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[bspachman]

Which leaves Nekura's bigger problem (and mine as well) of playing a multi-disc album as if it were a single one on the iPod, but in the correct order, i.e. Disc 1 Tracks 1-N followed by Disc 2 Tracks 1-M, etc.  I'm not sure if the iPod's track field is a string or a numeric field so the solution could be easy or slightly more difficult.  If it's a string field, then when you upload the discs and tracks to the iPod, just concatenate them together, i.e. 1-1, 1-2, ..., 1-N, 2-1, 2-2, ..., 2-M, etc.  I suspect that the field is numeric, however, as the iPod will play track 2 before track 10.  If I'm right, then that would require MC to renumber the tracks as it downloads them, i.e. 1, 2, ..., N, N+1, N+2, ..., N+M, etc.

I've been expending some neuronal energy on the multi-disc problem. The interesting thing for those of us with G3 iPods is that we can use the OTG playlist to queue up the albums in the order you want, then start the playlist to get them in the right order.

Unfortunately, this doesn't help older iPods (unless Apple updates the firmware on them to include OTG playlists).

Since I worked out my track ordering problem, using OTG from the iPod works fine for me.

Best,
Brad

[bspachman]

Inside are all the albums that have more than one artist listed on 'em.  Yesterday, each artist would be given their own listing.  I'm not really sure which I like better.

Here's an example:  I have 4 "Blues Masters" CDs.  Yesterday, I could surf Genre > Blues > Muddy Waters > All and see all of the Muddy Waters songs on my iPod.  Can't do it anymore.  Since I don't have a complete Muddy Waters album, the only thing I can do is hope that I find his songs.  There's absolutely no way to just go find Muddy Waters on my iPod.

Don't know if I like that or not.

I haven't tried the newest plugin yet to see how I like it, but this is the behavior I expected to fear

For me and my general compilations, soundtracks, etc, I generally like to have them broken down into the Artists. I have assigned the values of "Various" or "Soundtrack" (for example) to the AlbumArtist field in MC9, but MC is much more powerful WRT how I can find & sort music than the iPod is.

On the flip side, I also use AlbumArtist to keep track of the performers of classical music (ie. Chicago Symphony Orchestra-Solti) and DJ mix albums (ie. DJ Traxx). In these cases, I'd love to have the MC AlbumArtist map to the iPod Artist.

I'm not sure how to accomplish both goals unless AlbumArtist->iPod Artist mapping could be Smartlist/Playlist specific. I would then have a Smartlist that would include albums where I wanted to map the MC9 AlbumArtist to the iPod Artist, and another Smartlist that included albums where I didn't want that mapping to occur.

Any ideas?
Brad

[bspachman]

I seem to have three categories of ape files
1- those that convert and transfer
2- those that generate a "file type not supported" error message
3- those that make media center fall over in a heap.

I'm following this sub-thread with some interest. I did a "Convert Format" on my APE library when I got my iPod and had similar problems. I was not using the "transcode on-the-fly" feature of the plugin, just the "Convert Format" feature in MC.

My symptoms were that on certain files, the APE would expand to a WAV (and be saved in the temp directory), but that WAV would never convert to an MP3. (Actually, all my APEs are APLs, so that may further complicate the matter).

If I used the Monkey's Audio front-end to expand the APLs, I could then use MC9 to convert the resulting WAVs to MP3s without problems.

I never figured out what it was about those albums....

Best,
Brad

[JC]

Also, with 9.1.203 and iPodOS 2.0.1:

I now have a (Multiple Artists) entry in my iPod's Artists list... it's in the M's, while browsing iPod via Artitsts.

It also exists while browsing via genra.

Inside are all the albums that have more than one artist listed on 'em.  Yesterday, each artist would be given their own listing.  I'm not really sure which I like better.

Here's an example:  I have 4 "Blues Masters" CDs.  Yesterday, I could surf Genre > Blues > Muddy Waters > All and see all of the Muddy Waters songs on my iPod.  Can't do it anymore.  Since I don't have a complete Muddy Waters album, the only thing I can do is hope that I find his songs.  There's absolutely no way to just go find Muddy Waters on my iPod.

Don't know if I like that or not.

I suppose there are compelling reasons for both styles. I prefer having a complete list of all artists available for browsing on my iPod. As I have a few compilation albums, I would never know that I have music by a certain artist by browsing artists.

Steve, I understand your desire for a "silent" plugin. Is there anyway we could be given the choice in another way?

