Topic: POST IPOD SUPPORT QUESTIONS HERE (Read 37921 times)

SteveG · « **on:** November 04, 2003, 04:46:13 pm »

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://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?board=3;action=display;threadid=16210

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

lalittle · « **Reply #1 on:** November 04, 2003, 07:44:05 pm »

I'm unclear on some of the iTunes issues that I've been reading about lately. I've read over a LOT of posts on this, but there are a LOT of them, and since I haven't yet installed iTunes on the same system as MC yet, I'm not sure about the specific factors that lead to problems.

For example, do the problems occur just by the very presence of iTunes on the system? In other words, if you set up iTunes to NOT start up when the iPod is connected, and if you don't use iTunes to sync, do you still get problems? Is the whole issue about copying a file from iTunes to the iPod needed if you only use MC to sync? Do the problems with iTunes files not playing on the iPod happen only to songs purchased on the iPod? I'm confused since I see posts about Audible files not playing correctly on the iPod, but I'm not having problems with these. Does the presence of iTunes actually break Audible functionality on the iPod when synched via MC.

Thanks for any clarification on the whole iTunes/MC subject,

Larry

SteveG · « **Reply #2 on:** November 05, 2003, 10:07:57 am »

Everyone,

Larry raises some good questions regarding protected content and iPod and interaction with iTunes. Let me clarify this as much as possible.

iTunes tries to take control of the iPod. If you try to go back and forth between iTunes and MC, things may work out fine or they may get messed up. I will need more responses from people who have tried this to be sure. In some basic testing, it seems to work. My recomendation is to deactivate the 'Open iTunes when attached' option in iTunes to minimize interference. Unfortunately, even when this is deactivated, iTunes will in some circumstances reenable this.

Quote

For example, do the problems occur just by the very presence of iTunes on the system? In other words, if you set up iTunes to NOT start up when the iPod is connected, and if you don't use iTunes to sync, do you still get problems?

No.

Quote

Is the whole issue about copying a file from iTunes to the iPod needed if you only use MC to sync?

No, it is only important if you are transfering .mp4 files with MC. If you want to use MC to move .mp4 to iPod if you format your iPod cleanly from Windows you will need to transfer an .mp4 one time with iTunes. This creates a file called iSCInfo on your iPod which is the key for allowing all subsequent playback of mp4 files on iPod. Whether the files are transferred with MC or iTunes is irrelevant.

Quote

Do the problems with iTunes files not playing on the iPod happen only to songs purchased on the iPod?

Only with protected AAC files (i.e. mp4). These problems only occur until you transfer one file one time with iTunes. Reinitializing the iPod from MC does not cause you to have to retransfer the file with iTunes. You will be all set until you completely format your iPod from Windows.

Quote

I'm confused since I see posts about Audible files not playing correctly on the iPod...

If you don't transfer .mp4 to iPod and use MC for Audible, this should cause no problems. If you have .mp4 and Audible content, follow the instructions above and all should be well.

serf · « **Reply #3 on:** November 05, 2003, 02:14:03 pm »

Using .295 and having checked (i.e., on) the "sync to MC" option, the ratings on the iPod do not transfer to MC9, which then synchs and wipes out the ratings I put into the iPod (30GB, using 2.1 iPod update).

(Ratings from MC9 transfer to the iPod.)

Am I doing something wrong?

SteveG · « **Reply #4 on:** November 05, 2003, 03:21:46 pm »

serf,

If you sync and then change the rating for a file both in MC and on iPod, and then resync, MC will use the rating from MC. If you sync and change a rating on iPod only, then if you have the 'Sync data to MC' box checked, iPod should overwrite the MC data.

Steve

serf · « **Reply #5 on:** November 05, 2003, 05:08:54 pm »

That's what I thought, but changing ratings only in iPod & then using "sync to MC" didn't transfer anything to MC9, and then wiped out the ratings recently entered on the iPod.

packyb · « **Reply #6 on:** November 05, 2003, 05:28:51 pm »

i have MC9 beta version 9.1.291.

just transferred 15 songs to my iPod, and as usual, it loads them ~9 songs at a time (my files are stored in .ape format and it must convert them to mp3's each time). however, this time, after the first 9 songs were "transferred to the device," a pop-up appeared saying "Transfer Complete." But, there were still 6 songs to go. I clicked "OK" and everything seemed to work fine, but wondering if this is a bug?

