INTERACT FORUM
More => Old Versions => Media Center 11 (Development Ended) => Topic started by: SteveG on June 26, 2003, 08:11:16 am
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Hello All,
For anyone who is new to MC, please be sure to get the latest version.
If you want to read an excellent help file (thanks Adam) on using MC and iPod please go to....
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~ashawley01/
For additional information, please check the previous help thread at...
http://www.musicex.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=MediaCenter;action=display;num=1055367255;start=150#150
For any issues not covered, please post below and someone will respond ASAP. Please include in your post your version of MC, version of the Portable Drive Plugin and Operating System.
Thanks,
Steve (JRiver)
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kc,
Thanks for the quick response. I missed the item (obviously :-[).
Steve,
I played the files on the iPod for the "gain" problem. Perhaps there is something wrong with the iPod itself.
I don't think the "red 'x'" is working; all the files are on my iPod.
Also, is it now by design that the playlist files on my iPod, as seen in the explorer pane are only listed in alpha order? Or did I fall asleep while on thread reading duty?
Thanks for the help.
John
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Steve,
Just a quickie, and I know I've mentioned it before, but...
Is there any way to associate the MC "Replay Gain" field with whatever field the iPod uses when the "Sound Check" option is enabled?
Essentially, turning on "Sound Check" on your iPod is tantamount to putting a check in the box by "Replay Gain" in MC9's DSP Studio. The data is (I think) stored in each entry in the iTunesDB, and turning on "Sound Check" just makes the iPod's portalplayer use the data for volume leveling.
If the data is compatible, or if a translation is possible, it would certainly rule.
And, again, would make MC9 the only app for Windows that can take advantage of this feature.
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Steve,
Just re-synched.The red x's still appear; the files are on the iPod, however, they are not visible with windows explorer.
John
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Steve,
First, thanks for such a great plugin. Unlike most users, I really haven't had any problems using it (running XP SP1). Anyway, I've managed to configure MC to encode/decode aac files, but when I try to copy them to my 3G iPod, I get a message that (basically) says that the file type is not supported by the device. We all know that's not true. What's true is that MC doesn't handle aac files (without fiddling with some plugins, etc.). Is there anyway to change the plugin to allow me (and other interested users) to copy aac files to the iPod?
Cheers!
Wobbley
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John,
The 'red x' issue should be fixed in the next MC.
Also, is it now by design that the playlist files on my iPod, as seen in the explorer pane...
If by 'explorer pane' you mean the right view, the files are listed in whatever view order you have selected (i.e. if your sort order is on Name, the files will be listed alphabetically by name. Click on Aritist, then alphabetically by Artist)
Kurt,
I did some testing on this and think I have a way to implement this and get Replay Gain in. I need to get some time to implement it.
Wobbley,
Unlike MOST users, I really haven't had any problems using it...
I am hoping this came out wrong, I think most users have a lot of success with MC and iPod. Anyway, in tonight's plugin I removed the limitation on allowing .aac files to get to the iPod. You will have to let me know if you can get them to play.
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<snip!>
Kurt,
I did some testing on this and think I have a way to implement this and get Replay Gain in. I need to get some time to implement it.
<snip!>
OMG, woot! Let us know if we can help, big daddy!!
(I know, I know, I promised to never call you big daddy again... I just couldn't help it! ;D)
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Steve,
yeah, came out wrong. I was referring to those that had conversion/copy issues, "my iPod doesn't show my songs", blah blah blah...oh well, forget it. My main point was to ask if we could have the ability to xfer .aac files to the iPod.
Cheers for the adjustment to plugin. Will try when plugin is available and let you know.
Wobbley
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-------------- POST FOR iPod 3g OWNERS ONLY --------------
Anyone having problems with iPod skipping first track (and starts playing second track) of an album? I seem to have this problem w/ almost every album I have on the ol' pod. For instance, I browse "Albums", I select the first song in the album, the song loads, the timer sits at 0:00 for a few seconds, then the iPod starts playing track 2. Could this be a ID3v2 tag or VBR issue (even though the new updater is supposed to include better handling of VBR files)?
Wobbley
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Adam,
Your synching bug is fixed in tonight's build of MC 9.1 and in the Plugin.
_K_C,
In tonight's version, if conversion errors occur, they will no longer report as they occur, but they will report after each set of 10 files gets transferred. I assume you would like to see this wait until the end of all the files. I can add this in.
Steve
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No joy on the iPod Manager front here. MC created the 7 key correctly in the registry but there is no application listed in the iPod Manager. I guess I'll just have to make do with starting MC manually.
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-------------- POST FOR iPod 3g OWNERS ONLY --------------
Anyone having problems with iPod skipping first track (and starts playing second track) of an album? I seem to have this problem w/ almost every album I have on the ol' pod. For instance, I browse "Albums", I select the first song in the album, the song loads, the timer sits at 0:00 for a few seconds, then the iPod starts playing track 2. Could this be a ID3v2 tag or VBR issue (even though the new updater is supposed to include better handling of VBR files)?
Wobbley
I just tested about 10 different albums on my 30GB iPod. I did not have this issue. All tracks started as expected.
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Steve,
Here are my the results of my testing against v9.1.207 / 9.0.34:
Media Center Library (30 files)
- Bangles, Greatest Hits (14 Tracks, all at 320bps)
- Bangles, Different Light (12 Tracks, all at 320bps)
- Bing Crosby, Golden Greats (Track 15 "Swinging On A Star", 128bps)
- Bing Crosby, The Radio Years Vol 2 (Track 25 "May The Good Lord Bless And Keep You", 160bps)
- Audible File, Morning Edition, June 19, 2003
- Audible File, The Art of Happiness
Setup
- Formatted the ipod from inside Media Center.
- Created "Bangles Test" Smartlist With Album="Different Light"
- Created "Bing Test" Smartlist with Artist="Bing Crosby"
- Created "Additional Tracks Test" with [Track #]==1,15,25
- Created "Audible Test" with [File Type]=[aa]
Test 1
Synchronized with
- Select Artist Field set to "Artist"
- "Bangles Test" smartlist selected
- Delete files not in list checked
- Update tags checked
- Options: force file conversions during uploads checked, normalization set to 95%, conversion to 160, high speed.
Issues
- The first 10 songs appeared to transfer correctly, but after the last 2 songs were transferred the playlist assignments for the original 10 were wiped out.
- The last 2 songs transferred were fine.
Test 2
- Within MC, left clicked on the iPod drive under "CD, DVD, & Handhelds".
- Expanded the iPod drive by left clicking on the "+".
- Expanded the "Playlists" within the iPod by left clicking on the "+".
- Left clicked on "Bangles Test" playlist within the iPod.
Issues
- The songs listed in the iPod's playlist had red "X"s through the icon and would not play within MC when I double clicked on them. This was a consistent problem throughout all the tests. The specific error message was, "Media Center was unable to play any of the files in the playlist. Please make sure that the path in the Media Library points to the right location. Also double check to make sure that you are not unintentionally filtering these files."
- Anything under the iPod's Artists / Albums / Genres groupings played fine from within MC.
Test 3
Resynched with
- All settings as in Test 1
Issues
- The 10 songs that were originally not assigned to a playlist on the iPod (Test 1) were now correctly assigned.
Test 4
Synchronized with
- "Bangles Test" and "Bing Test" smartlists selected
- All other settings as in Test 1
Issues
Everything worked fine!
Test 5
Resynched with
- All settings as in Test 4
Issues
Everything worked fine!
Test 6
Synchronized with
- "Bangles Test", "Bing Test", and "Additional Tracks Test" smartlists selected
- All other settings as in Test 1
Issues
Everything worked fine!
Test 7
Resynched with
- All settings as in Test 6
Issues
Everything worked fine!
Test 8
Synchronized with
- Only "Bangles Test", and "Additional Tracks Test" smartlists selected
- All other settings as in Test 1
Issues
Everything worked fine!
Test 9
Resynched with
- All settings as in Test 8
Issues
Everything worked fine!
Test 10
Synchronized with
- Only "Bangles Test" smartlist selected
- All other settings as in Test 1
Issues
Everything worked fine!
Test 11
Resynched with
- All settings as in Test 10
Issues
Everything worked fine!
Test 12
Synchronized with
- "Bangles Test", and "Bing Test", and "Additional Tracks Test" smartlists selected
- Delete files not in list checked
- Update tags checked
- Options: all options as in Test 1, but normalization is UNCHECKED
Issues
Everything worked fine!
Test 13
Resynched with
- All settings as in Test 11
Issues
Everything worked fine!
Test 14
Resynched with
- "Bangles Test", "Bing Test", "Additional Tracks Test smartlists selected
- All other settings as in Test 12, but normalization is CHECKED.
Issues
Everything worked fine!
Test 15
Resynched with
- "Bangles Test", "Bing Test", "Additional Tracks Test", and "Audible Test" smartlists selected
- All other settings as in Test 14.
Issues
- During the decode of the audible files, I received an error message for each aa file that said "Failed to decode FILENAME.aa" where filename is the path and filename for each of aa files.
- I had assigned the audible files to a genre, but not an album. When they were transferred to the iPod, an unnamed album list was created and the audible files were NOT assigned to it.
Test 16
Disconnect the iPod and tested playing files.
Issues
- Strange error. I could not play the aa files when I browsed by artist, selected the artist, and pressed the play button while "All" was highlighted. They played fine everywhere else.
- No problems with premature cut-offs of songs that were transcoded.
- The aa files remembered where they were when you played them, went away to music, and then came back. Major triumph!
- Everything else appears to work fine.
I did some testing on this and think I have a way to implement this and get Replay Gain in. I need to get some time to implement it.
JACKPOT! I feel like I just won the lottery. Well, maybe not quite that good, but I am excited!!!
I'm on the road until July 11th and won't be much help to you. The procedures are here if you or anyone else wants to run similar testing.
Steve -- have a Happy 4th!!!
Cheers,
kc
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Steve,
I just installed .207 and tried the new option for Artists.
Thank you thank you thank you...
Who says you can't please all of the people all of the time. The option is great.
Randy
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In tonight's version, if conversion errors occur, they will no longer report as they occur, but they will report after each set of 10 files gets transferred. I assume you would like to see this wait until the end of all the files.
Yup. That would be great. Thanks.
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Is anyone else having missing Artist fields on the iPod? I resync'd w/my old iPod last night and I'm missing Artist info.
Now, I haven't restored this one in quite a while. Wondering if the Artist implementation stuff had something to do with it.
Steve: thanks for fixing the Smartlist bug. Now I'll be able to hear tunes that I haven't heard in a long time.
Man, if you could get "Soundcheck" to work, you would yet again kill the competition!! :D :D
Then all we have is playcounts and we've got everything (and more) than iTunes. Schweet!
Adam
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JC,
Are you using ID3v1 tags (regardless of whether you're using ID3v2 tags)? I am thinking that the problems has something to do with the fact that ID3v2 tags are stores in the beginning of an MP3 file frame, and ID3v1 tags are stored at the end of the MP3 file frame. So, if the iPod reads an ID3v1 tag, since it's at the end of the file frame, the iPod has essentially "read" through the MP3 to get to the ID3v1 tag, and thus has no problem starting the song. But, if the iPod has to read through a complex ID3v2 tag before it plays a song, then it might "hang" on that song...maybe something to do with buffering. I have no idea really, I'm just guessing. But I have this problem with ALL of my albums. I encode VBR w/ LAME.exe, using --alt-preset extreme -Z on WindowsXP SP1.
Oh well, I guess I'll surf the apple boards for some info.
Thanks for the reply.
Wobbley
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JC,
Are you using ID3v1 tags (regardless of whether you're using ID3v2 tags)? I am thinking that the problems has something to do with the fact that ID3v2 tags are stores in the beginning of an MP3 file frame, and ID3v1 tags are stored at the end of the MP3 file frame. So, if the iPod reads an ID3v1 tag, since it's at the end of the file frame, the iPod has essentially "read" through the MP3 to get to the ID3v1 tag, and thus has no problem starting the song. But, if the iPod has to read through a complex ID3v2 tag before it plays a song, then it might "hang" on that song...maybe something to do with buffering. I have no idea really, I'm just guessing. But I have this problem with ALL of my albums. I encode VBR w/ LAME.exe, using --alt-preset extreme -Z on WindowsXP SP1.
Oh well, I guess I'll surf the apple boards for some info.
Thanks for the reply.
Wobbley
I'm not sure right now ... but I'll check when I get home this evening. What's the quickest way to tell if I have both types of tags?
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Everyone,
New Plugin tonight (v 9.0.35). I recommend getting it with the next build of MC 9. 1 available later today.
Phil,
Try deleting or renaming another one of the numbered registry keys and see if it causes the associated program (i.e. MusicMatch) to disappear from the list. If it does, then see if you can see any differences between what they are writing in the registry and what I am writing. This works well for me here so I can't really see what is going wrong.
Kevin,
Test 1 and 2 issues, these bugs were just introduced and are now fixed in today's version of MC.
The problem with transcoding .aa files is that MC does not support this. This is true whether going to the iPod or from within MC.
You should be all set. A happy 4th to you as well.
Randy,
Your welcome. Glad it all works well for you.
_K_C,
Tonight's build should do what you asked for.
Adam,
Can you get the latest build of MC 9.1 and then check what you have set when you right-click on iPod and select 'Select Artist Field'. Whatever field you have selected here will contol the field that gets filled under 'Artist' on your iPod. If it still not working make sure you have 'Update Tags' selected in your synch to compensate for anything that is not updated with your 'Select Artist Field' selection.
Wobbley,
I am not sure. Can you try to isolate what might be causing this for you and let me know? Try sending some ID3v2 and ID3v1 tag files and compare the results. If you can also try adding VBR to the mix and see if you can come up with somehting. Thanks.
JC,
To find out what types of tags you have in MC 9.1, select some files and then look in the lower left corner window, select 'Format' and you will see the tag information for the file.
