You've got to put the full path and name of the view ... for instance, /ViewScheme:"Music\My View\JensiPhone".
hmmm.... It still loading the whole library. When you say full path does this mean I need to save the view out to a file and then include the full path? (I tried that - saved it out and referenced the path + filename of the saved view - it still tries to load the whole library)
If the path is just within MC and the View Scheme is right off the main Audio group then should my full path be Audio\JensiPhone? (which I tired with no luck) I also tried \JensiPhone, \Audio\JensiPhone & JensiPhone
I must be missing something. Does the synchronizer need to be in a specific location?
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Nope you don't have to do anything special ... I'm referring to the view scheme path in MC not any kind of physical file path. So, you're right in saying if you have the main view called Audio and directly underneath it you have JensiPhone, it would be /ViewScheme:"Audio\JensiPhone". Make sure the slashes are backslashes and you are using the exact names of the views, this is case-sensitive. You must also take into account any alternative language you have selected.
Have a look in the log - it will tell you in the <MC> section what view it is trying to retrieve. Maybe you could post that section here and I'll have a look.
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Here's my command line:
C:\MCiTunesSynchronizer\MCiTunesSynchronizer.exe /StartSync /ViewScheme:"Audio\JensiPhone"
It still tries to load the whole library
I attached a snap of where this ViewScheme is in MC.
(http://solutionset.ca/images/JensiPhone.jpg)
The View Scheme is simply made from a Playlist Group which has the 2 playlist I want to sync to the iPhone. The ViewScheme appears to work as it only shows the 1234 files that are in the playlists and not the 270k in the library.
Here's my log when I ran the above:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
- <MCiS Version="4.7.2.0" StartDateTime="2009-08-25T11:56:43" Options="3003A00BEFC1FFF" SyncFileTypes="mp3" ImportFileTypes="mp3;wav;m4a">
<ExportPlaylists iTunesPlaylistFolder="MC Playlists" />
- <Expressions>
<Expression Field="Name">[Name]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Artist">[Artist]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Album">[Album]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Album Artist">[Album Artist]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Comment">[Comment]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Composer">[Composer]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Description">[Description]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Disc #">[Disc #]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Track #">[Track #]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Genre">[Genre]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Grouping">[Grouping]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Lyrics">[Lyrics]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Year">[Year]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Mix Album">[Mix Album]</Expression>
<Expression Field="BPM">[BPM]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Sort Name">[Name]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Sort Artist">[Artist]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Sort Album Artist">[Album Artist]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Sort Album">[Album]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Sort Composer">[Composer]</Expression>
</Expressions>
<MC Version="14.0.50" LibraryName="DarJen Live 14" LibraryPath="C:\Data\Music\DarJenLive14\" ViewScheme="Audio\JensiPhone" />
<iTunes Version="8.2.1.6" />
<Result EndDateTime="2009-08-25T11:56:46">User exited the application.</Result>
</MCiS>
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Hi Prod,
This looks awesome. Haven't finished reading though all the replies, but I'm curious what specific custom field names I need to set up for Artist Sort, Name Sort, Album Sort, or is it done for me by the plug-in when it first runs
Second question, you mentioned iTunes and MC need to be on the same machine. Can that be the same "physical" machine, but running under two different OSes... i.e. Mac OS X and Windows something on a MacBook? The iTunes folder and Music folder can be shared under Parallels and Boot Camp.
That would be my ideal set-up, as I hate running iTunes under Windows... such a resource hog.
Best,
Tom
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Here's my command line:
C:\MCiTunesSynchronizer\MCiTunesSynchronizer.exe /StartSync /ViewScheme:"Audio\JensiPhone"
It still tries to load the whole library
I attached a snap of where this ViewScheme is in MC.
The View Scheme is simply made from a Playlist Group which has the 2 playlist I want to sync to the iPhone. The ViewScheme appears to work as it only shows the 1234 files that are in the playlists and not the 270k in the library.
OK I've tested this and it works fine for me (using MC 14.0.50 & iTunes 8.2.1.6). Note that the /ViewScheme argument only affects the MC "caching" (loading into memory) process - that is, where the progress indicator says "Loading MC Library... x of y". In your instance, what is y? No matter what view you specify, MCiS will still iterate through every track in your iTunes library once the MC library is cached. The iTunes library is not cached.
Everything appears OK in your log so I'm not sure what's going wrong. If you still can't get it working, perhaps try the new /Playlist argument instead in v4.8.1.
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Hi Prod,
This looks awesome. Haven't finished reading though all the replies, but I'm curious what specific custom field names I need to set up for Artist Sort, Name Sort, Album Sort, or is it done for me by the plug-in when it first runs
Second question, you mentioned iTunes and MC need to be on the same machine. Can that be the same "physical" machine, but running under two different OSes... i.e. Mac OS X and Windows something on a MacBook? The iTunes folder and Music folder can be shared under Parallels and Boot Camp.
That would be my ideal set-up, as I hate running iTunes under Windows... such a resource hog.
Best,
Tom
Hi Tom
MC and iTunes for Windows are required, it's not possible otherwise due to OS restrictions.
As for the sort fields, the defaults aren't very useful - you need to edit those to your own personal tastes, and it can get pretty complicated. I have them set so that articles (A, An, The) are moved to the end and albums are sorted by Artist, Year, Album.
The sort fields are particularly important sometimes, as they can help differentiate between albums of the same name. Greatest Hits albums can cause problems in the iTunes UI but using the Sort Album field you can sort it all out. Setting it all up properly in iTunes means it'll all be sorted properly on your iPod/iPhone/Touch too.
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Prod,
Thanks for the quick response. Very cool. Hey, that's OK re the OS. I'll figure it out.
Am I missing something, or does MC not have predefined Library fields for the "Sort" varieties.
I'm well aware that you need to enter and massage the data/tags "somehow" and "somewhere" so that either iTunes or MC can read and respond.
But, in a sync, where would the values I entered into iTunes be entered/synced into MC?
That's where I want to make sure I set those Library Fields up right, the first time, as it relates to database naming shema/conventions.
Is it as simple as just matching the Field Labels for the sort stuff from iTunes?
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Success!
After a bit more farting around it turns out for some reason the Sychronizer didn't like my ViewScheme (which main scheme was a playlist group) even though it selected correctly what I wanted in MC.
I changed it to a standard view (artist/album etc) and then added modifiers to select the playlist and it worked!.
Thanks for your help!
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Prod,
Thanks for the quick response. Very cool. Hey, that's OK re the OS. I'll figure it out.
Am I missing something, or does MC not have predefined Library fields for the "Sort" varieties.
I'm well aware that you need to enter and massage the data/tags "somehow" and "somewhere" so that either iTunes or MC can read and respond.
But, in a sync, where would the values I entered into iTunes be entered/synced into MC?
That's where I want to make sure I set those Library Fields up right, the first time, as it relates to database naming shema/conventions.
Is it as simple as just matching the Field Labels for the sort stuff from iTunes?
Ahh gotcha... at least I think I do. I suppose it's not completely clear that you can do this, but if you right-click a field (e.g. Sort Album) in the synchronizer app, you can edit the MC expression that is used to retrieve the value to sync to iTunes. You can do this with almost all of the fields in that "export to iTunes" group.
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Success!
After a bit more farting around it turns out for some reason the Sychronizer didn't like my ViewScheme (which main scheme was a playlist group) even though it selected correctly what I wanted in MC.
I changed it to a standard view (artist/album etc) and then added modifiers to select the playlist and it worked!.
Thanks for your help!
No worries, glad you sorted it!
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Tom,
I remember now I deliberately "hid" this feature because of the damage it can cause if you misuse it. Here's a quote from the instructions at the top:
MCiS includes the ability to sync using MC expressions by right-clicking the desired field. However, this should be used with the utmost care. Remember that altering a field in iTunes will in many cases write the value to the tag of the physical file also - and this in turn may then be picked up in MC, overwriting your original values! The outcome depends on your configuration in iTunes, MC and MCiS. You need to know exactly what you are doing to use this option, if you are not sure, please ask about it here on the MC forums or leave it alone. This option is included to allow the user to swap fields over, for instance use Composer for Artist, Album Artist (auto) for Sort Album Artist or such like. That's not all though, any expression, simple or complex, may be entered to be sync'd to the destination file. I personally recommend using this mainly with the iTunes Sort fields or when using the Use Alternative File Keys option.
Like I say, changing the default expressions for the Sort fields is pretty much risk-free... because MC doesn't use or even recognise those fields. However, changing the default expressions for any other fields should be done only in special circumstances and where you realise the implications.
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Okay now that I am syncing successfully I have one little problem.
I am syncing four playlist: 2 regular MC playlists and 2 smartlists (random new tunes and random 4 or 5 stars - both of which generate new material each sync)
All the songs sync across okay but I don't get the two Smartlists into iTunes - just the regular MC playlists. I searched and it seems that they should show up as regular smart lists in iTunes.
Any tricks.
*Very sweet tool btw* Sure takes the pain out of syncing an iPhone.
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Okay now that I am syncing successfully I have one little problem.
I am syncing four playlist: 2 regular MC playlists and 2 smartlists (random new tunes and random 4 or 5 stars - both of which generate new material each sync)
All the songs sync across okay but I don't get the two Smartlists into iTunes - just the regular MC playlists. I searched and it seems that they should show up as regular smart lists in iTunes.
Any tricks.
*Very sweet tool btw* Sure takes the pain out of syncing an iPhone.
prod may be asleep now, so I'll tell you how I think it works.
All MC playlists and smartlists are sync'd as iTunes playlists. For a MC smartlist list, it takes the generated list and creates a regular playlist in iTunes. This is because the iTunes smart playlist is not as smart as the MC smartlist, so it cannot be mapped.
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Prod -- that answers the question. Can't believe I didn't ferret that out during the first quick read-thru... basically, I can set up the "Sort" fields using any naming shema my heart desires within MC. Very cool. Well done. I may just have to reinstall iTunes using a "passive" install.
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prod may be asleep now, so I'll tell you how I think it works.
All MC playlists and smartlists are sync'd as iTunes playlists. For a MC smartlist list, it takes the generated list and creates a regular playlist in iTunes. This is because the iTunes smart playlist is not as smart as the MC smartlist, so it cannot be mapped.
yeah I got that and I'm cool with with a regular playlist instead of a smartlist but my problem is that the MC Smartlists are not showing up in iTunes at all - just the two regular ones show up in iTunes. The songs from the two smartlists are getting transferred but the playlist isn't.
Here is what is etting sync'd from MC:
(http://nadorozny.com/images/lists1.jpg)
Here is what shows up in iTuns:
(http://nadorozny.com/images/lists2.jpg)
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prod may be asleep now, so I'll tell you how I think it works.
No may be about it :)
Tom, cheers for that, glad you like it.
WinoOutWest ... if you have the playlist/smartlist selected in the tree, it should sync it. Randy's right, smartlists and playlists are treated exactly the same - have a look in the <ExportPlaylists> section of the log, this will contain every playlist that is checked to be sync'd into iTunes. Let me know what you find...
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No may be about it :)
Tom, cheers for that, glad you like it.
WinoOutWest ... if you have the playlist/smartlist selected in the tree, it should sync it. Randy's right, smartlists and playlists are treated exactly the same - have a look in the <ExportPlaylists> section of the log, this will contain every playlist that is checked to be sync'd into iTunes. Let me know what you find...
I checked the log and the 2 smartlists aren't there - only the regular playlists are there:
- <ExportPlaylists iTunesPlaylistFolder="MC Playlists">
<Playlist Rebuild="True">Jen's iPhone\Jen's Sansa</Playlist>
<Playlist Rebuild="True">Jen's iPhone\Jen's Workout</Playlist>
</ExportPlaylists>
Remember I have a large library so I have to use the /ViewScheme switch. I presume this has something to do with my ViewScheme again. Has anyone got a ViewScheme that has Smartlists and playlist exporting correctly that I can compare to? I don't really care what the ViewScheme looks like as its exclusive use is to facilitate the iPhone sync.
Cheers!
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I use both the /ViewScheme argument and sync both smartlists & playlists without any problems... I'm sure this has nothing to do with the /ViewScheme argument, as all this affects is the caching of the MC library.
Make sure these 2 missing smartlists are in the list of playlists in the MCiS playlist tree and are both checked... If they are in the list, and are checked, when you exit MCiS the 2 missing smartlists should be in the <Playlists> section of the .settings file, as well as the other 2 playlists you have selected.
Failing this, post up a screenshot of MCiS so I can see what you have checked.
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I use both the /ViewScheme argument and sync both smartlists & playlists without any problems... I'm sure this has nothing to do with the /ViewScheme argument, as all this affects is the caching of the MC library.
Make sure these 2 missing smartlists are in the list of playlists in the MCiS playlist tree and are both checked... If they are in the list, and are checked, when you exit MCiS the 2 missing smartlists should be in the <Playlists> section of the .settings file, as well as the other 2 playlists you have selected.
Failing this, post up a screenshot of MCiS so I can see what you have checked.
hmm.. I couldn't see what was checked b/c it was way down the list - so I renamed my groups and found out that they weren't checked. Checked them and they are syncing now!
Awesomeness!! Thanks again for making this so effortless! (well effortless once its working!) :)
one unrelated question (I'm totally new to Apple/iTunes) Any idea why about 60% of my Coverart doesn't come across to iTunes when I sync?
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No probs & thanks, glad it's working for you... unfortunately, for cover art to work properly in iTunes, it needs to be embedded in each file, i.e. in the tags.
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v4.8.2;
- Fixed Recently Ripped playlist showing wrong icon in tree
- Some minor logging changes
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FYI I've successfully tested MCiS with both MC13 & MC14 alongside iTunes 9.
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FYI I've successfully tested MCiS with both MC13 & MC14 alongside iTunes 9.
The advantage of using their APIs. I'm upgrading as I'm writing this.
Thanks for the heads up, and thanks again for a great product.
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Prod,
A follow-up question if I may. This relates to my desire to have only 1-way synchronization – that is, the Itunes library is the only thing updated, never the MC library.
When I sync, the only settings I check (in 4.8.2) are the “synchronize mc playlists to Itunes playlist folder” and “rebuild playlists from scratch.” I do the later because I frequently update playlists, including sometimes just the order of the songs. I want them to be identical in Itunes. I do also check some, but not all of the MC playlists. I am not using any startup parameters. I have imported music into Itunes so it sees the same songs as MC (imported the same music directories)
Is the following true on sync with these settings (Based on your earlier comments, I think I have this right)
"The MC library database is never modified with these settings, even if something were to be out of synch in the Itunes library (a tag for instance). Can’t think of how a change to MC could occur under these settings, but your instructions at the top of this thread make me a little nervous about that."
Thanks. P.S. I just updated using Itunes 9.0. No problem, just as you reported.
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Hi Folks,
I'm a big fan of MC since v11, currently on 13. I've just ordered an iPod Touch. I won't have until Wednesday, but I've installed iTunes 9 in preparation. All of my music on a Windows Home Server (HP MediaSmart). MC13 imports the music share and has direct access to the files (I do all my ripping, tagging, and music management in MC). iTunes sees my music as a shared library, provided by the iTunes server running on the HP MediaSmart server.
I've explained all this to ask:
Will this set-up work with the iPod Touch?
Will this synchronizer work in this situation?
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"The MC library database is never modified with these settings, even if something were to be out of synch in the Itunes library (a tag for instance). Can’t think of how a change to MC could occur under these settings, but your instructions at the top of this thread make me a little nervous about that."
Yes with those settings nothing in your MC library will be changed. The instructions at the top apply only if you have the particular checkboxes checked.
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Will this set-up work with the iPod Touch?
Will this synchronizer work in this situation?
I've not tried this, but I don't think you can sync an iPod with music from a shared library. Also, MCiS will only sync files that exist in the local library, not the shared library.
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I've not tried this, but I don't think you can sync an iPod with music from a shared library. Also, MCiS will only sync files that exist in the local library, not the shared library.
Thanks. I thought that might be the case. So I guess I need to point iTunes to the same music share like I do for MC. Does iTunes, by default, write anything to the music files? I have it set not to organize anything. I'm scared!
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I think it may write gapless info or some kind of audio analysis - I'm not exactly sure. It doesn't overwrite anything in MC and I've not noticed anything to worry about. One thing I do know for sure is that you need the cover art in the file tags for it to show up in iTunes and on your iPod.
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Life is good thanks to MCiS.
I was able to upgrade to the new version of iTunes, new firmware for my iPhones, and new firmware one of my iPods.....
Plus I ripped about 30 albums (the 2 new Beatles Box Sets plus a few more CDs)...
I then synced up iTunes and all the iPhones/iPods...
And never a problem was found ;D
Randy
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Thanks for the success story, Randy. I have it syncing now... on #16082 of 20801. Now I just need my iTouch to get here!
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Thanks for the success story, Randy. I have it syncing now... on #16082 of 20801. Now I just need my iTouch to get here!
You should have no trouble with the iTouch. You could practice on an iPod if you have one.
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Life is good thanks to MCiS.
I know how you feel, it puts a smile on my face sometimes too. Though it's v cheering to get such a glowing assessment! I'm a little biased, y'see ;D
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Thank you for this tool, prod. Everything synced wonderfully after I found and removed some duplicates in my MC library. And my iTouch is on the Fedex truck for delivery today! Life IS good!
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Thank you for this tool, prod. Everything synced wonderfully after I found and removed some duplicates in my MC library. And my iTouch is on the Fedex truck for delivery today! Life IS good!
Hi Sue, you probably already have the latest version of iTunes installed. If you you could get that part out of the way ahead of time. My guess is that the iTouch will come with outdated firmware, so you should check that when it arrives.
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Thank you for this tool, prod. Everything synced wonderfully after I found and removed some duplicates in my MC library. And my iTouch is on the Fedex truck for delivery today! Life IS good!
No worries. Hope the Touch got there OK. My dad bought one the other week and he's over the moon with it - particularly as it works over bluetooth with his car, he's off galavanting on a road trip across Europe for a couple of months. Retirement sounds pretty good. :)
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Hi,
I've been trying a few times now to use this tool to sync my mc 14.0.69 and Itunes 9.0.70. It runs through a long time of syncing on all my MC playlists and smartlists (it seems like almost all analyzed items get synced), but when I look in iTunes there is no MC playlist to be found. I selected to sync to root folder; the main music and podcast tracks are present in both libraries.
What am I possibly doing wrong?
Thanks for your help!
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Hi,
I've been trying a few times now to use this tool to sync my mc 14.0.69 and Itunes 9.0.70. It runs through a long time of syncing on all my MC playlists and smartlists (it seems like almost all analyzed items get synced), but when I look in iTunes there is no MC playlist to be found. I selected to sync to root folder; the main music and podcast tracks are present in both libraries.
What am I possibly doing wrong?
Thanks for your help!
Hi, make sure in "Settings" you don't have Run in Test Mode checked.
Also, have a look in the log to see if the sync is completing successfully. Playlists are sync'd at the end, so if an error is encountered during analysis, it won't get that far. The last line of the log gives you the result of the sync.
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Has this program been used successfully with the new 3rd generation iPod Touch that recently came out? Specifically, the 32GB or 64GB versions.
I'm thinking about buying a new player and knowing if MCiS works with the latest Touch would be helpful.
Thanks,
BullishDad
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Hi, make sure in "Settings" you don't have Run in Test Mode checked.
Also, have a look in the log to see if the sync is completing successfully. Playlists are sync'd at the end, so if an error is encountered during analysis, it won't get that far. The last line of the log gives you the result of the sync.
Hi Prod,
Thanks a lot for your comment and help. I've checked the log file and found that the tool got stuck with a song and did not continue. I have removed the mp3 that caused the problem and restarted it. It did work in the end after several runs, where I took problematic songs out of my library one at a time.
I want to thank you a lot for this great tool, as it is exactly what I was looking for! As a small side note though: can the code be changed to just ignore files it cannot process and give their names at the end of the log file? That might save those people a lot of time who have a large and old library (like me) who try to sync for the first time, but can't because with every run it gets stuck with another file.
And another quick question (with the fear of sounding stupid): I am looking for the place to enter the the "RebuildOnSync: Yes" in my smartlists in MC. Can you give me some direction? I
Thanks a lot!!
Cheers
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Has this program been used successfully with the new 3rd generation iPod Touch that recently came out? Specifically, the 32GB or 64GB versions.
Yes. I have the new 64GB Touch. I can't say I have tested extensively, since I just got it on Monday and I'm not using the Touch for music playback a lot, but it did sync the plays from my iPod back to MC.
Now if I could just find a way to sync all my Squeezebox plays to iTunes (and MC)... that is where I do 98% of my listening these days.
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Thanks, Sue, for posting that you've had success with the new 64gb Touch.
I'll be looking to move my MC playlists to the Touch, and it seems that it should work with the 3rd gen Touch. If anyone does this specifically (MC Audio playlists->Touch 3G) I'd like to hear about it.
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Hi Prod,
Thanks a lot for your comment and help. I've checked the log file and found that the tool got stuck with a song and did not continue. I have removed the mp3 that caused the problem and restarted it. It did work in the end after several runs, where I took problematic songs out of my library one at a time.
I want to thank you a lot for this great tool, as it is exactly what I was looking for! As a small side note though: can the code be changed to just ignore files it cannot process and give their names at the end of the log file? That might save those people a lot of time who have a large and old library (like me) who try to sync for the first time, but can't because with every run it gets stuck with another file.
And another quick question (with the fear of sounding stupid): I am looking for the place to enter the the "RebuildOnSync: Yes" in my smartlists in MC. Can you give me some direction? I
Thanks a lot!!
Cheers
I suppose I could have the sync continue regardless, what was it in your library that was causing the problem? The "RebuildOnSync: Yes" goes in the notes of your playlist - if you click on your playlist in the MC tree, above the list of files there's an area with a "Play" button etc. Below the buttons, there may be some text "Click here to add notes", or the text may have info about your playlist - just click on that and you can edit the text.
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I suppose I could have the sync continue regardless, what was it in your library that was causing the problem? The "RebuildOnSync: Yes" goes in the notes of your playlist - if you click on your playlist in the MC tree, above the list of files there's an area with a "Play" button etc. Below the buttons, there may be some text "Click here to add notes", or the text may have info about your playlist - just click on that and you can edit the text.
Found that notes part. Thanks! Regarding the errors: I am not sure why exactly the tool stopped at the lines below. The songs were always playing fine in MC and Itunes and on my ipod. I paste some of the 'last lines' below for you (each comes from a different sync session that could not finish because of that element)
1)
<Track Filename="J:\Musik\Incubus\Make Yourself\Incubus - Nice To Know You.mp3">
<Lyrics ChangedIn="iTunes" OldValue="
2)
<Track Filename="J:\Musik\Madonna\Music\Madonna - 02 - Impressive Instant.mp3">
<AlbumArtist ChangedIn="iTunes" OldValue="Music" NewValue="" />
<Lyrics ChangedIn="iTunes" OldValue="
3)
<Track Filename="J:\Musik\Seal\Best 1991-2004 (2004)\Seal - Best 1991-2004 - 08 - Love's Divine.mp3">
<Year ChangedIn="iTunes" OldValue="0" NewValue="2004" />
<Lyrics ChangedIn="iTunes" OldValue="
Hope that helps somehow! I think it might indeed be a good idea to allow via a checkbox in the settings to 'ignore errors during sync'.
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It's a little strange that you didn't get a "proper" error message ... looks like the program has lost its connection to the log. Possibly there is something in the lyrics of those files that has caused it. If logging fails, the app has to stop.
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v4.8.5;
- Reworked import tracks to iTunes process, now sends all files to be imported in one call - making it faster and avoiding a minor bug in iTunes 9 to do with adding files one at a time (audio analysis wasn't being done until restarting iTunes)
- If an error occurs syncing a track, the sync will wait 1 second and try again. This is repeated a maximum of 10 times before the sync gives up, logs an error and continues to the next track. This has been included because iTunes 9 locks a file until it has done audio analysis, so if a track sync is attempted on a track that hasn't been analysed yet, the sync of that track will fail. Waiting a second or two and trying again allows a sync to occur.
- Duplicate file entries in the MC library no longer cause the sync to stop, a warning is entered in the log and the sync continues.
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I started a sync with the new version and left it, and when I came back it said:
Synchronize unsuccessful. Exception from HRESULT: 0xA0040203
Looks from the log that it got as far as importing playlists, but I'm not sure if it did them all or not.
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I started a sync with the new version and left it, and when I came back it said:
Synchronize unsuccessful. Exception from HRESULT: 0xA0040203
Looks from the log that it got as far as importing playlists, but I'm not sure if it did them all or not.
I had something similar right after updating to itunes 9 but with the prior build of MCIS.
What solved it was deleting all MC created playlists in itunes, then rerunning MCIS.
It recreated the playlists and I've had 5 successful syncs since then.
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I've not seen this here, but perhaps as zxsix says it is a one-off thing to do with the iTunes 9 update. The cause of the error is losing the COM connection with either iTunes or MC.
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Okay. I'll try that next time. Thanks.
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Seems to have something to do with itunes updates.
I had 3 successful syncs under itunes 9.0.
Then imported some new tracks into MC and
Upgraded itunes to 9.0.1.8 today.
Tried to sync libraries and ended up getting a failure code and this at the end of the log file:
<DeleteFileFromPlaylist Playlist="MARY\Unrated" Filename="E:\Users\brian\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\Progressive Metal\Illusion Suite\Final Hour\Scarlet Skies.mp3" />
<Result EndDateTime="2009-09-23T22:20:45">Exception from HRESULT: 0xA0040203</Result>
</MCiS>
Deleted the entire tree of MC playlists in itunes.
Added 85 new tracks and sync'd again.
100% worked.
<AddFileToPlaylist Playlist="BRIAN\Unrated Random" Filename="E:\Users\brian\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\Alt Metal\Smile Empty Soul\Consciousness\Reflection.mp3" />
<Result EndDateTime="2009-09-23T22:43:47" Analyzed="3316" Synchronized="71" Imported="71" Removed="64">Successful</Result>
</MCiS>
Added 36 more tracks and sync'd again.
100% fine again without deleting the playlists.
<AddFileToPlaylist Playlist="BRIAN\Unrated Random" Filename="E:\Users\brian\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\Alternative\Muse\The Resistance\Resistance.mp3" />
<Result EndDateTime="2009-09-23T22:54:44" Analyzed="3288" Synchronized="36" Imported="36" Removed="0">Successful</Result>
</MCiS>
These results lead me to conclude that something in the playlists is altered during an itunes upgrade and it's not the fault of MCIS.
-
I've done a little research and apparently error 0xA0040203 is caused by an object (i.e. your playlist) being locked by iTunes. I'll look into why this is happening on iTunes upgrades, and see what I can do to get around it.
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Can you sync pictures with this app?
Ross
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Can you sync pictures with this app?
Ross
The MC iTunes Synchronizer syncs the MC library with the iTunes library. You then use iTunes to sync with the iPhone/iTouch/iPod. iTunes does not have a library for the pictures. It syncs pictures based on folder(s). So this means that if you are managing your pictures using MC, you should have a folder structure for the pictures that makes it easy to use in iTunes.
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Got the lock error again today. Haven't installed any itunes updates.
Looks like this may become a recurring issue.
Here's the line from the log....
<DeleteFileFromPlaylist Playlist="BRIAN\Unrated By Album" Filename="E:\Users\brian\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\Death Metal\Kittie\In The Black\Sorrow I Know.mp3" />
<Result EndDateTime="2009-09-25T17:13:55">Exception from HRESULT: 0xA0040203</Result>
</MCiS>
I manually deleted the track that the log complains about from the playlist in itunes and then tried to sync again.
Got the same error on the same track! MCIS is still trying to delete that track even though it doesn't exist in the itunes playlist anymore.
Other info....
No ipod or other portable devices connected or syncing during this time.
No podcasts downloading during this time.
No songs being played in itunes during this time.
Itunes had downloaded 2 application updates (iphone apps, not itunes updates) about 15 minutes prior to this and they were done downloading at this time.
For all appearances itunes is sitting idle and there would be no valid reason for a file or even a record to be locked at the moment.
I don't touch any tags or do any playlist management inside of itunes.
Rather than deleting the playlist from itunes and letting MCIS recreate it I decided to try leaving the playlist alone and just restarting itunes.
This would theoretically release any file locks.
Sure enough that allowed the sync to complete properly.
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This file that caused the error; has it just been imported in the current sync operation?
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This file that caused the error; has it just been imported in the current sync operation?
Rating was changed on track on iPhone. Then sync'd with iTunes. MCIS then sync'd that rating change from iTunes to MC. This causes the track to no longer be part of the playlist. On next MCIS sync, it attempts to remove the track from the playlist in iTunes and in most cases will be removed from iTunes completely. Error seems to hit on the remove track from playlist part.
-
Ran through the scenario again with only a couple of songs changing and it sync'd fine.
?
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I'd been having sync errors off and on since the iTunes 9.0.1 update. I tried your suggestion of closing and reopening iTunes and got a successful sync that time after several failed ones.
-
Yeah, that's really looking like a locking issue.
Not sure why itunes would be locking a record in a playlist when that playlist isn't being played or edited though.
-
Unfortunately (for you, perhaps fortunately for me ;) ) I've not been able to reproduce this problem on my machine, which makes it very difficult to workaround. Even if I could reproduce it I'm not sure whether it would be possible to force iTunes to unlock a file it has locked. I'm using iTunes v9.0.1.8.
The workaround for now seems to be restart iTunes, then resync. I could automate this process but seems a little heavy handed to me.
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Unfortunately (for you, perhaps fortunately for me ;) ) I've not been able to reproduce this problem on my machine, which makes it very difficult to workaround. Even if I could reproduce it I'm not sure whether it would be possible to force iTunes to unlock a file it has locked. I'm using iTunes v9.0.1.8.
The workaround for now seems to be restart iTunes, then resync. I could automate this process but seems a little heavy handed to me.
Nah, it's an apple bug or an anomaly.
I think just having this info here to educate the MCIS users is enough.
If a ton of people start experiencing it then it would become another matter.
-
As of today, I now have all play history and ratings synced between Squeezebox Server, iTunes, and MC. Awesome! Although I still do all my ripping, tagging, and playlist creating in MC, I do the vast majority of my listening via Squeezebox, so this is great.
-
Prod:
Great tool! I have read all of the postings and seem to encounter a problem that I haven't seen described. My goal is to play and rate tracks through the iPhone and MC, using iTunes as conduit only, and MCiS as the transport.
Problem: It takes three MciS synchronizations to have MC, iTunes and iPhone synchronized.
Example:
1. iTunes & MC are both loaded and iPhone is connected to iTunes.
2. MC has Smartlist = "[Media Type]=[audio] [Rating]=<1 ~seq ~n=100"
3. iTunes, iPhone and MC database libraries are synchronized (as in the end of step #7).
4. Listen to track on iPhone and rate it (assign rating).
5. MCiS → Synchronized (1st pass/execution): Results = iTunes Library is not updated with iPhone content changes until end of processing.
6. MCiS → Synchronized (2nd pass/execution): Results = MC is now updated but iTunes does not have the Smartlist playlist changes from the iTunes update.
7. MCiS → Synchronized (3rd pass/execution): Results = MC, iTunes and iPhone all synchronized correctly at the end of this third synchronization pass.
Thanks!
iTtunes – v9.0.1.8
Media Center – v14.0.71
MCiS – v4.8.5
Settings:
----------
Only synchronized files of types: mp3
Refresh podcast feeds = Checked
Fix Broken Links in iTunes = Checked
Import files to iTunes of types: mp3
Synchronize iPods = Selected
Synchronize On-The-Go playlists from iTunes to MC = Checked
Synchronize MC playlists to iTunes playlist folder = Checked
To root folder = Selected
Rebuild playlists from scratch = Checked
-
Hey Z
I've been meaning to do something about iPhone>iTunes syncing before iTunes>MC, it's been annoying me as well recently. As for the smartlists not being refreshed, hadn't noticed that one, but you're right it isn't doing it at the proper time.
v4.8.6;
- Fixed MC smartlists were being refreshed before sync, not after. They are now refreshed after syncing the libraries, but before the playlists are sync'd across to iTunes
- Added option Synchronize iPods (before synchronization) to Settings
This should get those 3 syncs back down to 1.
-
v4.8.7;
- Extracted hard-coded timeouts and put them in the .settings file so they can be "tweaked". The wait-timed elements are in milliseconds.
-
Hey Prod,
Fixed MC smartlists were being refreshed before sync, not after. They are now refreshed after syncing the libraries, but before the playlists are sync'd across to iTunes
Excellent, Works Perfect!
Added option Synchronize iPods (before synchronization) to Settings
Excellent, Works Perfect!
Thanks!
-
Prod:
Is there a way to select the playlist to active or deactivate in iTunes?
Example: Create a playlist or smartlist in MC. In MCiS select the playlists and smartlists you want synchronized (and/or uncheck previously checked playlist/smartlist items). The desired result would check/uncheck the associated playlists in iTunes (Devices->Music->Playlists) so you don't have to directly change these in iTunes to match MCiS.
Thanks!
-
Nope 'fraid not, it's not possible to control that bit of the iTunes interface.
-
Prod:
Nope 'fraid not, it's not possible to control that bit of the iTunes interface.
Unfortunately :'(
I just experienced an interesting problem. I have my music on an external drive. The device was turned off. Executed MCiS and performed the sync. iTunes reported it could not find the files (as would be expected) and MCiS reported an HRESULT error. I powered up the external drive with the music and performed the sync again in MCiS (not thinking any problem would occur). Two concerns occurred:
1. Since the drive with the music was off iTunes now sees them as broken links and invalid. The sync process in MCiS now performs a total rebuild of the iTunes library -- very time consuming. However, the device is now powered up and the paths are now valid but haven't been refreshed in iTunes. Is there a way to perform a forced refresh from MCiS to iTunes to attempt a validation of the paths it has for the music?
2. Is there a way in MCiS to create an archive of error logs automatically? I am unable to provide the HRESULT error (when the external device turned off) since the second sync execution has consumed the results of the prior run. I didn't think the error would be useful since I knew what caused the problem, but in hindsight it might be useful now.
BTW, Prod, this is great work you have done on MCiS!
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Hi Z, cheers, appreciate it...
1. Since the drive with the music was off iTunes now sees them as broken links and invalid. The sync process in MCiS now performs a total rebuild of the iTunes library -- very time consuming. However, the device is now powered up and the paths are now valid but haven't been refreshed in iTunes. Is there a way to perform a forced refresh from MCiS to iTunes to attempt a validation of the paths it has for the music?
Running the sync should refresh the links. If that doesn't work, you might have to rebuild your iTunes library.
2. Is there a way in MCiS to create an archive of error logs automatically? I am unable to provide the HRESULT error (when the external device turned off) since the second sync execution has consumed the results of the prior run. I didn't think the error would be useful since I knew what caused the problem, but in hindsight it might be useful now.
I'm not a big fan of logs "hanging around", because in the vast majority of circumstances they aren't required - in fact I don't even look at mine anymore. To be honest, the HRESULT errors aren't terribly useful, and they're generally quite cryptic. It usually means something has happened in iTunes that I have no control over.
-
Prod:
Running the sync should refresh the links. If that doesn't work, you might have to rebuild your iTunes library.
If you open iTunes and the device with the tracks is invalid (powered off) it (the path) will appear valid until you try to access. Executing MCiS at this point will result in having to rebuilt the entire iTunes library as when the iTunes/MC sync is performed iTunes will then "see" that the path is invalid and displays the "(x)" next to the track. MCiS reports the HRESULT error and no processing occurs. You discover your error and power up the external device. iTunes is still displaying the "(x)" for everything, you execute MCiS and you get a total rebuild, even though the paths are now actually valid. This event also eventually results in loosing any rating changes on the iPhone as the rebuild causes iTunes to not recognize/match the tracks in iPhone->iTunes. I'm assuming that the technical problem is that a unique id is given to each track when loaded into iTunes and they are matched using this process, hence, why it doesn't know to update the ratings one a rebuild has occurred. Obviously, make sure if you are using an external device have it powered up before you perform the MCiS sync. I suspect I will have to execute MCiS in a batch to prompt for checking if the external device is active before processing, unless you add an option for an ID-10-T message prompt before processing option in the settings.
I'm not a big fan of logs "hanging around", because in the vast majority of circumstances they aren't required - in fact I don't even look at mine anymore. To be honest, the HRESULT errors aren't terribly useful, and they're generally quite cryptic. It usually means something has happened in iTunes that I have no control over.
Right there with you, those HRESULT values are worthless taken out of context from the originating API call, that is exactly why I didn't pay attention, nor was concerned when I saw the error until after I executed MCiS the second time and experienced the effect of the error and I was unable to provide this information to you.
Thanks!
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I see what you mean now... you could try a bit of JScript as a safety net mechanism. Here's a rudimentary example;
var wsh = new ActiveXObject('WScript.Shell');
var fso = new ActiveXObject('Scripting.FileSystemObject');
if (fso.FileExists('<put your full pathname you are searching for here>'))
{
wsh.Run('<your MCiS command line>');
}
wsh = null;
fso = null;
The idea is that if the file doesn't exist (i.e. a file that exists on your external drive), MCiS won't run. For it to work, replace the bits I've highlighted in the code and save it as a .js file. Then you can double-click it to run it.
By the way, you need to double up on your backslashes in the quotes (e.g. D:\Documents\MyFile.txt becomes 'D:\\Documents\\MyFile.txt').
-
v4.8.8;
- Added another wait time WaitTillRefreshPodcastFeeds
- Sync iPod before sync is now sent before refreshing the podcast feeds
- Added wait time display messages and ability to stop sync during those initial wait times
-
Prod:
Question:
* Added another wait time WaitTillRefreshPodcastFeeds
* Sync iPod before sync is now sent before refreshing the podcast feeds
* Added wait time display messages and ability to stop sync during those initial wait times
Excellent, I was having a sync issue since the "Loading MC..." processed too quickly. (Long before the Backup and Sync finished on the iPhone).
