Topic: POST IPOD SUPPORT QUESTIONS HERE (Read 43127 times)

crowfan · « **Reply #200 on:** October 20, 2003, 07:37:58 pm »

I spoke too soon

I have one song from the iTunes store. I synced my iPod and all seemed to go well. After the sync was done, the list of songs on my iPod appeared in the window, as usual. My iTMS song was there, all looked fine.

But when I undocked the iPod and plugged in my headphones, the AAC song would not play. I navigated to it through Artists (Ataris) > Album ("So Long, Astoria") > Song Name ("The Boys of Summer") and tapped the center button. The song appears as if it will play, then after a split second, it jumps back to the previous screen. Other songs (mp3) play fine.

The song plays fine within MC (from the library). It also plays in MC off of the iPod while the iPod is docked. It is a 3G iPod, 30 gig, using software 2.1.

** EDIT ** One potential complication: when I first imported the song into MC, it thought it was a video file. I changed that. Since it synced fine (a video file wouldn't sync with the iPod, right?), I figured that it was not a problem, but I thought I should include it here.

Thanks,

crow

Media Center Registered 9.1.283 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\

Microsoft Windows XP Workstation 5.1 Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
Intel Pentium 4 2253 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 523 MB, Free - 246 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: 4.71 (0001)

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

Burning / Drive E: LITE-ON LTR-40125S Addr: 1:1:0 Speed:40 MaxSpeed:40 BurnProof:Yes
Test mode: No / Eject after writing: Yes / Direct decoding: Yes / Write CD-Text: Yes
Use playback settings: No / Normalization: None

cct1 · « **Reply #201 on:** October 20, 2003, 09:06:46 pm »

I've got the same problem--In my media library, the AAC file shows up only in the video portion. It says its a m4p file...

For what it's worth, It plays just fine in MC9, but I can't transfer it over to the ipod--it just won't transfer, no matter what I do.

Well, Rome wasn't built in a day, and it would be a bit much to expect this to work flawlessly right off the bat...

ashawley · « **Reply #202 on:** October 20, 2003, 09:38:42 pm »

For those of you having troubles w/your AAC files, try renaming them to m4a then importing them. I believe .m4p is Apple's DRM'd version.

I read earlier that changing the extension solved the problem.

adam

parannoya · « **Reply #203 on:** October 20, 2003, 09:51:55 pm »

Adam,

I was able to import my Apple store music files without changing the extension with no problem.

They play fine in MC9 but I haven't been able to transfer them to the iPod with MC9.

bdjohns1 · « **Reply #204 on:** October 20, 2003, 10:19:31 pm »

Quote from: ashawley on October 20, 2003, 09:38:42 pm

For those of you having troubles w/your AAC files, try renaming them to m4a then importing them. I believe .m4p is Apple's DRM'd version.

I read earlier that changing the extension solved the problem.

Nope, doesn't work.

What I can do: I can now associate AAC-encoded files (AAC, M4A, M4P) with MC9, and I can now import files without one of the "bootleg" AAC codecs installed, and tagging a file no longer results in an error message. It is importing all of those as video files, as well.

What I can't do: However, it still requires a WinAmp input plugin (in_mp4.dll) to be installed. Duration of the track is not calculated (and therefore sending it to the iPod won't work). When I did play a song back using in_mp4, it initially reported a track length of 3:44, but the song played for 3:47.

So, it's a step in the right direction, but we're not quite there yet...

ashawley · « **Reply #205 on:** October 20, 2003, 10:19:57 pm »

Sorry, para, I was reading an earlier post.

What is happening to some (me too) is when you load them (even m4ps) the are getting "registered" as vides file type. Chris, that's why they launched the video player when you played them.

To change the Media type in MC9, highlight the songs, click on Tag Info, then click the Tools icon (in the upper right of the AW). Select Fields To Show>File Info.

Then change the Media Type on all of them to Audio.

It fixes that little problem.

Adam

crowfan · « **Reply #206 on:** October 20, 2003, 10:29:14 pm »

Adam has it right for converting to "Audio" file type.....

I think that the iPod is not playing the file because it was not transferred with iTunes. I have no real idea, but I'm wondering if somehow it won't play it if it wasn't transferred through iTunes. DRM-related stuff. I can get in on there no problem, it just won't play.

