INTERACT FORUM
More => Old Versions => Media Center 11 (Development Ended) => Topic started by: SteveG on December 24, 2002, 09:10:02 am
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For anyone looking for iPod information, please be sure you have downloaded the latest Plug-in (3.0.36) and are running either the latest MJ v 8 or preferrably, MC version 9.0.88 or 89.
Also, for extremely helpful documentation (thanks to Adam) go to ...
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~ashawley01/
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It is a very nicely done overview, but it's unfortunately missing the one thing I need--how to dismount the ipod. I have no problems whatsoever downloading all my songs and playlists, but I don't know how to dismount the ipod (I'm running windows millenium). There is no option to dismount when I right click on the G (ipod) drive. After I synchronize, the ipod says "do not disconnect." I finally got frustrated and just disconnected it; the ipod had all my stuff that I downloaded on it, but my computer proceeded to tell me how much of an idiot I am for not ejecting the device...Help me, Help me!
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Ok I might have just answered my own question. It seems the second I plug the ipod in, I get the do not disconnect wether I'm running MJ or not. I synched, then simply shut the computer down, and no more threatening messages from my pc (the ipod just went back to the apple logo--never got an ok to disconnect though). This ok? Everything is working beautifully, so I'm hoping this is alright....
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cct1, here are two ways to dismount your iPod:
1: find the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon in your system tray, near your clock, and click it. It'll look like this: (http://pimpin-seattle.d2g.com/images/stopdevice.gif) When you click it, a context menu will pop up, showing you the various devices that you can stop. Select your iPod (it could very well be the only device on the list), and click. Your iPod will dismount and you're free to unplug.
2: Download this zipfile. (http://pimpin-seattle.d2g.com/files/ipodremove1_0.zip) Extract it to wherever you like and make a shortcut to the .exe within. It's an .exe written by a fellow iPodder, and posted over in the forums at ipodlounge.com. Here's a link to the thread where it was first posted. (http://www.xsorbit1.com/users/dennx/index.cgi?board=windowssoftware&action=display&num=1039978360) Bear in mind, that it's just a little program made by one guy, so it could potentially crash your computer, make your hair fall out, and cause the stars to crash down from the sky. ;) I've been using it successfully, though, and I love it. I've got one of the special buttons (the Calculator button) on my Microsoft Internet Keyboard Pro mapped to run it. One press action, baby!
Either way you choose, remember this: If you are actively interacting with your iPod, you will likely get an error if you try to dismount it, saying approximately "Can't stop the iPod now, try again later." If that happens, just close whatever window or program it is that's using your iPod and try again.
Also remember that if you unplug your iPod before you dismount it, you will have to reboot your computer to use your iPod again, as it is already loaded into your system's memory and can't remount until it's unloaded.
Whew! There's a typing binge that'd make Adam proud!
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<snip>
Whew! There's a typing binge that'd make Adam proud!
</snip>
;D
(how's that for brevity)
Adam
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make your hair fall out
So that's the person I should blame. :)
Happy Holidays!!!!
Merry Christmas!!!!
...and MMJB go to heck! ;)
-=Tim=-
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;D
(how's that for brevity)
Adam
Who are you and what have you done with Adam!? ;)
(ps, Steve -- sorry for dragging us off topic a bit... just havin a little "I'm not at work today" fun, :D)
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Hello,
I've got a similar problem, I'm new to MJ8 so I just got the latest version as well as the latest iPod plugin v.35 I believe, sorry I'm away from my home computer...but last night I was ripping cd's and when I'd go to upload them to my iPod it would copy maybe 2 full cd's then would just overwrite existing songs on the iPod with each subsequent disc upload so at most I've only got 2 cd's worth of music on my iPod. I tried reformatting the iPod drive thru MJ8 but this didn't resolve anything. Can anyone shed some light?
Much appreciated,
TegaJones
ps. I'm using the Send To function to drop upload items onto my iPod prior to uploading them
thks
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Kurt--Thanks alot!!! Took me awhile to find the icon (it's only there when the Ipod is plugged in--DUH!!) and all is well. I couldn't get the zip file to run properly--I looked at the text file at the beginning, and it looks like it is for windows XP--didn't see windows millenium listed there. But the "safely remove ipod" icon is good enough for me anyway--life is good!!
I feel stupid (lack of common sense is such a terrible thing), yet somehow relieved as I think I'm doing everything correctly now. And I must say, even though the plugin and MC 9 are still in beta, they are working fantastic for me (It was even working fine when I wasn't ejecting it properly). I never even bothered to download Music Match software--used it in the past, even looked at the newer versions online, still doesn't compare to MC or MJ......
Again, thanks for your help--one of the reasons I love MJ so much is support on these forums!!
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I got my iPod today, and wow, the iPod plug-in for Media Center works ridiculously well. :) Good job Steve, I was getting 8-9MB/s on my transfers where as Ephpod was only giving me 5-6MB/s. As has been recommended before, I think transfer rates should be displayed in MB/s instead of KB/s, although seeing it in KB/s supplements my nerdiness. :D
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Using the latest plugin 3.036 and MC 9.089, when I click on the icon under the handhelds section, I get the following error "Stream Read Error". Then Media Core shuts down (crashes).
Previous versions of the plug in did not exhibit this behaviour, any ideas?
Athlon Xp1800+
Abit KR7a
Win XP Pro sp1
Audigy Firewire
ATI Radeon 9700pro
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As has been recommended before, I think transfer rates should be displayed in MB/s instead of KB/s, although seeing it in KB/s supplements my nerdiness. :D
That was me!! See Steve, I'm not alone. Well, not completely.....
Adam
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That was me!! See Steve, I'm not alone. Well, not completely.....
Adam
I agree too.
:)
-=Tim=-
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I just got an iPod for Christmas (yay!), and have spent the last many hours fiddling around, and have somehow boxed myself into a corner.
Forgive the length - I thought I'd provide as much detail as I could, but if this is too much, let me know. :)
I'll start from the "beginning", and hopefully you guys'll be able to help me out. Right out of the box I connected the iPod to MJ and formatted, downloaded a song or two, and everything was fine. On trying to download another song, however, I ran into some duplication issue and ended up with all my songs disapearing, etc., but it was then that I realized that I didn't have the latest version of the iPod plug in.
So, after upgrading to the latest iPod plug in, I tried again. I formatted, and then added a song. That went fine. I disconnected, went to show everybody my one song (yay again!), and then re-connected (I did 'dismount' properly before), and fired up MC - still all ok. I proceeded to add several (~20) songs, via highlighting from various places (artist name, specific song, etc.), by using Send To. I then clicked on the iPod (G: for me), and clicked upload.
I was prompted with the overwrite dialog that I read some about in the last thread, even though I did not reselect the initial song that I had added. I'm not sure if this is a bug, but I also figured it could be that some of the songs I selected appeared in more than one album from the same artist. So, not wanting a song to take up twice (or more) its size on the unit, I selected overwrite (perhaps this was my mistake?).
When I disconnected, I found that everything was ok in MC, but many of the songs did not appear on the iPod. So I formatted, and as it finished was reminded a lot of what I have been reading on the iPod thread(s), and many times the answer was to make sure the latest versions of everything are installed. Well, lo and behold, I was running a slightly older version of MC, though Help->Check for Updates told me that there were none.
So I then upgraded MC, and went to try again, except that I could not even get the correct right-click pop-up menu to appear when I tried on my iPod (G:). Through My Computer I have verified that there are no mp3s in any of the folders, but I am pretty sure my DB is screwed up, because if I disconnect the unit I still show some of the songs, and I can "play" them as usual except no sound comes out.
I have made my iPod_control directory available at www.leaguehq.net/iPodTesting/iPod_Control. All that I can see on MC is Calendars and Contacts subfolders, with the ipod_created_[samples] in the Contacts folder. How can I re-format to try again? Have I made sense (hopefully)? Was clicking overwrite my problem in the first place, or should that have worked, and the new version should take care of that?
Please let me know if I can be more helpful or more clear, and thanks heaps for the help.
Bob
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Well, I've continued fiddling, and here's where I am at now - I tried doing a full restore using iPod Updater, and I still do not get MC to give me the possibilty to format for formatting for MC.
Further, something I forgot to mention in the last post (hard to believe there's anything, I know), but which was true and still holds true, is that it seems as though MC is finding a copy of almost all of my songs on the iPod (AFTER the full restore, etc.). If I open up Media Library and my Artist View Scheme and click on most artists (or just click Media Library and look at everything), the artist's songs appear duplicated. One copy is the copy on my desktop's HDD, and the other copy it says is on the iPod, in one of the F directories! I'm at a loss for this one, especially after the full restore.
Thanks again all for any help.
Bob
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Hey Bob, you've actually done pretty good so far. Just one mistake (not your fault). When you choose upgrade from w/in MC9, it actually upgraded you to version 8. Well, that would be a downgrade actually. That's why you lost the right-click options on the iPod. The plugin really works best w/version 9.
So, what I would do is download and re-install version 9. First, I'd uninstall version 8 just to clean things up.
Then, instead of using the Upload command, let's try syncing.
Make a Playlist with the songs you want. Save it. Then right-click the iPod icon and select Synchronize. From that window, select the Playlist(s) you make and click OK. It will upload fine.
