Topic: MC iTunes Synchronizer (using MC with an iPhone or iPod Touch) [v6.0.2] (Read 494489 times)

bspachman · « **Reply #100 on:** June 15, 2009, 12:10:20 pm »

I was recently getting 'File not found in MC' errors with the newer versions as well... After tearing my hair a bit, I realized I had "Access Control" turned on in MC--which hides certain tracks from the library entirely.

Turning off access control and syncing again eliminated those errors for me...

Just another idea!
brad

broncodan · « **Reply #101 on:** June 15, 2009, 12:27:06 pm »

downloaded most current version and received the following error:

  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
- <SynchronizeResults StartDateTime="2009-06-15T09:03:20" Options="74000000043e000" SyncFileTypes="mp3;wav;wma" ImportFileTypes="mp3;wav;m4a">
  <Result EndDateTime="2009-06-15T09:27:57">Duplicate MC cache key encountered: K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\Bee Gees\Bee Gees - Greatest - Disc 1\(05) Stayin' Alive.mp3</Result>
  </SynchronizeResults>

I did have 2 files with the same name in the above folder and MC actually showed that I had 3 - I deleted the extra file in the folder, deleted all entries in MC, resynced the library and currently am in the process of re-running it (I have 70k plus songs so it takes a bit of time). Will let you know if anything else pops up.

prod · « **Reply #102 on:** June 15, 2009, 01:40:37 pm »

Quote from: broncodan on June 15, 2009, 12:27:06 pm

downloaded most current version and received the following error:

Yes, if your MC library is a bit messed up it will likely cause problems with the sync - there are a lot of checks & handling in MCiS to make sure it doesn't do any further damage to an already damaged library.

prod · « **Reply #103 on:** June 15, 2009, 02:03:08 pm »

There's a problem with the new Remove Broken Links option - I recommend not using it till I've fixed it. I've removed the link for the time being.

broncodan · « **Reply #104 on:** June 15, 2009, 04:50:27 pm »

As previously mentioned - I have a large library - MC Sycn was running fine and then I got the following error:

</Track>
<Result EndDateTime="2009-06-15T13:41:50">Insufficient memory to continue the execution of the program.</Result>
</SynchronizeResults>

My log file is 19,416 kb.....

I am going to try and run it again - maybe it will not have to resync the whole library?? But maybe there is something you can do for the memory issue.

As a request - it would be awesome if this could add playlists to Itunes - I like to create smartlists in MC then you can export all the playlists - which exports the smartlist results as playlists - and places them in the MC 13\Library\Playlists folder. I would sweet if you could place the playlists you want synced into a folder called - MC/ITUNES playlist sync - then export the files and then when you run this program it adds the playlists in that folder to itunes.

Please let me know if you need additional data regarding the memory issue...

prod · « **Reply #105 on:** June 15, 2009, 05:03:51 pm »

v2.5 fixes an issue with removing broken links in iTunes.

Quote from: broncodan on June 15, 2009, 04:50:27 pm

Please let me know if you need additional data regarding the memory issue...

Both libraries are cached so if you've got 70,000 in each library that's a fair chunk of memory. I'll have a look though see if there's something I can do.

broncodan · « **Reply #106 on:** June 15, 2009, 08:41:34 pm »

Definite memory issues for me.....

Version 2.5 seems worse than 2.4 (at least 2.4 got through quite a bit before it happened). I will try a restart and make sure everything is closed to see if it works better.

prod · « **Reply #107 on:** June 16, 2009, 05:11:14 am »

v2.6;

Further speed improvements
Uses less memory

broncodan - the app only caches the MC library now so the memory footprint should be a lot smaller. I'm looking at syncing playlists across at some point, when I've got enough time I'll look at it.

broncodan · « **Reply #108 on:** June 16, 2009, 11:43:38 am »

Haven't tried the new version but I noticed in 2.5 that the ratings don't seem to be working correctly:

I had this song rated as a 5 star song in MC with no rating in itunes - after running version 2.5 it changed the rating in MC to 0 stars and the rating in itunes to 0!