I guess we'll have to just wait and see. I'm sure Steve and the guys can figure it out -- they always do.

crow

parannoya · « **Reply #207 on:** October 20, 2003, 11:06:39 pm »

Thanks guys.

changed the file type to audio.

plays fine in MC9 and now doesn't launch the video mode.

then transferred one track to iPod. The file transfered onto the iPod and I could play it off the Pod through MC9 by selecting it to play.

But when I disconect and browse to the track on the iPod, it just skips to the next song.

also, still got no artist /album file tag info so the files are a bit unwieldy.

ashawley · « **Reply #208 on:** October 20, 2003, 11:08:45 pm »

Steve:

2 Bugs hit me:

1. Sync'd tonight w/.283 after adding a CD's worth of AAC files to my library. Sync seemed to go OK, but non of my playlists made it over. Tried moving my smartlists out of the Playlist Group they were in. That didn't do it. Finally had to resort to a Rebuild iPod database and then a sync. Worked fine.

2. AAC files don't play on iPod. My scenario is that only 2 of the 13 AAC songs I moved over even showed up on the iPod and when you try to click into them to play them, the iPod doesn't do anything. These are AAC files that were ripped in iTunes (m4a's).

Adam

cct1 · « **Reply #209 on:** October 20, 2003, 11:37:12 pm »

I have the exact same problem as Adam...Switching from video to audio gets the files over to the ipod, but they don't play.

ipod_newbie · « **Reply #210 on:** October 21, 2003, 01:22:20 am »

howdy,

after installing iTunes, launching Media Center and clicking my iPod drive gives me a weird error message (attached below).

things i've done before this happened are:

1. installed firmware 2.1
2. installed iTunes
3. double-clicked my .mrj by accident while restoring my license. once i did this, it said my license had expired, even tho Media Center would start up and every time with no problems (it seems to have corrected itself somehow tho).

i have since uninstalled iTunes and reinstalled Media Center a bunch of times.

so i'm out of ideas... i'm running winXP on a P4 1.6mHz with the latest version of Media Center. firmware on the iPod is 2.1.

any ideas? tia.

udeups · « **Reply #211 on:** October 21, 2003, 01:27:45 am »

Quote from: Phil Lee on October 20, 2003, 05:48:14 pm

107 files have their last played time set to -19090493.4 mins
11 files have number of plays set to between -1145988787 and -1147028280
5 files have number of plays set to 208284801
1 file has number of plays set to 208284802
2 files have number of plays set to 208284804
1 file has number of plays set to 208284807
25 files have number of plays set to 60
17 files have number of plays set to 2082844800

Steve, I have similar behavior. Don't have a lot of time to post the details, but can do so tomorrow. But, I get all the files that haven't been played having their tags messed up similar to the way described above. The ones that did get played on the iPod have their playcounts and last played information synched correctly. My iPod clock is set correctly and is a freshly restored 1.3 Gen 2 iPod.

cualexander · « **Reply #212 on:** October 21, 2003, 02:53:06 am »

Normal AAC files that I encoded with Itunes work great with Media Center 9 after I specify that they are audio. They play perfectly on my ipod as well. The only problem is the .m4p files which are the protected itunes files. I'm thinking that there is a flag in the Itunes DB that distinguishes the protected and unprotected files. It can't be too restrictive though because my understanding is that you can have unlimited ipods play the .m4p files. Technically speaking, shouldn't all the iTunes enhancements be achievable by simply analyzing the changes iTunes makes to the database?

bvm · « **Reply #213 on:** October 21, 2003, 03:13:42 am »

An update... About 10 hours ago I reported:

Quote

MC isn't seeing my iPod as an iPod. Its drive letter shows up in "CD, DVD, & Handhelds", but when I click on the drive letter, there is nothing in the content pane.

It appears to have been a Windows problem, as a while later, I noticed that Windows itself was no longer seeing my iPod (earlier it had at least shown up in My Computer), even after undocking and redocking the iPod several times.

I rebooted Windows, after which MC returned to its normal behavior.

markp99 · « **Reply #214 on:** October 21, 2003, 07:28:00 am »

9.1.283 has modified the playlist naming convention on my iPod.