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Steve,
I've managed to determine that it doesn't matter if I start with the first track of an album...this is what happens:
I select and album, select a track to play. The track shows as if it's about to start playing. The counter says "0:00", and the song doesn't start playing. After 4 seconds, the track name begins the horizontal scroll (my track names are usually too long to fit on the screen without scrolling), just after the track name starts to scroll, the iPod jumps to the next track and starts playing. If I use the |<< button to go back to the track the iPod skipped, it plays it fine. And, as I said, I've now discovered that it doesn't matter if I start with the first track on an album or not; it happens when I select any track of an album. Also, if I select a track that is the only track on the album on the iPod, it does the same thing, but since there's no song to skip to after the song I've tried to play, the iPod just goes back to the main menu.
I'll try your testing tonight and see what I can come up with.
Thanks for help,
Wobbley
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Wobbley,
I confirmed just now that I have both ID3v1 and ID3v2 tags for the files I tested yesterday.
Hope this helps you out a bit.
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Gents:
I don't think the track skipping could be related to tags in anyway, I mean the iPod doesn't read tags, so there wouldn't be a correlation between the version of tags you're using and skipping tracks.
I'm not sure if this isn't an iPod bug. But it happens regardless of program, I can tell you that. I have been seeing it more and more.
Try the trick of starting the album by pressing the Play/Pause button rather than the center button.
Steve: I'll check that setting tonight. Gotta admit that I've been trying to follow this whole Arist/Auto-AlbumArtist thing and you guys have me completely lost.
I just populate the Artist Field and that's what I want on the iPod. Yes, I know about various artist albums, I just name those w/the title of the album and include the artist in the song title. Doesn't work for all but it does for my simple mind. ;)
Adam
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Is anyone else having missing Artist fields on the iPod? I resync'd w/my old iPod last night and I'm missing Artist info.
Now, I haven't restored this one in quite a while. Wondering if the Artist implementation stuff had something to do with it.
Adam,
I does my heart good to see the experts have the same problems. KC helped with this in the last thread....
Basically, right click on the iPod drive letter and select which field you want for artist -- I did and the missing artists reappeared. 8)
John
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All,
I have the latest 9.1.208 build and the latest iPod plugin build (9.0.35)....I am having the missing artist problem. All of the songs are on the iPod, but they don't show up under Artists. It's about 80% of my 20 gig library that's missing artists. I did the right click on the iPod and selected Album Artist Auto for the artist type (this is what I use in MC and it's all correct there). Tried to resync and it told me there wasn't enough room.
Also, I can right click the iPod drive once, but after that it disappears from the tree and doesn't come back. The iPod screen returns to the iPod menu, not the "Do Not Disconnect" that should be there...
Any ideas??
Thanks
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Steve,
I tried the primitive search methods of this board to no avail.
My iPod is syncing as it had been the last couple days, but now it gives me an error after synching and the list of errors. The error is "DO_NOT_SHOW_ERROR". I think, as a result of this error, my iPod is not listing any songs, although when I connect, I can see the hidden folder with all the music on there.
I just got it yesterday, so I could rebuild it, of course. Ohhh, this did seem to show up when I upgraded from 9.1.206 to 9.1.208 and to the lastest version of your iPod plugin.
Dan "da Man"
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Correction to my previous post: After I put my 3G iPod in the dock, it appears in MC and in Windows Explorer. After about 10 seconds, it disappears from both no matter what I do. I just performed a restore and I was trying to format the iPod for use with MC9. It wouldn't let me because it disappeared before I could do it. The only way to get it to reappear is to unplug it then plug it back in, but even if I do that it disappears after 10 seconds again....
crow
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crowfan,
Confirm that you have "enable disk mode" turned on in your iPod Manager. Not sure if this will help, but it sounds like you may have this turned off.
Hope this helps!
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JC,
Thanks for the reply. Doesn't that enable the FireWire disk mode, thereby disabling the music features?
I was able to solve the problem, though I'm not sure how. I reformatted the iPod (I "Restored" it with the iPod updater). I purposely did not associate the iPod with MC as the "Default Application" through the iPod Manager at the end of the Restore process. Then I opened MC and formatted it before it could disappear. Then I began the syncing process, which worked OK. Now all of my files are there, with the correct artist information.
I think that maybe the setting of MC as the "Default Application" in the iPod manager causes this behavior (the disappearing iPod). Not sure if this makes a lot of sense, but that's the only thing I did differently and it seems to have solved the problem. I don't want to re-test it, as syncing my iPod takes about an hour and I don't want to have to do it again (I've done it twice in the 12 hours I've onwed the iPod).
Thanks!
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JC,
Thanks for the reply. Doesn't that enable the FireWire disk mode, thereby disabling the music features?
Not sure what it is supposed to do, but it allows my iPod to appear as a removable drive in both of my WinXP pro machines. I am able to sync using MMJB (way back in the day) as well as EphPod, and MC9 while in disk mode. No music features are disabled on my 30GB iPod.
Not sure if it is designed to behave this way, but when I turn off the disk mode, my iPod behaves exactly as you described. Appears briefly, then disappears. Incidentally, I have MC9 associated as the launch application on both machines.
Regardless, glad that you got it working.
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Another issue altogether...
Is there a way we could have any songs that have unassigned albums appear in their own category under the Artist on the iPod like they do in MC? I have Jason Mraz's album "Waiting for my Rocket to Come," plus one other live acoustic song which is not assigned to an album. In order to hear that one live song, I have to go through "Jason Mraz", "All" on the iPod, which shows every song on the album plus the one extra live track. I'd like to be able to access this live track without having to go through "All"; I'd like to be able to select "Jason Mraz", "unassigned" or something like that...
Can this be done? It's not a big deal in the example above, but when I have a ton of albums by one artist and a few unassigned songs, it is quite a bear to have to scroll through all songs to find the one I want.
Sorry if this has been brought up before, I did a quick search and didn't see it anywhere.
Thanks
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crowfan,
A workaround for you in the meantime could be to create an album named "unassigned" and tag the orphan songs to that album (for the time being).
A bit of work, but would at least enhance navigation on the iPod until you see if your suggestion is implemented.
Hope this helps!
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Steve,
I fixed the problem by formatting and resyncing. However, if I had problems in the future, I'm not sure if I want to do that, for it takes about an hour and a half to transfer all 20GB of music.
Dan "da Man"
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crowfan:
Enable firewire disk mode allows windows to assign a drive letter to the iPod which is required for MC9.
If you never installed the Apple software, Windows would automatically do this, but Apple in its infinite wisdom decided that they thought you as a user would be too tempted to "mess things up" if you had access to the iPod's drive, so they turn it off by default.
Make sure that box is checked, or better yet, uninstall iPod Manager all together. It's not needed and can at times cause problems.
Steve: here to report that the Syncing of smartlists based on other smartlists is back in working order again.
A hearty "WOOT" to you sir. :D
Adam
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Ape file sync'ing.
Steve: changing the error message to the end helps a lot, thanks. The error is still listed as "file type not supported", but that's not a big deal.
I have found, however, that when there's large list of files that don't need to be converted, mc will crash once it gets so far through them. No warning dialog box, just a complete shutdown of MC. I'm not sure how "large" the list needs to be to cause a crash, but I'm pretty sure it's in the hundreds.
This isn't a show stopper as I just sync in smaller groups of files, but I thought you'd like to know :)
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Adam,
How do you uninstall just the iPod Manager? It is not listed in my Add/Remove Programs list of programs. The only thing listed is "iPod For Windows" and "iPod System Software Updater". I don't want to uninstall "iPod For Windows" because that will (I think) remove the iPod Service.
Thanks,
Wobbley
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Adam,
I tried your suggestion of starting the album by pressing the >|| button, but it still skips to the next song, no matter what song I try to play. To ensure I've been clear in my previous posts, I select an album, and select to play a song, whether it's the first one on the album or not, and (now I know) regardless of whether I use the center button or the >|| button. The track I select shows in the "Now Playing" window, and the iPod sits there silent for about 4-5 seconds, then the next song on the album starts playing. If there's not a next song in the album (i.e. the track I select is the last one on the album, or I only have one track from the album on the iPod), it goes back to the main menu window. It does for albums I've ripped myself (using MC), or album tracks I've downloaded. I only use MP3 files and I do no transcoding or anything like that before porting to Ipod. This is really frustrating.
Wobbley
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Wobbley,
What firmware are you using for your 3G iPod? Until I upgraded to firmware version 2.0.1, I had constant problems with error code 23. After updating to the newest firmware, these problems have been elminated (**feverishly knocks on wood**).
Although the problem you are having is not related, updating to the newest 2.0.1 may help out. If you are using the newest firmware, just ignore me ;)
Hope this helps!
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Wobbley,
I am inclined to follow Adam’s observation that the playback problem you are seeing is an iPod issue. Perhaps you could try sending some files with another application to verify Adam’s results.
Crowfan,
I do not think the 'Default Application' was causing your problem. I think it is more likely that your iTunes database got a little screwed up for some reason and the reformat cleaned it up. Hopefully you are now all set.
In regards to the <unassigned> issue, I could do this, but I am not convinced everyone would like the result. JC makes an excellent suggestion for now and lets see if others weigh in on this issue.
Dan,
The 'DO_NOT_SHOW_ERROR' most likely occurred because of some new features I have incorporated and your MC and plugin version had possibly gotten out of synch. I think you will probably be fine now. If not, please let me know.
_K_C,
I would like to fix the incorrect message and the crash for large error reporting. Can you refresh for me what specific steps you took to notice these two bugs.
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Evening all,
1)On the subject of tying the relay gain function in with the ipod: wicked idea. I'm gonna analyse all my audio now. But I'm not sure what's best for the ipod. Fixed (to what value?) or normal?
2)Also, who is responsible for the alarm clock thing not working with MC playlists, apple or MC? Anyone know when it'll be sorted?
3)And anyone know if there are any plans by apple to make text that doesnt fit on the Ipod screen scroll (album names etc included)?
4)And, when browsing albums on the ipod starting at "genre" and looking through movie soundtracks, how do you deal with multiple artists. At the moment, when i enter the "soundtrack" genre I click on "all" to change from the artists view to look at the album names. That's the only way to play anything in any kind of sense in that genre. Is this the best way or do you tag differently? (maybe make the artist tag the movie name).
And sorry, last question,
Does the latest ipod plugin download work perfectly with the recommended 9.0 download of media centre?
Sleep tight,
Bri
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Criticism/Suggestion:
I reformatted and reinstalled over the weekend. Did a default installation of MC and restored my library. Synched.
No artists.
I know it's a new option, and would like to very seriously suggest setting the default choice in "Select Artist Field" to "Artist"
The best reason: New users will freak out when their artists are gone.
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I agree with Kurt's suggestion about changing the default to Artist.
When files are imported for the first time, it's the Artist field that gets populated by default. I didn't even start to think about the ArtistAlbum and ArtistAlbum(auto) fields until I synced and lost the artists :)
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I would like to fix the incorrect message and the crash for large error reporting. Can you refresh for me what specific steps you took to notice these two bugs.
No problem:
Library of ~2700 ape files
Options set to transcode to 192 CBR
Smartlist where Genre=Rock
1. "File type not supported" error
a. Transfer / sync
b. Cancel when job is partially completed.
c. Remove iPod, go and listen to some music. (optional
:) )
d. Replace iPod, sync again
e. Plugin skips over the songs that are already synced, converts the rest and at the end brings up a dialog box listing (what appears to be the) skipped songs, with a "File type not supported" error.
I think the only important part is 1.e
I don't think it matters how the files get to the iPod; the problem is the plugin skipping over pre-existing files that would otherwise need to be transcoded
2 Crash
Same procedure as (1) above.
Only difference seems to be that when the number of files skipped is sufficiently large, it causes the program to crash. I'm not sure if it crashes when the skipped files reaches a certain number, or once it is getting ready to transcode the first new file.
Hope this is clear (and that my observations were accurate!).
KC
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Bri,
1)On the subject of tying the relay gain function in with the ipod: wicked idea. I'm gonna analyse all my audio now. But I'm not sure what's best for the ipod. Fixed (to what value?) or normal?
I don't know yet. I have this working on a limited basis but need to polish it up.
2)Also, who is responsible for the alarm clock thing not working with MC playlists, apple or MC? Anyone know when it'll be sorted?
It is an Apple issue for now, but I may be able to come up with a way around it in the future.
3)And anyone know if there are any plans by apple to make text that doesnt fit on the Ipod screen scroll (album names etc included)?
I don't know of any plans.
4)And, when browsing albums on the ipod starting at "genre" and looking through movie soundtracks, how do you deal with multiple artists. At the moment, when i enter the "soundtrack" genre I click on "all" to change from the artists view to look at the album names. That's the only way to play anything in any kind of sense in that genre. Is this the best way or do you tag differently? (maybe make the artist tag the movie name).
There are many ways you could solve this depending on what works best for you. Try exploring the right-click option for 'Select Artist Field' which will give you the ability to customize what information to fill the 'Artist' field on iPod. This will give you the potential to utilize the AlbumArist field to perhaps achieve what you are after.
In regards to the Plugin and 9.0, it should be OK. The modifications I am adding are for 9.1 but should not harm older versions.
Kurt and _K_C,
I cannot duplicate the disappearing 'Artist' problem. By default, the plugin will use Album Artist(auto) which by default should use 'Album Artist' if it exists, and 'Artist' if 'Album Artist' is blank. By default, at no time should the 'Artist' field be blank if there is anything in either the 'Artist' field or 'Album Artist' field.
_K_C,
Thanks for the bug reports. They are fixed in tonight's build.
Steve
-
Steve:
Not sure how you're testing but I know of 3 instances where the artist field was blank (myself and 2 users on the 'lounge that I helped out).
Perhaps a fresh install of MC9 and a fresh library? I don't know, but I definitely know that if I chose anything other than Artists I get blanks.
I concur, it should be the default unless the "bug" is fixed.
Adam
-
Steve,
I dunno what to say, man. I know my library is populated with Artist data. The "multiple artists" feature works great within MC (and on the iPod when it's selected).
