Topic: IPOD SUPPORT CONTINUED (Read 26098 times)

SteveG · « **on:** April 22, 2003, 10:56:50 am »

Hello All,

For anyone who is new to MC, please be sure to get the latest version (currently 9.0.156).

If you want to read an excellent help file (thanks Adam) on using MC and iPod please go to....

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=beta;action=display;n um=1042824714

For any issues not covered, please post below and someone will respond ASAP.

Thanks,

Steve (JRiver)

Warlock · « **Reply #1 on:** April 22, 2003, 11:19:41 am »

Steve,

I noticed a feature that is available when uploading to an IPOD, but it is not available (or at least I haven't found it) when doing a sync: the ability to see how much space is left on the IPOD. Is it possible to see a running total of how much space is consumed/available as you check and uncheck various playlists for syncing? Another option might be to have a right click option for handhelds that lists space available.

Edit: I almost forgot to say that you guys are doing a great job with IPOD support. Since I loaded MC9, I haven't touched Xplay or MusicMatch once!

Phil Lee · « **Reply #2 on:** April 22, 2003, 01:05:49 pm »

Quote

Steve,

I noticed a feature that is available when uploading to an IPOD, but it is not available (or at least I haven't found it) when doing a sync: the ability to see how much space is left on the IPOD. Is it possible to see a running total of how much space is consumed/available as you check and uncheck various playlists for syncing? Another option might be to have a right click option for handhelds that lists space available.

Here's what I've done to monitor the space on my iPod.

First I created 2 playlists groups, one called iPod and the other called Not on iPod. The iPod group contains the smartlists that I want on the iPod. The Not on iPod group has the smartlists that don't fit or I don't want on the iPod.

When I click on the iPod group I can see how much space they will take up on my iPod on the MC9 status bar at the bottom right hand corner. If the iPod group contains too many files I move the smartlists I don't want on it from the iPod to Not on iPod group.

When I synch I make sure all the smartlists in the iPod group are ticked and the ones in the Not on iPod list aren't ticked.

SteveG · « **Reply #3 on:** April 22, 2003, 01:20:26 pm »

Phil,
Great idea, thanks for the post.

Warlock,

You raise a good point. I will have to rework the interface between the Plugins and MC to accomplish this. Let me sleep on it and see if I can work it in before the release.

Steve

Kurt Young · « **Reply #4 on:** April 22, 2003, 02:10:18 pm »

Quote

<snip!>
Let me sleep on it and see if I can work it in before the release.
<snip!>

Along with mjextman.exe /ipodsync and a little iPod icon for the iPod root node, right, Steve? Eh? Right, good buddy? Eh? *nudge nudge*

klcs · « **Reply #5 on:** April 22, 2003, 05:52:17 pm »

Hello,

I am new to MC9, having just bought my iPod. I hated MusicMatch's "look" and their silly method of synchronizing (read download the entire DB) was enough to kill the software for me.

That said, there is something that is troubling me with MC9. It seems to rip files much more slowly that MMJB. In a rough benchmark of three CDs, (160Kbs with no bells or whistles) MC9 averaged 9 minutes and MMJB averaged 5 1/2 minutes.

My system settings for MC9 are attached below. Of course, MMJB does not have a similar routine for dumping this info, but the key is to know that it was definitely set to use 160 Kbs with what they refer to as oversampling. MC9 was set to Normal quality, but I don't think this quality setting exists within MMJB.

Do you have any idea why this speed difference might be happening? Am I missing some switch in MC9 that is improving my recording quality beyond the default in MMJB?

by the way - I was having some troubles with updating the DB on the iPod, but they were entirely resolved with the latest build. Thanks!

