INTERACT FORUM
More => Old Versions => Media Center 11 (Development Ended) => Topic started by: SteveG on September 11, 2003, 11:02:53 am
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Hello All,
For anyone who is new to MC, please be sure to get the latest version from our downloads page or from the first thread on this board.
An excellent help file (thanks Adam) on using MC and iPod can be found here:
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~ashawley01/
For additional information, please check the previous help thread at:
http://www.musicex.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=MediaCenter;action=display;num=1061244490;start=0
For any issues not covered, please post below and someone will respond ASAP. Please copy and paste your system info from MC Help and include the version of the Portable Drive Plugin you use.
Thanks,
Steve
JRiver
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I've found some mention of this problem elsewhere, but no real solution.
I want the playlists I sync to my ipod to show up on the ipod itself, but as of now I just have a blank space and then the "on the go" playlist on the ipod. I am syncing by choosing specific playlists in MC9(v.9.1.250) to sync with the ipod, yet no playlists cross over.
Any suggestions? Any more info needed? This is a 3G Ipod (the new 40GB one).
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Check this out:
I haven't had iPod music for two days; there was an error on sync Wednesday morning, and the database got hosed. I dinna come home last night, so no chance to fix it.
So, I get home tonight, dock, and fire up MC9.1.250. I did a "rebuild database from iPod" on it* and after it was done, I undocked. The iPod showed 5 stars for every single song! Ack!
So, I back up my database, heh, and dock. I synched iPod info with MC, and it started with "Saving tag changes (x of 1290)". Ack again. No "this could take a while" warning, and total MC lockup while it saved god knows what to my actual files. :P
Yup. When it was done, everything that was on my iPod was a 5. Everything was a "never played." Number plays was populated, but I can't remember what they were before, so I don't know if they were accurate. They seem right, though.
Time to restore my library. Ahhhhhh, everything's back to normal. I selected all my audio and did "Update tags (from library)". That took a while. Funny thing about that, it did the "Saving tag changes (x of 3487)" first, and after it was done, then it put up the "This could take a while" dialogue. 8)
Dunno if it's a bug, but it was painful.
*The rebuild process locked MC up completely. Unlike the synch, when the rebuild is going on, you can't move the dialogue, nor can you interact with Mega-Me in any way. Can this be improved like the synch dialogue was? (edit: Ditto for the initialization dialogue.)
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brgale:
This should be working fine for you. First, I suggest you reinitialize your iPod. Right-click the iPod under CDs, DVDs and Handhelds and select Initialize iPod.
Then, right-click the iPod again, select synchronize and select the playlist you made. Don't click on the "Select All" button or your playlists won't go over.
Adam
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Steve:
I just gotta report one thing
IT WORKS ;D ;D ;D
Everything worked perfectly for me.
Kurt, saw your post. I really think that you need to start w/a nice fresh iPod like you ended up having to do to make things all honky-dory.
The only small thing I still noticed was that the right-click menu stays up after you select Sync iPod info to PC. Minor issue.
Can't wait for one-touch syncing!!! ;)
GREAT WORK.
Now I'm off to making my playlists w/that rule I've been dying for: "haven't heard in 2 weeks" :D
Adam
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ashawley,
Thanks for the advice. It worked this time. Which leads to another question - I have a playlist on the ipod now but when I select it, I just have a long list of songs there. Is there a way to browse by artist, album, etc within one playlist on the ipod itself? Is this not a problem I'm having, but just a limitation by design? I'm not sure if it's related to the MC transfer or not. Make sense?
Brian
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brgale:
No, the iPod displays only songs when you're looking at playlists.
To view by Artist, click Browse>Artist>Album etc. That will give you more info.
I've you've got iPod questions etc, might want to jump on over to iPod Lounge (http://www.ipodlounge.com). The forums there are great (IMHO) and have a ton of info for you. We also have a full board dedicated to MC9 and a bunch of us will help you out.
Adam
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The 33.7 years ago thing is still sorta kickin around. When I sync iPod info to PC "never played" seems to change to 33.7 years ago...however syncing PC to iPod seems to change it back to "never played"
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Steve...
Did a sync last night and it looked like everything when well... MC showed that it synced 4313 files (with Delete checked), however after it syncs a message appears "Upload file not supported" or something. When I compare the playlist synced and the ipod, there are songs that did not get copied. Only 4295 songs appear on the ipod.
Any thoughts?
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Steve...
Did a sync last night and it looked like everything when well... MC showed that it synced 4313 files (with Delete checked), however after it syncs a message appears "Upload file not supported" or something. When I compare the playlist synced and the ipod, there are songs that did not get copied. Only 4295 songs appear on the ipod.
Any thoughts?
Check your smartlists for non-mp3 files, like jpg or avi. I've actually put a rule in each of my smartlists, "[File Type]=[mp3]"
Ahh, freshly initialized and loaded iPod. Bring on the good times tomorrow!
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Hi Steve,
I've been lurking while more of the bugs get worked out. I'm now happy to say that with 250 my iPod ratings are transferring to the PC. This will be the perfect way for me to check out new music and mark the songs that really catch my interest. Great work!
One strange thing seems to be happening. I check "delete files" and "update tags" while syncing my 7000+ songs and after every sync a small OK dialog pops up, "Upload Files Not Found". It doesn't seem to cause any problems with the sync and the message has persisted through several builds and re-initializing the iPod three times, most recently for 248. Any idea what could be causing the message?
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Hi Steve,
I've been lurking while more of the bugs get worked out. I'm now happy to say that with 250 my iPod ratings are transferring to the PC. This will be the perfect way for me to check out new music and mark the songs that really catch my interest. Great work!
One strange thing seems to be happening. I check "delete files" and "update tags" while syncing my 7000+ songs and after every sync a small OK dialog pops up, "Upload Files Not Found". It doesn't seem to cause any problems with the sync and the message has persisted through several builds and re-initializing the iPod three times, most recently for 248. Any idea what could be causing the message?
:D Dig my reply to digitaltrapper above, I think y'all are having the same problem.
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Good call, Kurt. I did a library clean-up to remove a few references to mp3 files that no longer existed and that cleared up the message. Thanks!
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I'm using a gen 2 iPod with software 1.3 on it. I'm also using MC 9.1.250. Should the Synchronize Ipod info with PC command work reliably and transfer my playcount information to MC? I have been playing with it the past couple hours and have seen some weird results like the Number Plays field getting set to some ridiculously huge number. If I clear the Number plays field for the given song, load it back on the ipod, play it on the ipod, connect, invoke Synchronize ipod info with PC, I end up with the same result. I'm excited that all this stuff and the ratings is working with G3 ipods. I sure hope that the playcount stuff works for those of us with the old ones.
Now, I remember reading something about the old ipods not saving this information. But, I'm not sure if that's true for 1.3 or not. Any help is appreciated...
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Everything seems to be working great for me. Just like Adam, I get to go make some new Smartlists now!
Thanks for all the great work, Steve!!! You rock!
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Some comments from a new user (all based on 249 build):
First of all, I think that the iPod plugin is the most redeeming quality of MC. I generally dislike "jukebox" type applications, preferring to use a player for playing, a tagger for tagging, etc. (Yes, I also like command line prompts.) The ONLY reason I even bothered to load MC on my machine was to play with the iPod plugin. Based on what I've seen already, I'll most likely purchase MC - ONLY for the iPod support.
So far, with 249, my ratings, dates and counts all appear to sync properly. I haven't seen any 33.7 year issue, thankfully.
So, I have some questions... of course...
Being that the only method to sync is to do it via a playlist, is there any way to tell the plugin to sync the CONTENTS of the playlist, but not the playlist itself? This would be useful for the so-called "master playlists" that everyone seems to be coming up with. I've managed to "fake" this by embedding illegal characters in the playlist name (ie: vertical bar: "| ipod master"). However, this causes an error to be shown at the end of every sync, which is annoying.
The plugin seems to carry the tradition of MC in general of not giving the user enough information. If I have 'delete' checked on the sync dialog, and files are deleted, it would be nice to pop up a dialog telling me WHAT files where deleted.... perhaps I screwed up a list causing that to happen. I'm one of those people that likes to know whats going on...
I'd like a way to force the plugin to re-copy a file over to the ipod. An example why: I'm forced to use mp3Gain in MANY cases instead of MC for ReplayGain adjustments. This is simply because MC doesn't support finding the replaygain on a "per album" basis, while mp3Gain does. Being that MC doesn't seem to support the method mp3gain uses to embed the gain info (though iPod DOES support it - and no, mp3gain does NOT alter the encoded mp3 frames - it only adds id3 tag frames), I have to essentially copy the adjusted mp3 file back to the iPod. See what I'm getting at?
Did I mention that it would be nice if the plugin gave the user more feedback on what it was doing? ;)
Probably not possible: read the "On-the-Go" playlist from the iPod before the iPod nukes it.
Again, thanks for the plugin...
Take care
Gary
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Now, I remember reading something about the old ipods not saving this information. But, I'm not sure if that's true for 1.3 or not. Any help is appreciated...
I was planning to post this very thing today, you beat me to it.
In general, I think we should all make an effort to indicate which Ipod OS we are using. For example, I have a 10gig Ipod with 1.3OS and the mechanical scroll wheel, so I can't rate songs on my Ipod, or create on the fly playlists. I remember much earlier conversations that said we couldn't transfer playcounts from Ipod to MC, but I read a few posts in the last Ipod thread here that indicated differently?
I know that SteveG has an older (1.3) ipod, as well as a new one. My questions to Steve is this- will an Apple Update & an MC 9.1.250 "initialize Ipod" result in a 1.3 Ipod that can relay playcounts back to MC?
(crossing fingers.....)
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Steve,
Works like a dream.
.250 has worked perfectly...
33.7 years problem has gone.
I restored the ipod and then initialised and loaded the songs.
I played and rated songs on the ipod and all data was transmitted perfectly.
I now have playlists based on this data on the ipod working perfectly.
Thanks for all the good work.
Cheers,
Paul
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Everyone,
If you were testing previous versions and are getting some weird Playcount / rating results, try re initializing to wipe out any possible errant settings from before.
The first build next week will include improved messages for waiting during preparation for synching and uploading as well as better error reporting for failed file transfers. This is done but did not get in today's build.
mclaugh and udeups,
1.3 firmware iPods will allow Playcount updates. mclaugh's suggestion about including firmware version (especially when dealing with issues related to playcounts and ratings) is a great one.
GaryD9,
is there any way to tell the plugin to sync the CONTENTS of the playlist
If you just want to transfer files without a playlist, you can either right -click and select 'Send-to' for the files or drag and drop the files on the iPod drive letter. When you do this the files will be queued. Click on the iPod drive letter and then select upload.
The plugin seems to carry the tradition of MC in general of not giving the user enough information..
This is subjective. The balance between too much and too little information is open to many opinions. I think what we have is good, but if others share GaryD9's opinion, please voice your opinion and I am open to modify this.
I'd like a way to force the plugin to re-copy a file over to the ipod....
This can be done if you drag and drop or use send to. When you upload files in this way, MC will notify you that a duplicate is detected. If you select "Overwrite" the new file will replace the old. The second part of your problem is getting the mp3Gain settings recognized by MC from another program. Overwriting will not solve this. iPod does not read the gain setting from the file tag, it must be set. If MC does not know the setting, the Plugin cannot set iPod to the appropriate Gain setting.
Probably not possible: read the "On-the-Go" playlist from the iPod before the iPod nukes it.
This appears to be correct. As far as I can tell by the time the iPod is recognized by the PC this information is gone.
DigitalTrapper,
Kurt's message has you covered.
Grimmi,
Try the reinitialize.
brgale,
Adam has you covered.
Kurt,
Monday's build will include the feature that Rating and NumberPlay information will be remembered when doing RebuildDatabase. FYI anyone who uses RebuildDatabase, to restore your Playlists (and tag info) after a Rebuild, resynch with 'Update Tags' and your Playlists selected and this will occur very quckly.
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Steve...
Did a sync last night and it looked like everything when well... MC showed that it synced 4313 files (with Delete checked), however after it syncs a message appears "Upload file not supported" or something. When I compare the playlist synced and the ipod, there are songs that did not get copied. Only 4295 songs appear on the ipod.
Any thoughts?
Yeah, I had an album that was in WMA format. How it got that way I HAVE NO IDEA! I never use WMA. ;-)
Thanks for your help.
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Playcounts a little strange for me.
Upgraded to 9.1.251 (10gb ipod, 1.3OS).
Restored Ipod using Apple Updater.
Initialized using MC.
Sent 1 playlist (best of 2003) and 1 album (Castaways & Cutouts) to Ipod. Disconnected.
On Ipod, did not see playlist, but I can see songs are there. Played Postal Service's Such Great Heights song. Next, played tracks 1,2,&4 from album- skipping track 3 midway through to see if that would be counted as a play.
Reconnected Ipod to computer. I was unsure whether just syncing Ipod would bring info over to PC, so I first synced info with MC (which took less than a second?). Next, I synced my usual playlists w/ my Ipod, and disconnected.
On my PC, I checked the songs I played on the Ipod- each had not been played before on the PC. Here are my results (song, plays, last played):
Postal Service, Such Great Heights:26564832, last played 1.7 years ago
Castaways track 1: 1, last played 1.7 years ago
track 2: 1, last played 1.7 years ago
track 3: 26564832, 3.0 minutes ago
track 4:2082844801, last played -19588285.7 minutes ago
Then I realized I hadn't set the time on my Ipod after restoring. Set my Time. Played 1 song, called Night Light. Then replayed Castaways track 2.
Plug Ipod back in. This time, both show on my PC with the correct number of plays, and the correct last played time.
Play Postal Service song again on Ipod, play simultaneously on PC. Reconnect Ipod, right click to update info, Media Core error- MC shuts down. Try again, same result.
Initialize Ipod again, and resync all my playlists.
Play Postal Service one more time on Ipod, then reconnect to PC. Sync info w/ Ipod works ok, and then the Postal Service song displays this many plays:
26564834.
So I'll reset that, and continue. Anyone have any suggestions for the wacky playcounts?
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MC error messages are generally not very informative. "Upload Files Not Found" was not enough for me to work out that 8 out of 7000+ mp3 files were missing. I checked the program directory for a log file with more detailed info, I searched the help file and the forums before I posted my question. (Yes, I know, the answer was three posts above my question and I still missed it. :P)
Suggestion: "One or more files in the upload list were not found. [OK] [Details]" where [Details] displays a list of files that were not found. Ideally it would behave like the import where the problem library entries are displayed in the MC lower right corner file list box after the message.
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After re-initializing from my last post, I arrived home and tried to Synch iPod info with PC. Crashes every time.
I think that it may have something to do with the fact that I've played, re-rated, or otherwise altered my MC library since the time I last synched and now? Dunno, really.
I'll dl the new build later, use the updater, etc. :(
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After re-initializing from my last post, I arrived home and tried to Synch iPod info with PC. Crashes every time.
I think that it may have something to do with the fact that I've played, re-rated, or otherwise altered my MC library since the time I last synched and now? Dunno, really.
I'll dl the new build later, use the updater, etc. :(
I was thinking the same thing- I was moving files, changing ratings, etc while the Ipod was disconnected. Maybe they'll be a new build on Monday that fixes this?
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When I attempt to change 'Artist' information for an MP3 on my iPod (30GB, system software 2.0.1), Media Center crashes right after I hit ENTER - either throwing up a Media Core error message or just disappearing quietly. However when I go back into Media Center and check the file, the information for the MP3 has been changed.
So it's possible for me to modify the information for an album but it's rather time consuming.
I tried an alternate method by changing the 'Artist' field in the 'Tag Info' button, but when I click somewhere else (e.g. Media Library) and then back into the album directory on the iPod, the change is not committed.
Media Center 9.1.251, Portable Drives plugin 9.0.52.
Media Center 9.1.251 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\
Microsoft Windows XP 5.1 Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
AMD Athlon 2087 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 1048 MB, Free - 754 MB
Internet Explorer: 6.0.2800.1106 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2800.1226 / Shell32.dll: 6.00.2800.1233 (xpsp2.030604-1804) / wnaspi32.dll: 4.60 (1021) , ASPI for Win32 (95/NT) DLL, Copyright © 1989-1999 Adaptec, Inc. / Aspi32.sys: 4.60 (1021)
Ripping / Drive D: Copy mode:ModeSecure CD Type:Auto Read speed:Max
Drive E: Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer CD Type:Auto Read speed:Max
Drive G: Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer CD Type:Auto Read speed:Max
Digital playback: Yes / Use YADB: Yes / Get cover art: No / Calc replay gain: Yes / Copy volume: 32767
Eject after ripping: No / Play sound after ripping: No
Burning / Drive D: PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-105 Addr: 1:0:0 Speed:16 MaxSpeed:16 BurnProof:Yes
Test mode: No / Eject after writing: Yes / Direct decoding: Yes / Write CD-Text: No
Use playback settings: No / Normalization: None
EDIT: If I edit the Artist information through the main track listing under 'CD, DVD, & Handhelds' instead of drilling down through the Albums tree, Media Center doesn't crash. However after editing each song the list scrolls back to the top, which I would rate somewhere around the 'chocolate teapot' on the Scale Of Usefulness.
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Mishimatic:
You really shouldn' be changing tag info directly on the iPod. Yes, a crash shouldn't be happening, but the way you use MC9 is this:
1. In Media Libary view (you know the version of the songs on the PC, change all your tags so they are the way you want them.
2. Then when you want to apply those to the iPod, just do a sync. Because MC9 supports changing of tag data on the iPod w/o the need to reupload the entire song, the sync will go by super fast (like 200MB/sec).
I don't recommend trying to do it the way you're doing it as you'll end up w/the problem of iPod tunes not mathing the properties (tags) of the tunes in your MC9 library,.
Adam
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I am having serious problems and im not sure where i am going wrong.