Also, just loaded another 7 songs, and realized that both times when the "Transfer Complete" pop-up appeared, the pop-up detailing the conversion process still appeared to be sending information.

Phil Lee · « **Reply #7 on:** November 05, 2003, 05:34:44 pm »

I'm using 9.1.295. if I perform a synch which fails due to lack of space the ipod database appears to get corrupted so that a number of tracks are listed as being on the root of the H: drive (my iPod's drive letter). The moe times in a row a synch fails due to lack of space the more missing files there are. I can recover the situation by rebuilding the database and performing a successful synch.

I've just spotted that all my last played and playcount data has been corrupted too. Back to a backup library I guess.

Radiant · « **Reply #8 on:** November 05, 2003, 10:54:37 pm »

I'm still having my problem with the iPod and MC not synching correctly. Here's the steps I took:

1. Use the Apple Updater to restore the iPOD (20gb, 3rd Gen)

2. Load up MC and Initialize the iPOD.

3. Click on the Portable Download button and synched a smartlist with @ 5GB of files.

4. After that is done, I click on the Portable Download button again. Unselecting the previously selected smartlist does not increase the space available after sync. (Delete unselected & Sync Data are checked) but it does cause the files on the iPOD to vanish if the drive is selected under CD, DVDs, & Handhelds.

5. Rebuilding the iPOD database from within MC causes the hidden files to reappear under CD, DVDs, & Handhelds.

6. Deleting the files manually from under CD, DVDs, & Handhelds and then clicking on the Portal Download buttons reports the correct amount of free space available.

I had itunes on my computer but removed it. Ipod services are disabled.

I've been trying to get this to work for about a week. I absolutely don't want to go back to itunes.

thtv01 · « **Reply #9 on:** November 05, 2003, 11:54:56 pm »

Steve - I've still had a few problems with my m4p files (purchased from iTunes) syncing to the ipod. They were all working correctly if you remember from my post. However I was testing out the use of smartlist and somehow screwed up my m4p files. I'm not really sure how I did that. I save that for another time since I might not have done it right. I haven't used them in the past.

Anyway.....After screwing up my m4p files I ended up trying a rebuild of the ipod DB but that did not work either. So I then did an MC Initialize and then did a full sync using the 'synchronize' option from the right click menu with only the defaulted 'All music' checked. This completed successfully however my m4p files did not play. They went back to the usual thing of jumping back to the menu. I then check explore to see if my iSCInfo file was in the iTunes folder. It was but still no go.
I then deleted the m4p files from the ipod using MC then I used the drag and drop method for moving them to the ipod.

This corrected my problem. The m4p files played just fine. So basically the only way that I've ever gotten the m4p files to play on the ipod is by using the drag and drop method.

What's different about the drag and drop method compared to the synchronize option on the right click menu?

thtv01 · « **Reply #10 on:** November 05, 2003, 11:59:36 pm »

Crap!!!

The darn Audible files got screwed up as well. I've attempted everything that I did last time (which worked last time) and I still can't get them to work. I think I'm going to have to quit, it's getting to late.
I've already spent way too much time on this tonight. I'll have to try again tomorrow. ?

thtv01 · « **Reply #11 on:** November 06, 2003, 02:00:55 am »

Okay I lied! I should have gone to bed but I didn't.

