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[serf]

I just restored (as I have before) using the ipod system updater 2.1.  There are the folders you describe in the music folder, but no files in any of those folders.

I'll initialize in .75 and try to synch again (4th time), and let you know if there is any difference tomorrow.

Thanks,

Steve

[serf]

I had restored with no problem using ipod's 2.1 software - no orphaned files.

I initialized using .75 - no orphaned files.

I synched 5076 files & had 1.1 GB available on the ipod.  I could see files in the root of the ipod w/i .75 & playlists & files were under playlists.

W/o disconnecting, I checked synch & it again said I would have 1.1 GB available after synch on the ipod (though I cancelled the synch before it started).

I disconnected the ipod & closed .75.

I did not listen to any songs or rate any songs or do anything to or on the ipod.

I restarted .75 & connected the ipod.  I could not see files in the root of the ipod.  I right clicked to synch & it now said (with nothing changed in playslist selections for transfer or otherwise) that I would have -25.6 GB available if I hit OK.

Could be orphaned files, but not clear why.

Database (files) & ipod must be fine, as they work under .38.  Seems like its .75 for some reason.  Let me know if it would help to send any of the files in.  Otherwise, I'll probably go back to .38 as rating & synching is more important than audible (though I'd miss it).

Thanks,

Steve

[ADDiCT]

Hello Steve!
Thanks for the reply...

I've done further investigation on my problem (synched smartlists are not shown on the iPod with 0.75, Playlist filename with strange characters), and have the follwing findings:

- Rien seems to have the same problem. The "strange characters" are actually two block-signs, followed by the name of the playlist, -2 chars at the beginning

- the problem is not related to the name of the playlist. I've deleted the playlist & resynched - after this, another playlist would have the strange characters in the filename

- Today, i've synched all my playlists to a 10GB 2G iPod with 0.59. This worked perfectly, and there was no playlist with a strange name on the iPod!

I'm synching to a 40GB 3G iPod - maybe it's the sheer number of files or size of database? Could it be i'm hitting some buffer limits or something like that?

Thank you very much for the "personal" support here - it's good to know someone is listening. (;

[SteveG]

Serf,

"I could not see files in the root of the ipod. "  <-- What do you mean by this? You could not see files at the root of iPod in MC?? If so, please send me your iTunesDB and let me see if I see anything. Also, do you have any other software installed that might be taking control of the iPod (i.e. MusicMatch or iTunes)? One possibility is that those programs are messing up your database. When you have this problem, go to your iPod drive from within Windows and right click on your iPod drive and select "Properties" and verify the space available on your iPod.

ADDICT,

Can you try synching the same playlists from the 10 gig succesful synch to the 40 gig iPod to verify that all is well. Then try adding playlists one at a time until you see the problem and try to isolate what is going on .

Thanks,

Steve

[Seviien]

Synched playlists are not in proper order using .75
When transfering songs to the ipod, MC will simply add new songs onto the end of the playlist/smartlist such that they are not in the same order as they are in MC.

All dates for last played are returning as 2.1 years whenever a song is played on the ipod.

I have initialized, and still get the same problems.

[serf]

"I could not see files in the root of the ipod" meaning when I clicked on "G" (the ipod) in MC on the 2nd connection, I could not see any files in the root.  My recollection is that after the initial synch and before I disconnected, I could see the files in the root of the ipod from within MC.

I just reconnected the ipod --- I can't see any files in the root directory, whereas (as I indicated above) I thought I recall having seen files in the root directory of the ipod from within MC (.75).  I can see files listed on the ipod under the playlists from within MC (and on the ipod apart from MC).

I'm not sure if this makes a difference in why there is no room to synch.  I checked properties from window explorer - there is about 1.1 GB free, as it said in MC when doing the initial synch.  Now, when I try to synch the same (unchanged) files, it says there would be -25.6 GB free, as if it does not see any of the files it had sent to the ipod.


This is a new computer and has never had itunes or musicmatch installed on it.

I'll try and send the itunes file.

Thanks,

Steve

[ddwakeham]

Is there an idiot's guide to 10.0.75 and the iPod?  I just got my iPod today and cannot get any music to transfer to the iPod from 10.0.75.   iTunes works flawlessly but MC refuses to transfter my music to the device even after a fresh restore and initialize.  I've used MC since the early V9 betas and can't for the life of me figure this one out.