Steve will look into this I'm sure, but I prefer the sync option right now as it seems more stable.
Hope that helps.
Adam
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Hello all.
Kurt,
Thanks for the tips. I will try to get some eject fuctionality worked into the Plug-in soon.
TegaJones,
I cannot duplicate this problem. Can you try the following test.
1) Format the iPod by right-clicking on the iPod drive and selecting "Format".
2) Send 5 .mp3 files to the iPod using "Send-to".
3) Send 10 .mp3 files to iPod with 5 being the ones you just sent.
You should be prompted by the box asking if you want to overwrite duplicates. No matter what you select, you should end up with 10 files on your iPod. Please let me know if this is not the case after this test.
Adam and Tim,
The next build of the Plug-in will now display transfers as MB/s
Bob,
Now that you have MC 9.0.88(?) installed, try going to Tools->Plug-in Manager->Handheld and select Portable Drives and click "Uninstall". After you have done this, go to the website and redownlod the iPod Plug-in. If you are still stuck, email me( steve @ jriver.com) and I will try to get you going. In your last post if you are saying that MC is aware of your files on iPod from within Media Library, you must have imported the files into the Library. This is maybe not the best idea. Again, drop me an email and I can help you.
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Many thanks to Adam and Steve - "re-installing" the plug-in as Steve suggested totally worked, and I apparently had accidentally (in my 4am stupor) re-imported everything into the Library.
I'm one happy camper, thanks again one and all.
I can't say enough how much I love MJ/MC and the company/support that comes with it, so I'll just say it one more time ;D.
Thanks to all.
Bob
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A few things...
As Adam brought up in the old thread, I have a few smartlists with Sort=Random, and when I resynchronize these playlists the order on the iPod remains the same.
Another thing... sometimes, if I'm browsing Playlists, and then right-click on my iPod's drive letter in Media Center and go to resynchronize my playlists, I get the error "Cannot find plug-in 'Playlists.'" or sometimes "Cannot find plug-in '<Last playlist I viewed>.'" I can fix this by closing the iPod tree.
Other than those minor things, everything works as it should.
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Nekura,
The random issue will have to wait until we can do a new build of MC 9. At that time I can make modifications that will allow playlist order to reshuffle when a smartlist is random.
The "Cannot Find Plugins" thing you are seeing is already improved, but not available until the next build of 9. The solution for now is to be sure you left click on the drive letter before right-clicking and selecting synchronize.
Thanks,
Steve
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Steve, excellent. I'm looking forward to the next builds of Media Center 9 (not to say I wasn't in the first place, it's always good to see bugfixes and the like).
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Alright got another question...Is there any way to restore the ipod without installing the MMJB software? Will there ever be a way to restore through MC 9 (Perhaps it isn't even possible)?
The reason I'm asking is my backlight is either on or off--if I put any of the settings (one second, two second, etc) it just stays on all the time. I figure a restore would fix it, as the backlight was working before. But I thought I'd check to see if there was a way to restore without using MMJB.
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Just found another post recommending a reset rather than a restore for the backlight problem (which apparently is a fairly common disorder)--that fixed it with no problem. But I'm still curious if there is any way to restore the ipod other than with MMJB....
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Yes there is: (link (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=120119))
(Realized that it might not have been obvious that this was a link before, hehe)
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Kurt,
Thanks for the link for cct1.
JKPrime,
I forgot to respond yesterday. Are you still stuck? If so, can you remove the Portable Drives Plugin and try redownloading the iPod Plugin? If you have no luck, email me at steve @ jriver.com.
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Once again, thanks Kurt!
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Hello All,
A new Plug-in today(3.0.37). It includes:
1) A right click option on a playlist to shuffle the list. (Eventually this will be expanded to handle reordering of playlists completely)
2) Transfer speeds in MB/sec rather thand KB/sec
Have a good weekend.
Steve
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Todays build looks great--a couple of things though:
1. When I synch, I now get a page that lists all the files, and at the top it says "Cancel Transfer?"
So I have to click on "No" at the bottom of the page. My natural inclination is to check "Yes", which of course cancels the synch. Double negatives are hard for me to work with, IMHO it would be better if "Cancel Transfer?" was replaced with "OK to Transfer?", then we could click "yes" instead of "no" to transfer--I think it would be more intuitive if it was set up like this, but it's not a huge deal to me; I can adapt.
2. Noticed this on the earlier plugin build as well; perhaps someone else has commented on this (and perhaps I am doing something wrong here). I am currently adding smartlists like crazy (those suckers are really addictive). I have a group list titled "My Music", and all the folders in it are smartlists, the first one consisting of all my MP3s (Suggested by someone in here earlier--great idea by the way), and the rest different smartlists. When I add a new smartlist, it shows up in the proper place alphabetically in the "My Music" folder, and when I synch, it's in the proper order alphabetically on the synch page. However, when I synch to the ipod, any newly created smartlist always shows up at the very bottom of my ipod playlists, rather than in its proper location alphabetically.
I can get around this problem by deleting all the smartlists except the "All mp3" smartlist on the ipod, synching, dismounting, remounting, and resynching with all the playlists checked again--now they will all be there in alphabetical order (including the newly placed ones). It's kind of a hassle to do it this way though...
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I ripped a 10 track CD today and can only get the last 3 tracks to synch.
When watching the synch process (transfer all files)it is as if the iPOD thinks the tracks are all aready there.
This may explain why I am about 300 tracks short on the iPOD of my library's 2500 songs. I have been told that the difference is explained by songs being double counted if they are in a playlist but my playlist tracks don't total 300.
The tracks are listed below as I know that there have been concerns about some track names and the characters used.
The album name is: Living Ornaments 81 Disc 2 of 2.
(http://www.mindracing.com/tracks.jpg)
I get the same result whetther using full sync or 'Send to': i.e. only the last 3 files sync.
All tracks were ripped from the same CD at the same time. 160 High Quality.
I had to enter the tag data manually as the look up failed to find a match.
I ripped another CD right after and it syncs fine.
I'm using XP with Windows iPOD and MC 9.0.88 with 3.0.32 iPOD plug-in.
I hope this is all the info you need to work towards resolving this.
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Mindracing:
Can you update your iPod plugin? You're running a very old version. Steve's up to version .37 now and you're still on .32.
He changes these about 3 times a week while we're in beta, so it's best to check back here often.
Try the upgrade (just install it over the old one) and see if that solves it.
Adam
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OK. I'm now on the latest iPOD plug-in build.
Deleted the 'rogue' album from both the iPOD and my MC library.
Performed a full sync transfer of all files.
Exactly the same result!
?
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OK. I'm now on the latest iPOD plug-in build.
Deleted the 'rogue' album from both the iPOD and my MC library.
Performed a full sync transfer of all files.
Exactly the same result!
?
OK, well we tried the obvious. I think Steve's going to have to try and look at this one.
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Any way to disable that dupicate file message page I get when I synchronize (The one that has the "Cancel Transfer?" at the top)? I have an "All MP3" file, so all my smartlists essentially have duplicated files (Which, if I understand correctly, doesn't mean the actual Mp3 is duplicated, as the playlists are only pointers). If I have the "All Mp3" file included on my synch with my other smartlists, there are now so many duplicated files I can't even get to the bottom of the page to click on the "no" button, even when I move it all the way to the top of the screen.
So, is there either a way to disable the "duplicate file message" or an easy way move it (maybe I'm just missing something simple here) so that I can get to the bottom of it to click on "no" to allow the transfer? Otherwise, I have to synch the "All Mp3" file and my other smartlists seperately.
I don't want to sound like too much of a whiner--these (and the alphabetical thing I posted the other day) are relatively minor issues--I absolutely love the combination of MC9/Ipod!!!
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SteveG,
I did the scenario you recommended, I formatted the iPod, copied 5 songs, then copied 10 more mp3's with 5 being the previous 5 copied. All in all, the iPod shows 10 songs on it's drive. The problem I'm faced with is I still cannot copy more than 2 cd's to the iPod. I'm doing the Send to function in order to copy my music to the iPod....as I'm writing this I realize my problem, at least the cause of my problem, those discs which were ripped and recognized automatically (i.e. YADB labelled the discs) copy as they should to the iPod, no 2 disc limit, everything transfers. My problem lies with the discs which weren't recognized during the rip, I went in after the copy was ripped to my hard disk and used MJ to rename the artist and song titles which shows up as it should in the file sharing tree on my pc's hard disk but reading the path in MJ shows the following as an example
c:\music\Stevie Wonder\Best of Part 1\Unknown Artist - Unknown Title - 1 -Track 1.mp3
can anyone tell me how to get this to read as it should? I've got about 4 cd's like this I can't move to the iPod b/c it thinks it's a duplicate and overwrites the previous cd set up like above. In short, how does someone successfully rip a cd not recognized by the YADB's or CDDB's? I appreciate your help.
Regards,
TegaJ
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can anyone tell me how to get this to read as it should? I've got about 4 cd's like this I can't move to the iPod b/c it thinks it's a duplicate and overwrites the previous cd set up like above. In short, how does someone successfully rip a cd not recognized by the YADB's or CDDB's? I appreciate your help.