[ashawley]

Steve:

OK, I'm not crazy regarding my syncing smartlists and having them automatically update.  Something got broken.  

To reproduce:

1. Create a new smartlist, name "Master". Add any rules you want, but make sure it has 100+ songs on it.

2. Create another smartlist (called "Test") with the following rules:

Playlist="Master" Limit=10 Sort="random"

3. Sync the "Test" playlist

4. Check out the songs

5. Sync again

6. Check the songs on the iPod, they should be the same as when first synced.

This used to work.  As a side note, I don't know if this is related, but when trying to add a Playlist rule through the smartlist wizard, it doesn't work.  It displays the list of your Playlists & Smartlists, but when you select them all the shows up in the Smartlist window is "Playlist:" without the name of the list you selected.  So to do this you have to type the rule in manually.  Minor bug in .203

Whew!  Glad I wasn't going crazy.  

Adam

[Empyrean]

Everyone,

The iPod Software Update 2.01 has been released. It can be found at http://www.apple.com/ipod/download.

Steve,

After installing the update, MC was no longer shown as an available home application in the iPod Manager. You may want to have some button in MC to put it back in there after updates or do it automatically by checking the registry.

I know I could reinstall MC but when it is released that would be a pain.

// AJ

[Kurt Young]

Oy Steve,

Regarding the "(Multiple Artists)" thing...

Not only does it show when browsing, but, on the individual songs, too.  I played "Chloe Dancer - Crown of Thorns" by Mother Love Bone from the Singles OST.  While playing, the display of my iPod said:

Chloe Dancer - Crown of Thorns
(Multiple Artists)
Singles - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

The thing is... In MC, I have the artist of that song tagged as Mother Love Bone.

Please fix it.  

Media Center Registered 9.1.203 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\

Microsoft Windows XP  Workstation 5.1  (Build 2600)
Intel Pentium 4 1593 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 785 MB, Free - 534 MB

Internet Explorer: 6.0.2600.0000 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82 (xpclient.010817-1148) / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2600.0000 (xpclient.010817-1148) / Shell32.dll: 6.00.2600.0000 (xpclient.010817-1148) / wnaspi32.dll: Internal ASPI Layer

Ripping /   Drive D:   Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer   CD Type:Auto   Read speed:Max
 Digital playback: Yes /  Use YADB: Yes /  Get cover art: Yes /  Calc replay gain: No /  Copy volume: 32767
 Eject after ripping: Yes /  Play sound after ripping: No  

Burning /  Drive D: _NEC     NR-7900A           Addr: 1:0:0  Speed:24  MaxSpeed:24  Use MJ Engine:Yes
 Test mode: No /  Eject after writing: Yes /  Direct decoding: Yes /  Write CD-Text: No
 Use playback settings: No /  Normalization: None

[SteveG]

Everyone,

I am taking off for the weekend. I apologize in advance for being unable to check the board until Sunday. Until then, I will need to chase down the track cut off during conversion issue. For anyone who is seeing this, try to double check if you have the same issue with the same files if you convert in MC ( not on the fly to the iPod) and let me know the results.

In regards to the ArtistAlbum tagging stuff and multiple album cd's lets revist this next week.

Adam,

Your problem is slightly bigger than the sort to iPod. Smartlists are a little goofed up right now. This should be resolved by the end of the day.


Kevin,

I will recheck the playback of converted files issue next week.

_K_C,

For some reason some of your ape files are not converting or I am for some reason trying to transfer the unconverted file (this seems unlikely). Those that don't convert give you the bad file type message. See if you can convert the ones that fail in MC without transfering to iPod. ( I am not a huge Alanis Morrissette fan, but I firmly believe her music should be allowed to go to iPod  


Gotta run. Have a good weekend all.

[coxkevin]

Until then, I will need to chase down the track cut off during conversion issue. For anyone who is seeing this, try to double check if you have the same issue with the same files if you convert in MC ( not on the fly to the iPod) and let me know the results.

Steve,

I don't see the conversion cut off issue as a transcoding problem.  When you get time to check the files I sent you, you'll find that the converted file plays fine if it's through MC -- even if you're playing it through MC while it's resident on the iPod.  Playing it on a disconnect iPod, however, is when the cut off occurs.  Just my personal observation from last night...