However after tons of test I got every file type working again. Maybe my time missed sleeping will help someone else. Anyway...the only way I could get the Audible files working this time and still keep the m4p files working as well was to completely start over. I restored with Apples update pgm and then I had to drag and dropped the Audible files to the ipod and do a transfer first with nothing else transferring. Then I tested them. They finally worked. Then I drag and dropped the m4p files and did a transfer. Tested m4p files and the Audible files. Both worked. **Quick note - when I tried the same thing but reversed the order by doing the drag and drop of m4p's first this didn't work. ** Then I did a complete sync to add the remainder of the library (mp3's). I'm not sure why it only worked in this order but it did. (order that worked - transfer .aa then test, transfer .m4p then test, sync remainder of lib and test all). Important note - I tried changing this order around and every time the .aa files would not play. Kind of weird if you ask me but what do I know?

Anyway they all work now and that's all I care about. So I guess I'm going to completely stay away from creating smartlist until I can figure out what the heck caused my original problem. The only thing I tried to do was create a smartlist that selected the m4p files that I recently purchased and somehow that screwed things up. I did get a message when I tried the transfer of the smartlist that told me that one of the files already existed and it ask something like 'do you wish to over write the existing file' and I clicked yes. Then when I checked the ipod the 'all music' smartlist was gone, the new smartlist that I created was not there and all of the m4p files were no longer on the ipod.

The strange thing is when I viewed the ipod from within MC9 I could still see the m4p's on the ipod and I could still play them from within MC9. I tried rebuilding the ipod DB and I also tried deleting the m4p's off the ipod and re-adding them back but neither worked.

Sorry for the long story and multi post....
I'm going to bed!

joshuamarx · « **Reply #12 on:** November 06, 2003, 07:28:05 am »

I have a 1st gen 9.2 gig ipod running version 9.3 and have just downloaded MC9 after restoring the ipod and reinstalling MC9, I still cannot figure out how to initialize my pod for MC9. When i right click on the IPOD in MC's tree the only option I get is "format" which consistently fails.

My ipod is empty, so I'm desperate!
?

joshuamarx · « **Reply #13 on:** November 06, 2003, 07:32:06 am »

that's ipod version 1.3...sorry

SteveG · « **Reply #14 on:** November 06, 2003, 11:28:49 am »

serf,

I cannot duplicate this. What firmware do you have? Have you been running iTunes or another application to access iPod? Have you reimported tracks into MC that you had already transferred to iPod? If you answer yes to the last question, this is the problem. Delete the tracks from iPod and resend and you will be OK.

packyb,

This was fixed after .291. Please get the latest version of MC and let me know if you still see the problem.

Phil,

I was not leaving enough space to write the iTunesDB files when the maximum space on iPod was exceeded. I think this will be fixed in the next build. How big are your iTunesDB file and your PlayCounts file when you are near full capacity?

Radiant,

Step 4 - Try deselecting all smartlists and you should see the space increase. Do you have more than one playlist on iPod? If so, if you have files in more than one playlist and you deselect one playlist in the Sync dialogue, the available space will not increase because the files will remain on iPod.

Quote

it does cause the files on the iPOD to vanish if the drive is selected under CD, DVDs, & Handhelds.

After the sync? Do you see the files if you click on the root iPod drive letter (as opposed to the playlist). Have you reimported any of the files into MC that you already sent to iPod?

thtv01,

Quote

What's different about the drag and drop method compared to the synchronize option on the right click menu?

Functionally, not much.

I can transfer .mp4 files and then transfer .aa and all play fine. I think this is what you are saying fails for you right?

Quote

I did get a message when I tried the transfer of the smartlist that told me that one of the files already existed and it ask something like 'do you wish to over write the existing file' and I clicked yes.

You must not be using the Sync dialogue. It sounds like you are drag and dropping the smartlist on the iPod. Try using the Sync dialogue. Hope you got some sleep.

joshuamarx,

Please get MC 9.1.296 if you do not have it. The right click options were messed up a few versions back.

mindracing · « **Reply #15 on:** November 06, 2003, 11:31:35 am »

Is there a reason why MC syncs at circa 7Mb/s and Anapod Explorer is able to achieve circa 15?

SteveG · « **Reply #16 on:** November 06, 2003, 11:46:43 am »

mindracing,

Can you confirm this speed difference in real time (not just what the players report)?