Thanks Prod!!! ;D
-
No probs Z.
I've been having a couple of problems with podcasts not downloading successfully first time (through iTunes) so I've added some more settings (accessed via the .settings file)...
v4.9;
- Added new wait setting WaitAfterRefreshPodcastFeeds, default 0
- Added new setting RefreshPodcastIterations, default 1
- Added new wait setting WaitBetweenRefreshPodcastIterations, default 30000
- Added command line parameter /Settings - use an alternative .settings file, if not specified uses the default MCiTunesSynchronizer.
Those settings essentially work like this if Refresh Podcast Feeds is checked;
- Wait WaitTillRefreshPodcastFeeds (milliseconds)
- Do the following RefreshPodcastIterations number of times;
- Send a Refresh Podcast command
- If that wasn't the last refresh wait WaitBetweenRefreshPodcastIterations (milliseconds)
- Wait WaitAfterRefreshPodcastFeeds (milliseconds)
- Continue with the sync
-
Not sure of the reason for this, but when I use iS with MC in Library Server (Client) mode, all of MC's playlists get created in itunes, but none of them get populated with any songs.
When I load the MC library directly and do a sync with iS, things work as expected.
Kudos again for this amazing piece of software. The less time we are in itunes the better. And you've actually made people's lives that little bit better ;D
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Prod,
I'm using your tool with great satisfaction. Thanks heaps again for what you put in there.
1) Podcast sync
I am using your tool to use my ipod nano 5th gen, which is not yet supported by MC (and sadly seems to take longer, due to apple's GREAT idea to lock the database up there as well). I use MC as well to download Podcasts. Now, I used to fill my ipod using a smartlist that contained a subset of my downloaded podcasts (not enough space for all of them) and they would show up nicely under 'podcasts' on the ipod with all bookmarking features etc. Now, when I sync this smartlist with all podcasts into itunes, those tracks only show up as normal music. Is there a way that your tool can actually sync my MC podcast list with the iTunes equivalent? I mostly use my ipod for podcast, so if that worked it would take a great nuisance away...
2) Speed
I wonder: I have about 10000 tracks in my library and every sync task run takes at least 1h on my pretty fast double core laptop...mostly the analysis and tags. Is this normal or do I have an issue? I wonder how the sync tool identifies files to sync..I don't suppose it checks updated files only, right? Just to confirm.
Thanks!
-
Cheers guys.
Not sure of the reason for this, but when I use iS with MC in Library Server (Client) mode, all of MC's playlists get created in itunes, but none of them get populated with any songs.
The way the sync determines a track in iTunes is the same track in MC is by the path & filename .... I've never used the MC library server so I'm not sure, but perhaps when using library server the path & filename is different.
1) Podcast sync
I've tried to do this but to no avail - iTunes requires a collection of tags to be added to the podcast to recognise it as a podcast, and as MC doesn't support internal file tagging for M4A, AAC, it wouldn't work for those types. I managed to get it working for MP3's though I deemed that not good enough. I now use iTunes to manage my podcasts.
2) Speed
Sync'ing around 10,000 tracks should take a much shorter time, in my experience around 5 minutes. The first sync will take a long time, but after that it should be much faster - unless it has detected thousands of changes, which would be strange. I think there's a issue somewhere. What do you have checked? Have you altered any of the default expressions?
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Cheers guys.
I've tried to do this but to no avail - iTunes requires a collection of tags to be added to the podcast to recognise it as a podcast, and as MC doesn't support internal file tagging for M4A, AAC, it wouldn't work for those types. I managed to get it working for MP3's though I deemed that not good enough. I now use iTunes to manage my podcasts.
Sync'ing around 10,000 tracks should take a much shorter time, in my experience around 5 minutes. The first sync will take a long time, but after that it should be much faster - unless it has detected thousands of changes, which would be strange. I think there's a issue somewhere. What do you have checked? Have you altered any of the default expressions?
Hi Prod,
Podcasts)
hm. I feared that about the podcasting. I think I will convert then into iTunes as well for this (although basically all my podcasts are audio mp3). I know this does not really belong into here, but what are the tags that need to be added so iTunes understands it and puts the mp3s at least in the podcast category? I've been looking around in the net, but found only contradictory statements.
Speed)
I just removed the settings file to give it a new start and it takes more than 1 hour again. I check all items in 'fields to aggregate' and 'fields to export from MC to iTunes'. I suppose the latter one is the culprit? Should that be only used once? sorry for that stupid question..
Thanks!
-
Here's those tags;
ITUNESPODCAST should contain 0 or 1 depending on whether Podcast (i.e. it should be 1)
ITUNESPODCASTDESC should contain the podcast Comment
ITUNESPODCASTID should contain the Episode URL
ITUNESPODCASTURL should contain the Feed URL
You can use MP3TAG to put these tags into non-MP3's.
Speed issues - try unchecking "Lyrics", iTunes takes forever to return this tag's contents, and generally it's not required to check it anyway - I wrote the following regarding this in a previous post;
You are correct that not selecting lyrics makes the sync faster (substantially in my experience). This is due to the internal workings of iTunes - I have no idea why iTunes takes so long to return Lyrics for a track, yet all other fields are returned relatively quickly.
Also you've brought up something I've been meaning to explain for a while. That is, in certain fairly common circumstances, there is no need to select some fields in the export-only section of MCiS. Those circumstances are if the file tags of each individual track are up-to-date. The reason is that when MCiS asks iTunes to return a track, iTunes first reads the file tags and automatically updates *some* fields in its database if they are different. It then returns the track complete with the updated info. And because MCiS asks for every track in the iTunes library, all those tracks are updated. It's kind of like right-clicking a file in iTunes and selecting "Get Info" for every single track in your library. Quite good really, because I know, for instance, that the album artwork is automatically updated in this way if changed using MC. I haven't had the inclination to test this behaviour for every field so sorry I haven't got a definitive list of which fields are updated in this way. It may well be that "Lyrics" is one of those fields.
The MC iTunes Synchronizer is designed in such a way that the less checkboxes you select, the faster the sync will be. Some fields are faster to retrieve than others of course so you may not notice a difference, but as we've all noticed Lyrics are particularly slow.
Hope that clears up any confusion.
-
Here's those tags;
ITUNESPODCAST should contain 0 or 1 depending on whether Podcast (i.e. it should be 1)
ITUNESPODCASTDESC should contain the podcast Comment
ITUNESPODCASTID should contain the Episode URL
ITUNESPODCASTURL should contain the Feed URL
You can use MP3TAG to put these tags into non-MP3's.
Speed issues - try unchecking "Lyrics", iTunes takes forever to return this tag's contents, and generally it's not required to check it anyway - I wrote the following regarding this in a previous post;
Hi Prod,
It all worked. Unchecking a good number of tags I don't need (including lyrics) brought down the sync time to about 5 min. As well, I made my transition with the podcasts..found a tool called 'Markable' that can turn podcasts into very comfortable audiobooks.
Thanks so much for all your help. Great work!
Cheers!
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Hi,
i haven't read the entire thread, so i hope my question wasn't answered yet.
I'm using MC under Parallels (a virtual machine) on my Mac, which works well.
iTunes is running under OS X, where i sync my iPod Touch.
I'd like to sync my iTunes (OS X) with MC (Windows).
I could install iTunes (Windows) under Parallels to sync to it.
Can i simply exchange the iTunes Library between the OS's?
Or what else could i do?
Thanks
Fred
-
I could install iTunes (Windows) under Parallels to sync to it.
Can i simply exchange the iTunes Library between the OS's?
Don't take only my word for it - I'd do a little research if I were you - but I believe you can simply copy your .itl files from PC iTunes to Mac iTunes, as long as the pathnames to your music are the same in both. Could just be a rumour, sounds a little too straightforward to me.
-
Thanks, Prod,
i will install iTunes for Windows and test it.
Fred
-
Hi Prod,
Using most current version of itunes and 4.9 of MCIS. Getting the following error and not sure why as the files are there.
</Track>
<FileNotFound Pathname="C:\Documents and Settings\Stephens1\My Documents\My Music\Itunes tag update\Mobile Applications\Fantasy '09 1.0.2.ipa" />
<FileNotFound Pathname="C:\Documents and Settings\Stephens1\My Documents\My Music\Itunes tag update\Mobile Applications\Epocrates.ipa" />
<FileNotFound Pathname="C:\Documents and Settings\Stephens1\My Documents\My Music\Podcasts\The Adam Carolla Podcast\Adam and Richard Belzer.mp3" />
<FileNotFound Pathname="C:\Documents and Settings\Stephens1\My Documents\My Music\Podcasts\The Adam Carolla Podcast\Adam and Broken Lizard.mp3" />
<Result EndDateTime="2009-10-23T14:30:54">Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</Result>
</MCiS>
Any suggestions?? Thanks.
-
It's not an error that one... just information. It just means the file is in your iTunes library, but not in your MC library. Turn it off in settings if it's annoying you.
-
Prod:
I would like to make a request. Is it possible to add an option *not* to expand the second nodes in the playlist tree?
Current:
(http://www.pix01.com/gallery/4B43CB48-0907-4C1B-8AC9-66FA24F636A8/MCiS01/1619047600.jpg)
Desired:
(http://www.pix01.com/gallery/4B43CB48-0907-4C1B-8AC9-66FA24F636A8/MCiS02/7724718640.jpg)
Thanks!
-
I'll think about saving the state of expanded/collapsed nodes in the settings for the next version, but in the meantime did you know, if you put the phrase HideFromSync: Yes in the notes (i.e. in MC) of those playlist groups, they won't show up at all in the tree?
-
Hey Prod,
Your suggestion of turning of the logging of files not found worked - but I am not sure why it should stop the program from continuing with the sync.
A suggestion would be to have the program finish the sync and then indicate at the end - sync completed but with errors (and if you could somehow list the errors at the end of the log that would be helpful). Either way still a great program......
-
Hi Dan
FileNotFound is just an informational message, and won't cause the sync to fail... whatever caused your sync failure was something else. Perhaps there is a corrupt file in your iTunes library that's screwing things up. Errors are handled gracefully, and the sync can continue in some cases, but if something unexpected happens the sync has to stop. I need to know more about the error before safely ignoring it or attempting a fix - is it still occurring, does it occur intermittently or constantly, were MC & iTunes idle at the time or were you using either of them, when the error occurs what are the status messages in MCiS (i.e. at what point of the sync are/were you at).
Cheers
-
Prod:
I'll think about saving the state of expanded/collapsed nodes in the settings for the next version, but in the meantime did you know, if you put the phrase HideFromSync: Yes in the notes (i.e. in MC) of those playlist groups, they won't show up at all in the tree?
Saving the state of the expanded/collapsed nodes is *not* necessary. "HideFromSync: Yes" is perfect.
Thanks Prod!!!
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I downloaded & installed the latest version of iTunes (9.0.2.25). I did a sync with MCiS and everything worked perfectly.
-
Does the iTunes Synchronizer works for iTunes 64bit? I am asking because I seem to have problem installing the 32bit version and using the 64bit version, it seems to hang on importing files into iTunes
-
Does the iTunes Synchronizer works for iTunes 64bit? I am asking because I seem to have problem installing the 32bit version and using the 64bit version, it seems to hang on importing files into iTunes
Yes, it works on 64-bit iTunes.
-
That's weird. I am having problem running sync now. It will just hang on Importing Files..
It works last time.. but not since I installed the release version of Windows 7
It was working fine in RC 1.
-
I went through the log and all I see are:
The remote procedure call failed. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800706BE)
Anybody know why is that happening?
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That's weird. I am having problem running sync now. It will just hang on Importing Files..
It works last time.. but not since I installed the release version of Windows 7
It was working fine in RC 1.
I've had some problems since installing Windows 7. Before this week I was using iTunes 64 bit under Vista and it always worked fine. Since going to Windows 7, it works fine when I run it from an icon on my desktop, but I also have a script hat runs it every night and in the morning it's always stuck on something. I have not had time yet to troubleshoot why it's getting stuck on the automated run.
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Interesting... I played with iTunes 64 (+Win7 x64) a little and it all seemed a bit flaky to me. Mine kept freezing when it was trying to backup my iPhone. A couple of other unrelated things wouldn't work as well (my network card & G-Force to be specific) - so I quit trying & restored my old Vista32 setup. That was a couple of days of insanity I could have done without.
-
EDIT: I was able to get into the program for the first time, right after I made the post! So "Never Mind" for now. Hopefully, I won't get the "Stopped Working" message again.
Thanks for developing this program. I just got an 8GB Touch and have followed the guide for setting everything up.
Unfortunately, when I run the program -- I get the warning (program makes changes...use at your own risk...), after I accept, Windows 7 will report that "MC and iTunes Synchronizer Has Stopped Working". I can't get into the program at all to set the various options. I've tried having MC14 and iTunes running before starting, and with them closed. No difference.
In the preparation stage, I noticed a problem with iTunes when I tried to delete all the songs in the library. I'd get an "iTunes Has Stopped Working" message. For a few songs at a time, it would delete fine, but not for the entire 600 that were there. I uninstalled iTunes, then re-installed. After that, I was able to delete all of the songs without an error.
I'd like to use this great utility. Any suggestions as to what is causing the problem?
Media Center 14.0.94 Registered -- C:\Program Files\j river\Media Center 14\
6.1 (Build 7600)
Intel Core 2 2341 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 2097 MB, Free - 1216 MB
Internet Explorer: 8.0.7600.16385 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82.7600 / Shlwapi.dll: 6.1.7600 / Shell32.dll: 6.1.7600 / wnaspi32.dll: N/A
Ripping / Drive E: Optiarc DVD+-RW AD-5170S Mode:ModeSecure Type:Auto Speed:Max
Digital playback: Yes / Get cover art: Yes / Calc replay gain: Yes / Copy volume: 100
Eject after ripping: Yes / Play sound after ripping: No
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I've had some problems since installing Windows 7. Before this week I was using iTunes 64 bit under Vista and it always worked fine. Since going to Windows 7, it works fine when I run it from an icon on my desktop, but I also have a script hat runs it every night and in the morning it's always stuck on something. I have not had time yet to troubleshoot why it's getting stuck on the automated run.
I think the problems I was having were because my server was either restarting or going offline during the sync. MC and iTunes are on my desktop PC, but all the music resides on my Windows Home Server. Obviously if the music suddenly goes missing, this is going to cause problems with the sync.
I have adjusted the timing of the sync as well as other things the server is doing at night and it has helped but occasionally I still have problems. Instead of waking up and finding iTunes stuck, now I am finding that every so often iTunes has duplicate entries for several songs--one has a rating and the other does not. In MC, the rating for the corresponding song is missing. To fix it, I have to delete all the no-rating dupes in iTunes, and then resync, and it passes the ratings back to MC and all is right with the world again.
If there is some way MC iTunes Synchronizer could handle this more gracefully, it would be awesome, but I understand if there is nothing you can do.
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I'd like to use this great utility. Any suggestions as to what is causing the problem?
Try running MCiS as administrator. Probably something to do with read/write/create rights in the folder you are running MCiS.
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If there is some way MC iTunes Synchronizer could handle this more gracefully, it would be awesome, but I understand if there is nothing you can do.
Not sure what the problem is here, do you have "Import files to iTunes" checked? If so, try unchecking it for a while and see if the problem reoccurs. I imagine this is something to do with the network, maybe the connection to the file is lost momentarily and this causes strange things to happen in iTunes. Anyway, see if temporarily disabling that option does anything and let me know.
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Hi all, made some changes. The main changes are the new "Shuffle" feature and the way the playlist's notes in MC are used to work out whether the playlist is rebuilt or hidden. Now, these notes aren't read, and it is all handled from within the MCiS UI. Unfortunately, this means if you had any playlist marked for rebuild or hiding (i.e. using "RebuildOnSync" or "HideFromSync") you need to set these again from within MCiS - these notes are not read anymore. Please remember to backup your MC and iTunes libraries before running a new version - be aware I've tested and tested - but not on your machine :).
v5.0;
- Added right-click menu to playlist tree (see below or top of thread for instructions) along with new "Shuffle" feature
- Playlists "remembered" even after removal in MC - for instance, hiding "Recent Playing Now's" playlist group will hide it permanently, even though MC keeps deleting it
- Fixed not enough privileges in the MCiS folder could cause crash - now more gracefully handled
- Removed "Rebuild from scratch" check box - to do this now right-click "All" at the root of the tree and select "Rebuild" - note that playlists selected for rebuild do not show in bold anymore (looked a bit "off" IMO)
- Added tooltips to check/uncheck/refresh buttons
- Added new button to hide or show hidden playlists
Right-clicking a playlist in the tree will present a menu;
Rebuild instructs MCiS to always rebuild from scratch the playlist or playlist group. Rebuilding from scratch merely clears out all the tracks from the iTunes playlist before inserting them again - this guarantees the sequence in which they are inserted is the same as the sequence in MC. However, it is much slower - you may want to do this when the sequence is important, can not be duplicated using the playlist sorting options in iTunes, and has changed since the first time the playlist was sync'd.
Shuffle shuffles the playlist (or the children playlists if it is a playlist group) in either MC or iTunes, dependent on the following conditions;
- Playlist is standard playlist or smartlist, Shuffle selected, Rebuild not selected = playlist is sync'd from MC to iTunes and then shuffled in iTunes
- Playlist is standard playlist, both Shuffle and Rebuild selected = playlist is shuffled in MC and then rebuilt exactly as is in iTunes
- Playlist is smartlist, both Shuffle and Rebuild selected = Shuffle is ignored, playlist is rebuilt exactly as is in iTunes
Hide prevents the playlist (and any children if it is a playlist group) being seen in MCiS. You can click on the hide/show hidden playlists button to reveal hidden playlists and un-hide them if desired. Even if a hidden playlist is checked, it will not be sync'd.
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Thanks prod...
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You're welcome Randy....
Sorry, a tiny bug slipped through, this happens sometimes >:(
v5.0.1;
- Fixed playlist sync would be unsuccessful if "root folder" was selected and iTunes contained playlists in the root that didn't also exist in MC
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Thanks for the update prod....
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Could you possibly provide a second download option for when Rapidshare is blocking downloads for free users? Or maybe a no-restrictions download link for people who donate? I would rather give the money to you than Rapidshare.
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Yes I would also prefer that :)
I've added a link to UppIt. If there's any problems let me know.
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Where do i get it? Cant seem to find the MC iTunes Sychronizer in MC plug in page (no search capability there it seems either); cant find it on "Uppit" per Prod's recent post nor in reading for hours all of the posts about this app can i find where/how to get it.
It may be obvious or second nature/intuitive to find and get to those who are frequent contributors to this forum and buy/ get plug ins before - but it is anything but this to me.
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Where do i get it? Cant seem to find the MC iTunes Sychronizer in MC plug in page (no search capability there it seems either); cant find it on "Uppit" per Prod's recent post nor in reading for hours all of the posts about this app can i find where/how to get it.
It may be obvious or second nature/intuitive to find and get to those who are frequent contributors to this forum and buy/ get plug ins before - but it is anything but this to me.
The download links can be found in the first post of this thread.
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It may be obvious or second nature/intuitive to find and get to those who are frequent contributors to this forum and buy/ get plug ins before - but it is anything but this to me.
OK pal no need to get grumpy, like Randy says the link is in the first post of the thread - there are currently 9 pages, it's on page 1. I've bolded the links for extra clarity.
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Thanks for the alternate download site!
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Not sure what the problem is here, do you have "Import files to iTunes" checked? If so, try unchecking it for a while and see if the problem reoccurs. I imagine this is something to do with the network, maybe the connection to the file is lost momentarily and this causes strange things to happen in iTunes. Anyway, see if temporarily disabling that option does anything and let me know.
Okay, here's a follow up. When I disabled the import option, I stopped having problems with my overnight scheduled sync. Then the last two nights I tried re-enabling it, and the problems returned. I guess I will have to leave that option off and just remember to do a manual sync with import enabled after adding new music to MC.
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Okay, here's a follow up. When I disabled the import option, I stopped having problems with my overnight scheduled sync. Then the last two nights I tried re-enabling it, and the problems returned. I guess I will have to leave that option off and just remember to do a manual sync with import enabled after adding new music to MC.
MCiS uses the pathname in MC as a key, so if the pathname in MC is different to that held in iTunes, the two files won't be sync'd. Additionally, if Import to iTunes is checked, MCiS will attempt to import that file into iTunes using the pathname held in MC. The Remove Broken Links option will only remove entries where the pathnames are invalid.
This appears to be your problem, that iTunes and MC are holding different pathnames to the same file.
You could try running MCiS with <FileNotFound> logging enabled, this will report any pathnames found in iTunes that aren't found in MC. That might lead you closer to the problem.
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They shouldn't have different pathnames to the same files. I use the UNC path for both programs (\\HPSERVER\Music). I'm pretty sure it happens because my server is going offline sometime in the night. I just can't figure out why it's doing that. I'll try the logging.
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iTunesFileKey madness:
I have my library organized on the HD based on source (different dirs for iTunes, eMusic, Amazon, CD, and DVD music content), and the actual full path structure differs based on single vs. multiple CD's. I can't use a simple replace expression on [Filename (path)] since the sync to 'handheld' is going to standardize everything in the new location based on [Album]\[Artist], and I can't just use Field(Album)\Field(Artist) due to them having special characters in them. There does not appear to be a function to replace all special windows characters with '_', so I guess I have to just write a large nested replace to catch them all. Anyone know of an easier way to do this?
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Is there a list of 'special characters' in expressions? The Wiki states to use / in front of them, but does not list them. The Windows reserved characters are < > : " / \ | ? * of which '/' is also a MC special character for expressions. Are any of the others?
So far this is what I have (split to separate lines for readability):
E:\iTunes Library\
Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Field(Artist),<,_),>,_),:,_),",_),\,_),//,_),|,_),?,_),*,_)
\
Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Field(Album),<,_),>,_),:,_),",_),\,_),//,_),|,_),?,_),*,_)
\
Replace([Filename (name)],.ape,.mp3)
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Testing the process, and it seems that selecting 'import files in to iTunes' take a VERY long time to run even with just 78 files in the iTunes music folder. It is much faster to do the import of files directly through iTunes and then run the sync - are there any known issues adding the files to iTunes through the front end prior to running the synchronizer?
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Testing the process, and it seems that selecting 'import files in to iTunes' take a VERY long time to run even with just 78 files in the iTunes music folder. It is much faster to do the import of files directly through iTunes and then run the sync - are there any known issues adding the files to iTunes through the front end prior to running the synchronizer?
There are no issues with doing it that way, the import process is the same (once iTunes has the name of the file it is to import). For the same reason, there shouldn't be much difference in speed.
If you mean the sync takes a long time - iTunes locks a file as read-only when it has been imported but not analysed - for this reason the sync has to wait before sync'ing MC properties over to a newly iTunes-imported file. So, essentially the sync may keep running until iTunes has finished analysing all the imported files - this is because iTunes is blocking it. The amount of retries and length of the wait can be tweaked in the settings file.
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Is there a list of 'special characters' in expressions? The Wiki states to use / in front of them, but does not list them. The Windows reserved characters are < > : " / \ | ? * of which '/' is also a MC special character for expressions. Are any of the others?
So far this is what I have (split to separate lines for readability):
E:\iTunes Library\
Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Field(Artist),<,_),>,_),:,_),",_),\,_),//,_),|,_),?,_),*,_)
\
Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Field(Album),<,_),>,_),:,_),",_),\,_),//,_),|,_),?,_),*,_)
\
Replace([Filename (name)],.ape,.mp3)
Just as an alternative, and to perhaps make your string more manageable (provided you don't have any triple pipes (|||) in your album or artist tags);
E:\iTunes Library\Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace([Artist]|||[Album],<,_),>,_),:,_),",_),\,_),//,_),?,_),*,_),|||,\),|,_)\Replace([Filename (name)],.ape,.mp3)
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There are no issues with doing it that way, the import process is the same (once iTunes has the name of the file it is to import). For the same reason, there shouldn't be much difference in speed.
If you mean the sync takes a long time - iTunes locks a file as read-only when it has been imported but not analysed - for this reason the sync has to wait before sync'ing MC properties over to a newly iTunes-imported file. So, essentially the sync may keep running until iTunes has finished analysing all the imported files - this is because iTunes is blocking it. The amount of retries and length of the wait can be tweaked in the settings file.
Weird, that is not what I am seeing here.
First I loaded 78 files using the sync tool - the 'loading files to itunes' part of the sync took a very long time. The rest of the sync process ran pretty quickly.
Ran it a second time with no additional files - the 'loading files to itunes' part of the sync took the same long amount of time even though all the files were already in itunes.
Ran it a third time with 'load files to itunes' turned off and the whole process ran in a couple of minutes (due to reading in the large MC library).
Put a couple hundred more files in the itunes folder, added the folder via the iTunes 'add folder' interface and these loaded in (including the album art and analysis) much faster to itunes than the sync tool was taking with only 78 files. The sync tool process (again without load to itunes) was pretty snappy.
I didn't time any of the processes, but I would estimate that the runs with 'load to itunes' enabled on the initial 78 files took about as long to load the files to iTunes as it took to load 9000 additional songs via the 'add folder' option in the GUI. Not sure why it is taking so much longer on my machine (Windows 7 64 bit), but I will just use the 'add folder' step for now.
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Just as an alternative, and to perhaps make your string more manageable (provided you don't have any triple pipes (|||) in your album or artist tags);
E:\iTunes Library\Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace([Artist]|||[Album],<,_),>,_),:,_),",_),\,_),//,_),?,_),*,_),|||,\),|,_)\Replace([Filename (name)],.ape,.mp3)
Good idea with the triple pipe replace to get it down to one replace sequence. That will make it easier to manage any changes I find I need.
Great tool by the way. This solves my big issues with trying to use both MC and iTunes with my music. My use case is a little more needy than most, since I want my full music library in MC for management and local playback and have it duplicated (sans hidden duplicates) in iTunes for use with Apple products (iPhone, iPod Touch, Airport Express, MacBook, etc).
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Hello ... this seems like a very good solution for syncing music files to iTunes. But I have a question -- can it be used to sync only part of a media center library to iTunes? For example, I only want to sync tracks with a rating of 3 stars or above with my ipod Touch PLUS tracks that are on a certain folder on my hard drive (regardless of the rating). All the tracks have been imported into the MC library.
Is this possible using this utility?
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Hello ... this seems like a very good solution for syncing music files to iTunes. But I have a question -- can it be used to sync only part of a media center library to iTunes? For example, I only want to sync tracks with a rating of 3 stars or above with my ipod Touch PLUS tracks that are on a certain folder on my hard drive (regardless of the rating). All the tracks have been imported into the MC library.
Is this possible using this utility?
Yes - but it might mean having 2 copies of the files. See the PDF (in the download) for using this tool with a lossless library as a starting point. I modified it slightly and use a different directory than the default iTunes folder, since I don't want the 'sync to handheld' process in MC to delete any iTunes only content from the main iTunes folder.
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Hello ... this seems like a very good solution for syncing music files to iTunes. But I have a question -- can it be used to sync only part of a media center library to iTunes? For example, I only want to sync tracks with a rating of 3 stars or above with my ipod Touch PLUS tracks that are on a certain folder on my hard drive (regardless of the rating). All the tracks have been imported into the MC library.
Is this possible using this utility?
Read in the first post of this thread about the command line switches. There is one where you can specify a MC view scheme to be synced. So if you create a view scheme which only includes the tracks you want synced, you can specify that view scheme when you run the sync.
Be careful basing it on ratings, though. I had an issue where my ratings got lost in the sync process and then a bunch of songs were excluded from the view scheme and therefore stopped being synced. Luckily, I was able to recover the ratings from another source and got it all fixed again, but now I sync my entire MC audio view scheme and use the ratings on the iTunes side for determining what gets synced to the iPod. It doesn't take much longer to sync the full audio view scheme for my library.
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Updated expression to handle no album name (results in artist\\track instead of artist\track) and the fact that the trailing period in artist and album names is getting dropped (R.E.M. becomes R.E.M on sync).
E:\iTunes Library\Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace([Artist]|||[Album],<,_),>,_),:,_),",_),\,_),//,_),?,_),*,_),|||,\),|,_)\Replace([Filename (name)],.ape,.mp3),.\,\),\\,\)
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mesue and Bartman, thanks for the assistance. I tried doing it via smart playlists on the iTunes side and that works very well. I am new to iTunes so I did not even realize you can select only certain playlists to sync with your device. The feature is very flexible and lets me keep low rated tracks off my Touch. Further, you can tell it to let through unrated tracks and only exclude the one and two star tracks. This makes rating on the Touch/iPhone very convenient and practical and an automatic dynamic process for weeding out what you don't want. It all gets sorted out automatically after a sync.
prod, thanks so much for creating this wonderful piece of software. It makes things so much easier for Touch/iPhone users and the software works so well. I really appreciate all the work you put into it.
One other question: I changed the replay gain of some tracks using MP3Gain. Even when I unchecked "Preserve file date/time" in MP3Gain to ensure the file date is modified, and opened up MC to ensure its database read the new values (by re-analyzing the audio files), the MCiS utility fails to recognize that the music files are changed and so they are not synced over to iTunes/Touch. At the end of a sync it will say ZERO files synchronized. I ended up deleting those tracks in iTunes and re-importing them, but is there anyway to make MCiS automatically recognize this change?
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Weird, that is not what I am seeing here.
First I loaded 78 files using the sync tool - the 'loading files to itunes' part of the sync took a very long time. The rest of the sync process ran pretty quickly.
Ran it a second time with no additional files - the 'loading files to itunes' part of the sync took the same long amount of time even though all the files were already in itunes.
Ran it a third time with 'load files to itunes' turned off and the whole process ran in a couple of minutes (due to reading in the large MC library).
Put a couple hundred more files in the itunes folder, added the folder via the iTunes 'add folder' interface and these loaded in (including the album art and analysis) much faster to itunes than the sync tool was taking with only 78 files. The sync tool process (again without load to itunes) was pretty snappy.
I didn't time any of the processes, but I would estimate that the runs with 'load to itunes' enabled on the initial 78 files took about as long to load the files to iTunes as it took to load 9000 additional songs via the 'add folder' option in the GUI. Not sure why it is taking so much longer on my machine (Windows 7 64 bit), but I will just use the 'add folder' step for now.
I'm not sure what the issue is here... I've just imported 330 mp3's as a test through MCiS and the whole process took less than 30 secs. Perhaps your log contains a clue as to what's going wrong? It looks to me that an import is unsuccessful on some files, otherwise why would it try importing them again a second time around? Make sure you're not trying to import a file type that iTunes doesn't like, for instance avi's.
Thanks for the feedback, glad it's helping you out.
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mesue and Bartman, thanks for the assistance. I tried doing it via smart playlists on the iTunes side and that works very well. I am new to iTunes so I did not even realize you can select only certain playlists to sync with your device. The feature is very flexible and lets me keep low rated tracks off my Touch. Further, you can tell it to let through unrated tracks and only exclude the one and two star tracks. This makes rating on the Touch/iPhone very convenient and practical and an automatic dynamic process for weeding out what you don't want. It all gets sorted out automatically after a sync.
prod, thanks so much for creating this wonderful piece of software. It makes things so much easier for Touch/iPhone users and the software works so well. I really appreciate all the work you put into it.
One other question: I changed the replay gain of some tracks using MP3Gain. Even when I unchecked "Preserve file date/time" in MP3Gain to ensure the file date is modified, and opened up MC to ensure its database read the new values (by re-analyzing the audio files), the MCiS utility fails to recognize that the music files are changed and so they are not synced over to iTunes/Touch. At the end of a sync it will say ZERO files synchronized. I ended up deleting those tracks in iTunes and re-importing them, but is there anyway to make MCiS automatically recognize this change?
Cheers for the nice comments ....
The replay gain question; which tag or tags are we talking about? Bear in mind that, during the sync, iTunes will pick up changes in some tags that are stored in the file. When this happens, MCiS doesn't know about it, so it isn't counted as being sync'd. So you may get a zero numbered sync when in actual fact iTunes has noticed the changes internally due to a sync taking place.
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Hi prod ... I tested it today and with MCiS, the Touch will not be updated with files changed in MP3Gain.
Here's what I did -- I took an MP3 file which I had previously set to 89db in MP3Gain. I examined the file in both MC and Helium Music Manager to see what the values were. I then opened it up in MP3Gain and set the db level to 59.6 db so the volume change would be very noticeable. Then I opened up the file again in both MC and Helium to see what tags changed.
Helium showed the values changing for "replaygain_track_gain" and "replaygain_track_peak" under ID3V2.3 ... as well as the following values under apeV2 tags:
-- mp3gain_minmax
-- mp3gain_undo
-- replaygain_track_gain
-- replaygain_track_peak
In MC, the Action Window shows the value changed in the "Replay Gain" field.
After checking these values, I did a full sync with MCiS including a final sync to the Touch. The music file played normally on the Touch so I know the file had not changed. However, the music file when played from within both iTunes and MC definitely shows the change made with MP3Gain. iTunes in its database is simply pointing to the file so that's why when the file is played there the change shows up. However, apparently the iTunes database does not register any changes in the replay gain fields so it can't tell whether the file is actually different in that respect and hence fails to send the changed file to the Touch.
Is there any way you can facilitate this process?
Like maybe MCiS can monitor that Replay Gain field in the MC database, and if it changes, it can tell iTunes that the file has changed and then refresh it so it can be refreshed in the Touch?
It's not a biggie as I rarely change the value with MP3Gain. When I do, I just have to remember to delete the files in iTunes so they can be refreshed on the Touch. But if it's an easy tweak to do, that would be great.
Thanks again.
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Can anyone here help me with an iTunes dilemma before I lose my mind? I have many playlists I have been syncing between MC and iTunes so I can sync them via iTunes to my iTouch. The VAST majority of the music I want on my Touch is static--One playlist of selected albums, and all my 4 and 5 star tracks. I had iTunes set to automatically sync these playlists, but every time I would sync the Touch, iTunes proceeded to erase and re-add about 10 GB of music which was taking forever. I don't understand why it was erasing and adding back the same stuff over and over, but it wasn't just the songs from changed lists.
So I changed my Touch to manually manage music, thinking I could just drag over all the MC playlists to copy them to the Touch. BUT NO... it won't let you drag more than one at a time. What an aggravation! Even if you drag a folder, instead of copying over all the playlists in the folder, it makes a playlist with the name of the folder and all the songs from the playlists of the folder in one big playlist. NOT what I want.
Someone please tell me there's a better way...
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It sounds like you have "Automatically fill free space with songs" checked on the Music tab in your Touch settings in iTunes. Try unchecking it. Even if you manually manage music you can still check/uncheck specific playlists to sync in that same Music tab ... no need to drag & drop.
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Is there any way you can facilitate this process?
I see what you mean - unfortunately iTunes doesn't expose Replay Gain, and there's no function to force it to update specific files to your Touch. Also, MCiS doesn't keep a database of its own so it has no way of knowing that Replay Gain has changed since the last sync.
If it's really screwing things up for you, one thing you could do is incorporate the Replay Gain value into the "Sort Name" field.
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If it's really screwing things up for you, one thing you could do is incorporate the Replay Gain value into the "Sort Name" field.
No, it is not a big problem at all. With MCiS, keeping things synced is now a breeze, and I feel like I'm asking for an extra cherry on top of the sundae! :)
However, if I can get this done by simply populating the "Sort Name" field, I'll try it. It's a field I never use and even leave it unchecked currently in MCiS. So, is there a way to automatically populate this field with the replay gain value in MC? How would I do this?
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Sue, I leave the option for automatic syncing unchecked in iTunes. And my "sync" playlists work fine. It just means iTunes won't do anything unless you actually click the "Sync" button or use something like MCiS.
I also have no problems with songs being refreshed if they don't change. Maybe you have some redundant or conflicting rules in your smart lists? I did at one point and was getting tracks on my Touch that I didn't want. What I did was eliminate as many smart playlists syncing on the MC side as I could -- as most of them could be replicated in iTunes anyway -- and I also weeded out redundant or possibly conflicting rules from the "sync" smart lists in iTunes. Then all was fine.
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No, it is not a big problem at all. With MCiS, keeping things synced is now a breeze, and I feel like I'm asking for an extra cherry on top of the sundae! :)
However, if I can get this done by simply populating the "Sort Name" field, I'll try it. It's a field I never use and even leave it unchecked currently in MCiS. So, is there a way to automatically populate this field with the replay gain value in MC? How would I do this?
:) Nice analogy ... feel free to suggest what you like, if it's good (and possible) the chances are I'll get round to implementing it.
So, there is most certainly a way to automatically populate "Sort Name" in iTunes with whatever you like. Below, I've put a snippet of the instructions at the top of the thread. I have it set up like so - I've created the following calculated library field in MC, [iTunesSortName] with the following content;
Clean(Replace(Replace([Name],/(),/)),2)
This removes all open and close brackets from the [Name] and removes articles (The, An, A).
Then in MCiS, I've set the expression for "Sort Name" to [iTunesSortName] and checked it. Simple as that.
What you want to do is just add [Replay Gain] to the mix, so you might set your [iTunesSortName] calculation to;
Clean(Replace(Replace([Name],/(),/)),2) - [Replay Gain]
This will make no difference to your sorting, but will mean if replay gain changes, the "Sort Name" field will change in iTunes, meaning your file updates on your Touch as required.
MCiS includes the ability to sync using MC expressions by right-clicking the desired field. However, this should be used with the utmost care. Remember that altering a field in iTunes will in many cases write the value to the tag of the physical file also - and this in turn may then be picked up in MC, overwriting your original values! The outcome depends on your configuration in iTunes, MC and MCiS. You need to know exactly what you are doing to use this option, if you are not sure, please ask about it here on the MC forums or leave it alone. This option is included to allow the user to swap fields over, for instance use Composer for Artist, Album Artist (auto) for Sort Album Artist or such like. That's not all though, any expression, simple or complex, may be entered to be sync'd to the destination file. I personally recommend using this mainly with the iTunes Sort fields or when using the Use Alternative File Keys option.