Media Center 9.0.157 -- E:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\

Microsoft Windows 2000 Workstation 5.0 (Build 2195)
Intel Pentium III 999 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 130 MB, Free - 41 MB

Internet Explorer: 5.50.4522.1800 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.81 / Shlwapi.dll: 5.50.4522.1800
Shell32.dll: 5.00.2920.0000wnaspi32.dll: 4.57 (1008) , ASPI for Win32 (95/NT) DLL, Copyright © 1989-1997 Adaptec, Inc. / Aspi32.sys: 4.57 (1008)

Ripping / Drive D: Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer CD Type:Auto Read speed:Max
Drive F: Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer CD Type:Auto Read speed:Max
Digital playback: Yes / Use YADB: Yes / Get cover art: Yes / Calc replay gain: Yes / Copy volume: 32767
Eject after ripping: Yes / Play sound after ripping: Yes Soundfile: chord.wav

Burning / Drive D: HP DVD Writer 100j Addr: 1:0:0 Speed:12 MaxSpeed:12 Use MJ Engine:Yes
Test mode: No / Eject after writing: Yes / Direct decoding: Yes / Write CD-Text: No
Use playback settings: No / Normalization: None

ashawley · « **Reply #6 on:** April 22, 2003, 06:56:26 pm »

klcs:

The short answer to your question is that you are sacrificing speed for quality. If you ever did a comparison over a number of different CDs between the two products you'd find out that MC9 will rip your CDs to a much better quality than would MMJB.

In fact, if you ever want to configure the Advanced settings you can use MC9 in conjuction with the LAME encoder and use Digital Secure ripping to get what most consider the best ripped CDs. Of course, that will take even longer, but since you only need to do it once, it's worth it.

Adam

MartinH · « **Reply #7 on:** April 23, 2003, 01:28:47 am »

I have a small bug, I think, which seems a bit simple but has been present for a while. I've only tried this on my work PC but here goes.

Basically, you can download tunes from your iPod in MC by selecting them, right clicking and choosing "Download to PC". If you input a folder name that does not exist as the destination for these files, a prompt appears stating that it doesn't exist and would you like to create it. Choosing to do so makes it carry on and appear to download the tracks (you get the progress bar on-screen), however, it does it very quickly before bringing up a message saying "Upload failed".

If you go and check the folders, there is no created folder and no tracks. It looks like the program just isn't creating the folder because if you create the folder then "Download to PC" in MC, everything is fine.

On a related note, is it possible to give us more options when downloading to PC so that if, for example, I select three albums worth of tracks I can download them to my PC in three seperate folders, auto-created based on the ID3 tags of the files?

Anyway, thanks for a great program

.

System details for above problem:

Media Center Registered 9.0.157 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\

Microsoft Windows 2000 Workstation 5.0 Service Pack 2 (Build 2195)
AMD Athlon 1544 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 523 MB, Free - 303 MB

Internet Explorer: 6.0.2600.0000 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.81 / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2600.0000
Shell32.dll: 5.00.3315.2902 / wnaspi32.dll: Internal ASPI Layer

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

SteveG · « **Reply #8 on:** April 23, 2003, 06:28:15 am »

Martin,

This feature was added and then got removed. Please get the latest Plugin(9.0.14) or the next build of MC and the ability to auto create folders during transfer to the PC will once again be enabled.

In regards to folder options, could you try transfering the files and then use the "Rename Files from Properties" feature of MC to rename the folders based on tags. If you are unfamiliar with this feature, tell me and I will explain it. I think it would be better to leave that functionality in MC rather than duplicating it in the Plugin.

Adam, thanks for the response above.

Kurt, I hear you

MartinH · « **Reply #9 on:** April 23, 2003, 07:28:23 am »

Steve, lovely, thanks and yes I can use the rename files from properties option like everyone else. I just got excited while I was posting

.

SteveG · « **Reply #10 on:** April 23, 2003, 01:04:15 pm »

Kurt,

The autosynch will now automatically take you to the synch screen no matter what your last selected path. If you want to draw a good iPod icon, I will add it in.

Steve

Kurt Young · « **Reply #11 on:** April 23, 2003, 03:17:13 pm »

Quote

Kurt,

The autosynch will now automatically take you to the synch screen no matter what your last selected path. If you want to draw a good iPod icon, I will add it in.