Cheers,
kc

[coxkevin]

I was toying with a similar solution, but the main conflict that I found with it is what would become of the Track # tag when the user downloads their MP3s from the iPod to the computer?  And we have to take into account the unknown (to us) limitations of MC9 as well.

Nekura,

I don't know how to address the issue you're raising without compromising the MP3 tags on the files themselves to store the Disc/Track information.  I'm guessing that the iPodDB is fixed (so the firmware knows what to find where) and we can't just add informational fields that would contain enough data to be able to track the disc number as well as the track.

Steve, what do you think?  Is there a way to store  more information on the iPod, either through MP3 tagging or in the iPodDB, so we can transfer songs back to a PC without losing the disc/track information?

Cheers,
kc

[Iplod along]

I have version 9 on 30 day trial. I have a 30gIpod. The other day I received a warning that MC had encountered a problem. I was unable to sync my Ipod to my PC although MC would run on its own. As soon as I tried to sync I was bombed out of MC.

Now on starting up PC I receive following message "68: qttask.exe No disk in tray..." Pressing continue twice allows me into my system. Howeve I have now lost through trying to sync the last time, all data on the Ipod. Music Library only containns cda files.

Any ideas what I can do? ?

[jgourd]

Sometimes when I transfer files to the iPod, everything indicates that the transfer went well. When I undock the iPod, the new files cannot be seen on the iPod. Re-connecting to MC9 shows that the files are in fact there.

The only way I can get the files to show up on the iPod is to use the rebuild database funtion.

This is not an optimal situation.

[sirshambling]

Steve,

Been doing some testing on the loss of the end of some tracks on the Ipod. Only my system but I've got the following results:-

1. If I rip/encode simultaneously then synch or transfer to the Ipod without any further editing etc everything seems to be fine - whole file plays through.
2. If I rip or import into the library in another format (I've been trying WAV) then synch or send to the Ipod using transcode to MP3 then the file is always cut short.
3. If I rip or import a WAV into the library then use the Convert Format to get the file to MP3 then synch or send to the Ipod the file is always cut short.
4. All files play through fine on the Ipod through MC9 whether they are "faulty" or not if the Ipod is connected to the PC. They don't play through if the Ipod is disconnected and playing "alone".
5. The length of the loss ranges from 5 secs to 24 secs on a sample of 15 - no pattern that I can see.
6. "Faulty" files will be fine if they are deleted from the library, re-imported and then synched or sent to the Ipod without further edititng.

So for me at least it seems to be a combination of encoding and synching/sending to the Ipod.

The encoder I'm using is the MP3 plug -in for MC9 - settings 128 High Quality.

Hope this is of some use in tracking the issue down.

Also must say that I'm really really unhappy with the new ( Multiple Artists) way of downloading Various Artist albums to the Ipod. The reasons:-

1. I'm way too old to remember who all the tracks are by - playing "guess the singer" is fun for only a VERY short time.
2. I have a very simple tagging system but a lot of Various Artists sets that I've "cherry picked" tracks from - now I can't find any of the artists at all.
3. I'm now having to type in the same artists name twice - once for MC9 and again after the tracks have been synched to the Ipod - and on the Ipod multiple selection of tracks doesn't seem to be available. After you've typed "Z Z Hill" 27 times in 10 minutes you wouldn't think this was funny either.
4. I can't use the "update tags" feature of Ipod synching as all the tracks I've renamed revert to (Multiple Artists) again.

I feel very strongly indeed about this issue - surely I can't be the only old fart here having this trouble?

My Ipod and I are off on 2 weeks vacation now - I'm sure that when I return MC9.1 will be in perfect shape

John

[packyb]

I wanted to weigh in on the multiple artist issue. I am a HUGE fan of this feature.

Just one soundtrack - for example, Rushmore - adds 12 artists to my iPod playlist - maybe 4 of them are artists that I have heard of, or want to hear from outside of their one song contribution to the soundtrack.

When their was no AlbumArtist choice - and considering I have 20 soundtracks and 10 other multiple artist CDs - they cluttered up my iPod artist list. Assuming an average of 12 artists per soundtrack/mulitple artist CD, that is an extra 360 artists in my Artist list on my iPod.  And while some of them cross-over to my main collection, most do not.

Anyway, thanks for this feature.

(I have been trying to persuade a friend to switch to Media Center, and showing this feature yesterday made them download the trial.)

[_K_C_]

OK, I think I've figured it out.  The following applies to .ape files, but I haven't tested others.   Tested using MC 9.1.203 and iPod updater 2.0.1.