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It sounds like you have "Automatically fill free space with songs" checked on the Music tab in your Touch settings in iTunes. Try unchecking it. Even if you manually manage music you can still check/uncheck specific playlists to sync in that same Music tab ... no need to drag & drop.
No, that's not checked. I have a 64GB Touch and with the playlists I have selected it usually puts about 36 GB on the Touch. See below for my response to the second part of your comment.
Sue, I leave the option for automatic syncing unchecked in iTunes. And my "sync" playlists work fine. It just means iTunes won't do anything unless you actually click the "Sync" button or use something like MCiS.
I beleive you guys, but my iTunes does not work like that. If I tick the "Manually manage" checkbox on the summary tab, then everything under the "Music" tab goes dim and the list of playlists disappears. If I check "Sync Music" at the top of the music tab, then it comes back, but then "Manually manage" becomes unchecked and it will sync music every time I sync. Now you and Prod both tell me it is different for you. I'm confused. I would LOVE it if worked like the two of you describe! Most days I only need to sync info and apps. I would prefer if it only synced music when I choose to.
I also have no problems with songs being refreshed if they don't change. Maybe you have some redundant or conflicting rules in your smart lists? I did at one point and was getting tracks on my Touch that I didn't want. What I did was eliminate as many smart playlists syncing on the MC side as I could -- as most of them could be replicated in iTunes anyway -- and I also weeded out redundant or possibly conflicting rules from the "sync" smart lists in iTunes. Then all was fine.
I'll see what I can do. A lot of my playlists use things that aren't available in iTunes, but the one big one I sync is My Top Rated and that is an iTunes playlist. Maybe I really did change tags on 2000+ songs and that's why it was it was doing it. I was having a problem with disappearing Ratings, so it's possible.
I had to turn off manually manage because it was freezing iTunes almost every time I would drag a playlist to the iPod. I put it back to automatically sync and today it's "only" copying 500 songs.
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I beleive you guys, but my iTunes does not work like that. If I tick the "Manually manage" checkbox on the summary tab, then everything under the "Music" tab goes dim and the list of playlists disappears. If I check "Sync Music" at the top of the music tab, then it comes back, but then "Manually manage" becomes unchecked and it will sync music every time I sync. Now you and Prod both tell me it is different for you. I'm confused. I would LOVE it if worked like the two of you describe! Most days I only need to sync info and apps. I would prefer if it only synced music when I choose to.
Sorry Sue, I don't have manually manage music checked at all - when I do check it I get the same as you. I definitely don't get random music sync'd to my iPhone though, just the stuff I select, and only stuff that has changed since the last sync. Sounds like yours is copying stuff because iTunes thinks it's changed.
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Sorry Sue, I don't have manually manage music checked at all - when I do check it I get the same as you. I definitely don't get random music sync'd to my iPhone though, just the stuff I select, and only stuff that has changed since the last sync. Sounds like yours is copying stuff because iTunes thinks it's changed.
Okay, thanks for letting me know. It's not that I'm getting random music on my iPod, but it was taking off thousands of songs and then copying them back on. Quite annoying when you are not expecting it and you're in a rush. I'm pretty sure now it was related to the rating issue I was dealing with but I think I have it sorted out now. Fingers crossed!
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I've created the following calculated library field in MC, [iTunesSortName] with the following content;
Clean(Replace(Replace([Name],/(),/)),2)
This removes all open and close brackets from the [Name] and removes articles (The, An, A).
Then in MCiS, I've set the expression for "Sort Name" to [iTunesSortName] and checked it. Simple as that.
What you want to do is just add [Replay Gain] to the mix, so you might set your [iTunesSortName] calculation to;
Clean(Replace(Replace([Name],/(),/)),2) - [Replay Gain]
OK, I did what you suggested but simplified it. I simply right clicked on "Sort Name" and entered in "[Replay Gain]" and checked "Sort Name" for syncing. Nothing else was needed and it works great. I did not need to create an "iTunesSortName" field in MC nor add the extra text string.
One caveat to this which has nothing to do with MCiS is that the change in the Replay Gain field has to be registered in the MC database in order for this to work -- and not just the file's tags. If not, MCiS still will not sync the changed files. And the only way I found to reliably register the changes in the Replay Gain field in the MC database is to use "Analyze Audio" on the changed files. Simply using "Update Library from Tags" has no effect. Nor does checking the option for "Update for external changes" under auto import options. But this is minor and I'm glad I now have a more automated way to get changes in Replay Gain to take effect on the Touch.
Thanks again for the assistance.
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One caveat to this which has nothing to do with MCiS is that the change in the Replay Gain field has to be registered in the MC database in order for this to work
Out of curiosity... why do you use MP3Gain when MC and iTunes both do their own replay gain analysis?
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Sue, I misunderstood you. I didn't realize there was a manual option on the summary tab and thought you were talking about the option to keep ipods and iphones from syncing automatically (which I have checked).
I don't have the manual option checked on my summary tab, and everything is syncing fine with no re-importing of tracks into the Touch if they haven't changed. My smart playlists -- now all on the iTunes side -- are working perfectly. Syncing with MCiS is very fast. I have the 64gb Touch too. I'm really enjoying it -- not just as a music player but as a PDA. It is my first ipod and I'm impressed, though I wouldn't have bought it if not for the PDA functionality which is terrific.
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I think I have my syncing sorted out now. Thanks to you and prod for the feedback or I might not have figured it out as quickly.
It is my first ipod and I'm impressed, though I wouldn't have bought it if not for the PDA functionality which is terrific.
Ditto for me. I got mine to replace an old Dell Axim that was starting to freeze a lot and always gave me trouble syncing. The only thing the Touch doesn't do that my Ax did is GPS, so I keep the Axim just for that. I really like it. It's nice not having to use a stylus. I jailbroke mine a few weeks ago and now it's even better. <g>
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The only thing the Touch doesn't do that my Ax did is GPS, so I keep the Axim just for that. I really like it. It's nice not having to use a stylus. I jailbroke mine a few weeks ago and now it's even better. <g>
What did you use the GPS for? I wish the Touch had it, but the Maps app will tell you where you are (roughly) as long as you are in wi-fi range.
I've heard about jailbreaking, but what does it add to the Touch that it doesn't have now? I thought I also read that jailbreaking doesn't work for the 3G devices. I guess someone fixed that pretty fast, lol!
Out of curiosity... why do you use MP3Gain when MC and iTunes both do their own replay gain analysis?
I've used MP3Gain for maybe 5-6 years already. I just think it's best to put this info in the tags so that no matter what player you use the volume will be level. Up until getting this Touch, which is the first ipod I've ever owned, I've used a variety of Creative MP3 players. I still have a Creative Zen X-Fi which I plan to keep. I also heard that turning off hardware sound check/leveling was better for battery life in devices including the Touch.
The process is also lossless, and theoretically you can revert the tracks back to their original volume level, though in all these years I've never once had the desire to do this.
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What did you use the GPS for? I wish the Touch had it, but the Maps app will tell you where you are (roughly) as long as you are in wi-fi range.
For turn-by-turn directions when I'm driving in unfamiliar territory. It works just like a standalone GPS, except you have a separate GPS receiver that communicates your position to the Axim via bluetooth. Since I'm not in wi-fi range while driving, the Touch can't do this. And Apple blocks it from pairing with bluetooth GPS receivers. Which brings us to...
I've heard about jailbreaking, but what does it add to the Touch that it doesn't have now? I thought I also read that jailbreaking doesn't work for the 3G devices. I guess someone fixed that pretty fast, lol!
I have not had time to try it yet, but there is a app for jailbroken iPods to allow them to work with bluetooth GPS receivers. Plan to check it out one of these days. But jailbreaking also lets you run apps in the background, and gives you more options to customize the iPod. Like you can change the background on the springboard, change your lockscreen, add info to the status bar, change settings easier, and put apps in folders. Running apps in the background comes in handy sometimes, especially for stuff like Slacker or Pandora where you might want to listen while playing a game or reading an eBook. For myself, I like that I can do live scrobbling to last.FM for the music I play on the iPod and I don't have to deal with the Last.FM client on my computer.
The Touch 3G 64GB can be jailbroken (search for blackra1n if you're interested) but if you ever have to do a hard reboot, you have to do it tethered and re-run the blackra1n.exe in order for it to boot. I'm sure eventually someone will come up with a way to do it without tethering, but for now that is the only down-side I have found.
I've used MP3Gain for maybe 5-6 years already. I just think it's best to put this info in the tags so that no matter what player you use the volume will be level. I also heard that turning off hardware sound check/leveling was better for battery life in devices including the Touch.
The process is also lossless, and theoretically you can revert the tracks back to their original volume level, though in all these years I've never once had the desire to do this.
I think MC and iTunes way is lossless, too. I was just curious. I use to run MP3Gain for the music on my Axim, but now I only listen to music on Squeezeboxes or my iPod. Since the Squeezeboxes can understand the MC replay gain data, I was glad to get rid of the extra step of running MP3Gain on the portable music and just let iTunes do its soundcheck thing for the Touch.
Sorry for sidetracking your thread, Prod!
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Sue nevermind. I googled jailbreaking to see what it could add to the Touch and it's considerable. I had dismissed it before because I read it didn't work with 3G. Even if it's just to get stuff like Categories for apps on my screen, it will be worth it. I used to use Palm devices and they had categories so I'm used to that.
One other deficiency I've found with Touch is how it handles notes and To Dos. Currently I sync tasks via toodledo.com. But I've not yet found a solution to Apples' not allowing categories for Notes. Arranging notes by date is totally useless. Can jailbreaking fix that? Is there any solution out there that works so I can add categories to Notes on the Touch?
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@softshellcrab Replied via PM so as to not further side-track this thread...
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I think MC and iTunes way is lossless, too. I was just curious. I use to run MP3Gain for the music on my Axim, but now I only listen to music on Squeezeboxes or my iPod. Since the Squeezeboxes can understand the MC replay gain data, I was glad to get rid of the extra step of running MP3Gain on the portable music and just let iTunes do its soundcheck thing for the Touch.
I could be totally wrong, but I was under the impression that MC never changes the value in the Replay Gain field -- unless the value changes in the tag from an external app like MP3Gain and then MC simply updates its database. I thought MC's volume leveling is totally software based. If that's the case then any new tracks of yours not run through MP3Gain will not have Replay Gain info in it.
BTW, I replied to your PM.
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I could be totally wrong, but I was under the impression that MC never changes the value in the Replay Gain field -- unless the value changes in the tag from an external app like MP3Gain and then MC simply updates its database. I thought MC's volume leveling is totally software based. If that's the case then any new tracks of yours not run through MP3Gain will not have Replay Gain info in it.
I could be wrong, too, but I thought MC did its own analysis and wrote the info to the tags, similarly to how MP3Gain does it. When I used to run MP3Gain, I only ran it on the tracks after I copied them to the CF card for my portable, so none of the music on my server has MP3Gain tags, and my volume is even when I listen on the PC and on my Squeezeboxes. The Replay Gain field is filled in, in MC.
It must be saved in the tags, also, or Squeezebox Server would not be able to read it. Although, maybe it depends on the MC settings you have for that library field--I suppose I may have changed it from the default if it was not to save a tag.
It makes me wonder if you are really using MP3Gain's tags or if it's using MC's tags and that's why you weren't hearing it on the iPod.
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OK, I did what you suggested but simplified it. I simply right clicked on "Sort Name" and entered in "[Replay Gain]" and checked "Sort Name" for syncing. Nothing else was needed and it works great. I did not need to create an "iTunesSortName" field in MC nor add the extra text string.
No worries, though if you ever look for a track by song title on your Touch (or in iTunes), the sorting will be a little messed up...
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v5.1;
- Added a Tweak menu to the Settings dialog - allows editing of the values normally only accessed directly in the .settings file
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I can't seem to get this to work. I'm using MC13 and keep getting a "Failed to Initialize Properly" error message. Unless I'm mistaken and you're just supposed to put it in the J River folder and run it through MC and not try to run the MCiTunesSynchronizer separately.
Help would be appreciated.
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Make sure you unzip the contents of the zip file into its own folder, and you have read/write/create privileges in that folder. If you use XP, you may need to install .NET. You should have a normal install of MC (i.e. not portable) and iTunes. Just run MCiTunesSynchronizer.exe, if there's still a problem let me know what the messages are and I'll try to sort it out.
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I could be wrong, too, but I thought MC did its own analysis and wrote the info to the tags, similarly to how MP3Gain does it. When I used to run MP3Gain, I only ran it on the tracks after I copied them to the CF card for my portable, so none of the music on my server has MP3Gain tags, and my volume is even when I listen on the PC and on my Squeezeboxes. The Replay Gain field is filled in, in MC.
It must be saved in the tags, also, or Squeezebox Server would not be able to read it. Although, maybe it depends on the MC settings you have for that library field--I suppose I may have changed it from the default if it was not to save a tag.
It makes me wonder if you are really using MP3Gain's tags or if it's using MC's tags and that's why you weren't hearing it on the iPod.
Sue, I'm glad you brought this up as I had a few misconceptions about how MC's replay gain worked vs. MP3Gain and I think I've sorted it out now after a little research and reading.
From what I understand, both MP3Gain and MC do replay gain adjustment but in different ways. MP3Gain does it by altering the data stream in an MP3, in a lossless and reversible way, whereas MC does it by simply writing a value to a tag. (The tag writing MP3Gain does is just for undo purposes.) But writing a value to a tag -- in this case "Replay Gain" in ID3v2.3 -- means that file is now dependent on a player's ability to read and act on that value. Some do and some don't. For example, Windows Media Player and of course MC do, but iTunes does not. Nor do iPods.
In my case, I was running files through MP3Gain with an 89 db target, and then through MC's audio analyzer which sets the volume level at 83 db automatically (value can't be changed). The audio analyzer read my MP3GainAdjusted files and then made an adjustment on top of that to bring the level down to 83db. So the file was set at 89 db in the data stream, but the tag for Replay Gain brought it down to 83 db. This meant sometimes I was getting playback at 89 db (like on my Touch or Creative Zen player which don't recognize the replay gain tag) and sometimes I was getting 83 db (ie, MC and Windows Media Player because they read and interpret that tag).
I still prefer the MP3Gain method, since it means my MP3s will be played at the desired volume levels no matter what device I play the files back on. Also, many ipod users claim SoundCheck adds distortion on playback, though most of the complaints I saw were regarding older ipods. So I don't ever plan on using that.
The thing I plan to do now is stop running my MP3Gained files through MC's audio analyzer. And for all my music files, I've already deleted the fields that MC adds to a file when run through audio analyzer.
I thought I needed to run MC's audio analyzer to get MP3Gain values read into the database, but now that I know this is not the case, I don't need to use audio analyzer anymore. Saves me a step in my workflow. :)
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No worries, though if you ever look for a track by song title on your Touch (or in iTunes), the sorting will be a little messed up...
Paul, you're right. The sorting of titles by name was screwed up on my Touch. So what I did was map the trigger value to the iTunes "Description" field instead. It's a field I don't currently use, don't plan to use, and as far as I could tell, nothing gets sorted by it. So far so good.
Moreover, after doing a little research, I found out the "Replay Gain" field was not the correct value to use for my purposes (see reply to Sue) as MP3Gain doesn't write to that field. However, it does modify the file date, so now I've simply specified "[Date Modified]" to go in the iTunes Description field, and it all works perfectly. This has the added benefit of being able to tell quickly if the file on my Touch is exactly the same as the latest one in MC. If the date modified values don't match between iTunes and MC, then I know they're not.
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Prod,
Minor packaging suggestion,
In your next update zip file, I think it would be a good idea to include a text file of the latest version of the instructions you put at the top of this post.
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Tried this today and its runs smoothely until "Importing Files into iTunes". It just hangs there and pressing "Stop" doesn't do anything. Seems like iTunes crashed, so if I close iTunes via Taskmanager the Synchronizer stops and declares the sync unsuccessful.
In the log I find these for every file:
<ImportToiTunes Filename="M:\Music\Single Artists\Rush\Moving Pictures\Rush - Moving Pictures - 01 - Limelight.mp3">Der Remoteprozeduraufruf ist fehlgeschlagen. (Ausnahme von HRESULT: 0x800706BE)</ImportToiTunes>
<ImportToiTunes Filename="M:\Music\Single Artists\Rush\Moving Pictures\Rush - Moving Pictures - 02 - Red Barchetta.mp3">Der Remoteprozeduraufruf ist fehlgeschlagen. (Ausnahme von HRESULT: 0x800706BE)</ImportToiTunes>
<ImportToiTunes Filename="M:\Music\Single Artists\Rush\Moving Pictures\Rush - Moving Pictures - 03 - The Camera Eye.mp3">Der Remoteprozeduraufruf ist fehlgeschlagen. (Ausnahme von HRESULT: 0x800706BE)</ImportToiTunes>
Although those files are not even in the playlists and shouldn't be synced anyway...
Any idea?
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This is the same problem I have been having. It works fine for me last time but after I format my computer and reinstall, it seems to be having this problem. I am not sure if it is a setting problem or a path/filename problem.
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Run the sync in test mode and look in the log to see how many and which files are being imported.
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Hi Prod,
I've seen the log before and it seems to import my whole library into iTunes and it just keep failing because those songs are not in the iTunes directory.
I've no idea why it keeps trying to import the whole library when I am just syncing 2 playlists.
Cheers,
Derrick
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I think you misunderstand the playlists feature - it doesn't limit the sync to the playlists you select. Use the /Playlist or /ViewScheme command line argument to limit the scope of the sync.
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v5.2;
- Added It's now possible to manage "Ticked" tracks in iTunes. If a playlist is set to "Untick" then the tracks in it will be unticked in iTunes. Any tracks not in an "Untick" playlist will be ticked. A track that is in both a playlist marked and a playlist not marked "Untick" will be unticked in iTunes. The "Calculated Rating" string in the iTunes Category for zero rated tracks has been removed from this build.
UppIt isn't working properly as I write this so hence no link.
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Still doesn't work. MCiS tries to sync my full library, even with the /playlist command used to avoid it.
But before I go on testing maybe you can confirm something:
I understand that MCiS will import new files to the iTunes library. But will it also delete files in the iTunes library that have been taken out of the MC paylist?
If it doesn't do that I can just quit altogether because that's crucial for me...
Thanks for your help.
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But before I go on testing maybe you can confirm something:
I understand that MCiS will import new files to the iTunes library. But will it also delete files in the iTunes library that have been taken out of the MC paylist?
No, it won't.
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another option to "really" sync my iPhone gone...
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another option to "really" sync my iPhone gone...
If you don't mind my asking, what issue does this create for you?
I have 20k+ music tracks in MC and use iTunes to sync multiple iPhones. Each of the iPhones I sync have different content.
I use MCiS to sync my MC and iTunes libraries. It works perfectly for me.
Randy
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You're right, maybe not crucial. But I often take albums with me on the iPhone that will probably only be there for days or a couple of weeks and I do not want them to clog up iTunes and also would like to avoid storying them twice...
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You're right, maybe not crucial. But I often take albums with me on the iPhone that will probably only be there for days or a couple of weeks and I do not want them to clog up iTunes and also would like to avoid storying them twice...
I think you should be OK. Let me explain in more detail what I do.
1) I have all of my media stored on my PC. It is managed by MC 14.
2) I use MCiS to synchronize MC and iTunes. I have my entire library synchronized. NOTE: The media is only stored once on the PC, there are just 2 libraries (one for MC and one for iTunes). The library is just a pointer to the one copy of media on the PC.
3) I use iTunes to sync my iPhones and iPods. I use playlists to drive the syncs. The playlists can be maintained in MC and synchronized to iTunes using MCiS or they can be maintained directly in iTunes.
I suggest you give it a try. This is really a solid option for MC users that have iPhones.
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I thought about putting this option in once or twice but decided against it, as removing tracks from iTunes can sometimes send the track to the recycle bin (when they are in the iTunes folder I think)... I just wouldn't trust iTunes that much with such an option.
Anyway, it's easy to get around if you just give it some thought. Create a playlist named x in MC that contains every track you want in iTunes, and sync it across to iTunes. Create a smartlist in iTunes that is "not in playlist x". Periodically go into that iTunes smartlist, select all tracks and delete. Easy.
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Any estimate on how long it should take to run ?
I'm trying to sync 782 files from an MC database of over 45K files.
Running yesterday for over 20 hours before someone turned off the machine.
iTunes showing activity but no UI response. xml log file showing so update after the first 15 minutes.
Using the details in the sync lossless doc. Only difference I can see is I'm syncing from MC to a folder ..\iTunes\MC rather than ..\iTunes in an attempt to save the ringtones i have loaded in iTunes\Ringtones
I've just started it again.
Stephen
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If you don't mind my asking, what issue does this create for you?
I have 20k+ music tracks in MC and use iTunes to sync multiple iPhones. Each of the iPhones I sync have different content.
I use MCiS to sync my MC and iTunes libraries. It works perfectly for me.
Randy
I'm having the same issue with the system process running forever in iTunes trying to import or sync files which are not in the selected playlists.
I'm using the method described in the documentation for syncing lossless files as around half of my 45K tracks are in flac. My understanding of that method is that MC is used to convert/export files to the iTunes directory and then the sync program reads them into iTunes and deletes from the iTunes database any files not now in the iTunes directories. Anyway still not working for me using this method.
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I am running MC 13 under Windowsw Vista and just installed iTunes as I just bought me daughter an iPod Touch. I am primarily interested in moving the ratings across to iTunes. Your program should solve my ratings sync problem.
However, when I attempt to sync i get the following error message in the log file:
<Result EndDateTime="2009-12-26T12:15:06">
Could not access J River Media Center. Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {572802D5-FBF6-4C30-89CA-BDF2CE4AEC2B} failed due to the following error: 80040154.</Result>
</MCiS>
Any suggestions?
Thanks for your help.
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I'm having the same issue with the system process running forever in iTunes trying to import or sync files which are not in the selected playlists.
Again, the sync is not limited to the playlists you select. Use the /Playlist command line argument to do this, please read the instructions.
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I am running MC 13 under Windowsw Vista and just installed iTunes as I just bought me daughter an iPod Touch. I am primarily interested in moving the ratings across to iTunes. Your program should solve my ratings sync problem.
However, when I attempt to sync i get the following error message in the log file:
<Result EndDateTime="2009-12-26T12:15:06">
Could not access J River Media Center. Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {572802D5-FBF6-4C30-89CA-BDF2CE4AEC2B} failed due to the following error: 80040154.</Result>
</MCiS>
Thanks for your help.
This may be due to MC not being registered in the OS properly - it can happen when having two versions of MC installed (e.g. 13 & 14) and uninstalling one. To fix, reinstall the version you currently have installed. For instance, you are using MC13 (probably build 172), so try simply running "MediaCenter130172.exe" and this will re-register MC whilst not altering your current setup.
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OK, gave it another shot today and got a bit further: for some reason the restricition to a playlist didn't work for me. Restriction to a ViewScheme worked like charm though.
Also found the option to log missing file errors and voila: problem seems to be that MCiS doesn't find my iTunes library content:
<MC Version="14.0.71" LibraryName="Mucke2" LibraryPath="M:\MCDB\" ViewScheme="Audio\iPhoneSync" />
<iTunes Version="9.0.2.25" />
<FileNotFound Pathname="\\EL-CATTIVO\Eigene Dateien\Eigene Musik\iTunes\Bill Bryson\A Short History of Nearly Everything\25 CH 24 - Cells 1.mp3" />
<FileNotFound Pathname="\\EL-CATTIVO\Eigene Dateien\Eigene Musik\iTunes\Bill Bryson\A Short History of Nearly Everything\26 CH 25 -Darwin's Singular Notion 1.mp3" />
... and so on...
The files are definitely there.
Any idea?
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The files are definitely there.
Any idea?
The <FileNotFound> means the file is found in your iTunes library, but does not exist in your MC library. It has nothing to do with its physical presence on disk. The file pathname in iTunes and MC for the file must match exactly (though it is case insensitive). The comparison is made between the pathname in iTunes and the [Filename] or [iTunesFileKey] field in MC, dependent on where "Use Alternative File Keys" is checked in Settings.
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OK that did it. Must have missed that info somehow...
Now I couldn't be much happier, works like charm ;D
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v5.3;
- Added support for half star ratings in iTunes, these ratings are rounded down in MC (e.g. 3½ in iTunes becomes 3 in MC) though they can be accessed in the MC fields [iTunesRatingSync] and [iTunesAlbumRating]
- Added elimination in iTunes of "ghost" star ratings (a by-product of Album Ratings)
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Thanks for another release ;D
And Happy New Year...
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Cheers, back at you :)
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Still running 5.0.1 - getting ready to update to 5.3 - is the issue fixed (or has it been reported) where running iTunes sync deletes playlists/folders out of iTunes if they have an ' in them? Lost all my playlists in iTunes when I grouped by name using folders called 'Name1's Playlists', 'Name2's Playslists' , etc and then ran iTunes Sync. Note that nothing in these folders is being managed/touched by the iTunes Sync process.
Edit: Appears to be fixed in 5.3 - created some disposable playlists and folders and they survived the sync.
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Hi BartMan
Playlists in iTunes are deleted under certain conditions, but certainly not because they have an apostrophe in them. Remember this is a synchronization utility, not (merely) an export utility - there is a slight but distinct difference between the two functions. The full details are at the top of the thread, in the playlists sync section of the instructions.
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Hi BartMan
Playlists in iTunes are deleted under certain conditions, but certainly not because they have an apostrophe in them. Remember this is a synchronization utility, not (merely) an export utility - there is a slight but distinct difference between the two functions. The full details are at the top of the thread, in the playlists sync section of the instructions.
Understood, but (at least in 5.0.1) I was seeing it delete playlists with apostrophes in them.
Initially I was trying to sync to a 'MC's Playlists' folder and it didn't seem to work. With no other changes than the name to 'iTunes Sync' it worked.
Fast forward a few weeks and I had forgotten about my initial issue with the '. Created the folders mentioned above and after running sync they were gone.
I am positive that something in the MC Sync process was deleting them, but it appears the issue is resolved for now.
Thanks.
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Fair enough, but I haven't modified the code that deals with creation/deletion of iTunes playlists since v4.6.
Glad it's working OK now though.
Cheers.
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Ok, I've been using MC & iTunes Synchronizer for a few weeks now and am very happy with it. Great program! I am pretty happy with my workflow and wouldn't change a thing except it occurs to me I could be doing things more efficiently. I have read through Zxsix's guide to syncing lossless and realize my goals may not be the same, so I have a few questions. First of all let me describe my setup.
1) I maintain two duplicate databases. One is lossless WMA and some lossless FLAC. I also have mixed into this database MP3 files that I don't have lossless versions of. The second database is purely MP3. This database is an exact copy of the mostly lossless database. Both databases have the same number of files.
2) The lossless database is used strictly at home. I use MC for this, no problems, no complaints.
3) I use the MP3 database purely for portable devices. This is currently a new iPod Classic 160.
4) The MP3 database is synced to both MC and iTunes with help of MCiTunes Sync.
5) I do not use iTunes except for the actual downloading of MP3 files and playlists to the iPod.
6) I copy the entire collection onto the iPod, currently over 25,000 songs and about 120GB. I do not desire to have lossless versions on my iPod.
Ok, I have all this in place and have the workflow going well. Now I'm wondering if there is a better way to sync up my lossless with the mp3 equivalants. So here are my questions after reading the guide.
1) Will this method improve my workflow? The main issue right now is the tagging of my MP3 collection and lossless collection potentially can get out of sync (especially when iTunes does something unexpected).
2) If so, can I avoid the step of starting from a clean directory on the iTunes side? I have already converted everything to MP3, so it would be very time-consuming to start all over?
3) How do I manage the mix of mp3,lossless wma and lossless flac from the master directory? I understand how to add the field iTunesFileKey. That makes sense to me. But what would I do for the embedded MP3 files in the lossless collection that I don't need a pointer to? Would I leave that field blank, or treat them exactly the same as the lossless fields?
4) Since I want to copy the entire collection onto my iPod, do I still need to manage this with smart playlists in MC as discussed in the document?
My scenario is a bit different than Zxsix, but enough the same that I wonder if the process can be beneficial. Any insight would be appreciated.
Thanks, Chris
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So here are my questions after reading the guide.
I'm on my way out for a business trip that will last all of next week, so I'm gonna have to do a quick drive-by on this and then let prod fill in any holes later.
1) Will this method improve my workflow? The main issue right now is the tagging of my MP3 collection and lossless collection potentially can get out of sync (especially when iTunes does something unexpected).
Personally I would scrap the 2nd library that's all mp3.
My "mp3 library" is the itunes music folder that MC sees as a portable folder and populates by converting my flacs to mp3.
When the tags on the flac changes, it's seen as a modified file and the change gets pushed down to the mp3 when I "resync" the portable folder using MC.
2) If so, can I avoid the step of starting from a clean directory on the iTunes side? I have already converted everything to MP3, so it would be very time-consuming to start all over?
This would only work if the actual path and filename in the existing itunes music folder exactly matches the itunesfilekey value.
Since the itunesfilekey is populated with an expression, that's not likely to happen, since you won't be editing it manually.
Personally I'd just wipe the contents of the itunes music folder and then let MC convert and populate it.
Then use MCIS to build the itunes database.
3) How do I manage the mix of mp3,lossless wma and lossless flac from the master directory? I understand how to add the field iTunesFileKey. That makes sense to me. But what would I do for the embedded MP3 files in the lossless collection that I don't need a pointer to? Would I leave that field blank, or treat them exactly the same as the lossless fields?
When configuring the handheld folder, set the conversion option to convert all noncompatible file types. In MC's device "files & paths" section, fill in mp3;jpg for the supported types. Now MC will put the mp3s in the itunes folder without conversion, and will convert the flac and wma on the fly.
4) Since I want to copy the entire collection onto my iPod, do I still need to manage this with smart playlists in MC as discussed in the document?
MCIS by default will put all songs into itunes unless you use the command line switch and limit it to a specific viewscheme.
You'd want a viewscheme that includes all audio files, and then exceptions to weed out things you wouldn't want on the ipod (say holiday music or songs longer than 8 minutes or songs shorter than 1 minute).
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Ok, I'm taking your advise and started fresh. So far so good except that it looks like it's going to take 3 days to convert everything to MP3. I sure wish there was a way I could have avoided this, especially since everything was already converted. Oh well, I am looking forward to the prospect of just maintaining one database.
Thanks, Chris
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3) How do I manage the mix of mp3,lossless wma and lossless flac from the master directory? I understand how to add the field iTunesFileKey. That makes sense to me. But what would I do for the embedded MP3 files in the lossless collection that I don't need a pointer to? Would I leave that field blank, or treat them exactly the same as the lossless fields?
Hi Chris, if a file's [iTunesFileKey] is empty, [Filename] is used instead, so those mp3's in your collection should be fine as they are. Of course, creating another copy of them like zxsix suggests won't hurt either.
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Hi Chris, if a file's [iTunesFileKey] is empty, [Filename] is used instead, so those mp3's in your collection should be fine as they are. Of course, creating another copy of them like zxsix suggests won't hurt either.
I figured they would use an expression that would populate the iTunesfilekey field instead of manually editing it. In that case, there wouldn't be any blanks. Unless your expression is sophisticated enough to only fill in for flac filetype.
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Yeah true, I think the following would do it...
If(IsEqual([File Type],mp3,1),,expression)
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Thanks for your comments. I am paying attention, but as I said, it truly is taking 3 days (24/7) to convert the lossless files. I now have 13 hours left, so I decided to just bite the bullet and let it keep running. The first evening I let it run, I discovered the next morning my computer overheated and shut itself down. I hadn't really thought about the fact I was running it fully pegged out on cpu utilization for an extended period of time. This is the first time this has happened to this computer. It's been pretty stable until now. Fortunately I have adjustable fans in this computer and was able to crank all the fans full speed and it's going great now.
The second time I ran it, I noticed it was not converting the embedded mp3 files from the lossless collection. It was just uploading to the iTunes directory. I'm not sure what I saw the first time. It seemed then that it was converting the mp3's twice. But now I think I may have been mistaken. I've stopped and restarted a few times and each time it picks up where it left off. So things seem to be going fine.
One thing I'm noticing that I am not thrilled about is how these rules treat multiple artist albums. The naming rule I set up is "Audio Path=\[Artist]\[Album]\" This is what I want for all but compilation albums. Compilation albums with multiple artists I have in my "Various Artists" directory by album name, at the same level as the artist name. For example,
Van Morrison
Vangelis
Various Artists
Alive and Accoustic
...
Vince Gill
Now I find those compilation albums scattered all over the place under the artist name instead of the album name under "Various Artists". I presume I can hand tweak the rules for these compilation albums to go under Various Artist directory? That would be a different rule than the rest of the collection I guess? Maybe in the end it doesn't really matter since the sync is now automated. But it would be nice if the mp3 version of the database matched exactly the directory structure of the master lossless database.
Your thoughts?
Thanks, Chris
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Instead of using the naming rule;
Audio Path=\[Artist]\[Album]\
use;
Audio Path=\[Album Artist (auto)]\[Album]\
or perhaps even (if you prefer "Various Artists" to "(Multiple Artists)");
Audio Path=\If(IsEqual([Album Artist (auto)],/(Multiple Artists/)),Various Artists,[Artist])\[Album]\
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Ok, thanks for the naming rule. I have been working on this all day just cleaning up the mess I made after not using the right rule. After 3 days of processing, I really didn't want to start all over. And it looks like I finally have the mp3 database looking very close to my wma database in terms of organization.
Moving onto iTunes and MCiS. What a pain. I was trying to clean out all my files in iTunes, but I was left with one album from before (zz top) that refuses to be removed. It throws an exception every time. I've un-installed twice, but iTunes refuses to completely clean itself up. It remembers all my settings even after removing every Apple program installed. It apparently does NOT clean out the registry keys when uninstalled. What a PITA. I really hate iTunes (have I said that yet)?
So I just forged forward in spite of not being able to start completely clean. Unfortunately MCiS crashed when importing songs. I found some corrupted songs and fixed them. But MCiS was going sooo slow, that I decided to just import my library directly with iTunes (initially). This went relatively fast (a couple hours at the most). But now I am running MCiS after a successful initial loading of the mp3 database into iTunes and it seems to want to touch every file. Is it doing something with the iTunes tags? At this rate for 25,000+ songs, it will take another 7 or 8 hours for MCiS to process the files.
Seriously, it will take me 5 days of massive computing time and personal time to get this whole thing set up. It's pretty painful. I know maintanance will be better in the long run and it will be much quicker once I've gotten through the initial steps. If I had to do it over again, I would have done this in smaller chunks and tested each chunk along the way. I've been running the tool already and know it works fine once everything is initally set up. Many thanks for both of your help.
Chris
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Any suggestions on how to handle 'enhanced' iTunes downloads when working from a 'lossless' process (sycning MC library to a separate iTunes folder and set to delete tracks that don't exist in MC)?
The PDF files, videos, and .itlp folders need to stay with the .m4a files, so I am thinking the only option is to leave true iTunes downloads separate and maintain them in both iTunes and MC independently.
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Occurred to me to use a 'hybrid' setup, with part of my library working the lossless way and part of my library using the same file for both applications:
Modified the iTunes File Key field to use the original filename for files in my iTunes Downloads folder and will exclude them from the handheld sync.
If(IsEqual(FilePath(),E:\Audio\iTunes Downloads, 8 ), [Filename], E:\iTunes Library\Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace([Artist]|||[Album],<,_),>,_),:,_),",_),\,_),//,_),?,_),*,_),|||,\),|,_)\Replace(Replace([Filename (name)],.ape,.mp3),.ac3,.mp3),.\,\),\\,\),\...,\) )
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Ok, sorry this has been such a long drawn out process. I really had hoped this would have been easier. Anyway, I let MCiS run overnight and now I have 35,000 tracks in my iTunes library, but only 25,000 tracks in the mp3 directory. After investigating, I see that many albums have been duplicated in iTunes. When I look at the information on them. it looks like MCiS has added the mp3's that were in my original lossless database, along-side the identical album in the mp3 database. It looks like it has duplicated only the mp3 files that are in the original "mostly lossless" database. I'm thinking the iTunesFileKey is screwed up. I guess I need to understand exactly how this field works to resolve this.
Here's an example. A song in my original "mostly lossless" database has this for a iTunesFileKey tag -
E:\My WMA Music\Jamiroquai\Dynamite (mp3)\101-jamiroquai-feels_just_like_it_should.mp3
The corresponding iTunesFileKey tag in the iTunes database is this -
E:\My MP3 Music\iTunes\Jamiroquai\Dynamite\101-jamiroquai-feels_just_like_it_should.mp3
There is no lossless equivalent for this file. In this case the mp3 file is the original. The calculated data expression under "manage Library Fields" in MC is "Replace([Filename (path)],e:\My WMA Music ,e:\My MP3 Music\iTunes\)Replace([Filename (name)],wma,mp3)".
Thanks, Chris
P.S. Is anyone else having issues with this forum software? I am and it's really annoying. It keeps loosing the focus on longer posts and I'm typing blind most of the time.
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If you used itunes to import the initial files instead of the sync tool (which I did because it was faster with my 10,000+ track library), be aware that it will load the songs twice - once from the file itself and once from the playlist MC creates in the 'handheld' directory. You need to delete this playlist first if you want to use iTunes to do the initial track import instead of the sync tool.
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Yes, this is exactly the problem I ran into. Good to hear I wan't the only one that did it this way. Now to clean up my mess....
Thanks, Chris
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Yes, this is exactly the problem I ran into. Good to hear I wan't the only one that did it this way. Now to clean up my mess....
Thanks, Chris
Delete the imported playlist and see if that fixes the duplicates.
If not, it might be faster to just start over from scratch. I had to do that about 3 times before I had all the kinks worked out of my process, but I am dealing with multiple lossless file types from multiple disk locations. I had issues with special charcters messing up my itunes file key field which is why it is so full of replaces (in the post above).