Note playlist name is repeated in (parens) on iPod in .283. I tried a fresh initialize, same result. Looks strange... Rolling back to 9.1.281, playlists look fine...

<<9.1.283>> vs <<9.1.281>>

wickesy · « **Reply #215 on:** October 21, 2003, 08:26:26 am »

Quote from: markp99 on October 21, 2003, 07:28:00 am

9.1.283 has modified the playlist naming convention on my iPod.

Note playlist name is repeated in (parens) on iPod in .283. I tried a fresh initialize, same result. Looks strange... Rolling back to 9.1.281, playlists look fine...

I believe this is by design to prevent problems people were having because they had two playlists with the same name in different areas of MC.

Phil Lee · « **Reply #216 on:** October 21, 2003, 08:30:25 am »

Quote from: SteveG on October 20, 2003, 04:07:02 pm

Everyone,

3) Playlists will now be named by the Name followed by the path to avoid any confusion between multiple playlists that are duplicated.

This feature took me by surprise last night. I can understand why you've done this but I don't like the solution to the problem. I think it would be better to follow the same convention as MC does when you create a smartlist/playlist with the same name as an existing one, ie put a (1) after the name. It would look a lot neater to have playlists on the iPod called Peter Gabriel, Peter Gabriel (1), Peter Gabriel (2) etc rather than Peter Gabriel (iPod-Peter Gabriel)

markp99 · « **Reply #217 on:** October 21, 2003, 08:36:13 am »

OK, I understand...but new convention is redundant.

"Peter Gabriel (iPod-Peter Gabriel)"

Would presenting *just* the info contained in parens be sufficient to address the dups issue?

"iPod-Peter Gabriel"

[edit] Actually, this would screw up convient sorting of same artist in the playlist-list.

Maybe this would be better:

"Peter Gabriel (iPod)"

Then all playlist instances carrying "Peter Gabriel" would be next to one another. I would prefer this approach -vs- a simple numerical sequence like this:

"Peter Gabriel (1)"
"Peter Gabriel (2)"

Because I'd like to know which list is which...

JimH · « **Reply #218 on:** October 21, 2003, 09:11:11 am »

There is a good list of iTunes problems, possible problems, and some solutions at iPodLounge:

http://ipodlounge.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11637&perpage=15&pagenumber=1

Phil Lee · « **Reply #219 on:** October 21, 2003, 09:16:21 am »

Quote from: markp99 on October 21, 2003, 08:36:13 am

"iPod-Peter Gabriel"

This would be fine for me...

That doesn't look very nice on the iPod though. My playlist group is actually called iPod (9.251 Gb). If the playlist group had more than 17 characters in its name all the playlists would look the same on the iPod.

markp99 · « **Reply #220 on:** October 21, 2003, 09:20:18 am »

Phil,

You are correct... Sorting would also be lousy. I retracted that idea in my post, above.

M

cct1 · « **Reply #221 on:** October 21, 2003, 09:53:37 am »

Quote from: Phil Lee on October 21, 2003, 08:30:25 am

Quote from: SteveG on October 20, 2003, 04:07:02 pm
Everyone,

3) Playlists will now be named by the Name followed by the path to avoid any confusion between multiple playlists that are duplicated.

This feature took me by surprise last night. I can understand why you've done this but I don't like the solution to the problem. I think it would be better to follow the same convention as MC does when you create a smartlist/playlist with the same name as an existing one, ie put a (1) after the name. It would look a lot neater to have playlists on the iPod called Peter Gabriel, Peter Gabriel (1), Peter Gabriel (2) etc rather than Peter Gabriel (iPod-Peter Gabriel)

Yeah, I agree with this 100%--the playlists look very cluttered with the specified pathway. Maybe just have specified pathways for duplicate playlists? Or (even better) have MC9 automatically add a number to duplicate playlists, like Phil was suggesting...

ashawley · « **Reply #222 on:** October 21, 2003, 11:38:39 am »

ipod_newbie:

You need to rebuild the iPod database by doing a Restore on your iPod (this will wipe off all tunes).

Anytime you switch programs that will happen.