Regards,
TegaJ
Easy fix: Once you have the songs tagged correctly in MC, just hightlight them, right-click and select Tools>Rename Files From Properties.
It will allow you to set the way you want them rename (i.e. Artist - Album - Track# - Track Name.mp3) and it will even create Artist/Album directories for you should you check off that option.
Then reupload (and check "Delete files Not sync'd) so those old files get taken off the ipod.
Adam
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cct1,
Try redownloading the plug-in (even though you have the latest version). I think you got a version that was posted only for a very short period of time and it is not the one I recommend.
TegaJones,
Adam is right on the money. Hopefully you are all set.
Mindracing,
My best guess is that the FileNames for the files that are transferring are duplicated on the iPod. Perhaps something generic like Unknown Album\Unknown Artist.... is to blame. I am going to work on improving this today. You could try changing the FileName of one of the files to see if this is the problem.
Steve
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Everyone,
A new Plug-in (3.0.38 ) with modifications for allowing multiple files with same filename to exist on iPod. This will allow C:\Steve\MyFile.mp3 and C:\Grove\MyFile.mp3 to both exist on iPod. This should remove the reported problems of less than the total number of files synching to iPod.
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Steve,
Notes during testing iPod 3.0.38:
1. iPod has 2535 songs on it, using old names.
2. Installed .38
3. Renamed "02a - Dreams.mp3" back to "02 - Dreams.mp3"
4. Tried sync as-is, as a worst-case test. New set had only 2382 songs.
Checked "Delete files..." and "Update Tags".
Ran for about 20 minutes, always showing about 28-33 minutes remaining.
Ended gracefully with "Insufficient memory" error.
Apparently files that are to be removed, are removed at the end of the process rather than the beginning. Is it possible/reasonable to perform the deletion first? If so, can you consider that when advising the user of adequate memory before the sync?
1. Reformat iPod from MC9.
2. Perform sync, only "Update Tags" selected.
3. Interrupt sync just to be nasty, restart sync.
4. Sync ends in about 35 minutes, 11.3Gb, ~8.3Mbps.
5. All 2382 files are there including "duplicate file"; filenames show change in plug-in.
All Playlists are correct.
Good solution!!! Happy (http://www.eldoradosoft.com/temp/tinyipod.gif)
Randy
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Steve,
Today's plugin got rid of the "cancel transfer?" issue, but if I add a smartlist and synch (even after collapsing the file tree and reopening it to ensure that the new smartlist is in the proper location alphabetically), once again, on the synch page, all the playlists are in alphabetical order, but the most recently added playlist always shows up on the very bottom of my playlists when I open the playlist menu on the ipod itself.
I can get around this problem by deleting all the smartlists except the "All mp3" smartlist on the ipod, synching, then resynching with all the smartlists (And the all mp3 smartlist) checked on the synch screen--now all the lists are there, and in alphabetical order.
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Steve:
Just wondering if this new feature is going to cause a problem or if you've figured it out already.
Here's the issue:
If you have song's with "foreign" characters in their file name, MC renames them (I think w/a # sign in the offending character).
OK, that works good. We do know that there is a problem when you sync w/Delete Files on these types of files now. Namely that it reuploads these songs even though they are already on the iPod (essentially overwriting them) because I guess you check to see what's on the iPod doesn't take into account the changed file name. Small bug, but it is a pain for folks w/lots of foreign characters in their file names (you know, people from other countries ;) )
So, just wondering, will this allowing of dupes now cause another problem with files that were renamed due to foreign characters?
Long post, short question, typical of me.... ::)
Adam
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Having problems with latest plugin ( MC 9.0.89 and 3.0.38 ). After syncing I have files on my iPod but they arn't viewable in the MC window - see picture. Tried this many times - also re-fromated. Any ideas?
(http://www.users.bigpond.net.au/mconnell/images/MC.jpg)
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cct1,
I will fix the alphabetizing. If not today, then when I get back on Monday (I am out the rest of the week.)
Adam,
I cannot duplicate the synch w/ delete foreign character issue. I must be doing something wrong. Can you give me some steps to see this.
mcconnell,
Right-click on your drive letter and select "Show all files". I noticed in your screen shot that "Queued Files" is in the task bar which means you will only see files that are queued.
Steve
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Fantastic!
With the latest iPOD plug-in I now have every track on my iPOD for the first time and the song count tallies with MC.
Will it always write every song when doing a 'transfer all files' or just the missing ones like the last build?
Keep up the good work.
(incidentally, it took 1h 50 min to transfer 2166 songs. Is this slow or normal?
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Mindracing,
Just the missing ones.
In regards to the speed, it depends on how big the files are. The time you report does seem slow.
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I did about 1100 files in under 15 minutes last weekend. I just chose synchronize.
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Adam,
I cannot duplicate the synch w/ delete foreign character issue. I must be doing something wrong. Can you give me some steps to see this.
Steve:
I don't know how to duplicate this on the most recent build because strangeness is afoot not.
Anyway, the old way to duplicate was to do this:
1. Name some songs w/foreign characters
2. Name some songs w/o foreign characters
3. Sync
4. Sync again w/Delete Files Checked
Now, in theory, no files should be re-uploaded because they are all on the iPod already. What was happening before was that all the songs that had foreign characters were getting re-uploaded. Even though they already existed on the iPod. Make sense?
Now, as far as this new build. I had problems. I did my usual sync (no changes, no new songs) to test it out. I selected "Delete files" just for the fun of it. In theory it should have screamed through (no uploading anything) but it didn't. It started from song 1 and uploaded them all. You can tell by the speed. Eventually it bombed out because the iPod ran out of space. It was adding new versions of songs. Duplicates I imagine.
Somehow, this version isn't working right as far as I'm concerned. All the songs were already on my iPod, I should have seen the sync scream, but it didn't.
Not sure I can explain it any better, let me know if you need more details.
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Adam,
Can you try formatting and starting clean. I changed the filenaming scheme to better acommodate duplicate filenames. If you had files on your iPod from before getting the new version, this would explain what you are seeing because you will end up with one copy from the old version and one from the new.
Thanks,
Steve.
PS I am out of here in an hour and won't be back until Monday.
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Will do Steve, that totally makes sense.
Oh, one other thing....
I just love Smartlists... did I ever tell you that? ;)
I have a great one for a random day of music at work that excludes stuff I don't wanna hear at work and is always a fresh new list of tunes...ah sweet, sweet, smarlists. ;D ;D
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Adam,
You are the Johnny Appleseed of Smartlists. Go forth.
Everyone,
Happy New Year. I will check the board through the end of the week, but will be away from work and unable to do much. Have a great week and we can pick up on Monday.
Steve
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Dee Jay Pod
Steve and I have been trying to solve the sync problem we were having . You know the one where the counter runs out before the all the files transfer and then we get "Mediacore has encountered a problem and needs to close" Well consider it solved!
It has to do with the"comment field" including information separated by a 'l'. The solution is to change the 'l' to something else.
Steve says he modify this in the next build to solve the problem.
I did so and it works great now.
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Steve:
Somethin' is funky with this build regarding "Delete Songs".
Here's what I did:
1. Wiped iPod Clean
2. Sync'd all my playlists as usual w/Delete checked as my default setting: no problem
3. Sync'd again w/Delete checked
Results: the second sync reuploaded all of the songs. It completed fine, but I could tell it was reuploading because I was getting transfer rates of 6-7 MB/sec.
Go figure. It should have been going at 200 MB/sec (the usual rate when you sync and nothing's changed).
Must be something with the file naming convention or something....
Also, regarding the naming convention. This is probably a stupid question, but I noticed that you're including basically the full path in the file name. When you're talking about 2000 or 4000 songs does this end up taking any appreciable amount of space on the HDD? I just remember that ephpod named them randomly w/4 character numbers (2001.mp3, 2002.mp3 etc). It probably just adds up to a few hundred KB but just wondering....
Adam
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Out of curiosity, am I the only one who's having harmless little troubles regarding songs with semi-colons in the title? For instance, I have a track entitled "If Tails, Despair; If Heads, Hope." The track transfers to the iPod fine, plays fine, displays properly in Ephpod's file listing... but in Media Center's file listing, things get kinda messy.
Under the Playlists column, you'd find the track number... the Artist is the song length, "If Tails, Despair" is the track name... the album is the actual artist... no filename... track number is the song's bitrate... not sure about the duration... filetype is "If Heads, Hope"... Genre is the actual album name... no bitrate, and 0 bytes for the filesize. I thought I fell into the Twilight Zone when I saw all of that listed. :D
By the way, I'm with Adam, I love smartlists. I went bowling for five hours tonight, so I decided to create a six hour smartlist of my favorite gaming music to put on my iPod. Ah, it was so much fun... By the way, if Adam's the Johnny Appleseed of smartlists, what does that make me?
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With regard to synch speeds (see my earlier post) and JimH doing 1100 songs in 15 minutes, I am wondering if there is something in my settings that's causing it to run slow.
When I use 'send to' and the 'upload' I get a file conversion dialogue for each file and this convesion seems to take ages.
So, what is it converting? I thought the MP3s just went straight onto the iPOD without conversion.
Any ideas anyone?
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Steve:
Somethin' is funky with this build regarding "Delete Songs".