If a file is listed in the database but has been deleted from the disk, the attempt to convert the missing file causes a media core crash.  Perhaps a slightly more elegant way of coping with this could be tried?  

(Interesting question for me is what deleted these files.  I only updated my library a couple of weeks ago, and I certainly haven't been going through my music deleting random songs from some albums... Confused).

If a file has already been successfully converted and transferred to the ipod, trying to transfer it again gives a "file type not supported" error, which is a bit confusing until you figure out what's going on.

[_K_C_]

With iPod updater 2.0.1 and the .203 build of MC, the Upload files option now seems to work reliably.  Before this, I was only managing to transfer using the Synchronise option.

[Magic_Randy]

Steve,

I just came back from an overseas trip and loaded the new version of MC9.  I found the new feature, "Multiple Artists".  I fought it for a long time as I thought it was a bug.

I've read through the postings in this thread, and see the different points of view.  As a feature I don't like it.

I have about six thousand songs on my IPOD.  I have a lot of multi-artist albums.  I can no longer find all of the songs on my IPOD for a single artist.  When I play the songs, even though a single song is for a single artist, the IPOD shows Multiple Artists as the artist.

Please come up with a way to make the people who liked the old behavior, plus the people who like the new behavior, happy.  Maybe it requires an option.  Maybe there is a way to do it with tagging.  

Randy

[rikM]

I know this isn't strictly the reason for this strand, but I need help (and you folks are clever!).

I've had a new 30gb ipod for 4 weeks.  First 2 weeks fine - syncing with MC9 perfectly.  Go to Paris for a week; come back and my PC won't recognise my ipod when it's plugged into the dock, yet it charges fine from the firewire card, and plays back fine.

Things I've tried:

1.  Different port on firewire card
2.  Basic reset (menu/play)
3.  Forced firewire disk mode (ipod says 'Safe to disconnect')
4.  2 different firewire cards on PC - and this is the weird bit - all the cards I've tried (including the first one) work fine with a DV cam and a firewire DVD writer, but XP doesn't recognise ipod!  agh!
5.  4 pin firewire card on notebook
6.  New firewire cable from Apple
7.  Plugging firewire cable straight into ipod without the dock
8.  Unistalling/Reinstalling ipod software
9.  Reinstalling XP then MC9 clean.
10.  Praying.

None of that lot has sorted it out.  Could my ipod be faulty (even though it charges and operates fine)?  Or could all the 4 firewire cards I've tried be rubbish?

Any thoughts / theories / advice would be much appreciated!  Cheers.

[JC]

rikM,

Not with the IPOD, but I have experienced a similar issue with Win XP attempting to mount a drive.

My issue was resolved by remapping the drive letter as WinXP was trying to use a letter already reserved for something else to map the new volume.

Right-click my computer > manage > disk management ...

You may see your ipod listed ... or you may need to remap one of your existing drives (right-click in the top pane of this window, select change drive letter)

This happened when a co-worker bought an external CD burner. Had to remap drives for WinXP to "see" it.

Hope this helps!

[rikM]

JC

Cheers for the advice - I just tried this - changed at drives to letters to higher ones (from S up), rebooted, but still no joy.

rik

[SteveG]

Everyone,

Regarding the posts about the cut off files when playing on iPod, I made some modifications in the next build of MC that may correct this. At this point I am not convinced that it isn't an iPod/firmware issue. When testing the next version if you have files being cutoff, try converting them within MC (not on the fly) and then transfer them using another program and see if they play back any better. I think you will find no difference.

AJ,

This information should automatically get rewritten when you connect to your iPod. It may require manually connecting one time if you have the auto synch enabled.  I do not have a docking station so I can't get the 2.0.1 update to test.


KC,

Steve, what do you think?  Is there a way to store  more information on the iPod, either through MP3 tagging or in the iPodDB, so we can transfer songs back to a PC without losing the disc/track information?

Not in the database, but there would be a way to do this. There is some overhead to this solution in terms of speed and complexity so I am not crazy about doing it.

Iplod along,

Howeve I have now lost through trying to sync the last time, all data on the Ipod. Music Library only containns cda files.

If your data on the iPod is messed up, try reformatting iPod from within windows and then disconnect and reconnect you r iPod. You will be prompted to format your iPod from within MC and then you can start over from a clean iPod.

In regards to the Music Library, try reimporting your files.

jgourd,

Re-connecting to MC9 shows that the files are in fact there.

