Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[jims]

A while after updating my iPod using updater 2005-09-06, I noticed when I rated a song on the iPod, it would not sync back to MC 11.0.316. (and yes I did have the 'Sync Data to MC' option selected).  I went back to iPod updated 2005-03-23 and it once again works.

[SteveG]

This should be  resolved in 11.1 once a stable build of it is available.

[ventilatedslacks]

I have to say that this is a BIG issue for me - and apparently for many other users. Not only will MC 11 not sync my ratings back from my ipod to MC, but even if I turn off "Sync back to MC" my ratings (which came over fine from MC and were never touched on the iPod) disappeared when I connected the iPod again to MC.

Ratings are at the heart of most of my smart lists and unfortunately, they are not visible in iTunes which means that I can't even consider iTunes to be a viable short term solution while J River gets this problem gets fixed.

I have used Media Center for several years and have been delighted with the feature set but also exasperated at times by extremely buggy software. Given the fact that this fix for the iPod will only be available in the near term as part of an ALPHA release that - by J River's own admission - is still unstable, I'm faced with the realization that it may be time for me to abandon Media Center. I need to know that the music I listen to on my computer, on my iPod, on my Squeezebox, and on my TiVo (using Galleon) are all in sync. iTunes music management capabilities suck, but I may just have to grin and bear it.

And now - as I write this - I just learned that Apple has come out with a new iPod and new version of iTunes which means that Media Center will be even further behind in keeping up with the changes. With iPods such a central component of music lovers' digital lives today, media software that doesn't work properly with them is basically crippled. I find it ironic that the press release from July to announce the launch of Media Center 11 notes that: "They [Microsoft] don't offer all of the device support that users are currently demanding. However, JRiver is reacting to customer needs and offers specific support for the iPod, the TiVo, serving to standard UPnP devices, and the new PSP." And the Features page on jrmediacenter.com specifically draws attention to: "iPod playcounts, date last played, and rating transfer to MC from iPod" which is basically untrue for anyone who has a recent vintage iPod or has upgraded to the latest firmware.

At the very least, I think J River should strongly recconsider their decision to put the fix for this iPod issue in the larger 11.1 release rather than releasing it ASAP as an upgrade to 11.0. Short of this, I will, sadly, have to bid farewell to MC.

[serf]

thanks - does not work for Nano (I tried before I thought it through).  Looking forward to a stable 11.1, I guess.

[ventilatedslacks]

Yes, I'm in the same boat with a 60 GB iPod color.

[MarSies]

I have had this issue as far as I can remember. Hope that a non-alpha 11.1 build will be there soon.

Marsies

[jims]

Ratings are at the heart of most of my smart lists and unfortunately, they are not visible in iTunes which means that I can't even consider iTunes to be a viable short term solution while J River gets this problem gets fixed.

Like you, I would much rather use MC to organize my music and playlists since I use it for multiple things, like mutliple iPod's, Tivo, an old PRISMIQ, ...

But, my main player is the iPod, and the ratings and playcount are very important.  So sadly, yesterday I switched back to iTunes    After finally realizing how to get my MC ratings imported into iTunes.   To do this, create a playlist for each rating (1,2,3,4,&5), export it, then import it into iTunes, select everything in each playlist, right click, and select 'My Rating -> x'.

I'll keep watching these forums on the progress of 11.1 with iPods.  But I won't even think about switching back until it's very stable, supports live updating playlists on the iPod, ability to subscribe to and automatically download podcasts, and by that time I'll probably have a new iPod with video support so I'll need that as well.

- Jim

[ventilatedslacks]

Thanks for the tip on getting MC ratings into iTunes 

I really think that J River has missed the boat here. It's a great application that does a lot of things well, but they are trying to sell it as being the app that connects everything together. I'll still use it for tag management and ripping/encoding, but it's doubtful I'll decide to upgrade in the future.

[SteveG]

The issue of ratings synching is a problem with the latest iPod firmware. It is resolved in MC 11.1, but we overhauled the interaction of portables with MC in MC 11.1 and there were issues that are being ironed out. The next build of MC 11.1 will be more stable and in that release is the fix for ratings.

Steve

[MarSies]

SteveG, I have had this problem in other versions as well. The latest updater is 2005-09-23. The one before had the problem and the one before as well.

This time I will not use a new 11.1 build. I'll let someone else stick his head out 


MarSies .....

[ventilatedslacks]

I concur. I went back and tried using the June updater that was on the install CD that came with my iPod and had no luck with it either (the firmware for the click wheel iPod was unchanged from June to September). And the Feb updater didn't work because it didn't recognize my iPod - not surprising since it wasn't released til the summer.

[SteveG]

I have rechecked what will be the next build of MC 11.1 and the ratings issue is solved for me with it.

[ventilatedslacks]

So is this the 11.1.34 release from yesterday? My biggest concern is that getting stability for my iPod necessitates installing a release that will likely cause instability in the rest of Media Center. I've certainly installed MC beta releases before, but I've never taken the plunge with an Alpha release.

As I stated in my earlier email - interoperability with the iPod is one of the selling points of your software, so this fix should really be applied to the current release. Bugs in one of the key features of MC that has not worked for several months should not require users to wait several more months for the alpha/beta development cycle. Honestly, I would feel differently were it not for the fact that MC touts syncing of playcount and ratings as one of the reasons to buy MC 11.0. When core feature like this is broken, the fix should get into users hands asap.

[Matt]

I apologize for the speed bumps.

It'd help us out if you gave 11.1.35 a shot.  Do a library backup first and you're safe.

If you're still having problems, please let us know and we'll work through them.  Thanks.

[Cerebro]

I just installed 11.1.40 and it is still not possible to get the user data back from the ipod to MC.

The ipod has been correctly recognised as 'Apple Ipod', but the field 'Sync data to MC' is grey and cannot be checked. When I go to 'Tools' -> 'Options' -> 'Handheld', it can be checked, but it has no effect since the check mark has gone after pressing ok and going back to the same options.

Does anyone else experience this behavior?

Greetings,

Maik

[zxsix]

That checkbox is available to me in 11.1.40
Ipod is a 60GB ipod photo with the latest apple firmware.

[SteveG]

There is a bug with saving the 'Options' settings from the Action Window. It is fixed in the next build. In the meantime, only set the option from Tools->options->Handheld

Steve