Here's what I did:
1. Wiped iPod Clean
2. Sync'd all my playlists as usual w/Delete checked as my default setting: no problem
3. Sync'd again w/Delete checked
Results: the second sync reuploaded all of the songs. It completed fine, but I could tell it was reuploading because I was getting transfer rates of 6-7 MB/sec.
Go figure. It should have been going at 200 MB/sec (the usual rate when you sync and nothing's changed).
Must be something with the file naming convention or something....
Adam
I noticed the exact same thing, but didn't no how to put it so it was comprehensible....
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Yeah, I had that problem as well. It caught me off guard since I was expecting 200MB/s transfer speeds and I had to leave in a few minutes, so I just cancelled it which left some dupes on my iPod.
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I am having a problem with songs ending 5 seconds or so before the end. This is on the ipod. I have been using MC9 and the plugin for about a month and this started a few weeks ago and is driving me crazy.
This is very frustrating. The Ipod just goes to the next song even though there is 5 seconds to play. The files appear to be complete, it is just that the ipod stops playing them before they are done. I watched the LCD to verify.
I am using the latest plugin with the latest MC9. I have formatted with XP, retored with 1.2.1 over and over and transferred over and over and the problem happens 50% of the time. Yesterday while taking down my Christmas lights, it was happening to 50% of the tunes I listened to, so I decided to load up ephpod (2.60c) again and see what was up and low and behold, all is fine.
I really want to use the MC plugin as I got used to it and auto playlists rock for ipod functionality. The funny thing is that I used the MC plugin as of a month ago and this just started happenning a few weeks ago. I am out of ideas.
Anyone got any ideas? Could it be the last few buggy releases of MC9?? This is definitely related to MC.
LJ
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Steve is out until Monday, so he probably won't be able to reply until then. He went to Philadelphia to see his folks.
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Thanks Jim, no probelm, I am sure we will get to a solution soon enough.
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Hello All,
I can't do any testing on the iPod right now because I am caught up with Eagles fever in Philadelphia.
Adam and cct1,
If you have not reformatted, try this. If you have files named with the old naming convention and you synch, for sure it will reupload them. If you still have the problem after a reformat, then there is something else going on which I will look at Monday.
Mindracing,
Before uploading the files, go to options and deselect the file conversion option. If you have that option selected, the files will convert and that will definitely take some time. That option causes your files to convert to whatever settings you have selected.
LarryJoe,
I don't know. Can you isolate that it is only certain files that exhibit that behavior.
Nekura,
Semicolons in files will definitely cause a problem, similar to the '|' problem that Tou and I isolated and fixed. Once we can do some work on MC 9 I can make a more elegant fix for this. Regarding Appleseed, perhaps the title Patron Saint of Smartlists?
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Hello All,
LarryJoe,
I don't know. Can you isolate that it is only certain files that exhibit that behavior.
This problem is isolated to the same files and not a random thing where the same song will play to the end once and get cut off the next time I listen to it. I can examine that particular file over and over on the ipod and it will cut out 5 seconds early every time.
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Problems with Sync...
I found that I had a problem in a ripped file. I re-reripped the file, deleted it and its entry from MC9, put the new file into the directory structure at the same place, and did an Import Media. The new rip of the song was imported by MC9 and played properly.
Bug 1: I did a sync with the iPod with "Update Tags" set. The new tag field(s) were updated in the iPod, but the song file itself was not transferred.
Bug 2: I tried the sync again with "Delete files..." selected. Oops... now it is deleting and replacing every file on the iPod. (This is a confirmation of other postings)
Randy
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<snip>
Adam and cct1,
If you have not reformatted, try this.
</snip>
Yes Steve, this is after a reformat, still occurs.
Adam
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Hello All,
Adam and cct1,
If you have not reformatted, try this. If you have files named with the old naming convention and you synch, for sure it will reupload them.
That was the first thing I tried too. Before I reformatted, I was actually getting duplicate files put on the playlists with each synch, reformatting took care of that problem, but it still reuploads all the songs (when the delete is checked)--it synchs just fine (and incredibly fast I might add) if delete is not checked.
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hey steve, i havn'e posted in a while cause everything has been working great. but with this new build, i tried syncing with delete and update checked. and it just said that i was over ipods capacity, so i guess it needs to go through and delete all the files before it tries to copy any. and i was also having the same problem as others with every song being recopied to the ipod not just the new or changed ones. thanks again.
- :)
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Hello All,
Mindracing,
Before uploading the files, go to options and deselect the file conversion option. If you have that option selected, the files will convert and that will definitely take some time. That option causes your files to convert to whatever settings you have selected.
I just can't find the file conversion option to uncheck, as per SteveG's advice.
Could someone please point me in the right direction.
Thanks in anticipation
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Hello All,
LarryJoe,
Can you please email me one of the files that cuts off the 5 seconds (steve @ jriver.com)
Randy,
These actions are both by design. The synch does not overwrite the files so that the speed is fast. If you would like the file to overwrite the one on the iPod, drag and drop the file on the iPod and then check "Overwrite"
The Delete Files checkbox should do what it says, it will delete all files on the iPod that are not in the synch. Could you describe what you wish it would do and I can try to add something to the Plugin.
Adam, cct1 and Will,
It sounds like there is a bug. I can't do much for it until Monday. If it is still workable lets wait until then, if not, I can call in and have someone post the old Plug-in.
Mindracing,
I replied to your email, hopefully you are all set.
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Steve:
I think that it's no big deal. If you want to sync and need to delete songs off the iPod I just deleted them first, then did a sync w/o Delete checked and it went super fast as usual.
So, I think it can wait....other's might disagree, but I'd hate to go back.
Adam
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It's not a big deal, it's a relatively minor bug--I agree with Adam it's not worth going back to an earlier plugin for; IMHO it can definitely wait until you get the chance to fix it.
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The Delete Files checkbox should do what it says, it will delete all files on the iPod that are not in the synch. Could you describe what you wish it would do and I can try to add something to the Plugin.
Steve,
I guess I didn't communicate the problem well. Here's a simple way to repoduce it.
Make two Smarlists that partially overlap. In my test case, Smartlist "Test 1" contained all files with "Name of" in the Title (8 files). Smartlist "Test 2" contained all files with "Name" in the Title (18 files).
Format the iPod for MC to ensure a clean start. Sync it once with Update Tags. Select only the two test lists. For me, all 18 files were transferred. When the sync is complete, sync it again without changing anything at all, setting "Delete files Not in List" and "Update Tags".
During the second sync, it deleted all files from the iPod and retransmited all 18 of them again. It should not have deleted any files from the iPod, as they were all in the selected lists. In fact, not one single thing changed between sync 1 and sync 2, but all files were deleted and retransmitted.
This is 100% reproducible. MC 5.0.88 / iPod .038
Randy
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These actions are both by design. The synch does not overwrite the files so that the speed is fast. If you would like the file to overwrite the one on the iPod, drag and drop the file on the iPod and then check "Overwrite"
Steve,
Maybe I'm not getting something...
I had a song, "Name of the Game", that I had gotten as a 128-MP3. It was part of the MC9 database and had been synced to the iPod.
I bought the CD and ripped "Name of the Game" at VBR/High because I like it. I went into MC9 and deleted both the database entry and the old MP3 file. Then I moved the new, ripped MP3 file into the proper folder and imported it into MC9.
Then I synced with the iPod... and the new file did not transfer.
How can a file that has been imported since the last sync, has a newer "Created Date", is a different length and has a different compression than that on the iPod, not be considered "syncable"? It's obviously a new file, and the word "Synchronize" has to maintain its general interpretation: the same stuff is on both the iPod and the computer.
"Fast" doesn't mean much if the right files aren't being transferred. I'd like to think that "Synchronize" removes the burden of iPod file management from me and puts it onto MC9.... Press "Sync" and they're the same.
thx, Randy
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I click on the plugin link on the plugin page, and it says that it installed the plugin, but it doesn't appear to be there. After I click "Ok" in the "Plugin installed ok" dialog, it jumps me into the Web Media screen. If I right click on the IPod drive under "My Computer" in MC9, I don't see the proper choices for the IPod, as described in the excellent doc here: http://www.home.earthlink.net/~ashawley01/.
- Dave
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Is it a WiniPod? or a MaciPod?
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I click on the plugin link on the plugin page, and it says that it installed the plugin, but it doesn't appear to be there.
Did you install the plugin while MC 9 was running? You might want to try to remove the plugin, close MC 9 and then reinstall. Also, make sure that you have restored the Ipod and not have it renamed and also not have MJ do anything to it.
Payam
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Hi guys. Thanks for the help.
To answer Jim's question - it's a Windows IPod.
To answer Payam's question - yes, I installed the plugin while MC9 was running. I tried to follow your instructions, but it still doesn't seem to be installed. I couldn't uninstall it, because it isn't installed. But, I did try to install it while MC9 wasn't running, and it still didn't work.
Am I correct in thinking that a plugin called "IPod" or something like that should show up when I expand "Plugins" in the MJ tree? It doesn't. All I see is the one plugin I have installed - WebRemote.
So, please help! My IPod is dead in the water right now. I reformatted it, in preparation to redownload my tunes via MC9, and now I can't even put anything on it with MusicMatch - MM crashes when I try to upload. I think I can get that working again - it worked before - but I'd rather move to MC9.