</Track>
<Track Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\The Rolling Stones\The Rolling Stones - More Hot Rocks (Disc 2)\01 - She's a Rainbow.mp3">
<Rating ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="100" NewValue="0" />
<Category ChangedIn="iTunes" OldValue="" NewValue="Calculated Rating" />
<AlbumRating ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="60" NewValue="0" />
<AlbumRatingCalculated ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="True" NewValue="False" />

Here is the log result from a song that worked correctly:

</Track>
<Track Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\VARIOUS ARTISTS\Mixed Pop - Rock CD's\AM Gold\AM Gold 1966\13 - The Monkees - I'm A Believer.mp3">
<Rating ChangedIn="iTunes" OldValue="0" NewValue="20" />
<AlbumRating ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="0" NewValue="80" />
<AlbumRatingCalculated ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="False" NewValue="True" />

I am not sure why this is happening - as it isn't happening with all songs.

It appears to be tied into the Album rating field - I noticed that all of the songs that were were rated in MC and now have no rating in MC - the album rating field=0 (I believe you have that coming back into MC from Itunes). All songs in MC that had a rating - no longer have a rating and the album rating is 0.

It also appears that it may somehow to be tied into compliation albums - as it appears that the majority of the ratings that went from MC to Itunes correctly were from compilation albums. It could be a coincidence since my Various Artist album folder is noted towards the beginning of the log - but there are albums that I have in the various artist folder that are NOT various/multiple artist albums and those ones all got reset to zero.

And to throw another wrinkle into the mix - some of the single artist albums worked correctly:

</Track>
<Track Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\Will Smith\Will Smith - Willennium\03 - Freakin' It.mp3">
<Rating ChangedIn="iTunes" OldValue="0" NewValue="20" />
<AlbumRating ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="0" NewValue="40" />
<AlbumRatingCalculated ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="False" NewValue="True" />

Sorry I can't narrow it down a bit better but I am not a programmer and can only see trends in the log and in the libraries. One thing to check would be to make sure that the program is checking each song in a particular order - song rating before album rating - becasue if the album is set to zero that would automatically set the songs to zero, followed by if song was never played or skipped then there shouldn't be a play dateIt could be that this has to do with the memory thing?

And finally I am also seeing the below entry in the log for a lot of songs (I don't know if this is just some sort of check that is done for all songs).

</Track>
<Track Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\Robin Thicke\Robin Thicke - The Evolution Of Robin Thicke\03 - Would That Make U Love Me.mp3">
<Category ChangedIn="iTunes" OldValue="" NewValue="Calculated Rating" />

I will wait to run 2.6 or a newer version until I hear back from you.

Hope this helps. Thanks.

prod · « **Reply #109 on:** June 16, 2009, 12:22:02 pm »

Hmm how bizarre...

Could you give me the first couple of lines of the log (I'm interested in the Options attribute).

The logic goes like this - for a 5 star rating in MC to be changed to 0 star the following conditions would normally be required;

5 star in Rating field in MC
5 star in iTunesRatingSync field in MC
0 star in Rating field in iTunes

broncodan · « **Reply #110 on:** June 16, 2009, 12:31:44 pm »

Here it is:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<SynchronizeResults StartDateTime="2009-06-15T21:52:48" Options="4000000043e000">

Just as an fyi - The itunes library started out with NO song ratings or Album ratings. The only data that I have in itunes that would be transferred to MC that is there is the playcount, skip count, last played and skipped date.

I don't understand the logic of why MC rating would change? (at least on the initial sync). I was under the impression that the MC rating would always take precedence. From page 1:
If the track is rated in iTunes but NOT rated in MC the rating in iTunes is used. Otherwise the rating in MC is used.

I did just think of something though - I may not have cleared all the new columns added to MC by the Sync program (from older runs) and maybe that is messing it up a bit. I will make sure that I clear all that data before I run it. I guess that would make sense on a second sync - 5 in MC, 5 in MC ratings sync, 0 in itunes = 0 in MC?

I have both of the libraries back up so I have just reset them to what it was before I ran 2.5. Let me know if I should clear anything else in MC (can't clear much in ITunes since it pretty much is locked down).

prod · « **Reply #111 on:** June 16, 2009, 01:15:26 pm »

I've been through the logic it looks sound, I've also tested the same conditions and works fine here. Are you sure the following steps or very similar didn't happen? Because this is normal behaviour.

Start - iTunes rating: 0, MC rating: 5, iTunesRatingSync: -1
Run very 1st sync
Now - iTunes rating: 5, MC rating: 5, iTunesRatingSync: 5
iTunes rating changes from 5 to 0
Now - iTunes rating: 0, MC rating: 5, iTunesRatingSync: 5
Run sync
Now - iTunes rating: 0, MC rating: 0, iTunesRatingSync: 0

broncodan · « **Reply #112 on:** June 16, 2009, 01:18:48 pm »

Let me delete all the MCSync Columns and try again with 2.6.

broncodan · « **Reply #113 on:** June 16, 2009, 01:23:25 pm »

I deleted the 3 new columns. Should I clear the data in the Album Rating Calculated and the Album Rating column?

prod · « **Reply #114 on:** June 16, 2009, 01:30:03 pm »

Quote from: broncodan on June 16, 2009, 01:23:25 pm

I deleted the 3 new columns. Should I clear the data in the Album Rating Calculated and the Album Rating column?