If you reconnect your iPod and MC reports the files as being on MC, this information is being reported from the database on iPod. To know if the files really are there, check the file path from within MC and then browse to this location from Windows to see if the file is actually there. If you see this behavior, please give me some instructions on what you are doing to create this situation. Also tell me what version of MC you are running and what version of the Plugin. What OS as well.

John, Kurt, Randy,etc.,

I covered the track cut off above. I will implement the ArtistAlbum tag substitution as an option so you can opt out of it if you choose.

_K_C,

If a file is listed in the database but has been deleted from the disk, the attempt to convert the missing file causes a media core crash.  Perhaps a slightly more elegant way of coping with this could be tried?  

If a file has already been successfully converted and transferred to the ipod, trying to transfer it again gives a "file type not supported" error, which is a bit confusing until you figure out what's going on.  

These are resolved in the next build of MC.

[SteveG]

Everyone,

Tonight's MC build jumped the gun before all my changes got in. Please wait until tomorrow's build before reporting success or failure based on today's replies.

PS, tomorrow will include a right click option with which to select what data you want to send for the 'Artist' field to iPod. The default will be "ArtistAlbum (auto)" but you can select whatever.

Steve

[Timmy_Yak]

For some reason I am not getting anything to come up on my iPod when I add songs to it.  I get that there is space taken up, but no songs.

[Empyrean]

I'm about a week and half new to Media Center and iPods. Can someone explain what the debate with ArtistAlbum (auto) is and why or why not it is important? Which does what? Thanks...

// AJ

[SteveG]

Timmy_Yak,

Try either reformatting or rebuilding the database by right clicking on the iPod icon. The reformat will erase all data, the rebuild will erase playlists, but at the end of it hopefully all will be well.


AJ,

The debate is over with what MC data to populate the 'Artist' field. Ipod does not support all the fields that MC does.  The new version of MC will give the user the option to select either 'Artist', 'Album Artist', or 'Album Artist (auto).

[Kurt Young]

Everyone,

Tonight's MC build jumped the gun before all my changes got in. Please wait until tomorrow's build before reporting success or failure based on today's replies.

PS, tomorrow will include a right click option with which to select what data you want to send for the 'Artist' field to iPod. The default will be "ArtistAlbum (auto)" but you can select whatever.

Steve

It's .205 that has this fix?

[ugilt]

Hi All. I'm quite new to MC but I have stumbled across a few things that makes me wonder.

1. MC9 seems to be a VERY comprehensive application - is it owerkill to use it "just" for sync'ing with an iPod ?

2. Songs ratings are transfered back from the iPod to MC - I really see this is a must have feature...

3. Seems like all playlist are transfered - even I have only selected a few of them.

Anyone who can provide some guidence in these matters?
- Running new iPod, XP, MC9.0-180, plug-in: 9.032

[SteveG]

Kurt,

Yes, it is .205 that has the fix.

Uglit,

1. MC9 seems to be a VERY comprehensive application - is it owerkill to use it "just" for sync'ing with an iPod ?

No it is not. Next question  

Seriously, I am biased because I work for JRiver so I will let others chime in. It is typical though that iPod users have a lot of files and a lot of needs in addition to synching. We are a great solution for these people.

2. Songs ratings are transfered back from the iPod to MC - I really see this is a must have feature...

This does not appear to be possible. I can set song ratings on the iPod, but they do not persist after connecting to the PC. Because they don't persist, I can't get the information to put into MC.

3. Seems like all playlist are transfered - even I have only selected a few of them.

Try hitting the 'Select None' button to clear out any playlists that might accidentally be selected and then reselect the smaller subset you are after.

Steve

[ugilt]

This does not appear to be possible. I can set song ratings on the iPod, but they do not persist after connecting to the PC. Because they don't persist, I can't get the information to put into MC.

Strange. People report that iTunes does support this ... ?

Try hitting the 'Select None' button to clear out any playlists that might accidentally be selected and then reselect the smaller subset you are after.

nope. that seems to be persistent :-)
Well, in fact I have renamed some of the standard smartlist you have provided. The old list are still on the iPod - think that could be worked out from you?

[_K_C_]

Hi All. I'm quite new to MC but I have stumbled across a few things that makes me wonder.