Thanks again,
Dave
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Dave, real quick, verify the date of your plugin.
Go to C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\Plugins
Look for hhportables.dll.
Right-click it, hit properties. Find the date modified and let us know.
(to be honest, i haven't followed the whole thread, but it seems like he doesn't have write access to the folder. I know he probably does, but that's just what my very first impression was)
PS - hope everyone had a good holiday, and I'm looking forward to getting "back to normal"
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... a plugin called "IPod" or something like that should show up when I expand "Plugins" in the MJ tree?
That sounds like the same problem I encountered, right now the plugin will just show up in the plugins menu under 'Handheld' and then as 'Portable Devices' (it will just say Portable Devices and not Ipod). Your ipod should be visible on the left tree under Cd, DVD & Handhelds (you might just see the Drive letter that the ipod uses). Now if you really just restored the ipod and did nothing else (no rename, use as firewire or Music Match stuff), only then will you be able to right click that Drive Letter and see a 'Format Ipod for MJ' after that you can sync.
Hope this helps
Payam
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Payam:
Ok, that answers one question. I guess it is installed then. I do have a "Portable Devices" under the handhelds in the "Plugin Manager" menu. Kurt - the date on my hh_portable.dll is 12/30/2002 2:39PM.
So, it's there, but when I right click on it under "My Computer", I just get the normal menu you get when you click on a drive - not the special IPod menu. My IPod is named "IPOD", and shows up as such. I don't have MM running.
Thanks again for the help. Any other suggestions?
- Dave
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Do you have the ipod plugged into your computer when you access media center? Mine doesn't show up under handhelds UNLESS my ipod is connected to my computer--then it shows up under handhelds as a drive ("G" in my case). I right click on this drive to synch, format, etc...
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It's plugged in - it shows up under "My Computer". But, it doesn't show up under CD, DVD, & Handhelds.
- Dave
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It's plugged in - it shows up under "My Computer". But, it doesn't show up under CD, DVD, & Handhelds.
- Dave
Hmm so it does not even show up as a little Palm lookalike kinda black with a huge screen (which is the current symbol for the ipod in MC)?
I also could not get the special options to show at first, but I always could see the little icon with the Drive letter (in my case coming after the cd drives) F:
Now I could not see any special sync and format options because after I did a restore (via Apple Firmware Restorer) my Music Match came up and asked questions, when I deinstalled Music Match and restored the iPod, it would suddenly have the option 'Format for MJ' in MC 9.
So you can't even see an icon that looks like a handheld organizer with just a plain drive letter next to it (like F: E: or something)? Very strange.
Payam
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DaveT:
What version of MC9 are you running. Make sure you have 9.0.88 or .89
Get the latest good release here (http://www.musicex.com/mediajukebox/download.html). It's at the bottom of the page.
Sorry, but I didn't see anyone ask that, just want to make sure we cover all the bases.
I'm also assuming that your iPod says "Do Not Disconnect" when it's connected to your PC. If you haven't already done it, do a restore w/the Apple Updater, make sure you've got the 1.2.1 version of the updater.
Adam
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Steve,
I synched yesterday and it errored out, giving me an "error while copying file" -- turns out that it was a file that I had deleted but not removed from my MC library. Running an "Update Library" fixed it.
If possible, could you make the plugin just skip any "orphaned" files when transferring, rather than displaying an error and halting the transfer? Or perhaps put up some text in the error suggesting that people run a library update?
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Okay okay!
I got it working. The problems seemed to be that I hadn't uninstalled MusicMatch jukebox. The doc says that it's not neccessary, so I didn't. I'd figured that I'd just as soon keep it, just in case. After uninstalling MM, I am able to see the IPod under "Handhelds". Has anyone been able to get MC9 to work with an IPod, without uninstalling MM?
So, now I'm able to upload songs. What I now want to do is to upload all songs in my library, but the ones I specify. I discovered that the way to do this is to first create a playlist that contains what I don't want to copy, and then to create a smartlist that specifies everything but what's in the playlist. (BTW, I had a hard time finding out how to do this - there's no explicit section in the help file that says what a smartlist is...)
Anyway, my only remaining question is how to transcode the bitrate of my mp3's to a lower bitrate for my IPod. I've seen it mentioned that you can do this, but I don't see how. Right clicking on the ipod doesn't give me access to any settings to do this, the synchronize menu doesn't let you specify the transcoding bitrate, ... - I don't know where else I should look.
Thanks again for all the help.
- Dave
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Dave T:
Glad you got it working. I wasn't aware of the MMJB needing to be uninstalled problem. In theory as long as the iPod shows up in My Computer as a drive, meaning you have "Enable Firewire Disk Mode" ticked off on MMJB then it should work fine. Guess I'll need to do some testinga and see what the deal is.
Regarding the smartlist. There's an easier way to do it. Make a Smartlist that excludes what you don't want. You'll notice if you do Add Rule>Artist you get a dialog of all your Artists. At the bottom of that dialog is an option "Do what with this selection" with a drop-down list for Include or Exclude. What I do is change it to Exclude and select the Artists I don't want on my iPod. That playlist I call "iPod Tunes". You can do the same with Albums as well, so if you want to include The Beatles, but don't want the White Album on the iPod, you can add another rule for Album and exclude that Album (and more).
Hope that makes sense.
As far as the transcoding. It's kind of funky right now. And I don't know if it works right on syncing, but you can test it out and let us know.
First, grab one song (that will end up on your iPod from your sync list. And right click it and select Send To>I:iPod (whatever your iPod's drive letter is). The click your iPod. An "Upload" frame will show up at the bottom. There will be an Options button. Clicking it should let you change the transcoding. Now, this setting in theory should be preserved for when you do the sync, but I'm not sure if it will.
Also, remember that when you do this your upload times are going to be drastically increased due to the transcoding.
Adam
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I had the same problem with sync speed.
Using 'send to' with no conversion options the speed is fine.
If I do a sync with 'transfer all files' they all get converted and it takes forever.
I can't find a way to turn off conversion when doing a full sync.
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Dave T:
In theory as long as the iPod shows up in My Computer as a drive, meaning you have "Enable Firewire Disk Mode" ticked off on MMJB then it should work fine.
Adam, does this mean that I can't use iPod as a data drive when I use MC?
Also why would anyone not include the White Album from the Beatles?
Payam
P.S. I am currently pondering about the 'The' preceding artists names (such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Eagles...) Should I be using the 'The' in MC? Though question because it seems to belong to the Name but on the other hand the Letter T is way overused if I do. Interestingly enough, the iPod seems to filter the 'The' out and if I go artist and arrive at say 'B', it will show the Beatles I thought that was cool, would be great if MC would follow up (but then if I search with the Wizard it will just show it either way, I think that is one of the niftiest features of MC anyhow). Jeez look at all this ranting sorry folks...
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I've wondered about the "the", too. I always take the artist/album names assigned to me by YADB, and consequently often get two entries for artists in the Artist/Album view ("The Rolling Stones", "Rolling Stones"). Other jukebox software (and the IPod) will ignore a "the" in the start of a name. This must have come up before... anyone know if J River plans a fix?
Back to the topic - I will try transcoding tonight and report back. I only had a quick chance to try it this morning, and it did seem very slow. For some reason, the transcoding in Musicmatch was much faster.
- Dave
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Everyone,
I ran out of time today and have not had a chance to sift through everyone's messages. I will get on this tomorrow. Sorry for the delay.
Steve
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Adam, does this mean that I can't use iPod as a data drive when I use MC?
Also why would anyone not include the White Album from the Beatles?
Payam
P.S. I am currently pondering about the 'The' preceding artists names (such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Eagles...) Should I be using the 'The' in MC? Though question because it seems to belong to the Name but on the other hand the Letter T is way overused if I do. Interestingly enough, the iPod seems to filter the 'The' out and if I go artist and arrive at say 'B', it will show the Beatles I thought that was cool, would be great if MC would follow up (but then if I search with the Wizard it will just show it either way, I think that is one of the niftiest features of MC anyhow). Jeez look at all this ranting sorry folks...
Payam:
You absolutely can use the iPod as a hard drive with MC9. MC9 doesn't do anything with the drive letter assigned by windows. Unlike MMJB (which does), it leaves it up to Windows to manage.
Regarding the "The", I know that the iPod ignores leading articles and that's a great thing. A number of folks have requested it of JRiver, hopefully they'll add it as well.
P.S.: and I just couldn't think of another album to exclude :)
Adam
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Ok, I'm back home, and started my upload/transcoding. I'm trying to upload about 22 gig of mp3's encoded at highest quality VBR, to a 20 gig IPod. I'm transcoding to what MC9 calls "Normal/High Quality VBR". It's running now. Some observations:
1) When I right click on my playlist and "Send To" the IPod, there's about a 30 second delay. Probably something to do with the number of songs I'm copying.
2) When I next click on the IPod, there's another 30 second delay.
3) The "Upload" box at the bottom, below the queue, has the Upload button cut off.
4) The transcoding is VERY slow - about 30 seconds per song. Maybe this is reasonable - I don't know. But, somehow, MM does it much faster, or at least it claims to. When I set MM to transcode, it's faster - perhaps it isn't really transcoding?