This weekend, like I said, I installed MC via express install, loaded up my backed-up library, and ran a sync. The results look like this when viewed through MC 9.1.208 on my work computer:
Screenshot (http://www.acfsgroup.com/groupimages/ccr/screen01.jpg)
No artists are browsable on my iPod, except one song, "Hunger Strike" by Temple of the Dog. If I were to set the "Select Artist Field" dropdown to "Artist" and then sync, everything works great.
I think I'm starting to see comments pop up at the lounge, folks wondering what's up with their artists. So, even if there's a bug at work here, I want to suggest again that it be rigged to show the true artist by default on the iPod.
-
Steve,
Just wanted to let you know that I chose the "Album Artist (auto)" optoin before synching, then I synched about 3500 songs to clean, newly reformatted (with new firmware too) iPod and everything went OK. When I browsed iPod after sync, all artist info was there, there were no blank artists, and it even filed artists starting with "The..." (i.e. The Beatles) in the "B"s and not the "T"s. That's sweet! Now if I could just get this song skip issue resolved I'll be golden...
Wobbley
-
Kurt and Adam,
Thanks for the sticking to your guns, I found and fixed a bug that will resolve this. For anyone who lost their artists, the solution is to resynch with 'Update Tags' selected and "Artist Album (auto)' selected.
Sorry.
Wobbley,
Any results on uploads with other software? This will help me know if this is a problem that I have any control over. Thanks for posting your results regarding 'Artist Album', this helped in solving the problem.
-
Artist / AlbumArtist
[edit - Ignore the following. Steve's already fixed it. See above!]
Steve
When I first synced the iPod after you introduced the Artist options I had no artist info on the iPod. When I remembered the discussion about the option, I went and checked the menu and I think though am not certain that AlbumArtist was checked, not AlbumArtist(auto). I set it to Artist and the Artist info transferred no problem.
Is there any chance that on one build the default was wrong? Failing that I may have changed the option without realising it.
KC
-
Steve:
While my guns are still a bit warm, perhaps I can nudge you about some other features?
I know you mentioned you'd look into this when you get time, but I think that it's something you should really consider as a differentiator.
If you could get soundcheck it, you'd be da BOMB. No other program out there supports this as you know, and none is in a position to. Think about it, ephpod, Xplay, MMJB, none of them have support of analyzing files and keeping track of the db level like MC9 does.
So, sir, I urge you to dig further into this one
(:reloads pistol:).
Next: I know that you said you still can't get playcounts to work due to Apple's implementation. I don't remember about auto-updating of ratings though. Have you thoroughly investigated this?
(:spins pistol cylinder:)
Just think if Ratings could be updated from the iPod, one more thing you'd have above everyone else and something that no one (with the possible acception of Xplay, which I doubt would do it) is in a position to take advantage of.
You still gotta get playcounts on there though. ;)
(:cocks pistol:) :D :D
Oh, and did I mention....THANKS! ;)
Adam (the polite gunslinger)
-
_K_C,
Thanks for the bug reports. They are fixed in tonight's build.
Steve
Steve,
Afraid not. I can still replicate both the bugs posted earlier (file type not supported and crash).
I've also spotted another (though it may be related):
Create a playlist in MC, whose contents have already been transferred to the iPod
Sync
Plugin skips all of the files, and brings up the end dialog box with a list of all the files, with "file type not supported" after each.
Playlist has not been created on iPod.
KC
-
Steve,
I apologize up front for the long post. I've done some testing and here's what I've found (or not found rather):
TEST: Songs w/ ID3v1 tags but no ID3v2 tags play properly on iPod regardless of encoding
method.
DESCRIPTION: Create a temporary playlist. Select a few songs and remove ID3v2 tags.
Populate ID3v1 tag info for selected songs. Add selected songs to temporary playlist. Sync
playlist with iPod. Test iPod to see if songs play properly on iPod. Delete Files Not In
List checked, Update Tags checked.
TEST RESULTS:Failed - Attempted to sync "A Man Called Adam - Duende"; Sync process halted
at track 8, "Wouldn't She"; "Cancel" button did not work; "End Now" attempts fialed. Media
Center "Not Responding";Ctrl+Alt+Del would not terminate process; iPod screen no longer
displays circle with slash icon, but does still say "Do not disconnect";forced to turn off
PC by holding down power button.Forced to reset iPod by holding down MENU and >|| buttons at
same time (after reboot - iPod frozen until reset). After reset, iPod recognized. Opened
MC;explored iPod;iPod empty;explored Albums, Artists, Genres, and Playlists nodes under
drive letter representing iPod;Nothing under Albums, Artists and Genres nodes;Playlists
nodes contained 4 empty playlists;each playlist seemed to have a <space> as it's name (name
was blank, but clicking on each playlist seemed to indicate that it was named with a
<space>, i.e. pressing the space bar on keyboard;Attempted to delete the 4 playlists but
playlists could not be deleted;Undocked (using Eject Device in MC)iPod to check song
capacity;No songs on iPod, but capacity at 27.7 gig instead of expected 27.8 gig;Attempted
to resync same playlist, only this time, unchecked both Delete Files Not In List and Update
Tag Info;Sync finished, but only synced tracks 10 and 11 (the last 2 tracks on the album, as
if the other 9 tracks were on iPod);Undocked iPod to see what tracks showed on ipod and if
tracks would play;No tracks showed on iPod;Nothing showed under Artists or under
Albums;Redocked iPod;Closed MC;Performed restore of iPod to ensure nothing on iPod and that
it was back to original state;Made strong batch of freshly ground Panama Hartmann Estate
coffee in anticipatory preparation for long night, no cream, no sugar;Restore of iPod
complete;iPod Manager initiated;Disk Mode enabled;Home application set to blank;Opened
MC;Formatted iPod for MC;Attempted resync of aforementioned playlist;DID NOT check Delete
Files Not in List nor Update Tags;Sync occured correctly;Ejected iPod from within MC;Note:
All tracks burned with LAME.exe at VBR using --alt-preset standard -Z setting (lowest bit
rate of the 12 tracks was 93 and highest bitrate was 179);All tracks appeared on
iPod;Scrolled to album;Highlighted first track on album;Pressed >|| button to play
track;Track showed on Now Playing screen (for about 4 seconds);iPod skipped to track 2 and
began playing track 2;Deleted tracks from iPod by selecting all tracks in iPod track listing
view in MC and pressing Delete key on keyboard;All tracks deleted successfully;Playlist
remained on iPod;Right-clicked playlist and deleted playlist successfully;Selected tracks in
playlist from View Scheme and deleted tracks completely from PC;Re-ripped album using MC's
MP3 VBR Encoder (LAME dll) with --alt-preset standard -Z setting;Only used ID3v1 tags, no
ID3v2 tag info added;After songs re-ripped, added songs to aforementioned playlist and
synched playlist with iPod;Ejected iPod;Attempted to play first song from album on
iPod;Scrolled to Albums and selected album;Highlighted first track on album and pressed >||
button on iPod;Now Playing screen appeared with first track info;iPod waited ~ 4 seconds,
then skipped to track 2 and began playing track 2;Re-docked iPod;Deleted tracks from iPod;Deleted playlist from iPod;Deleted tracks from MC and PC;Re-ripped CD using MP3 Encoder at CBR of 192;Added tracks to playlist;synched playlist with iPod;Ejected iPod from within MC;Browsed through artists and selected album;Highlighted first track and pressed >|| button;Now Playing screen showed selected track;iPod paused for ~4 seconds then skipped to track 2 and began playing track 2;Re-docked iPod;Deleted songs from iPod;Deleted playlist from iPod;Deleted just ripped tracks from MC;Re-ripped tracks using MP3 Encoder at CBR of 160;Added newly ripped tracks to playlist;Re-synched playlist with iPod;Undocked iPod;Scrolled to tracks;Highlighted first track on album;Pressed button in cetner of scroll wheel;highlighted track (first track on album) showed in playing now screen;Track appeared for ~4 seconds without playing, then iPod skipped to track 2 and began playing track 2. Giving up now...
-
Wobbley,
My head hurts after that post ... what firmware version do you have on your iPod? Factory firmware is 2.0 ... if you updated, it's 2.0.1.
Thanks!
-
I have not the willpower to read that whole post....but I think I'm having a similar problem.
Nothing appears on my iPod after syncing. I have MC 9.1.209, iPod plugin 9.0.36, and iPod firmware 2.0.1. I've resynced a couple of times -- each time, All Music was selected, once I had Update Tags selected, another time I didn't. MC will scan through all songs, but noting will get fixed. All of the music is on the iPod, it's just not in the navigation lists (Artist, Album, etc are all blank). I can't get to any of it. Is there any way of me getting out of this without Restoring the iPod and waiting the 75 or so minutes to re-download everything? I have a sinking feeling the answer is no....
Any help is much appreciated.
Thanks
-
Sorry, to just to be clear, I have the most recent (and will always have, because I'm anal about things like that, for future post reference) everything....MC version, iPod plugin, iPod firmware, etc.
I discovered that my problem (I', 99% sure at least) was that I had made changes to the files in MC (either tag changes or file renaming from within MC) after the files were added to the playlists that I sync, but I had not run an "Update Library" process. Upon several syncs, MC would lock up on one song and I would have to literally hold the power button on my PC for 10 seconds to turn it off because nothing (and I mean nothing) worked to end MC ro the sync. I would then have to reset the iPod (while still docked). Out of curiosity, once my PC rebooted, I dug around the /iPod_Control/Music folders and discovered that in folders F02, F05, F07, F15 and F19, there was, in each of said folders, one track that did not have any tag info (and each track's name, i.e. 15260.mp3, 15261.mp3, etc. was a consecutive number). If I right-clicked said tracks, unlike the tracks that did display tag info in Windows XP explorer, the properties summary (and advanced info) had no information about the track other than it was 2 channels and 44.1Hz. Because of no tag info, and because it was at 5:30 this morning, I could not figure out a way to determine what the actual tracks were (I tried to compare file size of tagless tracks with file size of tracks in synched playlist, but couldn't seem to find matches...or maybe I'm just blind...hmmm unintentional archane reference to 3 Doors Down lyric). Anyway, I just said f__k it and cleared my library, did a re-import, created my playlists again (didn't want to import saved playlist for fear it would hold corrupt info and was too lazy to examine playlist in notepad), synched w/ ipod and everything worked fine.
I wish to God that MC would auto update the d__ned library after tag and/or file info changes instead of making me remember to "Update Library" everytime. Maybe once I get all tags and filenames in order it won't be a big deal, and maybe that's what they assumed when they didn't make auto update a standard feature, but right now it's a pain in my a__.
Hope this helps others with similar problems...
Wobbley
-
By the way, JC, kudos for reading my post. I got too lazy to make it more readable because I was focusing on getting all the testing steps down...
Sorry for those now permanently damaged from the post...free beer at 605 for those damaged souls that can find it...
Wobbley
-
Oh yeah, crowfan, the answer is no...Sorry, chap, now you know what I've been through 6 times in the past 12 hours...
Suicide is not an option, remember that...
Wobbley
-
Had a little oddness last night; lost my playlists. No worries, I was in a formattin' mood anyhow.
Big request:
Rather than abending if I'm trying to sync a .jpg or .avi, could you build the plugin to just "ignore" image/video filetypes? It can be kind of a pain tracking down which smartlist that .jpg snuck into or, conversely, adding "mediatype=audio" to all my smartlists.
I know you wouldn't want to "ignore" other music formats, what with transcoding, but could you set it to "ignore" the images and video? Pweeease?
-
Wobbley:
Er, I'm a little confused. What is this Updating library business you're doing? I mean, I know how to do it, but my question is why are you doing it?
MC9 automatically updates your tags for you (as long as you have it configured that way, which is the default)
The only reason you should have to update your libary is if you remove tunes from your computer and do it outside of MC9.
As a rule I do all my management of my files through MC9. Such as renaming etc. That way my library is always in sync.
Just curious....
Adam
-
Adam,
I do all of my music management from with MC as well, and until very recently, I thought that MC (the DB) kept up with all the changes I made while in MC. But, I had some serious problems with synching my iPod and the only thing I could think of was that I had made some change IN MC and it somehow did not get propogated to the DB and that I had not run the Update Library process because the sync that failed worked fine the day before (the sync, and all related settings, was the exact same, i.e. same playlists, same songs, etc.)...I didn't necessarily believe my hypothesis, but it was the only thing I could think of that had changed (the tags and filenames) since the last successful sync.
Wobbley
-
Everyone,
A plea for help. Please when reporting bugs, try to be as brief as possible and eliminate as many variables as possible. The more specific a problem you can report and the more specific you can be in finding a way to tell me to reliably replicate the problem, the more you can help me resolve things as quickly as possible.
Adam,
The soundcheck/replay gain is getting closer. The other issues are not resolvable because the data I need is not saved by the iPod firmware (i.e. playcounts) This data must be saved while the player is disconnected for me to have a chance to access it. Currently it is not saved.
Crowfan,
You could try the "Rebuild Database from iPod" option. This will try to reconstruct your database from the files that are on the iPod. You will lose your Playlists, but hopefully they can be recovered on a subsequent synch.
Kurt,
Your request is in the next MC build.
_K_C,
Please try again with tonight's MC. I hope I fixed it this time.
Wobbley,
I appreciate the time you took in posting your problem and the detail that you went in. Can you try to make the issue a little smaller and clearer to save me some time. Please don't take offense, I am just short on time and can't sift through all you threw out.
-
Steve,
No offense taken. I'm a developer myself, and if one of my clients submitted an error report that was anything similar to my verbose posting to which you undoubtedly are referring, I would promptly tell them to "!@#$ off", so thanks for being polite! I will attempt to summarize my findings (note: it is in my nature to ramble on):
- I still have the problem of the iPod skipping to the next track when I select a song to play. But to clarify, I can skip back to the song I initially attempt to play and it DOES play, but only after it's been skipped. No one else seems to have the problem, so maybe there's something wrong with my iPod.
- That huge post was mainly this:
- While trying to test the problem above, I created a playlist with one album's worth of tunes. 11 tracks from the "Duende" album by an artist called "A Man Called Adam".