Firstly i have installled the regular version from the website which gave me a problem.I then decided to install the beta verson which basically gave me the same problem.
Here we go then
I rip my cd no problem and then i highlight everything and drag it to the F Ipod drive.So far so good.However once i then try to upload at first it told me that i needed to go into options ( on the original download) and activate cda .I did this but as soon as i tried to upload i simply got an error programme crashed and i was back to the start.Did this three times.Next i decided to try the beta programme see if that fixed it but i got eactly the same problem.System just crashes
I am using windows 2000 pro and i have a 20 gig 2nd gen ipod hich has been reformatte by media centre
Looking forward to your advice
Peter
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It sounds like your trying to grab the songs from the CD, not the ripped mp3s that you need to upload.
Try it this way. In Medial Library view, select the songs you want to upload to the iPod, then just click on the iPod Toolbar icon.
That should do it for you.
Oh, and when you're looking at the iPod, make sure you're looking at the drive letter for you iPod under the CDs, DVDs and Handhelds. tree item.
Adam
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After using the updater, reloading, undocking, playing and rerating music all evening, docking, and sending info to MC, I get a crash. It crashes when executing the command, doesn't update the data.
I zipped up my \iTunes folder from my iPod and backed up my library, if you'd like either zip, email me.
iPodOS 2.0.1, Plugin version 9.0.52
Media Center Registered 9.1.251 -- P:\Software\Installed Programs\J River\
Microsoft Windows XP Workstation 5.1 Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
Intel Pentium 4 1799 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 523 MB, Free - 209 MB
Internet Explorer: 6.0.2800.1106 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2800.1106 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shell32.dll: 6.00.2800.1106 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / wnaspi32.dll: 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: No / Get cover art: No / Calc replay gain: Yes / Copy volume: 32767
Eject after ripping: No / Play sound after ripping: Yes Soundfile: chord.wav
Burning / Drive E: PLEXTOR CD-R PX-W8432T Addr: 0:1:0 Speed:4 MaxSpeed:8 BurnProof:No
Test mode: No / Eject after writing: Yes / Direct decoding: No / Write CD-Text: No
Use playback settings: Yes / Normalization: None
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I posted on the old before about having problems sync ipod to pc. The problem was that the program would crash. At the time I was told to restore and then initialize the ipod and reload my music. After doing that it still gave me a media core error in win xp. I tried playing a little, clicking on a file on the ipod and then back to right clicking on the drive letter for the ipod and it worked that time. I've only had it work once. I've kept up with the new builds and now I'm running 251, but I can't seem to get it to work. Please any help!!! I would really love to be able to use the play count, stars, last played features.
Thanks!!!!
Also, I did restore and re-load everything friday night after I got 251 and stil having the problems.
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i am also having the info sync crash. it just quits out of the program before i have a chance to do anything. i am running the latest plugin. this was first experienced on my 2nd gen 10gb newly formatted to 1.3. then by stroke of luck last night i got a new 3rd gen 30gb for my birthday (hooray!) and i still have this problem.
i haven't been here in a while and this feature is mighty impressive, i didn't think i would see this for the pc!!! ;D
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Well seems i am now making some progress if slowly lol.I have nearly got the software to transfer to the ipod.It no longer crashes but now i get the following message
F:\IPOD_control\musiczF03\1062.wav-1073741676c:\Documents and settings\allusers\documents\mymusic\temp(trak details) then -1073741676c
where obviously i have not typed in the name of the artist just the trak details lol
Thanks once again in advance
Peter
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Mishimatic:
You really shouldn' be changing tag info directly on the iPod. Yes, a crash shouldn't be happening, but the way you use MC9 is this:
1. In Media Libary view (you know the version of the songs on the PC, change all your tags so they are the way you want them.
2. Then when you want to apply those to the iPod, just do a sync. Because MC9 supports changing of tag data on the iPod w/o the need to reupload the entire song, the sync will go by super fast (like 200MB/sec).
I don't recommend trying to do it the way you're doing it as you'll end up w/the problem of iPod tunes not mathing the properties (tags) of the tunes in your MC9 library,.
Adam
Thanks for the tips, Adam. The niggle I have with this solution is that I don't intend to keep two copies of all my iPod's MP3s - one copy on the iPod, one copy on the PC. But hey, if this is the workaround I have to use then so be it.
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McLaugh,
Can you get tonight's build and retest. Before you synch info back from iPod to PC, for the files that have wrong information, check that the incorrect information is corrected or deleted in MC.
BlueGlow,
This will be better in tonight's build.
Kurt and mcLaugh,
If you delete and reimport files to MC and the files are already on iPod this will not work well. I will improve the crashing part, but when synching, I rely on the MC track id number which if you delete and reimport, changes.
Mishimatic,
I cannot duplicate the Artist edit crash. Can anyone else? I hit F2, edited the Artist field and hit enter with no problems.
Peter,
Please use MC 9.1.251 or better yet, use tonight's 9.1.252. The pathname you gave in your second message is bizarre. Please try reinitializin iPod.
Kurt,
I am not sure. Can you try to narrow it down a bit.
Roadrunner,
Please try reinitializing and then try smaller tests to help isolate the problem for you.
Willrmc,
i am also having the info sync crash. it just quits out of the program before i have a chance to do anything.
Are you using MC 9.1.251 on a freshly initialized iPod? If so, please specify the steps preceding the crash.
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I'm running build .251. Aside from the semi-frequent crashes, syncing my 3G iPod to my pc seems to be working. There is one thing that I found rather odd though. When I sync my pc to my iPod it updates the playcounts on the iPod to be the same as what's in my library, then when I in turn, later sync my iPod to my pc, the playcounts are transfered back to my pc again, so basically doubling my playcounts from what they were before. With the way MC handles playcounts on the iPod (adding them to the library then reseting them on the pod) wouldn't it make more sense to have the playcounts NOT transfer over when syncing pc -> iPod?
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Grimmi,
There was a time when the plugin did this, but it does not anymore. Your iPod Database may have older information in it. Try reinitializing and then the Playcounts on iPod should always reset to 0 after you synch the information to PC.
Steve
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SteveG-
since those posts, I've been able to sync up my "number plays" from Ipod to PC. I'm not getting all my playlists to show up on my Ipod (which is an intermittent problem, not something new), and some of the last played times on my PC are funky (I'm still getting some -1million values on some files).
I plan to get the new build tonight, but I'm wondering if I should "sync ipod info" before or after I upgrade to 252?
By the way, I am so jazzed (can't think of a better word) about the play counts. This means I can finally start to use some of those "last played on" functions in my smartlists, and that songs that say "never played" on my PC actually weren't! Most of my music collection gets played M-F at work on my Ipod- being able to finally compile that info is great.
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Running .251 with a 3G 30gig iPod, I just initialized my iPod, then sync'd a small playlist of about 30 songs. Sync went find, playcounts were all 0, I then sycn'd iPod -> pc just to see what would happen, pretty much nothing happened...no crash, no updates (as expected on a freshly sync'd pod). I then re-sync'd the playlist from the pc -> iPod, all my playcounts on my iPod were then updated to what was on my pc. I always sync with the "update tags" box checked, but since playcounts aren't an actual id3 tag I assume this is not the problem? Basically my first sync after initializing my pod went fine, after that MC updated the counts on the pod to reflect what they are in my library. I plan to completly uninstall and reinstall MC, initialize my Pod and try this again but it's gotta wait till after class ;D. Great work btw Steve, keeping my iPod organized has never been so easy.
edit: my playcounts do indeed reset to 0 when syncing my pod to my pc...but if I sync pc -> pod, then pod -> pc....my playcounts basically double, since the pc's counts are transfered to the pod, then added BACK to the pc when syncing pod -> pc
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mclaugh,
Is there one Playlist that never appears on iPod? If so, can you initialize iPod, then drag and drop the Playlist or Synch the playlist and then send me a copy of your iTunesDB file so I can look and see what is going on. Also, tell me the name of the Playlist. Thanks
steve @ jriver.com
Grimmi,
I fixed this in tonight's build. Now, Playcounts will always be set to 0 on iPod after any synch / or update. This way Playcounts will only ever reflect the number of Plays after iPod is disconnected and reconnected. This data will continue to be additive into MC if 'Update iPod data with PC' is selected.
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Nice, I look forward to checkin it out ;D ;D
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Everyone,
Tonight's build includes the ability to update Star Ratings on iPod by clicking on the new rating in the HandHeld list view Rating column. It works like a Field Rename.
I also tried to make the Database less crash prone if it gets corrupted, instead there should be a prompt to rebuild the iTunesDB which also has been improved.
If you can, start with a clean iPod to rule out any latent issues with data corruption from older builds and then start with small numbers of files and play with the features so if there are problems I can troubleshoot them more easily, that would be a big help.
Steve
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SteveG,
Ok I reformat my ipod.
Then I uninstalled all MC files.
Installed 252 and reinitialized my ipod.
I loaded 59 songs. Played 3 and tried sync ipod to pc. It worked fine.
Then I put a 908 songs on. Played 5 and graded w/stars. Again everything worked fine.
Then I loaded 2666 songs on. Played 6 and graded. This time it gave me a media core error and closed the program 3 times in a row then on the forth time it worked.
Then I loaded all my song 5854. Played 10 and graded and just as you would think, a media core error everytime. I tried it about 10 times and not once would it work.
Any new ideas??
Thanks!
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Hey Steve:
I had 100% sucess w/the build tonight. I especially like some of the things you did to clean it up a bit.
It would be cool if you could maintain the look of the status dialog though--I'm talking about the one that comes up when it's syncing.
It'd be nifty if a status bar came up for syncing the iPod data to the PC and saving tags looked the same.
Ditto with the "Deleting files not in sync" and "Preparing to Sync" messages. Again, a progress bar matching the sync progress bar would give a more "polished" feel.
And finally, I'm all for adding this as a feature to the Sync dialog box with a check box.
Don't know how others feel about this, but to make space for it you could remove the "Update Tags" option and default that to always on. I mean, now that we have 2-way syncing you pretty much always want that on. Also, with Replay Gain. I personally can't think of a situation where you wouldn't want Update Tags on. Can anyone else?
It might also help to alleviate user errors in may cases. Especially with the 2-way sync capabilities.
Anyway, those are my thoughts. Anyone else?
Adam
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I agree with your thoughts, Adam.
However, the plugin causes crashes when I try to send iPod info to MC. I get the "this will overwrite tags" prompt, followed immediately by a Media Core crash. This is after a full day of playing music via iPod and MC. I installed the new build after much playing of tunes, attempt the synch, and crash.
Interesting.....
I had Media Server running. The Media Core crash took it down, too. Still getting Media Core crashes.
So, I loaded Media Server, and exited it gracefully. Whatcha know, it works! ("it" being iPod->MC sync)
Strange, though... the "highlight" in the tree is stuck on my iPod. Selecting other tree nodes puts them in the right frame, like it should, but the F: drive is still highlighted. Closing/restarting MC fixed that.
'Scuse me whilst I get my w00t on...
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I agree with your thoughts, Adam. (imagine that, eh? it's only a matter of time till steve finds out that "ashawley" is just one of my many sockpuppets! baaaaaaaaahahahahahahahaha!!)
However, the plugin causes crashes when I try to send iPod info to MC. I get the "this will overwrite tags" prompt, followed immediately by a Media Core crash. This is after a full day of playing music via iPod and MC. I installed the new build after much playing of tunes, attempt the synch, and crash.
Interesting.....
I had Media Server running. The Media Core crash took it down, too. Still getting Media Core crashes.
So, I loaded Media Server, and exited it gracefully. Whatcha know, it works! ("it" being iPod->MC sync)
Strange, though... the "highlight" in the tree is stuck on my iPod. Selecting other tree nodes puts them in the right frame, like it should, but the F: drive is still highlighted. Closing/restarting MC fixed that.
'Scuse me whilst I get my w00t on...
Woah... odd browser crashes doing odd things... time to sync up and go to bed.
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RoadRunner,
Then I loaded 2666 songs on. Played 6 and graded. This time it gave me a media core error and closed the program 3 times in a row then on the forth time it worked.
When did you get the media core error? After connecting to your PC? After selecting sync iPod info with PC?
My best guess is that a file (or files) in the set of 2666 corrupted the database and you were done at that point. If you can, try again and when you see the crash, send me your iTunesDB file so I can see where the crash is.(steve @ jrvier.com)
Adam,
The synch dialogue is a unique featiure of the Portable Plugin. The other dialogues are a standard part of MC and appear in other locations. The point of using them is to try to keep MC consistent within itself. I understand your point and will try to make it more unified. Lets wait a few days on automating the new features until any remaining kinks are ironed out.
Kurt,
I tested today with Media Server and could not duplicate the crashing. Any more info you can give might help.
Thanks,
Steve
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RoadRunner,
The synch dialogue is a unique featiure of the Portable Plugin. The other dialogues are a standard part of MC and appear in other locations. The point of using them is to try to keep MC consistent within itself. I understand your point and will try to make it more unified. Lets wait a few days on automating the new features until any remaining kinks are ironed out.
Steve,
I've had one issue (maybe I just never noticed it before since I've been reinitializing a lot lately as the Playcounts issue was worked out) - the Sync status dialog (the one that has the song title, status bar, transfer rate, time remaining) seems to be stuck in an always-on-top mode. Even if I minimize MC9, it'll still pop to the top in whatever other app I'm running. Not exactly the behavior I want when I need to reload 10GB to the iPod...I'm stuck with the box on screen for 30 minutes.
--Ben
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Yeah, bdjohns, I've noticed that too for a while.
Steve:
I can see your point and pretty much thought your were going to say something like that ;) Actually I thought your were going to say it uses existing status messages and as such cannot be changed. :D
I guess though I'd counter with...
Within the construct of the "iPod Syncing Process" don't you want to maintain the look and feel of that process? I gues that's why I'm saying one progress bar would be optimal, it could have messages at the top (where the loading songs normally appear), such as:
- "Reading iPod Data"
- "Processing iPod Tag Updates n of z"
- "Updating Smartlists" (if needed)
- Then list the songs that are syncing as is done today
The beauty of this is that you'd have one status bar that progresses for the entire operation. Or you could have the bar refresh for each step, that'd probably be cooler. But the key is to maintain the look w/in the "iPod Experience" :D
I know, I know. Shut the heck up, I've got bugs to deal with! OK, off to pick on another deceased equine
Oh, I should note that my sucesses so far have come w/o adding new tunes to my library, the iPod or even playing tunes in MC9. That's probably why I've been sucessful.
Adam
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Oh, I should note that my sucesses so far have come w/o adding new tunes to my library, the iPod or even playing tunes in MC9. That's probably why I've been sucessful.
Adam,
For what it's worth, I added a new album into the library last night and had no issues getting it over to the iPod. One thing I do need to keep an eye on are the last played times - either my eyes were playing tricks on me last night, or it updated the last-played time on a song I don't remember playing.
Now, to see if I can get AAC to play nicely with MC...
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Although I'm a Mac person now (! =o), I just wanted to congratulate Steve on getting Playcounts and Ratings to work successfully; good job man.
To all of my fellow iPodloungers, sorry I haven't been around there lately... it just feels less like the community that it used to be, as some of you have pointed out on there. We must still keep in touch, though! =D
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Hey nekura! Good to see you're still among the living. Have you heard from Judith?
Yes, you're right regarding the "old days". And now that you've gone to the dark side I'm not sure I should even be talking to you. ;) ;D
Adam
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What's this!? Fraternizing with the enemy? Agent Shawley, you should be ashamed of yourself! :P :D
Nekura, my man... we've (mostly) arrived! Playcounts are soooo sweet! I was paging through my "recently played" smartlist for the first time tonight and was able to say "Oh wow... yeah... there's all the songs I played on my iPod on the way home... in reverse order, hehe!"
Steve, Media Server was on all day, happily streaming my music to my cubicle. I got home, dinna download the build that wasn't posted, docked, sent iPod info to MC (with Media Server still running, mind you). Flawless execution! Thanks again, man!
Now when's that "one-step sync" comin? ;)
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Hi Steve,
Things are getting pretty happy on my iPod now. I've got some great smartlists*, ratings seem to work, last played is really useful. You are a king salmon swimming upriver against the flow of disinformation! Have you reached the point where you would like to get input on the user interface for iPod interaction? I will hold my suggestions until you are through the muck on dealing with the iPod db formats.
Thanks,
BG
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*Smartlists: I was very disappointed this month when my mp3's outgrew my 30 GB iPod. I started going through all my music to see what could go, then I realized that could take days. Smartlists saved me from tedium. I created a smartlist branch called "Ipod Smartlists". The first list I created on that branch was called "Ipod Music" which included only MP3's sorted by date created descending. I limited that list to 25 GB so I could have a little room for backup files and my iPod would never overflow.
I then created a bunch of smartlists on the same branch with "Ipod Music" as their first rule. I sync only the playlists on this branch. Now all my newest music is always on the iPod and I don't have to think about managing the size of my music collection to match my iPod size.
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Adam,
Sadly, I can't say I've heard from Judith. Perhaps she disappeared for the same reason that I did? T'is a shame, really... she was a real nice lady. Maybe we'll hear from her again. =D
By the way, I haven't gone to the dark side, I've left it. ;) Not that I'm a Windows hater mind you (I do joke around about it though); I'll always have a Windows box around, and Media Center will always be one of my favorite programs. On the other hand, Macs are a fresh and well-appreciated experience for me.
Kurt,
/me ducks.
Hold your fire! =D I agree, playcounts and ratings are definitely sweet. After a week of using a Mac-formatted iPod, I synchronized with my PowerBook and grinned when I noticed the update in iTunes. I'm sure you guys had the same reaction when Steve released the first working version of the playcounts/rating implementation for MC9; I know I would have been.
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What constitutes a "played" song on the iPod ?