5) It doesn't tell me how much space the uploaded files would take. It would be nice if it gave at least an estimate - I'll be unhappy if all these files end up not fitting, after waiting all night. There is a "available size after upload" number, but it shows the initial space available. The "Upload File Size" doesn't change when I change the transcode options.
So, I'll let this run, it'll probably take all night. I'll post back if I have more issues.
Thanks.
- Dave
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Dave T,
You're not alone.
I experience exactly the same results.
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Well, I have blown it. After reading the help document dicussed earlier I followed the optional recommendation for 'restoring'. Now I'm unable to get windows (xp) to display the ipod as an external disk. However, the 'safely remove hardware' icon in the tray does see it and provides an option to remove.
I understand that MC requires the ipod as an external drive with a lable of "ipod" before it will recognize as handheld device.
Now I can't do anything with my ipod.
Did the restore procedure do something to my ipod/windows interaction? How do I resolve this problem? I've visited apple's site and can find no reference to windows or a ipod driver for windows.
I'm really bummed out, and would appreciate any help!! :'( :'(
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...
I'm really bummed out, and would appreciate any help!! :'( :'(
My "quick and dirty" solution: Reinstall MMJB and the last ipod-plugin. Then, after connecting ipod, a new window (plugin) appears. Under the options you can define now, that the ipod shows up as a "normal" hard drive. You can also define within these options, that MMJB not automatic starts, when you connect the ipod.
After this, MJ/MC can recognise the ipod without any problem. There is no reason to deinstall MMJB, when you use MJ/MC. So you always have both options for the "emergency"-case. Only don't run both at the same time.
Fex
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Buddy, I agree with Fex. I had the same problem as you are having when I uninstalled MMJB last month. After reinstalling it my iPod started working as a drive again. I mentioned this problem in one of the previous iPod plugin threads here.
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Update after trying to rip my cd collection last night:
It died after 2 or 3 hours. It was stuck on the "encoding" screen, for one of the songs that was being transcoded. MC9 was locked up completely - the cancel button did nothing. I restarted MC9, did another "send to" of my playlist to the IPod, went to the IPod "queue", removed the songs already copied from the queue, and hit "Update" again. It locked up on the same song. I then tried to copy a single song, and same thing - it locked up.
That was all I had time to try this morning. I'll try more tonight. I don't know what happened - the IPod is still connected - I can browse to it fine in Windows Explorer.
Anyhew...
I just realized that it's going to take about 33 hours to rip my 4000 songs! This is because of the transcoding taking 30 seconds per song. MusicMatch did the entire copy, with transcoding, in about 40 minutes. I realize that MC9 has a much better encoder than MM, but I'd prefer lower quality/higher speed, when it comes to transcoding to my IPod. Are there any faster MP3 encoder plugins avalable that I can use to transcode to my IPod in MC9? Or, would it be possible, at least, to make the encoder in MC9 encode while it's unencoding? (It looks like it first converts the MP3 back to WAV, then encodes it. I thought that MC9 was able to start encoding as it unencoded, at least when you do a burn...)
- Dave
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Dave,
if you have a long list of songs requiring conversion to upload to iPod, on-the-fly conversion may not be what you want: MC will keep all WAV files in the Temp folder until all MP3 files are created. Then only it will upload all MP3 to iPod and clear the Temp folder.
This has two major drawbacks : first you may get out of disk space because of all WAV files, second iPod has to be connected during the conversion which is an issue if your FireWire port is not powered.
I would rather recommend to convert all songs through Tools; Convert Format..., Encoding Options 'Delete WAV file', all Converter Options unchecked.
This will create MP3 copies of all songs in their relative folders. Then locate them through My Computer, sort the folders by File Type so you have all MP3 at once, select the MP3 files, Send To iPod and proceed with iPod Upload (without conversion of course). Then all you need is to clear the MP3 files.
Hope this helps,
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I wonder if MusicMatch was only converting tracks that hadn't been converted before. The two encoders should not be off by more than double the time.
A work-around might be setting up a second library for MP3 files. File/Library/Library Manager is where you start. Make sure you don't save the library in the same location as your default library.
Another possibility is a lower bit rate.
Encoding can also be done with any external program.
Dave, are you the same Dave who's working on the IR program over on AVSForum? I'm following that with great interest.
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Phillippe:
Yipes! So it won't do each song at a time, deleting the temp files as it goes? That is a problem. I checked, and I did indeed run out of disk space. Unfortunately, your suggestion doesn't work for me - my original files are already mp3's. I just want to convert them to a lower bitrate. I use highest quality VBR for my main system, but want lower quality VBR for the IPod.
Looks like I have a problem. I have a 20 gig IPod that I want to fill with music. I want to compress my mp3's more than I do when listening to them on my main system. How do I do it? I have 13 gig free on my hard drive, but it looks like I'd need 100 meg or so free, if I want to add 20 gig of mp3's.
Jim - no, MusicMatch was doing conversion on the fly. I was transoding my highest quality VBR mp3's to 128bps CBR mp3's. I didn't save the 128bps ones anywhere else but on my IPod, and it did it that fast the first time I copied everything up. I have no idea how/why it was so fast, but it was. Actually, you should be able to reproduce this - you guys have an IPod there, right? It ships with everything you need to use it with MM. I suppose you know all this...
Regarding your other suggestions - I'd rather not set up a seperate library. I just want to transcode all the mp3's I have. You said that I can use any encoder - can you tell me where to find one, or where I can find docs on this? If there's another mp3 encoder I can use that is faster than LAME, and doesn't have the limitation of leaving all its temp files around, then that sounds like it would solve my issues.
Other than that, how can I do this? Is there anyone that can fill a 20gig IPod with MP3's and do transcoding? I don't mind if it's a little bit of a pain - I don't do this every day. I just don't see how I can use MC at all for this - there's no way I'd have enough free space. I guess can go back to MM - that worked. The thing I like about using MC for it, other than that I'm using MC for all my other music, is that it supports copying using an "exclude" smartlist. I have a bit more music than can fit on the IPod. Specifying what I want by saying "everything but", is definately the way to go for me.
And, yes - Jim - I am the same Dave T as the IR program guy. Thanks for the interest!
- Dave
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Everyone,
I am revamping some things within the Plug-in that will resolve the synching and naming issues.
Phillipe and DaveT,
I will address the transcoding after the revamp is finished.
Buddy,
If you are not all set, email me...
steve @ jriver.com
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Thanks, Steve. I'll check back in a couple of weeks, to see the state of things.
In the meantime, I guess I'll reinstall MusicMatch, unless someone can tell me how to transcode with another encoder, as discussed above.
- Dave
-
Dave,
As a work-around, you may configure Converter Options in the conversion menu so that low-rate MP3's are copied onto another folder, leaving your High-rate MP3 sources intact.
Cheers,
-
Phillippe:
Unfortunately, that won't work. I only have 13 gig free, so I won't be able to fit 20 gig of music there. Looks like I'm out of luck with MC until Matt fixes the temp file/encoder issues.
So.....
I reinstalled MusicMatch, and am in the process of re-transferring my music using MM. And, I noticed that the transfer rate isn't as fast as I said, at least this time. Either I was crazy (probably), or it's because I am now doing level-matching. But, I'm now seeing 10-15 seconds per song, as compared to 30 seconds with MC (transcoding and level matching). So, MM isn't as much faster at transcoding as I thought, but it's still over twice as fast.
- Dave
-
SteveG and JimH:
I saw this thread this morning (http://www.musicex.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=beta;action=display;num=1042013878;start=0) and it got me to thinking- why don't we move this thread to the Media Center 9 forum? While not everyone here is using smartlists (only available in MC9), it would seem logical that people, especially newbies, that follow the FAQ would go there to d/l the newest version, as well as ask questions.
Just a thought.
Back on topic- Start posting Smartlists again! I just reformatted my computer and have been reconstructing mine, so I'm looking for creative uses of smartlists to help us all fill our Ipod better!
-
The iPod plugin does not transfer foreign characters? (I just read that in the other forum mclaugh posted (http://www.musicex.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=beta;action=display;n um=1042013878;start=0)). There also is a good suggestion about error messages there.
Payam
I am praying for the day MC and the iPod plugin will show and transfer music of all genders, races and characters.
-
Is right, this thread would be better under MC9. Having lost track of the thread over Christmas I just spent ten minutes trying to find it where I thought it would be - under MC9
-
Everyone,
Sorry for the delay in a new Plug-in. Media Center is in a state of flux which is making it difficult to implement stuff right now. I will try to have something going tomorrow.
Steve
-
Latest "problems":
I took the plunge on Sunday and turned my Ephpod Ipod into an MJ Ipod. I am presently using 9.088 and 3.038, on WinXP.
I see two issues. First, regardless of whether you manually load the Ipod or sync it with smartlists, the amount of filespace being taken up on the Ipod is not being written. While I can view on my computer how much space is being used, my Ipod shows this:
songs 946
9.2gig avail
9.2gig capacity
Second issue- When I synced my Ipod using smartlists, I find the smartlists aren't being written to the Ipod (they should be seen in the 'playlists' menu on the Ipod). Again, I see them in the Ipod's tree structure on my computer, but on my Ipod, here's what I see:
Essentials >
>
I've encountered a similar problem when I used Ephpod in the past- I simply plugged the Ipod back in, opened up the program again, and it seemed to take. I tried this last night using MJ, and it didn't work.