- The sync started, and at track 8, "Wouldn't She", the sync window stopped showing sync progress and MC locked ("Not Responding").
- The "Cancel" button on the sync dialog box brought up the "End Now" program termination dialog box, but that didn't work, and neither did Ctrl+Alt+Del and trying to end the process in the Windows Task Manager.
- The "Do Not Disconnect" message was on the iPod's screen, but the circle/slash icon was not blinking.
- I had to manually shut down my PC by holding the PC's power button in for 10 seconds AND reset the iPod (Menu+>|| buttons) to get the iPod to act normal again.
- After rebooting and redocking, I "Restore"d the iPod with the new firmware updater (2.0.1), then formatted iPod for MC. Note: the iPod had firmware 2.0.1 when the sync bomb first occured.
- I tried syncing with a different playlist, with about 1500 songs (which included the aforementioned album), and the sync bombed again.
- repeated reboot/reset steps mentioned above, but DID NOT restore, then examined iPod_Control/Music/Fxx folders. A total of about 30 files made it to the iPod before the sync crash.
- Of those 30, 5 files, each file in a different Fxx directory, did not have any tag info displayed in Windows Explorer (the other 25 did). The filenames of the 5 files were something like 15260.mp3, 15261.mp3, etc. (consecutive number names). Note: the 5 files did have tag info in MC and in Windows Explorer when viewed on my harddrive.
- Performed restore of iPod, cleared Media Library, reimported all mp3 files, created new playlists with same names and tracks as the playlists that incurred the sync bomb, and the sync went fine.
I feel I've been too long again, so I'll end it here.
Wobbley
-
Wobbley,
Does the crash occur everytime you try to synch teh "Duende' playlist at track 8? If so, what happens if you just send that one track? If it fails, check that the file is playable and if you can, send it to me. The fact that the reimport fixed things tells me that something may have been screwed up with your file paths but there is no way to know for sure.
Thanks,
Steve
-
Steve,
No, that entire album was part of the last sync which was successful.
Wobbley
-
Steve,
THANK YOU....the Rebuild Database function worked!!!
Wobbley,
I made it without Restore! Yay!
crow
-
If you reconnect your iPod and MC reports the files as being on MC, this information is being reported from the database on iPod. To know if the files really are there, check the file path from within MC and then browse to this location from Windows to see if the file is actually there. If you see this behavior, please give me some instructions on what you are doing to create this situation. Also tell me what version of MC you are running and what version of the Plugin. What OS as well.
Media Center Registered 9.0.178 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Jukebox\
Microsoft Windows XP 5.1 (Build 2600)
AMD Athlon 1813 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 1048 MB, Free - 597 MB
Internet Explorer: 6.0.2600.0000 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82 (xpclient.010817-1148) / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2600.0000 (xpclient.010817-1148) / Shell32.dll: 6.00.2600.0000 (xpclient.010817-1148) / wnaspi32.dll: Internal ASPI Layer
Ripping / Drive F: Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer CD Type:IDE Read speed:8
Drive G: Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer CD Type:Auto Read speed:Max
Drive H: Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer CD Type:Auto Read speed:Max
Digital playback: Yes / Use YADB: Yes / Get cover art: Yes / Calc replay gain: Yes / Copy volume: 32767
Eject after ripping: No / Play sound after ripping: No
Burning / Drive F: SONY CD-RW CRX210E1 Addr: 1:0:0 Speed:48 MaxSpeed:48 Use MJ Engine:Yes
Test mode: No / Eject after writing: Yes / Direct decoding: Yes / Write CD-Text: Yes
Use playback settings: No / Normalization: None
Portable Drives Plugin - 9.0.22
What I do is copy a new album to the iPod. When I undock the iPod, I cannot access the files, they just do not show up anywhere. If I reconnect the iPod, they show up in the list in MC9. The only way I can get them to appear on the iPod is to rebuild the database and lose all my playlists.
-
Everyone,
I am taking off in an hour and will be out of contact until Sunday. Until then, if you have any problems or questions you will have to help each other out and I will pick up on Monday. Have a good 4th.
Wobbley,
In your first post, everything went south after the failure of track 8 to transfer. After a restore, everything went fine. It is hard to say what caused the problem originally. I am reluctant to believe it is an inherent problem with the plugin or you would be able to replicate the problem. Please let me know if you see it again and we can troubleshoot it from there.
jgourd,
Please try getting the current version of the plugin (9.0.36) and a new version of MC ( at least 9.0.180) but preferably 9.1.209. If you go with 9.1.209, please read the caution on the download)
-
Wobbley:
Just so you feel in good company, the skipping track issue has been around since the first gen iPods. I still experience it from time to time. Might want to post feedback (http://www.apple.com/feedback/ipod.html) to Apple and see if they can fix it. I'm convinced it's a firmware issue.
The other issue that I'm not convinced is firmware related that you might experience is tracks ending before, well, they should end. Like halfway or less than halfway through the track. Seems like this was introduced recently. I know it happens on my 1.2.6 gen 2 and my 2.0.1 gen 3. So, I'm inclined to think it's related to MC9 somehow.
I know Steve, you don't think so, but if I get some time, I'm going to play around w/Xplay to see if I can duplicate it there.
Adam
-
Can anyone help me?
I have MC 9.1.210, iPod plugin 9.0.37, and iPod firmware 2.0.1....
-- I've just Restored and formatted my iPod for MC.
-- I downloaded all of my music.
-- I ejected the iPod and removed it from the dock.
-- I look at the playlists, and one of them is blank. There is a blank space where the playlist should be, and there is an arrow next to it. There is no music in there if I click that one.
-- I plugged the iPod back into the dock, thinking that I could just resync that playlist.
-- The iPod appears in the tree at the left of MC for about 10 seconds then disappears. The same thing happens in Windows Explorer.
As a net result, I can't access my iPod on my computer. I can remove it from the dock (I don't have to Eject it because it's already been "ejected" after the 10 seconds) and plug it in again and it will reappear, but only for the 10 seconds again. What can I do? Has anyone seen this before and offer me some advice? I don't want to have to format and re-download every time I try to sync.
Thanks,
crow
-
Would it be possible to use both MC9.1 and MoodLogic2.5 to load songs and create playlists on the same iPod?
It looks like MoodLogic can see the songs loaded by MC9.1 on the iPod fine.
-
Crow,
When you dock the iPod, before the 10 seconds has elapsed, open the iPod manager and make sure that Enable Disk Mode (or whatever it's called) is checked (turned on). Also, if you know how, disable the iPod Manager from starting up as you don't need it (not the iPod Service, the iPod Manager). In addition, you may try deleting the registry entry added by the plugin (the one that is entry "7" that adds Media Center to the list of iPod Manager startup programs.
I had the problem you're having and one ar all of the things I just mentioned fixed my problem and I haven't had it since.
Let me know how it goes.
Wobbley
-
Adam,
Thanks for the post. I also have a 1Gen 5 Gig iPod w/ 1.2.6 firmware and don't have any problems with it what so ever (it's one of the first 100 iPods ever sold in the US, so it is really 1st Gen)...
I've never had the problem of songs being cut short, I just have the problem I've mentioned before.
Maybe there's something wrong w/ my iPod internally...who knows really, I guess I'll just have to deal with it
Thanks again,
Wobbley
-
I have an G2 Ipod and I am trying out MC9. I send files to the handheld (which is set up to enable local drive). and when I try to sync, I get the message that the device doesn't support ogg format, enable file conversion. The files are in mp3 format already which the ipod supports. I can enable conversion and it works, but it slows the download up significantly and I don't want to convert anyway. Why does it think it needs to work in ogg format. I have looked in device options and the there are options for cd coversion but none for handheld. How do I configure this. I am ready to go back to ephpod as it at least downloads the mp3s.
thanks
-
wanderso11740:
Are you absolutely sure the files aren't .ogg files? What you might want to try is deleting all the tunes from your MC9 library, then reimporting them and when you do, click the Advanced tab and only import .mp3 files.
Then try it.
I've never seen this before and can only imagine that some .ogg files got in there. If that works, go ahead and import the rest of your files. Then, when you sync, sync off of a smartlist. And add to the smartlist (or smartlists) a filter for: file type=mp3. You can use the smartlist wizard to add that, don't have to type it in manually.
Adam
-
Wobbley,
I tried your suggestions (all but the registry one, I couldn't find that key/entry) and it seems to have cleared up, but then the information was missing from the iPod (the music was there but the tag info was gone). I did a Rebuild Database from MC and that brought the info back, but now I have mulitple entries for the same artist, and blank entries under some artists that contain songs....ever heard of this one? Anyone else for that matter?
Thanks for all help given,
crow
-
Deselecting all but mp3 did work. I did however search the directories for type file of ogg and I didn't have any so I am not sure why this was occuring. How do I add a filter=mp3. I have gone through the helps and guides and the directions are completly confusing. Do I click on the handheld or on the now playing. Is it a right click or from the menu to put in a custom filter. I can see how they might be useful. Please forgive my ignorance, but the helps aren't all that clear, although it is clear that MC9 is a powerful tool.
thanks
-
I'm stumped. Am hoping someone can explain this. Steve??
I just received a 2nd gen 10 gb iPod acquired from ebay. It is in "like new" condition. I already own a 20 gb model. Wanting to do a quick check, I restored the iPod using Apple's Updater. I then fomatted with MC9. Lastly I synched 1 (rather small) playlist.
The iPod shows "0" songs in the "About" screen and my playlist is not listed. Any guesses as to what I have done wrong? This is the same PC I use to sync with my 20 gb iPod with no problems.
=============
Edit:
The files are apparently on the iPod. Using MC9, I can explore the iPod and in the "iPod Control" folder there is a "Music" folder which contains a number of sub-folders (F00 - F19). Most of these have an MP3 file in it. I can double click on the file and the MP3 begins to play with Windows Media Player. So the files appear to be on the iPod's HDD, but do not show up on the iPod screen.
Hmmmm.
===========================
Media Center Registered 9.0.180 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\
Microsoft Windows XP Workstation 5.1 Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
Intel Pentium 4 2410 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 523 MB, Free - 240 MB
Internet Explorer: 6.0.2800.1106 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2800.1106 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shell32.dll: 6.00.2800.1145 (xpsp2.021108-1929) / wnaspi32.dll: N/A
Ripping / Drive E: Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer CD Type:Auto Read speed:Max
Drive F: Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer CD Type:Auto Read speed:Max
Digital playback: Yes / Use YADB: Yes / Get cover art: No / Calc replay gain: No / Copy volume: 32767
Eject after ripping: No / Play sound after ripping: Yes Soundfile: C:\WINDOWS\Media\tada.wav
Burning / Drive E: TOSHIBA DVD-ROM SD-R5002 Addr: 1:0:0 Speed:16 MaxSpeed:16 Use MJ Engine:Yes
Test mode: No / Eject after writing: Yes / Direct decoding: Yes / Write CD-Text: No
Use playback settings: No / Normalization: None
-
crow,
First, here's the registry entry location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Apple Computer, Inc.\RegisteredApps\7. Delete the "7" key (right-click the "7" and choose "Delete". Exit the registry. Note:You'll have to do this everytime you install a new version of MC or a new version of the iPod Plugin. I guess it really doesn't matter, because if you don't use (disable the starting up of) the iPod Manager, nothing will be running that looks in the registry anyway...
Second, not sure why your files were like that. If it's not too much trouble, delete the stuff off the iPod, then do a re-sync and before you sync, make sure you select the right artist info that you want on the iPod (you know, right-click the iPod drive letter under CD/DVD/Handhelds in MC and choose the appropriate artist value to use on the iPod).
I bet this will work, although can't guarantee...
Wobbley
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molarman,
check out the playlists on the iPod from within MC and see if you have 4 blank playlists that you can't delete. If so, post back.
Wobbley
-
wanderso11740,
I know you say you have no .ogg, but I assure you that you do somewhere. I had a friend call me with the same problem a few days ago and he swore he only had mp3s, but sure enough...
If you want a filter like file type=mp3 to ensure that you only try to sync mp3 files, you're going to have to create a smartlist with that filter and sync the smartlist insteead of normal playlist.
Wobbley
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molarman,
check out the playlists on the iPod from within MC and see if you have 4 blank playlists that you can't delete. If so, post back.
Wobbley
Well, I can't explain it, but my problem no longer exists. I charged the iPod up for a while and then reconnected to the PC. I then reformatted in MC and resynched. Suddenly, it works fine - all the songs that were in the playlist I synched showed up on the iPod. I synched again adding more playlists. Once again all went well.
Oh well - can't argue with success. Thanks Wobbley.
-
I'm not sure if this has been discussed on these boards...
A few weeks ago, I ran it by Kurt Young, and I figured it'd make sense to air it out now to see if anyone else has any thoughts.
It would be ideal to have the ipod and MC synch playcount data, but this is not possible because winnie pods do not log playcounts. People have, however, transfered the firmware image of a mac ipod into a winnie pod loader. The purpose behind this was to make new firmware availble to pc users faster than apple intended. I've used these images to format my ipod (currently running firmware 1.3), and everything works flawlessly with MC. Technically, it's mac firmware though, so the ipod reports playcounts just as mac ipods do.
Formating an ipod thusly is no doubt in violation of its EULA, but that fact not withstanding, I was wondering if it would be possible to somehow integrate this functionality into MC.
-
People have, however, transfered the firmware image of a mac ipod into a winnie pod loader. I've used these images to format my ipod (currently running firmware 1.3), and everything works flawlessly with MC. Technically, it's mac firmware though, so the ipod reports playcounts just as mac ipods do.
Only one comment - Gimme, Gimme, Gimme.
PLEASE give advise on how to make this happen
-
I have recently purchased v9 of MC. I am running on Windows XP with 320 RAM and firewire connection.
I have been suffering from syncing problems which involved a slow file conversion process.
Yesterday MC did not appear to recognise my Ipod. Artists and albums folders appeared under the CD, handheld etc folder but without details of any files.