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Ok, I am starting over from the initial iTunes state. I cleaned out the database, but not the files. The files as created by MC seem to be fine (if I got the iTunes File Key correct). I will take a close look at the playlists before running MCiS. I also found the m3u file you were talking about under "iTunes\ASX, relative paths" and deleted it.
I had issues with special charcters messing up my itunes file key field which is why it is so full of replaces (in the post above).
Ok, I was wondering why that key field seemed so complex.
Chris
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Is there a way to find out which files are synced between the Itunes and MC libraries? I swear they are both looking at one single library location, but the # of files are not the same. I'd like to see which ones are in my MC library and are not in Itunes.
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I've made a huge amount of progress but still something is fundamentally wrong with MCiS (or my process). For some reason I can't fathom, MCiS is replicating a bunch of my mp3 files when trying to sync up. So I end up with a bunch of duplicates. Here is a summary of what I did since the last post.
1. Deleted the entire iPod library, but not the actual MP3 files in the iTunes directory. I did determine that the end result of the MC synch to the iTunesSync handheld is essentially a perfect copy of the original mixed lossless database.
2. Use MCiS to initially sync the iTunes database. This worked, but it took a long time to process and the number of files in the iTunes library did closely match my original MC mostly lossless library. It was looking good at this point.
3. Changed the tags on one album in master database.
4. Synced to iTunesSync handheld and determined only those files that changed were updated. This step looks good.
5. Ran MCiS and was alarmed to see it adding a whole bunch of duplicate albums. When I look at the info on the duplicates in iTunes, I see one pointing to the iTunes directory, the other pointing to the MC library.
Obviously something is wrong with a setting. Maybe the iTunesFileKey field is not set right? Can someone explain to me exactly how that field works so I can troubleshoot this problem?
Update: I believe the duplicate file problem is only happening on the files that are originally mp3's in the master database - if that helps.
Update 2: When I saw duplicates were being created on the iTunes side, I aborted MCiS. So if it was going to start fixing broken links, I didn't let it go that far. Otoh, I didn't change any of these files, so wouldn't expect the name or locations to have changed.
Thanks, Chris
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Looking at the log. I am guessing my Calculated Data formula is wrong in the iTunesFileKey tag field in MC. Quick question. Given a file (song) in the original lossless database, should the resultant path be pointing to the iTunes directory? For example,
Original File name and location (lossless wma file)-
E:\My WMA Music\Various Artists\Alive and Acoustic\Greg Lake - Lucky Man.wma
iTunesFileKey value = "E:\My MP3 Music\iTunes\Alive and Acoustic\Greg Lake - Lucky Man.mp3"
Where E:\My MP3 Music\iTunes\ is the iTunes library directory. Would this be the correct value for iTunesFileKey?
Thanks, Chris
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Solved the problem. Yes, the calculated data formula was wrong for iTunesFileKey. The mp3 directory was not getting substituted for the lossless directory because the drive letter was lowercase and the replace() function is case sensitive. It didn't match the uppercase drive letter MC was retrieving. That's why I was getting duplicates.
Chris
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Ok, I was wondering why that key field seemed so complex.
If you have album names, track names, or artist names with special characters in them or that start/end in periods (AC/DC, "Weird Al" Yankovic, R.E.M., ...And Justice For All, etc) you will find that the MC either drops them (periods) or replaces them with '_' when creating the file name on the 'handheld' folder. My calculated field does the same logic that I was seeing MC do with file names.
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Everything was running smoothly but I just upgraded to Windows 7 and now something is broken. I can't seem to run MCiTS from the command line with the /StartSync argument (the program starts but crashes immediately ("MC & iTunes Synchronizer has stopped working"). It seems to be fine with the other argument I've tried (/RunMinimized). Any idea what might be causing this?
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Might be a permissions thing...? Try running it as administrator to test it.
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Might be a permissions thing...? Try running it as administrator to test it.
I should have said I had tried that. First of all, when I run as administrator a user account control window pops up ("Do you want to allow the following program from an unknown publisher, etc."), which is not going to work out for me since I want to use command line for unattended sync.
I click yes, the program starts and then gets stuck on "Looking for MC" for a while and then "Synchronize unsuccessful". Here's the relevant part of the log:
<Result EndDateTime="2010-02-20T08:35:31">Could not access J River Media Center. Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {572802D5-FBF6-4C30-89CA-BDF2CE4AEC2B} failed due to the following error: 80080005.</Result>
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Just feedback...
I just upgraded to Windows 7. MCiS works perfectly for me. ;D
I'm not doing anything with command line, so I can't comment on lOth's issue.
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For whatever reason, MC isn't properly registered for COM. Reinstalling MC should sort it out.
EDIT: I mean reinstalling as in simply running the MC build exe, not uninstalling then installing, if you catch my drift.
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Caught your drift.
I reinstalled and what I get now is this (error message within MCiTS):
"Invoke or BeginInvoke cannot be called on a control until the window handle has been created"
The sync doesn't start and if I click synchronize, I get stuck with the same "Looking for MC" as before
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Weird. What happens without /StartSync argument? Make sure to give yourself read/write/create permissions in the MCiS folder. The app doesn't need any special permissions to run, but it does create and maintain a log and settings file in the current folder. Like Randy, I've not had any troubles myself from within win7.
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I have checked the permissions for the folder and they are fine.
Everything works as expected when I launch MCiTS without an argument or with an argument other than /StartSync (e.g. "C:\Program Files\MCiTunesSynchronizer\MCiTunesSynchronizer.exe" /RunMinimized works)
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I believe I've isolated your problem, although I can't reproduce it. The next release will have a fix.
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I believe I've isolated your problem, although I can't reproduce it. The next release will have a fix.
Awesome.
I don't know if it's related but I found out another problem when trying to launch MCiTS as an external program from TheaterView. Here's what I get when I launch MCiTS in this way (without an argument) and click Synchronize:
Access to the path C:\Windows\system32\MCiTunesSynchronizerSyncLog.xml
I assume that this xml file shouldn't be in this folder and that it's a TheaterView issue but thought I might point it out here in case you have an idea on how to work around this one.
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Awesome.
I don't know if it's related but I found out another problem when trying to launch MCiTS as an external program from TheaterView. Here's what I get when I launch MCiTS in this way (without an argument) and click Synchronize:
Access to the path C:\Windows\system32\MCiTunesSynchronizerSyncLog.xml
I assume that this xml file shouldn't be in this folder and that it's a TheaterView issue but thought I might point it out here in case you have an idea on how to work around this one.
It's using the folder from where it's run rather than the folder where the .exe is located. That'll get fixed as well.
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The latest version of MCiS improves the speed of creating playlists in iTunes. This is noticeable if you have a lot of iTunes playlists and sit around watching it :). There are a couple of bug fixes in there also.
- Improved: Playlist creation speed in iTunes
- Fixed: When /StartSync specified as a command line argument, this sometimes produced a crash in Windows 7
- Fixed: Playlists were sometimes created in the wrong folder in iTunes, where two playlist folders existed with the same name
- Removed: /LibraryIndex and /LibraryPath parameters, only /LibraryName is necessary
- Fixed: Log was being created from where MCiS was executed, now it is always created in the MCiS folder
MCiS is now hosted from my own website http://www.misterpete.co.uk (http://www.misterpete.co.uk). There's another app for MC (for those with or looking to develop SQL skills) I've written on there that I've personally been finding pretty useful. I'll be posting another topic about that later.
MCiS from this version is trialware (30 days), though you're very welcome to continue using the versions before this for free. Everyone who has donated in the past (thanks!) should have already received a license key - if you haven't received one yet let me know.
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- Fixed: When /StartSync specified as a command line argument, this sometimes produced a crash in Windows 7
I can confirm this is fixed for me, thank you very much!
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I can confirm this is fixed for me, thank you very much!
Thanks for confirming that... which reminds me I'd forgotten to add this to the fix list;
- Fixed: Log was being created from where MCiS was executed, now it is always created in the MCiS folder
This fix is in v5.4 I just forgot to include the info in the report.
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MC & iTunes Synchronizer v5.5 (http://www.misterpete.co.uk/mcis.html)
- Added: Support for custom DPI settings - i.e. sizeable windows and scrollbars. Window sizes are remembered for next time.
- Added: Replace forward slashes checkbox to settings - this replaces forward slashes in MC playlist names to backslashes when they are created in iTunes.
- Fixed: iTunes playlists with the same path and name (yes, iTunes allows this!) were causing the synchronization process to fail.
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Prod,
I am using 5.0.1 what is required to upgrade to 5.5
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Just download the zip from here (http://www.misterpete.co.uk/mcis.html), and extract the contents into your current MCiS folder. Note that it's since gone trialware rather than freeware so after 30 days you will need to register to continue using it.
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MC & iTunes Synchronizer v5.5.5 (http://www.misterpete.co.uk/mcis.html)
- Added: "Check for updates" checkbox to settings. If checked, will check for updates to the software once every week.
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Hey all —
I am using this app for the first time, and I've got a question or two. Bear in mind my library lives on a NAS when considering my speed questions. (The media pc is not wireless, though, so I am getting full speed there.)
I just got an iPhone, so that meant I had to install iTunes on the media pc to sync.*
I've been running the first sync with MCiS on my media pc, and we're coming up on about 24 hours of it running. I had read the first sync can take a very long time, especially with large libraries (I've got about 62000 tracks that iTunes will handle (in other words, not counting FLACs)). At about 2am last night, it finished the synchronizing stage and since then it has been importing tracks into iTunes. When I built the iTunes library the first time, iTunes had about 1500 less tracks than MC, so that makes sense that MCiS will need to add some tracks. However, I would expect adding ~1500 tracks wouldn't take as long as ~16 hours.
The other reason I'm wondering about how long this would take is because last night, when MCiS was running, I was paying attention. Well, I was paying attention up until I just needed to go to bed and I missed the transition from syncing to adding to the iTunes library. The status message when syncing says something like "XXXXX of XXXXX tracks analyzed, 0 tracks synchronized". (If I remember correctly.) Does it "analyze" and then "synchronize" as two halves of the same step? In other words, did I miss a stage where the status message would have said something like "62000 of 62000 tracks analyzed, 10000 tracks synchronized"? Or does it analyze and synchronize concurrently, meaning that nothing was synced?
Hm, I hope I've made myself clear. Thanks for any and all advice you may be able to give.
Micah
* Sorta unrelated information: Instead of dealing with syncing with iTunes on my media center, I'm just going to use my MacBook. It makes a lot more sense to me to sync there anyway, as I do my email, calendar, contacts, etc from the MacBook. That's all no worries, no concerns there. I'll be using TuneRanger to keep the iTunes libraries on the MacBook and media pc synchronized.
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Hi Micah
OK, first the speed issue on importing - you must make sure you're not trying to import any invalid file types (e.g. flac, avi) into iTunes, although it doesn't do any harm, it slows the import process down greatly. Review the log to see what files are being imported.
The "analyzed" portion means MCiS has compared a file to another file, the "synchronized" portion means there was a difference between those two files and that the difference was put right. So if synchronized is zero, no differences have been found so far.
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OK, first the speed issue on importing - you must make sure you're not trying to import any invalid file types (e.g. flac, avi) into iTunes, although it doesn't do any harm, it slows the import process down greatly. Review the log to see what files are being imported.
I had set it to only deal with mp3 and m4a files (of which I only have a couple hundred). I found it was taking a long time because it was reimporting my entire library thanks to iTunes having *slightly* different path names to the NAS. I opened the XML iTunes library, did a find-and-replace, and made them equal. I reimported that library last night (took about 10 hours!) and am now running MCiS again.
Also, iTunes just seems to be really slow on my machine. It only uses 7-10% of processing power when importing files, so it takes about 20 seconds to do each file. I wish I could tell it to floor it. :P
The "analyzed" portion means MCiS has compared a file to another file, the "synchronized" portion means there was a difference between those two files and that the difference was put right. So if synchronized is zero, no differences have been found so far.
Ah, great! That makes total sense, as I've never used iTunes to listen to any music; therefore, no play count stats to update.
The only thing I am unclear on at this point is the "alternative file keys" switch. I've been checking it, because somewhere back in this long thread I saw someone say it helps the sync run faster... :)
Thanks!
Micah
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Ah, great! That makes total sense, as I've never used iTunes to listen to any music; therefore, no play count stats to update.
MCiS should sync the play stats from MC to iTunes in that case though, and that would count as a +1 on the "synchronized" count. Make sure the path & filename held in MC correctly matches the path & filename in iTunes, as this is how MCiS knows the file in each library are the same and should be sync'd.
The only thing I am unclear on at this point is the "alternative file keys" switch. I've been checking it, because somewhere back in this long thread I saw someone say it helps the sync run faster... :)
Checking this allows you to sync a file in the MC library with a different file in the iTunes library - for example "D:\iTunes\Bob - Whatever.mp3" with "D:\My Music\Bob - Whatever.flac". To use this you need to create and populate an iTunesFileKey field in MC with the alternative path & filename - look at Zxsix's Guide to Syncing Lossless (PDF) (http://www.misterpete.co.uk/files/ZxsixsGuideToSyncingLossless.pdf) for more info. Checking this checkbox without utilizing the iTunesFileKey field will cause no harm, and MCiS will just ignore the setting. It won't make the sync faster, if anything it may be a very tiny bit slower.
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MCiS should sync the play stats from MC to iTunes in that case though, and that would count as a +1 on the "synchronized" count. Make sure the path & filename held in MC correctly matches the path & filename in iTunes, as this is how MCiS knows the file in each library are the same and should be sync'd.
Yep, I see that now. I started it up again before I left this morning and it was chugging along, "65 of 62095 tracks analyzed, 64 tracks synchronized." Whee! ;)
Checking this allows you to sync a file in the MC library with a different file in the iTunes library - for example "D:\iTunes\Bob - Whatever.mp3" with "D:\My Music\Bob - Whatever.flac". To use this you need to create and populate an iTunesFileKey field in MC with the alternative path & filename - look at Zxsix's Guide to Syncing Lossless (PDF) (http://www.misterpete.co.uk/files/ZxsixsGuideToSyncingLossless.pdf) for more info. Checking this checkbox without utilizing the iTunesFileKey field will cause no harm, and MCiS will just ignore the setting. It won't make the sync faster, if anything it may be a very tiny bit slower.
Oh, ok, I see now. I suppose I didn't need to turn this on, then, but maybe I did: I make use of stacks, so I have a hundred or so albums where I have MP3 versions as well as 24 bit, 96KHz FLACs. Am I correct in thinking that MCiS syncs the iTunes MP3 with the stacked files?
Thanks for answering my basic questions. Now, when this is done, here's hoping TuneRanger does its job well. :)
Micah
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Oh, ok, I see now. I suppose I didn't need to turn this on, then, but maybe I did: I make use of stacks, so I have a hundred or so albums where I have MP3 versions as well as 24 bit, 96KHz FLACs. Am I correct in thinking that MCiS syncs the iTunes MP3 with the stacked files?
Yes it'll do that, you put the path & filename of the file as it is known in iTunes into the iTunesFileKey field of the corresponding file in MC, and the two files will be treated the same and sync'd. The most manageable way to do this is to make your iTunesFileKey field a calculated field (i.e. use expressions) that represents how your files are managed on disk. Zxsix's PDF goes through that process - you can pick out the bits that are relevant to your own situation.
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Yes it'll do that, you put the path & filename of the file as it is known in iTunes into the iTunesFileKey field of the corresponding file in MC, and the two files will be treated the same and sync'd. The most manageable way to do this is to make your iTunesFileKey field a calculated field (i.e. use expressions) that represents how your files are managed on disk. Zxsix's PDF goes through that process - you can pick out the bits that are relevant to your own situation.
Great, sounds good. Thanks again. Now, for MCiS to finish (approximately 45 hours remaining!)... :)
Micah
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Ok, so, I ended up getting an error. Status message on MCiS says "The writer is closed or in error state." The log shows no error, it just drops mid-entry. (I guess that's the error.)
Thoughts? Thanks!
Micah
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Seems there was an error writing to the log .... there's a number of reasons this could happen e.g. you ran out of space, it's writing to a network location and it went down momentarily or something happened that locked the file. Any work the sync had done so far though will be OK, so just restart it - if it keeps happening though try logging to the clipboard instead.
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Yeah, I got the same error again... I'll try writing to the clipboard this time, though I can't imagine sending 10+ MB of text to the clipboard is gonna make my machine run very well. :P
Thanks -
Micah
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I just found this program that lets you tell itunes to watch folders
http://albumbrowser.klarita.net/itfw.html
(http://albumbrowser.klarita.net/itfw.html)
Works really well in conjunction with the itunes Synchronizer program.
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Another fearless upgrade to the latest iTunes (9.1). MCiS works just fine with it.
FYI... iTunes 9.1 modifies the iTunes library. Not sure what it does, but it triggers a re-sync of the iPod. Not so bad on the small ones (just re-synced 1200 tracks on a Nano), but I also have the big iPod classics - they will take some time.
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Hi Prod,
Great product.
Is there any chance that you can add "Year" to the selectable fields that can be synced from iTunes to MC?
"Year" and "Rating" are the two main meta-data fields which are not written to tags by iTunes, and sometimes it is easier to modify that field while within iTunes itself.
Since it's an integer, I'm hoping that wouldn't put a large speed hit on the sync, but it would be fantastic if "Year" was added as an opitonal item to sync back from iTunes to MC.
Appreciate the consideration in advance.
TRH
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Thanks...
Are you sure? I've just tested this on a random MP3 file and iTunes also changed the Year tag in the file.
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After your post, and a test of my own, no... I'm not sure.
Maybe that's something new in 9.x, as I am sure that didn't happen in iTunes 8.x.
Thanks for pointing that out to me. Much appreciated.
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I think I need some help - I just can not seem to get this working (MC15, Itunes, Win7, using UNC shares). Following is a pic of my setup + the contents of a log. I will be trying to sync a lossless library later, but for now I can not even get a simple MP3 folder to sync!
Thanks
Nathan
Log file
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<MCiS Version="5.5.5.0" StartDateTime="2010-04-21T16:41:44" Options="F7A0A0017EBFFFFF">
<ExportPlaylists iTunesPlaylistFolder="MC Playlists">
<Playlist Rebuild="True" Shuffle="False">Lachlan's iTunesSync</Playlist>
</ExportPlaylists>
<Expressions>
<Expression Field="Name">[Name]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Artist">[Artist]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Album">[Album]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Album Artist">[Album Artist]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Comment">[Comment]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Composer">[Composer]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Description">[Description]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Disc #">[Disc #]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Track #">[Track #]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Genre">[Genre]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Grouping">[Grouping]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Lyrics">[Lyrics]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Year">[Year]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Mix Album">[Mix Album]</Expression>
<Expression Field="BPM">[BPM]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Sort Name">Clean(Replace(Replace([Name],/(),/)),2)</Expression>
<Expression Field="Sort Artist">Clean([Artist],2)</Expression>
<Expression Field="Sort Album Artist">Clean([Album Artist (auto)],2)</Expression>
<Expression Field="Sort Album">Clean([Album],2) - Clean([Album Artist (auto)],2)</Expression>
<Expression Field="Sort Composer">Clean([Composer],2)</Expression>
</Expressions>
<MC Version="15.0.29" LibraryName="Default" LibraryPath="C:\Users\Mum and Dad\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 15\Library\" />
<iTunes Version="9.1.0.79" />
<Result EndDateTime="2010-04-21T16:42:23" Analyzed="0" Synchronized="0" Imported="0" Removed="0">Successful</Result>
</MCiS>
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Just thinking outloud as till I fix above I've no way of testing, but regarding lossless libraries - if I use Stacks to create an MP3 copy, we now have both a compatible file and the Library knows it's location so instead of Zxsix's method, could
1) I just make a playlist of these MP3 instead? or better still
2) Could a future version of MC ITunes Sync just grab the info from MC on where they are stored from the library instead of using the Alternative key approach?
Thanks
Nathan
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Hi Nathan
Looks like you have no tracks in your iTunes library? The "analysed" total is zero - that would normally be the number of entries in your iTunes library.
You can either turn on "Import files to iTunes of type" or import those files manually from within iTunes, but to sync a file it must first exist in both libraries.
Your other question - making a playlist of those MP3's would work for now - I'll look into stacks and see if I can perhaps utilise that info.
Pete
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Thanks Pete - I knew it would be something simple. I'll see what works with playlists and stacks...
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Syncing a Mixed Library of Lossless, Non-Apple Compatible and MP3 files
For these (like me) with a mixed Library of Lossless (or other non-apple compatible audio files) and MP3 Audio tracks, here is another option for Syncing. I'm sure this can be improved on, but the following works well
1) Create a Handheld Cache: Under Options --> Handheld --> Device Management --> Add Device and configure as per the screen shot below for the bits in the red box. The rest does not matter too much as we are not going to ever "sync" to this device but once the settings are correct click on "Build cache for selected handheld" and MC (over many many hours) will then create a MP3 version of any of your non MP3 Audio and store them in a "stack".
Note: the "Stack Location" default is "with originals" but I preferred to keep them all in a separate directory (not that it matter for this process).
Alternative: Instead of Building the Cache for "All Audio" you could just build it for the subset you want under the very right hand box, under Playlists. This would could save alot of time and disc space if you are only every likly to want to sync some of your entire collection.
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2) Create a MP3 Only View: The next step is to then create a Customised View that only displays MP3 (see the screen shot below). At this stage it will only show those original MP3 files you had in your library as the ones made in step 1 above are hidden in the "Stack"
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3) Expanding Your Stack: To make the MP3 versions visible you now need to select all you Audio files and Right Click--> Expand Stack (as per the screen shot below). MC will now display the original Audio file and also any MP3 created in Part 1.
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4) Sync as Usual: At this point you just select the Stacks View that shows all the MP3 (your originals and those from the "stack") and sync/send to as usual and let "MC iTunes Synchronizer" do its thing from here just like it was a "normal mp3 only" library.
Hope it helps
Nathan
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Thanks for sharing that info, looks like using the stacks feature really simplifies the sync'ing of lossless and lossy. In fact it looks like a much better alternative to the "Use Alternative Keys" option - probably make the sync process a little faster as well. Though getting your head around the stacks concept can be a challenge.
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I think the stacks option has some real merit as not only does it give a MP3 version for MC iTunes Sync to use I could also do this with WMA for syncing to my WinMo. The other big benefit I see is that MC will track and manage all "version" as one stack without any input from us (eg if I change meta data on one it should change on all versions etc). I'm sure there must be a better way to:
1) Build and keep built the Stack to the profile you want, and
2) Create a View that shows all items in you library that are MP3 even if they are in a Stack, whithout having to "Expand the Stack" in other views.
I'll post both Q's in the Main MC15 forum.
Thanks
Nathan
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Also added an Alternative suggestion in Point 1 "Instead of Building the Cache for "All Audio" you could just build it for the subset you want under the very right hand box, under Playlists. This would could save alot of time and disc space if you are only every likly to want to sync some of your entire collection."
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Does 5.5.5 fully work with mc15. I had 14 and 15 installed at the same time and updated the 15 library. MCIS seemed to access the new library just fine. However, since then I uninstalled MC14 and I get a sync error as follows: <Result EndDateTime="2010-04-25T19:05:01">Could not access J River Media Center. Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {572802D5-FBF6-4C30-89CA-BDF2CE4AEC2B} failed due to the following error: 80040154.</Result>
Don't know if it is related to unistalling MC14 or not. Using Win 7, 64 bit. and only MC15
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Yes it works fine ... The problem is that sometimes uninstalling an older version of MC appears to de-register MC from the class factory. Just reinstalling your current version of MC15 (like doing an update) should fix it.
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Hi Prod..
Just a small side question from a risk-averse user. The new iTunes 9.1.1 took 1 hour on its own to update the iTunes database once I started it (mighty steve only knows what the software did in that time to my media collection). My question is, how sure is it that MCiS will always work with an updated iTunes and not do any harm to my database? Should we wait for you to give a green light after an iTunes update or is it generally safe to use?
We all know that Apple likes to tinker around to close down their hardware and software eventually...as we saw with the latest ipods that MC cannot handle anymore.
I just hate the thought of locking myself out of iTunes and having to redo a lot of rework..
Thanks for your insight!
Cheers
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Hi
MCiS accesses the library through the iTunes interface so shouldn't cause problems, unless that interface changes. I'd most likely pick something like that up pretty quickly though Magic_Randy tends to beat me to testing a new iTunes version :)
To be absolutely sure though, after iTunes does an update, run MCiS but check "Run in Test Mode" first. The log will then tell you any changes, without actually making any change.
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I'd most likely pick something like that up pretty quickly though Magic_Randy tends to beat me to testing a new iTunes version :)
Late to report but I did download 9.1.1 as soon as it was available. I've had no luck with it at all. I'm going to try to find an old version of iTunes and use that.
This is not related to MCiS. I just can't make iTunes 9.1.1 work.
iTunes playback freezes up when playing MP3 files. I thought maybe there was a problem with the install, but that's not it. I even did a complete uninstall and reinstall cleaning registries in between. I also rebuilt the iTunes library from scratch and that does not help.
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Thanks for the heads up Randy, I'll give it a bit of testing and see if I get the same result.
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Thanks for the heads up Randy, I'll give it a bit of testing and see if I get the same result.
I rolled back to iTunes 9.1 and rebuilt my library. Everything is working fine there.
I may try upgrading to 9.1.1 again later or may just skip this release. If the only problem is playback I don't care. I only use iTunes to manage my app store content and sync my Apple devices.
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There may be no problem directly related to 9.1.1. I've upgraded to this version again.
I still have playback problems but it happens in 9.1 and 9.1.1. I see the problem when I multi-task within iTunes. If I'm playing something and also browsing the library, going to iTunes store, looking at preferences, etc. Then the track randomly freeze playback. When it freezes I get constant noise through the speakers. If I exit iTunes I start playback again.
As I don't really use iTunes other than syncing and the App Store, I will stop my testing and move on.
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prod, a quick question.
Do the iTunes Playback Preferences impact syncing or just playback in iTunes?
To be clear, should check Crossfade Songs or Sound Check? Will I get the same results on my synced devices regardless of these settings?
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Hmm yep I'm not having any problems here.
I believe crossfade does not affect your devices, only playback in iTunes... but sound check must be enabled in both iTunes and on your device for it to work (on your device).
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I believe crossfade does not affect your devices, only playback in iTunes... but sound check must be enabled in both iTunes and on your device for it to work (on your device).
Thanks...
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HI prod,
Would it be possible for you to add an option to export Ratings from iTunes to MC instead of aggregating them?
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Can do, is this something you'd want to do as a one-off or continually?
The reason I ask is because you can do this at the moment as a one-off by doing the following to the files you want to import the iTunes rating for;
In MC:
- Set the iTunesRatingSync field to -1
- Clear the Rating field to zero
MCiS will then put the iTunes rating into MC. Try it out on one file first. :)
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Can do, is this something you'd want to do as a one-off or continually?
The reason I ask is because you can do this at the moment as a one-off by doing the following to the files you want to import the iTunes rating for;
In MC:
- Set the iTunesRatingSync field to -1
- Clear the Rating field to zero
MCiS will then put the iTunes rating into MC. Try it out on one file first. :)
I'd want it as a continual thing. The reason is because I do most of my rating in Squeezebox Server. That then syncs to iTunes, and then iTunes syncs with MC. With it merging the ratings, it's creating a lot of half-star ratings in iTunes which is messing up my rating-based playlists.
Thanks for the tip on how to do it as a one-off.
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Downloaded MCiS and synced MC15 with iTunes 9. Everything appeared to go well with no error messages.
The only problem is that it says that it successfully analyzed 49067 tracks, of which 1077 were synchronized. Why didn't it sync all of them?
Thanks.
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Downloaded MCiS and synced MC15 with iTunes 9. Everything appeared to go well with no error messages.
The only problem is that it says that it successfully analyzed 49067 tracks, of which 1077 were synchronized. Why didn't it sync all of them?
Thanks.
That's fine, only files that have differences are sync'd - so in the 1077 there were changes, in the rest there were no differences so no action was required.
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Problem with one directional sync - is it me or ?
I have been using mcis 5.5.5 (and versions before that) and have just noticed a problem with my one directional sync. (I only sync from MC to Itunes - I want all playlists in my MC library to be in Itunes.
I have 400 playlists and they all seem to sync fine between MC and Itunes (it is one diretional only), EXCEPT, my classical playlists and my one playlist with only a single video file are empty in Itunes (the playlists is created but it is empty). The only thing I can find unusual about this is that the files for ALL of these empty playlists reside outside of the tree structure for all the other files. They are on my hard drive, I just don't have them in the same folder/subfolders. Any thoughts? I don't know if this problem has been around since I started using MCIS or not. I rarely look at those particular playlists so I don't know if this is a new problem or not.
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I think possibly those files that are being excluded aren't in your iTunes library, or they aren't in the sync scope i.e. the MC playlist/viewscheme/library you've specified when running MCiS... either that, or for whatever reason the full pathnames for those files are different in your iTunes and MC libraries respectively.
Turning on <FileNotFound> logging in Settings may help in finding the problem - it will list in the log any files in iTunes that could not be matched with a corresponding file in your specified MC playlist/viewscheme/library.
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Prod,
Well, this is embarrassing, but I guess since I raised an issue in this public forum, to avoid having anyone think there may be a problem with your fine program., I have to disclose my stupidity
The issue was solved by my simply importing the missing files into Itunes. Since I never use Itunes for anything but loading my Iphone from MC through your program, I forgot how Itunes works and forgot that although your program does a lot, it doesn't actually load the song files into Itunes. I was patiently waiting for MCiTunes to load the actual files. Hmm! Maybe in version 6? :)
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I forgot how Itunes works and forgot that although your program does a lot, it doesn't actually load the song files into Itunes. I was patiently waiting for MCiTunes to load the actual files.
:) Well, good news - you don't have to wait till version 6, that option has been in there for some time now ... just check "Import files to iTunes of types" in Settings and put the file types into the text box that you want automatically imported (separated by semi-colon), e.g. "mp3;mp4;wav".
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:) Well, good news - you don't have to wait till version 6, that option has been in there for some time now ... just check "Import files to iTunes of types" in Settings and put the file types into the text box that you want automatically imported (separated by semi-colon), e.g. "mp3;mp4;wav".
Wow - nice feature! I did try it and it worked but it seemed about an order of magnitude slower to check import files to Itunes then to just import the files via Itunes - so I just imported them through Itunes rather than let MCiS do it. Based on speed/convenience it would seem better to import directly initially (the big import) and then use the checkbox to just do any updates automatically.
Thanks again.
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Based on speed/convenience it would seem better to import directly initially (the big import) and then use the checkbox to just do any updates automatically.
Yeah I've had these reports before but in my tests I got pretty much the same speed as manual import... I guess iTunes isn't the most consistent of apps. Like you say, the feature is meant more for keeping things tidy and sync'd rather than for a massive import of 10,000's of files at once.
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Tested with iTunes 9.2, no issues found 8)
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Tested with iTunes 9.2, no issues found 8)
Same here.
Now waiting to test iTunes 9.2 with iPhone 4 next Thursday ;)
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Tested with iTunes 9.2, no issues found 8)
Tested with 9.2 and no issues with MCiS 8)
I do have problems with iTunes itself. It crashes when it tries to upgrade. I know what the problem is. It has to do with Genie Timeline backup software (this is software that constantly backs up the system). In order to install or upgrade iTunes, I have to Pause Genie Timeline. Thought I would pass this on in case anyone else has similar problems.
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Hi Prod,
using most current version 5.5.5 and most current version of itunes 9.2 - I have an ipad/touch sync with itunes: I am getting the following error:
</Track>
<FileNotFound Pathname="C:\Documents and Settings\************\My Documents\My Music\Books\A. A. Milne\Winnie-the-Pooh.epub" />
<Result EndDateTime="2010-06-19T17:25:54">Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</Result>
</MCiS>
I also got this error with some podcasts but was able to delete those from itunes and it was working. Is there a way to exclude podcasts, books from MCIS as it seems to cause some issues?
Thanks in advance.
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Hi, do you have any more info I could use to narrow this issue down? For instance, during which process is it occurring, and how you determined it was some podcasts causing it.
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Hi again,
Well - I thought that in the past that I had turned off the file not found logging and it would progress nicely but I still get an error:
<Track Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\VARIOUS ARTISTS\SINGLES\Music Ninja\Upular.mp3">
<Artist ChangedIn="iTunes" OldValue="Various Artists" NewValue="" />
</Track>
<Result EndDateTime="2010-06-20T09:03:06">Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</Result>
</MCiS>
I realize that the last line regarding "object reference not set to an instance of an object" is the same error I have been receiveing before (with the podcasts) and even in an instance prior to that. I am not sure what this means or what else I can provide you to figure it out please let me know.
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Okay - I ran it again and got the same error - it occurs during the import to itunes process -
</Track>
<Result EndDateTime="2010-06-20T11:47:54">Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</Result>
</MCiS>
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Okay - more info - unchecked - import file to itunes of types and was successful. So I am wondering - there are 3 types of files listed as the default for this selection - mp3;wav;m4a - I don't have any m4a files in my library - could this be why the error is occuring? I would think that if you didn't have a specific type it just would skip it but maybe not?
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Thanks, I think the problem is you have a file somewhere that, when MCiS tries to import it, iTunes rejects it. Maybe the file is corrupt, but I'll handle this more gracefully in the next version, and perhaps return the name of the offending file(s).
Cheers.
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That would be great. With a library of 60k + = trying to find one file blindly is next to impossible. Until then I will just leave the import option off.
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Found a bug:
I have files physically named:
M:\[audio]\[music]\[]\[00's]\Billboard Top 100 of 2003\#026 Black Eyed Peas - Where Is the Love.mp3
Please note the "[]" folder name. Files with a "[]" in the path name receive the following error:
<ImportToiTunes Filename="M:\[audio]\[music]\\[00's]\Billboard Top 100 of 2003\#026 Black Eyed Peas - Where Is the Love.mp3">Unsuccessful</ImportToiTunes>
It looks like the "[]" is being replaced with Empty.
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Found another small issue:
Regarding the "Fields to export from MC to iTunes" option:
Apparently there are some fields that require write access for iTunes to change it's own library. My files are read-only so I'm getting many of the following type errors:
<Track Filename="M:\[audio]\[music]\[B]\Black Eyed Peas\Monkey Business\#02 Black Eyed Peas - Don't Phunk with My Heart.mp3">
<Error Field="Lyrics" Message="The track is not modifiable." />
</Track>
This causes significant delays in synchronization. Is there a more graceful way of checking for read-only files and skipping the writing of fields that require write access to the file?
Some of the fields that have this issue are:
- Comment
- Mix Album
- Lyrics
- Sort...
I didn't check any of the aggregating fields.
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I had no problems with an MC14 ---> iTunes 9.2 sync. Also had no problems transferring music from iTunes to iPhone 4 following this.
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It looks like the "[]" is being replaced with Empty.
MCiS just uses the pathname returned by MC ... if this is happening, it's unfortunately a bug in the MC API, not in MCiS. I'll have a look and see if I can work around it though.
Is there a more graceful way of checking for read-only files and skipping the writing of fields that require write access to the file?
Yeah I'm aware iTunes can be a slow, cumbersome beast when it wants to be. Unfortunately, unlike MC, iTunes insists on writing certain tags to the physical file - can't you just uncheck the fields that are in this category? It seems you're not worried about sync'ing those fields anyway.
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Help please.
I'm using MCiS 5.5.5, MC15 and iTunes 9.2.1. My library is located on a WHS. Oh and I have 64bit Win7. I've used this program in the past and love it. It always worked just as needed. I am just now trying it on my newest setup and it is not working. MCiS will start up fine but when I hit the synchronize button it says synchronize unsuccessful and returns the following in the log.
<MC Version="15.0.73" LibraryName="Default" LibraryPath="C:\Users\the jammawuzzi\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 15\Library\" />
<Result EndDateTime="2010-07-27T16:42:18">Could not access iTunes. Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {DC0C2640-1415-4644-875C-6F4D769839BA} failed due to the following error: 800702e4.</Result>
Ive tried everything I can think of. Did it with iTunes running, not running, running as administrator, I've uninstalled iTunes, reinstalled it, tried 5-6 diff versions. regardless of what I try it always ends up doing this.
Any help is GREATLY appreciated.
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Sorry if this seems a daft question but are you definitely using the 64-bit iTunes installer to install iTunes? Looks like iTunes hasn't registered its automation interface on install.
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Sorry if this seems a daft question but are you definitely using the 64-bit iTunes installer to install iTunes? Looks like iTunes hasn't registered its automation interface on install.
Tis ok, thanks for your reply. Yes the setup file is named iTunes64Setup. I tried several times at installing it. Uninstalling before each reinstall.
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Hmm ok try going to your iTunes folder using the command line and type:
iTunes.exe /regserver
That should force iTunes to register itself. You may need to open the command line as administrator, not sure though as I've never come across this issue.
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Hmm ok try going to your iTunes folder using the command line and type:
iTunes.exe /regserver
That should force iTunes to register itself. You may need to open the command line as administrator, not sure though as I've never come across this issue.
I did exactly this and am getting the same result. :-\
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Help please.
I'm using MCiS 5.5.5, MC15 and iTunes 9.2.1. My library is located on a WHS. Oh and I have 64bit Win7. I've used this program in the past and love it. It always worked just as needed. I am just now trying it on my newest setup and it is not working. MCiS will start up fine but when I hit the synchronize button it says synchronize unsuccessful and returns the following in the log.
<MC Version="15.0.73" LibraryName="Default" LibraryPath="C:\Users\the jammawuzzi\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 15\Library\" />
<Result EndDateTime="2010-07-27T16:42:18">Could not access iTunes. Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {DC0C2640-1415-4644-875C-6F4D769839BA} failed due to the following error: 800702e4.</Result>
Ive tried everything I can think of. Did it with iTunes running, not running, running as administrator, I've uninstalled iTunes, reinstalled it, tried 5-6 diff versions. regardless of what I try it always ends up doing this.
Any help is GREATLY appreciated.