TIA

[Snuffy2]

If you sync over a playlist, then you rename the playlist in MC and resync, the old named playlist is still there along with the new named one.

Bug?

[SteveG]

Seviien,

Changes tonight should resolve the playlist ordering issue. In regards to the last played date, check the date and time on your iPod. My guess is they are wrong which is causing the inaccuracy in the last played date.

serf,

When you see the incorrect space problem, right click on your iPod drive letter and select 'Rebuild database from iPod' and see if the problem goes away (your playlists will go away, but they can be recreated on your next synch).

ddwakeham,

The best guide we have is here....

http://www.home.earthlink.net/~ashawley01/  

If you have been using iTunes, try right clicking on your iPod drive letter in MC and select 'Initialize'. This will set your iPod to be compatible with MC. Then, right click and select 'Synchronize' and select MC playlists to go to your iPod. That should do it.

Snuffy2,

This is fixed tonight.

Steve

[LarryJoe]

Larry,

Thanks for working on this. Let me know how it turns out and I will make adjustments as necessary.

Steve

Steve - I am still at it and this is driving me crazy.  I thought for sure it was a bad file or bad playlist.  I still keep getting the non descriptive red "X" error when trying to sych or even manually transferring files.  I am able to transfer small groups or playlists sometimes, but not all the time with no rime or reason.  I have tried everything, including clearing the library, copying my mp3's to another directory and importing from there.  I am out of ideas and faced with using ephpod.

Any other ideas?

[SteveG]

LarryJoe,

Today I fixed a bug in which playlists may not have always been destroyed which could have caused problems. Try with tonight's version and try doing simple small tasks to try to narrow down the problem.

Thanks,

Steve

[serf]

SteveG:

I tried "rebuild database from ipod" but it did not help.  In fact, all files disappeared from the MC view of the ipod, whether from playlists or artists, etc.  Tried synching, but it said it would exceed space available.

I installed .76, restored the ipod using updated 2.1, initialized in .76, checked in exploreder and there was 27.8GB available, synched, saw files in the root directory of the ipod from within MC and all of the playlists.  Disconnected ipod, started to play an audible book.  Reconnected.  No files in root directory of ipod from within MC.  Attempting to synch again says it would exceed space available.

I'm the only one with the problem?

Thanks,


Steve

[SteveG]

Serf,

Yes, you are the only one with this problem. Can you try using another program to make sure you do not have some kind of a hardware issue? From your description, everything is good, you unplug your iPod and play some files and then reconnect and MC does not recognize any files. MC is not accessing your iPod during this process which points away from anything we are doing. You could email me your iTunesDB and I can see if it is messed up (my apologies if you have sent it before, but I have not received it, perhaps it is being filtered out).

Steve

[LarryJoe]

Still at it Steve, latest build and all with same vague error box.  I did transfer 100 songs manually (via "send to") this morning just to get my Ipod up and running again (It was painful not having my tunes for my daily commute yesterday).  Very strange.  I had been using Ephpod as a bandaid, but this is pretty buggy as well, telling me my ipod is full after only getting through 30% of the transfer.

I may just have to download iTunes to see how that performs with my ipod.  I'm out of options.  If only the non-descript error box in MC said something.

[SteveG]

LarryJoe,

If Ephpod and MC are performing strangely, it becomes more likely that there is some kind of hardware issue. Downloading iTunes would be a good test. If you run into problems there, pursue this as a hardware problem. The non descript error box is not being generated from within the plugin it is coming from the system and can be for many reasons not related to MC.

Steve

[mindracing]

Still at it Steve, latest build and all with same vague error box.  I did transfer 100 songs manually (via "send to") this morning just to get my Ipod up and running again (It was painful not having my tunes for my daily commute yesterday).  Very strange.  I had been using Ephpod as a bandaid, but this is pretty buggy as well, telling me my ipod is full after only getting through 30% of the transfer.

I may just have to download iTunes to see how that performs with my ipod.  I'm out of options.  If only the non-descript error box in MC said something.

It sure sounds like hardware.