Steve

Iplod along · « **Reply #17 on:** November 06, 2003, 04:09:35 pm »

Questions and Answers

Steve,

I did as you suggested nd tied up MC library.

I have been able to sync in part MC by drag n' dropping. I can honestly say I do not change the naming and encoding format and yet found the following issues which prevented a full sync.

Firstly I reformated iPod from using MC and not the iPod. This cleared the problem where MC quoted usage when no music was on the iPod.

My observations were:
1. windows had some blank folders yet MC contained mp3 format. Why?
2. in the grag n' drop I noticed that some tracks stayed in the queue while others on the same CD finished the copying sequence. Why?
3. tracks that synced perfectly in the past no long do meaning I have had to delete them and re-rip. Why?
4. windows created folders for genres in My Music. Why?
5. problematical Cds were those that comprised more than one cd (i.e a 4CD set). Some would sync and others in the set did not. Each file name was consistent with the cd is was supposed to represent. strange?

Finally I manually uploaded tracks and they have not appeared on the iPod despite the folder conversion showing the transfer took place

Iplod along (on the slow road to a full iPod)

Phil Lee · « **Reply #18 on:** November 06, 2003, 05:20:03 pm »

Quote from: SteveG on November 06, 2003, 11:28:49 am

Phil,

I was not leaving enough space to write the iTunesDB files when the maximum space on iPod was exceeded. I think this will be fixed in the next build. How big are your iTunesDB file and your PlayCounts file when you are near full capacity?

Steve

I've just had a successful synch using 9.1.297. This time I madesure there was plenty of lee way in the music I was synching so that I didn't exceed the capacity of the iPod. The synch ran through, there were no orphaned files on the iPod and my play count/last played data was updated correctly. I'm a happy camper

As for the iTunesDB file, it is currently 1,453,966 bytes and the Play Counts file is 19,704 bytes. This is with 1634 songs on my 9.2Gb 2G iPod with 157Mb of free space left.

Niro · « **Reply #19 on:** November 06, 2003, 11:01:39 pm »

I'm having the same problem skeet was having...I sync 4300+ songs and everything is fine ths morning...come back from work and sync again to update the ratings and playcount...and now I only see 88 songs on the ipod. If I browse the ipod from MC9 it sees all the songs. The same thing happened to me yesterday.

ashawley · « **Reply #20 on:** November 06, 2003, 11:51:11 pm »

Steve:

If you get a chance, can you take a loot at my Random Isn't? thread? I'm not sure but I sure am noticing something strange when I play the smartlist on the iPod vs viewing it in MC9.

Adam

Iplod along · « **Reply #21 on:** November 07, 2003, 02:28:24 am »

Questions and Answers

Steve,

A follow up to my earlier posting.

A new day has dawned and I tried to manually sync some files that failed the drag n' drop process I undertook yesterday and which at the time showed that they were moving from in queue to finished. I was unable to even complete the action.

A message box with a white cross on a white background appeared. The tracks I tried to sync had (seemingly) sync'd through drag n' drop routine yesterday.

Any reason for this?

iPlod along

SteveG · « **Reply #22 on:** November 07, 2003, 10:02:39 am »

Niro,

If you are approaching the size limit on the iPod, this could have caused a problem. I fixed something related to this yesterday, but we have not done a build yet to include it. Also, are you running MC at work? If you are syncing against two copies of MC, this will cause problems. What happens if you "Rebuild iTunesDB', do all the files appear?

Adam,

When you did the sync with the smartlist with Random removed, is your playlist view for that smartlist set to sort by 'Artist'. This would account for what you are seeing.

Iplod,

I am struggling to follow your questions. If you are having consistent problems transferring certain files, email me one and I will see if I can replicate the problem. Try to keep your testing as simple as possible, when you introduce layers of variables, it is much harder to make suggestions.

Iplod along · « **Reply #23 on:** November 07, 2003, 12:38:30 pm »

Steve,

Sorry to confuse you as I can see from the many postings that you have a lot of issues on your plate at the moment.

Please tell me the best way to send you a file to review and which file (eg mediajukebox format). Basically my problem is that after some success of dragging files to sync that this option no longer works.