Steve

I don't understand... last selected path?

Thus far, I've understood it like this: Autosync == the sync dialogue appears automatically when I click once on the iPod's node in the left tree. How is it different now?

As far as an icon goes, use the one in my sig below, good buddy!

EDIT: AHHHHH!!! Sweet, dude! Now, when the iPod's plugged in, and I load up MC, the sync dialogue appears automatically. Verra nice! Now, we're essentially down to one click (if you don't count the clicks it takes you to load up MC, however it is that you do it.).

SeanC · « **Reply #12 on:** April 24, 2003, 06:46:40 am »

SteveG - Thanks so much for working so diligently on getting the iPod connection going. Now that things are mostly ironed out, would you consider adding the functionality where when we synchronize, the 'last played' and 'number of times played' updates the MJ database?

iTunes has this features, and it is great because although I use MJ extensively for music organization, I mostly use my ipod and audiotron to listen to music. I would love MJ to be aware of how often I play each song, so that smartlists make sense, etc.

I believe the ipod increments a times-played counter in the database - you could maybe just compare this value to the last value, then add the difference to the MJ database's times-played value. And touch the last played date.

Thanks for considering it.

SteveG · « **Reply #13 on:** April 24, 2003, 06:53:23 am »

SeanC,

Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, this feature is not available with the current firmware on the iPod for Windows. iPod currently does not record this information for Windows formatted iPods, so there is no way for me to retrieve and display it to you.

Steve

Kurt Young · « **Reply #14 on:** April 24, 2003, 08:02:31 am »

Last night with .159 (pretty sure it's existed for a while, though, not just with this build).

While syncing playlists, if I leave MC alone, all is well.

But if, while in mid-sync, I do anything that would modify one of the smartlists that I'm synching**, then I get a Media Core crash near the end of the sync.

Media Core crashes have happened near the end of the sync when I:

Play a song during sync (I sync the "Recently Played" smartlist -- playing a song modifies this smartlist)
Modify the properties of a song that's on a smartlist that I'm synching

Don't take it as gospel, it's just the impression that I got last night. I'm just learning to leave MC alone while it's synching.

However, since the autosync appears when I launch MC now (if my pod's plugged in, that is), my natural course of usage becomes:

1. Load MC
2. Begin Sync
3. Start Playing Music While Sync Is In Progress.

This course doesn't work if Media Core crashes if I make changes to my smartlists mid-sync. :-/

**This is my best guess as far as a reason goes. No real data to back it up, it's what my instinct is saying.

SteveG · « **Reply #15 on:** April 24, 2003, 10:05:37 am »

Kurt,

I could not duplicate these. I synched my "All music" Smartlists, and played a song that had not synched yet but had no problems. I also tried modifying the smartlist during the synch and everything seemed OK.

Anyone else seeing this?

Steve

Warlock · « **Reply #16 on:** April 24, 2003, 10:08:19 am »

Steve,

A couple weeks ago you mentioned that it might be possible to include a Force Conversion option when synching. Is that still a possibility? Would it also be possible to tell MC to only convert non-MP3 files? Sometimes it converts my high bitrate VBR MP3's to a lower bitrate (and I think CBR). I'd like to be able to set some rules for how and when it will force convert.

SteveG · « **Reply #17 on:** April 24, 2003, 11:10:37 am »

Warlock,

This is already in there. Get MC 9.0.159 and then before you synch, click on "Options". This will bring up the same converter options as when you drag and drop the files. This should handle the convert during synch.

In regards to the VBR files, this may need some tweaking. I just sent a batch of 192 and 128 kpbs mp3 files using synch and the converter with the options set to convert to 128. Everything worked as expected. Only the 192kpbs files were converted, the others were skipped in regards to the convert, but still synched. If this is not consistent with your VBR files, please email me a few that fail and I will work out the details.