One other question- are the versions I'm using of Media Center (which I shorten to MJ out of habit) and the Ipod plugin the latest? I know several betas after 88 have been pulled, so I think this is the latest stable one.....
-
McLaugh,
Your version of MC is not the latest. Sit tight until later today and I will have some new versions available.
Steve
-
I stayed with 88 because each newer beta was eventually pulled. How will a new MJ beta affect the Ipod plugin?
-
I just want to transcode all the mp3's I have. You said that I can use any encoder - can you tell me where to find one, or where I can find docs on this? If there's another mp3 encoder I can use that is faster than LAME, and doesn't have the limitation of leaving all its temp files around, then that sounds like it would solve my issues.
The gogo encoder is faster. So is frauenhofer's, but you might just lower the bit rate, because it's generally believed that the Lame encoder produces the best sound.
-
I stayed with 88 because each newer beta was eventually pulled. How will a new MJ beta affect the Ipod plugin?
I'm kind of in the same boat here. MC 9 is doing exactly what I need it to do; the only issues I have (and these are extremely minor issues) are with the ipod plugin. Will the new plugin update interact differently (or work better) with the 92 update? If you would prefer we update to the 92, I'll certainly do it, but if it doesn't make a difference, I'd just as soon stay with the 88 version for now.
-
As I'm (a) a fairly timid beta tester and (b) in the middle of ripping my CD collection I'm holding off until there's a stable .9x.
-=Tim=-
-
Everyone,
Please get MC version 9.0.93 and the latest Plug-in (v 3.0.39). These two together have some major internal reworkings. The benefit should be that all of the hassling with duplicates should go away. Also for anyone who was experiencing crashing because of strange characters in the filename, this too is now hopefully resolved.
Synching may be a little weird until you format for MC because the tracknaming has been reworked.
Please let me know of any problems and I will address them tomorrow.
Thanks,
Steve
-
Steve, dude,
Now that the composer field is a standard MC9 field, any chance we'll be getting some composer action on our iPods? ;D
-
Steve:
It's kind of a hassle to get this all set up, and then have to re-upload via MM, if there are problems. So, could you be more specific about what's fixed? Will this version no longer keep copies of temp files around (will I be able to upload 20 gig of files, with ~only~ 13 gig free on my hard drive)? Will this version give you an estimate of whether or not the playlist to upload will fit, so you don't have to wait a day or so before you find out that you needed to specify more compression? Finally - is it any faster? I don't think I want to use MC9 to upload if it will take longer than 12 hours or so.
Thanks for your work on this!
- Dave
-
Steve,
Do you recommend an uninstall of .88 to go to .93, or can the new version be installed overtop the old? Any ipod plugin reprecussions with this?
-ben
Everyone,
Please get MC version 9.0.93 and the latest Plug-in (v 3.0.39). These two together have some major internal reworkings. The benefit should be that all of the hassling with duplicates should go away. Also for anyone who was experiencing crashing because of strange characters in the filename, this too is now hopefully resolved.
Synching may be a little weird until you format for MC because the tracknaming has been reworked.
Please let me know of any problems and I will address them tomorrow.
Thanks,
Steve
-
Ben, please wait. Build 93 will make your hair turn gray. Tomorrow we should have another build.
-
Whew! That was close.
Thanks, Jim... I just finished downloading it, and was waiting for a reply.
I must have just gotten an influx of some good karma!
-
JimH- what about the Ipod plugin (vers 39)? Is this safe to d/l, or is it not worth it?
(It's almost time for me to do my nightly Ipod format/refill- I just want to know if I should d/l and install the new plug!)
Thanks.
-
Move cautiously tonight. Best to stand still, if possible. Ghosts are about tonight. You can hear chains dragging if you turn the lights off. Don't do it.
-
I've been having a big issue with my ipod when using the two most recent plugins. I've done some tinkering, and here's what's going on:
Some hardware issue (probably the firewire card) causes occasional, random files to not transfer on their first attempt; these files have only standard characters in their filename and different songs will have issue when transfering the same list multiple times.
When synching, this problem results in the improperly transfered songs being skipped, while all others transfer properly. On prior builds of the plugin, i could just synch a few times until all files transfered properly.
Doing this with the two most recent builds, however, is not possible becuase of a problem with the playlists: the list of playlists is truncated at the first list containing a song which did not transfer properly at the first synching. From then on, the ipod's list of playlists does not update upon subsequent synching/file transfers.
I'll probably be getting a new firewire card, but there seems to be some kind of software issue too. My most recent attempts at synching were with plugin v39 and MC 9.093 (I feel brave ... ;-)
Thanks
~Bryan
-
I have been sitting on the fence for about two weeks. I want to "convert" my iPod to MC readiness, but the fact that MC9 gives me buffer overrun messages all the time keeps be from doing it.
Also, I just read in this thread that it might take a long time to load songs into the iPod. Were you kidding when you said 12 hrs for 20 gig? What are realistic estimates? I have found Ephpod to be lightning fast.
-
Seviien:
I'm having a similar problem getting all songs to sync over, and my playlists are similar to yours- Ipod shows the first playlist (with about four songs on it) and then nothing else.
Not all the songs are transferring over- I'm at work now, but I seem to remember getting around 1108 on my Ipod when my computer showed I should be receiving 1441 or so. I'm using 9.0089 and 3.0038.
Also, check your Ipod's 'about' screen and see if the capacity available has changed after you load up your Ipod. Mine hasn't- if yours is similar to mine, then it's something we can ask SteveG to look into.
MrVegas:
I don't know where you read that the speeds of transfer were slow- I'd bet that if you ask any former Ephpod users here (I'm one of them), you'll find that the speed of MJ is comparable, if not faster.
From my Ephpod days, I remember to immediately assume that any user complaining about transfer speed is using win98/ ME as their OS. I first had winME on my system when I got my Ipod, and upon upgrading to winXP, saw it go from 0.1MB/sec to 5.5MB/sec. Since then, my speeds are generally around 6MB/sec.
SteveG:
I've looked through the archives for the past Ipod threads, and not really found a fix for the playlist not transferring issue. I know we've discussed songs not completely transferring over, and the former issue of most songs ending up in F19, but I didn't see a resolution for the playlist thing. Is this the next "big issue" you plan to tackle? (I'm just curious.)
-
Plug-in 3.0.38 fixed a problem with overwriting certain files with duplicate file names but introduced some synching bugs. The latest Plug-in 3.0.39 will resolve these, but they require a new version of MC9 which is somewhat hard to come by. Hopefully we will have one today.
Seviien, Benmaxwell and McLaugh,
I think your problems will go away with new versions.
Mr. Vegas,
I do not think you will find transfers with MC any slower than with other programs.
DaveT,
In regards to the conversion, this is not yet resolved but will be.
Kurt,
I will get composers in today. This will require another build of the Plug-in and a new release of MC.
Everyone,
Please check back at the end of the day for more information.
Thanks,
Steve
-
Mr. Vegas:
I think you were referring to my post about the IPod being slow to transfer. Let me clarify. If you're not transcoding (changing the source bitrate/encoder to a different one on the IPod), then transfer is lightening fast - faster than MusicMatch. It's when you're transcoding that it's slow - very, very slow. This is because of the (high quality, but slow) encoder used by MC. I estimated that it would take over 30 hours to fill my 20 gig ipod with music. Since I encode my mp3's at a much higher bitrate for use in my home theater, than the bitrate I'd want for the IPod, this makes using MC with my IPod not a viable solution in my situation. YMMV.
- Dave
-
Hi
I tried to upload my songs to the iPod today. The good news: it seemed to work well. No crashes.
The bad news is that no playlists transferred. I did a syncronize all files and checked Transfer all files. It took about 50 minutes (average of 3.5 mbs not very fast), and after seeing that no playlists were transfered, I decided to try antother syncronize. This time I checked all the playlists I wanted to transfer, that caused the upload que to go to about 27000 (twenty seven thousand) songs. Since I knew that that was beyond the capacity of the iPod (and my nerves) I cancelled that. I though Playlists are just supposed to be small lists, not the actual songs. Also I heard that there is a problem with duplicates. Will that be (or is it already) fixed?
Payam
-
This time I checked all the playlists I wanted to transfer, that caused the upload que to go to about 27000 (twenty seven thousand) songs. Since I knew that that was beyond the capacity of the iPod (and my nerves) I cancelled that.
When you synchronise playlists the dialog shows the total number of songs in all playlists. This means that if a song appears in more than one playlist it will be counted once for each playlist it is in. The total number of songs uploaded will be less than the total number of songs displayed on the synch dialog.
For example, I have 1666 songs on my iPod. When I do a synch in MC it says that it is uploading 2900 songs because of songs appearing in more than one playlist.
-
So it will not take any longer to upload the songs and the playlists than it takes to upload all the songs. Now why can't I transfer playlists when I check Transfer all files?
Also, if I have songs in multiple playlists will they (like with ephpod) display as duplicates in the iPod menu 'Songs'? I.E. if I had one song in 3 playlists will it show the song 3 times in the menu Songs on the iPod?