What I mean is, does it work like MC9 where once a track has been played more than halfway through, it is considered "played" ?
Or is it simply that as soon as song begins, it is marked as "played" regardless of whether or not you skip forward to the next track ?
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What constitutes a "played" song on the iPod ?
What I mean is, does it work like MC9 where once a track has been played more than halfway through, it is considered "played" ?
Or is it simply that as soon as song begins, it is marked as "played" regardless of whether or not you skip forward to the next track ?
On the iPod, a song isn't considered played until it totally finishes.
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On the iPod, a song isn't considered played until it totally finishes.
Aye, on the iPod, you can play through the entire song, but if that last second doesn't run off, causing the iPod to either go to the next song on the list, or stopping playback if it was the last song, the "play" will not be "counted".
And don't get me wrong, I'm still waiting for that anonymous benefactor out there to finally get around to shipping me a 12" PowerBook.
*singing* Some daaaay, my PowerBook will come...
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Everyone,
Tonight's build includes a fix for some problems with synching iPod info with PC. There would have been a problem before if you had files on iPod that were subsequently removed from your MC database. This may have caused issues before, but no more.
Also, there is now a change where the synch dialog will not always be on top and in the way.
One last fix was that in the last build if you Initialized you would then have seen some unwanted Rebuild prompts which have now also gone away.
Nekura,
Good to see you are still around even if on a Mac.
BlueGlow and others, I will implement the one step synching soon so if anyone wants to offer comments and debate what might work best, this would be a good time.
BlueGlow, thanks for posting your smartlist plan. Hopefully this is informative to others.
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This latest build (253) still seems to have the problem of always asking me to rebuild my database on my ipod. Then, if I try to sync anything I get the window with only an H (my ipod drive letter) and the big red X. The last version that seemed to sync consistently for me is 250, so that's what I'm using. Is this the case for anybody else?
-Brian
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Steve:
I had serious badness tonight w/.253
I hooked up after a day of listening. Did my Sync iPod Info to PC and it was going through what appeared to be tag updates, then all of a sudden it started updating the tags in my entire library.
Uh oh, I thought. There go my ratings.
Sure enough they were gone in MC (or most of them). Couldn't see the pattern of what was still rated. Did notice that according to the iPod view everything was rated there fine. Sync iPod w/PC again. Same result.
Rebuilt iPod database, no ratings, no last played, no playcounts.
So, I had a back up of my library from a few days ago and used that, then I'll sync w/the iPod.
Moral of the story always backup before a new build ;) I've lost all my last played info since I've started using the iPod. Bummer for me.
I do think I know why this happened though. Today while my iPod was playing it just locked up. Froze that the end of a song (who said Macs don't crash). So, I had to do a Reset.
I guess this must do something to the Play Counts file, I'm guessing it reset it.
So, I think we need something to handle this situation.
Not sure what that will be...but....I leave it in your capable hands. ;D
Adam
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Adam, I saw similar results last night. I started with Synch Info from iPod and after going through tagging all my music I showed the following:
No ratings at all in MC (.253 btw)
Playcounts were sequential starting at some very high number like 29k and going down when I sorted on that column (sorry I didn't write it down)
So I restored from backup and did an 'Initialize iPod'. Then I synched my iPod. I haven't tried re-synching yet but will let you know when I do.
Eugene
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Adam and Eugene,
I found and fixed the bug that I think was causing your problem. My apologies. All should be better in tonight's build. If you can reinitialize and start clean, that might be best.
Brian,
Try a reinitialize with tonight's build and you should be OK.
Steve
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Over the past couple days, I've noticed that some songs are creeping onto the playlists on my ipod that don't belong there. I've checked both static playlists and smartlists to verify that these songs aren't in those lists on the PC. They aren't, yet, they show up on the iPod. Thinking that my itunes db got messed up, I restored 1.30 software, formatted the iPod in MC (253) and resynched. Same thing. The songs that make it into the playlists seem random. Is there anything else I should check or some other preference file that can be flushed to prevent this from happening?
Other than that, I've had great success with the playcounts and last played information being updated. Great work, Steve.
Paul
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SteveG :
I will implement the one step synching soon so if anyone wants to offer comments and debate what might work best, this would be a good time.
One thing I would like (and this is probably an obvious request) is the ability to turn-off the synchronisation of iPod data back to MC9.
I'm a little bit worried that I may not be able to do this with "one step synching".
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Adam and Eugene,
I found and fixed the bug that I think was causing your problem. My apologies. All should be better in tonight's build.
Steve
I had this problem last night, too- funny thing is, I should have been able to prevent it, as I saw that something was wrong.
Installed 253, plugged in Ipod (with a day's worth of playcounts), looked at Ipod's contents. Many of the songs had numbers like 296357 for number of plays, which is incorrect. I (mistakenly) figured that while the playcounts were off, the actual playcounts would transfer over ok. I was wrong.
Also, I haven't been backing up my library lately (laziness), so I had to clear out the playcounts on all those songs. It's no biggie- up until last week, we didn't have any capability for syncing, so I can't complain.
SteveG, after I play my Ipod all day today, can I load up 254 and then sync info? Or, will these counts today also be messed up on the Ipod?
(I'm going to check the counts myself before I sync, but I figured I would ask you, too).
Keep up the good work.
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Everyone,
MC 9.1.254 is now available with the fixes that I mention above. Please check it out and let me know if everything is all set.
Mclaugh,
If you use 254 and your PlayCount, Rating and Last Played info is correct in MC, you should be ok.
Bob007,
Thanks for the comment.
Paul,
Please try again with 254 and try to notice some pattern to this behavior. I cannot duplicate it. Can others?
Steve
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Hi all,
build .253 is destroying my ratings on synch too.
I have a question about rebuild database. How is it different from just resynching with the same playlists? (it changes the ipods database, not your hard drive or MC's, right?)
Also, if I reduce a rating in media centre and while out and about increase a rating on a different song, if i synch ipod info to MC I'd lose the reduced rating in MC right? There is no way for media centre to make the most recently changed rating's stay, is there?
Here is how I deal with having more songs than ipod space:
create a tag called "Ipod" with 2 properties 'yes' and 'no'. generally I want to listen to whole albums so I use another tag ("custom 1") to set all my whole albums to "whole albums" and all the other songs to "loose songs".
Create a view scheme specifically for viewing what's on the ipod with the following panes: "ipod" "custom1" "genre" "album artist" "album"
Then I can look at all the albums not on the ipod by clicking on 'no' in the Ipod pane. I can also look at artsist, genres, albums etc and easily change them to 'yes' or 'no' and I can always check how much space my music will take up on the ipod by looking at the status bar when the Ipod pane is set to 'yes'
Finally I make a smart list playlist with the "Ipod" field set to 'yes' which I use for synching. And I make it random so that if I ever wanted to I could listen to 14 days of all my music all mixed up.
And I make a bunch of other playlists or smartlists which has the ipod field set to yes to make sure that they won't take up any more space on the ipod.
Regarding the one touch synch, I just want to be able to do everything using that no useless but cool looking handheld icon in the action window. Just put all the options that you have to right click on up in the tree into the handheld section of the AW.
Sorry. this is long isnt it. :-[
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Park,
Please get .254.
Rebuild database erases and recreates your iTunesDB from the files that are on iPod. Synching involves utilizing existing data in the iTunesDB. Rebuild does not affect the MC database.
Also, if I reduce a rating in media centre and while out and about increase a rating on a different song, if i synch ipod info to MC I'd lose the reduced rating in MC right? There is no way for media centre to make the most recently changed rating's stay, is there?
Yes. When you synch iPod data to MC the ratings in iPod will overwrite ratings in MC. There would be a way to implement what you are after. Maybe in the future.
Steve
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I'm with Park on the AW enhancements. Seems that either right-clicking the icon in the action window, or clicking on the "tools" icon in the AW when in iPod view in the AW should have the standard right-click options show up (you know, the ones that now show up under th iPod tree item).
Steve:
Something else. I'm not to keen on the "Gathering Files" counter. It seems that it takes longer. Maybe it's just me, but I like it showing up in the pane at the bottom. The counter seems to take more time. Also, I noticed that sometimes it would go through the process twice. If you delete files on the iPod, when it finished the delte it would count up the files, then count them up again.
Adam
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Hear hear, the handheld icon in the AW is pretty, but I don't ever use it. I'd take it a step further than my two associates above -- single-left-click on the iPod icon in the AW == launch the sync dialogue.
Even if you don't choose that button, I'd REALLY like a button, any button, anywhere, that brings up the sync dialogue (or, say, a command-line switch so I can build my own button, eh?). As Faye Dunaway would say, "No more right-clicking! Ever!"
My perfect world for iPod == click one (toolbar or action window) button to bring up sync dialogue, click OK to start sync. On hitting OK, the iPod->MC sync goes, then smartlists get updated, then regular file sync begins.
Make it a "two click sync" and I'll get started on that golden Steve idol.
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As Faye Dunaway would say, "No more right-clicking! Ever!"
Faye never said that.
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Smartlist Question
Slightly off topic but a quick question about smartlists....
If I create a smartlist that is basically : "Media Type:audio ; Limit : 15 Gigabytes" against a 20Gb database, how does MC9 decide what tracks make the list ? Is it purely random ?
I'm on the latest build (with 'randomness' broke) and I'd prefer not to revert back to the previous version just to check out this behaviour.
Thanks, Bob.
Currently Playing :- Fear Of Drowning by British Sea Power
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Hear hear, the handheld icon in the AW is pretty, but I don't ever use it. I'd take it a step further than my two associates above -- single-left-click on the iPod icon in the AW == launch the sync dialogue.
Even if you don't choose that button, I'd REALLY like a button, any button, anywhere, that brings up the sync dialogue (or, say, a command-line switch so I can build my own button, eh?). As Faye Dunaway would say, "No more right-clicking! Ever!"
My perfect world for iPod == click one (toolbar or action window) button to bring up sync dialogue, click OK to start sync. On hitting OK, the iPod->MC sync goes, then smartlists get updated, then regular file sync begins.
Make it a "two click sync" and I'll get started on that golden Steve idol.
yes, yeS, yES, YES!!! I've asked for this in the past too--it would be awesome. I don't think very many people are using that beautiful ipod icon for quick file transfer; most of us synch with the synch screen--I'd prefer just to click on that icon (or another one, if you want to keep that one the way it is) and have the Synch screen come up.
And Jim is right, Faye Dunaway never said that; what she actually said was, "If you right click too much you'll go blind."
Now, I'm not an opthamologist or anything, but if you guys don't fix this plethora of right clicking soon, I'm going to go buy some future stock options on Labrador retrievers, because they're going to be in short supply soon...
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As Faye Dunaway would say, "254!"
Installed 254, connected Ipod (OS1.3, 10gb). Ipod displayed correct (non 200,000) song counts. Synced up Ipod info w/ PC, and IT ALL WORKED.
Thanks SteveG.
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I thought everything was working fine... I had just started using MC, and I was impressed with the features for my iPod. Encountered a few problems, so when I saw that a new build had been released I decided to try it out... I downloaded it, uninstalled the last build (actually, it's supposed to be the last "stable" beta) and installed the new build. Now I get an error that says nothing when I click on the iPod drive. See image1:
(http://www.appell.com/imges/mc9_IPOD_error1.gif)
Then, if I click on my library, I can see the screen again and the error goes away. If I go back and click on the iPod drive again, I can expand the tree, but I get no music, just the Notes, Contacts, etc. See image2:
(http://www.appell.com/imges/mc9_IPOD_error2.jpg)
So I uninstalled the new build, reinstalled the last stable beta, but I get the same thing. Tried removing and re-mounting the iPod, no dice... Anyone know how to get this to work?
Thanks!
Eddie
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I recently lost 300 gigs worth of MP3s due to a hardware failure. I am re-ripping my CD collection to OGG this time around. Since most of my music is now OGG, the "Force Conversion..." feature is really important to me.
I have discovered that there is a serious flaw if the algorithm used to determine if conversion should take place. When the source and destination file types are different, and the destination bitrate is higher than the source bit rate, it doesn't convert the file.
I expect that when the source is non MP3, and the destination is MP3, then a conversion should always take place no matter what the bitrate is. In other words, "I want my OGGs on my iPod, please make it work".
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Steve,
I've been using an older MC build (pre-ratings and playcounts info) and I was wondering if I upgraded and synced with the ratings and playcount thing turned on, if this would mess up my ipod. I don't mind doing a rebuild of the database but I want to avoid a fresh install and intialization AT ALL COSTS right now. Should I just hold off and be happy without ratings right now or should I be ok.
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eappell:
They just posted a second new build for the day (.255). Make sure to get that one.
Then, start w/a fresh spanking clean iPod. Yes, this is a drag, but unfortunately it's the price we need to pay to be the early adoptors. ;D
Adam
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I have the latest beta build of MC9 and a 30GB iPod. For some reason when MC9 displays "Duration" of the tracks on my iPod, the lengths are all just several seconds long. (For example "0:05", etc.) When I remove my iPod and check/play songs, all of their respective lengths are correct. I have never noticed this issue before. Should I be expecting a crash? Is this a bug with the new beta version?
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I have the latest beta build of MC9 and a 30GB iPod. For some reason when MC9 displays "Duration" of the tracks on my iPod, the lengths are all just several seconds long. (For example "0:05", etc.) When I remove my iPod and check/play songs, all of their respective lengths are correct. I have never noticed this issue before. Should I be expecting a crash? Is this a bug with the new beta version?
Weird. Just reconnected my iPod, and it re-read and correctly displayed the "Duration."
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Steve:
Not sure if this is related to the smartlist fixes or not, but I just loaded .255 and did a full restore and then reinitialize of the iPod.
Copying my tunes up is going fairly slow. Usually I'm at 6MB/sec, I'm running around 2-4. It seems to be "sticking". The only other programs running are my browser, never had an effect before.
Is anyone else noticing slower sync speeds?
Adam
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Steve:
Not sure if this is related to the smartlist fixes or not, but I just loaded .255 and did a full restore and then reinitialize of the iPod.
Copying my tunes up is going fairly slow. Usually I'm at 6MB/sec, I'm running around 2-4. It seems to be "sticking". The only other programs running are my browser, never had an effect before.
Is anyone else noticing slower sync speeds?
Adam
Not I...if anything, I've picked up a little speed. I'm re-filling my iPod now, and zipping along at 7.85-7.99 MB/sec as I check on it. Usually, I'm running about 7.0.
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I missed the last two builds, so here on .255 now, installed over .252. And thank god for that, it seems. *pours out half of his fourty for his homies' tags*
Backed up library (thanks, Adam) and synched my (non-updated, non-initialized, just-as-i've-been-using-it-all-day) iPod->MC. Flawless execution. Performed file sync. Love the cleanups in the dialogues. Loving life.
Clicked iPod icon in Action Window. Was shown a big picture of an iPod. A Gen2 iPod, it seemed. I have a Gen3, but no big deal. Would love to see a "Synch Now!" button beside this picture of the Gen2 iPod.
Callin' on my posse to quote that last paragraph there as much as they like.
;)
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Your posse's backin' you up Kurt. Something anything to do w/that beautiful iPod icon. Oh, and mine's a 3rd gener too. Not a huge deal. But it's smaller than the one in the picture. ;)
Still am voting for matching the sync status dialog with all those other dialogs as well. ;)
Adam
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Steve,
The new dialogs are a nice improvement. My firewire is oddly slow (~2.5 MB) so all progress boxes and hourglass icons are appreciated. I especially like the info when the file data is loading.
Thanks!
BG
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Here are my iPod UI suggestions. I tried to detail all the options necessary and stay as close to the current UI as possible.
>> Make the usual iPod sync as automatic as possible and reduce clutter on the main iPod sync dialog.
-- Automatically display the iPod sync dialog when the iPod is detected/docked.
-- Add a checkbox option to the iPod sync dialog to "Autostart Sync in ## Seconds."
-- Move all other checkbox options to the iPod options dialog which is accessed via the Options button.
-- Add a checkbox option to "Display iPod sync dialog when iPod is detected."
-- Add a checkbox option to "Always sync iPod info with MC.
-- Add a checkbox option to "Eject iPod after sync is completed."
-- Change dialog title to "Synchronize iPod".
-- Add label to top left of playlist window, "Select playlists to sync with iPod:"
-- Change Select All/None playlist buttons to action links and move them to the top right corner of playlist window.
-- Change "Available after sync:"[amount text box], to label at bottom left of playlist, "(amount) available on iPod after sync." or "(amount) free space on iPod after sync."
-- Change OK to Start to be consistent with Burn CD.
Here's a mockup:
(http://www.fez.org/ipodsync.png)
When checked, the Autostart Sync countdown would begin counting down as soon as the iPod sync dialog opens. The iPod sync would start when the countdown completes.
Any iPod related dialog boxes would close when the sync completed.
The option to "Always sync iPod info with PC" would require this behavior:
-- Never clear ratings.
-- Only update last played to a more recent date/time.
-- Never reduce playcounts.
I hope you find my friendly suggestions helpful. I love this feature, thanks for everything so far!
BG
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Excellent work, BG!
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Thanks, Kurt. If I had these features and a 120 GB iPod in the same form factor everything would be just fine. ;)
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Eddie,
Try naming the volume label on your iPod to "IPOD". That should resolve the Calendars,Contacts, Notes problem. Also, please use the latest version.
jGourd,
Your problem is resolved in today's build.
DigitalTrapper,
You will probably be OK, but if you want to avoid a fresh initialization at all costs, don't do it. I have not tested your specific situation and so cannot guarantee the result.
Everyone,
Thanks for the suggestions for the one click synch. I will implement something for this next week.
Have a good weekend.
Steve
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Steve, Adam...
This is day three of trying to get my new 3G 30gb iPod to be recognized...
My 2G worked fine with MC and I have every confidence in all of you that we can get this one to work.