Thanks,

Steve (steve @ jriver.com)

Warlock · « **Reply #18 on:** April 24, 2003, 01:38:32 pm »

Great. I'll download 159 as soon as I get home from work. I'll also run some tests with various MP3 bitrates and let you know if I have any problems.

I guess my question on the bitrate conversion is whether we can set MC to convert only non-MP3 files. With the size of the IPOD's drive, I am not concerned about converting my high bitrate MP3s to 128. I just want MC to convert my APE files because those are unplayable on the ipod and leave my MP3 files alone (regardless of their bitrate).

SteveG · « **Reply #19 on:** April 25, 2003, 06:53:34 am »

Warlock,

I can either add this in as an option, or you could use view filtering to show only the .ape files in your library and then synch with the converter turned on, and then turn the converter off and resync your mp3 files.

Steve

Warlock · « **Reply #20 on:** April 25, 2003, 07:41:17 am »

Steve, thanks for the suggestion. Using views is a good idea, but I think that would preclude setting the option to delete files not being synched (as that would delete the previously converted APE files). I might be unique in that I am archiving with APE files and listening to MP3 files, so this might not be a big issue for most of your users. I can certainly live with this limitation, but the full synching functionality would be nice.

SteveG · « **Reply #21 on:** April 25, 2003, 11:30:30 am »

Warlock,

As you use synchronize with the conversion option, be aware that I had to disallow the "delete files not in synch" option for these transfers.

After 9 is released, I can make modifications to improve this.

bmp · « **Reply #22 on:** April 28, 2003, 07:03:39 pm »

plugin is just goign great, but it's been a while since i've made my two pipe dream suggestions.

1.) a synch tree for artist/album

2.) ephpod did this: something that'll generate playlists for all albums on the pod with more than x songs. since i'm dealing with 1000+ songs from hundreds of albums, it'd be nice to be able to just select a full album to listen to without scrolling through and figuring out what albums are complete or having to manually create playlists through MC

just a thought...

fex · « **Reply #23 on:** April 29, 2003, 11:04:53 am »

Quote

The autosynch will now automatically take you to the synch screen no matter what your last selected path...

Is it possible, that this overrules the "Startup Page" defined under "Options"? Don't know if I'm wrong, but it seems for me that MC now starts every time with "CD, DVD & Handhelds" open (without a plugged iPod). Not a good thing for me.

Is it the plugin?

SteveG · « **Reply #24 on:** April 29, 2003, 01:21:08 pm »

bmp,

Thanks for the suggestions. I will work on these soon.

Fex,

The checkbox for "AutoSynch" in the iPod synch will overrule the startup page. If you do not want it to do this, uncheck AutoSynch in the Synchronization dialog.

Steve

fex · « **Reply #25 on:** April 29, 2003, 01:42:22 pm »

Thanks for the quick answer. Now I have to choose. What I use more?

ashawley · « **Reply #26 on:** May 01, 2003, 08:10:40 am »

Steve:

I'm having a terrible time with that "Failed to load any library bug". Not sure if you know about this one, but it happens when I launch MC9, that error pops up and it won't load MC9 and forces me to reinstall.

Then, I'll sync, shut down, next time I launch MC9 I get the same error and have to reinstall again.

I'm beginning to think it has something to do with the Auto-sync. I'll test it tonight, but it's the darndest thing.

I've tried different settings when I exit MC9, such as making sure the iPod is disconnected and I'm viewing the Media Library (and not the iPod contents) to no avail.

Any thoughts? I really don't know what's going on.

Adam

SteveG · « **Reply #27 on:** May 01, 2003, 09:02:09 am »

Adam,

I saw your post in the other thread and tested this earlier. I can't duplicate it. I will keep trying to see if I can come up with something.

Steve

bradesp · « **Reply #28 on:** May 01, 2003, 09:30:10 am »

Steve,

Are you anticipating that the current plug-in support for Ipod should work with the new Ipod models available next wee?

Bradesp

mindracing · « **Reply #29 on:** May 01, 2003, 10:02:27 am »

I guess it will work fine. I've just ordered a 30G model so it better!