Nope just the three sync columns.... iTunesRatingSync, iTunesPlayedCountSync, iTunesSkippedCountSync.

It's important on the initial sync that iTunesRatingSync either doesn't exist or is -1, anything else the app assumes an initial sync has been done previously.

By the way, I've used the Category field for the "Calculated Rating" stuff so I can tell the difference in iTunes between a calculated rating and a user entered one. If you've ever used Album Ratings in iTunes and then tried to set up song rating-based smartlists you'll know what I mean.

prod · « **Reply #115 on:** June 16, 2009, 01:34:48 pm »

Got it....

Sorry mate it's my fault, I've found the bug and you're right it was introduced in 2.5.

To get round it, create the iTunesRatingSync yourself before your initial sync, and set it to -1.

Or wait 5 mins for the fix.

prod · « **Reply #116 on:** June 16, 2009, 01:43:41 pm »

OK should be fixed in v2.7 - the iTunesRatingSync was being wrongly initialised to zero. Should have been -1. Caused problems on initial syncs only.

broncodan · « **Reply #117 on:** June 16, 2009, 01:53:08 pm »

will download and run 2.7 now.... may take a bit.

Neville · « **Reply #118 on:** June 16, 2009, 02:39:19 pm »

2.7 working great for me! Perfect.
Thanks

broncodan · « **Reply #119 on:** June 16, 2009, 06:58:39 pm »

Okay!!!

Got it to work. It took about 2 hours to run. The only fields I had selected to sync were the standard ones (rating, skip/play count, date last played/skipped and album rating back to MC). I didn't have any of the tag information going from MC to Itunes.

Here are some interesting stats:

MC Library total MP3's = 62742/Itunes = 62709 (difference of 33) - at least 11 of these are protected files that itunes can not import.

MC # songs rated = 15997/Itunes = 15949 (difference of 48)

MC Sync - analyzed 62710 (which is weird because Itunes only lists 62709 files) - & Synced - 62683 (difference of 18)

Files not found in MC library = 6

Probably not able to figure out where these minor discrepancies lie. I did not have the add to Itunes preference checked becasue I wasn't sure if that was working.

Final log entry:
</Track>
<Result EndDateTime="2009-06-16T15:48:55" Analyzed="62710" Synchronized="62632" Imported="0" Removed="0">Successful</Result>
</SynchronizeResults>

I may not have ever mentioned it but I hate Itunes and Love MC - so this is a great tool for me so I can use my Ipod Touch.... while still being able to use MC! Thanks for your hard work Prod.

Now to that playlist thing....

rowens · « **Reply #120 on:** June 16, 2009, 07:57:53 pm »

anyone having success using this with MC14?

zxsix · « **Reply #121 on:** June 16, 2009, 08:22:29 pm »

Quote from: rowens on June 16, 2009, 07:57:53 pm

anyone having success using this with MC14?

Yes, I've been using it with 14.

rowens · « **Reply #122 on:** June 16, 2009, 08:31:29 pm »

Quote from: zxsix on June 16, 2009, 08:22:29 pm

Yes, I've been using it with 14.

thanks zxsix...

prod - i just upgraded to MC 14 (and removed MC13 entirely) and i'm getting the following error:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
- <SynchronizeResults StartDateTime="2009-06-16T18:28:22" Options="26000000000e000" SyncFileTypes="mp3">
<Result EndDateTime="2009-06-16T18:28:22">Could not access J River Media Center. Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {572802D5-FBF6-4C30-89CA-BDF2CE4AEC2B} failed due to the following error: 80040154.</Result>
</SynchronizeResults>

thoughts?

thanks

rowens · « **Reply #123 on:** June 16, 2009, 11:29:34 pm »

nevermind....reinstalled MC14 and all is well...

thanks again prod for all your efforts.

prod · « **Reply #124 on:** June 17, 2009, 04:12:28 am »

Cheers guys, glad to hear it's working well.

prod · « **Reply #125 on:** June 18, 2009, 06:27:27 am »

v3.0, from the top of the post;

Quote

From v3.0, MCiS can also synchronize your playlists from MC to iTunes. You must pick a folder in which to put the playlists in iTunes (note that this should be a unique name in your iTunes playlist folders). Note that all existing playlists in this iTunes playlist folder you specify will be deleted. If the iTunes playlist folder does not exist, MCiS will create it. MCiS will sync the MC playlists you select into that folder. Smartlists are also sync'd - they are created in iTunes as normal playlists.

prod · « **Reply #126 on:** June 18, 2009, 08:59:41 am »

Couple of noteworthy things on syncing playlists....