This may not help at all, but it's the only thing I can think of.
I had trouble with iTunes where it would not properly install or upgrade. I finally figured it out. Unlike most applications iTunes is doing something at a pretty low level when it installs. I'm using backup software that runs all the time in background (Genie Timeline). When the Genie Timeline software is running it prevented a clean install of iTunes. All I had to do was pause the backup software and then install iTunes and everything worked just fine.
Genie Timeline is not the only incompatibility of this nature. Other backup software that backs up all the time - even some of the ones that backup into the cloud, have the same issue.
So, if you are using any backup software like I described, give this a try. Otherwise I wish you luck in resolving your issue. I don't know what I would do if I could not make MCiS and iTunes work together.
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Thanks for your idea but no backup software other than on the WHS and it just runs overnight.
I think you are correct in it being a bad itunes install. I've uninstalled and reinstalled it several times. Even trying older versions. Regardless of how I uninstall it (Revo uninstaller, etc) when I go to reinstall it it always knows that this is a reinstall and 'repairs' the installation instead of a whole new install. I think if I could get a complete deep 100% gone uninstall of it and then reinstall I would be ok.
I fig'd I could save myself and just install MC15, itunes and MCiS on my laptop and sync the MC database over the MC server.
When I installed itunes on my laptop I got MCiS fired right up and working fine. This would work fine I think if it was just a handful of changes but it was going to take days doing an initial 40+k file sync.
Anymore ideas? I'm lost with it.
thanks guys
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I did a Google search for iTunes clean uninstall and found this. Maybe it will help.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1923
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Hah! You're good. After I posted that I did the same thing and was doing the steps on that page. Wish me luck. :-)
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After trying this and installing again, I am still having the same thing happen. I don't know what else to try.
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Fixed! I hope.
Spent the better part of this afternoon reading up on Win 7/iTunes issues. In a thread about the install issues iTunes is having with Win 7 I found the tidbit that the iTunes 64bit installer installs iTunes in the \program files (x86) where it should be installed in the \program files directory. Once I saw this I fig since MCiS is having probs locating iTunes then maybe it's cuz it's in the wrong location. So I changed the install location and things went good. MCiS fired up and FINALLY loaded iTunes. My library is being sync'd as I type.
thanks for the help guys and hope this helps anybody having Win 7/iTunes install issues.
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Fixed! I hope.
Spent the better part of this afternoon reading up on Win 7/iTunes issues. In a thread about the install issues iTunes is having with Win 7 I found the tidbit that the iTunes 64bit installer installs iTunes in the \program files (x86) where it should be installed in the \program files directory. Once I saw this I fig since MCiS is having probs locating iTunes then maybe it's cuz it's in the wrong location. So I changed the install location and things went good. MCiS fired up and FINALLY loaded iTunes. My library is being sync'd as I type.
thanks for the help guys and hope this helps anybody having Win 7/iTunes install issues.
Glad you got it sorted out (hopefully). It's amazing that Apple cannot figure out how to properly install on a Windows PC.
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Glad to hear it's OK, sorry I couldn't have been more help .... funny one that, I have it working, and I'm sure others do too, with Win7 64 (installed in Program Files x86) with no issues. Thanks for posting the solution.
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Anybody know what happened to Prod? I purchased this software and was supposed to get a registration key within 24 hrs. It's been a few days and I haven't received one yet. I emailed him but haven't received a reply.
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Did you check your junk mailbox?
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Yea. Several times just in case. Nothing there.
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Sorry problems here meant I was sans-computer (and pretty much everything else) for a week ... I set up an email auto-responder but it obviously didn't work...
Anyway, all sorted now, back to normal, many apologies!
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Not a problem. Hope all is well. Thanks for the great program and service!
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I am having playlist problems. I am using itunes 10.
synced the MC to itunes. All of the songs with "(" or ")" will sync to itunes but will not be placed into the playlist.
I have tested this by removing the "(" only from an album title and also from two different song titles to see if that was the problem.
The sync went the same except the 3 items I changed were indeed synced to the correct playlists.
On another matter I continue to get 134 songs synced when nothing has changed. same songs.
I do have a large library and do have many dups of songs by same artist, but different album.
Anyone else seeing these problems?
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I am having playlist problems. I am using itunes 10.
synced the MC to itunes. All of the songs with "(" or ")" will sync to itunes but will not be placed into the playlist.
I have tested this by removing the "(" only from an album title and also from two different song titles to see if that was the problem.
The sync went the same except the 3 items I changed were indeed synced to the correct playlists.
I can't replicate this problem, works fine for me ... tested using iTunes 10 under Win7. Anyone else seen this or any other weirdness with the new iTunes?
On another matter I continue to get 134 songs synced when nothing has changed. same songs.
Try unticking 'Lyrics' and see how many are re-sync'd then. iTunes is probably translating characters it doesn't want to store in its database, causing the two files to perpetually (ever so slightly) not match.
-
I also upgraded to iTUnes v10. I tried to quickly verify that I had no sync issue like the one TXgary reported (134 files that always sync). I found an issue and did many tests to try to duplicate the pattern.
Basic findings:
1) I sync everything
2) I sync again - expect nothing will sync (as everything was in sync with step 1)
3) I find tracks that sync again.
4) I delete all tracks that are being sync'd from both the MC library and iTunes library
5) I sync again, and 0 tracks are sync'd (as expected)
6) In MC I select a track and start to play it. I cancel the play.
7) I sync - 1 file is sync'd (as expected)
8) I sync again - the same file is sync'd again even though I did not play it again.
9) Any additional files I play add to the pattern - e.g. if play 10 files, all 10 will always sync
So something is different in either iTunes 10 or a very new MC release. The files that were showing up that caused me to test further in my 1st test were ripped and imported on September 1. I think I had already upgraded to iTunes 10. Following is an example from my log file.
<MC Version="15.0.105" LibraryName="Default" LibraryPath="C:\Users\Home\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 15\Library\" />
<iTunes Version="10.0.0.68" />
- <Track Filename="M:\My Music Collection\Janis Joplin\Pearl\Janis Joplin - Cry Baby (Live).mp3">
<LastSkipped ChangedIn="iTunes" OldValue="2010-09-02T14:18:49" NewValue="2010-09-02T21:18:49" />
EDIT: note that the cool face is not by design - it is parenthesis 8
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Back to TXgary's issue.
I also think your 134 sync issue is because of lyrics. I had the same issue in the past. I ended up replacing the lyrics for the offending tracks and that cleared up the problem.
I cannot duplicate the playlist problem you describe. Please verify the following and I will try again:
1) Is the "(" a left parentheses or a left parentheses with quote marks around it (I assume the former)
2) What field contains the issue (I assume track name)
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Yes, just a ( and it was in one record in the title field and in one record in the Album field.
Surprising thing was that I changed 3 records out of a large number of records that contain the ( and those synced fine. Here is the gotcha, I have other records with the ( that are syncing, so I am stumped).
I have reverted back to v5.0.1 and is currently syncing, but all the MC records are being changed again so will see if the playlists are all there then will sync again to see about changes.
Agreed, most of my resyncs are problems associated with lyrics.
But need the playlists to be accurate.
Over the weekend I will build a simple database of a couple of hundred records and try the current version.
Yes, I am running itunes 10 and MC 14.0.165
Thanks for all your help.
I will report back
-
I tried again and cannot duplicate the playlist issue.
I'm guessing, but maybe there is a problem with the tag similar to what's been discussed with lyrics.
Here is what I suggest.
1) Take a track where the playlist will not sync.
2) Change the name to something else eliminating the (
3) Make sure this track is in the playlist you want to sync (or use a test playlist)
4) Do a sync to see if it shows up - it should show up
5) Change the name back to add the (
6) Do a sync and see if it shows up - if it does it suggests there is some problem with the data in the tag
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Thanks for your suggestion, I will try this but probably not before the weekend.
It certainly could be the mp3 header.
The songs do sync to itunes 10, but they do not sync to playlist.
I will make the changes and test.
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I have an idea about this bracket thing, and normal behaviour that is mistaken for strange behaviour.
So, imagine you have a smartlist that lists every 4-5 rated track, with duplicates of name and artist removed. Each and every time MC recalculates the contents of this smartlist (i.e. every time you look at the smartlist and also every time you run MCiS) some of these duplicate tracks disappear from the smartlist, and others are added to it, quite at random. So, in other words, you sync using MCiS, then view the smartlist in MC ... immediately the smartlist in MC does not match the playlist created in iTunes, because these duplicate tracks have been swapped in and out, seemingly at random.
I got sick of this constant adding and deleting of tracks from the smartlists due to "duplicate" rules, so I designed my smartlist to prioritise certain tracks (e.g. only remove dupes that had a lower rating or were part of a mixed album), meaning the contents of the smartlist would not constantly change every single time it was recalculated.
If this is happening, you would expect the playlist in iTunes to have the same number of tracks in it as your smartlist in MC, though the contents may be slightly different (if the MC smartlist has been recalculated since MCiS sync).
-
Prod, good idea, would you mind sharing how you did that?
Also, no luck so far, I would say it is in the header, but the songs do sync to itunes, just not to the playlists.
-
I also upgraded to iTUnes v10. I tried to quickly verify that I had no sync issue like the one TXgary reported (134 files that always sync). I found an issue and did many tests to try to duplicate the pattern.
Basic findings:
1) I sync everything
2) I sync again - expect nothing will sync (as everything was in sync with step 1)
3) I find tracks that sync again.
4) I delete all tracks that are being sync'd from both the MC library and iTunes library
5) I sync again, and 0 tracks are sync'd (as expected)
6) In MC I select a track and start to play it. I cancel the play.
7) I sync - 1 file is sync'd (as expected)
8) I sync again - the same file is sync'd again even though I did not play it again.
9) Any additional files I play add to the pattern - e.g. if play 10 files, all 10 will always sync
So something is different in either iTunes 10 or a very new MC release. The files that were showing up that caused me to test further in my 1st test were ripped and imported on September 1. I think I had already upgraded to iTunes 10. Following is an example from my log file.
<MC Version="15.0.105" LibraryName="Default" LibraryPath="C:\Users\Home\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 15\Library\" />
<iTunes Version="10.0.0.68" />
- <Track Filename="M:\My Music Collection\Janis Joplin\Pearl\Janis Joplin - Cry Baby (Live).mp3">
<LastSkipped ChangedIn="iTunes" OldValue="2010-09-02T14:18:49" NewValue="2010-09-02T21:18:49" />
EDIT: note that the cool face is not by design - it is parenthesis 8
OK, I think I figured out the pattern. This is with iTunes 10 and the latest version of MC.
The last played date and last skipped date cannot be successfully sync'd from MC to iTunes. MCiS will try to sync these over every time.
If the last played and last skipped dates are updated in iTunes, they are sync'd to MC successfully (e.g. MCiS will not try to sync them again).
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Prod, good idea, would you mind sharing how you did that?
Sure, when the "remove duplicates of..." is set in a smartlist, MC always takes the first in the list and discards the rest. So, if you setup a smartlist that lists all your tracks ordered in a certain way, you can then control exactly which tracks are discarded. For example, if you have a smartlist that lists all tracks removing duplicates of name and artist, sorted by name a-z, artist a-z and rating z-a, then tracks with a lower rating are discarded. You can then reference this smartlist in your other smartlists.
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OK, I think I figured out the pattern. This is with iTunes 10 and the latest version of MC.
The last played date and last skipped date cannot be successfully sync'd from MC to iTunes. MCiS will try to sync these over every time.
If the last played and last skipped dates are updated in iTunes, they are sync'd to MC successfully (e.g. MCiS will not try to sync them again).
Thanks Randy I'll look into this.
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The last played date and last skipped date cannot be successfully sync'd from MC to iTunes. MCiS will try to sync these over every time.
I've had a quick look and everything is sync'ing from MC to iTunes (inc Last Played, Last Skipped) fine for me ?
I'll have a longer look at this during the week.
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I've had a quick look and everything is sync'ing from MC to iTunes (inc Last Played, Last Skipped) fine for me ?
I'll have a longer look at this during the week.
I think I figured out what is happening. It looks like a GMT time zone offset issue. I'm in Los Angeles. The date/time in MC is correct. When it goes to iTunes, it is not correct. That's why future sync's always show the difference.
Here are some examples from the log.
<MC Version="15.0.106" LibraryName="Default" LibraryPath="C:\Users\Home\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 15\Library\" />
<iTunes Version="10.0.0.68" />
- <Track Filename="M:\My Music Collection\Booker T. & The MG's\The Definitive Soul Collection\Booker T. & The MG's - Green Onions.mp3">
<LastPlayed ChangedIn="iTunes" OldValue="2010-09-04T00:52:23" NewValue="2010-09-04T07:52:23" />
</Track>
- <Track Filename="M:\My Music Collection\Booker T. & The MG's\The Definitive Soul Collection\Booker T. & The MG's - Behave Yourself.mp3">
<LastPlayed ChangedIn="iTunes" OldValue="2010-09-04T00:56:13" NewValue="2010-09-04T07:56:13" />
</Track>
- <Track Filename="M:\My Music Collection\Booker T. & The MG's\The Definitive Soul Collection\Booker T. & The MG's - Jellybread.mp3">
<LastPlayed ChangedIn="iTunes" OldValue="2010-09-04T00:58:17" NewValue="2010-09-04T07:58:17" />
</Track>
<Result EndDateTime="2010-09-04T08:06:32" Analyzed="19063" Synchronized="3" Imported="0" Removed="0">Successful</Result>
</MCiS>
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I've had a quick look and everything is sync'ing from MC to iTunes (inc Last Played, Last Skipped) fine for me ?
If you are in the GMT time zone, that is why you cannot duplicate it. See my posting 1 above.
-
Prod
Thanks for the info on Smartlists
-
prod,
I decided to clean up my system and uninstalled MC14. I had both MC14 & MC15 installed before.
Now I get the following message when I launch MCiS:
"An error occurred filling the playlist tree. Try loading MC manually first."
I tried loading MC manually, but I get the same message. Should MCiS work with just MC15 installed?
-
Yeah this is a known issue caused by MC deregistering its public interfaces on uninstall, meaning all other MC installations are also affected.
All you need to do is run the MC15 install .exe, that'll re-register the interfaces.
Thanks for the info regards the dates I'll have a good look at it in the week.
-
Randy,
Disregarding what it says in the log for a moment, when the date goes across what is the effect? That is, say the Last Played date in MC is "2010-09-04 11:12:22", what is the Last Played date for the same file, after syncing, in iTunes?
-
Randy,
Disregarding what it says in the log for a moment, when the date goes across what is the effect? That is, say the Last Played date in MC is "2010-09-04 11:12:22", what is the Last Played date for the same file, after syncing, in iTunes?
The data matches the log.
The date and time in iTunes is exactly 7 hours earlier than the date and time in MC.
To me it looks like a change in iTunes 10. It looks like they are now supporting multiple time zones. e.g. you can specify the time zone for the date and it will convert it to the correct time zone on your PC. They may now be expecting a GMT offset as part of the API or they default to 0.
-
Yeah this is a known issue caused by MC deregistering its public interfaces on uninstall, meaning all other MC installations are also affected.
All you need to do is run the MC15 install .exe, that'll re-register the interfaces.
Thanks for the info regards the dates I'll have a good look at it in the week.
Thanks... Everything is working fine now.
-
My problem with smartlists appear to be worked out.
The issue appears to have been the MP3 headers.
I simply altered one character to force the header to be saved and then reloaded into MC and itunes playlist is updated correctly.
This is under MC 14, itunes 10 and win 7.
Thanks to everyone for your help.
I still have lyrics issues, but am working on that.
-
Thanks to everyone for your help.
Cheers Gary, glad you got that sorted.
To me it looks like a change in iTunes 10. It looks like they are now supporting multiple time zones. e.g. you can specify the time zone for the date and it will convert it to the correct time zone on your PC. They may now be expecting a GMT offset as part of the API or they default to 0.
You're bang on the money there Randy, unfortunately their implementation seems to be a little over-enthusiastic with daylight savings, so its taking a little longer than I expected - seems I'll have to convert all dates to UTC before sending them to iTunes. Anyway, expect a fix by the end of the week.
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You're bang on the money there Randy, unfortunately their implementation seems to be a little over-enthusiastic with daylight savings, so its taking a little longer than I expected - seems I'll have to convert all dates to UTC before sending them to iTunes. Anyway, expect a fix by the end of the week.
Thanks prod. Once you make a change all of my last played dates will self correct. I suspect people who are in a GMT+ time zone will be impacted more.
-
v5.6:
- Fixed: iTunes 10 now applies time zone information; this was causing non-GMT dates to be incorrectly sync'd
-
v5.6:
- Fixed: iTunes 10 now applies time zone information; this was causing non-GMT dates to be incorrectly sync'd
Thanks prod...
All tested and verified.
-
MCiS works fine with the new version of iTunes.
This is iTunes 10.0.1.22.
-
Just wanted to bump this request... it would really help me out if it's not too much trouble to add this option.
Would it be possible for you to add an option to export Ratings from iTunes to MC instead of aggregating them?
-
Hi Sue, I've been very busy lately with, amongst other things, my brand new baby daughter! I intend to make a few tweaks here and there, but it's taking me a while to get round to it - just to say I've not forgotten your request... it'll make its way in there at some point.
-
... my brand new baby daughter!
Congratulations, prod! One of the happiest aspects of life.
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Hi Sue, I've been very busy lately with, amongst other things, my brand new baby daughter! I intend to make a few tweaks here and there, but it's taking me a while to get round to it - just to say I've not forgotten your request... it'll make its way in there at some point.
Awww, congratulations! Take your time on my silly request.
-
Thanks! :)
-
I just tried the last version v5.6 with MC15.0.132 and Itunes 10.0.1.22 64 Bit on Windows 7 Pro 64bit.
I get the following error after starting MCiS:
"An error occurred filling the playlist tree. Try loading MC manually first"
with all options greyed out.
The same with an already running MC15.
What can I do?
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I just tried the last version v5.6 with MC15.0.132 and Itunes 10.0.1.22 64 Bit on Windows 7 Pro 64bit.
I get the following error after starting MCiS:
"An error occurred filling the playlist tree. Try loading MC manually first"
with all options greyed out.
The same with an already running MC15.
What can I do?
Have you uninstalled another version of MC recently?
Try re-running the MC15.0.132 .exe, that will force MC to re-register its interface - it looks like MCiS can't find MC.
-
Thank you for your quick reply.
Just reinstalled MC15. But again it doesn't work.
Then I started the MCitunesSynchronizer.exe as Administrator: it works, but it loads an empty library (for the admin).
Could it be an issue of restriction of my normal user account?
On my Laptop under Win XP it also works (with the same version of MC15 and itunes 32bit)!
I can't understand it...
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Yep that is indeed quite strange. Make sure you have full access to the folder you're running MCiS in... you shouldn't need any privileges beyond that though. I take it you're set up as a "Standard" user account?
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Yes, I am a "Standard" User.
And have full access to the folder.
Tried to move the MCiS-exe to "Program Files (x86)" (to do that I use admin-rights). But again, no luck.
Is it possible that MCiS searches for the library under "Default" User?
c:\Users\Winnie\AppData\Roaming\J River\MyLib
c:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Roaming\J River\MyLib
c:\Users\Default\AppData\Roaming\ : no \J River\ and no lib
??
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MCiS doesn't look for a specific library unless you tell it to with the /LibraryName argument. For this, it retrieves library information from the MC registry settings ... HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\JRiver\Media Center <VERSION>\Properties\Libraries. If /LibraryName isn't specified, the currently loaded library is used.
You could load MC with your admin account and point it at the same library you use with the standard account ... then it should show up when you run as administrator. Bit messy I know, but should get it working for the timebeing at least.
As a cautionary note - always backup your library before you leap in with both feet. :)
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Prod,
when I tried to follow your advice I noticed that, with a backup of my "normal" library for the admin account, it also doesn't work!
My conclusion:
My problem are not user-rights (admin/normal user). My problem is my library!
With a new library (from scratch, no restore of my normal lib) MCiS works OK.
What is wrong with my library that I get the error: "An error occurred filling the playlist tree. Try loading MC manually first"?
I could PM you the Library-backup-file (about 10 MB).
Thanks
Winnie
-
Hmm! That's unexpected ... send me your backup file I'll have a look.
-
What is wrong with my library that I get the error: "An error occurred filling the playlist tree. Try loading MC manually first"?
Hi Winnie
I've had a look at your library and found the problem... you have two playlists in the same place called "Top Hits" (one is a playlist, the other a smartlist). This should not be possible, I'm not sure how this has happened - MC should disallow it.
Anyway, if you delete one of those playlists (I'm guessing you want to keep the smartlist), everything should work fine. I will allow for this in the next version of MCiS, should it ever happen again - MCiS is expecting unique values for the combinations of playlist paths and names, hence the reported error.
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Hi prod,
wow, thank you for your quick analysis.
I can't understand how it happened, but I use my library since early times of MC...
Anyway, now it works.
Thank you again (and sorry for misleading you to userrights),
Winnie
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v6.0 (http://www.misterpete.co.uk/mcis.html)
- Added: Remove Tracks option in right-click playlist tree menu - removes all tracks in that MC playlist from the iTunes library
- Added: /ExportAggregatesOnlyFrom:MC and /ExportAggregatesOnlyFrom:iTunes command line options will export any selected aggregatable tags (e.g. Rating, Last Played) from the specified application rather than aggregating them. /ExportAggregatesOnlyFrom:MC replaces the now defunct /NoAggregate argument.
- Fixed: Allows for duplicate playlist names in MC library
-
v6.0 (http://www.misterpete.co.uk/mcis.html)
- Added: Remove Tracks option in right-click playlist tree menu - removes all tracks in that MC playlist from the iTunes library
- Added: /ExportAggregatesOnlyFrom:MC and /ExportAggregatesOnlyFrom:iTunes command line options will export any selected aggregatable tags (e.g. Rating, Last Played) from the specified application rather than aggregating them. /ExportAggregatesOnlyFrom:MC replaces the now defunct /NoAggregate argument.
- Fixed: Allows for duplicate playlist names in MC library
Forgot to mention, the title of the group box containing the aggregatable fields (Rating, etc) now changes according to whether and how /ExportAggregatesOnlyFrom is specified.
-
Forgot to mention, the title of the group box containing the aggregatable fields (Rating, etc) now changes according to whether and how /ExportAggregatesOnlyFrom is specified.
The title does not change for me with /ExportAggregatesOnlyFrom:iTunes in the command line.
-
Try downloading the release again ... There was a slight mix-up in builds, one had this feature, the other didn't.
-
Try downloading the release again ... There was a slight mix-up in builds, one had this feature, the other didn't.
Okay, working now... and thanks!
-
I keep gettting an unsuccessful sync using version 6.0, itunes 10.1, media center 15 (current version):
Here are parts of the log:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<MCiS Version="6.0.0.0" StartDateTime="2010-11-26T15:07:44" Options="FFC0B80000CBEC27">
<SyncFileTypes>
<FileType>MP3</FileType>
<FileType>WAV</FileType>
<FileType>M4A</FileType>
</SyncFileTypes>
<ImportFileTypes>
<FileType>MP3</FileType>
<FileType>WAV</FileType>
<FileType>M4A</FileType>
</ImportFileTypes>
<ExportPlaylists iTunesPlaylistFolder="MC Playlists">
<Playlist Rebuild="False" Shuffle="False" RemoveTracks="False">-Final Lists\Preferred Listening Genre No Dupes Final</Playlist>
</ExportPlaylists>
<Expressions>
<Expression Field="Name">[Name]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Artist">[Artist]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Album">[Album]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Album Artist">[Album Artist]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Comment">[Comment]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Composer">[Composer]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Description">[Description]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Disc #">[Disc #]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Track #">[Track #]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Genre">[Genre]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Grouping">[Grouping]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Lyrics">[Lyrics]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Year">[Year]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Mix Album">[Mix Album]</Expression>
<Expression Field="BPM">[BPM]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Sort Name">Clean(Replace(Replace([Name],/(),/)),2)</Expression>
<Expression Field="Sort Artist">Clean([Artist],2)</Expression>
<Expression Field="Sort Album Artist">Clean([Album Artist (auto)],2)</Expression>
<Expression Field="Sort Album">Clean([Album],2) - Clean([Album Artist (auto)],2)</Expression>
<Expression Field="Sort Composer">Clean([Composer],2)</Expression>
And the error:
FileNotFound Pathname="F:\iTunes\iTunes Music\Podcasts\Coverville_ The Cover Music Podcast (AAC\691 Coverville 691_ Soulville with O.m4a" />
<FileNotFound Pathname="F:\iTunes\iTunes Music\Podcasts\Coverville_ The Cover Music Podcast (AAC\Who Did It Better #27_ Versions of t.mp3" />
<FileNotFound Pathname="F:\iTunes\iTunes Music\Books\Arthur Conan Doyle\The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.epub" />
<FileNotFound Pathname="F:\iTunes\iTunes Music\Books\Sun Tzu\The Art of War.epub" />
<FileNotFound Pathname="F:\iTunes\iTunes Music\Books\551 BC-479 BC Confucius\The Sayings Of Confucius.epub" />
<FileNotFound Pathname="F:\iTunes\iTunes Music\Books\MobileReference\FREE Weights and Measures Study Gui.epub" />
<FileNotFound Pathname="F:\iTunes\iTunes Music\Podcasts\The Adam Carolla Show\Adam Carolla Show_ Football w_ David.mp3" />
<FileNotFound Pathname="F:\iTunes\iTunes Music\Podcasts\The Adam Carolla Show\Adam Carolla Show_ Ed & Matt Asner.mp3" />
<FileNotFound Pathname="F:\iTunes\iTunes Music\Podcasts\The Adam Carolla Show\Adam Carolla Show_ ACE Sampler.mp3" />
<Result EndDateTime="2010-11-26T16:02:54">Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</Result>
</MCiS>
Not sure if it has something to do with podcasts or not but I don't need those synced....
Any thoughts?
-
duplicate post deleted.
-
Any idea of the stage at which the sync stops?
Try unchecking "Remove broken links in iTunes" and "Import files to iTunes of types" in the settings to see if it's either of those processes. Then try unchecking "Synchronize MC playlist to iTunes playlist folder" in the main screen. That might narrow your issue down.
-
Okay - so I did it like you said - turning off one thing at a time - I finally got a success after I unchecked import files to itunes - so now how do I figure out what file/files is stopping the process? Let me know what you need me to do. Thanks.
-
Looks like iTunes doesn't like one of the files in your MC library. This is a difficult one because files aren't imported into iTunes one by one - for speed the files are imported in a batch. I would suggest trying to work out which tracks exist in MC that don't exist in iTunes. You could put all your iTunes tracks in a playlist called "On-The-Go" and sync it back to MC, then make a comparison to see what's trying to be imported.
I'll see if I can handle this more gracefully in the next version.
-
Hi Prod,
I tried what you suggested with little luck - kind of tough with a library of greater than 70k files. I did end up comparing MC with Itunes in what has been imported/added over the last 4 months. It is weird becasue it appears that all the files that have been recently added to MC have been added to itunes - so I am not sure where to go from here? Any suggestions - as it looks like everything is okay - but MCiS halts somewhere in the adding files process. I feel that it may be related to either podcasts that are in itunes or books in itunes that are not in MC that may be causing issues with the sync?
-
The offending track(s) would be in MC but NOT in iTunes - otherwise MCiS wouldn't try to add them to iTunes.
So, if you;
- Create a playlist called On-The-Go in iTunes
- Put your whole iTunes library in it
- Let MCiS sync the playlist over to MC (let's call this playlist X)
- Create a playlist in MC (call it playlist Y)
- Put your whole MC library into playlist Y
- Create a smartlist in MC that shows everything in playlist Y that isn't in playlist X
You can also eliminate anything in playlist Y that doesn't have a file type of MP3, WAV or M4A (according to your settings).
In that final smartlist you'll have a list of tracks that MCiS will try to import into iTunes. One or some or all of them may be causing the problem.
-
So far, I am loving this ;D
Question:
I am in the process of moving from Itunes to MC15. I moved all my audio files into MC15, and I can get the sync to work fine, but is there any way to preserve my Itunes playlists? I get how to duplicate the smartlists that are based on ratings, but when it's a random collection of songs, I'm a bit lost. I don't really know a lot about tags and expressions and whatnot, so any help you could give me would be greatly appreciated.
I'm hoping that, assuming this all goes according to plan, I will just be able to sync my ipod with MC15 and only use Itunes for my Iphone. Does that seem to work, or are there other compatibility issues I'm not aware of?
Thanks,
--Andrew
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Hi Andrew
So far, I am loving this ;D
Great stuff :)
is there any way to preserve my Itunes playlists?
Yes there is, but it's more of a trick than a purposeful feature ... If you rename your iTunes playlists On-The-Go 1, On-The-Go 2, etc and make sure they are in the root iTunes Playlists folder. Check "Synchronize On-The-Go playlists from iTunes to MC" in MCiS and it will copy those playlists across to MC.
I realise that the later iOS's allow you to call custom playlists whatever you like, in the past they were all called "On-The-Go x". I've not come up with a great idea yet to allow for this. If anyone has any ideas please don't hesitate to share.
I'm hoping that, assuming this all goes according to plan, I will just be able to sync my ipod with MC15 and only use Itunes for my Iphone. Does that seem to work, or are there other compatibility issues I'm not aware of?
Yes that works, that's exactly the reason I wrote it in the first place!
Cheers, let me know if you have any problems.
-
Thanks, that took care of it!
-Andrew
-
Prod,
I've just started with MCiS and thank you for all the work. Unfortunately, I can't seem to get it to load files into iTunes or the created playlist. I created a 1 album db of flac files in MC 14 with 1 corresponding playlist to sync (I have MC 15 as well with the entire liberary), emptied iTunes and set MC to convert my flac to Apple Lossless files using an external encoderer (dbpoweramp). MC syncs fine and created the m4a files in the right directory and both the m4a and the flac files have identical iTunesFileKeys (the flac file shows "[Filename(path)]01 Ain't Wastin' Time No More.m4a" and the m4a file shows "[Filename(path)]01 Ain't Wastin' Time No More.m4a"). I run MCiS to sync with the settings exactly as recommended in the Zxsix pdf.
I get the following:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<MCiS Version="5.5.5.0" StartDateTime="2011-01-09T11:44:00" Options="FFE139418083E000">
<SyncFileTypes>
<FileType>M4A</FileType>
<FileType>FLAC</FileType>
</SyncFileTypes>
<ImportFileTypes>
<FileType>M4A</FileType>
</ImportFileTypes>
<ExportPlaylists iTunesPlaylistFolder="<root>">
<Playlist Rebuild="False" Shuffle="False">Smartlists\Allman Test</Playlist>
</ExportPlaylists>
<Expressions>
<Expression Field="Name">[Name]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Artist">[Artist]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Album">[Album]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Album Artist">[Album Artist]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Comment">[Comment]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Composer">[Composer]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Description">[Description]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Disc #">[Disc #]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Track #">[Track #]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Genre">[Genre]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Grouping">[Grouping]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Lyrics">[Lyrics]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Year">[Year]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Mix Album">[Mix Album]</Expression>
<Expression Field="BPM">[BPM]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Sort Name">Clean(Replace(Replace([Name],/(),/)),2)</Expression>
<Expression Field="Sort Artist">Clean([Artist],2)</Expression>
<Expression Field="Sort Album Artist">Clean([Album Artist (auto)],2)</Expression>
<Expression Field="Sort Album">Clean([Album],2) - Clean([Album Artist (auto)],2)</Expression>
<Expression Field="Sort Composer">Clean([Composer],2)</Expression>
</Expressions>
<MC Version="14.0.165" LibraryName="Default (1)" LibraryPath="C:\Users\XXXXJD\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 14\Library\" />
<iTunes Version="10.1.1.4" />
<FileKeyWarning FileKey="[Filename(path)]01 Ain't Wastin' Time No More.m4a">iTunesFileKey entry does not exist on disk</FileKeyWarning>
<FileKeyWarning FileKey="[Filename(path)]02 Les Brers in A Minor.m4a">iTunesFileKey entry does not exist on disk</FileKeyWarning>
<FileKeyWarning FileKey="[Filename(path)]03 Melissa.m4a">iTunesFileKey entry does not exist on disk</FileKeyWarning>
<FileKeyWarning FileKey="[Filename(path)]04 Mountain Jam.m4a">iTunesFileKey entry does not exist on disk</FileKeyWarning>
<FileKeyWarning FileKey="[Filename(path)]05 One Way Out.m4a">iTunesFileKey entry does not exist on disk</FileKeyWarning>
<FileKeyWarning FileKey="[Filename(path)]06 Trouble No More.m4a">iTunesFileKey entry does not exist on disk</FileKeyWarning>
<FileKeyWarning FileKey="[Filename(path)]07 Stand Back.m4a">iTunesFileKey entry does not exist on disk</FileKeyWarning>
<FileKeyWarning FileKey="[Filename(path)]08 Blue Sky.m4a">iTunesFileKey entry does not exist on disk</FileKeyWarning>
<ImportToiTunes Filename="[Filename(path)]01 Ain't Wastin' Time No More.m4a">Unsuccessful</ImportToiTunes>
<ImportToiTunes Filename="[Filename(path)]02 Les Brers in A Minor.m4a">Unsuccessful</ImportToiTunes>
<ImportToiTunes Filename="[Filename(path)]03 Melissa.m4a">Unsuccessful</ImportToiTunes>
<ImportToiTunes Filename="[Filename(path)]04 Mountain Jam.m4a">Unsuccessful</ImportToiTunes>
<ImportToiTunes Filename="[Filename(path)]05 One Way Out.m4a">Unsuccessful</ImportToiTunes>
<ImportToiTunes Filename="[Filename(path)]06 Trouble No More.m4a">Unsuccessful</ImportToiTunes>
<ImportToiTunes Filename="[Filename(path)]07 Stand Back.m4a">Unsuccessful</ImportToiTunes>
<ImportToiTunes Filename="[Filename(path)]08 Blue Sky.m4a">Unsuccessful</ImportToiTunes>
<Result EndDateTime="2011-01-09T11:44:01" Analyzed="63" Synchronized="0" Imported="0" Removed="0">Successful</Result>
</MCiS>
</MCiS>
Nothing is imported to iTunes and while the playlist is created it has no files in it. I thought this problem was similar to Makersjam's post but MCis starts iTunes so it appears to be registered correctly (it is in the x86 directory though). I tried importing the folder into iTunes and re-running MCis but nothing happened after that either. I suspect there's something simple I'm missing but haven't figured it out. Any ideas?
Thanks,
JD
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Hi JD ... there's a typo in your iTunesFileKey calculation field in MC; you need to change [Filename(path)] to [Filename (path)] (there should be a space between Filename and (path))
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JD, I also recommend you upgrade from MCiS 5.5.5 - iTunes 10 changed the way dates are processed (affecting non-GMT users), this was fixed in 5.6 onwards.
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Prod,
Thanks I'll try it out later today. The simple things always get us...or me at least!
JD
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Prod,
I kneel at your alter! I have almost 8000 flac songs rated and I can finally get them into iTunes/iPods with their quality and ratings retained. We all thank Steve Jobs for bringing us easy, transportable access to high quality music (though not all exploit the quality) but the iTunes architecture doesn't meet the same standards for flexibility or quality of music reproduction. JRiver, EAC, Dbpoweramp and other programs let us retain and reporduce the quality to feed high quality music systems but Apple products still rule in transportable media. At least for me the Synchronized now solves a major problem of bridging the gap. Thanks.
One note on the Zxsix guide - on the synchronizer setup page under the "sync to iTunes for file type" it shows "flac;mp3". When i include flac there the synchronizer seems to try to use my flac files and takes a while to sift through each and I guess figure out they can't be used. I changed it to m4a (in my case) and it flew through the process.
JD
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thanks It nice.
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Hi prod, any more thoughts on using the stacked MP3 for syncing lossless libraries?
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If the MC SDK had some stack functionality then perhaps it'd be feasible, but currently I can't say to MC "give me the stacks for this item" - otherwise yeah it'd be a good way of doing it.
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Hi
I am still evaluating MC15 and the learning curve has been steep The forum has helped immensly.
Currently I am trying to make sense of MC > iPhone and how it all works or doesn't as the case may be.
I would like to use MC15 to do all my music file management and only use iTunes as the facilitator of syncing my MC15 music/playlists to the iPhone. That said can I assume that if I eventually remove all the music in the iTune libaray to the MC15 library this would make good operational sense? To me having only one active library is less confusing.
Could someone inform me what file extensions are supported in MC15 and iTunes that allow for transfer to my iPhone. I have a mix currently of mp3, m4a, and ape. I need to understand from the get go what file form I should be working in so I don't have ant surprises when it comes to transfer the music I want in MC15 to my iPhone.
There seems to me to be a lot of confusing information here relating to work arounds etc, if I am going to go the MC15 path I want to know that if I select "Export to iTunes & iPhone" that it just works. It that the current case with version 15.0.172 which is what I am evaluating at the moment?
Finally is there a definitive current how to wiki or instruction that relate to the current version of MC15? It would be great to have what works with what and how to in a step by step instruction set.
I ham hell bent on getting off iTunes other than syncing info and applications and help in clarifying the above will greatly assist me in better understanding how MC15 and iPhone work together.
Thanks and regards,
Fleetz
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Am I correct in assuming MCiS isn't quite ready for MC16?
If so, is there a workaround and/or will an update soon be coming?
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Am I correct in assuming MCiS isn't quite ready for MC16?
If so, is there a workaround and/or will an update soon be coming?
MCiS works just fine with MC16.
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MCiS works just fine with MC16.