MC would only permit me to copy files to my Ipod so I had to endure a long conversion process of uploading files. Yesterday SteveG advised me that when syncing to use the option to force the file conversion.
Upon doing this I have lost the full contents of my Ipod. The music library remains full.
Any suggestions of how to restore my Ipod of my music library?
?
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Bugs
Current build MC9 beta, XP Pro, transcoding and sync'ing APE files.
Where: some ape files have already been transcoded and transferred successfully.
(1) Resyncing with additional files. Plugin skips files already synced, then generates a "file type not supported" error message at the end of the sync.
(2) Resyncing where a large number of files are skipped as they have already been transferred. Plugin crashes MC when the number of skipped files is large. (Not sure how large, sorry.)
(3) Creating a new playlist/smartlist using files that have already been transferred. Plugin skips all of the files and does not create the playlist.
Of these, (3) is the most important as the first two can be worked around. IMHO of course ;D
-
Seviien,
My emails to the midfield went unanswered, ;) ;)
-
I have recently purchased v9 of MC. I am running on Windows XP with 320 RAM and firewire connection.
I have been suffering from syncing problems which involved a slow file conversion process.
Yesterday MC did not appear to recognise my Ipod. Artists and albums folders appeared under the CD, handheld etc folder but without details of any files.
MC would only permit me to copy files to my Ipod so I had to endure a long conversion process of uploading files. Yesterday SteveG advised me that when syncing to use the option to force the file conversion.
Upon doing this I have lost the full contents of my Ipod. The music library remains full.
Any suggestions of how to restore my Ipod of my music library?
?
Try to rebuild your database. This shoudl retrieve the file information within the iPod
Chris M
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I just can't figure this one out so any help would be appreciated.
I have an 8 CD 'Spoken word' set that I have ripped. Each disc has a seperate Album name.
Each track has a seperate name.
All 8 CDs have the same artist.
The artist has only these 8 CDs.
They play fine within MC.
However, when I attempt to sync them using 'send to' they won't all show in the Queued files window. Some do, some don't.
I have tried to do this from a playlist too woth the same result.
If I Queue one CD it queues up the files twice!
If I upload with the 'duble' list the Plug in hangs on the last file.
It is only this artist/album that gives me this problem.
Any ideas?
Media Center Registered 9.0.180 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\
Microsoft Windows XP Workstation 5.1 Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
Intel Unknown 208 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 383 MB, Free - 111 MB
Internet Explorer: 6.0.2800.1106 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2800.1106 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shell32.dll: 6.00.2800.1145 (xpsp2.021108-1929) / wnaspi32.dll: N/A
Ripping / Drive D: Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer CD Type:Auto Read speed:Max
Digital playback: Yes / Use YADB: Yes / Get cover art: Yes / Calc replay gain: Yes / Copy volume: 32767
Eject after ripping: Yes / Play sound after ripping: No
Burning / Drive D: TOSHIBA CDRW/DVD SDR2102 Addr: 1:0:0 Speed:8 MaxSpeed:8 Use MJ Engine:Yes
Test mode: No / Eject after writing: Yes / Direct decoding: Yes / Write CD-Text: No
Use playback settings: No / Normalization: None
-
Howdy all...
Odd problems here.
iPod 2. 15 gb.
Updater 2.0.1
MC 9.0.180
Windows 2000
This iPod has worked fine before...Before I got a new computer and changed OS from XP to Win2K.
Have updated iPod with new Updater. Have formatted the device through MC 9. The iPod shows in Win Exlorer as disk L, labeled IPOD. It shows in my device tree in MC 9, complete with Albums, Artists, Genres and Playlist subdirs. When I send files to the iPod, all seems to go well, meaning that the songs, etc. appear on the upload menu. But as soon as I hit "Upload," MC crashes and I get this message:
"Media Jukebox.e.exe has generated errors and will be closed by Windows. You will need to restart the program. An error log is being created."
Time after time. >:( And, to add insult injury, I can't find any error log anywhere.
-
First,
Do you have the iPod Manager running? If so, do you have enable disk mode turned on (checked)? If not turned on, turn it on.
Second, try the same thing only using playlists and right-clicking on the iPod and syncing from the right-click menu on the iPod drive letter under CD, DVD, handhelds. Do you still have the same problem?
Wobbley
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Yes. Disk mode is enabled.
No, syncing from the right click menu makes no difference.
And, FWIW, the iPod subdirs doesn't seem to recognize anything called a "playlist" anyhow. It's all just songs and artists and albums.
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Steve,
Having investigated further, the problem seems to be that if the track name and track number are the same the queuing gets lost. Definitely either a plug in or MC problem.
The pic below shows the result of right clicking on Dominic O'Brien and choosing send to F: (iPOD).
There should be 80 files in the list but it only queues 11.
It seems like it took tracks 1 to 9, all of the first album, and then looked to the next album for track 10 and then the next one for track 11. As there is no track 12 on any of the albums it stops there.
(http://www.mindracing.com\upload.jpg)
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Adam,
Please let me know the results of the tests with XPlay or other apps so you can disprove my thinkning that this is firmware/hardware related.
Crow,
You could try a synch with 'Update Tags' and "Delete files not in Synch' selected to try to clean up the corruption in your database. If that does not work, a reformat may be your best bet.
wanderso11740,
Are you all set?
Seviien,
It might be possible, but we are not willing at this point to try it based on the EULA problem you mention.
Iplod along,
Upon doing this I have lost the full contents of my Ipod. The music library remains full.
Any suggestions of how to restore my Ipod of my music library?
Can you clarify this for me?
KC,
In an effort to duplicate (1) I started with a clean iPod. I synched a playlist with 5 .ape files and converted them on the fly. I resynched, and they were skipped. I added another file and it converted and was synched correctly. Can you try this test or give me another suggestion on how to definitely duplicate this?
I need to test (2) more. (3) is a bug and I will work on it soon.
Kurt,
My emails to the midfield went unanswered
Midfield who :)
Mindracing,
I will have to look into this. In the meantime, what happens if you drag and drop 'Quantum 1' and 'Quantum 2' onto the ipod and transfer?
dcwinton,
Could you retry reformatting from Windows and then format from within MC. I know you mentioned you did this, but If MC always crashes when you upload, how did you get the files on iPod after the format you did before? Also, consider going to MC 9.1 if you can. Lets pursue this more tomorrow.
Steve
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KC,
In an effort to duplicate (1) I started with a clean iPod. I synched a playlist with 5 .ape files and converted them on the fly. I resynched, and they were skipped. I added another file and it converted and was synched correctly. Can you try this test or give me another suggestion on how to definitely duplicate this?
I need to test (2) more. (3) is a bug and I will work on it soon.
Steve
I appreciate the work you're putting into this.
Give me a couple of days and I'll try and narrow down (1) and (2) as best I can. So far I've been trying to sync my whole collection. I'll work with some smaller playlists and let you know. ;D
Kevin
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I will have to look into this. In the meantime, what happens if you drag and drop 'Quantum 1' and 'Quantum 2' onto the ipod and transfer?
Dragging and dropping cues them up nicely but they don't transfer. The upload dialogue opens and runs and then I get an empty Information box and nothing on the iPOD.
I then have to reformat to get it to sync and after synching nothing is on the iPOD. This is my first full sync since installing the latest plug in 3.037 (which displays as 3.036 in Plug in manager).
-
Steve,
Got it synched again so no problem there.
I have another album set with similar naming (Track 01, Track 02 etc.). This gets the same result.
Dragging artist or album works fine.
What I do notice when watching the upload in the Upload Files window is that only the first albums status is refreshed. It does this the same number of times as the number of albums being uploaded.
So, for a 5 album set it refreshes the status of album 1 5 times (Queued, Uploading,Finished) and doesn't report the status of the other 4. All are transferrred OK though, but only using drag and drop.
Using 'send to' gets the result in my post above.
In summary, the files can be uploaded by using drag and drop, but I know perfection is important to you and getting 'send to' to work would give the plug in more completeness.
Ash
PS: Send To works fine when sending these albums to Create/Select Playlist - must be the plug in.
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Steve: Thanks for your help. I did download 9.1.210 and it seems to work better. But it still doesn't recognize playlists as playlists. I just uploads the songs as individual songs, but they're not organized in any fashion except as Artist/Album.
Also, any idea why MC rips so much more slowly than Musicmatch? I use Musicmatch ONLY to copy CD's because it does it in about half the time.
Thanks for all your good work. Great product.
-
dcwinton,
We rip slower because we use a higher quality encoder by default than MusicMatch. If you want speed over quality, you can try a different encoder.
To get your playlsits on iPod, either synchronize by right-clicking on your iPod drive letter and selecting 'Synchronize' or drag and drop a playlist on the iPod drive letter. In either way, the playlist should be created and populated on iPod.
Steve
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Try to rebuild your database. This shoudl retrieve the file information within the iPod
Chris M
Thanks for the info Chris. Any suggestions or do you mean I should rip the files again?
-
Try to rebuild your database. This shoudl retrieve the file information within the iPod
Chris M
Thanks for the info Chris. Any suggestions or do you mean I should rip the files again?
-
Iplod,
Right click on your IPod drive letter and select 'Rebuild Database from iPod'. No need to rerip the files.
Steve
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Everyone,
MC 9.1.211 is available which includes Plugin 9.0.38.
The issue of not being able to play songs in a playlist through MC is resolved.
KC,
I think this fixes the conversion issues for you.
Mindracing,
I am having a hard time following / recreating your issue. I will try again tomorrow.
Thanks,
Steve
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This isnt a big deal, but I think you should add an auto- smartlist for us "dummies :)" that use the ipod and have multiple media types in media center. Yes, smartlists weren't hard to use after i read the manual, but how about an auto-smartlist for "Ipod use" or "all MP3s".
Maybe when you install the ipod plug in it could add this auto smartlist. Most people want to use Media Center without digging into the manual
Just my thought. It did take me awhile to figure this out for myself. To make Media center more user friendly, this would be a nice addition
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Iplod,
Right click on your IPod drive letter and select 'Rebuild Database from iPod'. No need to rerip the files.
Steve
Thanks Steve. Is this option wise as I have no music files on my Ipod. They all on my PC. Or am I reading the literal meaning of rebuilding from Ipod?
David
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Hi-
I recently imported some .wma files before I realized that iPod didn't support them (I'm an idiot, I know). That said, I created a playlist that combined mp3s and WMAs. Is there anyway to have MC just convert all files that are WMA to MP3 without individually selecting the tracks? I'd love to not have to start over on the playlist I created which unfortunately combines MP3 and WMA (around 3000 songs) - but I can't seem to find an intelligent way to isolate the WMAs for conversion. Any help would be very much appreciated.
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a2hoo,
I want to make the plugin as easy to use as possible. There are already many automatically created smartlists including one for 'All-Music'. What kind of smartlist are you suggesting?
David,
If you do not have any files on your iPod, select 'Format' from the right click iPod menu and go from there.
billycwhatup,
Is there anyway to have MC just convert all files that are WMA to MP3 without individually selecting the tracks?
There are many ways to do this. If you have a playlist that has mp3 and wma files, if your mp3s are all encoded at the same bitrate, you can select 'Options' and 'Force file conversion'. If you select mp3 and the bitrate for all of your files (assuming the files are at the same bitrate) and then upload or synch the files, conversion will be skipped on all your mp3s and only occur on the wma files.
Another way to approach this is to use view filters. This will work if you are using smartlists, but not for playlsits. In this approach, you would create a smartlist that is for .mp3 files only. If you apply this smartlist as your view filter, only your mp3 files will show when you send this playlist. Conversely, you could filter for wma, send the files with conversion on, and then send the mp3 files.
Steve
-
The auto-smartlist would automtaically filter your music and include only "ipod friendly" formats. So it would include MP3, MP3 VBR, and WAV. If Media Center supports AAC in the future, then this too could be put into the smartlist. Formats such as ogg or wma would be excluded from the smartlist.
Theoretically, you could have a "non-ipod friendly smartlist" too that would icnlude music that is not ipod compatible so people can either convert them or re-rip them.
Again, I figured out how to do this but it took more effort than I wanted to put into it. Because MEdia Center may capture a big part of the ipod windows market, i agree it would make sense to make it as easy to use as possible.
Another thing to consider would be to do something like ephpod and automatically make playlists for people based on genre, all music etc.
-
a2hoo,
I appreciate your suggestion, and realize this would be helpful to iPod users but as I think on it, it will clutter the product for non-ipod users. Even if I created this only when the Plugin is used, this would not make sense for all the people who use the plugin and do not have an iPod (the same plugin is also designed to work for all removable drive portable devices). For now, I hope that the combination of smartlists and the ability to on the fly convert the non ipod files to an ipod friendly format will be enough.
Thanks for the suggestion.
Steve
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Everyone,
If you get tonight's build of MC 9.1 and you are feeling like testing Replay Gain, download Plugin 9.0.39 from the website. This version is not included automatically for people who do not want it.
Anyway, with this version, try starting with a clean iPod and then try right clicking on the iPod drive letter and select 'Apply Replay Gain on Upload' . If you do this and then upload your files, tell me how the Replay Gain sounds and if it is roughly working for you.
Thanks.
STeve
-
If you do this and then upload your files, tell me how the Replay Gain sounds and if it is roughly working for you.
No, no! :D Is this Soundcheck implemented on a WiPod? Is that what you're talking about Steve?
So, I'm guessing that the soundcheck option has to be turned on, on the iPod for this to work is that right? Or did you handle it some other way.....
Adam
-
O.... M..... G!!!
Steve! Have you done it!? Woot!
I can't test this tonight... please, someone tell me if it works!
-
Everyone,
If you get tonight's build of MC 9.1 and you are feeling like testing Replay Gain, download Plugin 9.0.39 from the website. This version is not included automatically for people who do not want it.
Anyway, with this version, try starting with a clean iPod and then try right clicking on the iPod drive letter and select 'Apply Replay Gain on Upload' . If you do this and then upload your files, tell me how the Replay Gain sounds and if it is roughly working for you.
Thanks.
STeve
I tried this for my files and tested two songs that were on opposite ends of the spectrum with respect to encoded volume.