1. MC9 seems to be a VERY comprehensive application - is it overkill to use it "just" for sync'ing with an iPod ?

Well I don't work for J River but would agree with what Steve said


The learning curve on MC9 is a little steep, which can be a bit off putting.  Actually, put another way, it's easy enough to get it to list and play your music files.  Appreciating the power of the program takes longer.  If you do have a lot of pc-based music files, then for tagging and organising it's astonishingly powerful and flexible.  Much more so than anything else I've seen.

Even if you do want to use it "just" for iPod, given the support that's being put into making the iPod sync work properly now, I think it's safe to say you won't find a better supported iPod tool anywhere.  OK, this is initial development so a lot of progress is being made quickly and not everything works yet.  But if you look at this thread you'll see problems being raised and resolved very quickly - sometimes the same day.

[Kurt Young]

[off-topic]
Steve,

In that post a few posts up, you mention why ratings won't work with MC.  I've recently done a stint with using iTunes with an iPod, and boy oh boy, we're getting the short end of the stick here.

When iTunes for Windows comes out, there will likely be a lot of work to be done taking advantage of all the goodies that Mac iPods can do.  I knew that playcounts/play dates and ratings would be transferred from the iPod to iTunes, but what I didn't know was that they get updated on the go.

Dig:  I synched with the default iTunes smartlists of "Top Rated Songs" and "25 Most Played".  

I rated a song as a 5, and it showed up on the "Top rated" playlist.  I rated it at 0, and it vanished from the playlist.  This was all done while disconnected.

Also, the "25 most played" playlist updated itself whenever I played a song.  Again, all while disconnected.

These darn smartlists UPDATE THEMSELVES while on the go!  I'm wholly jealous now.  So, when iTunes for Windows comes out, know that the iPod's brain can handle these things, and know that we'll help you as much as we can getting them to work with MC.



[/off-topic]

[ashawley]

Not really off-topic Kurt, as ugilt was just asking about it

ugilt, yes, iTunes does support all that.  The problem is that Apple has disabled the feature on WiPods so it cannot be leveraged by MC9.  This has gone back quite a while now.  Hopefully when iTunes for Windows is released it will be enabled (I'm assuming it will be) then MC9 can take advantage of it.

Also, I don't work for MC9 and can say that MC9 isn't overkill, it's the only thing I use to manage my tunes on my PC.  Nothing else is needed.  It's the best ripper, encoder, tagger, organizer, player etc.  It's just icing on the cake that it uploads to the iPod.

I'll probably play w/iTunes when it comes out, but switching from MC9 isn't going to happen.  I've played a lot w/iTunes, and its features just aren't as rich as MC9's in terms of smartlists etc.

But we just want to be treated equally, eh Kurt?    Give us our playcounts.  

BTW, that's awesome that it updates on the fly.

Oh, Steve, I notice syncing Smartlists is still funky in .204.  Is that getting fixed in .205?  Guess I can just try for myself.  

Adam

[ugilt]

thx all for the very prompt feedbacks. Having such a active community for a product does speak for itself!

Quite interesting that apple has downgraded the wiPod's - there sure must be a reason for that  ?

Seems like I should stick with MC and scream at apple for crippling such a beauty

Any workaround for my sync'ing of playlists ?

[SteveG]

Ugilt,

I see your version and OS information in your post above. I cannot duplicate this. Can you try creating a new playlist, polulate it with some songs and then synch it with 'Delete files not in synch' and 'Update tags' turned off. If this works try adding more until you can give me a specific test that gets the results you are seeing. It also might help to right click and select 'Format for iPod' to make wsure the slate is clean.


Adam,

Can you give me specifics on what is not working and what version and OS you are testing on?

Thanks,

Steve

[sub-24]

Just downloaded Plug-in 9.033

Now get the error cannot create plugin-portable devices.

Can i get 9.0.32 back from somewhere.

Going on Holiday and dont have time to F%$k about

Thanks.

[_K_C_]

Yup.  Same error with 9.1.205 beta.  

[JC]

Now get the error cannot create plugin-portable devices.

Although my plugin still lists as 9.0.32, I receive the exact same error ...

Additionally, if I try to right-click on my iPod drive in the tree, I receive the above error and then Media Core crashes.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Media Center Registered 9.1.205 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\

Microsoft Windows XP  Workstation 5.1 Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
AMD Athlon 1532 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 523 MB, Free - 204 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: 6.00.2800.1145 (xpsp2.021108-1929) / wnaspi32.dll: N/A
Ripping /   Drive F:   Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer   CD Type:Auto   Read speed:Max
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[JeffPalley]

Me too ... same error with 9.033, then MC crashes.