The day before yesterday I was able to drag files over and sync with the iPod successfully.

The next day I did the same again and from the transfer window it appeared that this strategy had again worked. However when I dismounted the iPod the files had not transferred.

This morning I tried without success to drag over some of the files that originally appeared in the transfer window yesterday and which had appeared to transfer successfully but ultimately had not.

So over the course of three days there has been a deteriation in the drag n'drop process from working to not working.

iPlos along

SteveG · « **Reply #24 on:** November 07, 2003, 01:38:31 pm »

IPlod,

Try to figure out a way to replicate your problem with a degree of certainty. Use small numbers of files and repeat steps so that you can try to give me something to work with. I cannot duplicate your problem and have not seen similar posts. Try to be as clear as possible in your description of how you are doing things. You mention dragging files over and syncing, but these are two different processes and I need to narrow this down to give you advice.

Steve

ashawley · « **Reply #25 on:** November 07, 2003, 04:44:53 pm »

Steve:

No, the smartlist had now sorting on it in MC9 (in the view I mean). Nor did it have sorting in the rules.

So, it was just weird to me that it was sorted in MC9's view, but not on the iPod.

Don't worry about this one...I'm giving up on the whole "random isn't" thing. No one seems to be able to duplicate it, nor do I get the sense that anyone believe's it's happening.

So, I'll shuffle off to my little corner now.

Adam

Niro · « **Reply #26 on:** November 07, 2003, 10:33:28 pm »

Same thing just happened again today...everything working fine and now I synch'd and my ipod is missing 90% of the songs. I THINK this only happens when I make changes to the MC9 library. I sync'd a few times and as far as I know (don't remember if I actually checked after every sync) and the files were stilll there...but just now I added some songs to the MC9 library, synch'd, and everything on the ipod disapeared. I can't verify if it only happens when I make changes to the library...I'll try doing it again tommorow (ipod doing an initial upload again right now

).
I'm not using MC9 at work btw. Just at home. I'm not exactly sure what the restore ItunesDB option is that you're taking about. So...I haven't even tried it.

Niro · « **Reply #27 on:** November 07, 2003, 10:49:20 pm »

I just tried restoring the database from ipod in MC9 (guess that's what you meant by restore from itunesDB?), and that actually did work. Then I resynch'd with MC9 to get my playlists back onto the ipod.

CageB · « **Reply #28 on:** November 08, 2003, 10:11:01 am »

Ok, I am about to give up.

I installed the iTunes software a couple of weeks ago and since then MC and my iPod have not spoken! I have gone through scores of posts and followed every instruction I can all with no joy... hopefully someone here (much smarter than myself) can give me some help.

Here are the particulars: I am running MC version 9.1 build 291, iPod firmware v. 2.1 on a 30gig iPod, all of which is on a PC running windows XP home. I have now removed the iTunes software from my computer. The iPod service is still installed, but I have been toggling between running and stopped for the various testing that I do.

I have reformatted my iPod using the iPod updater (many times now). When I go into MC, it sees my iPod, but when I select FORMAT it puts up a progress dialog box that says "Static" and then pops up a "Format Failed" message. I cannot get around this.

Does anyone have suggestions for me?

Iplod along · « **Reply #29 on:** November 08, 2003, 11:36:15 am »

Steve,

I aplogise for not making myself very clear. I am not a computer novice by the quality of knowledge shown in the other postings.

I have now been able to complete a full sync betwen MC and my Ipod. I did this by deleting all mp3-2 files and deleted all empty folders from My Music and then deleted the same files from MC.

I am after two pieces of advice from anyone:

1. how are mp3-2 files created. I have not knowingly created them, and 2
2. some of my problems stem from CDs with multiple artists so I am wondering what is the best way to name them with my naming convention below. For example how would one name the following:

CD Tamala Motown Gold
CD number 3
Track 11
Track name I heard it through the grapevine
Artist Marvin Gaye

My present file name convention is:

Base path:My Music/
Directory rule: Artist/Album
Filename: Artist/Album/Track no./Name

Many thanks for your help.

