Phil,
I use the Artist field. Just to be clear, you are saying that a good solution for you would be to offer the possibility to use other fields in place of Artist (i.e. Album Artist) in the Handheld options?
Tests 1 and 3 are resolved and will be in tomorrow's MC build. Test 2 will be resolved soon and the Replay Gain issue is on the list but a little further down. I will check out the custom field issue tomorrow.
Can I get there from here?
Yes. Create Playlists and Smartlists in your Music Library within MC and then when you go to synchronize your files, you will see your Playlists and Smartlists. You can then select them to be sent to your iPod.
The synching is based on whatever files you select. The tagging information for those files is transferred to your iPod but is not used to select what files to send.
iPod Manager is not used by MC, but I have never removed it. It may be necessary for your PC to recognize your iPod but I don't think so.
JeffPalley,
I am not sure what the question is. If you were wondering if MC is compatible with the newer iPods, the answer is yes.
Steve
I've picked out albums and songs that I like and copied them to the iPod. I was hoping I could take those same songs and send them to the MC playlists. It looks like I can send them to iPod playlists, but I cannot copy the iPod playlists to MC. I can also send them to Playing Now, but they would be pointing to the files on iPod.
I think I'll have to manually recreate my iPod song list. Feature Request: Make it possible to send iPod songs to MC playlists
I should have asked how a playlist identifies songs...
When I create new MC playlists to synch with iPod, will MC recognize that iPod already has these songs (because it sees matching artist and name fields), or will it erase the songs and reload them?
Also, I expect to be shuffling drives and files sometime soon. I'm not sure how that's going to affect my playlists, but I may have the same situation with new playlists again.
iPod Manager lists MusicMatch as the "Home Application" which it would launch automatically when iPod is connected. Can you make MC replace MusicMatch?
This happened on my test box and is happening with the new machine as well ... the iPod itself indicates that I have 27.3 out of 27.8 GB available (with 327 songs). If I look at the iPod in Windows Explorer or in Media Center, I get more realistic numbers of 25.8 GB remaining. The size remaining has been stuck at 27.3 eventhough I have uploaded over 250 more songs since then.
Due to several error code 23 messages...
Hmm, I wonder how you folks at MC were able to release a new-style-iPod-compatible version before even iPod's "partner" (MusicMatch) has been able to?
I confirmed that the "On the go" playlist does not respect the track order. I do not think this is a MC issue but an iPod issue.
JC,
I cannot duplicate this. You could try sending files with a different program and see if the iPod reports correctly. This could tell you if it is a hardware issue.
Error code 23 is a Windows error when copying a file. It means...
"Data error (cyclic redundancy check). "
The cyclic redundancy check or "CRC" is a check that the sytem does when transferring the file. Most likely this error is caused by bad sectors on your drive or on iPod. Try reformatting your iPod from Windows and see if this helps.
:(
Just got a new iPod 30Gb. Using latest (today's) version of MediaCentre - I can see the iPod under devices, but the Media Core crashes when I try to synchronise.
I've set up a test (one mp3 file) playlist, but it crashes with the following info in the Windows "send / don't send" box:
AppName: media jukebox.exe AppVer: 9.0.180.0 ModName: media jukebox.exe
ModVer: 9.0.180.0 Offset: 001cad03
Any ideas? Troubleshooting walkthroughs? More info of the problem needed?
Kevin
I have a 30G new(2 weeks old) Ipod I wanted to go with MC and scrap MMJB but when I downloaded the trial Version and tried to use the Ipod with it. I read that the Ipod would have to be specifically formated for use with MC. Does this formatting preclude use with other programs like Xplay or Ephpod.
Where does it put the temp files? My C drive is short of space. Could that be it?
JC,
Because I can't duplicate what you are seeing, it would help if you could use another program and let me know what you see. If they behave the same then it is most likely not an MC problem..Also, please let me know what Operating System you have so I can try to replicate this.
Also, if you find that there are certain files that always fail with the '23' error, please email me one for testing. (steve @ jriver.com)
If you want songs in a smartlist to be transferred in a particular order, you can add a rule to your smartlist under 'Sorting' which will control the order the files go to iPod.
it appears that songs are transfered to the OTG playlist in the default order that MC9 uses to keep track of the songs.
Is there a way to "re-index" the songs so that they get transfered to the iPod in Album->Track order? Would sorting options in my synching smartlist get respected? Does the iPod index number equal the MC9 index number and so match up better if I reimported my entire MC9 library?