Are you using firewire or USB? Try switching and see if the problem goes. I had similar issues and switched to USB - problem gone. The problem only occurred for me when synching with firewire from firewire drives.

Hope this helps some.

[LarryJoe]

Thanks Steve, I will try iTunes tonight.

I am using firewire.

[warner]

Does anyone know if the latest build of version 10 will work with the ipod mini? I'm currently using ver 10.060 and that does not seem to work.  Thanks.

[JimH]

Does anyone know if the latest build of version 10 will work with the ipod mini? I'm currently using ver 10.060 and that does not seem to work.  Thanks.

Please try the latest build.  

[warner]

Latest version doesn't work either with ipod mini. Same problem. No error messages.  Actually, got a confirmation window that everything transferred. Everything looks fine on the ipod until I try to play the songs.  It justs quickly goes thru all the songs in my playlist but doesn't play any songs.

[serf]

Serf,

Yes, you are the only one with this problem. Can you try using another program to make sure you do not have some kind of a hardware issue? From your description, everything is good, you unplug your iPod and play some files and then reconnect and MC does not recognize any files. MC is not accessing your iPod during this process which points away from anything we are doing. You could email me your iTunesDB and I can see if it is messed up (my apologies if you have sent it before, but I have not received it, perhaps it is being filtered out).

Steve

I recall it had been working with MC 10.38.  I'll retry that tonight & let you know if it works.

Your description is correct, except (1) the same thing has happened even when, after disconnecting, I don't play any files and after a brief period disconnected I reconnect it & try to synch and (2) when I reconnect, the files show under the playlists in MC - they just don't show under the root of the ipod from within MC and the synch says there is no space even though no file has in any way changed from the files MC put there 5  minutes before.

I could not find an e-mail address for you.  Feel free to send it to me & I'll send an itunes.db file I saved from a day or two ago (I had sent it to the forum administrator with a request to forward to you).

Thanks,

Steve

[serf]

SteveG:

Reinstalled MC10.38, restored ipod, initialized ipod, synched over 5k files.  They show up in root directory of ipod from within MC, as do playlists.  Disconnect.  Played song (audible does not play).

Closed and reopened MC10.38.  Connected ipod.  Files show up in root of ipod from within MC10.38 and under playlists.   Synch says (as it should) 1.2 GB space available, and synch of over 5k unchanged files (over 11k if taking playlists into account) takes about 3 minutes.

In otherwords, the ipod synchs fine with other software (MC10.38), but not with anything after MC10.65 (or whatever was safe for ipods) in the sense that it only synchs once & then looses "coordination" with or "recognition" of the files MC put on the ipod.

Hope this helps  thanks for trying.

Steve

[LarryJoe]

Steve - I tried iTunes (for the first time) and it worked perfectly.  Apple makes it pretty simple, I pretty much loaded it, ointed it to my music and the ipod synched to the library.

I guess I'll keep using itunes while trying each new build of MC10 with my fingers crossed.  On a side note, boy MC10 and iTunes are very similar in terms of interface, hmmm..  

[gpvillamil]

FWIW I'm still getting perfect syncs with a 2G iPod, MC10.0.77. Free space reports correctly, all playlists and smartlists move across, rating & last played data is synced.

[gbdesai]

With .76 I lost playlists.  I will investigate further today before jumping to conclusions.

[LarryJoe]

FWIW I'm still getting perfect syncs with a 2G iPod, MC10.0.77. Free space reports correctly, all playlists and smartlists move across, rating & last played data is synced.

Yeah, I was too until this past week.  I can't explain it.  I do not think I have a hardware issue even though Ephpod acted up a bit, but I used Ephpod two Ipods ago before MC developed the plugin and I always found it to be quirky.  Given memory address errors and orphaned songs and such, similar to the recent bugs using it.  iTunes kind of confirmed that this is a software issue on my system.  I killed everything possible running in the background, including processes, virus software, etc. and no go.  I did not install any hardware recently either.  The only thing I can think of is the XP critical update last week.  This just doesn't make sense.

In the interim, I am going to try to use iTunes only to synch, but from the 30 minutes or so I played with it, I kind of liked it.  Of course it is not as powerful a program as MC, but the basics were pretty clean and intuitive, and it obviously works well with the ipod.  But I have been a loyal paying customer to JRiver since MJB 5 and I ain't goin nowhere.