I would love some advice then. I have uninstalled mc15 and have mc16 installed. I get a sync failure and it asks me to load MC manually. I run MC16 and keep it running and then rerun MCiS and get a failure. The MCiS log says:
<Result EndDateTime="2011-03-05T16:00:15">Could not access J River Media Center. Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {572802D5-FBF6-4C30-89CA-BDF2CE4AEC2B} failed due to the following error: 80040154.</Result>
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I would love some advice then. I have uninstalled mc15 and have mc16 installed. I get a sync failure and it asks me to load MC manually. I run MC16 and keep it running and then rerun MCiS and get a failure. The MCiS log says:
<Result EndDateTime="2011-03-05T16:00:15">Could not access J River Media Center. Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {572802D5-FBF6-4C30-89CA-BDF2CE4AEC2B} failed due to the following error: 80040154.</Result>
I think I know what to do.
Install MC16 again, use the latest version if you are not current. Even if you are current, install it again anyway. I think this fixes the problem.
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I think I know what to do.
Install MC16 again, use the latest version if you are not current. Even if you are current, install it again anyway. I think this fixes the problem.
That worked. Reinstalling MC16 caused MCiS to then see the MC16 library. Thank you!
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That worked. Reinstalling MC16 caused MCiS to then see the MC16 library. Thank you!
Glad it worked.
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I can't seem to figure out how to purchase this. When i go to the webpage, i can't click on the "buy" button. Anyone else having this issue?
--Andrew
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Try this:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=HB73L6V5NFFW6 (https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=HB73L6V5NFFW6)
Cheers
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Thanks, that worked :)
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Long post so having tough time finding what I need.
I will effectively just be using this to import music into itunes then sync the playlist. So my question is I'm assuming you will first compare music files, import those missing in itunes then sync the playlist with jriver?
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Long post so having tough time finding what I need.
I will effectively just be using this to import music into itunes then sync the playlist. So my question is I'm assuming you will first compare music files, import those missing in itunes then sync the playlist with jriver?
Yes, it'll do this. Use the /Playlist command line argument, and also check the playlist in the MCiS tree. In options you want to check "Import files to iTunes of types" and specify which types to import.
That will limit the sync to that MC playlist only, import any missing tracks into iTunes and also create the playlist in iTunes.
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Forgive me if this has been answered, but I searched the forums and couldn't find it.
What field from MC is the synchronizer using to generate the Track Count in iTunes? I've got several albums where it's inconsistent in iTunes. For instance, Yo La Tengo's "Popular Songs" is 12 tracks, but in iTunes about half of songs think it's only ten tracks. Then when I view it in the ipod, the track order is all mixed up and I can't easily listen to the album in the proper order.
I've checked and rechecked in Media Center (15.0.174) and can't find any rhyme or reason to which tracks wind up with the wrong count. It's not like the "band" field or "album artist" fields are different, no cases where it's like some of them might be uncapitalized, etc. I can fix it in iTunes, but then the next time I sync with "Track Count" exported, it reverts back to the incorrect values.
How can I fix this? It's not just this one album, but dozens. A small percentage of my collection, but still irritating.
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The track and disc counts are calculated dynamically from your MC library. I'm not in a convenient location at the moment, so I can't be absolutely sure, but I recollect it's based on counts of files in the containing folder with the same album name, rather than solely the values in track # and disc #. I'll confirm this when I've had a chance to look at the algorithm.
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arixey
Track and Disc counts are worked out as follows;
1. The MC fields [Filename (path)] and [Album] (or whatever is in your Album expression field if you've changed it) are combined and used to identify tracks in the same album.
2. The highest [Track #] encountered for a [Disc #] in the album is used for Track Count. If there is no [Disc #] in the album, just the highest [Track #] is used.
3. The highest [Disc #] encountered in the album is used for Disc Count.
So, make sure these tracks you are having problems with have these fields set properly, and have the above mentioned folder structure rules, otherwise you may see funny results.
I believe I took these folder structure rules from MC's own rules for the [Complete Album] field.
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Thanks for the info! It looks like a few of the tracks, the ones with the incorrect track count, had a null Disc # and all the rest had Disc # = 1. Thanks for the help, I probably wouldn't have noticed that on my own since this is only a one-disc album. :)
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Purchased. Thanks for a great tool!
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Thanks! :)
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There's been a change in MC16 regarding the way library information is stored, affecting only those who have multiple libraries in MC16.
Fix:
http://misterpete.co.uk/files/mcis601.zip (http://misterpete.co.uk/files/mcis601.zip)
Please note this is in beta, I'll make a formal release on the website next week.
Cheers!
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maybe i just need to understand the concept of this plug-in. i just can't get it to work.
does it sync the MC Library to iTunes, or the other way.
Sorry for the stupidity. but having 2 back surgeries, pain management and taking medication all the time... ?
i am using iTunes 10.2.2
MC 16.0.105 as of this morning
MCiS 6.0
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disregard the last post.
busted out the laptop
did a new install of MC 16.0.105
new library iTunes 10.2.2.14
MCiS 6.0
it works fine.
now, why is my current configuration not working.
granted, the laptop, i only imported one folder of about 100 songs.
current library is 70,000+ songs.
other than that, the only difference is instead of this laptop having library stored on local drive, my current config has library on nas but i have a network drive as z\: linked to the nas
i guess my next step is to take the current config files that work from MCiS and move them to the other computer.
any other ideas?
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A question about stacks & conversion caches...
I've been playing around with the DLNA features of MC16 a bit, and (without meaning to) have created several 'stacked' files. There is a master file, and then the DLNA-streamable appropriate mp3 file.
My last run of MCiTS imported all of the stacked mp3 files as new files into iTunes.
Any thoughts on how to prevent this? I looked a couple of pages back, where the discussion about managing lossless/lossy libraries was going on, and thought that might give me some clues, but I guess it's beyond me right now :)
brad
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as stated in an earlier post, i was having difficulty getting this to do a first scan with success.
It scanned MC library. it would take about 3 minutes to sync 1 from MC to iTunes.
my MC library is 75000 of which about 57000 are audio files.
last night, i came at it with a different approach.
i first did a import in iTunes to add all my audio files.
then i ran MCiS to sync playlists from MC to iTunes, and this worked.
i added new music to the mc library today. crossing my fingers, i ran MCiS to have those new tracks sync to iTunes. Bingo. it worked.
is the library to large to do a first run?
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A question about stacks & conversion caches...
I've been playing around with the DLNA features of MC16 a bit, and (without meaning to) have created several 'stacked' files. There is a master file, and then the DLNA-streamable appropriate mp3 file.
My last run of MCiTS imported all of the stacked mp3 files as new files into iTunes.
Any thoughts on how to prevent this? I looked a couple of pages back, where the discussion about managing lossless/lossy libraries was going on, and thought that might give me some clues, but I guess it's beyond me right now :)
brad
There's no way of distinguishing between a stack or non-stack through the MC SDK, so the way to do this is set up a playlist that contains only those tracks you want MCiS to see (in this case tracks that aren't stacks) and use the /Playlist command line argument when starting MCiS.
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as stated in an earlier post, i was having difficulty getting this to do a first scan with success.
It scanned MC library. it would take about 3 minutes to sync 1 from MC to iTunes.
my MC library is 75000 of which about 57000 are audio files.
last night, i came at it with a different approach.
i first did a import in iTunes to add all my audio files.
then i ran MCiS to sync playlists from MC to iTunes, and this worked.
i added new music to the mc library today. crossing my fingers, i ran MCiS to have those new tracks sync to iTunes. Bingo. it worked.
is the library to large to do a first run?
In a word, yes.
I always recommend importing your tracks through the iTunes interface before the first run. The "Import Files to iTunes" option is really designed for those daily additions to your library - though it should manage single thousands of imports in one run easily.
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ok. that's what i thought. and it is working perfectly now
now 1 more question.
Anyway, it's easy to get around if you just give it some thought. Create a playlist named x in MC that contains every track you want in iTunes, and sync it across to iTunes. Create a smartlist in iTunes that is "not in playlist x". Periodically go into that iTunes smartlist, select all tracks and delete. Easy.
I made the playlist in MC for all music. it show up just fine in iiTunes. I just don't understand what rules to put it the smartlist to iTunes. Just a little help here please.
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Figured it out ok.
i did notice one thing. i made that playlist and it shows 496 songs. thought that was strange since i haven't done anything yet.
well, those 496 songs are also not in the Media Center Library Playlist that was sync'd from the MC.
each of those files has a - in the tag. but there are songs that did sync that have
- in the tag in the media center library playlist.
to make sure of this, i delete all playlists in iTunes to start over.
i did sync. it appears that those same 496 files didn't make it to the list. i did confirm, these files are in the Media Center Library playlist.
so, what should i be looking for to find why those files didn't make it into the media center library playlist?
i can't find 1 thing to fault
i also have the log file saved.
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This thread has gotten a little unwieldy, but a search didn't seem to turn up the phrase I'm looking for, so...
Using MC15.0.174 and iTunes 10.3.1
In the middle of reading the iTunes library, the program seems to crap out with "The writer is closed or in an error state"
I tried changing the logging from file to clipboard, but the same issue persists.
The logging stops in the middle of a line...
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<MCiS Version="6.0.0.0" StartDateTime="2011-06-11T11:25:26" Options="FFC12810BEBFFFFF">
<ImportFileTypes>
<FileType>MP3</FileType>
<FileType>WAV</FileType>
<FileType>M4A</FileType>
</ImportFileTypes>
<ExportPlaylists iTunesPlaylistFolder="<root>">
<Playlist Rebuild="False" Shuffle="False" RemoveTracks="False">Cassettes</Playlist>
<Playlist Rebuild="False" Shuffle="False" RemoveTracks="False">Cassettes\"Meaningful" Tunes</Playlist>
[... playlists trimmed to keep it under 12000 characters ... ]
<Playlist Rebuild="False" Shuffle="False" RemoveTracks="False">XMas Popular</Playlist>
<Playlist Rebuild="False" Shuffle="False" RemoveTracks="False">Zappa</Playlist>
</ExportPlaylists>
<Expressions>
<Expression Field="Name">[Name]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Artist">[Artist]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Album">[Album]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Album Artist">[Album Artist]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Comment">[Comment]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Composer">[Composer]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Description">[Description]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Disc #">[Disc #]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Track #">[Track #]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Genre">[Genre]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Grouping">[Grouping]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Lyrics">[Lyrics]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Year">[Year]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Mix Album">[Mix Album]</Expression>
<Expression Field="BPM">[BPM]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Sort Name">Clean(Replace(Replace([Name],/(),/)),2)</Expression>
<Expression Field="Sort Artist">Clean([Artist],2)</Expression>
<Expression Field="Sort Album Artist">Clean([Album Artist (auto)],2)</Expression>
<Expression Field="Sort Album">Clean([Album],2) - Clean([Album Artist (auto)],2)</Expression>
<Expression Field="Sort Composer">Clean([Composer],2)</Expression>
</Expressions>
<MC Version="15.0.174" LibraryName="Default" LibraryPath="C:\Users\jef\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 15\Library\" />
<iTunes Version="10.3.1.55" />
<Track Filename="M:\Artist by Letter\B\Beastie Boys\Hot Sauce Committee\01 Make Some Noise.mp3">
<Comment ChangedIn="iTunes" OldValue="
Thoughts?
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I think you have something in your comments field that can't be resolved into XML. You should try turning off the logging altogether.
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First use of MCiS today and it's a great job, really !
I was expecting some kind of mistake in case of parallel increment of the number of play in MC and iTunes but it's allright.
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Thanks! ;D
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iTunes 10.4 dropped this week. Is MCiS 6.0 compatible?
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iTunes 10.4 dropped this week. Is MCiS 6.0 compatible?
I've had no problems with MCiS after upgrading to iTunes 10.4.
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Was 6.0.1 ever released as standard? The beta was early June & I still don't see it on your website.
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Hi Randy
I've had a busy June and July trying to move house with all its associated nightmares, the build looks good so I'll make it standard soon. Probably when my ISP gets round to connecting my internet in the new house!
Cheers
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I don't get it. Perhaps I'm getting something wrong here.
I want to sync my ratings from itunes to MC. I have to different file systems.
All songs for MC are flac and in a folder called FLAC
All songs for itunes are AAC and in the itunes folder.
I have rated quite a lot in itunes bfore finding MC and would like to get these ratings into MC without havening to sit weeks in front of a computer.
Now I downloaded the program, opened it and clicked on sync. Not much happened. The program first "loads the MX Libary" after that it says "Analyzing songs" and goes trhough all 25000 songs. However behind that it says "synchronized 0 so far" this stays at 0.
I also synced one play list from MC to itunes, that one appears in itunes.
In the settings I clicked on "Use Alternative File Keys"
So what am i downing wrong ?
Any help?
Thx
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Hi
There is a field in MC that MCiS will have created for you called iTunesFileKey. When Use Alternative File Keys is checked, this needs to be populated for each file with something meaningful, i.e. the corresponding file in iTunes with which the file should be sync'd. Most people make this a calculated field.
Hope this helps some.
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my system crashed and my database appears corrupt somehow (MC has no problems, just mcitunesysnc), i keep getting a "Duplicate MC cache key encountered" error on all files, so i started a brand new empty library so i could sync again.
except now its trying to add every single file from my MC library into itunes and not just the ones that are in the playlists that i want to sync. im fairly sure this didnt use to happen as i have 15,000 mc files and only need about 2,000 files in itunes to sync with my iphone.
mc 16.0.160 / mcis 6.0 / itunes 10.4.1.10
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my system crashed and my database appears corrupt somehow (MC has no problems, just mcitunesysnc),
MC makes automatic backups. Go to File/Library to restore one.
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MC makes automatic backups. Go to File/Library to restore one.
yes, i used one to begin with, mcitunessync sees it as "corrupt", media center does not. this isnt an mc problem per se.
the major problem is that mcitunessync is trying to import my entire mc library into itunes and not just the contents of the playlists.
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You need to limit the scope of the sync operation by using the /Playlist command line argument.
Checking/unchecking playlists in the UI doesn't limit which tracks are sync'd.
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So after not playing with this in awhile, I tried a sync and got this error in the log:
<MC Version="15.0.174" LibraryName="Default" LibraryPath="C:\Users\jef\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 15\Library\" />
<iTunes Version="10.4.1.10" />
<Result EndDateTime="2011-09-06T19:43:49">The message filter indicated that the application is busy. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8001010A (RPC_E_SERVERCALL_RETRYLATER))</Result>
Both applications (Itunes / MC) are open, and no modal dialogs are up, nor is anything playing... ?
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So after not playing with this in awhile, I tried a sync and got this error in the log:
<MC Version="15.0.174" LibraryName="Default" LibraryPath="C:\Users\jef\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 15\Library\" />
<iTunes Version="10.4.1.10" />
<Result EndDateTime="2011-09-06T19:43:49">The message filter indicated that the application is busy. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8001010A (RPC_E_SERVERCALL_RETRYLATER))</Result>
Both applications (Itunes / MC) are open, and no modal dialogs are up, nor is anything playing... ?
I think the application is busy.
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Whatever it was, it resolved itself. All is well...
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Juste upgrade to iTunes 10.4.1 and all is OK with MC 16.0.164 and MCiS 6.0 ...
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Just installed and tried to run the application. MC 16.0.179. Synchronizer 6.01. Itunes 10.4.1.10. I imported my Itunes library to make sure it was up to date. Everything syncs successfully. However the playlist names show in iTunes but there is nothing in them. I am synching with a copy of MC that is connected to a library on my media server. Is this the issue? Thanks
bump
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I'm running 16. 176 and iTunes 10.5 and MC iTunes Sync 6.0
Some time ago some kind of bug caused a significant portion of my 110k file library to be double imported into iTunes so I had about 38k duplicates.
I only resync my iTunes library with MC16 once every few months.
So today I decided would be a good day to get everything up to date with the release of iOS 5 and iCloud.
MC iTunes Sync appears to be working fine and deleting the broken links in iTunes (the duplicates). However, there are 38,000 of them and it takes 2-3 seconds for each one to be deleted. This seems entirely too long and at this rate will take several days for the broken links to all be fixed.
Anyone else seen this?
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Is anyone supporting this app? I don't want to register until I know I can get it working - and so far I only get blank playlists in iTunes (see my previous post). Thanks.
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The files in these MC playlists are not being matched with their corresponding entry in iTunes. There may be a clue as to why in the log.
MCiS uses the full pathname of a file to match the file so the pathname in the MC library must match exactly (case insensitive) with the pathname in iTunes.
I'm running 16. 176 and iTunes 10.5 and MC iTunes Sync 6.0
Some time ago some kind of bug caused a significant portion of my 110k file library to be double imported into iTunes so I had about 38k duplicates.
I only resync my iTunes library with MC16 once every few months.
So today I decided would be a good day to get everything up to date with the release of iOS 5 and iCloud.
MC iTunes Sync appears to be working fine and deleting the broken links in iTunes (the duplicates). However, there are 38,000 of them and it takes 2-3 seconds for each one to be deleted. This seems entirely too long and at this rate will take several days for the broken links to all be fixed.
Anyone else seen this?
Yes the iTunes SDK can be dog slow. It may be quicker to clear the iTunes library, reimport, then perform a sync with MCiS. I imagine this advice is too late, sorry.
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Does MCiS support MC17 yet?
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I checked my paths and they are exactly the same when I check the properties of the files in MC and in Itunes. But I am still getting empty playlists in iTunes. I am running a synchronize right now and selecting just about every field in MCIS to see if it is something else that is causing the problem. Any other thoughts on what might be causing this?
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Does MCiS support MC17 yet?
Works just fine.
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Works just fine.
This comment reminded me of a deja vu. I had asked this same questions re MC15 to MC16 and got the same answer. You then said: I think I know what the problem is: Please reinstall MC16 (now it's MC17) and it should work just fine. I did that and it "works just fine." I repeat this for those who might have this issue. Thanks again.
John
Edit: Actually, that was Prod who gave me those directions.
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This comment reminded me of a deja vu. I had asked this same questions re MC15 to MC16 and got the same answer. You then said: I think I know what the problem is: Please reinstall MC16 (now it's MC17) and it should work just fine. I did that and it "works just fine." I repeat this for those who might have this issue. Thanks again.
John
Edit: Actually, that was Prod who gave me those directions.
Good catch...
I had no problem when I upgraded to MC17, but I think there is a possibility (prod can confirm it) that if you:
1) Had MCiS installed and working with an earlier version of MC
2) Installed MC17
3) Uninstalled the earlier version of MC
4) Launched MCiS
In this scenario MCiS may not be able to automatically load the MC library. If this happens a reinstall of MC17 or an upgrade to a later version of MC17 should solve the issue.
If you do an upgrade of MC17 after step 3) above, before you launch MCiS again, you would not see the issue.
Again, prod could confirm if this is a possibility with MC17.
What I can confirm is that I use MCiS with MC17 every day, and it works fine for me.
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Again, prod could confirm if this is a possibility with MC17.
Indeed it is. All versions of MC share the same external interface. By uninstalling any version of MC you also uninstall the interface, even though another version of MC may be installed. If you are uninstalling an older version of MC on your machine, you must do a refresh install of your newer MC version for MCiS, or any other software utilising the MC SDK, to control MC.
I think many MC users update quite often, and so this gives the illusion that the problem simply disappeared without intervention.
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Does MCiS support iTunes 10.5 ?
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Does MCiS support iTunes 10.5 ?
Yes.
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Prod,
Been away from this for a while but needed to resynch. I've updated to latest of everything. Keep getting error as follows:
<MC Version="17.0.27" LibraryName="Main Library" LibraryPath="C:\Users\James Daras\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 17\Library\" />
<iTunes Version="10.5.0.142" />
<Result EndDateTime="2011-11-08T21:13:04">Could not find any tracks in MC.</Result>
</MCiS>
MC converts perfectly with proper path for m4a files. All files appear in music folder under iTunes\media but no synch. THe library name and path reference is curious as I don't see it anywhere in MC options nor in the setup for MCiS.
One difference I've noted which is likely unrelated but worth noting is the iTunes library in the latest versions of iTunes references simply the overall iTunes library - in my case my "E:\my music\iTunes" - which has subfolders for media\music. The Zxsixs guide states the directory for iTunesSynch should be exactly as shown in the iTunes preferences for the media folder. Using "E:\my music\iTunes" as the directory parameter for the iTunesSynch library field in MC results in the music folders populated directly under the "itunes" directory rather than the iTunes\media\music folder where iTunes would normally populate and presumably look for music. So I didn't follow the guide and used the subfolder ...\media\music in the iTunes synch directory parameter. The music is in the right place but has this disturbed the MCiS synch process?
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I've answered my own question. MC now hac a library management function with a default library that isn't the library designated in Library and Folders section of Options. If you go to File/Library in the main menu and designate and name your library the problem is solved.
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I've been using this excellent application on a daily basis for a while now. Since the last upgrade to 10.5.1.42 (though this may be a coincidence) the application has stopped working, with this message in the log.
<Result EndDateTime="2011-11-19T11:14:18">Unable to cast COM object of type 'iTunesLib.iTunesAppClass' to interface type 'iTunesLib.IiTunes'. This operation failed because the QueryInterface call on the COM component for the interface with IID '{9DD6680B-3EDC-40DB-A771-E6FE4832E34A}' failed due to the following error: No such interface supported (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80004002 (E_NOINTERFACE)).</Result>
Any ideas what the problem might be?
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Reinstalling MC resolved this issue for me. Maybe reinstalling iTunes will fix it for you.
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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).
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Screw it, I'm going to try a sync of 1.63 Million files from MC17 into iTunes via MCiS.
What do you think the log will show when it fails ;)
If this works, I'll pay you TWICE the registration fee!
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Screw it, I'm going to try a sync of 1.63 Million files from MC17 into iTunes via MCiS.
What do you think the log will show when it fails ;)
If this works, I'll pay you TWICE the registration fee!
If it works, you can have it for nothing! ;)
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If it works, you can have it for nothing! ;)
HaHaHa ... "Error Duplicate MC cache key encountered"
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Aw shucks :( ... You have a duplicate in your MC library, two entries with the same full pathname maybe.
Brave try though. I reckon the chance of iTunes surviving with half that amount of files is really, really low.
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Been away from MCiTS for a while, but finally undertook the 'stack-ification' of my main MC library.
Sadly, something has now failed for me. Symptoms:
- In 3 consecutive runs, MCiTS has reported nearly 7000 items synced.
- In 3 consecutive runs, MCiTS has reported removing over 10k dead tracks
- In 3 consecutive runs, MCiTS has reported needing to import a bunch of files, but examining the log shows that every import has failed.
Feeling fully comfortable in blaming iTunes, I then went and removed all the dead tracks from the iTunes Library. Another run gave me a report that nearly 7000 items synced, nothing needed to be removed, and a bunch of failed imports.
Arrrgh!
Any thoughts as to what could be going on, or how to resolve it?
Top and a couple of tails from the logs as follows:
<MCiS Version="6.0.1.0" StartDateTime="2011-12-03T18:05:55" Options="7C12A00003BEF7F">
<ImportFileTypes>
<FileType>MP3</FileType>
<FileType>M4A</FileType>
<FileType>M4P</FileType>
<FileType>M4B</FileType>
<FileType>AA</FileType>
</ImportFileTypes>
<Expressions>
<Expression Field="Name">[Name]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Artist">[Artist]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Album">[Album]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Album Artist">[Album Artist]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Comment">[Comment]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Composer">[Composer]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Description">[Description]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Disc #">[Disc #]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Track #">[Track #]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Genre">[Genre]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Grouping">[Grouping]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Lyrics">[Lyrics]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Year">[Year]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Mix Album">[Mix Album]</Expression>
<Expression Field="BPM">[BPM]</Expression>
<Expression Field="Sort Name">Clean(Replace(Replace([Name],/(),/)),2)</Expression>
<Expression Field="Sort Artist">Clean([Artist],2)</Expression>
<Expression Field="Sort Album Artist">Clean([Album Artist (auto)],2)</Expression>
<Expression Field="Sort Album">Clean([Album],2) - Clean([Album Artist (auto)],2)</Expression>
<Expression Field="Sort Composer">Clean([Composer],2)</Expression>
</Expressions>
<MC Version="17.0.46" LibraryName="Main Library" LibraryPath="C:\Users\Brad\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 17\Library\" Playlist="iTunes Sync List" />
<iTunes Version="10.5.1.42" />
and
<Result EndDateTime="2011-12-03T17:47:18" Analyzed="23400" Synchronized="6854" Imported="0" Removed="10785">Successful</Result>
<Result EndDateTime="2011-12-03T18:07:48" Analyzed="12615" Synchronized="6854" Imported="0" Removed="0">Successful</Result>
Best,
brad
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I believe I may be the world's biggest idiot today.
Because I was expecting several thousand files to be synced and changed, I made sure that the first time I ran MCiTS, I put it into "Test Mode".
I then forgot I had done that.
Every subsequent run (including the one I did after nuking my entire iTunes library and reimporting everything) still had Test Mode turned on.
A NON-test mode run is in progress and seems to be progressing normally.
Please return to your regularly scheduled Media Center-ing...
brad
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Hello ;D,
I use this prog for 2 days and now I am a little bit confused ? After multiple synchronizing, I´ve lost my "Ratings" in MC17, because the information was taken from iTunes >:(
I would like to override the informations in iTunes in any case. The information in MC17 should not be changed!
I've seen that there is the possibility to override only the aggregated field from iTunes (/ExportAggregatesOnlyFrom:MC). But how does it work? I have found no settings to select them ?
Thx...
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Hi,
It's a command line argument, so you have to specify it when you run MCiS, e.g. MCiTunesSynchronizer.exe /ExportAggregatesOnlyFrom:MC
Hope that helps.
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@ Prod
thx a lot it works fine ;D
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A small issue/question:
I'm syncing smartlists from MC to iTunes with a limit of 200 songs.
In MC this is exactly 200 songs on each refresh, but in iTunes this is mostly not even 100 songs.
Is there another setting I need to set to have the same amount of songs or how is the synchronizer actually working ?
Update 29/12:
I did some more investigation:
- It doesn't happen when my complete library is synced between MC & iTunes
- It only happens when I select a playlistgroup from MC to be synced and your tool imports the ones that are not in iTunes yet
So here is the exact situation:
- In MC I have a playlist group called "iTunesSync" which contains all kind of smart playlists with a limit of 100 songs per smartlist
- Your tool is setup to only sync this playlist group and its content and to import missing files
- When starting your tool, it scans the MC Playlist group, it then analayses iTunes and imports missing songs, then it refreshes the playlists in iTunes
What I think what happens is during the first scan of the Playlist Group, it reads MC (which builds the playlist group with the content of the smartlists), but afterwards when refreshing the iTunes playlists, it one by one scans MC again with the corresponding playlist, ofcourse the content of the smartlists are different know, and that's the reason why I'm missing so many tracks in my playlists.
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Without digging through this massive thread, can someone answer me a few questions about this plugin? I know things have changed dramatically since the first version, but I haven't been following along closely enough and now there is a giant morass to wade through if I want to catch up.
1. Can it convert on-the-fly from unsupported formats (mostly flac for me) when it syncs? What I need is something like the built-in conversion engine where it uses compatible stacked versions if they're there, and makes them if they aren't. I prefer to sync to my phones with MC's Convert Unsupported Formats and High Bitrates (with MP3 set to "High Quality Portable"), because it saves space and I don't care about quality much in my loud car and crappy white earbuds.
2. I'm pretty sure this is a "yes", but can I set it to sync a pre-selected set of Playlists from my library?
3. Can I run the sync on a schedule somehow so that it happens weekly at 3am when I'm not at my server PC? MC is running 24/7 on that machine.
My goal is basically to have iTunes regularly get a randomly-changing subset of my main MC library, built based on some Smart Playlists. When it syncs the next time, it should remove any tracks it finds in iTunes that are no longer "matching" in the selected Smartlists and Playlists. I'm happy to sacrifice 30GB (or whatever) of hard drive space for the iTunes library to make duplicates that eventually just get deleted (that's what I do now with the built-in MC engine and iTLU).
It would be awesome if it would then sync ratings back from my iPhones to my MC library for files that got changed on my phones in the interim, though I really don't care about that too much. I'm just looking for a much easier way to accomplish my current iPhone syncing system. iTunes is not used on any of my machines for anything except syncing my iPhone (and buying apps and phone-related stuff like that). To me, iTunes is a sync engine, not a media player.
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Without digging through this massive thread, can someone answer me a few questions about this plugin? I know things have changed dramatically since the first version, but I haven't been following along closely enough and now there is a giant morass to wade through if I want to catch up.
1. Can it convert on-the-fly from unsupported formats (mostly flac for me) when it syncs? What I need is something like the built-in conversion engine where it uses compatible stacked versions if they're there, and makes them if they aren't. I prefer to sync to my phones with MC's Convert Unsupported Formats and High Bitrates (with MP3 set to "High Quality Portable"), because it saves space and I don't care about quality much in my loud car and crappy white earbuds.
2. I'm pretty sure this is a "yes", but can I set it to sync a pre-selected set of Playlists from my library?
3. Can I run the sync on a schedule somehow so that it happens weekly at 3am when I'm not at my server PC? MC is running 24/7 on that machine.
My goal is basically to have iTunes regularly get a randomly-changing subset of my main MC library, built based on some Smart Playlists. When it syncs the next time, it should remove any tracks it finds in iTunes that are no longer "matching" in the selected Smartlists and Playlists. I'm happy to sacrifice 30GB (or whatever) of hard drive space for the iTunes library to make duplicates that eventually just get deleted (that's what I do now with the built-in MC engine and iTLU).
It would be awesome if it would then sync ratings back from my iPhones to my MC library for files that got changed on my phones in the interim, though I really don't care about that too much. I'm just looking for a much easier way to accomplish my current iPhone syncing system. iTunes is not used on any of my machines for anything except syncing my iPhone (and buying apps and phone-related stuff like that). To me, iTunes is a sync engine, not a media player.
1. I'm not completely sure but I don't think it will convert formats for you, it just can import and sync into iTunes. But this is actually to be answered by the creator
2. Yes, you can, via the commandline, start the sync with a parameter where you specifify a playlist or playlistgroup. Only files in this playlist or group will be synced and all files which are removed in MC can be removed in iTunes as well (same for newly imported ones)
3. The sync tool can run without any manual intervention with adding some parameters via the commandline. Then you can use Windows scheduler to plan the sync.
Hope this helps
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That's very good to hear that it can be scheduled with the Task Scheduler (and executed by a command line).
2. Yes, you can, via the commandline, start the sync with a parameter where you specifify a playlist or playlistgroup. Only files in this playlist or group will be synced and all files which are removed in MC can be removed in iTunes as well (same for newly imported ones)
Just to be clear, you said "all files which are removed in MC can be removed in iTunes as well". I won't be deleting any files (well, not most files) from my MC library itself, they'll just be removed from the selected set of Playlists.
For example, I have a Smart Playlist that looks like this for my iPhone:
[Media Type]=[Audio] -[File Type]=[cda] [Removable]=0 -[Keywords]=[noipod] -[Rating]=1 [Channels]=<=2 ~mix=1800,6%,{[Genre]=[Alternative]},10%,{[Genre]=[Americana]},6%,{[Genre]=[Classic Rock]},10%,{[Genre]=[Electronic]},3%,{[Genre]=[Folk]},15%,{[Genre]=[Indie]},4%,{[Genre]=[Jazz]},6%,{[Genre]=[Pop]},8%,{[Genre]=[Progressive]},10%,{[Genre]=[Psychedelic Rock]},4%,{[Genre]=[Punk]},6%,{[Genre]=[Reggae]},3%,{[Genre]=[Rock]},3%,{[Genre]=[Trance]},6%,{[Genre]=[Urban]} ~sort=[Artist],[Album],[Disc #],[Track #],[Name]
That's my "main mix" list for my phone. This basically builds a randomly mixed playlist of 1800 tracks using with the Genres distributed using those percentages. So, it looks at the full MC library, and then builds that list, which is what I sync over to iTunes (and then to my phone). I have other lists that are used too, like these:
600 Favorites: [Rating]=>=4 [Media Type]=[audio] [Channels]=<=2 ~sort=Random ~n=600 ~sort=[Artist],[Album],[Track #],[Name]200 Recent Imports: [Media Type]=[Audio] -[Media Sub Type]=[Audiobook] [Channels]=<=2 -[Rating]=1 ~sort=[Date Imported]-d ~n=200 ~sort=[Artist],[Album],[Disc #],[Track #],[Name]
I have five or six of these types of lists. And then I have a "regular" playlist that syncs too (for stuff I want to just "manually add").
So, I need the equivalent of the built-in Delete from Handheld any files not in the sync list feature. If the file is "in" one of the lists (which will change every time it syncs), I need it to add it to iTunes. If a file is no longer "in" the list (because the randomized lists changed with the next sync, for example, or maybe because I removed the item from the manual list), then I need that track to be removed from iTunes.
Does it do this?
I could work around the inability to convert on the fly by pre-converting and stacking my entire library on a regular basis. But I can't work around this part. I don't want to have to manually delete or add any file to iTunes to get it off of my phone. Like I said, iTunes is a sync engine. I don't even look at the files in it's database except to manually set audiobooks to Media Kind = Audiobook occasionally when I add a new book. I certainly don't want to have to manually remove stuff from iTunes to get it off of my phone (that would be more work than the sync workflow I'm doing now).
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Hi Glynor,
I use smartlists too for syncing MC to iTunes, that works perfectly, when you sync again, the smarltlists will be updated in iTunes with the same content as in MC.
Regarding deletions, the sync program does not delete physically the files, only from the iTunes library.
You have 2 options in the sync program:
1. Keep all files that were ever synched from MC to iTunes (also if they become obsolete)
2. When items are not in your list to be synched from MC to iTunes, also remove them from the iTunes library and add the new ones.
This is a setting in the sync program.
One side effect: you can only specify 1 playlist/smartlist or group in the command parameter if you don't want the full library to sync, so what I did is create a smartlist called "iTunes sync" which then includes all playlist/smartlists to get synced, or you can create a group where underneath all playlists are mentioned to be synced to iTunes, then you select this group as playlist to be synced and it will take all files underneath it (cascading) for syncing.
Then in the sync program you can specify which playlists should be created in iTunes as well, if you specify that group, it will automatic create the playlists underneath it in iTunes, even if you add a new one later (or remove), in iTunes you will have the same folder structure for your playlists as in MC.
Feel free to ask if something is not clear.
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Thanks! Option 2 sounds like what I'd want. I only said "delete" because with my current system, MC actually makes duplicates of the files themselves and imports those into iTunes, since I use the built-in MC sync functionality. If this does the same thing while pointing iTunes directly to my media files, that's fine.
One side effect: you can only specify 1 playlist/smartlist or group in the command parameter if you don't want the full library to sync, so what I did is create a smartlist called "iTunes sync" which then includes all playlist/smartlists to get synced, or you can create a group where underneath all playlists are mentioned to be synced to iTunes, then you select this group as playlist to be synced and it will take all files underneath it (cascading) for syncing.
Yeah, I figured I'd do this. I already have a Playlist Group. I'd just have to tweak it a bit, but no biggie.
So, the main problem I need to solve is the varying file types problem (flac and high-bitrate MP3 files, mostly). I need to figure out a way to replicate the built-in auto-convert unsupported file types and high bitrates feature of MC's sync utility, and then I could probably use this instead.
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in my mc library i have 140.000 songs, in my itunes library also
i have select a playlistgroup with 2600 songs
what is mcis doing in the following phase - "analyzing 1 of 140.000, sychronized 1 of 140.000 so far"
because the prozess is getting slower and slower
after 1 hour - analyzing 5000 of 140.000, sychronized 5000 of 140.000 so far
after 5 hour - analyzing 11500 of 140.000, sychronized 11500 of 140.000 so far
does mcis this phase once only
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Some fields take longer to sync than others - lyrics in particular. Be selective.
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:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
:D :D
:D :D
:D Hi PROD :D
:D Perfect :D
:D :D
:D library 138.472 Playlist 2671 :D
:D sychronisation after 2 hour to succeed :D
:D excellent program :D
:D Thank you :D
:D :D
:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
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Thanks, glad that sorted it!
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I have just installed tunes 10.5.3 and tried to run Synchroniser, but it fails with the following error "Unable to cast COM object of type 'iTunesLib.iTunesAppClass' to interface type 'iTunesLib.IiTunes'. This operation failed because the QueryInterface call on the COM component for the interface with IID '{9DD6680B-3EDC-40DB-A771-E6FE4832E34A}' failed due to the following error: No such interface supported (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80004002 (E_NOINTERFACE))"
It used to work perfectly this morning with iTunes 10.5.2 installed.
Any ideas?
Sorryy - running on Win 7 32bit with MC 17.0.68 (latest stable)
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I have just installed tunes 10.5.3 and tried to run Synchroniser, but it fails with the following error "Unable to cast COM object of type 'iTunesLib.iTunesAppClass' to interface type 'iTunesLib.IiTunes'. This operation failed because the QueryInterface call on the COM component for the interface with IID '{9DD6680B-3EDC-40DB-A771-E6FE4832E34A}' failed due to the following error: No such interface supported (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80004002 (E_NOINTERFACE))"
It used to work perfectly this morning with iTunes 10.5.2 installed.
Any ideas?
Sorryy - running on Win 7 32bit with MC 17.0.68 (latest stable)
Works fine for me.
I have:
iTunes 10.5.3.3
MCiS 6.0.1
MC17 17.0.65
Windows 7 32bit
The version of MC is an older version than you have. I also tried it a newer beta version of MC and everything still works fine.
You may want to re-install iTunes by downloading it first from the Apple site and then installing.
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Any way to batch up the deletes so that iTunes doesn't ask me one by one to delete the files from the itunes database when I run MCiS?
I checked fix broken links in itunes in MCiS and the latest itunes asks me if it's ok to delete the file for each file that needs to be deleted when I run MCiS to update my playlists and files. If it's an iCloud file then I have to check the check box each time it asks. It's a lotta checkin and clickin.
thx
Reed
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Any way to batch up the deletes so that iTunes doesn't ask me one by one to delete the files from the itunes database when I run MCiS?
I checked fix broken links in itunes in MCiS and the latest itunes asks me if it's ok to delete the file for each file that needs to be deleted when I run MCiS to update my playlists and files. If it's an iCloud file then I have to check the check box each time it asks. It's a lotta checkin and clickin.