I've tried to name the iPod by right clicking the drive letter selecting Properties and naming it iPod in the Label field and then clicking Apply. I get an error message that it is an Improper Name.
I booted in Safe Mode in hopes I could format the iPod but I get an error "Windows can not format this drive. Quit any utilities or programs using this drive and make sure no programis displaying the contents of this drive. Then try to format again."
Adam, my virus software doesn't load in Safe Mode, so that's not the issue.
The iPod is working properly according to the Hardware tab in the iPod Properties. There is no Policies tab to be found.
Is it possible to have the Apple store format it on a Win machine? Or am I returning this? :-[
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Hello,
I've got a 2nd generation ipod with 1.3 on it.
Got the latest media center .256
Reformatted ipod
Reinitialized ipod
My playcounts from MC are working fine on the PC
These don't get transferred in the sync over to the ipod--sometimes the playcounts all read zero, or they vary from 0 to 200,000+
My ratings for the music done on MC transfer fine to the ipod. Only the playcounts are consistently messed up.
I can not figure out what to do. Any help?
Thank you.
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Steve,
I'm sorry to report that on my Ipod the "Select Artist Field" seems to broken in tonights build (256).
On synching, whether I choose "Artist", "Album Artist" or "Album Artist (Auto)" I get the same result. All my Various Artist tracks are shown as (Multiple Artist) not with the artists name.
I've been using "Artist" as the choice and it's been working fine - so since I'm getting the "Album Artist" result it may be that just the "Artist" option has gone.
Thanks again for all your efforts.
John.
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Another request (anyone else feel guilty about asking for MORE after all the hard work Steve's put in) :
Anyway, would it be possible to :
(a) make the synchronisation window resizable ? I have a lot of playlists/smartlists and seem to be endlessly scrolling, prior to synch-ing, in order to choose the ones I want
(b) add a right-click option to automatically expand all branches of the 'playlist' tree in the synch window for much the same reason as (a)
-- B.
Currently Playing :- Pablo Picasso by David Bowie
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Steve, Adam...
This is day three of trying to get my new 3G 30gb iPod to be recognized...
Even though you may have read Adam's instructions, your best bet is to read them again very carefully. This link is in the first post of every iPod thread here:
An excellent help file (thanks Adam) on using MC and iPod can be found here:
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~ashawley01/
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Even though you may have read Adam's instructions, your best bet is to read them again very carefully. This link is in the first post of every iPod thread here:
Thanks for the link...I have been following the Formatting iPod instructions. I believe I am up to the Restore step. When I run Updater to Restore it says "Can't lock the iPod. Check if any other applications are using it and try again." And I am dead-ended.
I tried to skip the Restore since I haven't been able to attach to anything so far but after renaming the drive to iPod MC still only sees it as G:/...
and I get this menu...
http://images3.fotki.com/v37/photos/4/43687/162529/Untitled2copy-vi.jpg
Too bad I sold my G2 iPod...I'll be returning this if I can't resolve this and will have to live iPodless...
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If you have MusicMatch installed, rename the MM directory and reboot.
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Steve,
I am seeing the same issue as sirshambling/John is reporting above - regarding the (Multiple Artist) going into the Artist tag on the iPod. Only difference is, I am currently using MC 9.1 build 255. Was going to upgrade to see if it fixed this issue, but I would guess not.
I have noticed that the Artist field seems to populate correctly for me, however, on the very first synchronization after starting Media Center. After that, it seems to change internally back to the "Album Artist (Auto)" option, even though it is still reporting the "Artist" option.
So, "Tom Sawyer" by Rush, off of The Waterboy soundtrack - 1st synch, it shows "Rush" on the iPod, every other synch, it shows "(Multiple Artists)" on the iPod. If I close MediaCenter, re-open it, and re-synch, it is back to "Rush".
For now, my work-around is - dock the iPod, open MediaCenter, synchronize iPod information to MediaCenter (to update my playcounts/times/ratings), close MediaCenter, re-open MediaCenter, perform the normal synchronization to get all of my updated playlists and songs on the iPod.
By the way, this program, and especially the work done on the iPod portion, is awesome!
Paul
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Steve:
Can you look into something. I've seen a number of posts over at the 'lounge regarding trying to sync w/the All Music auto-smartlist. When they do, they seem to report that not all of the songs show up on the iPod. I've seen it a couple of times now. Not sure why that would be.....
Adam
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Feature request:
The ability to have at least one playlist sync'd not show up on the iPod as being sync'd. An example:
I have a list: "{Gary's iPod}" with the rules of "ranking != 1", "type = mp3", and "Limit: 13000 MB". Every other list sync'd to the iPod has this playlist as a rule. As well, this list itself is sync'd to cover all those songs which I might listen to, but only via the iPod "browse" option.
The reason for the curly braces around the list name is to force it to the bottom of the alphabetical list of playlists on the iPod, though it would be much more preferable if it didn't show as a playlist whatsoever (but the contents of it still sync'd)
Simple solution: If a playlist is synced that has the exact same name as the iPod's volume name (usually "IPOD"), then the songs within the playlist are sync'd, but the playlist itself isn't put on the iPod.
Thanks
Gary
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I haven't had the chance to completely test/confirm this, but I suspect that (at least under some circumstances) the .256 build is NOT sync'ing ratings from the iPod to MC. Playcounts and last played times ARE sync'ing back to MC, however.
Some notes:
I've only tested this two times, with songs that originally had no rating at all. I'd change the rating to something, mount the iPod, and sync the iPod with PC. MC didn't get the new rating, and if I sync'd from MC to the iPod, the rating would be cleared.
I did _not_ re-initialize the iPod after installing .256. The previous version installed was .253 (I think.) I missed a couple versions due to no electricity and all my UPS's being drained. (It was a VERY boring 3 days with no power - thank god I can charge my iPod in my car.)
Take care
Gary
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LI-S4,
What is the Volume Label name for your iPod? I do not know why you cannot rename this from within Windows, that seems fishy. In MC, try going to Tools->Plugin Manager->Portable Drives and click "Configure". Enter whatever is the Volume Label name for your iPod and then retry. MC is set to recognize anything you enter in this field.
pufftissue,
I retested iPod with 1.3 and playcounts always show as 0 after synching files from MC. This is by design. After the iPod is disconnected and files are played, they should display the updated playcount info which can be synched to MC (incrementing the MC count) before resetting the iPod count to 0.
John and Paul (what about Ringo and George :)),
I am unable to duplicate the Artist , Artist Album problem you are reporting. Can you give me a very simple reproducible test to confirm this problem. I started with a clean iPod and created a playlist with 5 files. I changed the Artist field 3 times from Artist, to Aritst Album and to Artist Album(auto). Each time the correct information was transferred. I did this with synching and with file drag and drop.
Bob007,
I will try to implement a solution for this for you soon.
Adam,
I have seen this issue (i.e. All music playlist) before on occasion, but have been unsuccessful duplicating (therefore fixing) this. I think a likely reason for some files not appearing is that they are not a supported iPod file type. For anyone who sees a file count different than the filecount for All music in MC, check if you have any filetypes other than mp3, wav and .aa. If anyone can give me a pattern to reproduce, that would be great.
Gary,
What if you deselect the Playlist, but just "Send-To" or drag and drop the files in the Playlist to the iPod? If you can give me more detail to confirm a situation where the Ratings are not being sent from iPod to PC that would be great. Glad your power is back up. Isabel be gone.
Thanks.
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In the last few builds (.254-.256), when I click on the G: for my Ipod (30 Gb) I get the Information box pop-up "Error reading the database. Please rebuild database from iPod. It will not allow me to synch until I do so. After I rebuild the database, everything works fine. Is there a build (possibly .250?) that I should revert to until this is resolved? It appears from the thread that this has become an ongoing issue...
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Schwaa,
After the Rebuild, everything works fine. What happens when it stops working fine? Do you disconnect and reconnect the iPod? Have you tried a reinitialize with 256?
Steve
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After the Rebuild, everything works fine. What happens when it stops working fine? Do you disconnect and reconnect the iPod? Have you tried a reinitialize with 256?
Once it stops working, there seems to be no way around rebuilding the database in order to make all well. One sure way to duplicate the error: I have to unmount and then unplug iPod and close MC. I then replug iPod into its stand (and it automatically remounts). I fire up MC and click on G: again and I am required to rebuild the database... If I attempt to synch at this point, I get a small red X box popup with h. in the title bar of it. It does show populated albums, artists, and genres under G:, though nothing under playlists. I have not gone so far as reinitializing with .256, but will if you think it may be helpful.
Also, my plugin is version 9.0.55 and I have noticed that the current version posted appears to be 9.0.38. Could that have something to do with this?
Lastly, I have not been able to rate a song on iPod and after synching have that rating transfer to MC.
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schwaa,
If you can, try the reinitialize. I can not think of a reason why if after a rebuild everything is OK that disconnecting and reconnecting would screw things up unless you have MusicMatch installed and it is trying to write into the Database. Anyway, please try the reinitialize and lets go from there.
Steve
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Steve,
I didn't try with a clean Ipod - I synched from an Ipod that was clean from build 255.
I'll start from scratch tomorrow and see if I can replicate the problem.
Thanks again. John.
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What if you deselect the Playlist, but just "Send-To" or drag and drop the files in the Playlist to the iPod?
While that's certainly possible, it creates a ton of manual labor for something that can be automated. I'd then have to go on the ipod itself, and manually delete any song which I changed to a rating of "1", go through MC and manually 'send to' any newly added songs with a rating of {empty,2,3,4,5}, and hope that I manage to keep it all under the 13GB I allocate on my iPod for music files.
(The ability to automate all the above things was the primary reason I bought MC.) Having the strangely named playlist is an annoynace, but not a disability.. I merely was making a suggestion to improve the product. :)
Take care
Gary
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Just got 257, and I'm going to initialize and resync all my mp3's to the ipod so I can test the ratings issue I had with a "clean slate."
In the meantime, however, I have another SERIOUS request:
Please, please, please, please move the two "destructive" options on the plugin's right-click menu to the BOTTOM of the menu. I'm referring to the "Initialize iPod" and "Rebuild database from iPod" options. While I realize that both of these have confirmation message boxes, the "sync ipod info from PC" option ALSO has a confirmation messagebox. Someone in a hurry (such as myself) can easily select the wrong option - a destructive one with a long name instead of "sync ipod info from PC", and just hit 'OK' on the message box - without really paying much attention to it.
I think a good UI rule of thumb is that the most used options should be the ones closest to the cursor. In the case of a popup menu (as well as menubar menus), that means the top of the menu... That implies that "Sync FROM iPod" and "Sync TO iPod" should be near the top.
Take care and thanks...
Gary
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Steve:
I'm with GaryD9 on the "hide playlist" thing. Many of us have playlists that we use as master playlists. These are used to manage the content of our iPod and are not played (typically).
Having an option to load a playlist but no have entried made for it in the iPod database would be cool.
Not as cool of course as say, one-click sync (both ways) or changing the look of status bars. ;)
But you get my drift. I think I'm losing out on the status bar one...darnit. I hate that outdated looking "updating tags status window. :( ;D
Adam
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Steve,
I played around with my "Multiple Artists" synchronization problem some more, and was able to narrow it down to the following symptoms. I'm still on build 255. I can synchronize as many times as I want without this problem happening, until I drill down into the iPod, and actually select something other than the drive letter to view. Once I select something else (say, my test playlist), then the next time I synchronize, the Artist field says "(Multiple Artists)". The only way I can get this to work properly again, is to close Media Center, and re-open it. I have sample screen shots if you would like, that I could e-mail to you.
I tested this with a 3 song play list, to keep my synchronization times quick.
Thanks!
Paul (can't speak for the rest of the Beatles...)
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Steve,
I played around with my "Multiple Artists" synchronization problem some more, and was able to narrow it down to the following symptoms. I'm still on build 255. I can synchronize as many times as I want without this problem happening, until I drill down into the iPod, and actually select something other than the drive letter to view. Once I select something else (say, my test playlist), then the next time I synchronize, the Artist field says "(Multiple Artists)". The only way I can get this to work properly again, is to close Media Center, and re-open it. I have sample screen shots if you would like, that I could e-mail to you.
I can verify that this behavior occurs as described. I noticed this a few builds ago as well.
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A couple questions regarding last played (.257 & 3rd Gen 20 gig btw):
1. When transferring data from the iPOD back to the PC, does it selecively overwrite the last played tags or does it overwrite all of them?
ex. All tracks are 'never played.' I synch up my iPOD and remove it. On MC9, I play Twinkle Twinkle. On my iPOD I play Happy Birthday. I synch the data from the iPOD to the PC.
Do Twinkle Twinkle & Happy Birthday both have last played or is Twinkle Twinkle reset to never played?
2. Is very related to 1:
ex. All tracks are 'never played.' I synch up my iPOD and remove it. On my iPOD I play Twinkle Twinkle at 2:30 pm On MC9, I play Twinkle Twinkle at 8:30 pm. At 9 pm I synch the data from the iPOD to the PC.
Does Twinkle Twinkle have a last played of 2:30 or 8:30? (I know its in minutes ago, but you get the question)
I know I could run tests to verify this, but honestly I really don't have the time right now to synch & check this while at home.
Thanx.
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update: with .257, after a re-initialize, with limited testing, ratings now seem to be sync'ing from the ipod to MC.
Maybe I just hit a fluke before...
Take care
Gary
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Another playcounts question:
Last night, I forgot to "sync Ipod info with PC", instead I just synced my playlists up as I've always done. For songs that I listened to yesterday, that are still on my Ipod after that sync, were their playcounts reset to zero? In general, are all playcounts reset when we sync (hence why we must "sync info" before we can sync playlists?).
Thanks.
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Gary,
The requests you made for the Right-Click menu are implemented in today's build. In regards to the hidden playlist, am I correct that the way things are now, everything works the way you need it to (i.e. all the files you want on the iPod are there), but the drawback is that you have an extra playlist in your list of playlists on iPod that you never intend to listen to? If I am correct I would prefer to leave it as it is rather than create a magic hidden playlist. If others feel strongly about implementing this request, please chime in (Adam, your yes vote is noted :)).
Paul and udeups,
Your bug is found and fixed. Some code that affects the iPod got changed about 3 builds ago and it is now fixed.
Snuffy2,
1. When transferring data from the iPOD back to the PC, does it selecively overwrite the last played tags or does it overwrite all of them?
It overwrites all the last played data. I will change it so that in your examples if the MC last played is more recent, it will remain.
mclaugh,
Playcounts on iPod are always reset to 0 after synching in either direction. The one click synch should resolve this ambiguity.
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i have searched for the answer to this question and didn't find it:
i have a 3g 30g ipod and i just upgraded to MC9.1.257 last night in order to get audible files onto my IPOD. Here's what I did:
First i tried using AudibleManager to copy the audibles to my ipod. it worked, but then i couldn't play them on my ipod.
Then i launched MC9.1.x and it had "error reading ipod db. please rebuild...." so i did that and kept getting errors. i re-initialized my ipod and that seemed to fix that problem.
Then i tried to import audible files into MC and it didn't seem to work. I used the library-import function and pointed it to my audible directory and it said it scanned the files but did not import them! No error msg.
Q: how do i import audible files into MC? what do i need to do with them to clean them up when i import them?
Then I "navigated" to the audible folder in MC and right-clicked on the files and imported them. it sort of worked: the files seem to appear in MC only if i search for them using the text-match search. they don't seem to play when i click on them, either. MC seems to think they are just documents, not audio. What am i doing wrong?
So next i set genre/artist/album tags and created a playlist and added the audible files to it. I tried syncing that playlist to ipod, but the ipod shows only the other songs in other playlists. wierdly, it showed songs in the audible playlist instead of the audible files.
What am i doing wrong here? ?
Thanks!!
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Gary,
The requests you made for the Right-Click menu are implemented in today's build. In regards to the hidden playlist, am I correct that the way things are now, everything works the way you need it to (i.e. all the files you want on the iPod are there), but the drawback is that you have an extra playlist in your list of playlists on iPod that you never intend to listen to?
Thank you, and yes - you are correct. One possible workaround is for me to have that "master" playlist use illegal characters... Perhaps a "|" (vertical bar) in the beginning of the playlist name. Several builds ago, that resulted in the contents of the playlist being sync'd, however the playlist itself wouldn't be created on the iPod. Unfortunatly, that also resulted in the plugin popping up an error message (which seems to be harmless.) Thoughts?
Being that your in a generous mood, how about a command-line parameter for MC that would start MC (hidden or not), sync iPod to PC, sync PC to iPod, and then exit MC... ;D
Take care
Gary
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Being that your in a generous mood, how about a command-line parameter for MC that would start MC (hidden or not), sync iPod to PC, sync PC to iPod, and then exit MC... ;D
A command-line switch, eh? That sounds like a sweet idea! Don't ya think so, Steve?
:D :D
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i have searched for the answer to this question and didn't find it:
i have a 3g 30g ipod and i just upgraded to MC9.1.257 last night in order to get audible files onto my IPOD. Here's what I did:
First i tried using AudibleManager to copy the audibles to my ipod. it worked, but then i couldn't play them on my ipod.
Then i launched MC9.1.x and it had "error reading ipod db. please rebuild...." so i did that and kept getting errors. i re-initialized my ipod and that seemed to fix that problem.
Then i tried to import audible files into MC and it didn't seem to work. I used the library-import function and pointed it to my audible directory and it said it scanned the files but did not import them! No error msg.
Q: how do i import audible files into MC? what do i need to do with them to clean them up when i import them?
Then I "navigated" to the audible folder in MC and right-clicked on the files and imported them. it sort of worked: the files seem to appear in MC only if i search for them using the text-match search. they don't seem to play when i click on them, either. MC seems to think they are just documents, not audio. What am i doing wrong?