[SteveG]

warner,

I have not tested this with an iPod mini yet. If you can, try the following... Initialize the  iPod from within MC. Drag and drop one file on the iPod and transfer the file. Disconnect and try to play the file. If it does not work, email me your iTunesDB file which is found in Windows Explorer under the iPod drive letter in iPod_Control\iTunes. My email is steve @ jriver.com.

Serf,

Can you send me your iTunesDB to steve @ jriver.com (remove the spaces before and after the '@') for one of the instance where the  files appear in Playlists but not under the root of iPod?

Thanks.


LarryJoe,

If you want to pursue this further, put 10.0.77 back on and then perform these tests...

1) Drag and drop 100 files and transfer. Let me know if this fails.
2) If it succeeds a few times. Reinitialize and create one playlist of 100 files.Sync it. Let me know if it fails.

Thanks.

gpvilamil,

Thanks for the report.

gbdesai,

Let me know more as you know it.

[nel]

Hello,

I just want to thanks SteveG for the work since last week. IPod sync is now working fine since 10.0.75. So far my playcounts are updated in MC, the smartlists are updating correctly (no more delete before sync) and the new speed is really a big improvement.  

Nel.
PS: I have a quick question : how much work would it be to make a sync and eject option which would bypass the option screen - just do a sync with the last settings and then eject the iPod ? Or even better : provide a toolbar button to achieve this ? (I ask that because even if the speed reading the file at the root improved greatly it 's still a bit annoying to right click on the iPod letter, wait, re-right click most of the time then eject)

[LarryJoe]

LarryJoe,

If you want to pursue this further, put 10.0.77 back on and then perform these tests...

1) Drag and drop 100 files and transfer. Let me know if this fails.
2) If it succeeds a few times. Reinitialize and create one playlist of 100 files.Sync it. Let me know if it fails.

Thanks.

Steve - I have done this over and over with both drag and drops and synching small playlists.  The result is that sometimes it works and sometimes the same files or playlists give me that annoying red X error message.  Since I seem to be the only one with this problem, I realize this could be a tough one to troubleshoot.  I don't know what else I can tell you, this is very frustrating.

[LarryJoe]

DP

[SteveG]

LarryJoe,

I know you have done this many times, but sometimes you have successfully transferred. From your reports it has not failed every time. I am trying to establish a baseline to compare against. When it has failed has it always been with the exact same 100 files that had previously worked or is it a different 100 files? For example, did you transfer 100, succeed and then try transferring the same 100?  In the new MC 10, if you do not reinitialize or delete after the first transfer of 100 files, these files should all be skipped on the next transfer if you are doing the drag and drop. Lets try to clarify this point as this may be where the problem is. Feel free to use less than 100 for the purpose of this test.

Steve

[LarryJoe]

Will do Steve.  I appreciate the help very much and the personalized attention.

[warner]

Steve,

Version 10.078 seems to be working great with the ipod mini so far.  Was previously using ver 10.076.

[Rien van Ham]

Hello,

Today in the .78 version (but this bug was already present in the .75):
1. I go to my Ipod-drive
2. Right-click a file
3. Choose: download to pc

..... crash!!!

Regards,
Rien

[SouthsideIrish]

On every sync I am getting songs with negative last played of -315101:04:28 on a whole bunch of songs, and this is happening whether I play them or not. I have cleared the data and resynced, and the same number will show up on those songs. It looks like the last played may be transfering correctly on the songs I actually play, but what would be causing the negative numbers? BTW, iPod clock and computer clock have same time and time zone.

Bill McNair

[TimB]

BTW, iPod clock and computer clock have same time and time zone.

Bill McNair

...and the same year?  Sounds crazy but I've made this mistake and it caused the sympton you're seeing.

-=Tim=--

[lalittle]

A synching problem came up with build 78.  When I go to do an iPod sync, the playlists don't show up in the sync window -- it's just blank space.  If I check and uncheck the "synchronize all files" checkbox at the top of the window, the playlists suddenely show up again.  I need to do this little "check/uncheck" procedure in order to see and select the playlist/s I want to sync.

This build is the first time this issue has ever happened to me.