Additionally, during the install I got an error message, as follows:

Failed to install package.

More Info: Failed to register object.

C:\Program Files ... \Plugins\hh_portable.dll

URL: http://www.musicex.com/... /hh_ipod.zip

First time I've seen anything like this.

[Phil Lee]

The plugin fails to load here too with 9.1.205. I even did a complete uninstall but and reinstall but that made no difference.

[Wobbley]

Same here...not to be a d__k, but can we get this fixed as soon as possible?  I need to get songs on iPod quick...becoming short...of...breath...

Wobbley

[Phil Lee]

Wobbley and all,

I took a quick look at the registry because I also wanted Media Center to automatically launch when connecting my iPod. I found the registry keys that adds items to the home application drop-down. Now, when I connect my iPod, the iPod Manager automatically launches Media Center.

Just save the following lines of code to a text file ending in .REG. Double-click on the file and merge it with your registry. You can then select "Media Center 9" within the iPod Manager application.

Please be aware that I only have iPod Manager and iPod Updater installed so Media center is my next associated application. Making it #3. You may want to check your registry to make sure only two applications are associated. It is simple to change the '3' in the third line to some other number before merging if necessary.

Here is the code:

Code: [Select]

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Apple Computer, Inc.\iPod\RegisteredApps\3]
"path"="C:\\Program Files\\J River\\Media Center\\Media Jukebox.exe"
"name"="Media Center 9"
@=""
"cmdline"=""

I've only been using MediaCenter with my new iPod since Saturday. Hope it helps some of you out.

// AJ

I have finally got hold of the iPod Manager application. Basically I downloaded the 2.01 updater and installed that (thanks for the tip Wobbley). The iPod Manager works and sees the gen 2 iPod. Everything in the manager works OK. Unfortunately the registry hack you described does not work. I entered the key as suggested and just have none listed in the registered applications list. Any idea how I can get MC listed there? Has anyone else got this to work?

[Wobbley]

Phil Lee,

Glad you got it working.  As for the MC app showing in the manager, I foudn something odd.  I have NEVER edited my registry to add MC as an available app, but when I looked just now (to see if I could help you out by messing around w/ registry), I saw that I had 3 entries under "RegisteredApps", labeled "1", "2", and "7".  When I clicked on 7 (before I added a "3" like the earlier post mentioned), I saw that 7 was for Media Center.  I can only guess that SteveG added this to the 9.0.22 plugin (because 9.0.23 doesn't seem to be working).  The "path" registry key has this in it:
"D:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\Media Jukebox.exe" - note the single "/" between directory names, not "//"

Anyway, before I did anything, I opened the iPod Manager, clicked the "Change Home..." button , and there was Media Center 9 in the dropdown.

Strange, I know...haven't undocked the iPod to see if redocking causes MC to open, but wanted to share this with you quickly to see if maybe this helped you out.

Wobbley

[Wobbley]

All,

Just noticed this (and it may just be my PC, my setup, etc.) but as soon as I changed the default home app in the iPod Manager, my Ipod became undocked (the iPod screen showed the main menu items, not the circle/slash "don't undock me" screen), but the iPod icon in the system tray still showed the the iPod was docked, and the little "Safely Remove Hardware" icon, when clicked, DID NOT list my iPod. I undocked the iPod, my PC made the sound when I undock, and then the iPod icon in the system tray changed to the no Ipod present icon (the red slash through the iPod icon)...

This is strange.  I wonder if SteveG added the registry line to the new plugin, and that is screwing things up for me and others that have posted problems w/ newest MC (.25) and iPod plugin?

Will keep inspecting and post back w/ any new findings...

Wobbley

[Wobbley]

Wobbley here again...

OK, redocked iPod, looked like nothing was happening, then all of a sudden, MC opens.  But, iPod system tray icon had red slash through it.  Then, iPod icon changed to normal (docked) state, but now iPhas main menu screen showing, not the "don't undock me" screen....

This has to be related to registry setting.  Will delete registry entry, reboot, and redock and see what happens.

Will post back with results.

Wobbley

[ashawley]

Steve:

OK, I'm not crazy regarding my syncing smartlists and having them automatically update.  Something got broken.  