MC play/smartlists are only refreshed and then read, they are not otherwise touched
Each selected MC play/smartlist and its associated folders are sent across to iTunes
If the playlist already exists in iTunes it is not deleted, but any files in it are sync'd exactly from what is in the corresponding MC play/smartlist, i.e. files will be both added and removed according to what is in the MC play/smartlist
Any play/smartlists or playlist folders that exist in iTunes under the specified folder but aren't selected for sync are deleted in iTunes, i.e. under the specified folder in iTunes you should have an exact match of playlists and structure to what has been selected in the playlist listbox in MCiS

Hope this clears up any ambiguity, but if you have any questions or problems feel free to let me know.

zxsix · « **Reply #127 on:** June 18, 2009, 06:48:26 pm »

I've got this syncing ratings and last played info successfully now using the alternative file keys option and my flac library in MC.

So, I thought I'd try out the new playlists feature.
I checked a handful of playlists and let 'er rip.

In itunes, under the playlists tree a new MC Playlists branch was created.
The names of the playlists were added in itunes under this branch.

However, when I click on any of those playlists in itunes, they are empty.
I imagine this has to do with the alternate file key?
Any way to get the playlists over there correctly using flacs and the alternate file key field?

prod · « **Reply #128 on:** June 19, 2009, 02:21:52 am »

Quote from: zxsix on June 18, 2009, 06:48:26 pm

However, when I click on any of those playlists in itunes, they are empty.
I imagine this has to do with the alternate file key?

Ok should be fine now... Yes it was the alternative file key causing it - v3.0.1 should fix that little problem.

prod · « **Reply #129 on:** June 19, 2009, 12:24:27 pm »

Have made some UI changes in v3.1, plus if a playlist folder is selected any new playlists created in that folder in MC will automatically be selected for sync in the future.

zxsix · « **Reply #130 on:** June 19, 2009, 12:47:45 pm »

Tried both 3.01 and 3.1 but the itunes playlists get created with no contents still.

Prior to trying it, I deleted the MC Playlists branch out of itunes completely.
Then selected a couple of smartlists from MC to be syncd.
Above your progress bar I see it naming the playlist and the track count for each list is shown.
The playlists get created in itunes but there are no tracks shown in it.
The xml log file shows

Code: [Select]

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<SynchronizeResults StartDateTime="2009-06-19T10:39:05" Options="61000000083e000" SyncFileTypes="mp3;wav;wma;flac;ape;apl">
  <Result EndDateTime="2009-06-19T10:43:34" Analyzed="2588" Synchronized="0" Imported="0" Removed="0">Successful</Result>
</SynchronizeResults>

Again, this is flac files using the alternative file key setting.
Sychronized 0 would be correct, since the ratings and playcounts had previously syncd properly.
The only change expected here would be the addition of the playlists to itunes.
Any other info I can provide?

prod · « **Reply #131 on:** June 19, 2009, 01:07:30 pm »

Quote from: zxsix on June 19, 2009, 12:47:45 pm

Tried both 3.01 and 3.1 but the itunes playlists get created with no contents still.

Somehow the fix didn't get in ..... I swear I fixed it, but must have been too early in the morning, I hadn't had my coffee. Download it again it should be fine now, I didn't bother incrementing the version #.

zxsix · « **Reply #132 on:** June 19, 2009, 01:29:31 pm »

Quote from: prod on June 19, 2009, 01:07:30 pm

Somehow the fix didn't get in ..... I swear I fixed it, but must have been too early in the morning, I hadn't had my coffee. Download it again it should be fine now, I didn't bother incrementing the version #.