I've not noticed this recently but on my Gen2 20 gigger I always got incorrect space usage reports. When I reported this on Apple's iPod board I was told it was a common Apple-side iPod issue.
JC,
Those error-23 messages make me wonder about your hardware. I also don't currently see a connection between the inaccurate size reporting and the Plugin. Does anyone else notice a mistaken reporting of the availble size on the iPod?
Everyone (especially Nekura and Wobbley),
I am going to make the modification so that if a track has an AlbumArtist, this will be substituted for Artist on iPod. My plan is to make this the deault behavior. For simplicities sake, I would like to do this without any checkboxes or options to complicate the look of the Plugin. Can anyone make a compelling argument not to do this?
There is no way to change the home app for the iPod Manager unless you can do it via a registry edit (haven't looked, haven't tried - may try later and if so, I will post what I find).
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Apple Computer, Inc.\iPod\RegisteredApps\3]
"path"="C:\\Program Files\\J River\\Media Center\\Media Jukebox.exe"
"name"="Media Center 9"
@=""
"cmdline"=""Tim,
In regards to transcoding, I have done a lot of work on this recently and I think it is close to being right. First, either get the next build of MC 9 (if there is one tonight) or at least get the newest iPod Plug-in (v 9.0.30). With this you should be able to have MC transcode your .ape files to mp3 for your iPod. If you are doing more than 10 files, it will send them every 10 so you don't fill up your PC drive with a bunch of temporary files. After you have sent them, if you resynch, the Plugin should be smart enough to skip them if you synch these files again.
Please let me know if you run into trouble as I have been working kinks out of this as recently as today.
Steve
Everyone (especially Nekura and Wobbley),
I am going to make the modification so that if a track has an AlbumArtist, this will be substituted for Artist on iPod. My plan is to make this the deault behavior. For simplicities sake, I would like to do this without any checkboxes or options to complicate the look of the Plugin. Can anyone make a compelling argument not to do this?
Nekura, after reading Wobbley's previous post on this subject, will this be a workable solution for your multiple CD albums?
I do not think this is the case. There is no default order in MC. The display in the views is determined by whatever is selected or it is random. I think if you are seeing any kind of correlation between an order you see in MC and the order in which items go to the "On-The-Go" Playlist, it is coincidence. Feel free to prove me wrong on this. The other possibility is that the transfers are controlled by the index of the files in the iPod database.
If you want songs in a smartlist to be transferred in a particular order, you can add a rule to your smartlist under 'Sorting' which will control the order the files go to iPod. The iPod index number is not the same as the MC index. If it turns out that the iPod index number is relevant to the On-The-Go playlists, then I need to redo how this number is assigned.
On the subject of the eject with 2000, when I eject the iPod on a Win 2000 PC the iPod removes OK, but I get a disconnect warning from Windows when I unplug the iPod. I get this error even if I eject from Windows (in Explorer), so I do not think it is a problem caused by the Plugin.
There is definitely a correlation between the order in MC and the OTG Playlist order.
<-snip->
Steve,
I would like to see improved error handling. I was performaing what should be a fairly quick synchronization as most of the songs are already on my iPod. MediaCenter came up with two errors for files that did exists in the library (error code 3) but the actual file was no longer there. As a result, it blew up my playlists on my iPod and none of my files were available. There is no easy recover from this and I personally think Media Center could handle these errors much better and still complete a successful synchronization.
I was running out the door and decided to do a quick sync to get my new songs in my iPod and now I had to leave it at home because it would have taken too long to sync after having to reformat the iPod.
Hope there is something you can do about this. Thanks!
I am using yesterday's version of Media Center 9.1.201.
// AJ
This is a file management issue that you can get around by periodically updating your library, especially if you know you've made any major changes, prior to synching.
When you refer to the OTG playlist, are you referring to the "On-the-Go" playlist in the new 3G iPods? My understanding was that this particular list was used internally by the iPod only (for creating an ad-hoc playlist while away from your PC).
Are you using a 3G iPod? If so, does creating an OTG playlist in MC9 interfere with the ability to create on on the road with your iPod?
Thanks, and sorry if I seem a little dense ... I'm new to the iPod :)
Lets say I've got a smartlist of MP3 and APE, how do I make the APE always transcode and not the MP3s regardless of what the bitrate of the incoming MP3s are?
Nekura,
Would it work to name your Multi CD Albums all with the same Album name? If you do this and then manually renumber the track numbers on CD 2 and 3 of the multidisk set so they continue the count begun on CD 1, you will be able to select the album on iPod and have all the tunes play in the right order. I am sure there are many reasons why this is not perfect, but is it workable?