+1
...or as a start, let MCiTS' window get pushed to the background when an iTunes dialog pops up...?
brad
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I'm not sure what the +1 means.
The itunes dialog comes to the front - over and over again - so that part is pretty straightforward.
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I checked fix broken links in itunes in MCiS and the latest itunes asks me if it's ok to delete the file for each file that needs to be deleted when I run MCiS to update my playlists and files. If it's an iCloud file then I have to check the check box each time it asks. It's a lotta checkin and clickin.
Oh, crap. iTLU doesn't do that. They all "delete" with no user interaction at all.
I can't switch then. That'd ruin it completely for me.
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I'm not sure what the +1 means.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=%2B1
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Any way to batch up the deletes so that iTunes doesn't ask me one by one to delete the files from the itunes database when I run MCiS?
I checked fix broken links in itunes in MCiS and the latest itunes asks me if it's ok to delete the file for each file that needs to be deleted when I run MCiS to update my playlists and files. If it's an iCloud file then I have to check the check box each time it asks. It's a lotta checkin and clickin.
thx
Reed
I'll have a look at fixing that, give me a few days.
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I'll have a look at fixing that, give me a few days.
I've never seen the problem myself. Is this related to using iCloud?
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I've never seen the problem myself. Is this related to using iCloud?
Hm you could be right, this isn't happening for me either. I don't use iTunes Match.
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Maybe you're onto something...I DO use iTunes Match, and see the confirmation dialog when using MCiTS to delete tracks from iTunes.
brad
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Maybe you're onto something...I DO use iTunes Match, and see the confirmation dialog when using MCiTS to delete tracks from iTunes.
brad
As I thought. This is either related to iCloud & maybe only with iCloud & iTunes Match. One one hand I would say Apple is new to the cloud, so all of this functionality is not yet mature. There are other things they need to consider in this model. While I don't use iCloud myself I've done some reading up on it. When you delete a song from iTunes it will also delete it from any synchronized devices. There is also a prompt if ask if you want to delete it from iCloud. This is probably why you are getting the prompt. If I were Apple I would not want to get blamed for deleting stuff from iCloud without the user being involved.
EDIT:
While all this cloud stuff looks simple to the user, it is actually very complicated behind the scenes. That's one reason why I choose not to use iCloud for now. Maybe later as it becomes more mature. Also, iTunes Match is useless for me as I've done extensive tagging that is maintained in the files. iTunes Match does not upload your original files to the cloud. It only uploads the ones that are missing from their larger database. So I can't see how my tagging is preserved (unless it is using a copy of my iTunes library to reference the tags).
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I'm trying to schedule MCiS to sync MC and iTunes in the background using Win7 x64, but get the following error when I try: "An error occurred filling the playlist tree. Try loading MC manually first."
The sync process works fine if I manually open MCiS and execute the sync process.
I get the same error when I try to run "C:\Users\Public\Documents\MCiS\MCiTunesSynchronizer.exe" directly from an admin command prompt.
I'm using: MC v 17.0.85 and MCiS 6.0.1
What's wrong?
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hi prod
where is in mc the field "sort album" and "sort artist"
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I'm trying to schedule MCiS to sync MC and iTunes in the background using Win7 x64, but get the following error when I try: "An error occurred filling the playlist tree. Try loading MC manually first."
The sync process works fine if I manually open MCiS and execute the sync process.
I get the same error when I try to run "C:\Users\Public\Documents\MCiS\MCiTunesSynchronizer.exe" directly from an admin command prompt.
I'm using: MC v 17.0.85 and MCiS 6.0.1
What's wrong?
It means it can't find MC, most likely because you're attempting to run it as another user.
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hi prod
where is in mc the field "sort album" and "sort artist"
Hi, these fields don't exist in MC, they're generated using MC expressions. If you right-click on the field name, e.g. Sort Album, in MCiS it'll let you edit the expression it sends to MC to get the value to put in iTunes.
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It means it can't find MC, most likely because you're attempting to run it as another user.
OK, but how do I get MCiS to "find" MC? I'm running the command from a DOS command window that I opened under my user account. The same account I use when I run MCiS manually.
Do I need to tell it the path to the MC library? If so, what's the syntax?
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It's not really a case of knowing MC's physical location via a command line, it uses a COM SDK that is exposed by MC. All sorts of dark magic going on under the hood.
What did you mean when you said you were trying to run it in the background, and trying to run it from an admin command prompt?
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What did you mean when you said you were trying to run it in the background, and trying to run it from an admin command prompt?
I first tried setting up a scheduled task using Win7 Task Scheduler and the syntax documented on page one of this post, but that didn't work.
I then started troubleshooting, by reasoning that if I ran the same syntax directly from a DOS prompt, that would rule out the Task Scheduler as the culprit, but I got the same error when launched from the DOS prompt.
Again, everything works fine if I manually launch MCiS from an icon, but it doesn't work from the command line/scheduler.
What can I do?
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Works fine from the command line here. Make sure you're not running the command line as administrator. Try Start>Run, type 'cmd' then enter. Then try running MCiS from there.
Also, try running it from the same folder as the MCiS exe file.
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Make sure you're not running the command line as administrator. Try Start>Run, type 'cmd' then enter. Then try running MCiS from there
That did it. I was running from an admin cmd window and had scheduled the task to "Run with highest priveledges". Running from a non-admin cmd window and with the "highest priveledges" box unchecked works.
Thanks for your help! It would be helpful to add that tip at the front of this thread in your sticky post.
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That did it. I was running from an admin cmd window and had scheduled the task to "Run with highest priveledges". Running from a non-admin cmd window and with the "highest priveledges" box unchecked works.
Thanks for your help! It would be helpful to add that tip at the front of this thread in your sticky post.
Great stuff, glad to help.
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So when I run this, it all looks fine, loads the MC library, then says it's analyzing and syncing the iTunes database, but then says "the Writer is closed or in error state." I had this running before, and I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Anyone else had this problem before? I'm using MC 16, btw. Thanks for your help, as always.
EDIT: Ok, so when I go to the log, it says a duplicate MC cache key exists, but I'm it entirely sure what that means.
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Duplicate cache key means you have two entries in your MC library sharing the same path and filename. Shouldn't be allowed to happen, but it's been reported before.
...UNLESS you have Use Alternative Keys checked in Settings, then it means your iTunesFileKey MC field contains duplicates.
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Hmm, I don't have Use Alternative Keys checked. Is there any way to run some sort of diagnostic test on my MC library to find out where the duplicates are and rename them? Or some sort of cleanup utility?
Thanks again for the help.
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Not that I know of. You could probably create a smartlist showing only entries with duplicates on the pathname field.
Apologies for not giving a better error message here, at the point of design I probably thought this wouldnt happen... My bad!
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Thanks. I'll give that a shot :)
--Andrew
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hi prod
can you tell me the name from the itunes fields
"album artist sort"
"composer sort"
the fiels "artist sort" and "album sort" have i create in mc and fill it. go faster
but with the other two fields, without success
mfg rhgh
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hi prod
can you tell me the name from the itunes fields
"album artist sort"
"composer sort"
the fiels "artist sort" and "album sort" have i create in mc and fill it. go faster
but with the other two fields, without success
mfg rhgh
I'm not sure what you mean? If you right-click the checkbox fields "Sort Album Artist" and "Sort Composer" in MCiS, you should see the MC expression that is currently being used. You can edit the expression here, as well as revert it back to the default setting. If you were to instead create a calculated field in MC called, for example "SortAlbumArtist", then you would simply enter [SortAlbumArtist] into this expression edit box in MCiS.
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hi prod
when i use mcis to fill the fields (album sort - artist sort - composer sort - album artist sort) i think my pc run 2 weeks thru.
that's why i create in mc the fields artist sort and album sort, fill the fields with the function move/copy fields, import the music in itunes and the information is also in the itunes fields.
but i can't find information over the fields (album artist sort and composer sort).
all test with this two fields failled.
save itunes the information in the id3tags
mfg rhgh
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I think I see, you're looking for the names of the tags where iTunes stores this info in the physical file.
This help any? http://help.mp3tag.de/main_tags.html
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hi prod
yes
i create in mc the field albumartistsort but it failed.
it's not the same who itunes used
mfg rhgh
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How can I import only a subset of my MC library into iTunes? I only want to sync those files in a couple of smartlists, yet if I check the 'Import files to iTunes of type' box it imports everything, not just the smartlists I have selected on the main screen...
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hi prod
yes
i create in mc the field albumartistsort but it failed.
it's not the same who itunes used
mfg rhgh
Not sure then, sorry.
How can I import only a subset of my MC library into iTunes? I only want to sync those files in a couple of smartlists, yet if I check the 'Import files to iTunes of type' box it imports everything, not just the smartlists I have selected on the main screen...
Use the /Playlist command line argument to limit the scope of the sync to one playlist.
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Use the /Playlist command line argument to limit the scope of the sync to one playlist.
It worked great- thank you!
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I have my sync task scheduled to run over night and everything works correctly except that MCiS doesn't shut down iTunes when it is done.
I have the option checked to close iTunes when syncing is finished and MCiS closes itunes correctly when I manually execute the task. It's only when it runs overnight that MCiS doesn't closes iTunes.
Is there a setting or a trick to making it close iTunes? In MC, MCiS, or iTunes?
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Have you tried scheduling it during the evening and watching what it is doing? If iTunes is in the middle of something it doesn't necessarily respond to a shutdown request. I've noticed this myself when shutting down my computer with iTunes loaded.
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New user here. I have read all the documentation, but not this long thread, sorry if these are repeat questions.
1) Fields to export from MC to iTunes
Some of the choices seem to be standard iTunes fields but non-existent fields in MC. For example: Track Count, Disc Count, Sort Artist, Sort Album, Sort Name, Sort Album Artist, and Sort Composer. I do not understand what happens when I select one of these. How can they export from MC to iTunes if they do not exist in MC?
Similarly, Mix Album is an MC field but not an iTunes field. What happens when Mix Album is selected? I do want Compilation to be set in iTunes when Mix Album is set in MC. Do I need to select Mix Album for this to occur?
2) Import files to iTunes of types:
I have a small subset of my 270,000 MC files in iTunes. I do not want to add any more files from MC to iTunes. My understanding is that if I do not select "Import files to iTunes of types" then no more files will be added to iTunes. Correct?
Thanks for your help.
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Just ran my first synchronization. It failed with the following error: "Insufficient memory to continue the execution of the program."
I have 270,000 files in MC and 60,000 files in iTunes.
Minimal options were selected. No fields to aggregate. No playlists. No Lyrics. No adding files to iTunes. MP3 only. Just the basic fields (Name, Artist, Album, Track, Year, Genre, and Mix Album).
All I really want to do is set Compilation in iTunes using Mix Album in MC. Nothing else needs to be synchronized.
Any suggestions?
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Ran it again. This time shut down all apps except MC and iTunes. Deselected all fields to export except Mix Album.
Watched progress of MCiTunesSynchronizer loading MC library and memory usage with Process Explorer.
Memory use started at about 220 MB and grew smoothly to 430 MB when 243,000 of 270,000 files were loaded and then MCiTunesSynchronizer terminated with error "Return argument has an invalid type."
I am out of ideas. Nothing left to simplify that I can see. Suggestions please.
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Ran it again. This time shut down all apps except MC and iTunes. Deselected all fields to export except Mix Album.
Watched progress of MCiTunesSynchronizer loading MC library and memory usage with Process Explorer.
Memory use started at about 220 MB and grew smoothly to 430 MB when 243,000 of 270,000 files were loaded and then MCiTunesSynchronizer terminated with error "Return argument has an invalid type."
I am out of ideas. Nothing left to simplify that I can see. Suggestions please.
A couple of suggestions.
If you are OK with having the whole large library in iTunes (270,000 tracks) I suggest you import everything in iTunes using the standard iTunes import to establish the initial library. Then synchronize with MCiS.
I don't use the feature, but I think you can synchronize a subset of your large library using a playlist. That may be a better approach for you. Use the /Playlist command line argument to limit the scope of the sync to one playlist. I'm not sure how it treats tracks in iTunes that are not in scope of the sync. Hopefully it does not delete them. If this is an important point for you (preserving your existing iTunes library) you may want to back it up before you try this sync method.
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A couple of suggestions.
If you are OK with having the whole large library in iTunes (270,000 tracks) I suggest you import everything in iTunes using the standard iTunes import to establish the initial library. Then synchronize with MCiS.
I don't use the feature, but I think you can synchronize a subset of your large library using a playlist. That may be a better approach for you. Use the /Playlist command line argument to limit the scope of the sync to one playlist. I'm not sure how it treats tracks in iTunes that are not in scope of the sync. Hopefully it does not delete them. If this is an important point for you (preserving your existing iTunes library) you may want to back it up before you try this sync method.
Thanks for the idea. Don't think it will help however since watching MC iTunes Synchronizer operate it seems that the first step it does is to load the whole MC library. This surprised me since I specified mp3 only in the options and mp3s are perhaps only 25% of my library yet it still loads the whole thing. Also, most of the balance of my MC library are files iTunes does not handle like pdfs and video.
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You're on the right track - but like Randy says you need to use the /Playlist command line argument. This will set the scope of your sync - NO other tracks other than those in the playlist you specify will be touched.
You don't need to import all your MC stuff into iTunes. Just set an MC playlist up that contains only those tracks you want to sync (i.e. the 60,000 you have in iTunes), and specify that playlist in the /Playlist command line argument. That should sort your memory problem.
When MCiS starts it builds a dictionary of tracks in memory from your MC library. This is so it can very quickly correlate your iTunes library with your MC library. Anything else would slow it right down. Using the /Playlist argument means you reduce the required size of this cache considerably.
MCiS will not delete any tracks from your iTunes library (or your MC library for that matter). It WILL clear up broken links, however, if you ask it to (it's a setting in the Settings dialog).
1) Fields to export from MC to iTunes
Some of the choices seem to be standard iTunes fields but non-existent fields in MC. For example: Track Count, Disc Count, Sort Artist, Sort Album, Sort Name, Sort Album Artist, and Sort Composer. I do not understand what happens when I select one of these. How can they export from MC to iTunes if they do not exist in MC?
Similarly, Mix Album is an MC field but not an iTunes field. What happens when Mix Album is selected? I do want Compilation to be set in iTunes when Mix Album is set in MC. Do I need to select Mix Album for this to occur?
Most of the fields that can be sync'd use an expression to get the corresponding field from your MC library. This expression can be viewed or modified by right-clicking the field name in MCiS.
2) Import files to iTunes of types:
I have a small subset of my 270,000 MC files in iTunes. I do not want to add any more files from MC to iTunes. My understanding is that if I do not select "Import files to iTunes of types" then no more files will be added to iTunes. Correct?
Yep, that's correct.
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Thanks for the idea. Don't think it will help however since watching MC iTunes Synchronizer operate it seems that the first step it does is to load the whole MC library. This surprised me since I specified mp3 only in the options and mp3s are perhaps only 25% of my library yet it still loads the whole thing. Also, most of the balance of my MC library are files iTunes does not handle like pdfs and video.
It iterates through your whole library looking for mp3's. Only the mp3's will be cached.
EDIT: ...and it's only iterating through your whole library because you've not used the /Playlist command line argument to tell it not to.
Perhaps start with setting up a smartlist containing only mp3's and specify that.
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Magic_Randy and prod, thanks for your help.
I got it working and I am very pleased with the results!
For any new user reading this thread here is my take on MCiS. There are times when it is handy to have a properly tagged collection of music in iTunes, such as when AirPlay is required, or when syncing an iDevice that MC can't handle. But iTunes is brain dead for tagging and MC is a thing of beauty for tagging. So with MCiS you can do all your tagging in MC and then transfer the tags to iTunes. Also, when properly applied, the Compilation tag in iTunes can turn a mess into a nicely navigable collection. MCiS sets the Compilation tag in iTunes using the Mix Album tag in MC, which is exactly what you want.
Here are some details of my experience.
1) MCiS can choke on really large libraries. The solution to this problem, as suggested above, is to create a smartlist in MC with the subset of files you wish to sync, and then pass this smartlist to MCiS as a command line parameter. The solution works but is fussy.
1a) Given the nice u/i for setting other options I do not understand why the clunky command line is used for such an important option.
1b) I was unable to get the command line to work with a nested smartlist like /Playlist:"Playlists\Smartlists\Tools\iTunes Sync". But when I moved the smartlist up to the root like /Playlist:"iTunes Sync" it worked fine.
1c) Even when filtering down from 270,000 to 60,000 files MCiS still choked about half way through with error: "The message filter indicated that the application is busy. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8001010A (RPC_E_SERVERCALL_RETRYLATER))". Fortunately the changes up to that point stuck in iTunes so when I restarted MCiS it only had to finish the last half. All subsequent syncs completed to 100% without problems. So if you are going to see problems, they will probably occur on the first pass.
2) Syncing is slow. About 1 file per second. I suspect, but am not sure, that this is due to iTunes and not MCiS. Fortunately syncing is only applied to files with differing tags. It zips through those files that don't need to be synced quickly. In my case I wanted to sync Compilation from Mix Album and only 10,000 of my 60,000 files needed to be synced. About a 3 hour operation.
3) A nice presentation of media in iTunes can be messed up by obscure, frequently hidden tags. For example, if inconsistently applied within an album, Disc # and Album Artist can mess up the track sort order. Because MC is so nice for tagging you can find and fix these glitches in seconds with MC, then re-sync the offending tag with MCiS, and voila, your iTunes collection is perfect.
All in all a nice addition to my media toolkit. I will be happily paying for an unlocked version of MCiS.
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Well that's disappointing. Just did an integrity check on my media and it seems that the tags for every file that was synchronized have been rewritten. Rats.
I'm guessing that iTunes writes tags when they change. Any chance iTunes can screw up MC tags? There's no way for me to check 12,000 files for errors.
Can someone please shed light on what's going on here?
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iTunes doesn't allow you to control which tags are written to the file like MC. Some it writes, some it doesn't - I don't have a definitive list. Not sure what you mean when you say the tags are rewritten - overwritten? With spurious values or same or different values? I've not heard reports of iTunes touching tags other than those it specifically uses.
Thanks for your comments, I agree the command line arguments need bringing in to the UI. Nested playlists in the /Playlist command line option seems to work fine here. Unfortunately it's beyond my ability to make iTunes fast, stable and good... I've been meaning to make general improvements for a while but day job and young family take up much of my spare time nowadays. I'll get round to it soon.
Regarding speed, the first sync is the slowest as there are some one off processes occurring. Subsequent syncs should be faster.
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iTunes doesn't allow you to control which tags are written to the file like MC. Some it writes, some it doesn't - I don't have a definitive list. Not sure what you mean when you say the tags are rewritten - overwritten? With spurious values or same or different values? I've not heard reports of iTunes touching tags other than those it specifically uses.
Thanks for your comments, I agree the command line arguments need bringing in to the UI. Nested playlists in the /Playlist command line option seems to work fine here. Unfortunately it's beyond my ability to make iTunes fast, stable and good... I've been meaning to make general improvements for a while but day job and young family take up much of my spare time nowadays. I'll get round to it soon.
Regarding speed, the first sync is the slowest as there are some one off processes occurring. Subsequent syncs should be faster.
Thanks.
When I say tags are rewritten I mean iTunes updated changes I made to the tags in the mp3s. I told it to set Compilation hoping it would not touch my mp3s. It seems to think the mp3 tag should be updated when Compilation changes.
MCiS is plenty good enough as it stands. My comments reflected possible polish.
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Have you tried scheduling it during the evening and watching what it is doing? If iTunes is in the middle of something it doesn't necessarily respond to a shutdown request. I've noticed this myself when shutting down my computer with iTunes loaded.
When the scheduled task runs while I'm logged in, it always closes iTunes. If it runs while the screen is locked, sometimes it closes iTunes and sometimes it doesn't.
Not a big deal, but certainly an annoyance.
Any suggestions?
Ed
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Hi,
I am getting the following error. Before this I received an error with an old plugin which I have since disabled. Not sure if this had anything to do with it or not:
Result EndDateTime="2012-03-29T12:01:53">Could not access J River Media Center. Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {572802D5-FBF6-4C30-89CA-BDF2CE4AEC2B} failed due to the following error: 80040154.</Result>
</MCiS>
Any suggestions? Thanks.
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Nevermind - updated MC to current version and that must have fixed the error caused by the plugin - as it works now. Thanks again for this great program.
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Hi prod,
Quick question for you.
I'm thinking of getting an iMac with Parallels Desktop so I can still run the handful of critical applications that are only available for Windows. I would be using my media (pictures, music, movies...) with both Mac & Windows applications which I should be able to do if I have Parallels Desktop.
In this scenario I would be using MC and MCiS in Windows. Would I also have to use the Windows version of iTunes?
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Yes, MCiS will only work with the windows version of iTunes.
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Yes, MCiS will only work with the windows version of iTunes.
That's what I thought. Do you know if I can use the Windows version of iTunes to sync my music and the Mac version of iTunes to sync the rest (e.g. apps, pictures, etc.)?
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I'm not exactly sure... I've heard that iTunes Mac & PC will read the same library as long as you allow iTunes to organise your files from the default itunes folder and never load the two iTunes at the same time. The database file however in iTunes Mac has no filename extension so that has to be allowed for, but the internal db structure is common in both Mac and PC. The problem lies with duplicating the path structure for both file systems - that's why you need to force it to organise from a folder where it will use relative paths.
All stuff I've read but never tried myself - if you try it I'd be interested in hearing how you get on.
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Thanks prod.
If I get the iMac I'll report back what I find.
If it requires me to let iTunes organize my files I'd give up and just use the Windows version instead of the Mac version.
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If I change the sequence of songs in a mc playlist, the changes are not reflected in the itunes list.
is there a possibility, I would like to make any changes in mc
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Right-click the playlist in MCiS and turn on the Rebuild option. This will rebuild the playlist each time in the same sequence.
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Had a few hiccups getting MCIS running, but now figured it out and I'm very happy. But I do have a couple of questions:
I've paid my registration and received my license key. But the key doesnt seem to "stick". Each time I start MCIS, I get the nag screen and have to re-enter the key.
Also, each time I start MCIS, I have to re-set all the settings (on the main screen and on the "settings" page). They dont seem to "stick" from the previous run.
Am I doing something wrong?
Thanks
Wayne
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Hi Wayne
MCiS must be having a problem saving your settings file, the license info is also saved in there. Make sure you have create/read/write access in the folder from where you're running MCiS (that's where it tries to create it).
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Suddenly getting this for every track during the read in of the MC tracks.
<MCCacheError Name="TrackName" Album="AlbumName" Artist="Artist">Values length is 1</MCCacheError>
...repeated for every track in library...
<Result EndDateTime="2012-05-13T16:47:39">Could not find any tracks in MC.</Result>
TrackName/AlbumName/Artist are the actual values, not those words.
Any thoughts/suggestions. Can't think of anything that changed except maybe the MC update to 17.0.147.
Edit: Tried re-running the install of MC, also rebooted. No change after either.
Edit: Looks like there was an expression editor change. The expression:
If(IsEqual(FilePath(),\\ZEUS\Audio\iTunes Downloads, 8), [Filename], C:\Music\iTunes Library\Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace([Artist]|||[Album],<,_),>,_),:,_),",_),\,_),//,_),?,_),*,_),|||,\),|,_)\Replace(Replace([Filename (name)],.flac,.mp3),.ac3,.mp3),.\,\)
Going to post in the main forum to see if anyone can help with what changed in the expression editor.
Now gives the return of 'Expression Error (Unknown)'
Final edit: There was an issue with the expression. Not sure why it worked prior to .147 - but .147 didn't like it. New and working expression is:
If(IsEqual(FilePath(),\\ZEUS\Audio\iTunes Downloads, 8), [Filename], Replace(C:\Music\iTunes Library\Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace([Artist]|||[Album],<,_),>,_),:,_),",_),\,_),//,_),?,_),*,_),|||,\),|,_)\Replace(Replace([Filename (name)],.flac,.mp3),.ac3,.mp3),.\,\))
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One small suggestion would be to show the # of tracks importing in to iTunes - something like "Importing files into iTunes (40 of 208)..."
I never know how long the imports will take. Like I said, it's a small thing.
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Hi importing files is done in one batch call to iTunes and it doesn't give any feedback, so it's not possible to give a status unless I split the batch into chunks. I suppose I could do that, it'd be slower but maybe it's worth the performance hit.
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Suddenly having a weird issue. Getting lots of error messages like:
<FileNotFound Pathname="C:\Music\iTunes Library\TV Theme\\TV Theme ~ Mission Impossible.mp3"/>
The iTunesFileKey for that track is "C:\Music\iTunes Library\TV Theme\TV Theme ~ Mission Impossible.mp3" and the file exists as "C:\Music\iTunes Library\TV Theme\TV Theme ~ Mission Impossible.mp3"
What am I missing/doing wrong? Seems to be happening to all tracks without an 'album'.
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<FileNotFound Pathname="C:\Music\iTunes Library\TV Theme\\TV Theme ~ Mission Impossible.mp3"/>
There are two consecutive backslashes between "TV Theme" and "TV Theme ~ Mission ...". You probably need to test for that empty value and not return the duplicate backslash.
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There are two consecutive backslashes between "TV Theme" and "TV Theme ~ Mission ...". You probably need to test for that empty value and not return the duplicate backslash.
They were only there in the log, not anywhere else. Just as weird - it stopped just as suddenly as it started with no changes.
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I'm an iTunes user and I want to use MCiS for the first Time to move to MC. Just to make sure MCiS works as expected:
When synchronising for the first time MCiS will sync all my iTunes ratings to the new field iTunesratingssync in MC as long as there weren't any ratings in the usual MC rating field, right? Do the ratings from the iTunesratingssync field show up in the usual rating field too after the first sync? Or will this field show up 0 stars for each song? Since I want to use JRemote on my iPad it's quite important to me that the ratings show up on the device's remote. Did anyone try this or know for sure?
Cheers, R
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On the first sync if the track is rated in iTunes but NOT rated in MC the rating in iTunes is used. Otherwise the rating in MC is used. i.e. the MC rating takes priority.
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Suddenly started getting the following error
<Result EndDateTime="2012-07-27T13:31:52">Could not access J River Media Center. Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {572802D5-FBF6-4C30-89CA-BDF2CE4AEC2B} failed due to the following error: 80040154.</Result>
</MCiS>
MC17 Rel 182 is open and running
Just started. Was running 6.0 and it failed with this msg, so upgraded to 6.0.1 with same error???
Thanks for your help
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Have you uninstalled any version of MC recently? Just run your MC17 setup exe again.
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Hi everyone, I'm away for a couple of weeks so any queries/license keys will have to wait till I get back.
Cheers!
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Thanks for the quick reply. Worked like a charm....
Enjoy your time away.
It is a great product.
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Anyone have experience using MCiS with iTunes Match?
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Anyone have experience using MCiS with iTunes Match?
I finally got iTunes Match set up and synchronized (took almost a week) and ran MCiS for the 1st time sine getting it set up. Not sure they get along well.
After MCiS successfully completed, I was logged out of iTunes (and therefore iTunes Match). When I logged back in iTunes no longer recognized my library and asked if I wanted to match this library saying something like only one PC can be matched. I said OK and it then had to re scan everything to establish the match. This did not take too long (compared to the week it initially took).
In my first test I had no new tracks in MC to add to iTunes. Also I had no iTunes tracks to delete. The only changes were last played dates and counts.
Any feedback from others is appreciated. As I learn more I'll report back.
EDIT: findings from additional tests
1) Another test and iTunes Match was not logged out
2) Deletions to clean up orphans works fine - there are individual prompts to delete from iCloud
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Seems to work fine for me. I followed a similar procedure when iTM went live. I turned on Match for my iTunes library and it took forever to match & upload. Since then, however, it seems to have worked flawlessly with MCiS--that is to say, the problems I've had with Match I can't attribute to MCiS.
I've seen the unrecognized library fairly often--but mostly on my 'client' machines (ie. they don't have any local music, it's all streamed from Match). Otherwise, tracks seem to upload and update properly, and although I don't pay too much attention to play counts, those numbers also seem to be increasing at a reasonable rate.
brad
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Seems to work fine for me. I followed a similar procedure when iTM went live. I turned on Match for my iTunes library and it took forever to match & upload. Since then, however, it seems to have worked flawlessly with MCiS--that is to say, the problems I've had with Match I can't attribute to MCiS.
I've seen the unrecognized library fairly often--but mostly on my 'client' machines (ie. they don't have any local music, it's all streamed from Match). Otherwise, tracks seem to upload and update properly, and although I don't pay too much attention to play counts, those numbers also seem to be increasing at a reasonable rate.
brad
MCiS is a great product and I don't expect any issues from it. If anything I expect issues with iTunes Match which is still very young in it's product evolution and the iTunes APIs which will need to adapt to properly support iTunes Match. That's why I'm soliciting input from others using this combination. I'm pretty confident I can work around any limitations in iTunes Match once I figure out the behavior.
I'm glad to hear it's working well for you. I'll do more testing as well. For me the last played dates and play counts are important, so hopefully I can get these to work. I'm also suspicious of what's going to happen when I rename/move tracks resulting in deletes and adds in the iTunes library. I'm not sure how iTunes Match will deal with this, especially the deletes.
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Loaded Tracks vs. Analysed tracks:
During the sync process the MCiS loads roughly 21.000 tracks from the MC library. But it only analyses about 8.000 of which several are beeing synchronized subsequently. Why does the software loads more tracks than it analyses?
Thanks
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I've been having lots of issues with iTunes Synchronizer and iTunes Match. Specifically when iTunes Syncronizer decides an existing file is 'new' and deletes the old file and adds it back again. When that happens, iTunes stops and asks if you want to delete the file from iTunes match for EVERY file. I've also ended up with random 'duplicate' files in iTunes Match after a sync. The only way I have been able to use it 100% successfully is to do the following:
Turn off iTunes Match.
Run iTunes Syncronizer.
Turn on iTunes Match.
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Anyone else have issues with iTunes Syncronizer wiping out ratings on tracks? I've yet to figure out where or why it is happening, but frequently I lose ratings when sycnronizing. Sometimes it is just a few tracks, but sometimes it is thousands. I keep a backup of my ratings in a custom field, so getting them back only takes a few minutes - just trying to figure out why this is happening.
Some additional info that might help:
I have a mix of FLAC/APE, MP3, MP4 (from iTunes), and a few AC3/DTS tracks. I use the 'sync to handheld' method for everything but the MP4 tracks to create/copy an MP3 for iTunes so for those the actual file that iTunes sees/uses is not the original file in my MC library. The MP4 tracks are in a shared location (both use the same file).
I don't listen to much music on my only i-device that syncs to that library directly, it is mainly used for podcasts (handled directly in iTunes) - so I my go a couple of months at a time between syncing libraries.
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Loaded Tracks vs. Analysed tracks:
During the sync process the MCiS loads roughly 21.000 tracks from the MC library. But it only analyses about 8.000 of which several are beeing synchronized subsequently. Why does the software loads more tracks than it analyses?
Thanks
MCiS will only iterate through tracks that are in the specified playlist or viewscheme. It will only cache the details of tracks with a file extension that is set in Settings. So it may iterate through many more tracks than it actually syncs.
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I've been having lots of issues with iTunes Synchronizer and iTunes Match. Specifically when iTunes Syncronizer decides an existing file is 'new' and deletes the old file and adds it back again. When that happens, iTunes stops and asks if you want to delete the file from iTunes match for EVERY file. I've also ended up with random 'duplicate' files in iTunes Match after a sync. The only way I have been able to use it 100% successfully is to do the following:
Turn off iTunes Match.
Run iTunes Syncronizer.
Turn on iTunes Match.
It may be that MCiS doesn't co-exist with iTunes Match. I'm a little skeptical that MCiS would delete files from your library. It will fix broken links, but iTunes would have to be mistakenly reporting broken links. In this case deselect the option if you have it set. I suggest reviewing your settings or sticking with your workaround - i don't believe Apple expose Match functionality via the SDK.
Anyone else have issues with iTunes Syncronizer wiping out ratings on tracks? I've yet to figure out where or why it is happening, but frequently I lose ratings when sycnronizing. Sometimes it is just a few tracks, but sometimes it is thousands. I keep a backup of my ratings in a custom field, so getting them back only takes a few minutes - just trying to figure out why this is happening.
Some additional info that might help:
I have a mix of FLAC/APE, MP3, MP4 (from iTunes), and a few AC3/DTS tracks. I use the 'sync to handheld' method for everything but the MP4 tracks to create/copy an MP3 for iTunes so for those the actual file that iTunes sees/uses is not the original file in my MC library. The MP4 tracks are in a shared location (both use the same file).
I don't listen to much music on my only i-device that syncs to that library directly, it is mainly used for podcasts (handled directly in iTunes) - so I my go a couple of months at a time between syncing libraries.
What is the 'sync to handheld' option? The file name and location as set in the iTunes library must be exactly the file name and location as set in the MC library, otherwise MCiS can not match library entries (unless you are using alternative iTunes file keys in Settings).
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What is the 'sync to handheld' option? The file name and location as set in the iTunes library must be exactly the file name and location as set in the MC library, otherwise MCiS can not match library entries (unless you are using alternative iTunes file keys in Settings).
The 'lossless sync' process using the iTunes file key. Really not sure how it happens since it seems random when it does - just seeing if anyone had any ideas as to what might be causing it.
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Anyone else have issues with iTunes Syncronizer wiping out ratings on tracks? I've yet to figure out where or why it is happening, but frequently I lose ratings when sycnronizing. Sometimes it is just a few tracks, but sometimes it is thousands. I keep a backup of my ratings in a custom field, so getting them back only takes a few minutes - just trying to figure out why this is happening.
Had this same issue. Eventually gave up, but would love to find out what was going on.
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Prod
Running 6.0.1 is there a newer version?
Having problems with my playlists being synced correctly, did select rebuild, and that took forever but did not solve the problem. The itunes playlists do not match the JMC playlists, some are dropped, but cannot figure out why... Have removed the rebuild and chose "shuffle" instead.
The problem I am having is that the itunes playlists do not contain all of the songs in the JMC playlists and they are all mp3's.
Thanks Prod, for a great product.
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I answered my own question. Had some itune database issues, all is good with the product.
thanks for a great product, it makes my life much easier.
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Thanks Gary.
With regards to new versions ... There are some tweaks I'd like to make in terms of user interface, simplifying the configuration and getting rid of command line arguments (putting them in settings). Plus perhaps a console that gives a running detailed log of syncs.
Obviously if iTunes or MC somehow break their respective SDK's then I'll need to correct that also, but they are both quite stable. In fact, dare I say a little too stable - neither seem to make any changes to the SDK to take advantage of new features (e.g. JRiver's stacks feature and Apple's iTunes Match).
I've recently been testing in Windows 8 and everything is working fine.
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Sometime recently (may be related to iTunes Match), I've started to get duplicate playlists on sync. Playlists that already exist in iTunes are being left as-is and the sync is adding a new playlist appended with a 1 (or 2, 3, etc). So if I start the sync with:
PlaylistA
PlaylistB
PlaylistC
I end up with:
PlaylistA
PlaylistA1
PlaylistB
PlaylistC
PlaylistC1
Seems to happen when the contents of the playlist changes, the sync adds it as a new playlist instead of replacing the existing.
Any suggestions?
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Anyone taken a deep breath and tried MCiTS with iTunes 11?
brad
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Not yet!
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Can some one please guide to the correct thread/sub forum etc. for issues with jremote.
It was working fine last night but now there is no access via the ipad. "connection failure"
The ipad's browser/email/app store etc. is still working but rremote can't connect.
Checked the computer and it's functioning fine, the servers still on the network and accessible.
Regards.
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It's on this same board. Try a search if you can't find it.
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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.
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Yes, everything seems to be working fine with iTunes 11. Post here if you experience any problems.
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I've had no issues using MCiS with the latest version of MC18 and iTunes 11.
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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 (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=76211.msg516406#msg516406)
Hopefully it will be working in the next build?
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Thanks for the reassurance! First sync w/iTunes 11 also proceeded normally, including adding and removing tracks from the iTunes DB.
brad
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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 (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)!
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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Thanks Stephen for posting back with the solution.
Happy New Year everyone!
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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?
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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.
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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?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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...
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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.
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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\
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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>
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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?
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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?
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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)
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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.
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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.
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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:
(http://glynor.com/img/screenshots/MC18-HandheldSync_AW.png)
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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.
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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).
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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!
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 (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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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).
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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.
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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 (http://itunes-library-updater.en.softonic.com/) (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 (http://itlu.ownz.ch/) 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 (http://sourceforge.net/projects/itlu2/). 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.
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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.
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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?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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).
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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).
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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.
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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
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Hi
Perhaps try installing the latest version of MC18, or if you have the latest version, re-running the setup.exe.
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Thanks. All that did not help, but I found the culprit. I had updated from Win7 > Win8 and since then MCIS requires Admin rights (although my account is an Admin Account!). Heaven knows why, but I thought I share this.
Cheers
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Has anyone tried iTunes 11.0.2?
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I have read through quite a bit of this thread and cannot find if anyone has had this issue recently. Basically it is taking 3-5 minutes per song for iTunes to import.
Setup:
MCIS 6.01 Registered
MC 18
MCIS configured to import playlist only (/playlist)
MC setup to convert FLAC to mp3
iTunes 11.0.4 (used 11.0.2 before too)
Everything worked great for awhile and I cannot figured out what changed other than possibly iTunes version although I cannot remember if I had it working fast with 11.0.2 but I know the slowness was with that one too.
MCIS works perfectly, except when it goes to iTunes, iTunes takes 5 minutes to even show "importing songs" and if I click on it at it it goes Not Responding. If I leave it everything eventually works but currently it is adding 11 songs to iTunes and I am already going on 40 minutes waiting. I have a total of about 140 songs in iTunes.
Anyone?