The whole thing has come together really well now (plug in and MC).

Having looked through the Apple site it seems it ships with the same software as the old model so I forsee no problems.

Unless you know different!

SteveG · « **Reply #30 on:** May 01, 2003, 10:36:33 am »

I am hoping everything will work well. Our new iPod is set to arrive Monday next week so we will know soon.

Steve

Wobbley · « **Reply #31 on:** May 01, 2003, 11:36:11 am »

For those who have ordered their new iPod (as I have), did you see an option to choose a Windows iPod? After placing my order, I realized that I had not specified, nor was I prompted to specify, what version of the iPod I wanted. If it is the case that the only new iPods shipping now are Mac iPods, will we have to download the 1.3 firmware and install it before we can see if it works w/ Media Center? I have checked and I don't see an option to download the version 1.3 firmware file for Windows...it says the Windows version of the 1.3 firmware will be available in May. If this is the case, how will we test the new iPod w/ Media Center?

SteveG · « **Reply #32 on:** May 01, 2003, 12:31:32 pm »

Wobbley,

It is my understanding that the new iPods will work with Windows right out of the box. We will see.

Everyone,

I just posted a new Plug-in (v 9.0.15) which will also be in the next build of MC. I modified how the file transfers work and they seem faster now. I experienced a jump in speed by roughly 30%. Please let me know how it works for you.

Steve

nekura · « **Reply #33 on:** May 01, 2003, 12:48:52 pm »

Technically speaking, they don't work with Windows right out of the box. They're formatted with HFS+ by default, so one must install the iPod software and format it to FAT32.

mindracing · « **Reply #34 on:** May 01, 2003, 02:32:37 pm »

Steve, do you plan to ad Audible support that works with the new iPOD?

Here's the blurb from Apple:

iTunes and iPod support spoken word content from Audible.com.* Download and listen to your favorite books, radio programs like Fresh Air, or magazine in your car, in the gym, in your living room or out in your backyard. In fact, whereever you take your iPod.

You’ll never lose your place
Both iTunes and iPod let you easily navigate through spoken content, and when you sync Audible back and forth between your Mac and iPod, each will keep track of where you last left off listening — just like a virtual bookmark.

Wobbley · « **Reply #35 on:** May 01, 2003, 02:42:04 pm »

Steve,

Thx for the reply. I only asked because it is my understanding that the new iPods will ship w/ firmware version 1.3, and if firmware version 1.3 for Windows won't be available until May, how can I use my iPod I'll receive on May 5 work w/ my Windows machine? Will I have to reformat it, load the 1.2.6 firmware on it, and then wait for 1.3 to come out? Do you know if 1.2.6 firmware will work on the the 3G iPods?

Thx again...

Kurt Young · « **Reply #36 on:** May 01, 2003, 02:47:19 pm »

Quote

Steve,

Thx for the reply. I only asked because it is my understanding that the new iPods will ship w/ firmware version 1.3, and if firmware version 1.3 for Windows won't be available until May, how can I use my iPod I'll receive on May 5 work w/ my Windows machine? Will I have to reformat it, load the 1.2.6 firmware on it, and then wait for 1.3 to come out? Do you know if 1.2.6 firmware will work on the the 3G iPods?

Thx again...

The "new" iPods with the backlit buttons will NOT ship with 1.3. They ship with 2.0.

The only thing that 1.3 is good for is that it adds .AAC playback abilities. This is so that Apple's new online music service will be compatible with existing iPods.

1.3 isn't being released for Windows iPods for a while, most likely because you can't use Apple's new online music service on Windows machines (yet).

1.3 is not compatible with the new iPods.

2.0 is not compatible with the old iPods.

TimB · « **Reply #37 on:** May 01, 2003, 04:02:40 pm »

Quote

I just posted a new Plug-in (v 9.0.15) which will also be in the next build of MC. I modified how the file transfers work and they seem faster now. I experienced a jump in speed by roughly 30%. Please let me know how it works for you.