Working now, thanks!

prod · « **Reply #133 on:** June 20, 2009, 08:33:33 am »

I've improved the speed of the playlist sync in v3.2, where files already exist in the playlists it is faster.

prod · « **Reply #134 on:** June 20, 2009, 11:35:30 am »

I just made another quick change to v3.2 but I'm feeling lazy and can't be bothered upping the version number ... this small change makes adding tracks to playlists when those tracks don't already exist a fair bit faster, so overall in 3.2 playlist syncing should be fairly quick. So those who've already downloaded 3.2, maybe you'd like to download it again. That'll be it for today.

zxsix · « **Reply #135 on:** June 20, 2009, 11:53:12 am »

quick question..... as you post these upgrades, the config file is included in the zip file.
I am guessing sometimes we need to use that one (like when you added the playlist functionality) and other times we probably don't need to overwrite our settings. Can you make this apparent when we need to replace settings file?
I've been referring to the date of the settings file in the meantime.

prod · « **Reply #136 on:** June 20, 2009, 12:16:23 pm »

Yep no worries I'll let you know in the future ... the last change to the settings file was v3.0.

zxsix · « **Reply #137 on:** June 20, 2009, 02:34:20 pm »

Utility is working very well so far.
Having an issue with adding new tracks to itunes though.

Scenario: Song is flac in MC library.
Track is sync'd to a handheld folder and converted to an mp3 by MC.
The alternate path field in MC points to that mp3 file.

In your utility, the option 'use alternative file keys' is checked.
The option to 'import files into itunes' is set to mp3;flac.

I have a playlist that I want to sync to itunes.
It gets properly created in the itunes library.
Prior to running your utility, some of the tracks included in the playlist already exist in the itunes library and some of them do not.

Based on the settings, I assumed that if the track doesn't exist in itunes, that your utility would see that the 'import files to itunes' is enabled, and then use the alternate file key field and add those mp3 files to the library.

This isn't the case. After running your utility, the playlist in MC has 135 tracks.
In itunes, it only has the 31 tracks that were already in the library. It did not import the other 104 tracks into itunes.

zxsix · « **Reply #138 on:** June 20, 2009, 03:16:59 pm »

File not found issue:

Albums with the & symbol are failing.

Both MC and itunes show E:\Users\brian\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\Post-Grunge\Red\Innocence & Instinct\Confession.mp3 in the path.
Your error message is:

Code: [Select]

  <Track Filename="E:\Users\brian\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\Post-Grunge\Red\Innocence &amp; Instinct\Confession.mp3">
    <Error Message="File not found in MC library" />

Need to clean up the & part.

broncodan · « **Reply #139 on:** June 20, 2009, 05:45:56 pm »

Tried version 3.2 (from yesterday), My library was previously synced before (see previous post)- so this isn't an initial run.

Here are some of the results:

1 - It appears that alot of changes were made to the album rating column. Nothing changed in my library since the last sync so I was surprised to see the below entries for alot of the tracks in my library. Not sure why the Album rating is being changed as nothing changed from the previous sync (here are a few examples - it doesn't appear to be anything consistent and maybe this is the correct handling of these items based off the ratings?)

</Track>
<Track Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\Ziggy Marley\Ziggy Marley And The Melody Makers - The Best Of (1988-1993)\02 - Look Who's Dancin'.mp3">
<AlbumRating ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="0" NewValue="20" />
<AlbumRatingCalculated ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="False" NewValue="True" />

<Track Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\Wilson Phillips\Wilson Phillips - Wilson Phillips\ (02) Release Me.mp3">
<AlbumRating ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="60" NewValue="40" />
</Track>

</Track>
<Track Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\Will Smith\Will Smith - Willennium\01 - I'm Comin'.mp3">
<AlbumRating ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="0" NewValue="40" />
<AlbumRatingCalculated ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="False" NewValue="True" />

I did go back and look at my old library before THIS sync - and it appears that it is just updating the files that had a zero rating or files that didn't match - which is wierd becasue I would have thought that it would have synced up the FIRST time I ran the program. So it seems like this is the correct handling. Just wanted to let you know - maybe you fixed something between the older version and the one I used.

2 - I had the option of adding files to itunes checked and the following items happened - it added several songs here is an example of what happened:

<ImportToiTunes Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\VARIOUS ARTISTS\SOUNDTRACKS\American Graffiti - Disc 2\12 - The Big Bopper - Chantilly Lace.mp3">Successful</ImportToiTunes>

And then it messed up the rating on the song:
<Track Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\VARIOUS ARTISTS\SOUNDTRACKS\American Graffiti - Disc 2\12 - The Big Bopper - Chantilly Lace.mp3">
<Rating ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="100" NewValue="0" />
<Category ChangedIn="iTunes" OldValue="" NewValue="Calculated Rating" />
</Track>

When it is adding new tracks it probably should bring them over with the MC ratings and not re-rate them (as if this is a second sync) - becasue this is the initial time these files are brought into Itunes.
Due to the fickleness of itunes libraries - at least mine - constantly noted as damaged - I am unable to get to a previous version to check if the files that were added were in itunes prior to the sync or not.