So next i set genre/artist/album tags and created a playlist and added the audible files to it. I tried syncing that playlist to ipod, but the ipod shows only the other songs in other playlists. wierdly, it showed songs in the audible playlist instead of the audible files.
What am i doing wrong here? ?
Thanks!!
Update:
I managed to get my audibles to play within medacenter although I'm still not sure i imported them correctly. what i did was, installed Real Player and then added an audible to my realplayer library, then played the audible file within real player (which forced the download of a real plug-in). now, in MC i changed the media type on the files to "audio", and MC now plays my Audibles!!
Still, how do i get them into my Ipod, and did i import them into MC correctly??
:-/
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Having the "master" playlist on my iPod doesn't bother me. In fact, it allows me to randomly listen to all my songs without leaving the Playlists screen.
Now, one-click syncing would be great! I always have to slow down before I make my selection now, to make sure I'm doing what I think I am. ;D
Once again, thanks for all your great work, Steve!
Mac
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...and now for something completely different:
MC can be used for something OTHER than as an iPod manager. ;) I haven't figured out what, exactly, but I was looking in the help file, and it seemed to have information regarding things outside of playlists and handheld devices...
Shame it doesn't work for managing my image files.... (which are all in Canon RAW format).
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Everyone,
Tonight's build includes an all in one synch option. Proceed with caution if you want to try it for now (meaning a reinitialize is a possibility for the short term). All you need to do is click on the little iPod icon at the bottom of MC and you will go to the synch dialogue which now has an option to Synch iPod info to the PC.
Gary,
I do not recommend using illegal characters, this could cause problems in the database. A command line switch may be an option in the future ( I hear you Kurt :)).
iquat,
If the .aa files are imported into MC correctly, try reinitializing your iPod (right click on your drive letter) and then either drag and drop or synch the files. The problem you were having before was an issue with getting the files into MC. Now that you are over that hurdle, I think you will be all set.
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WOOT unto you sir!!!!!! ;D
Can't wait to try this Steve!!!!!
Adam
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Clicking iPod button on toolbar to bring up synch dialouge == THANK YOU, WOOHOO!
Can't wait to try the one-step sync (after I back up my library, of course, ;))
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SteveG-
by newest build, you mean 258, right?
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A quick question:
1. I would like to create a "recently added" smartlist that would just list tracks I've added to the library in the last few days. Otherwise I have to go through the entire library to pick up the few tracks from the last few days. I've tried to do this and haven't had much luck. I can't find any parameters for smartlists that address "date added"... Is this possible?
Thanks!
Eddie
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Eddie,
What you're looking for is Date Imported, not added. And there's a recently imported item under the smart audio playlists already made for you. I believe there are 3 actually, imported today, this week and last 100 tracks. You can also make your own smarlist using the date imported parameter to set it up for however long you want. I think it wants a time measurement in seconds if you do.
-Brian
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Thanks Brian, that was it, right in front of me... :)
Eddie
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[homer] mmm....one button sync... [/homer]
Worked like a charm on a freshly initialize iPod... Very nice!! Simplicity!
Only *observation*... The little iPod icon at bottom of screen is difficult to discern until you mouseover...
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Small suggestion for One-Button-Sync:
Add option to "Eject device upon completion."
You could launch the sync, come back ~1hr later and simply un-doc the iPod and run... :)
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Downloaded and installed .257. Mounted my iPod. Clicked the iPod button on the bottom toolbar. It started synching, :)
I loved it! Talk about true one-step synching. And it used the set of playlists that I'd most recently used, it seems.
It did not, however, download the iPod info to the PC. My playcounts were not updated, nor were last played dates.
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Dowloaded .258, and the menu looks much better (and easier to NOT make mistakes.) Didn't try the checkbox for one-step syncing. (Didn't have enough time last night to reinitialize and copy everything back to the ipod if something went wrong...)
BTW, there wasn't a 'new beta' type message posted, but .258 was definatly there anyway. I wonder what other changes I managed to download...
Take care
Gary
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I got build 257 and it appears that my complaints about the "Force conversion..." options have been addressed, thank you. There is still a problem.
In order for me to garuntee that MP3s wont get re-encoded I have had to set the bitrate to 320. This means that the OGGs that get converted are huge and are eating up way more space on the iPod than they need too.
How about a checkbox that says: "Only re-encode when the source file will not play on the handheld" or something to that effect. This would allow me to keep the bit rate set to something space saving live VBR Normal or 160 CBR.
If Apple would release an OGG firmware update this would be a non issue. :-[
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Been away for a few build - now trying to catch up with the rating/playcount stuff 8)
Any chance to get a sticky note stating what's working and how to use it ? (ie. what's getting updated and the source)
thx
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I just synched my iPod for the first time in a month or so and have a couple of comments on the latest build. First off here are my system details:
MC 9.1 build 258, handheld plugin 9.0.57
10Gb Gen 2 iPod, firmware 1.3
First I initialised my iPod using MC. I then synched 256 tracks to the iPod. Some of these tracks had been played in MC but most hadn't. These were shown with "Never played" in the Number Plays column.
Next I played one track on the iPod (the shortest). After playing it right the way through I connected the iPod to the PC and did another synch. The synch went through very quickly since no files were being uploaded.
I then checked the last played time and playcounts. The playcount had been incremented by 1 for the track I played. The last played time was set correctly too. The playcounts for the other tracks all remained the same. Unfortunately the last played time was set to -19128589.0 (and counting) for all tracks, even those I'd played before on MC. For example, a track which I had last played 243 days ago is now shown as -19128589.0.
As a postscript, I love the new one-click synch dialog and the work on playcounts/last played is fantastic too. I need to start thinking of new smartlists to take advantage of this facility.
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I posted this on the ipodlounge board as well. I am using MC9.1.256 and I have a 40gb (2.0.1) winipod running WinXP. My message concearns smartlists:
Okay, I have done some testing to try and get this smartlist to work and I am not sure that it is working the way it should:
1) After getting my library clean, restoring my ipod and playing a bunch of songs, I noticed that after I synch it has removed the songs that I played from my "last played smartlist" in MC9 (which I am assuming it should do). In the Media Library it shows the last played dates and the number of plays, however, after I do part two of the synching process and look on my ipod at that playlist the songs are still there (this is on the actual ipod and in the ipod view in MC9) in the playlist. I noticed that before step two of the synching process everything looked good in the Media Library.
Is it a situation where even though the songs are still in the last played smartlist on the IPOD it will not play them when you play that playlist because it knows that the song has been played in the past 4 weeks? Or should the songs be removed from that playlist on the ipod?
2) In the "synching progress" window when I do step 2 it shows that it is not synching the songs that I just played, however, like I said above....nowhere on the IPOD does it show it has removed them. When I look at the songs in the IPOD view it shows the lastplayed date, however, it does not show the number of plays.
The formula I am using is: [Last Played]=>40320 I noticed on other posts that this formula was used: [Last Played]=>=40320 (this one adds an extra (=) sign after the (> ). I was unable to get anything to work with the second formula so I am assuming that the one I am using was the correct one. Also, after the first step in the synching process I tried to just synch the smartlist on its own and then I tried to synch both the smartlist and all my other playlists together and the result was the same with both methods.
Anyway, I am not sure if this is working correctly. These are the things that are confusing:
A) In the synching progress window it shows that it is not synching the songs I just played (removing the ones that have been played in the past 4 weeks), however, when I look on the ipod at that playlist the songs are still there. When I look at the playlist view under the ipod view in MC9 the songs are still there.
B) When I look at the last played smartlist in the playlist view in MC9 it shows that the songs have been removed.
C) When I look at the songs on the ipod in MC9 the lastplayed date is there but the number plays field is still at zero.
I am not sure what should be happening. Sorry for the long message.
Any info would be most appreciated.
Thanks,
Chris
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SteveG,
Thanks, you were right: after I imported the Audibles and set the tags including media type, the ipod re-sync worked.
Now, on my Ipod, I can play and pause the audible tracks. However, it does not seem to be letting me advance or rewind the track using either the <</>> buttons or the jog dial. The display shows 0:00 on the lower left and -0:00 on the lower right. Even worse, every time I turn the Ipod back on and play the Audible, it resets to the begginning of the file! This is unusable...
Any clue what I'm doing wrong now?
-
Major Sync issue!
Running .257 build + clean slate.
Sync'ing 13,8 gig on a 15 gig slate. Stops with a size exceeded..
I then have corrupted playlist on the wiPod
- One is correct
- one is ""
Looking at playlist through MC on wiPod I see the content of sync'ed playlists are wrong.
Buttom line - HELP!
-
Everyone,
Last night there was a build 9.1.258 which was made available on our FTP site but not officially on Interact. Some of the missing funcitionality mentioned by people from last night is a result of the versions not being entirely up to date. Tonight there will be a build 9.1.259 which I recommend anyone who is helping nail down the one step synch, get and test (keeping in mind the caveat that this is new and may result in a reinitialize) this version.
I want to take a moment to explain the logic going on behind the recent additions so that you will be able to help dig for problems with the code in a more informed manner.
When synching iPod to MC, the iPod playcount should increment the playcount in MC and then reset to 0. When synching MC to iPod the iPod Playcount is also set to 0. When iPod is disconnected, the iPod increments playcounts internally only when the file is played to the very end. This data should be reflected when the iPod is reconnected and viewed from MC and the changes should be added into MC as I mention above.
When DateLastPlayed data is synched from MC to iPod it overwrites the iPod DateLastPlayed if UpdateTags is checked, if not, it leaves this data alone.
When DateLastPlayed data is synched from iPod to MC, it overwrites the MC data only if the DateLastPlayed is more recent than what is in MC.
The Rating info is overwritten during MC -> iPod synch if Update Tags is checked if the file is already on iPod. Ratings from iPod to PC are always updated with what is on iPod.
The One-Step synch should be consistent with all the above rules. In the event that the synch from iPod to PC option is selected, the order of the synching is iPod to PC then PC to iPod.
Also, for people with problems synching Last Played data from iPod to PC, please remember to verify that your iPod clock is set correctly. If it set to some weird day and time, this will negatively affect the synching back to MC.
markp99,
Your suggestion for the eject is noted, but will not be included right now.
Kurt,
Please try again with 259.
jGourd,
Your request is addressed in 259. Click on Options and you for uploading and you will see an additional checkbox for 'Skip files of the same type'. If you enable this, files of the same type will be skipped during conversion regardless of bitrate.
ugilt,
Hopefully the notes above get you caught up. I cannot recreate your corrupted DB issue. Please try again tonight. When you say..
I then have corrupted playlist on the wiPod
- One is correct
- one is ""
Do you mean after the size is exceeded (which is most likely accurate) you have two playlists listed, one which is correct and one which is blank?? The content is wrong how? Anyway, try again tonight and then if you still see it, please try to give more detail.
Phil,
I cannot verify this with .259, please try again tonight, possibly after a reIntialize. Your last played times may be screwed up from an older build.
Chris,
Please try again tonight with .259 and with a clean iPod or at least check the last played times on iPod, they may be bogus values from an older build. Also, check the date and time on your iPod.
iqat,
I cannot verify this with my .aa files. Are the durations and sizes for these files listed accurately in MC?
-
Steve -
With the one step sync, are smartlists repopulated after the ipod->pc sync, but before the pc->ipod sync?
Example: If I have a list which includes all non-rated (rating==empty) songs only, will songs which were non-rated in MC, but rated on the ipod, be removed from the list on the ipod after the one-step sync completes?
Thanks
Gary
-
iqat -
I'm not sure why you're having such a problem with your Audible files but I would check a few things. First you mentioned that you originally couldn't get MC to import them into your library. When you tried to import them did you make sure that in the import window you had 'Audible audio .aa' files selected. Second if that is true and it didn't work then make sure your Audible files are in deed still of the .aa files type. In the future, only use Audible Manager to down load the files to your pc, never use it to sync with the ipod. Third, you mentioned something about doing something with Realplayer that eventually helped you import the files into MC. Is it possible that Realplayer modified the files? I'm not sure why you attempted that.
What I would recommend is that you delete a few of the Audible files from your pc and MC's library and then use Audible Manager to re-download them. It doesn't cost anything to re-download files from Audible. If it helps, put them in a completely different folder so they don't get mixed up with any older ones. Then in MC attempt to import these new Audible file and make sure that the .aa files check box is selected in the import window. Then once the new files are imported, delete the old Audible files from your ipod and do a sync with the ipod to put the new files on it. Then give it a try. Hopefully you won't have the same problems. It really sounds like your .aa files were altered in some way or they weren't actually .aa files. I have read somewhere that you shouldn't even change the tag info on audible files but I have never tested that myself. Also make sure when you download the Audible files that you choose only format 2, 3 or 4 because those are the only ones that the ipod supports.
Good luck and keep us informed!
Thanks
Tim
-
Gary,
I do not think that currently the Smartlists get updated after the iPod to MC synch. I need to change that.
Tim,
Thanks for answering that in such detail and with such good advice.
-
Gary,
I do not think that currently the Smartlists get updated after the iPod to MC synch. I need to change that.
Great catch, guys... so, if I want to see my updated smartlists on this build, I should synch twice, aye?
-
Steve,
Regarding the issue I was seeing with the "(Multiple Artists)" - it's fixed! Thanks a bunch!
Paul
-
I'm interested in using the bookmark function. I have a few audio books on cd. I've ripped them to mp3 and put them on my ipod, but can not figure out how to start off where I left off on the book. I've tried to do a search here for some info on it but could not find it.
1. Do I need to rip the cd a certain way?
2. Do I need to put all the tracks on each cd into one file?
3. Is it just a setting that I need to turn on?
Thanks for any help.
-
Steve:
Happy to report sucess...here's my list of things that need cleaning up if/when you can get to them
- As stated, the smartlists need to refresh before the sync MC9>iPod, I'm sure you got this one covered
- Propose that you combine the syncing options from the right-click iPod menu so it just says "Synchronize" and brings up the new dialog box. Would result in let confusion
- I know I mentioned the problem w/the All Music Auto-Smartlist, I haven't been able to duplicate this
- Others should chime in on this one, but I'd like to propose removing the "Select All" and "Select None" buttons from the sync dialog. New users get confused and go ahead and click the Select All button. This is causing problems as 1) some of the playlists don't make it over, and 2) the Task Smartlists make it over and are confusing to folks. It's just asking for trouble IMO.
- It would be great to leverage the Action Window somehow. Either through making the "Tools" button display the normal right click, or enabling clicking on the iPod icon to bring up the sync dialog (as an alternative to the toolbar).
- Next we have to try and figure out how the iPod creates it's own dynamic playlists. As Kurt pointed out, if you have a "Recently Played" smartlist on a MiPod, it will update w/the tunes you played without a resync of the MiPod. Not sure how they're doing it. I think Jim needs to get you a Mac so you can test this out. ;)
- Change the updating dialogs to match the Sync progress bar. ;) See, I just had to throw that in. Actually, you could change all the status windows in MC9 to match yours. I posted that as a change request...went no where. I guess I'm a total loser. :D
GREAT WORK! Whoopee.
**EDIT**
OK, I did find a bug, maybe it will help point out the All Music bug as well, not sure.
The result of this bug was that upon sync, none of my playlists showed on the iPod (what happens w/the All Music bug), although they were on the iPod in MC9's iPod View. Also, the iPod Toolbar (after the sync resulting in no playlists) no longer launched the Sync dialog, it launched the old version of what clicking that button would do (i.e the sync progress bar if you had songs selected to upload).
OK, here's what I did exactly...
1. I was testing the All Music bug, so I created a new temporary library
2. From a clean iPod (my other one), I clicked on iPod toobar and clicked "Select All".
3. Things uploaded fine to that iPod.
4. Deleted that temp library, and opened my Default Library
5. Hooked up my normal iPod, clicked on iPod toolbar, click "OK" to sync.
6. Received error, no files to sync (this is where things went downhill). Hadn't realized that when I switched libraries my playlists that I normally sync where auto-selected for me
7. Selected my standard playlists and synced. Look on the iPod...no playlists. All the Songs were on the iPod, just no playlists.
8. Reconnected, sync'd again, same result
9. Looked at the playlists in iPod view in MC9, they were there. So I deleted all of them.
10. Clicked on the iPod toolbar..weirdness. It wouldn't give me the Sync dialog. It asked me to select some files to sync. I selected a file and it uploaded it. This is the old way this button used to work.
So, somehow the plugin got "reset". I eventually fixed things by rebuilding the iPod database, restarting MC9, sync'd and all was fine.
Very strange....
Adam
-
I didn't have a lot of time to play, so I just initialized and synched normally... want to make sure I have music tomorrow. But tomorrow night, I'll be looking forward to one-stepping a whole days' worth of listening!
Quoting Adam's post but didn't want to do it all in a quote box...
<snip!>
- Propose that you combine the syncing options from the right-click iPod menu so it just says "Synchronize" and brings up the new dialog box. Would result in less confusion
<snip!>
I think that both options should be available in the right-click menu until the one-step process is totally clean, for those who want the functionality but aren't risk-takers. I strongly suggest changing the verbage, since the current phrases can be taken either way. I suggest "Import iPod data into MC" and "Synchronize Playlists" as phrases that would, as my Drill Sergeant liked to say, eliminate all doubt.
<snip!>
- Others should chime in on this one, but I'd like to propose removing the "Select All" and "Select None" buttons from the sync dialog. New users get confused and go ahead and click the Select All button. This is causing problems as 1) some of the playlists don't make it over, and 2) the Task Smartlists make it over and are confusing to folks. It's just asking for trouble IMO.
<snip!>
I agree. Also, perhaps consider two additional edits:
1. Put checkboxes next to the playlist group nodes that select/deselect child objects -- it would ease the loss of the Select All/None buttons.
2. Remove the top-level "Playlists" node completely, for two reasons: we know they're playlists, and the node takes up screen real estate.