Steve, this is of course workable.
On the other hand, I am a total neat freak about my ID3 tags. :) I'm sure if I were to change the track tags to inappropriate numbers, I'd suffer some sort of psychological episode and have to be put in a padded cell for a week or two. ;)
Steve, major problems with the new plugin here. It doesn't work right at all. To confirm I have MC 9.1.202 and the 9.0.31 handheld plugin.
I had 1 (Multiple Artists) album in my synch along with all my other 100+ albums. When I synched no artist information was passed to the iPod at all. When I enable the Album Artist (Auto) column in the iPod view it shows up as blank for all albums. On the iPod I have no artist information at all.
I formatted the iPod and started again with 3 albums in the synch, one of which was a (Multiple Artists) album. I still got the same problem. The tracks were transferred but no artist information was passed to the iPod.
I then tried just transferring the (Multiple Artists) album. Again the artist info was blank on the iPod.
I then tried transferring a normal album. Again the artist info was blank on the iPod.
Help!!!!!
As an aside, the columns displayed in the iPod view do not get remembered. If I enable the Album Artist (Auto) column then synch, the column disappears after the synch.
Phil and John,
Please try again with tonight's build of MC. I fixed a bug that was calculating the AlbumArtist information incorrectly which hopefully solve what you are seeing.
<snip!>
Kurt,
In case you missed it, set your iPod Manager to MC and the need for mjextman should now be a thing of the past.
Steve
However, now that I've just installed iPodmanager, MC isn't listed -- just MMJB, which isn't installed. I'll scroll up a bit but I bet I'll have to either reboot, reinstall MC, or both, eh?
My guess is that iPod Manager has to be on the computer when 9.1.202 is installed so the registry change can occur. Re-installing MC after installing iPod Manager should work.
Phil and John,
Please try again with tonight's build of MC. I fixed a bug that was calculating the AlbumArtist information incorrectly which hopefully solve what you are seeing.
Steve
Woot! 9.1.203 has brought Artists back to my iPod!
And with the new 2.0.1 (http://www.apple.com/ipod/download) firmware, I'm now darn near iPod nirvana!
All you need now is mjextman.exe /ipodsync eh Kurt? ;)
Ape conversion crash problem
I seem to have three categories of ape files
1- those that convert and transfer
2- those that generate a "file type not supported" error message
3- those that make media center fall over in a heap.
I fixed the bug with the Artist display in what will be released today. As an aside, that problem was a bug in displaying any iPod tree information when there was a naming overlap (i.e. Bangles, BanglesAlbum1, BanglesAlbum2) and it could have appeared in any of the tree items. Thanks.
I could not duplicate the playback error. I am using what will be the new version for my testing. Can you retest with tonight's build and then if you see the error can you give me any more specifics on how to always replicate it. For me, I transfer and convert the files and then can play them fine.
The Replay Gain is on the list and getting closer :)
I am having a hard time seeing a way around the suggestion I made. The MC solution is to allow multiple albums to be selected for playback. This solves the issue of having to renumber the tracks. iPod does not allow this capability (I don't think) and only can playback an Album based on the Track Number order. I don't see a way to automatically renumber tracks when transferring to iPod if there are duplicate Albums without opening up all kinds of problems. Help me keep you from the padded cells, suggestions are welcome :)
Can anyone else verify John's concern about tracks being cut off after conversion when played on iPod with 202? If not, John, try tonight's build and we will go from there.
So what does everyone say?
Cheers,
kc
Which leaves Nekura's bigger problem (and mine as well) of playing a multi-disc album as if it were a single one on the iPod, but in the correct order, i.e. Disc 1 Tracks 1-N followed by Disc 2 Tracks 1-M, etc. I'm not sure if the iPod's track field is a string or a numeric field so the solution could be easy or slightly more difficult. If it's a string field, then when you upload the discs and tracks to the iPod, just concatenate them together, i.e. 1-1, 1-2, ..., 1-N, 2-1, 2-2, ..., 2-M, etc. I suspect that the field is numeric, however, as the iPod will play track 2 before track 10. If I'm right, then that would require MC to renumber the tracks as it downloads them, i.e. 1, 2, ..., N, N+1, N+2, ..., N+M, etc.
Inside are all the albums that have more than one artist listed on 'em. Yesterday, each artist would be given their own listing. I'm not really sure which I like better.