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I am running 6.01 Sync with 17.0.189 and latest iTunes with no problem. I couldn't say whether V18 of MC is causing the issue. However, one thing I did notice that might be helpful is that the file location caused it to slow down. I keep all of my media on a FreeNAS server attached to the network. I had to make a mirror copy locally to run the iTunes sync because it ran very slowly for some reason. MC ran fine when accessing the NAS. When I moved the files locally then the sync ran in a few minutes instead of 30-45 minutes. Hope that is helpful?
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MC 18.212 and iTunes 11.1. When I try to sync playlists from a client-server to iTunes, the only result I get are the playlists created in iTunes, but with no content. However, doing it straight from a local library, the playlists are correctly created and filled with the files.
Is it possible to sync playlists from a client-server to iTunes, or it only works for local libraries?
Thanks,
Mars
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Hi Mars, just local libraries.
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OK, Prod.
Thanks for your reply.
Mars
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Hi Prod,
How can I get MCiS to run an intial sync where it does not aggregate ratings, but overwrites itunes (i.e. a one-way sync, vs. 2 way)
I had a computer crash and have my MC database working well after all the reinstalls; however, all songs in itunes have no rating and when I sync for the first time, it writes 0 ratings for all songs into MC.
Many thanks!
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Add /ExportAggregatesOnlyFrom:MC as a command line argument when running MCiS. This will perform a one-way export from MC to iTunes.
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Trying to find a clean method for getting mp4 video from MC onto iOS devices.
It seems we need the following changes to MCiS:
1) sync from MC "Media Sub Type" to iTunes "Media Kind"
2) sync from MC "Series" to iTunes "Show"
3) sync from MC "Season" to iTunes "Season Number"
4) sync from MC "Episode" to iTunes "Episode Number"
5) sync MC movie and TV cover art to iTunes artwork (this may not be possible for MCiS, MC may have to write artwork to mp4 file)
Any chance of an update to address these issues? I'd be willing to pay for a significant update.
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Want to sync mp3 audiobooks and podcasts from MC to iOS devices.
It mostly works now except for one key feature.
We need MCiS to sync MC's "Use Bookmarking" to iTunes "Remember playback position".
Any chance of this enhancement?
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Trying to find a clean method for getting mp4 video from MC onto iOS devices.
It seems we need the following changes to MCiS:
1) sync from MC "Media Sub Type" to iTunes "Media Kind"
2) sync from MC "Series" to iTunes "Show"
3) sync from MC "Season" to iTunes "Season Number"
4) sync from MC "Episode" to iTunes "Episode Number"
5) sync MC movie and TV cover art to iTunes artwork (this may not be possible for MCiS, MC may have to write artwork to mp4 file)
Any chance of an update to address these issues? I'd be willing to pay for a significant update.
+100
We need MCiS to sync MC's "Use Bookmarking" to iTunes "Remember playback position".
Any chance of this enhancement?
If you have it set the iTunes Media Kind field properly based on [Media Sub Type] from MC, then iTunes automatically makes Audiobooks use bookmarking, so you don't need to worry about this separately so much (unless you're setting this manually for some media types other than Audiobooks).
I think I asked for the Media Kind stuff once before and prod wasn't sure it was possible to set that field via the iTunes SDK...
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If you have it set the iTunes Media Kind field properly based on [Media Sub Type] from MC, then iTunes automatically makes Audiobooks use bookmarking, so you don't need to worry about this separately so much (unless you're setting this manually for some media types other than Audiobooks).
I am setting Use Bookmarking manually and not using [Media Sub Type]=Audiobook.
I prefer the behavior of an audiobook on an iDevice with this method.
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I'll have a look.
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I'll have a look.
This. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCGIeHp9GT0)
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I think I asked for the Media Kind stuff once before and prod wasn't sure it was possible to set that field via the iTunes SDK...
Unfortunately this is still the case. The SDK doesn't allow setting of this property.
Series, Season and Episode can be done.
You could embed the artwork in the mp4, in which case iTunes should just pick it up. If there's an image file though, it is possible to add that image file to the iTunes file - however knowing iTunes it would probably embed the image into the file anyway.
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I'm testing and still learning to use this nice app.
Is there a way to only import & sync to itunes the files that are incluided on a MC playlist?? Thank you!
Edit:
ok I found this:
/ViewScheme - The MC view scheme path to use. Only tracks in this view scheme will be sync'd.
will this only import & sync to itunes the specific view or only sync?
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I'm testing and still learning to use this nice app.
Is there a way to only import & sync to itunes the files that are incluided on a MC playlist?? Thank you!
Edit:
ok I found this:
/ViewScheme - The MC view scheme path to use. Only tracks in this view scheme will be sync'd.
will this only import & sync to itunes the specific view or only sync?
Yep that's right. Or you can use /Playlist to specify a playlist. It basically ignores anything outside of that MC playlist (or viewscheme if you use /ViewScheme).
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Yep that's right. Or you can use /Playlist to specify a playlist. It basically ignores anything outside of that MC playlist (or viewscheme if you use /ViewScheme).
confused..
Will it import (and sync) only the specific view or playlist??
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confused..
Will it import (and sync) only the specific view or playlist??
It will only sync/import items contained within the specified MC view/playlist. This is nothing at all to do with transferring an MC playlist across to iTunes and everything to do with modifying the scope of the entire operation.
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Is this still the best option for exporting a MC library to itunes? Are there any other (or more up-to-date) alternatives?
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I have found this program to be extremely powerful and flexible. It simply works well and hasn't seemed to need any upgrade. Short of MC directly interfacing with Apple products, I have trouble seeing what could be better than this program.
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If anyone wondered, this still works fine with the latest (iOS8-supporting) iTunes 11.4.0.18.
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Hello prod
under settings I can only adjust such as "Mp3" files imported and synced.
I wish a Mc database field such as "MCITS" with "yes and no" to select and limit the songs.
Reinhard
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If anyone wondered, this still works fine with the latest (iOS8-supporting) iTunes 11.4.0.18.
Tried it today with iTunes 12.0.1.26 and MC 19 and it still works fine :)
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Hi,
I understand that you can sync a single playlist using the /playlist.
I was wondering if there was a way just to skip the "analyzing" part and just sync playlists that I have checked? Unfortunately they are spread across multiple folders and I would don't want to copy them all into one folder or combine them into one giant playlist as that upsets the way I have them organized and tied to each other and one giant list defeats the purpose for me. I have tried it with everything unchecked but the playlists but it still goes through the whole library....
Is there a way to just jump right to the playlist import part? If not - can this possibly be added. My library is >130k songs and it just takes forever...
Thanks.
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Just a general PSA, if you have any logic in your iTunesFileKey field and stuff with MC iTunesSyncronizer stops working properly, check that your iTunesFileKey data is still accurate.
This has burned me a few times, and just got me again (I had changed a network path and not updated the library field). I was just about to post a detailed 'help me' post when I figured that out.
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Hello, will MCiS work on Mac?
Thanks
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Hello, will MCiS work on Mac?
Thanks
Hi, no I'm afraid not.
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So, any similar solution for Macs then?
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Is anyone having success with this on MC20? Seems to get 'stuck' during the sync process :(
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Is anyone having success with this on MC20? Seems to get 'stuck' during the sync process :(
Looks OK here ... are there any clues in the log?
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Is anyone having success with this on MC20? Seems to get 'stuck' during the sync process :(
Mine works fine.
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Sorry I never came back on this - it DID work, just now has a very long (1 hour?) delay while iTunes imports new tracks. Is anyone else seeing this? Also with the latest MC, the /playlist switch doesn't seem to work, it now loads the whole MC library. Any idea what may be wrong?
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Works for me on MC20, too. Have used MCiS for a number of MC versions.
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Sorry I never came back on this - it DID work, just now has a very long (1 hour?) delay while iTunes imports new tracks. Is anyone else seeing this? Also with the latest MC, the /playlist switch doesn't seem to work, it now loads the whole MC library. Any idea what may be wrong?
I figured out my issue! Seems my (smart) playlist had got corrupted so MCiS was loading the whole library, and hence taking forever as it was looking for thousands of missing tracks which of course it couldn't import to iTunes. Fixed the playlist and now all works quickly and properly.
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You probably got bitten by this issue:
Editing Playlists On the Server While A Client Is Connected = Crazy? (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=75183.0)
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I am having problems getting MC iTunes sync to rebuild a playlist. I deleted the contents of the playlist in iTunes and selected rebuild in MC iTunes sync but it builds the playlist alphabeticaly. I need it built exactly in the sequence it is in MC20.
Any thoughts
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I have been unable to get MCiS to work with MC21. I have to bring up MC21 before MCiS it even shows a playlist (haven't had to do that before) and then when I tell it to Synchronize, MCiS says "synchronize unsuccessful. Please review log." But no log is created. It is an almost instant failure. Itunes 12.2.2.25. I have uninstalled MC20 (and restarted)
Edit: Also, MCiS used to take quite a while to load when it worked. Now it loads almost instantly.
2nd Edit: A log was created. Here is the end of it.:
<Result EndDateTime="2015-09-13T17:02:56">Could not access J River Media Center. Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {572802D5-FBF6-4C30-89CA-BDF2CE4AEC2B} failed due to the following error: 80040154.</Result>
3rd edit: I deleted mc 21 and re installed 21.006. It worked now with MCiS, although my settings became screwed up in MC21. So, seemingly no issues with MCiS.
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Pete,
Small Panic, I opened up my MCIS and all of a sudden the donation screen shows, my settings are gone and it shows as unregistered. I am not aware of doing anything unusual. Is there a file hanging around somewhere with the settings. I have my registration key, so that's not the issue. I'm more worried about my settings which I haven't changed in several years so I forgot what they are.
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Hello,
I downloaded the Synchronizer and was very impressed by it. It works beautifully. My only problem is my trial period ended. I clicked the "Buy Now" button to pay for a registered version, but the browser just forward me to this forum page instead. Anyone knows if there is a problem or how can I be a good customer, pay for the software and use it?
Regards,
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Just trying again, hoping someone sees it this time. Anyone knows how can I register this software after the trial period ended? I liked it a lot, and would like to keep using, but the "Buy" button sends me to this forum.
Thanks,
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Just trying again, hoping someone sees it this time. Anyone knows how can I register this software after the trial period ended? I liked it a lot, and would like to keep using, but the "Buy" button sends me to this forum.
Thanks,
http://download.cnet.com/windows/misterpete/3260-20_4-10088212-1.html
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Thank you for your help, but my problem is not that I can't download it. I can download it just fine. I just can't register the software to use it after the 30-day trial. I tried to delete it all and restart it again, but it only opens a window asking for my registration code or a buy now button that redirects to this forum. I am at a loss of what to do.
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Well, I give up. It is a pity, I really liked the software. It is the first time I try to pay for something and can't for no reason.
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Sorry for being quiet recently.
I intend to remove the nag screen and make this freely available. Once I've made those changes I'll upload the code to GitHub so anyone can extend/modify it.
I'll post back here once it's done.
Well, I give up. It is a pity, I really liked the software. It is the first time I try to pay for something and can't for no reason.
Sorry about that, I've PM'd you a registration code so you can get up and running.
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MCiS is now free to use, and is open source. You can find the source code on GitHub here: https://github.com/prod1/mcis
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That's very nice of you. Thanks.
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I'm trying to use MCiS with JRiver Media Center 19. I've set up a very small playlist with a single album. Trying to sync results in the following message: "Successfully analyzed 38 tracks, of which 0 were synchronized."
Any idea what I'm doing wrong? My library is much larger than 38 tracks and the playlist is only 9 tracks, so I'm a little confused about what that means. When I hit Synchronize, it shows the "Loading MC Library" message and indicates that it's scanning ~18k files even though my library is about ~15k files. Thoughts?
Thanks.
EDIT: one more piece of information... I'm trying to do this from a machine accessing a remote library. Is that possible, or must the library be local?
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Hi yeah it only works with a local library
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Hi,
I'm trying to use 6.0.2 to sync MC20 to itunes. While it does sync some track it only syncs those that are mp3 (not many). The rest are ape or flac format and aren't synchronized. How do I sync to itunes without destroying the quality of my source library encodings?
Regards,
David
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MCiS is now free to use, and is open source. You can find the source code on GitHub here: https://github.com/prod1/mcis
That's cool. I will try it again. The software is very nice and the only one that works that I could find. Thank you.
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Hi Pete,
Long-time user of MCIS and consider it an essential component of MC. I started having an annoying issue using MCIS and don't know what I have done or what has happened to cause it. Thought you might have an idea.
I use MCIS to "rebuild" my iTunes playlists after I change my music (usually same filenames, but I've edited the file in some way). Recently, a number of playlists get duplicated when I rebuild. For example, were I had, Playlist A, Playlist B, Playlist C, I'll now have in ITunes, Playlist A, Playlist B, Playlist B 1, Playlist C. I am guessing that the duplicated playlist occurs where I have a song file change, but I am not certain. Sometime ago, I had to reinstall MCIS so I may have changed setting unintentionally, but I am not aware that these two situations are linked. Any suggestions as to cause?
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Hi Pete,
Long-time user of MCIS and consider it an essential component of MC. I started having an annoying issue using MCIS and don't know what I have done or what has happened to cause it. Thought you might have an idea.
I use MCIS to "rebuild" my iTunes playlists after I change my music (usually same filenames, but I've edited the file in some way). Recently, a number of playlists get duplicated when I rebuild. For example, were I had, Playlist A, Playlist B, Playlist C, I'll now have in ITunes, Playlist A, Playlist B, Playlist B 1, Playlist C. I am guessing that the duplicated playlist occurs where I have a song file change, but I am not certain. Sometime ago, I had to reinstall MCIS so I may have changed setting unintentionally, but I am not aware that these two situations are linked. Any suggestions as to cause?
iTunes Match user? I have seen that behavior caused by iTunes seeing both the 'new' playlist and the old one in the cloud. My fix is to always delete MCIS managed playlists and sync to iTunes Match before running MCIS.
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I've been getting the "An error occurred filling the playlist tree. Try loading MC manually first." I searched the forums and it seems like in the past this has been caused by duplicate playlists, but I've triple-checked and can't find any in my Media Center.
It's been a few months since I last ran MC iTunes Synchronizer, and since then I've upgraded from Windows 10 to Windows 10 Anniversary Update, maybe that caused it? Probably an iTunes upgrade in there, too.
I'm on JRMedia Center 21.0.83, iTunes 12.4.3.1, and MC iTunes Synchornizer 6.0.2. Can anybody assist?
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I've been getting the "An error occurred filling the playlist tree. Try loading MC manually first." I searched the forums and it seems like in the past this has been caused by duplicate playlists, but I've triple-checked and can't find any in my Media Center.
It's been a few months since I last ran MC iTunes Synchronizer, and since then I've upgraded from Windows 10 to Windows 10 Anniversary Update, maybe that caused it? Probably an iTunes upgrade in there, too.
I'm on JRMedia Center 21.0.83, iTunes 12.4.3.1, and MC iTunes Synchornizer 6.0.2. Can anybody assist?
Hi
That usually means MCiS can't find MC because MC has been de-registered internally through an uninstall and for whatever reason not re-registered for the subsequent re-install.
Simply re-running your MC setup exe usually fixes it.
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Doesn't look like the Guide to Lossless syncing is included in the GitHub files. Was that intentional?
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Hi thanks for pointing that out, just an oversight. I've added the guide to the GitHub repo.
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Anyone else experiencing 'The playlist has been deleted' errors with iTunes 12.6?
<Result EndDateTime="2017-04-12T23:31:08">The playlist has been deleted.</Result>
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Yes, I have the same issue. Seems it won't work anymore with iTunes 12.6. :'(
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If you synchronize repeatedly, it will eventually complete successfully.
I have been considering rolling back to the previous version of iTunes.
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If I uncheck the option "Fix broken links in iTunes" in the settings the syncs are working again. :)
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That didn't work for me. The issue seems to be every playlist that changes will fail then succeed the next sync. So if 5 playlists changed, you'd have to sync 5 times before they all sync. Probably has something to do with deleting tracks from a playlist. I have tried debugging MCiS, but I've had no luck in identifying the issue.
Rolled back to iTunes 12.5.5.5, no issues syncing now.
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If you are trying to keep iTunes in sync with JRiver simply to utilize the playlist sync for iPhone, there is an easier solution.
I keep the iTunes and JRiver files in sync by dragging all new imports to JRiver over to iTunes.
Then in iTunes delete all the playlists.
Go to JRiver and export all playlists.
Them move the playlists over to a convenient location.
And import the playlists into iTunes.
If you have a large number of songs and a large number of playlists as I have, this is easier and faster than MCIS.
No songs are duplicated in iTunes and all playlists are added with each playlist in sync with the way the songs are in the JRiver Playlists. Now occasionally I will have a playlist that is missing a song, but mostly this works fine.
I use to use MCIS all the time but it takes forever.
I am not interested in anything but the convenience of having playlists identical to JRiver for my iPhone sync.
Hope this helps.
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Is this issue resolved with iTunes 12.6.1?
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Tried it today with iTunes 12.6.1.25 and had no errors :)
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I seemed to have a similar problem and after numerous restarts rolled back to 12.4.3. Had to uninstall various apple apps first. The install of 12.4.3 indicated that the iTunes library could not be used as it had been created by a later version (library format change?). This sounds evolving as to whether the new iTunes is compatible or whether it is fussy or ?
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Back using 12.5.5.5 myself.
Latest 12.6 had same issue for me.
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If you are trying to keep iTunes in sync with JRiver simply to utilize the playlist sync for iPhone, there is an easier solution.
I keep the iTunes and JRiver files in sync by dragging all new imports to JRiver over to iTunes.
Then in iTunes delete all the playlists.
Go to JRiver and export all playlists.
Them move the playlists over to a convenient location.
And import the playlists into iTunes.
If you have a large number of songs and a large number of playlists as I have, this is easier and faster than MCIS.
No songs are duplicated in iTunes and all playlists are added with each playlist in sync with the way the songs are in the JRiver Playlists. Now occasionally I will have a playlist that is missing a song, but mostly this works fine.
I use to use MCIS all the time but it takes forever.
I am not interested in anything but the convenience of having playlists identical to JRiver for my iPhone sync.
Hope this helps.
Thanks for the post. This is an interesting alternative
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iTunes Match causes me no end of issues, with playlists particularly. The best solution I have found is to do the following when syncing:
- Delete any playlists synced from MC and force update the iTunes Match library to push the deletions to the cloud
- Sign out of my account in iTunes
- Sync with iTunes Synchronizer
- Sign back in to my account in iTunes and if needed add the computer back to iTunes Match and let it sync
I don't sync that often. This would be more of a pain if I was doing this daily or even weekly.
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If you are trying to keep iTunes in sync with JRiver simply to utilize the playlist sync for iPhone, there is an easier solution.
I keep the iTunes and JRiver files in sync by dragging all new imports to JRiver over to iTunes.
Then in iTunes delete all the playlists.
Go to JRiver and export all playlists.
Them move the playlists over to a convenient location.
And import the playlists into iTunes.
If you have a large number of songs and a large number of playlists as I have, this is easier and faster than MCIS.
No songs are duplicated in iTunes and all playlists are added with each playlist in sync with the way the songs are in the JRiver Playlists. Now occasionally I will have a playlist that is missing a song, but mostly this works fine.
I use to use MCIS all the time but it takes forever.
I am not interested in anything but the convenience of having playlists identical to JRiver for my iPhone sync.
Hope this helps.
I have tried to import multiple playslist into iTunes per description above and it appears iTunes still only allows a single playlist to be imported. Are you (TXgary) using a third party software to do the import or ?
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Here is the simple solution.
Make sure iTunes is pointing to the same music as JRiver.
Create a folder on your computer to hold exported playlists from JRiver
Export 1 or all (can export 2 one at a time) from JRiver to folder in .M3U format
Open iTunes -> select Music at the top -> File -> Add Folder to Library
This takes some time. I usually delete playlists from iTunes that have been changed in JRiver, then export those to a folder and add that folder to iTunes. There will be the playlists in order same as JRiver.
Easy to delete all playlists in iTunes and export all in JRiver then add that folder to iTunes and over a period of time all the playlists will show in iTunes in the correct order (meaning the order of each song in each playlist.)
I hope this helps
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I posted the below earlier and it works fine, the problem is deleting the old playlists in iTunes. Cannot multiple delete unless the playlists are under a folder and then you can delete the complete folder.
The the question is "how to import playlists into iTunes into a folder?"
I don't have an answer for that.
My solution below does not work without a way to delete all the playlists easily from iTunes.
Does anyone have a solution for deleting multiple playlists from iTunes?
Below is a rewrite of my solution for exporting playlists from JRiver and importing all into iTunes.
Here is the simple solution.
Make sure iTunes is pointing to the same music as JRiver.
Create a folder on your computer to hold exported playlists from JRiver
Export 1 or all (can export 2 one at a time) from JRiver to folder in .M3U format
Open iTunes -> select Music at the top -> File -> Add Folder to Library
This takes some time. I usually delete playlists from iTunes that have been changed in JRiver, then export those to a folder and add that folder to iTunes. There will be the playlists in order same as JRiver.
Easy to delete all playlists in iTunes and export all in JRiver then add that folder to iTunes and over a period of time all the playlists will show in iTunes in the correct order (meaning the order of each song in each playlist.)
I hope this helps.
Sorry, I don't have the complete solution.
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Mr. Wallstreet
Another thought is to create a playlist in JRiver of each of your sub playlists that you want together on your player before importing to iTunes. Then you have the songs in a playlist that you want instead of having to select each playlist.
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Update on MCIS and latest ITunes (12.6.2.xx). I have not been able to get MCIS to work properly for the latest iTunes versions (it aborts part way through). TxGary has provided an alternative, but its use seems limited by ITunes practical problems such as having to delete playlists by hand and not being able to put a playlist within a folder (in iTunes).
At present here are two apparent work arounds (for those having issues)
1. Go back to 12.5.5 (that or similar version may work) or
2. Delete your entire iTunes playlists before you engage MCIS (doesn't seem to abort if you do that) - time consuming to rebuild however
Having your playlist in MC under a folder makes it easy to delete all playlists in ITunes because the high level folder is created by MCIS in ITunes and that, along with all sub playlists can be deleted in iTunes. Obviously, don't forget to update the music files in ITunes before you do any of that (import in ITunes). There is a free program available on the internet: KillTopLevelPlaylists.vbs that seems to work if you don't have your playlists in a folder
The uncheck the broken link box did not help me. (earlier suggestion)
Hope this helps and people have other suggestions. This is making me think seriously about whether I want the IPhone 8
John
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I agree on the requirement of an iPhone? Maybe not....
Cost of new phone, not able to add storage, change battery, connect and sync with JRiver, etc.
The KillTopLevelPlaylists solution works for me. I delete then rebuild by "adding folder" to iTunes after exporting all from JRiver.
It is much much faster than MCIS and ALL the playlists are in the same sequence they are in JRiver.
iTunes is going to be continually enhanced. MCIS apparently is dead.
Just my thoughts.
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Anyone else experiencing 'The playlist has been deleted' errors with iTunes 12.6?
<Result EndDateTime="2017-04-12T23:31:08">The playlist has been deleted.</Result>
Just for the record, I'm having this issue too. Am I reading right that if I script the sync to kill all existing playlists in iTunes first, and then run the MCiS sync, it works correctly?
That isn't a dealbreaker for me, if it works. I have MCiS syncing a bunch of playlists, though, including some in folders (within both MC and iTunes). Will that KillTopLevelPlaylists.vbs script delete everything, or just the top-level ones?
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Just the top level. If they are all at the same level then it will delete all of them.
I delete all of them then export all playlists from JRiver then store in a folder and Add that folder to iTunes (importing the playlists all at the same level).
Understand that each playlist has all the songs in the exact same sequence as the playlist in JRiver does. To do that in MCIS would require to set a switch for each playlist, otherwise, the playlist contain the songs but not in order by using MCIS.
My problem is that MCIS continues to abort prior to adding the playlists. Now this could be because I have not deleted the playlists in iTunes before running MCIS. MCIS was a great product. I just don't know why it has not been enhanced. Perhaps not enough people saw the value of it. I even bought a key from MisterPete. It has great potential, but appears to be dead now.
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MCIS was a great product. I just don't know why it has not been enhanced. Perhaps not enough people saw the value of it. I even bought a key from MisterPete. It has great potential, but appears to be dead now.
Yeah. I'm sure prod just doesn't need to use it anymore. I own a key for it too, and have been using it without issue for years.
My problem is that MCIS continues to abort prior to adding the playlists. Now this could be because I have not deleted the playlists in iTunes before running MCIS.
Yeah. I'm having that same issue. I looked at the KillAllTopLevel script mentioned before, and the logic in it looks quite simple. I'm going to make a version that kills ALL playlists in iTunes (top-level or not) and see if that fixes it.
If not, prod open sourced MCiS. I'm not sure what it is written in, but might be able to figure out how to fix it. I'm sure the API just changed in some way when accessing existing playlists.
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I would be interested in your rewrite of the kill playlist program to kill all playlists.
I really don't have a problem with all the playlists being in a flat on folder view in iTunes.
It is just hard to find some of the playlists when the folder structure is not present and MCIS certainly offered that.
Good luck and let me hear from you.
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I'll post it when I do it. Haven't had a chance yet.
Still a bit tough for me. I have a house now with Internets, but my network isn't all set up at all yet, my MC server is in a temporary spot (and I only just two weeks ago got it running again), and I have an epic amount of projects to do before all of that can be cleared.
However, I think I'll get to this soon. It should only take a couple hours, and I have some music I want to sync over to my phone.
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OOOH! MCiS is written in C#, which I know. I thought it was C++ which I kind-of know but also makes me sad.
I'll look at the code and see what I can do. Maybe I can even make MCiS less obnoxious to use for my use cases!
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That would be great. Seems as though MCIS really takes forever when you have large database >150,000 songs.
Is there ways to cut back amount of time.
Also the playlists that get formed on iTunes are not in the same sequence as JRiver unless you tell each playlist to sync. Perhaps most don't have to be in same sequence.
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Well, I have some good news and some less good news.
I made a script which successfully deletes all of the (non-smart) playlists in iTunes, and it works brilliantly. I need to clean it up a bit before I post it publicly at all, but that is done. The other good news is that running this before a MCiS sync does absolutely fix the sync problem in MCiS.
So, now for the less good news...
Using this completely breaks my usage of MCiS. The issue is that when you delete all of these playlists, and then run the MCiS sync, they get recreated as new lists. The issue with that is that if you use any of these lists to sync to an iOS device (which is why I'm using MCiS), the saved sync profile in iTunes for your devices "loses" all of the lists (they all become unchecked throughout the Device Sync UI in iTunes).
For me, this is an absolute dealbreaker. I have a whole set of lists used for various purposes, for 6 different iOS devices, and so I'd have to go back through the iTunes UI and re-enable the lists in all of the various areas where they're used for device sync (Music, Audiobooks, Video, etc).
So... That's no good. I'll still post my script since it is almost all done. But... Boy that's a bummer. I guess I'm going to fire up Visual Studio and see if I can get the issue fixed in prod's code!
What will REALLY tick me off is if I do this, and then Apple releases iTunes 12.7 or whatever that either: (A) completely removes the COM API and breaks this once and for all, or (B) they fix the issue themselves and the whole thing was pointless.
Sigh. Can't prevent that, though, really. Hopefully it is something dumb and easily fixed.
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I would just like to point out that I rage-hate all of this.
If JRemote or something like it would just let me sync a handful of playlists to my iOS devices and be scriptable, I'd be happy. I do not care about using the cruddy built in Music App (which is awful). I'll use some other 3rd party app which uses its own storage (or my 1TB of Dropbox if you must). I do not want to keep iTunes installed on my main Windows machines at all (because it is awful).
But I live in Maine, and I have a few Wifi only devices (including my daughter's iPad). I use JRemote for lots of music playback. But I need offline access way too often, so I need some kind of local storage option.
How I wish JRemote could be updated with some kind of local storage solution that syncs to MC. But they're trying to do things with Web apps which, while cool, are really only useful for connected playback...
</rant>
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I totally support your assessment.....
iPhone is not a good option if you want to use JRiver.
And yet there are so many iPhones, that JRiver needs to support a way to get playlist over to iTunes (terrible product) or a way to sync (side load if need be) from JRiver to iPhone....
There are currently no good options that I have discovered.
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Glynor
So we trade our iPhones for Android Devices.....
Can we sync our playlists directly with JRiver
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I decided to move back to ITunes 12.5.5 (since it isn't useful for anything but transfer to IPhone); MCIS works with that. Hopefully we will get Glynor's update and hopefully 12.xx.xx/IOS 11 doesn't screw anything up. I am at least thinking about dropping the new IPhone from my new purchase list
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I decided to move back to ITunes 12.5.5 (since it isn't useful for anything but transfer to IPhone); MCIS works with that. Hopefully we will get Glynor's update and hopefully 12.xx.xx/IOS 11 doesn't screw anything up. I am at least thinking about dropping the new IPhone from my new purchase list
Consider a Note 8. Or an S8+. I've used both. They're great.
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JimH
Are you saying I can sync direct from JRiver Media Center to the Note 8 or the S8+?
I am looking for a phone that is recognized by JRiver and will sync from the program to the phone.
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Any Android phone will work.
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Interesting to note.
I have tried several old androids to use as music player and have not been able to sync direct and then play back.
I must be doing something wrong.
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On some Androids, you have to set the phone in a mode that allows transferring media files. You will usually see a USB icon in the notifications. Pull it down and click on it.
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Works like a champ.... Thanks
iPhone ---- bye bye
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Not exactly
The music gets synced and the album data, etc, but the playlists all show up in the playlist directory as xxxx.pla with 0 records in each playlist.
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It appears to be the app on the phone that is the problem. PowerAmp is the problem.
The rest appears to work as advertised when using the "play music" app.
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Has anyone tried iTunes 12.7 yet? I'm downloading it now to try, but I don't have a lot of hope.
By the way, I never bothered cleaning up and posting my script, since it doesn't work for my needs at all (see above). If anyone wants it, if you are just going to keep the "sync everything" box checked for example, then yell and I'll post it. It works, it just makes the phone sync thing forget the playlist checkmarks.
I'm also downloading an old installer for iTunes 12.5.5 to try rolling back when 12.7 still doesn't work... but I wonder if I need 12.6+ for iOS 11 support. At some point I'll probably get annoyed and fix MCiS (if it is possible to fix at all). Unfortunately, Apple seems to have removed the COM plugin API documentation from their site, so I don't think they care much about maintaining it... My script works using it though, so some of it certainly still works. I bet it is just returning a value MCiS doesn't expect...
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Just to confirm, 12.7 has the same issue.
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To get it working, I had to roll back to 12.5.3.16. That was the latest download I've found thus far that still works with MCiS, anyway. I haven't tested syncing that version of iTunes with my iOS 11 devices yet though...
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I've had no issue syncing my iPhone with iOS 11 using iTunes 12.5.5.5.
Sadly, no playlists in iOS 11 Podcasts at this point.
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I've had no issue syncing my iPhone with iOS 11 using iTunes 12.5.5.5.
I can confirm this is correct-ish, though I'm using 12.5.3.16. Worked fine for syncing on iOS 11 on an iPhone 6s and an iPad Pro (1st Gen, 9.7").
I did NOT try iTunes 12.5.5.5 (I didn't find the download when I looked), though I did try 12.5.4.42 and it failed just like 12.6 and 12.7.
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I did NOT try iTunes 12.5.5.5 (I didn't find the download when I looked), though I did try 12.5.4.42 and it failed just like 12.6 and 12.7.
12.5.4.42 has consistently worked for me with MCIS (although you do sometimes have to double select "rebuild" but that has always been the case with MCIS if that's what you want to do). Also tested 12.5.4.42 with IOS 11 today (to sync with IPhone) and it worked fine.
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I was able to re-upgrade to 12.5.5.5 and it is working now without issue, including syncing to iOS 11 devices.
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Testing a fix I made that seems to resolve the issue. Need to test more.
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A fix would be wonderful.
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No luck.
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I am still a faithful user of MCIS as I haven't found any other practical way to update my iPhone. I am using iTunes 12.5.x since there were problems with syncing using MCIS with versions above 12.5.x. I know we are up to 12.8 on iTunes. Does anyone know whether the problems with syncing still exist with these higher versions.
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Yes, the issue still is present latest version of iTunes.
A work around that I have found is to delete the playlists from iTunes before syncing with MCiS. You'll need to reselect the playlists for your devices before syncing them. Since I only sync the single MCPlaylists to my iPhone, this a fairly painless.
You will also need to delete orphaned songs from iTunes before syncing with MCiS. (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2666386) A trick for deleting orphans in iTunes is to create a playlist with all of your songs, the orphaned items will not be added to this playlist. Then create a smart list to show the songs that are not in the playlist created earlier. And delete away.
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Thanks very much. For my use, I may effectively do something like that anyway these days. It takes hours, but not a lot of effort
1. I delete all songs and playlists from itunes
2. I import all music back into itunes
3. I sync without restablishing the playlists (about 400 MC playlists). This deletes the iphone playlists
4. I resync after checking the all playlists check box (main playlist) in itunes
Based on what you (Imurawski) are saying, if I stick with this process (or yours), I should be okay even when I update to 12.8 (although no good reason to do so yet). Thanks.
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You would save time by not deleting all of the songs from iTunes. That should only be required when you delete tracks in MC. I find it better to prune the orphans in iTunes before syncing.
These are the steps I'm currently following:
1. Sync iPhone with iTunes
2. Delete MC playlists from iTunes
3. Run MCiS and sync MC with iTunes
4. Reselect Playlists in iTunes
5. Sync iPhone with iTunes
I find myself using JR Remote or Panel a bit more now as well.
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Thank you Imurawski. Much appreciated.
I am also using JRemote much more (with Sonos and without). I find the Panel to be much too slow and clunky for daily use. (slow is the biggest problem).
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It shouldn't be slow. Please start a thread with more details.
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I wanted to provide an update on MCIS with current program version since for me this key program as I use an Iphone and others may use it too. The below may be know to many, but in case it isn't, here is one way to make MCIS work.
As posted by Imurawski (a few messages above) MCIS 6.0.2 still can be made to work with the Iphone and MC, at least with IOS 12.4.2 and MC 12.0.113. Imurawski's procedures likely work fine, but here is what I do to sync (basically, it is a start from scratch every time process instead of an updated to selected playlists)
1. Delete all playlists and songs from Itunes library
2. Update Itunes library by reimporting every song file
3. Run MCIS (first clicking rebuild for the desired playlist(s) (folder) twice - (to address an apparent old flaw in MCIS - may not be there anymore but I still do it)
4. Run Iphone "sync" with no songs selected (that will automatically be the default if you do steps 1-3) - that clears Iphone of music
5. Run Iphone sync again after selecting all playlists (or whatever you want on Iphone)
For my system, this takes a number of hours, but is basically unattended so not a lot of work.
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The main problem with third party apps like this is they don't address the problem of file compatibility. IOS products don't recognize FLAC format files and the third party apps typically don't transcode the files during synch. I refuse to move my library to ALAC or some other format that IOS deems worthy so Ill stick with MediaMonkey
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So there I landed trying MCiS. But it is not working for me, as when starting a test the SYNC with one playlist comprising one single album, and when it comes to importing files into iTunes, the CPU load for iTunes goes red and the system becomes stuck. MCiS logs are flushed with RPC errors for maaaaany tracks (tracks not part of that playlist are listed).
My setup (this setup prevents MCiS to alter the source iTunes lib!):
MacBook Pro:- iTunes as master for file organization and tagging
- MC as master accessing the iTunes lib
Windows VM on iMac:- MC slave accessing the MC master lib
- iTunes for syncing iPod
- MCiS for syncing files and playlist from MC to iTunes
- Additional settings in MCiS as per the screenshot
I'm looking forward for having a working solution using MCiS as I have not found any other solution by now to synchronize iPods in a convenient way!
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I'm looking forward for having a working solution using MCiS as I have not found any other solution by now to synchronize iPods in a convenient way!
I hope you have found by now that Media Center directly connects with Ipods and syncs them
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For those of you syncing to Iphones (currrent versions, e.g, Iphone 11, etc) and current iTunes (e.g., 12.12.2.2), this is just a note that MC iTunes Synchronizer still syncs these phones. I do a complete sync each time, it probably doesn't work to do an update.
1. Delete all itunes songs
2. import them back to itunes
3 use MC Itunes synch to import playlists (I right click twice on "rebuild" per Prods original directions re a minor flaw in the Synchronizer)
4. Delete all songs from iPhone using iTunes
5. Sync all songs/playlists using Itunes (this last step takes time because you are starting from scratch.
This note is just to help anyone who wants to sync to an iPhone. There are other ways.
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For those of you syncing to Iphones (currrent versions, e.g, Iphone 11, etc) and current iTunes (e.g., 12.12.2.2), this is just a note that MC iTunes Synchronizer still syncs these phones. I do a complete sync each time, it probably doesn't work to do an update.
1. Delete all itunes songs
2. import them back to itunes
3 use MC Itunes synch to import playlists (I right click twice on "rebuild" per Prods original directions re a minor flaw in the Synchronizer)
4. Delete all songs from iPhone using iTunes
5. Sync all songs/playlists using Itunes (this last step takes time because you are starting from scratch.
This note is just to help anyone who wants to sync to an iPhone. There are other ways.
Thanks, posts like this are useful.
I'll keep this in mind for when I next attempt to update my media.
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Bringing this thread back from the past...
Anyone still using MCiTS (besides me)? :) I've always found it most useful to create a 'duplicate' iTunes library that I use with the iTunes Match service. Because I only sync from MC->iTunes, I'm always relatively safe from metadata madness when the iTunes Match service decides that it knows better.
At any rate, for my purposes, it's been working fine with MC31, iTunes 12.13.1.3, and MCiTS 6.01--even under Windows11. However, with the recent news that iTunes is slowly being deprecated and broken into separate apps, I was wondering if anyone else had taken the testing plunge to see if MCiTS would work with the new Music app.
Thoughts?