IPlod along

dbi · « **Reply #30 on:** November 08, 2003, 04:14:06 pm »

Please help. I can rip and use MediaCenter 9 perfectly except I cannot sync with my IPOD to get any music on it. Everytime I connect my IPOD it says do not disconnect and then when I drop music into "handheld" it says ok to disconnect and am unable to transfer music to IPOD. I cannot see my IPOD in MC or in my computer for more than a second or two before it disconnects. However I am able to sync with Jukebox without difficulty. I am running USB 2.0 . Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
?
Media Center 9.1.291 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\

Microsoft Windows XP Workstation 5.1 Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
Intel Pentium 4 1595 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 654 MB, Free - 405 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: 2, 0, 0, 0 , ASPI for WIN32 DLL, Copyright © Adaptec 1995 / Aspi32.sys: N/A

Ripping / Drive D: Copy mode:Normal 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: LITE-ON LTR-16102B 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

JimH · « **Reply #31 on:** November 08, 2003, 05:48:56 pm »

Adam's instructions in the first post here are a good place to start.

Musicmatch and iTunes can interfere and may need to be uninstalled. You'll find more about this if you look at old posts.

vph · « **Reply #32 on:** November 09, 2003, 02:32:33 am »

Steve -

I'm still having a problem with getting an error message when I sync. Specifically:

"The following is a list of files that failed to transfer with an error code."

In the list box I get:

"G:\iPod_Control\Music\F03\185633.mp3-2"

In your last response you said this means "The system cannot find the file specified". In my last response I thought I figured out which track was in issue. However, while the one I found was having a problem, I fixed it, it now plays correctly, but I continue to get the error.

This brings me back to my first question: how do I know which track is missing/broken/AWOL? I'm hoping once I figure that out I might have a better idea of why I'm getting the error in the first place.

Any thoughts?

VPH

molarman · « **Reply #33 on:** November 09, 2003, 11:01:16 am »

I am recording some audio cassettes that I have - some continuing education - all spoken word - no music. I have multiple tracks for many of these tapes - something like:

PR 1
PR 2
PR 3..........etc

When I sync to the iPod these tracks do not show up in order (1,2,3), but rather at what seems like random (2,3,1). How can I get these tracks in the proper sequence on my iPod?

bjevers · « **Reply #34 on:** November 09, 2003, 02:26:47 pm »

Steve - I am having a problem with files that I transfer to my Ipod showing up. Here is an example that happened to me today. I had some songs on my Ipod I wanted to delete because I had made a new rip of them at a higher bitrate, so I browsed to the songs via the CD, DVD, and Handhelds tree. I deleted the old songs off the Ipod from there. I browsed to my new "version" of the songs in my Media Library, right clicked on the album, and chose Send to, CD, DVD, and Handhelds, Ipod Drive Letter. Next I went to my Ipod in the CD, DVD, and Handheld tree and chose Transfer. Right away MC told me I already had files on the Ipod with the same name and if I should overwrite. I don't think that warning should be coming up. So I chose yes to overwrite. The new songs showed up on the Ipod in MC, but not on the Ipod itself after I disconnected it. I had to reconnect the Ipod and choose Rebuild Database from Ipod for the files to show up. This has happened to me before also. A rebuild always fixes it. I do not have another other Ipod software installed, just MC. The Ipod was initialized with MC somewhere in the 280 builds I believe. My handhelds plugin is version 9.0.75.