3 - I also had the remove dead files from itunes - So in the same run after #2 I found the following entry in the log:

<RemoveFromiTunes Artist="The Big Bopper" Album="American Graffiti - Disc 2" Name="Chantilly Lace - The Big Bopper - Chantilly Lace">Successful</RemoveFromiTunes>

So it is adding them and then turning right around and removing them. But I checed itunes and this file is still listed as in the library and it is still in MC except that the rating is now zero stars. in both places. (Before the sync - this file was previously rated 5 stars)

4 - and finally - playlists - I had it checked to add playlists from MC to itunes - the MCsync program hung up about 2/3rds the way through - but it appeared that it added several playlists to itunes - but if I selected the playlist in itunes - it is blank.

Unfortunately the log didn't provide any error messages.

One question I have - with each new version you put out should we be deleting the itunes columns that are added by previous versions and starting fresh? My guess would be yes but want to make sure. (I didn't do this this time).

Hope this helps in someway

prod · « **Reply #140 on:** June 21, 2009, 04:17:49 am »

Quote from: zxsix on June 20, 2009, 02:34:20 pm

Based on the settings, I assumed that if the track doesn't exist in itunes, that your utility would see that the 'import files to itunes' is enabled, and then use the alternate file key field and add those mp3 files to the library.

Currently MCiS won't import files that don't exist in the MC library. As those files don't strictly exist in the MC library (they're only referenced in the iTunesFileKey field), they won't be imported. It'll be easy to implement this though in the next version.

Quote from: zxsix on June 20, 2009, 03:16:59 pm

Need to clean up the & part.

This is a red herring... "&" is a special character in XML and is treated as a command. When you need "&" as simple text it must be entered as "&", so XML readers will read it correctly. What I'm saying is that the "amp;" part is added only for the XML log, and isn't included in the filename search. I'll add some more logging for when this occurs so we can more accurately pinpoint the problem.

prod · « **Reply #141 on:** June 21, 2009, 04:50:56 am »

Right, where to start?

First let's clear this one up;

Quote from: broncodan on June 20, 2009, 05:45:56 pm

One question I have - with each new version you put out should we be deleting the itunes columns that are added by previous versions and starting fresh? My guess would be yes but want to make sure. (I didn't do this this time).

No, leave those columns alone. I don't foresee any future version requiring that those fields be deleted.

Ok, your other Q's;

Quote from: broncodan on June 20, 2009, 05:45:56 pm

1 - It appears that alot of changes were made to the album rating column. Nothing changed in my library since the last sync so I was surprised to see the below entries for alot of the tracks in my library. Not sure why the Album rating is being changed as nothing changed from the previous sync (here are a few examples - it doesn't appear to be anything consistent and maybe this is the correct handling of these items based off the ratings?)

If the album rating value is different in MC to the value in iTunes, it will change it to the value in iTunes (if the option is selected). Simple as that.

Now, understand the album rating can change in iTunes without you knowing. For instance, you may have an album that has one track that is rated 4. This means iTunes will rate your album automatically as a 4-star album. If you then rate another two tracks in that album 2 stars then the album rating will automatically drop to 3 stars. And the dance goes on. If you then rate the album yourself as 4 stars, then iTunes will not automatically do anything to it from that point. All these changes would be sent across to MC if you checked the option.

Furthermore, as MC doesn't support Album Ratings out of the box this is an iTunes to MC only thing. That means if you start rating albums in MC, the next time you sync the new values in MC will be overwritten by the values in iTunes.

Quote from: broncodan on June 20, 2009, 05:45:56 pm

2 - I had the option of adding files to itunes checked and the following items happened - it added several songs here is an example of what happened:

<ImportToiTunes Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\VARIOUS ARTISTS\SOUNDTRACKS\American Graffiti - Disc 2\12 - The Big Bopper - Chantilly Lace.mp3">Successful</ImportToiTunes>

And then it messed up the rating on the song:
  <Track Filename="K:\Music Collection Share\Music Collection\VARIOUS ARTISTS\SOUNDTRACKS\American Graffiti - Disc 2\12 - The Big Bopper - Chantilly Lace.mp3">
   <Rating ChangedIn="MC" OldValue="100" NewValue="0" />
   <Category ChangedIn="iTunes" OldValue="" NewValue="Calculated Rating" />
  </Track>

When it is adding new tracks it probably should bring them over with the MC ratings and not re-rate them (as if this is a second sync) - becasue this is the initial time these files are brought into Itunes.
Due to the fickleness of itunes libraries - at least mine - constantly noted as damaged - I am unable to get to a previous version to check if the files that were added were in itunes prior to the sync or not.