Is there any way to speed up the Sync process? I hear 6 mb/s but I am getting only about 3.5 (although in the beginning it starts with about 4 mb/s)? With ephpod I could increase the buffer size a little...
I also read somewhere that I can upload the songs in two different ways. I can either right click the ipod and select the Syncronize files or I can select the files, right click and send them to the ipod (however I understand that they are only queued then), is one method better than the other?
Payam
-
The number of songs shown on the iPod About screen shows the number of actual songs, not the number of songs in playlists.
It should take the same time to upload all songs as it does to upload them using playlists.
The upload speed is hardware dependant. I get 6Mb/s on my PC.
-
I too have the slow sync syndrome.
I was using conversion during synching and it was really slow. Now that I've stopped using conversion it is still just as slow. I estimate about 3 seconds per track.
The rate counter I think displays an average not actual as it begins at 200MBPS and slowly reduces down to about 4.
In my experience MMJB is faster.
Now I set it to sync before going to bed and it is done when I get up in the morning!
I am also getting no playlist/smart list synching at the moment.
MC .88
iPOD plug in:.38
Loathe to upgrade because of the current problems.
-
MindRacing,
I understand your hesitation to update, but it will be a necessary evil.
Newhere,
Sync All files will not transfer Playlists. To transfer playlists, select any or all playliststs and then synch.
Steve
-
Ok thanks for all your help.
I hate to be a wise guy but why can't I sync all files (transfer them) while at the same time transferring the playlists? I could only do it by transferring the automatically created playlist 'All Music.' This seems to be an ok way but why the loop?
Payam
P.S. Did anyone try to increase the transfer buffer of the mp3 files? I don't know why, but when I just transfer a large file (500mb) by drag and drop onto the iPod in Windows, it transfers at close to 50 mb/sec. I am thinking that a large buffer might stop the connection from being idle or getting chuncked up but then again, the slow transfer could be because iPod needs to write to its own database.
-
Payam,
"Transfer All Files" was added for people who aren't using Playlists and just want the files on the iPod. I know that sounds crazy to you, but some people use iPod in this way. To do what you are after, deselect Transfer All Files, and then click "Select All" for Playlists. This will send all files and all Playlists to the iPod and keep them synched for you.
In regards to the buffering, I tried it before with no change.
Steve
Steve
-
Everyone,
I have just posted iPod Plug-in 3.0.40. This will be the one to use with MC 9.0.95 or greater which will be available sometime in the next hour. Most of the changes are internal so you won't see anything too different. The fixes I mentioned yesterday regarding synching should still be good.
Next week I will include fields such as Date Modified, Comment and Creation date. I would like to add Composer. That info is in the Plug-in but I don't think it is possible on the iPod. Does anyone know of any application that shows this field for a Windows formatted iPod?
My apologies for the bumps in the road this week. MC9 is getting better but there is some pain involved with the improvements. I will be out of contact for a day now but will get caught up sometime this weekend.
Steve
-
Thanks for the reply
Payam,
In regards to the buffering, I tried it before with no change.
...Too bad... I am still surprised that the iPod can be so surprisingly fast when used as a drive (500 MB in about 10 sec! is anyone else getting that?). Oh well
Oh and the new ephpod 2.60d now supports the composer field but I don't think it will show on the iPod.
Payam
-
Thanks for the reply
Oh and the new ephpod 2.60d now supports the composer field but I don't think it will show on the iPod.
Payam
Under "browse", you have-
artists, albums, songs, genres, composers.
-
I'm using both new versions now (.40 and .95). The only bad thing i realized til now is, that still all tracks are uploaded again, if "delete all files not in list" is marked.
-
Are you laying this build overtop of the older one, or clean uninstalling it?
-
Are you laying this build overtop of the older one, or clean uninstalling it?
No uninstall, just overtop. Had no problems with all the last builds doing it this way.
-
40 and 95 for me, too.
It errors out as it uploads, saying it can't transfer a file- look onto the Ipod, and same as before- no playlists, but many files. I tried twice, different songs, same result.
I'm going out now, I'll check back tomorrow.
-
Hi,
Has anyone managed to copy chinese songs (with unicode) from MC9 to ipod on Windows? Not sure if iPod supports it?
-
Next week I will include fields such as Date Modified, Comment and Creation date. I would like to add Composer. That info is in the Plug-in but I don't think it is possible on the iPod. Does anyone know of any application that shows this field for a Windows formatted iPod?
Steve,
XPlay supports the Composer field. After a sync, all entries are proper when browsed under "Composers" on the iPod.
Randy
-
Ok, I just loaded version 9.0.88 w/ plugin 3.0.40 (the only one I could find).
Everything went fine except I only show 2.000 GB as free space when I click on the IPOD drive in MC (just reformatted so it should show 9.25 GB). Further when I try to upload one or more songs i get an error: "Media Jukebox has caused an error in HH_Portable.dll" and it crashes.
I read a reference which sounded like you needed 9.0.95 in combo w/ 3.0.40, but when i tried to install the latest 9.0.95 I got a message: "The microsoft layer for Unicode faile to initialize. Please re-install". Say what?
I'm completely stuck at this point, so if anyone has any ideas I'd be very appreciative.
Media Jukebox 9.0.88 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\
Microsoft Windows Me
Intel Pentium 4 1295 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 261 MB, Free - 62 MB
Resource Info: System - 32 %, GDI - 55 %, User - 32 %
Internet Explorer: 6.0.2800.1106 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.50.4916.400 / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2800.1106
Shell32.dll: 5.50.4134.100
wnaspi32.dll: 4.71 (0001) , ASPI for Win32 (95/NT) DLL, Copyright © 1989-2002 Adaptec, Inc. / Aspi32.sys: N/A
Ripping / Drive D: Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer CD Type:Auto Read speed:Max
Drive E: 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: No
Burning / Drive E: YAMAHA CRW3200E Addr: 0:1:0 Speed:24 MaxSpeed:24 Lib:2 GHS:1 Use MJ Engine:No
Test mode: No / Eject after writing: Yes / Direct decoding: Yes / Two second gap: No / Write CD-Text: No
Use playback settings: No / Normalization: None
-
steve,
still the same problem with selecting "Delete Files Not In Use" - when syncing with that checked, the ipod is reformatted and the songs are laid back into it.
oh, one more thing... go EAGLES!
-
To forum administrators ....
How's about creating a separate section in the forum just for us iPod fans. This 3 page thread is getting a bit cumbersome for ALL iPod questions/issues. I think there is enough interest in iPod to warrant a separate folder/section.
Thanks for your consideration.
p.s.
there is (as many of you know) a separate section for MC9 in the ipodlounge.com forums, but participation there is pretty light
-
I read a reference which sounded like you needed 9.0.95 in combo w/ 3.0.40, but when i tried to install the latest 9.0.95 I got a message: "The microsoft layer for Unicode faile to initialize. Please re-install". Say what?
I got the exact same error with similar configuration (WIndows ME, ugh.)
Media Jukebox PLUS 9.0.88 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\
Microsoft Windows Me
Intel Pentium III 863 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 392 MB, Free - 184 MB
Resource Info: System - 52 %, GDI - 69 %, User - 52 %
Internet Explorer: 6.0.2800.1106 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.50.4916.400 / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2800.1106
Shell32.dll: 5.50.4134.100
wnaspi32.dll: 4.57 (1014) , ASPI for Win32 (95/NT) DLL, Copyright © 1989-1998 Adaptec, Inc. / Aspi32.sys: N/A
Ripping / Drive D: 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: No
Burning / Drive D: HP CD-WRITER 6020 Addr: 0:4:0 Speed:2 MaxSpeed:2 Lib:2 GHS:1 Use MJ Engine:No
Test mode: No / Eject after writing: Yes / Direct decoding: Yes / Two second gap: No / Write CD-Text: No
Use playback settings: No / Normalization: None
-
MrVegas,
I don't think that we would rate a separate forum here, after all MC supports a wide variety of handheld plugins, and the iPod is just one of 'em. This thread is best suited for bug reports and development of the iPod plugin, which is still in beta and under contstruction. The forum over at iPodlounge is an excellent place to discuss usage, troubleshooting, and other non-development issues.
-
Everyone,
I have posted a new Plug-in (3.0.41) which fixes the delete files problem. Please be sure to use MC 9.0.95 with this. Previous versions of MC are not compatible.
In regards to the "Composer" field. I will add the display of this from within MC next week. This is not hard. The trick will be to have iPod recognize this field.
Randy,
If, as you say, XPlay has this worked out, could you email me an XPlay iTunesDb file and I will see what I can do. (steve @ jriver.com)
Fex and Benmaxwell,
You should be all set with 3.0.41.
McLaugh,
I am not sure. Can you send me the file that it can't upload. If you are still stuck, please email me on Monday.
Moriarty and RobOK,
You must get MC 9.0.95. If you are having problems with it, please start or check another thread.
Mr. Vegas,
I will close this thread and start a fresh one so it isn't so cumbersome.
JNKH,
I am curious about this too. I will test next week if no one replies with some results.
EVERYONE,
I am closing this thread and starting a fresh one.
Steve
PS Thanks Ben. GO EAGLES!!!!! Gonna fly now....