Steve

I only load new stuff into my iPod every few weeks and I don't remember the old speed so I can't compare this with anything but I got 7.7 MB/s from a powered firewire connection with MC9 running in the background most of the time.
Media Center Registered 9.0.166 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\

Microsoft Windows XP Workstation 5.1 Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
Intel Pentium 4 2399 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 523 MB, Free - 225 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 E: Copy mode:ModeSecure CD Type:Auto Read speed:Max
Drive F: Copy mode:ModeSecure CD Type:Auto Read speed:Max
Digital playback: Yes / Use YADB: Yes / Get cover art: Yes / Calc replay gain: Yes / Copy volume: 32767
Eject after ripping: No / Play sound after ripping: No

Burning / Drive F: AOPEN CD-RW CRW4048 Addr: 1:1:0 Speed:12 MaxSpeed:40 Use MJ Engine:Yes
Test mode: No / Eject after writing: Yes / Direct decoding: Yes / Write CD-Text: No
Use playback settings: Yes / Normalization: None

-=Tim=-

Dan Da Man · « **Reply #38 on:** May 01, 2003, 04:15:54 pm »

Well, all, I'm getting a new 30GB model pretty soon, I hope you can get the 2.0 system working with MC by the time USB2 support becomes available in June.

And, well, I didn't want to buy a FireWire port for this old laptop too, so I'm going with USB2.

Dan "da Man"

SteveG · « **Reply #39 on:** May 02, 2003, 06:00:14 am »

Wobbley,

Kurt's word is gold on the new iPod.

Tim,

Thanks for the report. That is what I was getting as well which is much faster than before on my system.

Dan,

I hope so too.

Thanks,

Steve

ashawley · « **Reply #40 on:** May 02, 2003, 07:48:22 am »

Hey Steve:

I'm posting this for a fellow podder that can't seem to register on the boards....his name's Phil

I seem to be having problems with MC9 and my ipod. I have spoken with Adam at ipodlounge and he wasn't sure of the problem. He asked me to write you to determine the solution. The problem that I am having is that I can't see my ipod tracks when I click on the ipod drive within CD,DVD,Handhelds. I don't have a problem seeing the tracks on my ipod; I just can't see them with MC9 to edit and so forth. I have tried downloading the new update and I have done a complete reinstall; still I am having the problem. I have MC9 on two computers. On one computer everything is fine, but it is just the other computer that I am having this problem. I never had this problem occur before. It just started a couple of days ago.

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

downingp@hotmail.com

SteveG · « **Reply #41 on:** May 02, 2003, 08:17:14 am »

Adam,

Thanks. I will email him. For anyone who is interested, most likely he needs to right click on the iPod drive and select "Show All Files".

Steve

rwf · « **Reply #42 on:** May 02, 2003, 11:13:16 am »

Quote

... most likely he needs to right click on the iPod drive and select "Show All Files".

I bet you're right - I had a similar "problem" a few builds ago & somehow stumbled onto the "show all files" command, selected it and voila - they were all shown.

I guess it was a bit confusing/disconcerting since the 'behavior' of the new build was different - previously the files were simply shown.

Hope this is the problem as the solution is so simple!

Dave T · « **Reply #43 on:** May 02, 2003, 01:18:03 pm »

Hi.

I was one of the early users of the IPod plugin for MC9, but I went back to MMJB, after finding that MC9 wasn't able to support transcoding my high bitrate MP3's to a lower bitrate on the IPOD. I found that MC9 worked, kinda-sorta, but would take something like 24 hours to do the upload, and required a huge amount of temporary storage because it didn't delete the temporary files it created.

So, are things better now? Can MC9 upload to a 20 gig IPod as fast (or nearly so) as MMJB? Does it no longer leave the temporary files on the uploading machine's HD? And, will it tell you how much space it will need on the IPod to upload, before you start the upload?