3 - I also had the remove dead files from itunes - So in the same run after #2 I found the following entry in the log:

<RemoveFromiTunes Artist="The Big Bopper" Album="American Graffiti - Disc 2" Name="Chantilly Lace - The Big Bopper - Chantilly Lace">Successful</RemoveFromiTunes>

So it is adding them and then turning right around and removing them. But I checed itunes and this file is still listed as in the library and it is still in MC except that the rating is now zero stars. in both places. (Before the sync - this file was previously rated 5 stars)

If you rename a file in MC then run the sync with import & remove both on, it will first add the new filename and then remove the old filename. I'll put a failsafe in to make sure newly imported tracks have their fields sync'd only one-way from MC to iTunes. I can only imagine that the iTunesRatingSync had somehow got to zero before it was added to the iTunes library.

Quote from: broncodan on June 20, 2009, 05:45:56 pm

4 - and finally - playlists - I had it checked to add playlists from MC to itunes - the MCsync program hung up about 2/3rds the way through - but it appeared that it added several playlists to itunes - but if I selected the playlist in itunes - it is blank.

What was in the message above the progress bar when MCiS hung up? Did it create all your selected playlists or just some? Could you let me know your desired playlist structure so I can recreate it and test myself?

prod · « **Reply #142 on:** June 21, 2009, 08:36:12 am »

v3.3

When using Use Alternative Keys and Import file to iTunes options, MCiS will import the filename contained in the field iTunesFileKey
When Use Alternative Keys and Log Files Not Found selected, check is made to see if the file actually exists on disk and logs accordingly
When Import file to iTunes is selected, on importing a file the initial sync fields in MC are initialized in order to treat the file "as new"

There is a small change to the config file.

zxsix · « **Reply #143 on:** June 21, 2009, 12:40:01 pm »

Walked through my normal routine of adding a new album to MC, tagging it, etc.
Then ran your util to have it add that album to itunes.
This all works flawlessly now!
Your options to add and delete songs from the itunes db allowed me to stop using the cumbersome itsfv utility I was using before.
Your playlist sync feature allowed me to stop using 2 different itunes databases to handle 2 different devices. Now I can manage both iphones with a single itunes db and have the playlists dictate which songs get to which device.
This cuts my workflow and the number of steps quite a bit.
Easier is always better.
Thanks for your hard work on this and implementing suggestions.
I owe you a virtual beer at least.

zxsix · « **Reply #144 on:** June 21, 2009, 12:43:02 pm »

Enhancement request:

Logging options similar to MC. You have the checkbox option to log files not found already.
Perhaps a couple more of these to allow disabling certain specific log items.
For my use, the importtoitunes function, I would disable the unsuccessful items from the log since I will have so many each time.
I would want to log the successful ones, however.

No biggie, I've been doing text searches to see which ratings were updated in MC and which songs were added to itunes successfully.

broncodan · « **Reply #145 on:** June 21, 2009, 12:51:10 pm »

Quote from: prod on June 21, 2009, 04:50:56 am

If you rename a file in MC then run the sync with import & remove both on, it will first add the new filename and then remove the old filename. I'll put a failsafe in to make sure newly imported tracks have their fields sync'd only one-way from MC to iTunes. I can only imagine that the iTunesRatingSync had somehow got to zero before it was added to the iTunes library.

What was in the message above the progress bar when MCiS hung up? Did it create all your selected playlists or just some? Could you let me know your desired playlist structure so I can recreate it and test myself?

1 - I didn't rename any of the above files - in fact nothing changed since my first sync so I was surprised that it was adding and then removing the files (and in fact it didn't even remove them from Itunes so I am curious as to what happened).

2 - The message above the progress bar - if I remember correctly was something about loading playlist. Before it froze it appeared that it had created some playlists - the MC playlist folder was in itunes with several playlists noted below it. After the freeze the playlists remained in itunes - but when i selected anyone of them they were blank.