Larry

[warner]

A synching problem came up with build 78.  When I go to do an iPod sync, the playlists don't show up in the sync window -- it's just blank space.  If I check and uncheck the "synchronize all files" checkbox at the top of the window, the playlists suddenely show up again.  I need to do this little "check/uncheck" procedure in order to see and select the playlist/s I want to sync.

This build is the first time this issue has ever happened to me.

Larry

I have the exact same problem with playlist not showing up. Only happening with build 78.

[ADDiCT]

Even with .78, my playlists still do not show up on the iPod after synching. I'm still having the same troubles i described in a previous post (one album & playlist name with a "$" and a "block sign" as the first characters, MC often crashes when clicking on the "+" for album and playlist).

The only way to get synching with MC versions later than .59 working correctly, is to initialize the iPod before every sync. This is not really an option, as the sync takes a very long time.

I have renamed nearly all of the smartlists/playlists, using only a-z, 0-9, and "-()[]" characters. I have also reduced the # of smartlists/playlists to be synched. I do not think the names of the playlists/smartlists are the problem.

The fact that i was able to sync the same playlists to a 10GB iPod without any effects still makes me believe the total number of files or playlists may be the problem. My 40GB iPod is full to about 95% (most songs won't change on sync, though), and i'm synching near to 500 playlists/smartlists.

For now, it's back to .59 on a old PC for me. No real problem so far, but the versions are getting more and more different - and the speed improvements are really very, very nice. Please make this work! (:

[SteveG]

Rien,

This is fixed in tonight's MC.

Bill,

I added a check for negative values in the plugin and will report '0' for ones that are incorrect. This does not answer the underlying issue of why iPod is giving me a negative number. Can you confirm Tim's suggestion above?

Larry and warner,

This is fixed in tonght's MC.

Addict,

The tricky part of your problem, is it is somewhat isolated, I don't have others reporting this. If your theory on total number of files is correct, I would expect others with 40 GB iPods to have similar problems. This is not the case. From your posts, I do not think you have been able to replicate this problem with anything smaller than a 10 GB sync. You also always successfully sync one time after an initialize, but subsequent synchs mess up.  Have you tried  MC 10 on the old PC which works with .59? or .59 on the PC which fails with 10?  I can understand if the answer is no, but it would be a good test. Also, with the last 2 builds of MC, there is now a checkbox in the sync for 'Send Playlist Data'. If you deselect this, you will always sync the files and not send the playlists which seem to be causing you the trouble. By using this option, you can troubleshoot your problem. Once your files are on iPod, if you select 'Delete unselected' and deselect 'Send Playlist Data' you will return to a state where all your files are on iPod, but none of your playlists. When you see the weird characters in a playlist, send me a copy of your iTunesDB ( you will find iTunesDB on your iPod in iPod_Control->iTunes)

steve @ jriver.com

[packyb]

Just upgraded to .78 - have been sticking with .38. I should mention that I am running XP, and that all of my files are stored as .ape files, and are converted to .mp3 (192) when sent to the iPod.

When I sent Pete Townshend's "Who Came First" album to my iPod, I rcvd. a pop-up after the transfer about 2 tracks that "failed to transfer with an error code." Those tracks, however, were listed on my iPod with the appropriate times and in the right location, but when I played them, they were 2 Toad The Wet Sprocket songs. Deleted and re-tried. And eventually the proper songs loaded.Is this something I should be concerned about?

[SteveG]

packyb,

I don't know why this would have happened. If you see it again, take note of the error code and let me know. Those errors are standard Windows errors and I can decipher what it means. I could guess at what the problem is if you had gone back and it failed again, but since it suceeded, I am not sure.