Here's an example: I have 4 "Blues Masters" CDs. Yesterday, I could surf Genre > Blues > Muddy Waters > All and see all of the Muddy Waters songs on my iPod. Can't do it anymore. Since I don't have a complete Muddy Waters album, the only thing I can do is hope that I find his songs. There's absolutely no way to just go find Muddy Waters on my iPod.
Don't know if I like that or not.
I seem to have three categories of ape files
1- those that convert and transfer
2- those that generate a "file type not supported" error message
3- those that make media center fall over in a heap.
Also, with 9.1.203 and iPodOS 2.0.1:
I now have a (Multiple Artists) entry in my iPod's Artists list... it's in the M's, while browsing iPod via Artitsts.
It also exists while browsing via genra.
Inside are all the albums that have more than one artist listed on 'em. Yesterday, each artist would be given their own listing. I'm not really sure which I like better.
Here's an example: I have 4 "Blues Masters" CDs. Yesterday, I could surf Genre > Blues > Muddy Waters > All and see all of the Muddy Waters songs on my iPod. Can't do it anymore. Since I don't have a complete Muddy Waters album, the only thing I can do is hope that I find his songs. There's absolutely no way to just go find Muddy Waters on my iPod.
Don't know if I like that or not.
Until then, I will need to chase down the track cut off during conversion issue. For anyone who is seeing this, try to double check if you have the same issue with the same files if you convert in MC ( not on the fly to the iPod) and let me know the results.
I was toying with a similar solution, but the main conflict that I found with it is what would become of the Track # tag when the user downloads their MP3s from the iPod to the computer? And we have to take into account the unknown (to us) limitations of MC9 as well.
Steve, what do you think? Is there a way to store more information on the iPod, either through MP3 tagging or in the iPodDB, so we can transfer songs back to a PC without losing the disc/track information?
Howeve I have now lost through trying to sync the last time, all data on the Ipod. Music Library only containns cda files.
Re-connecting to MC9 shows that the files are in fact there.
If a file is listed in the database but has been deleted from the disk, the attempt to convert the missing file causes a media core crash. Perhaps a slightly more elegant way of coping with this could be tried?
If a file has already been successfully converted and transferred to the ipod, trying to transfer it again gives a "file type not supported" error, which is a bit confusing until you figure out what's going on.
Everyone,
Tonight's MC build jumped the gun before all my changes got in. Please wait until tomorrow's build before reporting success or failure based on today's replies.
PS, tomorrow will include a right click option with which to select what data you want to send for the 'Artist' field to iPod. The default will be "ArtistAlbum (auto)" but you can select whatever.
Steve
1. MC9 seems to be a VERY comprehensive application - is it owerkill to use it "just" for sync'ing with an iPod ?
2. Songs ratings are transfered back from the iPod to MC - I really see this is a must have feature...
3. Seems like all playlist are transfered - even I have only selected a few of them.
This does not appear to be possible. I can set song ratings on the iPod, but they do not persist after connecting to the PC. Because they don't persist, I can't get the information to put into MC.
Try hitting the 'Select None' button to clear out any playlists that might accidentally be selected and then reselect the smaller subset you are after.
Hi All. I'm quite new to MC but I have stumbled across a few things that makes me wonder.
1. MC9 seems to be a VERY comprehensive application - is it overkill to use it "just" for sync'ing with an iPod ?
Now get the error cannot create plugin-portable devices.
Wobbley and all,
I took a quick look at the registry because I also wanted Media Center to automatically launch when connecting my iPod. I found the registry keys that adds items to the home application drop-down. Now, when I connect my iPod, the iPod Manager automatically launches Media Center.
Just save the following lines of code to a text file ending in .REG. Double-click on the file and merge it with your registry. You can then select "Media Center 9" within the iPod Manager application.
Please be aware that I only have iPod Manager and iPod Updater installed so Media center is my next associated application. Making it #3. You may want to check your registry to make sure only two applications are associated. It is simple to change the '3' in the third line to some other number before merging if necessary.
Here is the code:Code: [Select]Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Apple Computer, Inc.\iPod\RegisteredApps\3]
"path"="C:\\Program Files\\J River\\Media Center\\Media Jukebox.exe"
"name"="Media Center 9"
@=""
"cmdline"=""
I've only been using MediaCenter with my new iPod since Saturday. Hope it helps some of you out.
// AJ
Steve:
OK, I'm not crazy regarding my syncing smartlists and having them automatically update. Something got broken.