Media Center Registered 9.1.299 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\

Microsoft Windows XP Workstation 5.1 Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
AMD Athlon 2303 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 1048 MB, Free - 744 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: N/A
Ripping / Drive F: Copy mode:Normal CD Type:Auto Read speed:Max
Drive G: Copy mode:Normal CD Type:Auto Read speed:Max
Drive H: Copy mode:Normal 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: LITE-ON LTR-48125W Addr: 2:0:0 Speed:48 MaxSpeed:48 BurnProof:Yes
Drive G: SONY DVD RW DRU-500A Addr: 2:1:0 Speed:24 MaxSpeed:24 BurnProof:Yes
Test mode: No / Eject after writing: No / Direct decoding: Yes / Write CD-Text: Yes
Use playback settings: No / Normalization: None

CageB · « **Reply #35 on:** November 09, 2003, 02:51:35 pm »

Does anyone else get the "Format Failed" message when they try to format their iPod from within MC? I cannot get past this.

thtv01 · « **Reply #36 on:** November 09, 2003, 03:09:45 pm »

CageB - When you say that you are choosing the 'format' option in MC do you mean the 'initialize' option? Because I'm not sure what format option you are talking about. You only need to initialize not format.

After running Apple's restore program disconnect the ipod then set time and date. Reconnect ipod and bring up MC. Click on the 'CD, DVD, and Handhelds' in the file tree to expand. You should get a message that the ipod needs to be initialized. Then right click on the ipod in the now expanded file tree and choose 'initialize'. Make sure that you are looking under the 'CD, DVD, and Handhelds' and not the 'file explorer' in the files tree that shows all of your drives.

MC should quickly initialize your ipod.

I hope that helps.
Tim

CageB · « **Reply #37 on:** November 09, 2003, 05:39:54 pm »

Tim,

Thanks for the post. Turns out that what I had to do was remove and reinstall the MC software. I checked out the iPodLounge and there were a number of other people that had the same problem.

I'm not certain what the problem was, but what was happening was when you right clicked to get the iPod menu in MC, instead of getting a full menu (with the initialize option being one choice) you got a single menu pick for "Format." Selecting that would give you the error described above. After the reinstall, all is well.

Bill

rancyland · « **Reply #38 on:** November 10, 2003, 02:55:47 am »

I noted with some consternation that tracks for which I have properly-formatted tags for artist and album title are being transferred to the iPod with the value '(Multiple Artists)' in the artist tag.

I investigated in MC, studying the Tag Info window. I confirmed that I had good values in both the Artist and Album fields. I also noted that the Album Artist (auto) field is populated with the value '(Multiple Artists)' for each of the tracks in question. That field allows editing, but the new values are discarded when refreshed.

I also saw that the Album Type field contains the value 'Multiple Artists (complete)' or 'Multiple Artists (incomplete)'. That value cannot be changed.

Why is MC using the Album Artist (auto) field to populate the iPod's Artist field? What do I change to force the iPod to reflect the values in MC's Artist field?

SteveG · « **Reply #39 on:** November 10, 2003, 09:41:03 am »

Iplod,

1) Are you referring to the error message you see in MC when you talk about mp3-2? The -2 is an error code, not a file type.

Post item 2 in the main forum for lots of suggestions on what might be best (which is subjective).

dbi,

This sounds either a hardware issue or a problem with another application fighting for the connection with the iPod. Do you have MusicMatch or iTunes installed? If so, can you run them without seeing the iPod disappear? If not, then it is a hardware problem. If you can run them, try uninstalling them or at least rename their folders temporarily so they will not try to run.

VPH,

In the iPod view, sort your files by Filename and then locate the path to the file F03\185633.mp3. Delete this file from iPod and then try readding it from MC.

molarman,

If you are syncing, you are using playlists/ smartlists. Create a playlist and order your tracks in the order you want and then sync it to get the files in order. Alternately you could create a smartlist for these files, and then you could apply a sorting rule to always have the tracks in the order you want.

bjevers,

When you deleted the files from iPod, were you at the root view (i.e. the drive letter)? If not, you did not delete the files, but only deleted them from a particular playlist and that is your problem.

Rancyland,

The Album Artist (Auto) field is used by default to populate the Artist field. If you want to use another field (i.e. Artist) simply right click on the iPod drive letter in MC and use the 'Select Artist Field' option.

Steve

rhaehnel · « **Reply #40 on:** November 10, 2003, 09:41:20 am »

If I use MC9 to load up my iPod and then use iTunes to create a 'dynamic playlist', MC9 is no longer able to access the iPod- I get a core error and MC9 dies a horrific death.