If you can right-click on the iPod in MC9, you can try a Rebuild iPod Database, then do a sync.

If you can't even right-click on the iPod, do a restore.

Any time you're having strange problems the steps to take are:

1. Rebuild iPod Database and Resync (a quick solution)
2. If that doesn't resolve the problem, do a Restore and resync (longer solution).

STEVE:
I believe I found a minor bug the other day, neglected to tell you. I freshly restored my iPod, fired up MC9, then directly clicked on the iPod Toolbar Button. I was not prompted to initialize my iPod. I think maybe you're only doing that check if the iPod is selected. Might want to add the check to the iPod Toolbar button as well.

Adam

Wobbley · « **Reply #223 on:** October 21, 2003, 01:20:44 pm »

How about just appending "Handheld" or "Portable" or "HH" or something like that at the end of the playlist? That way, people that don't have an iPod won't have "iPod" at teh end of their playlists, but this will distinguish between those lists that are created for a handheld device and those that are not.

Wobbley

Phil Lee · « **Reply #224 on:** October 21, 2003, 01:48:03 pm »

Quote from: Wobbley on October 21, 2003, 01:20:44 pm

How about just appending "Handheld" or "Portable" or "HH" or something like that at the end of the playlist? That way, people that don't have an iPod won't have "iPod" at teh end of their playlists, but this will distinguish between those lists that are created for a handheld device and those that are not.

Wobbley

At the moment the plugin just tags the playlist group name on the end so if you call your group Zen that will be tagged on the end. I prefer the adding of a number since this is consistent with MC.

SteveG · « **Reply #225 on:** October 21, 2003, 01:50:00 pm »

Everyone,

In regards to the new playlist scheme. Lets live with it for a bit. The short name followed by the path is necessary so that when viewing on iPod the relevant information is visible. Renaming the playlists (i.e My Music and My Music1) is also problematic for numerous reasons.

In MC 9.1.284, which is currently available, AAC support should be working. Also, I found and fixed a bug which would have possibly caused a half second or less of VBR files to be cut off. In addition I fixed a specific crashing bug for Jonny, which may have broader healing effects.

John (sirshambling),

I cannot duplicate this (10 minute track issue). Can anyone else? I also cannot reproduce the upoad loss of playlist issue. Can you try again after a reinitialize with 9.1.284?

thosj,

Regarding Real Player and .aa, this is, and must continue to be, a requirement for importing .aa into MC. Sorry.

bvm,

Sounds like you are all set.

cct1,

I do not know if dynamic playlists are possible. I have to check more into it. I will do this when I have a chance and let you know.

Phil,

It sounds like you are OK for now.

mikeh,

Your problem is fixed, but not in MC 9.1.284. It should be all better in 9.1.285.

crowfan,cct1,parranoya, bdjohns1,Adam,cualexander

I think aac should be up and running in .283

udeups,

Try a reinitialize and make sure the data is correct in MC for some of the files with funky data.

Adam,

The minor bug is a problem because after a Format, iPod appears only as a removable drive until you disconnect and reconnect it. At that time, the iPod appears as a removable drive but with additional files which the iPod firmware creates. Only at that time do I know it is an iPod and can initialize it as such.

Wobbley,

I am not sure I follow. If I were to append Handheld to the end of the Playlist, one could still have duplicates.

Phil Lee · « **Reply #226 on:** October 21, 2003, 01:53:05 pm »

I have just carried out another synch after playing a few tracks and once again the play counts/last played data has been corrupted for a large number of files (350/3264 files) in my library. Common play counts include 2082844800, 60 and -1145891135. Last played data for all of these files is set to -19089276.7mins and counting.

I think I will create a new library to see whether this problem happens in that.

Jonny5 · « **Reply #227 on:** October 21, 2003, 02:03:30 pm »

Thanks for the speedy response Steve, I really appreciate it.

J.

SteveG · « **Reply #228 on:** October 21, 2003, 02:23:41 pm »

Phil,

Please let me know how your next test goes and we will go from there.

Everyone.....

This post is huge. I will close it and open a new thread.

INTERACT FORUM

Author Topic: POST IPOD SUPPORT QUESTIONS HERE (Read 43127 times)

wickesy