To reproduce:
1. Create a new smartlist, name "Master". Add any rules you want, but make sure it has 100+ songs on it.
2. Create another smartlist (called "Test") with the following rules:
Playlist="Master" Limit=10 Sort="random"
3. Sync the "Test" playlist
4. Check out the songs
5. Sync again
6. Check the songs on the iPod, they should be the same as when first synced.
This used to work. As a side note, I don't know if this is related, but when trying to add a Playlist rule through the smartlist wizard, it doesn't work. It displays the list of your Playlists & Smartlists, but when you select them all the shows up in the Smartlist window is "Playlist:" without the name of the list you selected. So to do this you have to type the rule in manually. Minor bug in .203
Whew! Glad I wasn't going crazy. :D
Adam
Ugilt,
I see your version and OS information in your post above. I cannot duplicate this. Can you try creating a new playlist, polulate it with some songs and then synch it with 'Delete files not in synch' and 'Update tags' turned off. If this works try adding more until you can give me a specific test that gets the results you are seeing. It also might help to right click and select 'Format for iPod' to make wsure the slate is clean.
[off-topic]
Steve,
In that post a few posts up, you mention why ratings won't work with MC. I've recently done a stint with using iTunes with an iPod, and boy oh boy, we're getting the short end of the stick here.
When iTunes for Windows comes out, there will likely be a lot of work to be done taking advantage of all the goodies that Mac iPods can do. I knew that playcounts/play dates and ratings would be transferred from the iPod to iTunes, but what I didn't know was that they get updated on the go.
Dig: I synched with the default iTunes smartlists of "Top Rated Songs" and "25 Most Played".
I rated a song as a 5, and it showed up on the "Top rated" playlist. I rated it at 0, and it vanished from the playlist. This was all done while disconnected.
Also, the "25 most played" playlist updated itself whenever I played a song. Again, all while disconnected.
These darn smartlists UPDATE THEMSELVES while on the go! I'm wholly jealous now. So, when iTunes for Windows comes out, know that the iPod's brain can handle these things, and know that we'll help you as much as we can getting them to work with MC.
[/off-topic]
you now have an wiPOd with 3 play list so my conclusion is that when syncing you are just populating the playlist in MC to the iPod. You should either
1. Delete ALL playlist on iPod before sync'ing or
2. Compare name on all iPod playlist and delete them if not in MC anymore
ugilt,
Delete files not in synch will accomplish this. When this is enabled, your iPod will end up looking just like the playlsits you have selected. Any Playlists that are not selected or are empty, will be removed.
Adam,
Now that .205 has a working plugin, please retest your issue and let me know if it is not resolved.
Everyone,
In regards to the registry setting for the iPod manager 'Select startup App', whenever the new Plugin runs, it creates a registry entry "7" which is the listing for MC.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Apple Computer, Inc.\iPod\RegisteredApps\7]
"cmdline"=""
"name"="Media Center 9"
"path"="C:\\Program Files\\J River\\Media Center\\Media Jukebox.exe"ugilt:
I think you may have made a assumption from Kurt's post. So, to alleviate confusion, here is the environment we are forced to live in today:
MiPod: All features enabled, only tool available to upload tunes w/is iTunes which only runs on Macs
WiPod: Playcounts/Last Played disabled, or more correctly stated, forced to be not accessible. No company can make use of the data
Solution: we have to wait (and hope) that with the release of iTunes for Windows (by the end of the year supposedly, but I wouldn't hold my breath), that they enable these features so Stevo and the guys at JRiver can finally make use of them.
So, to make a long story short, while yes you can convert your WiPod to a MiPod, you'd no longer be able to use it w/MC9. You'd have to switch to Xplay or ephpod w/Macopener, neither of which are built to support playcounts or even to support Media Libaries for that matter, they are a different type of program.
Hope that clears things up.
Steve: please don't forget about my Smartlist syncing issue (it's on the previous page) :D
Adam
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Apple Computer, Inc.\iPod\RegisteredApps\7]
"cmdline"=""
"name"="Media Center 9"
"path"="C:\\Program Files\\J River\\Media Center\\Media Jukebox.exe"Phil Lee,
You say your registry has the following entry:Code: [Select]Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00Change the path string (right-click, "modify") so that there are single slashes instead of double slashes, so it should be:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Apple Computer, Inc.\iPod\RegisteredApps\7]
"cmdline"=""
"name"="Media Center 9"
"path"="C:\\Program Files\\J River\\Media Center\\Media Jukebox.exe"
"path"="C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\Media Jukebox.exe"
That should do it.
Wobbley