My playlist structure in MC = In left pane - Playlists - then under that I have folders - and in those folders I have the playlists/smartlists (there are some playlists and some smartlists in each folder). So Playlists, Playlist collection 1 (folder), then multiple playlists. I also have a few that actually have another folder with more playlists (so there could be playlists/smartlists - 3 folders deep - e.g Playlists, Playlist collection 1 folder, another folder, then multiple playlists.) I think this is what you are asking and I hope this makes sense.

I have reverted back to an earlier version of MC where all the data is correct - If I want to make sure the ratings in itunes match MC then I need to make sure that the ratings sync column value = -1?

prod · « **Reply #146 on:** June 22, 2009, 03:24:02 am »

Quote from: zxsix on June 21, 2009, 12:40:01 pm

Thanks for your hard work on this and implementing suggestions.
I owe you a virtual beer at least.

You're very welcome and thanks.

prod · « **Reply #147 on:** June 22, 2009, 03:35:15 am »

Quote from: broncodan on June 21, 2009, 12:51:10 pm

1 - I didn't rename any of the above files - in fact nothing changed since my first sync so I was surprised that it was adding and then removing the files (and in fact it didn't even remove them from Itunes so I am curious as to what happened).

I'm also curious but I'm unable to reproduce it. The logic here is incredibly simple - if the track has no filename then it's a broken link - remove it. There's not much to get wrong. Does this happen consistently?

Quote from: broncodan on June 21, 2009, 12:51:10 pm

2 - The message above the progress bar - if I remember correctly was something about loading playlist. Before it froze it appeared that it had created some playlists - the MC playlist folder was in itunes with several playlists noted below it. After the freeze the playlists remained in itunes - but when i selected anyone of them they were blank.

Again, does this happen consistently?

Quote from: broncodan on June 21, 2009, 12:51:10 pm

My playlist structure in MC = In left pane - Playlists - then under that I have folders - and in those folders I have the playlists/smartlists (there are some playlists and some smartlists in each folder). So Playlists, Playlist collection 1 (folder), then multiple playlists. I also have a few that actually have another folder with more playlists (so there could be playlists/smartlists - 3 folders deep - e.g Playlists, Playlist collection 1 folder, another folder, then multiple playlists.) I think this is what you are asking and I hope this makes sense.

There shouldn't be any problem here - I've tested with much deeper folder groups with various playlists and smartlists.

Quote from: broncodan on June 21, 2009, 12:51:10 pm

I have reverted back to an earlier version of MC where all the data is correct - If I want to make sure the ratings in itunes match MC then I need to make sure that the ratings sync column value = -1?

Reset iTunesRatingSync to -1 and iTunesPlayedCountSync & iTunesSkippedCountSync to zero.

prod · « **Reply #148 on:** June 22, 2009, 12:05:31 pm »

v3.4

Fixed UI glitch caused MCiS to appear "hung" whilst removing tracks from playlists - it just wasn't updating the progress message & bar
Playlist creation and sync is fully logged
More log options via the Settings dialog

The configuration file has changed and is included in the zip.

zxsix · « **Reply #149 on:** June 22, 2009, 10:42:42 pm »

Had some trouble with the new build.
Getting an HRESULT error message now.

Here's the first line of the log file so you can see settings and the very last line showing the error.

Code: [Select]

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<MCiS Version="3.4.0.0" StartDateTime="2009-06-22T20:08:31" Options="ffc0e0400083e000" SyncFileTypes="mp3;flac" ImportFileTypes="mp3;flac" iTunesPlaylistFolder="MC Playlists" ExportPlaylist0="BRIAN\All (5 stars)" ExportPlaylist1="BRIAN\Fav Bands" ExportPlaylist2="BRIAN\Gothic (5 stars)" ExportPlaylist3="BRIAN\Unrated By Album" ExportPlaylist4="BRIAN\Unrated By Song" ExportPlaylist5="BRIAN\Unrated Random" ExportPlaylist6="MARY\Always Available" ExportPlaylist7="MARY\Unrated">
  <Result EndDateTime="2009-06-22T20:15:53">Exception from HRESULT: 0xA0040202</Result>
</MCiS>

Some of the files where itunes looks were deleted. Your plugin has always removed those from the itunes db properly before, but this time I noticed they are still in there with the ! icon indicating a missing file.
I disabled the "fix broken links in itunes" setting and then the sync completed, albeit, leaving the broken links

I then re-enabled the setting and manually deleted all tracks in itunes with the ! indicator.
Your utility was then able to comlete sync successfully.

INTERACT FORUM

Author Topic: MC iTunes Synchronizer (using MC with an iPhone or iPod Touch) [v6.0.2] (Read 494489 times)