After formatting my iPod and uploading my songs with Replay Gain Applied, the volumes were indeed at a similar level, so it appeared to work.
However, the volume for both songs was so low that I had to max the volume of my iPod to acheive a reasonable sound level.
Additionally, when I disabled the option to enable Replay Gain and re-uploaded my files (Delete files not in list and Update Tags both enabled), the replay gain setting appeared to still be there. The volumes of my two songs were still both the same and both very low on the iPod.
FYI - the two songs in question and their Replay Gain values in MC9 are
- Tangerine by Led Zeppelin - (-5.66 dB)
- Papercut by Linkin Park - (-15.77 dB)
I hope this information helps you out.
-
Pretty much the same result for me Steve. I found that I could turn the iPod all the way up (which I can never do unless I've had too much wine ;)).
Seems like you've found a way to introduce the EU volume limitation....
Oh, and turning the SoundCheck feature on or off didn't have any effect...should it? It would be cool if it did.
Adam
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a2hoo,
David,
If you do not have any files on your iPod, select 'Format' from the right click iPod menu and go from there.
Steve
Steve, Thank you SO MUCH for your help.
I have now been able to sync Ipod and my music library. I now know that some of the files were at different birates (?) but not sure why this would have caused a sync problem especially as the conversion process of the cda file involved both conversion and encoding at the same time.
Not being a techie (I am a music lover) I still can't work out why re-formating the Ipod again would have solved the problem and in deed what the process does.
Finally, some files did not transfer over. The message box seemed to suggest this was because the file was an mp3-3 whereas on my library the file is an mp3. Strangely, I was able to play the files on my Ipod before I lost the contents that created my problem.
Once again, THANK YOU and for restoring my belief in the MC product.
David
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Downloaded new IPOD plug in 7-9-2003 and voila, can no longer upload to my 3G 15GB POD running 2.0.1. MC recognizes the IPOD as a drive and I can view albums, etc. but when I try to upload I get an error dialog with no message and then MC locks up. Last version of POD plug-in worked just fine. Running MC 9.0.180 on xp. Can anybody help me with this? Where can I get the old plug in until the new one is up to snuff? ?
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Downloaded MC9 and iPod plugin last night. Uninstalled MMJB+plugin. Installed MC9 and plugin. Formated iPod for MC9. Pulled in 2900 tracks into library. Dragged and dropped auto playlist "All Music" on to device(iPod). All songs que up. Click upload button. Small dialog box appears indicating drive letter( H: ) and large-ish red circle with an "X" on it, and that is all. Dismiss dialog box, file transfer box appears and does nothing. MC9 "not responding" end program. What am I doing wrong?
Thanks in advance.
30 GB iPod, WinXP sp1, 700mhz P3, 256MB ram, Abit bx6 rev1. mobo, twin 60GB Seagate Barracudas(IDE), Nvidia Geforce2 4200, SB-Live value, Avermedia TV Studio, Optonline.
-
Everyone,
I am adding an adjustment selection to boost the baseline for the Replay Gain today.
JC,
The bug you reported about reupload with 'Apply Replay Gain' deselected is fixed in tonight's build.
David,
Not being a techie (I am a music lover) I still can't work out why re-formating the Ipod again would have solved the problem and in deed what the process does.
Reformating cleans the iPod database which resolves any potential data corruption that may have occurred. If the database has flaws, it can potentially cause MC to crash.
The message box seemed to suggest this was because the file was an mp3-3
The error code '-3' means that the file path is incorrect. If you see this code, check that you can play that file within MC. If you cannot, you should delete and reimport that song.
jbPenny,
I would encourage you to go to MC 9.1.212. New additions are being added constantly and are not always going to work with older versions such as 9.0. If you want the plugin from 2 days ago, email me and I will send it to you. (steve @ jriver.com)
kahunasquan,
What version of MC are you running? If not 9.1.212, try getting that version.
-
Dragged and dropped auto playlist "All Music" on to device(iPod). All songs que up. Click upload button. Small dialog box appears indicating drive letter( H: ) and large-ish red circle with an "X" on it, and that is all. Dismiss dialog box, file transfer box appears and does nothing. MC9 "not responding" end program. What am I doing wrong?
Nothing I suggest. I recently had this problem where my MC did not seem to recognise my Ipod. No idea how this happened. I followed advice from Steve and reformated my Ipod from MC (see earlier entries to this bulletin board). I was then able to resync.
I do find it odd why these oddities happen from time to me. 8)
-
Everyone,
For those of you interested in advacing the progress of Replay Gain and iPod, try getting iPod plugin 9.0.40. If you right click on the the Ipod you will now see an option for 'Set Replay Gain Adjustment' which will allow you to add or subtract dB from the Replay gain setting in MC. Also if you deselect "Apply Replay Gain' and resynch your files, the Replay Gain will go away as it should.
Feedback would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Steve
-
Everyone,
For those of you interested in advacing the progress of Replay Gain and iPod, try getting iPod plugin 9.0.40. If you right click on the the Ipod you will now see an option for 'Set Replay Gain Adjustment' which will allow you to add or subtract dB from the Replay gain setting in MC. Also if you deselect "Apply Replay Gain' and resynch your files, the Replay Gain will go away as it should.
Feedback would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Steve
Steve, my initial testing verifies that the replay gain adjustment does indeed resolve the extremely low volume issue from yesterday. I used an increase of 10dB with the two songs from yesterday and both were of an acceptable volume.
I will perform some more tests later tonight and report my findings.
-
REPLAY GAIN ?
OK, I'd love to help, but I'm confused about what this is, or rather, how it relates to the iPod (I have a 30GB).
I read the MC9 Help and I believe I understand the difference between "normalization" and "replay gain" on MC9 itself ... although from the Help description, I can't understand why anyone would prefer mucking up their files with "normalization," when it appears that "replay gain" does the same thing without hurting the file.
Then there's that third thing (in DSP) called "Dynamic Boost" which from the desciption appears to be similar to the "loudness" setting on my old stereo. But that doesn't really interest me much (I don't want a flute solo to be as loud as a full orchestra), so, of the three MC9 choices, it seems like "replay gain" is the thing.
But then when I use my iPod, my only choice is something called "sound check," which *seems* like it ought to do the same thing as MC9's "replay gain." However, I haven't noticed that it makes any difference whether I turn it on or off ... sequential songs still sound a lot different in volume.
So in summary, my question is what the new MC9 iPod plugin feature does. Best I can guess is that maybe it's something like "MC9's Replay Gain But Now It Works On The iPod."
Is the idea that it will work better than iPod's ineffective (to my ears) "sound check"?
Sorry for my ignorance about this. If anyone can point me to a previous discussion where all is made clear, I'd appreciate it. Or if there is no such place, then anyone who wants to explain the whole thing ... well, that would be really REALLY appreciated.
P.S. This is maybe half off-topic, but for what it's worth, I use these phenomenal molded-to-your-ear earbuds ... I got them from www.customearsets.com, and I can't recommend them highly enough to you all. They block out pretty much all outside sound, so you really never would have a need for "dynamic boost" ... even the softest passages are clearly audible.
-
REPLAY GAIN ?
OK, I'd love to help, but I'm confused about what this is, or rather, how it relates to the iPod (I have a 30GB).
It sounds like you understand the "Analyze Audio" functionality and how the replay gain settings relate to the way your songs are played via MC9.
What the new 9.0.40 iPod plugin does (and you have to download the newest from the site, it isn't auto installed with 9.1.213) is allow you to play your music on your iPod similar to the way it is played in MC9 when Replay Gain is applied.
Soundcheck is not used (that's for the iTunes version of Replay Gain and only for Macs AFAIK). But, at the bottom of the menu when you right-click on your iPod, you have two new options.
- Apply Replay Gain during upload- This will modify the output volume by the "Replay Gain" amount defined in MC9.
- Set Replay Gain adjustment - Use this to change the output volume of all songs by a fixed amount as they are played on your iPod.
Basically, the Replay Gain functionality you had with MC9 playback can now optionally be applied to your iPod device.
Really nice implementation that works very well. As you mentioned, this is much preferred over the destructive "normalization" method.
-
JeffPalley:
JC has it right. Soundcheck is not available on WiPods, Apple chose not to include it. But it basically does the same thing as MC9's replay gain is doing. It doesn't normalize (i.e. change your files), it applies the replay gain adjustment per your analyzed files.
STEVE:
I have found a bug of sorts. In doing this testing I've been clicking on Audio and then sorting on the replay gain column. I then select the first song, scroll all the way to the bottom and select the last song. This gives me the songs w/the greatest variety in gain. I then have been clicking on the iPod icon to up load these songs. It uploads, then the iPod drive letter is highlighted, MC9 hangs and then crashes. (MediaCore).
This happened last night w/.212 and tonight w/.213
Might want to check into that. Maybe that functionality got broken somewhere along the line (clicking the iPod toolbar button I mean)
OK, regarding the replay gain. This is so tough because it's so subjective. But what I did was upload 2 songs. One had a replay gain of -12.81db, the other had a value of 3.26db. I set the adjustment to +.5db as last night's build it was too quite.
The result: they didn't sound equal to me. the 3.26db song was much louder than the -12.81 song. Not sure if we're there yet or if I'm doing something wrong. I did verify that I had Apply Replay Gain checked.
Adam
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JeffPalley:
JC has it right. Soundcheck is not available on WiPods
JC & ashawley,
Wow ... and I've been checking that little Soundcheck box all this time and wondering why it didn't seem to have any effect. You mean we Windows users have been fraudulated by Apple? THEY would do that to US?
Appreciate the info. Incidentally, I can't try it now -- my iPod's at work) -- but it sounds like (well, I'm hoping it sounds like) if I install SteveG's new iPod plugin version and then select the appropriate options and enter my desired gain adjustment, and then do a sync, then all 30GB of songs currently on my iPod will automatically play back on the iPod using replay gain, without me having to manually re-upload the songs to the iPod (all the songs were audio-analyzed by MC9 before I originally uploaded them). Is that pretty much right, or will I have to remove the songs from the iPod and then re-upload them?
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Steve, sir,
I'm offline more and more these days, so I just wanted to throw this in.
Is it possible to tie whatever you're doing with the replay gain to the "Sound Check" toggle on the iPod? I know you're still building it, and so giving it a convenient toggle isn't as important right now as getting it working, but...
I guess I'd just like a warm fuzzy that it's on the list, and you'll go on it as soon as the replay gain guts are working. Can you reassure a guy?
:D
(sigh, I haven't downloaded a new build since 210)
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Jeff,
Adam and JC's advice is on the money ( thanks). In regards to adding in the repaly gain and removing it, if you get tonight's plugin and select 'Apply Replay Gain' and then synch with 'Update Tags' selected, the Replay Gain analysis will be added to your iPod. If you want to remove it, deselect 'Apply Replay Gain' and resynch with 'Update Tags' selected and the Replay Gain analysis will go away.
Adam,
I will fix the button to transfer the files.
In regards to the gain analysis, this is not an exact science. To get this to work I have to convert the Replay Gain to a scale that is accepatble by Apple. If it is way off, let me know, if it is slightly off, it may be as good as we can get.
Kurt,
If I follow the previous posts, I do not think the 'Sound Check' is enabled for win iPods. Sorry to rain on the warm fuzzy. :)
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Hello,
Searched the forums an did not find this problem posted:
I have MC 9.0.180 and a new 15GB iPod. I installed the iPod plug-in and synched all my files fine the first time (approx 3000).
After a week or so, I wanted to synch again. downloaded the new plug-in, 9.0.40 and installed it successfully with no errors.
Plugged in the iPod, and hit Synchronize on the menu. Chose my playlist (all files) and hit ok...
After a few seconds a very small window pops up that just says hh_portable in the title bar and has a single [close] button. There is no other text or info.
This happens every time I try. I have tried rebooting and uninstalling/reinstalling the plug-in.
The only other thing I can think of that might be triggering this bug is that I am using Audible.com and have downloaded audiobooks to the iPod. The iPod has been working fine.
Any ideas?
Thanks in advance,
Christian.
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Hrmm... I was under the impression that the only reason it doesn't work is because there's no replay gain data on your average WinniePod.
The toggle in the settings menu would just tell the OS to use it or to not use it... and now that there's going to be data on the WinniePod, I was hoping you could get the toggle to work.
It's totally conceivable, though, that Apple turned the "back end" of the toggle itself off. Do me a favor and investigate, if you can? The only reason I'm asking is that it'd be so much nicer and easier if we could just use the toggle while on the go, rather than have to connect, uncheck, resync, and disconnect.
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Christian,
Try redownloading the plugin. I just posted an older version. MC 9.1 has some added functionality and I posted the latest plugin (9.0.40) to be compatible with it. It will not work so well with MC 9.0.180 so I put the old plugin back and will only include the new plugin during the install of newer MC 9.1 versions.
Sorry for any trouble.
Kurt,
I just tested with 'Sound Check' on and off and it appears to have no effect on the Replay Gain.
ChrisIpod,
6) After clicking, 0 files show to the right, but the available size is diminished correctly.
Can you verify that you have not selected 'Show Queued Files Only' when you right click on iPod. You should select 'Show All Files'
Steve
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SteveG,
Sorry about the slightly off topic post here, but I was wondering if renaming the topic of this thread would be possible. It appears that new users (myself included) aren't aware that the "IPOD SUPPORT" thread is the one place we should go for Ipod questions.
Perhaps "OFFICIAL IPOD SUPPORT THREAD" or "POST IPOD SUPPORT QUESTIONS HERE" or something to indicate the full intent of the thread would avoid many of the "please post in the iPod Support thread" replies that are quite frequent.
Initially, I was under the impression that someone was looking for help with their IPOD about a specific problem. It is an easily made mistake and one that may be less common with a slight name modification.
Anything to help new users, right? :)
BTW - I didn't get a chance to test the on/off toggle of the replay gain last night. We had a terrible lightning storm and I didn't want to fry my equipment. I'll test tonight to confirm that it works properly.
Thanks!