- Dave

Kurt Young · « **Reply #44 on:** May 02, 2003, 02:44:20 pm »

Steve-O!

I just got build .168. So......

What format do you need the pretty iPod icon to be, anyhow? .gif? .bmp? .ico?

coxkevin · « **Reply #45 on:** May 02, 2003, 04:28:00 pm »

Quote

Hi.

I was one of the early users of the IPod plugin for MC9, but I went back to MMJB, after finding that MC9 wasn't able to support transcoding my high bitrate MP3's to a lower bitrate on the IPOD. I found that MC9 worked, kinda-sorta, but would take something like 24 hours to do the upload, and required a huge amount of temporary storage because it didn't delete the temporary files it created.

So, are things better now? Can MC9 upload to a 20 gig IPod as fast (or nearly so) as MMJB? Does it no longer leave the temporary files on the uploading machine's HD? And, will it tell you how much space it will need on the IPod to upload, before you start the upload?

- Dave

Hi Dave!!!

I'm happy to report things are better! Steve worked with me to resolve the space problem you're referring to. Now after every 10 files have been transcoded, the transcoded files are transferred and the temporary files are deleted before the next 10 files are tackled. This capability was originally only available when you identifed files/playlists to transfer to the iPod. Recently Steve has added a transcoding capability to the sychronizing function as well. In both cases you can select the bit rate you want using the options button.

Since Steve's added the capabilities, I haven't used MMJB much, but the upload without transcoding seems to be as fast. I read a comment by someone that MMJB did transcoding faster than MC, but I think Adam fired back that the difference is due to MC doing a better job of transcoding. I don't know how to verify this.

The answer to your final question is that MC does tell you how much space will be taken up if you're not transcoding. If you're transcoding, I haven't seen anything that indicates how much space will ultimately be required.

I still have two items on my transcoding wish list that are pending, but they're not going to make it into this version. Steve said he'll work on them sometime after the first official release of MC 9. The items are:

- Keep track of changes to the original file and associated tags to prevent MC from performing transcoding of each song with every sync unless there's a change.

- Allows the user be able to normalize against the replay gain instead of/or as an alternative option to normalizing against the song peaks.

Hope you hang around more often as I can use all the help I can get to make the case for better transcoding functionality.

Cheers,
Kevin

ashawley · « **Reply #46 on:** May 02, 2003, 10:11:06 pm »

Quote

Adam,
Thanks. I will email him. For anyone who is interested, most likely he needs to right click on the iPod drive and select "Show All Files".

Steve

DOH!!! I knew that!!!

Wasn't thinking but I bet that's the problem. Why did I forget that one. :-/

Adam

mindracing · « **Reply #47 on:** May 04, 2003, 01:09:24 am »

Quote

The answer to your final question is that MC does tell you how much space will be taken up if you're not transcoding. If you're transcoding, I haven't seen anything that indicates how much space will ultimately be required.

Yes it certainly does tell you the space needed, but not when using the synch option dialogue box.

It would make a real difference if it counted up the space required as playlists were selected.

I find I select playlist, synch, and then find it reports insufficient room so I have to go back over and select fewer playlists until the iPOD is full.

Any news on NEW iPOD compatibility?

Magic_Randy · « **Reply #48 on:** May 04, 2003, 08:30:44 am »

I have the new 30gb IPOD. My wife has the 20gb old model IPOD.

I tried MC9 with the new IPOD. Freezes the PC. Still works with the old IPOD, so must be a compatibility issue with the plugin.

Right now I'm using MusicMatch for the new IPOD and MC9 for the old IPOD. Makes you appreciate MC9.

Any word on MC9 compatibility with the new IPODs? Can't wait to come back.

Randy

SteveG · « **Reply #49 on:** May 04, 2003, 05:46:10 pm »

Randy,

Our new iPod came in and I managed to get files to it successfully today. It was kind of a pain at first because MusicMatch kept interfering so after a few reformats it finally worked. I will try to come up with an easy way to do this tomorrow and post here.

Steve

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