<snip!>
- It would be great to leverage the Action Window somehow. Either through making the "Tools" button display the normal right click, or enabling clicking on the iPod icon to bring up the sync dialog (as an alternative to the toolbar).
<snip!>
I like putting a "Synch Now" button next to the iPod pic, but would agree that any way you can use the Action Window to sync would be good.
<snip!>
- Next we have to try and figure out how the iPod creates it's own dynamic playlists. As Kurt pointed out, if you have a "Recently Played" smartlist on a MiPod, it will update w/the tunes you played without a resync of the MiPod. Not sure how they're doing it. I think Jim needs to get you a Mac (http://www.apple.com/powerbook/index12.html) so you can test this out. ;)
<snip!>
I'll be happy to keep bringing it up as often as y'all'd like. My friend Bill Olsen (Hi Bill!!) is a Mac-using 30gb'er. I am envious of his offline smartlist updating (OSU hah!). Not to mention that iTunes for Windows will, most surely, give WinniePods this functionality. Oh, and about the last bit there... me too, me too!! :D
<snip!>
- <nested snip!>I guess I'm a total loser. :D<nested snip!>
<snip!>
Too..... many..... jokes.... vision.... getting.... blurry.... must.... mock.... Adam.... *gurgle*
-
Whoops! I bought a USB iPod cable for the office PC and things got weird. They got weirder when I tried it at home and things got ugly when I tried the one touch sync earlier this evening with 257 and wiped out my playlists on the iPod. No problem, fiddle with various fix attempts for an hour then tear down the whole setup and start from scratch. Reninstall anything iPod related, restore the iPod, install MC 259 and start the long first sync before I go to sleep. I'll do more testing tomorrow when things are fresh and clean ;).
[Edit] Just in case it isn't clear, the problem seemed to be with my setup, not MC.
-
I've just tried 9.1.259 and playcounts and last played work a treat with my 10Gb Gen 2 iPod running 1.3 firmware.
Here's what I did to get things working. First I initialised my iPod using 9.1.259. Next I reset the Last Played date in the tracks that got corrupted yesterday so that they were displayed as Never Played. Next I did a small synch to the iPod and played one track on the iPod. I then did another synch. The last played date and the playcount for the track I played were updated and all the other tags were left the same.
Woohoo!!!!
Great work Steve.
-
- Next we have to try and figure out how the iPod creates it's own dynamic playlists. As Kurt pointed out, if you have a "Recently Played" smartlist on a MiPod, it will update w/the tunes you played without a resync of the MiPod. Not sure how they're doing it. I think Jim needs to get you a Mac so you can test this out. ;)
Agreed here... It would be great if my "unrated tracks" and "Haven't heard in weeks" smartlists updated on the ipod by itself without me having to re-sync.
Take care
Gary
-
With the one step sync, are smartlists repopulated after the ipod->pc sync, but before the pc->ipod sync?
In tonight's build, smartlists now will be updated after the iPod to MC synch before the MC to iPod synch.
Roadrunner,
Audilble files (i.e .aa) on iPod that are interacted with via MC will handle bookmarking. This feature is not implemented for other file types in MC. That may happen in a future release.
Adam,
Thanks for the notes on testing the All Music. The problems were caused by and unrelated problem that is now fixed. The short of it is that if you clicked on the One Click Synch, your iPod was not getting recognized as a synchable device which resulted in the "No files to Upload" type messages. This is fixed tonight, so if you can rerun your test and give me some kind of verification regarding "All Music" that would be great.
Adam and Kurt,
I changed the right click menus to read "Synchronize" and "Import Ipod data into MC". I left them for now becuause with "Synchronize" alone you cannot handle the possibility of a user who wants iPod data to go to MC without synching MC to iPod at the same time. I think some may want to do this (I do) so I don't want to remove it at this time.
-
<<moved this post here>>
I just created a couple "Playlist Groups".
Sync'ing to iPod (one-btn-sync) only sends the underlying Playlists, not the parent groups. Is this normal??
This was a one-button-sync and I did see the parent playlist group in the dialog box with the child playlists *checked*.
Example:
Favorites
++ Rock/Pop
++ Gospel
"Favorites" Playlist Group label did not transfer to iPod, only "++ Rock/Pop" and "++ Gospel" appear as playlists on the iPod.
Ideas?
-
perhaps consider two additional edits:
1. Put checkboxes next to the playlist group nodes that select/deselect child objects -- it would ease the loss of the Select All/None buttons.
2. Remove the top-level "Playlists" node completely, for two reasons: we know they're playlists, and the node takes up screen real estate.
This would be awesome. An ipod user could have several "playlist groups", each one corresponding to a particular day/event- typical workday, weekend, family trip, driving w/ significant other. Seeing as (for me) much of the wait each day consists of trying to add/remove one or two playlists for that day's activities, I'm all for these checkboxes next to Playlist Groups.
Keep up the good work, SteveG!
-
Hey Steve,
I am really at a loss here. I tried what you told me to do (use .259, check IPOD date and time and wipe out pod and start fresh). I did that then I loaded my songs back on to the ipod (40gb-2.0.1- win) and played a few songs. I then reconnected and I see that the number plays field and the last played date have changed like they should and my smartlist in the playlist view in MC9 has updated, however, when I try to synch it does not remove the songs from the playlist on the IPOD. I must be doing something wrong with the synch process or my formula on my smartlist is wrong. The formula I am using is: [Last Played=>=40320] . If that is not the problem then I must be screwing something up when I synch. I am not sure if I should have my Smartlist already created once I load all my music back on to my ipod and then play for testing, or if I should create it after I get all my music back on and play for testing (or if that makes a difference at all). Also, when I synch, should I click on the one-step synch button or should I use the two step synch method......clicking synch ipod with mc and then synch mc with ipod. In addition should I uncheck update tags? I really have no idea what is going on. I have been fighting with this thing for hours and hours and have had no success. I must be doing something wrong in this whole process. It seems that the only thing that is missing is the part where the songs are removed from my smartlist on my ipod. I really want to get this figured out. Any help would be most appreciated. Is anyone else having this problem with 2.0.1 ipods?
Thanks,
Chris
-
<<moved this post here>>
I just created a couple "Playlist Groups".
Sync'ing to iPod (one-btn-sync) only sends the underlying Playlists, not the parent groups. Is this normal??
This was a one-button-sync and I did see the parent playlist group in the dialog box with the child playlists *checked*.
Example:
Favorites
++ Rock/Pop
++ Gospel
"Favorites" Playlist Group label did not transfer to iPod, only "++ Rock/Pop" and "++ Gospel" appear as playlists on the iPod.
Ideas?
This is a limitation of the iPod. It does not understand playlist groups. Thus, when you synch, all playlists will appear in alphabetical order on the iPod, no matter how they are grouped on MC. (or did i misunderstand your question?)
-
<snip!>
Adam and Kurt,
I changed the right click menus to read "Synchronize" and "Import Ipod data into MC". I left them for now becuause with "Synchronize" alone you cannot handle the possibility of a user who wants iPod data to go to MC without synching MC to iPod at the same time. I think some may want to do this (I do) so I don't want to remove it at this time.
<snip!>
Thanks for the wording change, sir. I agree, though, that eventually (that is, as soon as the one-step process is completed and stable) the two menu options should become one. Having the "Import iPod Data Into MC" command always available by itself would invite multiple imports, which would totally skew MC's data: users would be able to click import over and over again.
Unless, that is, you can find a way to prevent a second import... somehow make MC able to say "Hey, you've already imported your iPod data... you can't do it again until it changes from the last time you did it"
-
I was just thinking about what else could be casuing this....would it have anything to do with the fact that on my ipod I have Shuffle set to Songs? I doubt that it does...but I am trying to rack my brain and I can not think of anything. I doubt that I have a defective ipod because everything else works fine......
Chris
-
Steve,
What you've done with this is friggin' awesome.
I agree with Adam and Kurt about changing that "select all" and "select none" buttons on the synch screen--it has accounted for quite a bit of confusion over at the 'lounge....
And if there is a way for you to get the last played playlists to update in the ipod itself like it does for the Macpods, you might as well get your affairs in order before you implement it, because you will be going straight to heaven...
Man I love clicking on that ipod icon and synching--it's truely awesome. Again, thanks for all your hard work on this, it is truely and greatly appreciated...
Chris
-
Odd behavior debugged: I would dock the iPod and it would work for about 20 seconds while displaying "do not disconnect", mount ok so the iPod icon no longer shows the red X, then immediately unmount and go back to the iPod menu unless MC was running and had focus. The solution was to open the iPod Manager and set Home Application to None. I had recently set it to Media Center. Now my iPod stays mounted until I safely eject it. I hope that account will help someone else doing late night searching. : )
-
BTW, has anyone done an iPod troubleshooting FAQ/digest yet? I checked Adam's great help file, this amazing forum, and the Apple support site and had no joy.
Adam, your help file was the biggest help. It gave me a great clean, organized place to start from in debugging this problem. Thanks very much!
-
<shameless plug>
Blueglow:
Check the MC9 Board over at www.ipodlounge.com/forums.
There's a wealth of knowledge there and a bunch of us'll be happy to help you. And there are some FAQs there too.
</shameless plug>
;D
Adam
-
I have to write!!!!! HOOOOOOOORRRRRAAAAAAAAAAYYYYY!!!!!!!
I just installed version 9.1.259 and I'm absolutely amazed. I plugged in my iPod, clicked on the letter, and quickly a "retrieving files" window came up and there, before my eyes were my files. QUICKLY! Then, I synched to put on the week's new cd's, and even more quickly, they transfered!!! I didn't have to search iPod for files, then resynch! I've asked for this for months, bugged ADAM like crazy, and there, now you have it.
THANKS, it just keeps getting better. Christopher
-
Everyone,
Tonight's build(9.1.260) features:
1) Smartlists now will be updated after the iPod to MC synch before the MC to iPod synch.
2) Resizeable Synch dialogue.
3) Removed "Playlists" from root of Synch Dialogue
4) Renamed items in right click for synching.
For those who want the checkboxes for subitems in the synch tree, can you explore the right-click items in the Synch tree for "Select all subitems" and "Deselect all subitems"? I think this gets us most of the way there.
In regards to the "Select All" and "Select None", removing them is trivial, but I use them (others maybe)? I don't see the confusion. I hear your statement that some playlists don't transfer, but if this is the case, there is a bug which I should fix. For anyone who sees this, please give details so I can reproduce.
Adam,
In regards to the Sync progress and making MC like it, this won't happen. The alternative is to make the iPod one like MC for consistency, but I think that may not be for the best.
Chris (bd6675),
Please try again with tonight's build. My best guess is that the smartlists in MC were not getting refreshed after the iPod to MC synch, which was a problem until today's build.
-
Steveg,
Do you know if there is a way to convert .cda files to audilble files (i.e .aa) to use the bookmark function?
Thanks
-
Roadrunner,
I do not know, but someone else may be able to suggest something.
Steve
-
Thanks for the checkbox, that did the trick. Now if only I could figure out how to make new views ?
-
If you can, try the reinitialize. I can not think of a reason why if after a rebuild everything is OK that disconnecting and reconnecting would screw things up unless you have MusicMatch installed and it is trying to write into the Database. Anyway, please try the reinitialize and lets go from there.
Steve
I am now using .259 and initialized iPod. This allowed me to re-synch, reloading all my songs. However, I am still getting the same error I reported in my previous post if I unmount, unplug, replug, remount and reload MC. Though it is now worse. When I rebuild the database, it goes through the few minute process of rebuilding. Upon completion MC attempts to read iPod and then pops up another Information box saying "Error reading the database. Please rebuild database from iPod." I have gone through this exercise a few times with the same results.
At this point I have no access to iPod..... All help is greatly appreciated. In case this might be an issue, again please note that the plugin I am using is 9.0.55, not the 9.0.38 currently posted.
-
schwaa:
I didn't see you state it (could have missed it), but have you done a full restore w/the Apple updater? If you haven't, you should try that.....
Adam
-
<snip>
Adam,
In regards to the Sync progress and making MC like it, this won't happen.
</snip>
See, I am a loser. ;) ;D
Adam
-
Hi all, I also am seeing the behavior schwaa is seeing. I too have a 3G 30gb Ipod and have tried updating using the updater and then resynching with MC. I did some testing last night (don't have my ipod with me tonight) and found that when I only synched smaller playlists all seemed to be fine. But if I loaded it up (which takes a bit of time for a 30 gigger) the initial synch went fine. I would them disconnect and play a few tunes. Upon a reconnection I would receive the error about the time when you would normally see the 'retreiving files' dialog. I wonder if the amount of data being retreived has anything to do with the error? Any other 30gb users not having this issue?
Media Center Registered 9.1.259 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\
Microsoft Windows XP Workstation 5.1 Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
Intel Pentium 4 1615 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 1048 MB, Free - 733 MB
Internet Explorer: 6.0.2800.1106 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2800.1226 / Shell32.dll: 6.00.2800.1233 (xpsp2.030604-1804) / wnaspi32.dll: Internal ASPI Layer
Ripping / Drive D: Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer CD Type:IDE 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: PLEXTOR CD-R PX-W4012A Addr: 1:1:0 Speed:40 MaxSpeed:40 BurnProof:Yes
Test mode: No / Eject after writing: Yes / Direct decoding: Yes / Write CD-Text: Yes
Use playback settings: No / Normalization: None
-
Make that three people. I am seeing the same errors, and have been ever since i have been using these beta versions beginning around beta 254, that schwaa and Billraff are seeing.
If I sync just like 100-200 tracks or so, things are ok, meaning, no crashes (though last played has never worked totally correctly for me).
I sync a playlist "all music", and once I unmount my ipod, play a few songs, and reconnect it, I get an "error reading database". I have gotten this error repeatedly despite deleting mediacenter 9, and reformatting with ipod updater 1.3 about 4 times. Rebuilding my database from ipod also doesn't help.
I am using 2nd gen ipod, 20 gb, software 1.3, beta 260 mc9, winxp sp1, P4 2.8 ghz computer.
It might be something all 3 of us are doing wrong, which is a distinct possibility, but I know enough to uninstall a program, reboot, reformat my ipod, and try again. But even that is not working for me. My untrained eye seems to think the errors come when synching your entire database.
Thanks
-
Well, so I took Adam's advice and used iPod Updater to Reformat (though it did not work, thanks for the suggestion!), then used MC to initialize, and re-synched again. Initially, immediately after synching MC behaves normally and I have full access to iPod. But sure enough, I unplugged replugged, etc. and got the same error. MC will not "read" iPod and no amount of database rebuilding or any of the other suggestions have thus far corrected this problem.
I have never even loaded MusicMatch. Could my plugin version be a problem, 9.0.58? Again, all help is good help..
-
Steve,
Ok, here's the problem with the "select all" or "select none": A significant number of people when they're learning to synch, will check the playlists they want to synch, then hit the "select all" button rather than "Ok". This causes a major league screw up in playlists...And it's easy to understand how this could happen--you check your playlists, see the "select all button" on the left (people think they are selecting all the playlists they checked), where you'd think the synch button would be--but what you really want is the "Ok" button.
One thought would be simply to flip flop the buttons--move the OK and Cancel button to the left, and the select all, select none, and options button to the right--and maybe consider changing the name of the "select all" button to "select all playlists", although that could still be misninterpreted...Another option would be just to get rid of the select all/select none buttons altogether...You're right, it's a question of semantics, but I can tell you this has lead to quite a bit of confusion for people synching for the first time--Adam and Kurt can back me up on this. Or at least I think they can. Or at least I hope they can....
Chris
-
I kinda like the Select All and Select None simply for convenience. I wouldn't mind if they were more buried, but it certainly is convenient when you synch a lot of playlists.
-
schwaa:
When you say "it didn't work" do you mean the Restore didn't work, or after doing the restore you still had the same problem? If the Restore didn't work, we've got to get that resolved first.
I think Steve recommended that you get tonight's .260 build. Did you do that? That will have version 9.0.59 of the plugin in it.
Steve:
I've found a bug w/Playlists not appearing. This is the same issue I ran into last night. Not sure how it happened. I did 3 syncs tonight (one to update library, 1 to copy new tunes on, another one after I'd changed some ratings in MC9). After the first sync I removed the iPod and the playlists were on there fine. After the 2nd and 3rd syncs, when I checked playlists I didn't have any. The artists all showed up fine. The only way I was able to get playlists back on was to rebuild the iPod database and then the sync added the playlists fine.
Also, would it be possible to not auto-expand the Auto-Smartlist (music) Playlist Group? I don't know about everyone else, but I don't sync w/that at all, I have my own playlist group that I sync with. It'd be nice if you could expand all the playlists groups that have checks in them. That would probably work for everyone.
Oh, wanted to report that the Smartlist refresh works fine though. At least it did fine on the first sync I did.
Adam
-
One thing about .260 -- the "Auto Smartlists (Music)" playlist group always begins expanded when I first bring up the sync dialogue, :D
Chris, you know that I like ganging up on Steve with you and Adam... I mean, it's really the only fun I get to have these days.
But, I found myself using the "select none" button yesterday and today. It's just darn handy. So... y'all remember BlueGlow's prototype dialouge? I like it! I especially like the select all/none links. One hearty "Aye!" from cc.
(http://www.fez.org/ipodsync.png)
(minus the "playlists" node, of course. Thankee, Steve, :))
-
Trying 260 tonight, sync is working fine. Import iPod data into MC did not seem to work. I tried it twice and neither the ratings or the last played transferred.
First time I clicked the bottom toolbar "Portable Download" icon which displayed the Synchronization dialog. I selected all three options, delete, update, and sync. The sync progressed normally, but the newly rated songs did not transfer. Then I rated and played again and tried it via the right click "Import iPod data into MC" option.
-
I too like the above suggestion for a nicer look & feel
- if you find the time, pls consider this.
