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[Vocalpoint]

First - a bit of background. Ever since I started using MC - I have maintained two separate libraries - our master library - which is 85000+ tracks all in FLAC format. Then I have a much smaller MP3 library devoted exclusively for use with my iPod for mobile sync purposes ONLY.

For a long while now - I have wanted to ditch this whole separate library concept and move to a "transcode on the fly to a folder" concept so I could use that stash as my iPod source. But I must admit - I am a bit confused on how this needs to be setup.

This wholesale change was a long time coming as my iPod is currently filled with tired old albums that I find I am listening to less and less. We are a now a "playlist" based family and I want to enable that concept on the iPod - by first filling it with specific tracks from specific artists/albums from the master library - and then creating playlists on the iPod to present these tracks.

The source material in our master falls into 4 distinct genres/vibes.

1. Classic Rock (Me)
2. Adult Alternative (Me)
3. Mellow adult pop rock (Wife)
4. Current Top 40 (Son)

I have retagged thousands of tracks to fill four distinct playlist groups created to serve up these categories

Here's what I want to accomplish:

1. Ditch MP3 library completely.
2. Format iPod so it's completely clean
3. Set up new iPod specific playlists to copy just specific rated tracks that match the above "genre" tags.
4. Have MC create MPs on the fly for these playlists
5. Load up the iPod
6. Be able to easily "sync" this lists on an ongoing basis so I can both remove/clean old tracks or ADD new tracks on the fly
7. Be able to sync without ever creating duplicates

If the above makes sense - I would like some help on how to set this up so I can get the iPod filled up - using our master FLAC library - transcode to MP3 as many relevant tracks as possible while dropping all the crap off the device - and keeping it that way.

I would term this a success - when I know I can bring the iPod out anywhere - fire up a playlist for any one of those genres and see it deliver high quality tracks without any need to skip anything or ask "how did that crap get on there"?

We have a family road trip coming up and I really want to have some excellent tunes for the ride.

Appreciate anything that can get me started - along with any "gotchas" along the way.

Cheers!

VP

[JimH]

In the Handhelds options, you can add a new device.  There, one possibility is to browse to a new disk location.  That's it.

When you use it, you will go the Action Window > Handhelds and sync to the folder you chose.  If you want MC to convert to MP3, you can set that in the options for the Handheld.

[Vocalpoint]

In the Handhelds options, you can add a new device.  There, one possibility is to browse to a new disk location.  That's it.

When you use it, you will go the Action Window > Handhelds and sync to the folder you chose.  If you want MC to convert to MP3, you can set that in the options for the Handheld.

Got it.

But once I get that going and it starts filling up - how to I get these files to the iPod?

Then again - I guess I do not really need to bother with the sync folder - as I can simply set up the iPod as a Handheld and sync (transcode to it) everytime?

I recall trying this once a long while ago and my only issue was how slow the process was when transcoding on the fly to the iPod. Was hoping to avoid that with this attempt - since writing to a folder first and then syncing the already created files to the iPod is much faster...

And - it seems the files have no audio analysis written to them? Even tho I have the DSP engaged during convert?

VP

[JimH]

The iPod part depends on whether you have the older iPod or a newer one.  If you have a Classic, you can use MC.  If not, you have to use iTunes or at least the mc2itunes tool (on the Third Party board).   All this is covered on the iPod board.

Or you can do what I did recently with my new phone.  I let it fall out of my pocket when I got in the car at night, so I could back over it.  It was a nice Samsung phone and it only broke the back cover of the phone.

[ferday]

Transcoding isn't fast, but it's darn convenient.  I don't see a sync as something that needs to be fast - I usually set it up before bed and let it run.  I find the handheld in MC really easy to use

MC keeps a cache, so you don't need to re-transcode anything that's already been on the iPod once.  You can also turn off the cache of you don't want to use the space

I only use classics so I can't help with mc2itunes or anything. 

As to the DSP, if you transcode with it it should work...I use volume levelling and on one of my iPods I use some headphone crossfeed, both of these go onto the iPod without drama

[Vocalpoint]

Transcoding isn't fast, but it's darn convenient.  I don't see a sync as something that needs to be fast - I usually set it up before bed and let it run.  I find the handheld in MC really easy to use

Hmm. I did a test with just the "folder" sync - letting MC drop files out to a folder. Seems to work quite fast - then again - I only tested 20 songs.

So - if I set up MC to "handheld folder sync" - giving me nice fast transcoding - how do set up another sync to get the files over to the actual iPod?

Or should I not bother with the folder sync and just set up a new Handheld device sync (iPod) and leave it at that? How do you have yours set up?

VP