Steve

[packyb]

thanks steve.

on a different note, i have been reloading my ipod with songs after a re-format, and have a few observations. first, when i send the files to the g:/ drive, and then select "Show List", the order in which they appear by default is 1. Artist, 2. Album, 3. Genre. is there any way that I can change this to 1. Artist, 2. Album, 3. Track #? i believe that used to be the default.

also, i have noticed that when i select "Only Show Queued Files" in options, and then select "Show List", everything seems to be fine (when iPod is empty). however, when it is uploading MC will show that lets say 10 files on the album have transferred (musical notes next to them) but there will now be a second listing of some of those songs indicating it is "In Queue" but right next to that is the original that has already been sent.

i think that this is probably related, but my transfer was interrupted - it seems that MC just closed itself (my files are in .ape and need to be converted when sent to iPod), and when i look at what was transferred to the iPod, certain songs on individual albums were skipped. not sure if these would have eventually been transferred if the transfer completed, but MC had moved on to the next genre. literally every complete album is missing at least one song. it seems that MC is not loading the songs on to the ipod in their proper queue order. (this makes a difference when you are loading 5,000 songs that are stored in .ape format and have to be converted, and the loading takes several days.)

one last thing, when iPod has songs on it, and i select "Show Queued Files Only," it doesn't show queued files only.

[Rien van Ham]

Hello,

I had exactly the same problem! With other artists! They appeared in the list, but when I played then I got totally other songs!

Rien

[Rien van Ham]

Hello,

I can reproduce the problem:
1. Rip a CD
2. Send the songs to the IPOD
3. One or more songs are not transmitted (error code 80)
4. On the IPOD: expand the Albums-tree
5. The upload CD seems to be correct (all songs are there)
6. But.....
7. The songs, which where not tranmitted (see 3) are TOTALLY OTHER SONGS!!!

Rien

[Rien van Ham]

Hello,

And again....
Expanding the artists-tree:
C R A S H .............................

Sending some (ripped) songs to my hard-disk:
C R A S H .............................

Working for more than half an hour with MC, doing common tasks:
Guaranteed one of more   C R A S H E S ..................

Rien

[packyb]

Another issue: Various Artists no longer appears on my iPod.

Each artist from a muliple artist album appears separately. When I check the tags in my MC library, under "Calculated," it lists:
Album Artist (auto): Various Artists, and
Album Type: Multiple Artists (complete)

However, if I check the same fields on the iPod drive, it shows
Album Artist (auto): Then the name of each individual artist, and
Album Type: Single Artist (incomplete)

Did I miss a change to MC, or is this an error?

[SteveG]

packyb,

If you want files to show in a particular way when you click 'Show List' you can customize the ordering however you want. When in that view right click on the tag column headers and select 'Sorting'. First remove sorting to clean the sorting of this view. Then, click on the columns you want to sort in reverse order (i.e. Track #,  Album, Artist). Then save this view for this location and it will be there when you come back to it.

In tonight's MC I revamped the Show list, so the status should respond correctly. If files exist on the iPod and you queue them to reupload, they will appear twice, but will not be sent. I changed how the view refreshes so what you were describing about 'Show Queued files only' should not appear anymore.

The queue is no longer sent in an ordered fashion. If you interupt a transfer, don't worry, just resend all the files. Ones that already transferred will be skipped and your conversion will pick up with files that have not been transferred yet.

Portables no longer support anything for Artist other than 'Artist' to facilitate the new synchronization design. When you send tracks to a portable, the 'Artist' field in MC will become Artist on the player.

Rien,

I cannot duplicate this here. Error code 80 means the file is already at the loaction you are attempting to transfer it. I transferred 1000 songs. Ripped five new CDs and transferred them without error.

Sending some (ripped) songs to my hard-disk:
C R A S H .............................

Sending from where to where? From iPod to PC?

[packyb]

Thanks for the fixes and the info Steve.

Two questions about the future:

As far as the random sending of files - is that permanent? As a person who uses .ape format, it isn't so easy to just re-send bcs. all files have to first decode and then encode before they can be skipped, which in essence means I might as well start from scratch. (And bcs it takes such a long time to send files to the iPod, there is a higher chance of encountering problems.)

Also, is the elimination of 'Various Artists' on the iPod also permanent? (i realize that I can go back to MC and rename allof my multiple artist albums, but here I am referring to the future and whether MC will support this.)

[SteveG]

packyb,

The beauty of the new version is that the removal of files from the send which are duplicates happens before they ever get to the conversion step, so no need to worry about the resend.

The elimination of Various Artists is most likely permanent. In order to make synching universally available to all players, we changed to a file matching scheme based on Name, Artist, Album, Genre and TrackNumber. Trying to match based on a shifting Artist field seems like a recipe for errors and so we went with Artist.

Steve