To reproduce:

1. Create a new smartlist, name "Master". Add any rules you want, but make sure it has 100+ songs on it.

2. Create another smartlist (called "Test") with the following rules:

Playlist="Master" Limit=10 Sort="random"

3. Sync the "Test" playlist

4. Check out the songs

5. Sync again

6. Check the songs on the iPod, they should be the same as when first synced.

This used to work.  As a side note, I don't know if this is related, but when trying to add a Playlist rule through the smartlist wizard, it doesn't work.  It displays the list of your Playlists & Smartlists, but when you select them all the shows up in the Smartlist window is "Playlist:" without the name of the list you selected.  So to do this you have to type the rule in manually.  Minor bug in .203

Whew!  Glad I wasn't going crazy.  

Adam

Steve:

This is the test I'm doing that I can reproduce all the time.  This used to work fine.

I can't try it in .205 as I'm having the same problem as everyone else: I get a failed to install package error when installing MC9 or when trying to manually add the plugin by downloading it separately.

I'm running XP Home BTW.

Adam

[Wobbley]

To All -

OK, here's what I've done to temporarily rectify the situation:

I uninstalled .25., deleted registry keys, re-installed 9.0.180, copied hh_portable.dll from "Plugins" directory.  Uninstalled .180, deleted registry keys, re-installed .25, then first checked the hh_portable.dll.  If you'll notice, try and add the hh_portable.dll as a plugin in the "Handhelds" plugin node.  You'll get an error.  So, download the plugin that's installed when you install 9.0.180 from me here ftp://ftp.chriswigley.com.  Use the username "ftpguest", with password of "ftpguest".  Once you've downloaded the hh_portable.dll from me, place it in the "plugins" directory and replace the hh_portable.dll that's already in there.  Oh yeah, make sure MC is not running when you do this.  Then, open MC, go to "Tools...", "Plugin Manager..." and click the handheld node and add a plugin and navigate to MC's PLugins folder and select the hh_portable.dll there.  It should add fine, then you can use ipod w/ MC .25 until SteveG, et al can get us a fix.

Wobbley

[ugilt]

Ugilt,

I see your version and OS information in your post above. I cannot duplicate this. Can you try creating a new playlist, polulate it with some songs and then synch it with 'Delete files not in synch' and 'Update tags' turned off. If this works try adding more until you can give me a specific test that gets the results you are seeing. It also might help to right click and select 'Format for iPod' to make wsure the slate is clean.

1. have clean slate
2. Create new list "test" and sync
3. rename to "my test" and sync (no tags update, NO delete not in sync")
4. rename to "my test2" and sync this time w. "Delete files not in synch" marked


you now have an wiPOd with 3 play list so my conclusion is that when syncing you are just populating the playlist in MC to the iPod. You should either
1. Delete ALL playlist on iPod before sync'ing or
2. Compare name on all iPod playlist and delete them if not in MC anymore

Hope this helps

[ugilt]

[off-topic]
Steve,

In that post a few posts up, you mention why ratings won't work with MC.  I've recently done a stint with using iTunes with an iPod, and boy oh boy, we're getting the short end of the stick here.

When iTunes for Windows comes out, there will likely be a lot of work to be done taking advantage of all the goodies that Mac iPods can do.  I knew that playcounts/play dates and ratings would be transferred from the iPod to iTunes, but what I didn't know was that they get updated on the go.

Dig:  I synched with the default iTunes smartlists of "Top Rated Songs" and "25 Most Played".  

I rated a song as a 5, and it showed up on the "Top rated" playlist.  I rated it at 0, and it vanished from the playlist.  This was all done while disconnected.

Also, the "25 most played" playlist updated itself whenever I played a song.  Again, all while disconnected.

These darn smartlists UPDATE THEMSELVES while on the go!  I'm wholly jealous now.  So, when iTunes for Windows comes out, know that the iPod's brain can handle these things, and know that we'll help you as much as we can getting them to work with MC.



[/off-topic]

Woow Kurt.
If I understand you correctly you are saying that if I reformat my wiPod to an iPod I will have much more functionality - right?
(any link to where I can read more about the extra features? - havn't been able to find it!)

So then the question is simple - how can I connect my mac iPod to MC ??

[Wobbley]

Simple question:

"So then the question is simple - how can I connect my mac iPod to MC ??"

Simple Answer:

You can't

[CautionESPN]

Downloaded the Ipod plugin v.33 this morning.  using media center build 9.0.180.

The install did not apparently go properly and now when i attempt to dock my ipod and view it in media center, MC crashes.

Chris M