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JC,
Good suggestion, consider it done. Stay out of the way of the lightning.
Adam,
The button to shortcut to upload files should be fixed in the next MC build.
Steve
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Steve:
Not to beat an already near-catatonic horse, but I was just wondering about the sound check toggle.
Maybe it's that Kurt and I don't understand how you implemented Replay Gain. It was my understanding (and I think Kurt's), that you used the existing "architecture" in place for Sound Check. Or did you accomplish it the other way. The reason I ask is that it'd be a great "test" to see if things are working.
I know we've said Apple didn't implement Soundcheck on WiPods, but by that we meant they didn't enable it to be used by their preferred software (MMJB). Obviously it can be accomplished or you couldn't do it? :D
So, unlike the other features they've disabled, this one is there somehow. It'd just be slick to make it work like on MiPods. If you gett my drift.
:horse rolls eyes and gasps last breath: ;)
Adam
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Hi there,
I wonder how can I make use of the rating system the new iPod provides. It seems that none of my Media Center ratings are transfered to the "pot" and the other way around.
Sorry if that was been answered anywhere else already, but I didn't find it here.
Thanks and best regards,
Mighty A-MAN
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Can anyone shed some light on an issue that has happened to me before and which has happened again today.
This morning I was able to successfully sync MC with my Ipod. This evening it does not seem to recognise the Ipod and the music files at all. I either get a warning box with a cross in it or a warning box telling me to select files to play? The album titles appear under thw Ipod drive but no details of the music within.
Can anyone suggest the best course of action to take as i have only earlier this week re-formatted my Ipod?
Confused and bewildered.
David ?
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Please use the iPod support thread here.
Include more details if you can. Version of MC and plug-in. Update if not current.
Are you using other software to talk to the iPod?
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Adam,
To get the Replay Gain to work, I manipulated the Database, not the firmware. When I tested turning the 'SoundCheck' toggle on and off for files that had the Replay Gain applied, it seemed to make no difference. See if you can verify that and if you can, then I do not know a way to get the iPod firmware to take advantage of this setting.
Mighty A Man,
As far as I can tell the iPod rating system does not persist when the iPod is plugged back in to the PC (i.e. the ratings disappear each time you connect to the PC). Assuming this is the case, there is no way for me to send this setting to the iPod because the firmware does not handle it.
David,
A reformat may be necessary. If you can, please send me your iTunesDB file from your iPod and I can try to diagnose what went wrong and prevent it in the future.
Steve (steve @ jriver.com)
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Hello ALL, Lately after SYNCHING 16.4GB or more files to my ipod I get a message saying something like "not including UPLAOD FILES." Since I am not uploading I don't know what that means. Also, one or two files in the ipod don't play, but ipod just quickly advance to the next song. These songs are songs that have been on the Ipod in the past, so I know they're ok... THANKS, Christopher
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Chrispod:
Try updating your MC9 library, it's possible that you moved some songs on your PC and MC9 can't find them.
To do this:
Click File>Library>Update Libary. Make sure you have the checkbox checked for "Remove Files which Do Not Exist". This won't delete any mp3s, it'll just delete the references to them in MC9's database.
Then try the sync again.
If it still fails, make sure all your songs are of MP3 file type.
Adam
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Mighty A Man,
As far as I can tell the iPod rating system does not persist when the iPod is plugged back in to the PC (i.e. the ratings disappear each time you connect to the PC). Assuming this is the case, there is no way for me to send this setting to the iPod because the firmware does not handle it.
Hey Steve,
Thanks for your answer. Then I hope that Apple will change their firmware, so PC users can use the rating system as well. I tried it with the awful MusicMatch, too, but it didn't work either. It must be a Mac-only feature at the moment.
Cheers,
Mighty A-MAN
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Hey - Remember that long post by Wobbley, that everyone complained about and even had the nerve to ask him to edit? Well I have similar problems, but I never saw the answers to his post... I have a 20GB ipod which when plugged in to my laptop with windows XP opens up MC9 version 9.1.213. Here's what's happening:
1) Restore, then format iPod
2) Sync files
3) Disconnect iPod and listen to music
4) Reconnect iPod
5) Click on iPod letter (G:) I also have a NEW 10GB that comes in on (E:) but these problems are exsisting without me using that ipod, I adds things to that one very infrequently.
6) After clicking letter, 0 files show to the right, but the available size is diminished correctly.
7) I rebuild, and all playlist info is gone and the number of files is lessened. I then resync everything, which brings back titles and other info, but a few songs at the end of each album is gone. Like a FOO FIGHTERS album has 8 instead of 10 songs.
8) Trying to put those songs back results in a duplicate, and disallows them.
9) I click file and exit, and disconnect safely, and wait til the check mark appears on the window of the ipod.
10) Then next morning I HAVE to hear PHYSICAL GRAFFITI on the way to work!!!!! I rip it and plug in the ipod and the songs are back 0. I go through the above steps, but am angered when the total number of files is diminished yet again. I try to resync and the MC9 freezes the entire PC, I have enough time, so I reformat.
I should have 18.5GB available to start over, bit have 12.5GB. I format again, BUT i NEVER get back the space I should have.
11) I decide (as I do at least once a week) that restoring is the only way, so I force the ipod off the connection, close the frozen PC and start over. I then resync 3200 files, and one hour later I am ready to go to work.
I have found that I need to restore once a week and then put everything back on. I have a few small playlists, but all the rest of my 3200 files are in a playlist called CHRISTOPHER's IPOD, which I sync on. One Q is, is it OK to often restore? Also, my ipod is a 20GB, and my partner's is a brand new 10GB (Levent's IPOD is his long playlist. Yes, we use the correct updaters for each.) Thanks...
HELP! Christopher
P.S. The smiley faces you see in this post are themselves a BUG, as I did not put them there.
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There are a few more things. When I've done the full 3200 sync, and MC9 crashes at about 2700, and I have to force the ipod off, and restart the computer, I come back and rebuild (because of course I always have 0 files) and about 50 songs just have numbers. Where are the titles?
Also will someone just shout out to me was version of MC9 I should be using? Someone gave me a link, which I also found on my own, but it's a link that just goes in cricles, back and forth to the same page in ipod help.
Could you be a pal and give me the link for the version I should use (which hopefully has Replay Gain)?
I'm at four hours now this morning, and not one song heard...
CMB
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Link to MC9 versions (http://www.musicex.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=MediaCenter)
You'll notice the top two posts have both the most recent beta version (9.1.213) and the most recent public version (9.0.180). Select the version you wish to use and the download link will be in the very first post in that thread.
Although the numbers change, you will always be able to find the most recent versions at the top of this board.
Hope this helps!
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JC, after each post a new can of worms is opened. By saying "PUBLIC VERSION is 9.0.180," do you mean do you mean that's what I should be using?
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JC, after each post a new can of worms is opened. By saying "PUBLIC VERSION is 9.0.180," do you mean do you mean that's what I should be using?
You should be using the version you feel most comfortable with. If you don't mind beta testing software and putting up with a few bugs, then you may wish to use the newest beta version 9.1.213. If you are looking for a stable version that "just works", the public version may be your best bet.
The Replay Gain implementation for iPods only works with the newest iPod plugin (9.0.40) and the beta version 9.1 of Media Center. The replay gain functionality inside Media Center is available in 9.0 as far as I know. The newest iPod Plugin (9.0.40) does not play nice with 9.0.180, so it is not available as a seperate download. SteveG mentioned earlier in this thread that it will be included in newer 9.1 releases.
As for myself, I'm using 9.1.213. As for which version you "should" be using, that's a decision only you can make. However, I've been using the latest beta of 9.1 and aside from the bugs listed in that thread, I haven't found any issues.
If you want something that "just works" ... you may want to stick with 9.0 for now. You won't get the new functionality, but may alleviate some frustration.
Hope this helps!
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JC,
Thanks for the post to Christopher.
Christopher, I would recommend getting 9.1.213, because it is the one that I can affect the most if there are bugs. I know that it is frustrating when things aren't working, but there are a lot of variables and so it requires patience and perserverance at times. Comments like.....
....Wobbley, that everyone complained about and even had the nerve to ask him to edit
are frustrating to me, because one of the difficulties with communicating with a medium such as Interact is trying to clearly understand each other on topics where it is important to be very precise. I do not think that requires 'nerve' but patience from all.
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I have found that I need to restore once a week and then put everything back on.
Why should this be. Is the Ipod-MC link not stable enough?
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Dear iplod, One of the things I'm stating is that it's odd, yes, that I lose space every time I format with MC9, I'm begging for an answer as to why. The formatting process leaves files on the ipod, it does not take it back to the empty state. I have posted these remarks and cannot get an answer as to why when I connect, and click on the letter I have 0 files now EVERY TIME. Then, many times if I try to re sync, MC9 freezes the whole PC. I have to restore whenever I want new music on my ipod.
Sorry about my rude comments, to others, I AM frustrated. SORRY.
CHRISTOPHER
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I have posted these remarks and cannot get an answer as to why when I connect, and click on the letter I have 0 files now EVERY TIME.
As a test, could you try something? (actually a couple things)
- When you plugin the iPod and it shows up as a drive letter, when you right click, what does the very top option in the pop-up menu say?
- If you connect the iPod and it appears in MC9 with no files. What happens if you just eject the device? Are you still able to play the songs that were on you iPod previously?
These two answers may help discover why your computer is behaving differently.
Thanks!
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JC: It says "show queued files only"... and no, although the space is diminished, 0 files show in the ipod. Also, at the bottom of the right side of MC9 it says 0 files, when this is all happening. Since I last wrote, I plugged in and had no files again, and when I right clicked to rebuild, that THUD with the red X came up and MC9 had to shut down. So AGAIN I've restored, and hae a few playlists to perform that test you had me do. I ejected and plugged back in, and the files are there this time.
One other note: Up by the red target it says "play" you know, for playing a song... shouldn't it have the task I'm performing now up there?
In the interim, i have d/l 9.1.213 again, and wonder where that Replay Gain is... any comments there?
Christopher
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JC: It says "show queued files only"... and no, although the space is diminished, 0 files show in the ipod. Also, at the bottom of the right side of MC9 it says 0 files, when this is all happening. Since I last wrote, I plugged in and had no files again, and when I right clicked to rebuild, that THUD with the red X came up and MC9 had to shut down. So AGAIN I've restored, and hae a few playlists to perform that test you had me do. I ejected and plugged back in, and the files are there this time.
One other note: Up by the red target it says "play" you know, for playing a song... shouldn't it have the task I'm performing now up there?
In the interim, i have d/l 9.1.213 again, and wonder where that Replay Gain is... any comments there?
Christopher
- The Replay Gain functionality is available for the iPod only in the new plugin. SteveG mentioned that 9.0.41 will be installed with 9.1.214 when it is posted tomorrow.
- If you plugin the iPod, see no files show up in MC9, then eject the iPod (without any restpre, database rebuilding, etc ...), do the files still play on the iPod while disconnected? Are all of the files still on the iPod? (check the about section on the iPod for a song count before and after connecting to the computer).
We'll get this figured out eventually. Also, you probably posted this elsewhere, but, just for my info, which OS are you using?
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One other note: Up by the red target it says "play" you know, for playing a song... shouldn't it have the task I'm performing now up there?
Sorry, I forgot this in my earlier response. Mine says "Add to Playing Now" all the time. I don't think I've ever seen it say anything different. Not sure if this is the same as what you're seeing or not.
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JC, I am using WIndows XP, and when I eject the ipod there are 0 files in "about". By my target it tells you what operation you're performing at the time... except when I have the ipod in. It should say the Letter of the ipod I think...
I did read the post about the Replay Gain being added to the new version, but other posters said they had it.
Can't wait!
Is there some "save changes" that I'm not doing after transferring files?
Christopher
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JC, I'm scared to say this becouse I don't know how accurate it is: I seem to remember in Adam's instructions, that the task you are performing "now" should be up at the target. He says you can drag songs there, I don't know of I'm correct and I don't have time to check it, I'm off to work. Also, I have a Gateway 600 laptop and I'm told they're set up to give handhelds, etc a new letter each time it comes in. The letter I gave Ipod initially is F, but it comes in on G since I got the other new ipod in June which comes in on E. ANY MATTER?
Christopher
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Chrispod,
What happens if you run another program to connect to your Ipod? I want to try to establish whether there is some kind of hardware issue causing your problems.
Steve
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I'm not really sure how to say this, so bear with me,
If MC ever crashes mid-sync, all playlists are destroyed. It's been like that since synching started, and rarely really happens... but every time it crashes, I can count on all the playlists going away.
Is there any way to, I dunno, "move the playlists to the end" of the sync, so that, if MC tanks mid-sync, the playlists have a better chance of staying alive?
The only reason I ask is that I've "helped" my friend out a few times by plugging her iPod into my machine, and 2 out of 5 times, MC has tanked mid-sync and swallowed her playlists, leaving me to wipe the egg offa my face.
Prolly just the way things are, but I figured I'd ask, ;)
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Steve
I apologize if I've placed this in the wrong forum. I downloaded 9.1.213 from your message and used it to rip a couple of CD's, created a new playlist and loaded the 16 ripped tracks in it and then uploaded the playlist to my 15G iPod. Everything worked, the tracks sound great on the iPod.
Only question I have relates to the "Sound Check", "Replay Gain" function discussed in previous postings. Nothing like either of these appears in the dropdown menu I get when rightclicking on the iPod Icon in the left window. What have I missed?
Sherm
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Kurt,
I will try to improve this soon.
Sherm123,
That feature will be available when we do the next build of MC 9.1.
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Steve:
I've updated my iPod w/the Replay Gain values on my tunes and I'm not sure we have this. I'll check further tonight, but is actually seems that now w/Replay Gain applied my tunes are more disparate as far as volume than they were before replay gain was applied.
Anyone else seeing the same? I just know one thing, I've had to touch the volume on my iPod a lot more today then ever before.
Hmmmm......