I realize I could avoid this whole problem by not using iTunes, but the dynamic playlists are really awesome and its the only way I can successfully xfer useable iTunes purchased files to my iPod.

Any chance that MC9 will be able to access the iPod after iTunes does its 'magic' on the ipod database?

SteveG · « **Reply #41 on:** November 10, 2003, 10:00:12 am »

rhaenel,

Running MC 9.1.299 I cannot duplicate your crash. Please get 9.1.299 if you do not have it. With 9.1.299 you should not have problems transferring tunes purchased with iTunes to your iPod.

Steve

bjevers · « **Reply #42 on:** November 10, 2003, 10:09:49 am »

Steve - Yes, I had the Ipod letter selected (thus showing everything on the device) when I deleted the files. I have no playlists on my Ipod. It seems like everytime I transfer new songs to my Ipod, I have to use the Rebuild DB option for them to actually show up on the Ipod. They show up in MC however.

rhaehnel · « **Reply #43 on:** November 10, 2003, 10:19:38 am »

the new build seems to fix the issue w/ xfering itunes purchased files, however, I still cannot access the ipod from MC9 after using itunes on the ipod.

Does anyone else get this behavior?

Niro · « **Reply #44 on:** November 10, 2003, 11:45:46 am »

I'm still having problems where every now and then my ipod loses most of the songs and usually the playlists disapear to (I get one blank playlist which is empty, and the "on the go" playlist. Restoring the database from ipod does restore it. I'm using 9.1.299 version of mc9.

rhaehnel · « **Reply #45 on:** November 10, 2003, 01:04:46 pm »

niro-

I've seen this one. It usually happens when I do a partial sync( 1 or 2 playslists out of 20). As a workaround I just sync w/ all my playlists selected.

Quote

I'm still having problems where every now and then my ipod loses most of the songs and usually the playlists disapear to (I get one blank playlist which is empty, and the "on the go" playlist. Restoring the database from ipod does restore it. I'm using 9.1.299 version of mc9.

SteveG · « **Reply #46 on:** November 10, 2003, 02:45:49 pm »

bjevers,

If you have not reinitialized since the .280 builds, could you try that?

rhaenel,

Thanks for the iTunesDB file. iTunes is writing some garbage into one of the database entries that was causing me problems. I have corrected this and it will be available in tonight's MC build.

Niro,

If you are seeing an "On the go" playlist, is iTunes running? When you are synching, do you have "Delete files" selected? If not, do you have all the playlists selected that you want to synch?

mindracing · « **Reply #47 on:** November 10, 2003, 04:43:56 pm »

Quote from: SteveG on November 06, 2003, 11:46:43 am

mindracing,

Can you confirm this speed difference in real time (not just what the players report)?

Steve

Will do, as soon as my new firewire lead arrives from Apple. (I've used the other to hardwire into the car using IceLink) It's excellent.

Niro · « **Reply #48 on:** November 10, 2003, 05:58:40 pm »

Steve,

I have the delete unselected files from portable checked off and usually the Sync data to MC checked off. Itunes is not installed and actually never was, only the ipod manager is installed (although this happened even when the ipod manager wasn't installed). I do have the playlists I want to sync selected (about 12 of them)...I even created an "everything" play list that includes all the songs because someone told me that the "all music" auto smartlist can cause this problem over at the ipodlounge forum.

willrmc · « **Reply #49 on:** November 10, 2003, 10:29:55 pm »

steve,
i recently reripped some cds from a different computer and replaced the original files on my computer and had MC do an update, which in turn updated the bitrates and all neccessary info into MC.
however i just looked and realized that none of those files were re-transfered to the iPod, unless i deleted them from the iPod first and then did another sync. i believe it allready checks to see if the tags have changed and reuploads it if they have. so perhaps you could make it check file sizes on sync as well and if the size has changed, it will re-upload the song? any thoughts on this? thanks again.
-will

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Author Topic: POST IPOD SUPPORT QUESTIONS HERE (Read 37921 times)

rancyland