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Kurt,
Thanks for the vote of support. <g> I customized it for the iPod, but it looks like Steve might be trying to generalize it for any handheld since he is avoiding the word iPod in the dialog. Also, I would lose the 'Select All/None' active links and train people to use the right click on on a node.
Steve,
Could you please remove the auto-expand on 'Auto Smartlists (music)'? I find it much easier to have a separate set of playlists for the handheld player and the default MC playlists just get in the way.
Thanks,
BG
-
Initializing iPod again tonight. Ratings and last played wouldn't work any way I tried. Starting the 25 GB transfer now, see you in the morning. ;D
BG
-
I haven't succumbed to one button sync yet, so bear with me.... (and I'm at work now, so I don't remember all the exact wording).
I didn't have much time to play with 260 last night, but I did see one thing that made me curious. There is now a third check box on the "synchronize" screen, for what looks like bringing the play counts and stuff from the Ipod to MC. Is this checkbox the same as right clicking on the Ipod's drive letter and choosing "sync ipod info with MC"?
Thanks.
-
jgourd,
What do you mean by 'make new views'?
schwaa, BillRaff, Pufftissue,
1) Are you ejecting iPod from within MC?
2) Can you try closing MC and then ejecting MC from Windows?
3) Do not install any plugins from the Plugin page. Simply get the latest version of MC and that way you will automatically be at the latest version of the Portable Plugin. (Schwa, I noticed you said you had version 9.0.55 which is old. You should be at 9.0.59 and then at 9.0.60 after tonight)
If this does not give you some clues, when you reconnect iPod and see the Rebuild message, send me a copy of your iTunesDB file from iPod (Drive Letter\iPod_Control\iTunes\iTunesDB) and I can sort it out. (steve @ jriver.com)
Adam,
See, I am a loser.
:D
Only because this issue is a losing battle for now.
Everyone,
The auto expand on Auto Smartlists is removed tonight. I will implement some of the suggestions for the interface.
BlueGlow,
Let me know if all is better for you. If not, remind me what firmware you are running.
mclaugh,
The checkbox is the same as the right click option you mention.
PS Did anyone try to resize the Synch Dialogue?
-
I upgraded to .260 started with a clean ipod, played a few tracks and then reconnected and hit the little one-step ipod synch button. The Synch Playlist window came up to select which playlists I wanted to synch. I selected all my playlists including my smartlist ( [Last Played]=>=40320 ) and made sure the update tags and synch data to MC boxes were checked and then clicked OK and it showed that the songs I just played were not coming across which is normal and then I checked my Media Library and it should the last played date and the number plays fields were updated and then I checked my smartlist under the ipod view in MC9 and the tracks were not removed from the playlist.
This is the same problem I have always had....with every build of MC9. I am still not sure if I am doing something wrong or not but with every build it reacts the same way which leads me to believe I am doing something wrong. Is anyone else with 40 gb (2.0.1) winipod having this problem? Is there a setting in MC9 that is not set correctly? Again, I thank everyone for their hard work on this....but I am still unable to use the smartlist feature correctly.
Thanks,
Chris
-
It's morning and the sync is done. I experimented again and ratings et al are not transferring. Nothing seems to happen when I select the option other than MC retrieving the file info again.
For the record, it's a 30 GB iPod that did transfer with previous builds. I have now restored twice and initialized twice with no change in behavior. Is there anything more I should try or should I just wait for the next build?
Thanks.
-
Hey Steve,
Here is an update. As I mentioned in post 183 I tried the new build and a clean IPOD and the same thing happened....the smartlist on the IPOD was not updating. Okay...so, I then decided to delete my last played smartlist from my IPOD and then synch with no playlists selected so that it would remove the smartlist from my ipod. That worked. Then I resynched with only the smartlist selected and it synched the correct number of tracks..it made an exact/correct copy of my smartlist that was showing up under the playlist view in MC9. I then disconnected and played another song. It showed up correctly under the IPOD view of MC9, in the Media Library view and it removed it from my smartlist under the Playlist view in MC9. Okay....then I resynched and it did not update my smartlist on my IPOD. It seems that the only way to get the correct number of tracks to appear in the smartlist on my IPOD is to delete it and readd it every time. That is the only way it will update the smartlist on my IPOD. I guess this is a bit of new information....however, I have no idea why this is and if it at all gives you any clues.
Thanks,
Chris
PS: I will not give up on this thing (even at the cost of my sanity)
-
Hi Steve, just saw your message, my firmware is 2.01.
Also, I just did a hex compare on the Play Counts file from my iPod before and after rating and playing a few songs and the file is different after playing. I was concerned when I saw the file size and time hadn't changed, but it seems to always keep the time when the last update finished.
-
Steve:
Any thoughts on the disappearing (or not transferring) playlist problem I've been experiencing?
Re: the Select All/None. I think a good compromise is the Select All/None links that have been proposed. That makes the functionality still available, but not quite as, er, obvious.
bd6675:
Your problem is bugging me too. What about doing another simple test. Create a smartlist of 10 random tracks (Add Modifier>Limit set it to 10 tracks)
Then sync just this playlist w/your iPod. Check the playlist, then do another sync. See if it changes. I know this works as I do something similar every day. I'd be interested to see your results.
Adam
-
I'm having the same problem(s) as schwaa, BillRaff and Pufftissue - the initial transfer of tunes from MC9.1.260 seemed to be successful (had successfully restored via Apple Updater, and then formatted in MC9). I ejected from within MC9. Then upon reconnecting, MC9 reports "error reading database, please rebuild from ipod" -- rebuilding process ends in similar message "error reading database, please rebuild from ipod". Retrying ends in same error message.
This was a sync with a small playlist. Since music IS put onto the ipod, I decided to restore/reformat and do a big sync (might as well have all the music while the issue's being resolved).
Did that - tunes are there, reconnect problem still there too - this time I noticed that no playlists show up. I think that the one playlist from effort #1 did show up (but couldn't absolutely swear to it) All of the "Browse" categories seem properly populated (including 'Composer' which often got screwed up unless I sync'd incrementally).
Seeing your request for the iTunesDB from one of the others with similar issues, I looked for it and couldn't find anything. The only two folders in K:IPOD are "Calendars" and "Contacts" - (I looked from within MC9 and from "My Computer") am I completely misunderstanding what you're asking for and how/where to find it?
Present problem aside - MC9 is a terrific program. I recently began regularly using the 9.1 betas starting with .251 (used lots of 9.0 betas but decided to take a beta-break for a while) - am almost positive that this reconnection difficulty didn't arise until .259.
20GB 2G, version 1.2.6; Pentium III 1.2,
Media Center Registered 9.1.260 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\
Microsoft Windows XP Workstation 5.1 Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
Intel Unknown 797 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 523 MB, Free - 303 MB
Internet Explorer: 6.0.2800.1106 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2800.1106 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shell32.dll: 6.00.2800.1233 (xpsp2.030604-1804) / wnaspi32.dll: 4.70 , ASPI for Win32 DLL, Copyright © 1989-2001 Adaptec, Inc. / Aspi32.sys: 4.70
Ripping / Drive G: Copy mode:ModeSecure CD Type:Auto Read speed:Max
Digital playback: Yes / Use YADB: Yes / Get cover art: No / Calc replay gain: Yes / Copy volume: 32767
Eject after ripping: Yes / Play sound after ripping: No
Burning / No burners found.
Test mode: No / Eject after writing: Yes / Direct decoding: Yes / Write CD-Text: No
Use playback settings: No / Normalization: None
-
rwf,
Try browsing to that file from Windows Explorer.
Everyone,
The good news is I think I have a fix for some of the problems reported above. Specifically I think it could resolve reports by Adam (missing playlists), Chris (updating after synching) and BlueGlow(updating). There were some problems with redrawing the tree after the one click synch that I think is responsible for a variety of things that have been reported. The bad news is that there will be no build today. Sorry. On Monday please get the next build and we will take it from there.
Steve
-
No problem, Steve, thanks and have a great weekend!
BG
-
Tried searching everywhere but unable to find a soloution.I am having a problem with ripped compilation cds.On the Pc they show the correct artists once synched with the ipod they artist changes to multiple artists.I have tried to edit them with the ipod connected and this either crashes the machine or has no effect once the synch is redone.
Am i doing something wrong or is this a defect
Peter
Currently set to ARTIST as my choice as advised by the genius otherwise known as ADAM
:)_
-
Hi,
I am new to MJ so pardon my ignorance - I was looking through this post and was wondering if there was some sort of default list of Smart Playlist choices - i.e the screen shot above that shows playlists and then has checkboxes for several types - rating 2, 3, most played, etc.
I would like to use these on my home computer (windows) and hate to reinvent the wheel coming up with smartlist "rules" if there is already something like this around.
Please let me know if there is. I know this doesn't apply to the IPOD theme - but let's say I have IPOD envy and would like something like this on my home computer (windows). Plus I am lazy...... ;)
-
Peter...
It didn't work? ? I guess I'm no genius after all. ;D
Someone here will have to chime in, that Auto Aritist stuff has always stumped me.
milehigh:
Are you saying you just want to use those smartlists on MC9? Sure, the ones you see are actually called "Auto-Smartists" that MC9 makes, they show on the iPod screen above as it uses smartlists as well, but by default they are under Playlists>Autosmartlists (music), you can just access them and play them in MC9--no iPod required. ;D
Adam
-
Adam, I think MileHigh is saying that he would like to be able to download Smartlists like skins and plugins, just click on a link and that list is added. I agree I don't have any trouble creating my own lists, but I would love to be able to send a pack of Smartlists (with view settings) to friends and post them here as well. Cutting and pasting is certainly possible, but not a great option when you're feeling lazy. :)
-
Steve,
Thanks very much for fixing the Artist/Album Artist difficulty - the synch process seems to be going very well now.
One strange thing though. I happened to look at the About section of my 2nd gen Ipod and even though I have over 3,000 songs on it it says that I have 18.4GB free of the 18.5GB space the device has. Don't know how long this has been the case as I haven't looked at this since the builds entered the 250's.
Keep going!
John.
-
BlueGlow - you are absolutly right! Maybe we should start a thread - share your favorite smartlists!
I am new to MJ/MC and have really just started playing around with it - I only d/l MJ because I didn't think I needed all the other items (I really don't but maybe I will look at MC 9 due to the auto smartlists......
I will start the new thread....
Thanks guys
-
SteveG:
PS Did anyone try to resize the Synch Dialogue?
I was the one who asked for this, Steve, but unfortunately I've been too busy with work over the last couple of days so I've only just had a chance to upgrade and try it out....IT WORKS - what more can I say :)...Thanks.
I also like the "Select All Subitems" / "Deselect All Subitems" right-click feature -- very neat and a godsend for me given the way I have my numerous Smartlists/Playlists organised.
-
Steve
I sent you a copy of an iTunes database from my iPod. Still seeing the issue with the database becoming corrupted. The issue seems to be related to the amount of files on the iPod as if I keep the playlists small I don't see the issue. This started for me about 3 or 4 builds ago. The dialog says to rebuild from iPod but that always fails and leaves the iPod empty. Have to initialize the iPod to successfully synch. :-/
-
sirshambling:
Just so you feel in good company the bug of the iPod not reporting the available space correctly has been around since 1st gen iPods. Before MC9 iPod support was around. So, I doubt it's an MC9 bug. No one to my knowledge have ever been able to figure it out. It happens on some iPods, but not others. I've never had the problem on 3 different ones...others have had it on multiple one...go figure.
milehigh & blueglow:
DOH! OK, I get it. The only way I know is to highlight the smartlist rules and do copy/paste....but it sounds like you want something more elegant than that... ;)
Adam
-
Thanks for the reassurance Adam.
My Ipod seems to have moved from the "correctly reporting" camp into the "all over the place" camp over the last month or so. I wondered if that was anything to do with MC9 and the creative things Steve has been doing.
John.
-
Well, I bought MC9 about a week ago and was a very happy owner until build .259 came out. Now I'm getting the "Error reading the database. Please rebuild database from iPod." message every time I try and sync my pod and I'm not a very happy camper. Is there any way to go back to the last build before .258 or am I just going to have to go back and use ephPOD. This sucks, cause I was really enjoy the program but I really am getting tired of doing a full sync every time I connect.
Bill McNair
-
Okay guys, I bought MC9. And I'm having problems.
Download, installation, importing MP3 and Audible files okay, playback OK.
I reformatted iPod, initialized, then sync'd . And immeidately after the 25 minute wait to sync, it gives me an error message. "Error reading database...Pls rebuild."
So I click rebuild, and the program hangs up completely, so I have to restart am I'm back to square on. Rinse and repeat. So now I've got two hours into trying to get my MP3 files on my freaking iPod and I ain't got jack squat!
Am I doing something wrong? I've been using iPod with MMJB, Xplay, and Ephod since February so I'm not totally ignorant. Only partially.
Any help appreciated in advance.
-
Howdy from the 'lounge Southside and Para! ;D
Sadly guys, there was a bug of some sort introduced in the .259 build. Steve said he fixed it on friday and that it will be fixed w/the next build (.261) which should be out Monday.
If you aren't using .260, you might want to try that, but I'm faily confident that .261 will fix it, he stated in his last post (I believe) that there was some issue w/the drawing of the iPod tree that was causing a number of issues.
So, Monday afternoon should have something ready for you....
Adam
-
Aha! Thanks Adam. Thats valuable news. I will cease operations for today then and pick up after the update.
Para
-
Hey everyone,
Just a quick note to say, sorry for any problems (especially the Rebuild error) I can try to sort that out on Monday.
Steve
-
Alright. I uninstaled 2.60 and installed .256 which was supposed to be the last "stable build" and from what I'm reading, before this issue came up. But I'm still having the exact same problem. can't read the database, and I it tells me to rebuild it every time and i rebuild it, and as soon as it finishes, I get the exact same message.
So now what do I do?
-
Para ,
I may be wrong and im only trying to help but originally when using MC9 i had similair problems even though i had reformatted my ipod and THOUGHT i had removed Xplay.However in reality Xplay was still hiding somewhere in my pc and when i started again it copied xplay files over to the xpod which then crashed everything just like you describe.Do a search on your pc and confirm that there is absolutely no trac whatsoever of Xplay
HTH
Peter
-
Thanks Peter,
I did unintall Xplay completely from my PC and I also reformatted by iPod so the Xplay folder was deleted from the iPod.
I've got about nine hours into this so, I'm giving up for now. Reformatted the iPod for the eighth time, and in the process of reloading with MMJB.
Still hoping for some other solutions though since I was forced to buy this to try it, and at least theoretically, it looks like a great program.
I like the UI a lot, very intuitive, clean and easy to use. But thats a moot point if I can't get files on my iPod.
I was so excited, and now I'm really depressed. :(
-
para...
Don't be depressed man! ;)
You unfortunately hit a bump in the beta road, just at the wrong time. There were a ton of changes to get the last played, ratings and playcounts added, plus we pushed Steve to make syncing a one-step process last week. He's covered a ton of work in 2 weeks, and he's just putting the finishing touches on. Sorry you had to go through this, but things will work for you shortly. I can guarantee it.
Adam
-
Ha Ha.... I'm hanging in. I don't mind the beta headaches but it seemed to be going so well till I ran into the database problem. And I can definately tell I'm gonna like it. I'm gonna be able to reduce about five assorted media apps down to one!
After I found out about the bug, I figured I hold off, so I reset everything up with MMJB, then that was no fun, so I downloaded .256 and just started doing everything but the full sync with iPod. I transferred an assortment of music and Audible files, enough to keep me happy for a day or two.
And in the meantime, I've been trying everything else out. Ripping CD's, burning CD's, Audible bookmarks....
I'm digging it.
-
Para, I've found when I've got a major crash on the pod thru mc, I usually have to do a FULL format, which includes the "restore ipod" option from the ipod manager. I've been sycnching playcounts and ratings for at least a week and have found that there's at least 4 builds a week of the MC demo (unreal) and at least 3 of these per week play nice with the pod. Just a tip, backup your media library occasionally, just for safety's sake.
Grant
-
Duly noted. Thanks. I will definately do that before anything else.
-
Everyone,
The Rebuild iTunesDB problem is fixed (Thanks to all who sent files) but not in the build that just got posted. If we do a build later, it will be part of MC. If not, I will make it available from the plugins page.
Steve
-
Thanks for the help with the database. I did indeed note (by attempt) that the fix is not included in .261 :( . Please post a note as to where and when we should look for your fix as soon as it is made available.
-
That's good news. Thanks, Steve. Just out of curiosity can you explain why some of us were seeing this problem and others were not? I won't have time tonight to test but look forward to synching again starting tomorrow.
Thanks again.
-
Para, Southside and other new users....
Wanted to second indevelopment's advice about backups.
Back up your Library (File>Library>Backup Library) before doing a sync on a new build. For the most part we've been fine recently, but what happened to me a while ago was I lost my playcount and lastplayed data (all of it). So I'd lost 2 weeks of listening from my iPod. Major bummer as I use those rules often. :D
So, just for a bit longer, just make that part of your process after you install a new build--the first thing you do. :D
Adam
-
Para, Southside and other new users....
Wanted to second indevelopment's advice about backups.
Back up your Library (File>Library>Backup Library) before doing a sync on a new build. For the most part we've been fine recently, but what happened to me a while ago was I lost my playcount and lastplayed data (all of it). So I'd lost 2 weeks of listening from my iPod. Major bummer as I use those rules often. :D
So, just for a bit longer, just make that part of your process after you install a new build--the first thing you do. :D
Adam
Aye.
Always practice safe software. You'll thank yourself later.
-
Steve any progress or clarification on the multiple artists issue?
Thanks
Peter
-
Everyone,
9.1.262 inlcudes the fix for the Rebuild problem. Some users were seeing it probably if they had a tag field that was very long. Anyway, I hope it goes away tonight.
Peter,
I will check your issue out tomorrow.