Adam
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hello all, I need real help installing the ipod plugin. I am not connected to the internet and it seems that to install the ipod plugin, it must connect to the media jukebox server when trying to install the downloaded ipod plugin. Is there anyway around it? Thank you
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Random smartlists - They don't work in Ipod
Hi there,
I have created a few random smartlists but when I sync and upload to Ipod I only ever get the same tracks created even if I use the random 1 hour smartlist. Is this correct or am I doing something wrong?
Thanks
Karl
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Adam,
If you can test it more and let me know. Check what you have set for the 'Replay Gain Adjustment'
ayja,
If you have MC 9.1, you do not need the plugin, it is automatically included as part of MC.
Karl,
What version of MC are you running? I cannot duplicate this with 9.1.213.
Steve
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Hi Steve
I'm actually using 9.180.
If I try the beta will it ruin my playlists etc when I upgrade to 9.1?
thanks
Karl
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Karl,
Your playlists should be fine, but I recommend backing up your library just to be extra safe.
Steve
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I can no longer "transcode" or covert files to my ipod on the fly. With the new version (9.1xxxx15) Whenever I try to sync my ipod to transcode at VBR mp3, it either disappears completely (crashes... and is no longer one of the active, running process according to winxp) or quickly starts to go through a list of files saying "Conversion not applicable" until it crashes and disappears again. I tried going back to an older version of MC with no luck.
I have tried to sync without transcoding, and it seems to work fine, however this is an essential feature for me, and i can't upload my entire library without it.
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Hmm...can't download via the media server on build .215 either--it flashes the screen for uploading when you select upload, then the upload screen disappears..
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Hi there,
I have now installed the 9.1.215 release and all appears to be fine at the moment.
I have now analysed all my files and I have peak levels ranging from 50% to 100% (I take it 100% is good), now how do I get all my peak levels to say 140% for use in my Ipod?
Is this easy to do or is it something that is not implemented at present?
Thanks
Karl
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DigitalTrapper and cct1,
I will look into these and post later.
Karl,
Right click on your iPod and find the setting for 'Replay Gain Adjustment'. Try boosting this level and it will take the overall Replay Gain adjustment for all your files and set it higher for the iPod. I think this is what you are looking for.
Steve
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Hi Steve,
I am using the Ipod .38 release and when I right click I can't see any regain option. Am I using the wrong Ipoad plugin?
Thanks a lot
Karl
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Hi there,
Please ignore that last post - I was being dumb!
I notice when I analysis certain files it tells me there were errors with the analysis. Does that mean the mp3s are at fault?
Also If I do make the regain analysis and set it at 120db is this applied to the mp3 or just a setting in Ipod.
Many thanks
Karl
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Karl,
The 'Replay Gain Adjustment' setting will only be applied on the iPod. The error during analysis is most likely caused by the bitrate for the file being too low for analysis, not necessarily a flaw in the file. I will implement today the ability to detect if the file is not analyzed and then I wll apply the average setting for the files in the synch.
Steve
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Steve:
USER ERROR! :D I noted that it seemed that Replay Gain wasn't working. DOH! Realized last night that 600 or so songs hadn't been Analyzed. Did that, resync'd all seems really great this morning. I'm loving this.
KARL:
I think maybe we need to explain what Replay Gain is in the context of MC9 and how it benefits you in MC9 as it relates to the iPod.
I apologize in advance if you know this already, I just want to be thorough.
Replay Gain was designed, not for the iPod, but for MC9 to allow users to "normalize" the volume of their songs. Because CD1 might have been recorded louder than CD2, it can cause problems when listening to playlists in MC9 (or on the iPod). Now as to the specifics of how it works, Steve can elaborate on that. Or check the MC9 help file. Bottom line it stores a db level adjustment in MC9's database so that when you enable DSP Audio (a feature of MC9) it will use this value to raise or lower the volume of each song based upon the db adjustment of the Replay Gain value. It does not alter the mp3 file in any way.
OK, now that that's figured out. How does it help you? Well, the iPod also has a database field to store this Replay Gain information. So, when you "Apply Replay Gain on Upload", MC9 populates the iPod's database w/this adjustment. Now, it's not necessarily going to make each song lounder, that's not the point. Some songs will have a raised volume, others will have a decreased volume. So they all sound roughly as if they were recorded at the same volume.
OK, but you probably want to boost your volume (I'm guessing your a euro-podder? Could be wrong on that).
Easy, Steve has added another feature: Set Replay Gain Adjustment. This allows you to essentially boost (or lower if you wished) the replay gain values on all your songs.
So, let's say you set this value to +5db. If one of your songs was analyzed w/a Replay Gain value of -10db and another song was analyzed at +5db each of these would be changed to -5db and +10db when uploaded to the iPod.
Hope that helps things a little. It's a little different than Xplay does things (if that's where you first tried this) and much better as it does the boost relative to its analzed Replay Gain setting. So things all sound as if recorded at the same volume.
Sorry for the novel, but I thought it'd help.
Adam
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Adam,
Thanks for taking the time to write that up, you explain it very well and it will be a help to others. If you wouldn't mind cutting and pasting that into the help, it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Steve
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Hi Steve/Adam,
Thanks so much for the explanation :) It means a lot to me!
Yes I am a Euro-podder and have not been too impressed with having to have my volume at 100% all the time. I even went to the doctors today to have my ears syringed :) but the nurse said my ear had no wax in them:) so I guess the volume does suck :)
I had dabbled with Xplay but XP did not like the program. MC9.1 seems to be going like a dream apart from the errors mentioned.
Again thank you so much.
Karl
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Hi ,
Sorry about this but I just notived another little error with build .215.
When I do a sync with Ipod I now notice that any various artists compliation that I am playing will show the song title and LP name but where is should show the artist it shows (in Ipod) the wording 'Multiple Artists'
Regards
Karl
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hehe, Steve, I almost said I was going to do that. But didn't.
Yup, I'll get it added. I'll add a whole section on Replay Gain since it really solves the problem for Euro-podders.
Karl, when you get everything analyzed and sync'd w/a good volume, let us know what you ended up setting yours at, could you? That will serve as a guideline I can put in the help guide.
Since I know your ears are clean now, I think you'd make a good baseline. ;)
Adam
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Adam,
Thank you. Your Post explaining the Replay Gain concept and implementation was very helpful.
I have formatted my iPod.
I've just analyzed my MC9 Audio files and now want to upload the Replay Gain DB level adjustments from my MC9 database when I synch and repopulate my iPod.
Where is the box I check to get MC9 to "apply the replay gain on upload" ?
Sherman
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Karl,
The 'Multiple Artist' is by design. It is occuring because you have 'Album Artist (auto)' selected when you right click on iPod and choose 'Select Artist Field'. If you want this field to always send 'Artist' simply select it under 'Select Artist Field' and you will be all set.
FYI 'Album Artist (auto)' uses 'Album Artist' if it is populated and then defaults to 'Artist' if 'Album Artist' is empty.
**Edit** You do not need to wipe the iPod clean, just make sure 'Update Tags' is selected when you synch and have 'Apply Replay Gain' checked.
Sherman,
Right-click on iPod and select 'Apply Replay Gain during Upload'
Steve
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Hi Adam,
I sure will!
As a matter of interest do I have to wipe my Ipod first before re-syncing and replay gain as I did syncronise with the replay gain and adjusting the db but it did not seem to make a great deal of difference to my file volumes.
Thanks
Karl
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Hi again,
Is +12db the highest that the replay gain will go to?
I applied it as mentioned earlier but there appears to be no real gain here.
The strange thing is that tracks that I have not anaylised seem a lot higher in volume. Very strange.
Karl
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Has anyone found out the cure yet for the cut off of tracks once transferred to the ipod.
I am still suffering from this in virtually every track.
Does anyone know how to cure it yet.
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O.K. - I have been playing around with the settings and I have applied +12db and it does indeed boost the volume quite a lot. On mine probably by 20%. I normally have to listen to my euro Ipod on 100% volume. I now listen at about 80%. I would like that to go down to 50% to save on battery power but we can'r have evrything :) I guess Ilike the volume VERY LOUD :)
It would be nice to be able to increase the db to +20 but I would imagine many people would be blowing up their headsets!
Also alot depends on mp3 quality - especially if you download off file share sites as a lot of people still rip very poorely.
Thanks for your efforts :)
Karl
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Mikeh,
You could try restoring the iPod with iPod Manager to see if that will help. Also, be sure you have MC 9.1.215, but if you are pretty current, it should not matter.
If your tracks are still cut off, email me one that is cut off and I will test it here and verify that there is no problem. If I do not hear the cutoff, it is most likely a hardware issue, but I will keep checking.
Karl,
There is a maximum I can boost the volume on iPod and if you are at + 12db that is the max.
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I'll send you a track now if you give me your email address.
Ive just tried a few tests.
If i do a conversion then transfer the track cuts off about the last 5 seconds. IF i manually convert the track and copy it to the ipod using explorer renaming as F06\43671.mp3 it still cuts off.
But if i copy the file back from the ipod and play its okay.
It also only happens on files that i am converting. Files i already have as mp3 go on okay.
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Update: Steve, I am still having this problem of MC just crashing (and disappearing) when I try to sync. Unlike the other user, I was not trying to upload via the media server. I have found that this happens when I try to sync very large numbers of files or large playlists with the transcode feature turned on. This happens when I am trying to both SYNC or UPLOAD. I have been able to get the ipod to UPLOAD and transcode smaller numbers of songs. I just did 37 songs with no problem.
Also, I've been getting songs that get cut off too. When I play the ipod files back over MC, they play fine, however I do have a lot of songs that get uploaded and have incorrect durration times displayed on ipod. Sometimes this causes "dead air" to be played, other times it will cause a file to be cut off....
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Hi,
Well I have been playing quite a lot with various db levels in 9.1.
If I set the levels to +10 or 12 it seems to work very well with lower frequency tracks (brings up the levels very well) but when it brings down db levels for louder songs (like Sum 41, Queens of the stone age, Rancid etc) the tracks are very bassy and not that crisp at all.
When I take off replay gain the louder songs are again very crisp.
Karl
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SteveG
I have ran some tests today to see if i can find out why the end of some tracks cut off and i think i have it very consistent now.
I took a CD and ripped a track to 192mp3 - loaded onto ipod and it played perfect.
Ripped the same track to 320mp3 - loaded onto ipod and it played perfect.
Ripped the same track to 320mp3 - loaded to ipod doing a convert to 192mp3 and it cut off the last 1 second.
Ripped the same track to .APE - loaded to ipod doing a convert to 192mp3 and it cut off the last 5-6 seconds.
The above is consistent and it happens every time. It is deffinatley when a conversion is done that you loose the end of a track.
.APE is the worst and it depends on the length of the track being converted as to how much you actually loose.
Most of my music is .APE and that is why i suffer the problem so much.
Can you or anyone else try ripping to .APE and then converting to 192mp3 when uploading to ipod to see if you have the same problem.
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When i transfer an album over to the ipod, it transferes in alphabetical order and not in the sequence that the songs appear on the cd. Is there anyway of ensuing that the correct sequence is transfered.
Thanks
Stefenf
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MikeH
Are you convering to constant or variable bit rate mp3s? I was having the same .ape problem with VBR transfers, but choosing CBR seemed to fix it. I saw in a non-IPOD thread there might be an issue with MC's VBR conversion.
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The last tests were all CBR.
Also if i covert using the plugin or convert manually then transfer manually its still the same.
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Steve,
Perhaps I have the wrong plug-in.
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Steve,
Sorry, I hit the wrong key and posted before I finished my question.
When I right click on iPod I get a drop down menu that
doesn't include Apply Replay Gain on Upload.
It does show the following:
Show queued files only
Play
Add to playing now
Explore
Format iPod
Rebuild database from iPod
Synchronize files
Eject device
Select artist field
What newer software should I download?
Sherm
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I'd agree with the thinking that the tracks that get cut off are the ones that have been converted. My tests tend to show the same thing. I was using VBR with high speed conversion. All my tracks are converted, however not all of them are cut off. (Or at least they only cut off "silence" at the end of tracks"). I do notice that if a track is cut off, the rest of that album tends to have tracks cut off as well.
Still no luck with sync without MC crashing, however it is definately the size of the sync that is causing a crash. I'll do more tests tonight to try to pinpoint the exact amount of tracks that cause it to crash. Anything more I can tell you Steve to help you diagnosis this??
trapper
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Everyone,
Once again, this thread has gotten huge. I will close this one and open a new one, but first let me resolve remaining open issues.
mikeh,
If you want to send a track, my email is steve @ jriver.com. But before you do, I tried the steps you outlined on my XP machine with MC 9.1.215 (Plugin 9.0.42). I could not duplicate your problem( Thanks very much for posting a test that should recreate your problem, that is a huge time saver). Everything played fine with no cutoff on iPod. Can anyone else follow mikeh's steps and repeat his problem? If so, what OS are you running?
DigitalTrapper,
If you do not have MC 9.1.215, please get it. I included many changes yesterday to make it more crash proof. Any more information you can give would be great. I will try to make it fail more today with large numbers of converting files.
*EDIT* Get today's build MC 9.1.216 when it is available. I made additional improvements and tested it synching and converting 800 files worked fine for me.
In regards to the 'dead air' and incorrect playback time, the duration should be identical to what is reported in MC, please tell me if it is not. If there is dead air, it is not related to the duration. I have tested by setting duration to 0 and the files all still play fine on iPod (just without any reporting of where in the file you are)
Karl,
Thanks for the report. The whole "Replay Gain" thing is not an exact science. I hope it is working well enough for now.
Stefenf,
How are you slecting the songs on the album for upload and what are you trying to accomplish?
If you want the songs to playback in track order on iPod when you select the 'Album' you must make sure that the "Track Number" field is correctly identified in MC because this dictates the order on iPod. If you just want the tracks to transfer in a particular order, after the files are "in Queue", right click on iPod and select "Show Queued Files Only". If you adjust the order after this, the files will transfer in the order you select.
If you have not yet, I would suggest exploring Playlists and Smartlists and the synchronization feature in the plugin.
Sherm123,
Get MC 9.1.215 if you do not have it and you should see the features I mentioned.