Steve
-
Hey Steve,
I tried build .261 with a fresh ipod and got the same results with the last played smartlist on my ipod not removing the tracks. Again, under Media Library and in the playlist view in MC9 the tracks are correctly updated (meaning: in Media Library it shows the last played date and the number plays and in the playlist view the tracks are removed from my last played smartlist). In addition, when I start to synch it clearly shows in the Synch Progress window that the tracks are being removed, however, it does not update my last played playlist on my ipod.
Adam,
You wrote:
"bd6675:
Your problem is bugging me too. What about doing another simple test. Create a smartlist of 10 random tracks (Add Modifier>Limit set it to 10 tracks)
Then sync just this playlist w/your iPod. Check the playlist, then do another sync. See if it changes. I know this works as I do something similar every day. I'd be interested to see your results."
I set up that smartlist (although I am not sure if I set it up correctly). I used this formula:
Sort:[Random]Limit:10 tracks
I noticed that when I synched just that playlist it created a playlist with 10 tracks in it. However, when I synched it again, it added a list of 10 new tracks IN ADDITION to the 10 old ones I had in there after I synched the first time. I am not sure if that is what is supposed to happen or if it should delete the first 10 tracks that I synched and leave just the second 10. Let me know what you think.
Anyway, I am still in the same position I was in before. Any ideas?
Again, thanks go out to Steve and Adam for trying to get this right.
Take care,
Chris
-
Hey Adam,
I think we are zeroing in on the problem....after I wrote my last post I realized that the random playlist on my ipod should be removing the old 10 tracks and just leaving the new 10. It is not working that way....with this smartlist (as with the last played playlist) it does not update on the ipod. I can see in the random playlist in the MC9 playlist view that every time I "import ipod data into MC" it adds a fresh list of 10 tracks and removes the old ones. It is just that when I synch it does not remove them from my ipod random smartlist.......anyway..I hope this helps. Do I need to add some sort of modifier that tells the ipod to remove the tracks from those smartlists???
Thanks,
Chris
-
Steve, you have solved the Database rebuild bug with the latest build :D ! The funny thing is long tags are useless on iPod anyway. I am a convert from Creative Jukebox 3 that was able to scroll left to right to accomodate long tags. Anyway, thanks for getting to the bottom of this pain in the tag!
-
bd6675:
OK, first things first.
1. There has been a second release today, .262, make sure you get that one before we go on.
2. Restore your iPod w/the Apple Updater, do that even if you did it before the .261 build you tested.
3. Sync that one smartlist I mentioned (you made it right).
4. Sync again, make sure that in the sync dialog you have the "Delete Files" option checked.
Post back and let us know how it goes.....
If that works, we can move on to the next more complicated stuff. ;)
Adam
-
In the small text box after
'Available Space After Sync:'
it says: Click the "Transfer" button now to begin copying the files shown above to the handheld device.
Check to make sure the device is connected and turned on.7.3 GB
I believe it should just say: 7.3 GB
Snuffy2
Media Center 9.1.262 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\
Microsoft Windows XP Workstation 5.1 Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
Intel Unknown 1594 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 1047 MB, Free - 481 MB
Internet Explorer: 6.0.2800.1106 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2800.1226 / Shell32.dll: 6.00.2800.1233 (xpsp2.030604-1804) / wnaspi32.dll: 4.60 (1021) , ASPI for Win32 (95/NT) DLL, Copyright © 1989-1999 Adaptec, Inc. / Aspi32.sys: 4.60 (1021)
Ripping / Drive E: Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer CD Type:Auto Read speed:Max
Digital playback: Yes / Use YADB: Yes / Get cover art: No / Calc replay gain: Yes / Copy volume: 32767
Eject after ripping: No / Play sound after ripping: No
Burning / Drive E: MATSHITA UJDA745 DVD/CDRW Addr: 1:0:0 Speed:8 MaxSpeed:8 BurnProof:Yes
Test mode: No / Eject after writing: Yes / Direct decoding: Yes / Write CD-Text: No
Use playback settings: No / Normalization: None
-
Hey Adam,
Well, now I feel really stupid...after you wrote:
"Sync again, make sure that in the sync dialog you have the "Delete Files" option checked."
I realized that I found the solution to my problem (or should I say you found it)....I HAD NOT BEEN CHECKING THAT BOX!!! Once that box is checked and I synch all my playlists (this is a must.... I found out that you can't just synch that one smartlist or it will delete all the other playlists and the songs in them) it removes the tracks that I just played....it appears everything is fine.
I am so sorry I took up all your time (Steve, this goes for you as well). I really appreciate all your efforts.
Thanks,
Chris
-
Updated to 2.62.
Sync'd libary. No problem.
Then added an additional single file. No problem.
Attempted to add another file. Put it in the cue, but the transfer button is inactive.
Tried this three times. I can "transfer" once with no problem, but then have to exit the program before I can do another transfer.
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bd6675:
hehe, don't feel bad. I do believe there was some bug that Steve fixed as well. But when I saw your post that you sync'd the one smartlist of 10 songs and then sync'd it again and you had 20 songs, I knew that was probably the problem.
With that said, even w/o the Delete Files checked, the Playlist on the iPod should still only have had 10 songs on it, not 20. At least that would be my expectation
Steve? Am I right there? Shouldn't it work that way?
Paranoya:
I fairly certain that most of us just use the Sync option as that's much more robust. So, if you want to add more songs, just include them in your sync set, they sync will go at like 200MB/sec as most of the songs are on the iPod.
With that said (geez, I seem to like saying that tonight), you have found a bug it sounds like....Steve will have to address. I really never use the Upload feature (or Send To, or Add to Queue, whatever you want to call it--I just sync).
Steve, I'm happy to report myself that I found everything to work fine. My disappearing playlist problem is gone. Smartlists are updating great. Yippee.
The only problem I found is in the "Space Remaining After Sync" field there was this bit of text:
Click the "Transfer" button now to begin copying the files shown above to the handheld device.
Check to make sure the device is connected and turned on.176.5 MB
Minor bug..
Great work!
Adam
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Adam,
I use the snyc function for my music libary and keep about 11 gigs on the iPod, and I leave the rest available for Audible files.
And with Audible files, once you've listened to it, you just dump it and add another, since you won't need it again.. I also have a bunch of other MP3's that I don't keep in my library that I want to be able to access on an as needed basis. I know I could seperate this out in a bunch of playlists, but thats way too much trouble for me.
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I have some questions about volume adjustment on the iPod... I have done an Audio Analysis on all the songs in my library, so the ReplayGain field is populated. My questions:
1) Does the MC replay gain field get passed on to the iPod directly?
2) Do I need to turn on "Sound Check" on the iPod itself? (in the Settings menu)
3) When I right-click on the iPod in MC, there is a volume adjustment option on the menu - what does this do? It leads to a dialog with two main inputs, one related to Replay Gain and the other to a volume adjustment.
4) More specifically, does the Replay Gain control just add an increased number to the Replay Gain for individual songs?
5) What does the fixed volume adjustment control do? Is it the same as http://www.ringom.no/espen/ipod/? What is a good recommended setting?
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Snuffy2 wrote:
"In the small text box after
'Available Space After Sync:'
it says: Click the "Transfer" button now to begin copying the files shown above to the handheld device.
Check to make sure the device is connected and turned on.7.3 GB
I believe it should just say: 7.3 GB"
I am having the same issue with build .262 (with different available space values...obviously). I first noticed this on build .261.
Thanks,
Chris
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I'm still working on figuring out how to reproduce this everytime, but sometimes I'm getting a sync error and my playlists disappear from the iPOD. The songs are all there, but the only playlist on the iPOD is the On The Go one.
I'm not 100% on this but if I remember correctly, the times when the playlists disappear is when I get an error synching. The error (sorry I don't remember the exact quote) is along the lines of: "MC cannot update the MC Library with data from the iPOD because the song is no longer available in the MC Library" Whenever I get that error, it seems that the playlists do not transfer correctly.
Is it possible that when the iPOD tries to update the MC Library and as song has been removed from the Library, the playlists don't get transferred correctly?
Edit:
Once this bad synch happens and I remove the iPOD, when I plug it back in MC doesn't detect it correctly. It just gives the, oh so helpful, Red X error with the text 'h'.
The only way I've seen to fix it is by initialing the iPOD from Apple Updater and Inititalizing and resynching in MC. That fixes the issue (albeit slowly).
I know this is not too much information, but does anyone have any idea as to what's going wrong?
Thanx
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Snuffy2,
I've seen a behavior like the one you describe.
Is your Ipod "drive" named Ipod ?
Is your Ipod Manager running?
If it is, try to uninstall it, reboot, reconnect and see - this will hopefully make it work.
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gpvillamil:
1. The replay gain value gets passed to the iPod only if you have the "Set Volume Adjustment" option set to Apply Replay Gain and when you sync you have the "Update Tags" option checked.
2. You don't need Soundcheck turned on, it has no effect on WiPods
3. This is where you enable Replay Gain to be applied to the iPod. There are 2 ways you can change the volume on the iPod: 1) throught Replay Gain which normalizes the volume on your tunes and 2) through Volume Boost which does not use Replay Gain and hence your tunes are not normalized. This feature was added for Euro-podders to get around the EU Volume Cap. If you're not from the EU, you don't need to use this option.
4. The Replay Gain value raises or lowers the db level of each song to normalize all songs. So, songs that have a high volume will tend to have a negative Replay Gain value and songs that are quite will have a positive value. This value is stored in MC9's database and applied during Playback (if Replay Gain is turned on in DSP studio). The iPod also supports a database field that can be used to boost or lower the volume of tunes, so MC9 just takes its Replay Gain value and puts it into the iPod's database.
5. See #3, it's for EU Podders as I said.
Adam
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Peter,
Tried searching everywhere but unable to find a soloution....
Currently set to ARTIST as my choice as advised by the genius otherwise known as ADAM
I am having trouble duplicating this. How are you sending the files, synching or using the manual upload?Test a file that fails and then let me know what info you have for Artist, AlbumArtist and Album Artist (auto) in MC and what is reported for Artist on iPod. Also reconfirm that your selection is Artist under ' Select Artist Field'.
Everyone,
I will fix the Available Space error and the greyed out Upload buttons after a transfer in tomorrow's build.
Adam and ugilt, thanks for posting replys.
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Steve i can confirm that i am indeed using artist in the field.Not sure what to tell you the albums in question are Now thats what i call music volume 54 and 53 and 52.Basically they are compliation albums which show perfectly on the pc but once they are sent over via synch the songs go over but the artist fields just show multiple artists
Peter
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Strangeness with ratings... (using .262 build)
On MC and iPod, there are a dozen or so unrated songs. I rate half of them in MC, and do a one-step-sync (sync with the "sync to MC" checkbox checked.) After that completes, the songs are unrated (again) in MC. I again rate about half of them, and do the one-step-sync. Again, they all lose their ratings.
If I do a one-way sync (removing the check for "sync to MC") the ratings sync properly to the iPod.
For amusement, I rate one of the remaining unrated songs in MC, and then do a one-way sync of "import ipod data into MC." Result? The song I just rated in MC loses its rating.
Comment: I thought that the iPod rating was only copied into MC iff it was set to non-zero. It appears here that it's always copying it from the iPod regardless.
Cosmetic bug: The menu option "Import IPod data into MC" should be changed to reflect the proper case of "iPod". ;)
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gpvillamil:
1. The replay gain value gets passed to the iPod only if you have the "Set Volume Adjustment" option set to Apply Replay Gain and when you sync you have the "Update Tags" option checked.
2. You don't need Soundcheck turned on, it has no effect on WiPods
3. This is where you enable Replay Gain to be applied to the iPod. There are 2 ways you can change the volume on the iPod: 1) throught Replay Gain which normalizes the volume on your tunes and 2) through Volume Boost which does not use Replay Gain and hence your tunes are not normalized. This feature was added for Euro-podders to get around the EU Volume Cap. If you're not from the EU, you don't need to use this option.
4. The Replay Gain value raises or lowers the db level of each song to normalize all songs. So, songs that have a high volume will tend to have a negative Replay Gain value and songs that are quite will have a positive value. This value is stored in MC9's database and applied during Playback (if Replay Gain is turned on in DSP studio). The iPod also supports a database field that can be used to boost or lower the volume of tunes, so MC9 just takes its Replay Gain value and puts it into the iPod's database.
5. See #3, it's for EU Podders as I said.
Adam
Thanks for this - so basically, you have the option to adjust volume on a per-song basis (Replay Gain), and apply a boost to them, or you can adjust the overall volume of the iPod, but not both at once. Probably because they're redundant.
I've found that boosting the volume using the % increase control actually improves sound quality. I tried a 40% increase in volume, and the bass response seemed much better. When using the Etymotic earphones, I used to set the volume control on the iPod at about the 85% mark, and now I can leave it at about the 50% level.
I guess you could achieve the same effect by boosting the Replay Gain by +12dB as well?
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Lack of space on hard disk
I am now receiving messages that I am running out of disk space on my PC and I am only 50% utilised on my iPod.
How do other users get around this problem?
As a potential solution I am thinking of using external optical storage (e.g. DVDs) to store my music leaving the hard drive free for other uses. Would this solution create problems when, for example, I am adding to the library or indeed syncing files (no doubt involving the loading of a number of discs?)
I did post an earlier issue about some tracks finishing abruptly. Unfortunately since osting the message I have been away on compassionate leave and did not log the names of the files concerned. I will do this the next time the problem occurs.
I look forward to receiving any feedback.
David
?
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I am considering backup options as I'm ripping more and more of my music library and I'm getting nervous. Whatever I have ripped is on my iPod. In the event of failure of my hard disk, would be it possible to have MediaCenter restore from the iPod putting things back the way they were? Folders, correct tagging, etc.? If so, how would you go about it?
I guess this leads into the next question as well, is it possible to synchronize between two copies of MC. For instance, work and home utilizing the iPod?
Thanks in advance for any input.
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Quote:
Strangeness with ratings... (using .262 build)
That's what's supposed to happen as far as I understand it.
BUT -
I have a feature request associated with that:
I personally use MC at home to listen to music and rate songs, and I also use the iPOD. Right now, if I rate things on both MC and the iPOD and then sync I lose one or the other (usually the MC ratings because I want the Playcounts & Last Played to apply). So I'd propose Ratings Optioms for synching so that you can keep get the Playcounts & Last played, PLUS keep all your ratings.
I think there should be a set of three to five options for how you want to handle ratings and iPOD Synching. It could be another right click option similar so select artist field or in the sync options.
The ratings options should be (similar to a palm sync):
1. iPOD Overwrites MC
2. MC Overwrites iPOD
3. Highest Rating is Kept
4. Lowest Rating is Kept (Maybe)
5. Don't Transfer Ratings (Maybe)
And if your feeling ultra motivated add a feature like the palm to do an option once and then go back to your default (ie. if you normally keep your highest ratings, but this time wanted to overwrite all MC ratings with iPOD, it would do it once then revert back to highest for future syncs)
A Palm Sync Options Screenshot:
(http://home.comcast.net/~snuffy2/Palm_Sync.jpg)
I think with those options, you could make everyone happy with the ratings.
Anyone else think it's a good idea?
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Thought I'd post my experience with MC. I was very happy with MC until fairly recently. I became rather frustrated at .259 when the beta blew up my db. Trivial to fix my redoing my ipod, I know.
Unfortunately, the machine housing my music lost its power supply, so my source of music was my ipod. Until I get a new power supply in that box, I had no way of recreating my ipod.
Unfortunately, this corrupted db meant I couldn't play music throught MC. Fortunately, I had ephpod installed on my laptop, and it read the ipod no problem.
In other words, I had a solution to listening to music on my ipod, but very little functionality. I really wanted MC to work =D
Anyway, I experimented with ephpod a little. It has a feature "search for music missing from db" or something similar to that. Specifically, "iPod Tools"|"Probe iPod for lost music". It took about 30 minutes to run, total. But it found perhaps 30 songs that existed, but weren't in the db anywhere. IT asked me to provide the tag information for each song it found "missing". Once I finished that laborious task, I relaunched MC, praying.
Woot. That process fixed the db sufficiently to get me back into a state where MC can see the ipod and not crash when reading it (as of .264)
I wouldn't normally post about a competitor like this ... but for those who get caught off-guard by a db corruption, this is one way to fix it ...
And you guys working on the ipod plugin for mc ... maybe something a little more graceful than a core might be prudent for errors generated by inability to read ipod =D (I would click on E: to access my ipod, get a window up with no text, but a red icon. When I clicked "ok" on this dialog, it would go away, but MC would then crash. This is still true [before I fixed my db] as of .264)
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Everyone,
Tonight's build of MC includes the modifications to the Synch dialogue that were suggested (excluding auto synch timer) and the fix for the available space error.
ThoughtfulGorilla,
Did you try using the right click option for Rebuild Database which should also recreate your iTunesDB file from the files on the iPod?
Snuffy2,
Thanks for the suggestions. Perhaps I can implement this in a future version.
Empyrean,
You can currently move your files to a PC directory from the iPod. Once you have done this you can use the MC "Rename file from file properties" to recreate your folders. I know this is not as automated or robust as you would like, but it is something to try.
It is not possible to synch between two copies of MC.
David,
I will let others give suggestions on your space issue. I hope all is well with whatever is behind the "compassionate leave".
gpbillamil,
I guess you could achieve the same effect by boosting the Replay Gain by +12dB as well?
Maybe. I would have to test some things to answer for sure.
GaryD9,
The rating setting of zero does get copied from iPod to PC when synching the tag data. This did not used to be the case (6 or so builds ago). The cosmetic bug is fixed, thanks.
Peter,
Can you send me a file that you know exhibits this behavior. I cannot duplicate it here. (steve @ jriver.com)
Everyone,
This thread is huge. I will close it and start a new one.