Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[SteveG]

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://www.musicex.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=MediaCenter;action=display;num=1061244490;start=0
 
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

[brgale]

I've found some mention of this problem elsewhere, but no real solution.  

I want the playlists I sync to my ipod to show up on the ipod itself, but as of now I just have a blank space and then the "on the go" playlist on the ipod.  I am syncing by choosing specific playlists in MC9(v.9.1.250) to sync with the ipod, yet no playlists cross over.  

Any suggestions?  Any more info needed?  This is a 3G Ipod (the new 40GB one).

[Kurt Young]

Check this out:

I haven't had iPod music for two days; there was an error on sync Wednesday morning, and the database got hosed.  I dinna come home last night, so no chance to fix it.

So, I get home tonight, dock, and fire up MC9.1.250.  I did a "rebuild database from iPod" on it* and after it was done, I undocked.  The iPod showed 5 stars for every single song!  Ack!

So, I back up my database, heh, and dock.  I synched iPod info with MC, and it started with "Saving tag changes (x of 1290)".  Ack again.  No "this could take a while" warning, and total MC lockup while it saved god knows what to my actual files.  

Yup.  When it was done, everything that was on my iPod was a 5.  Everything was a "never played."  Number plays was populated, but I can't remember what they were before, so I don't know if they were accurate.  They seem right, though.

Time to restore my library.  Ahhhhhh, everything's back to normal.  I selected all my audio and did "Update tags (from library)".  That took a while.  Funny thing about that, it did the "Saving tag changes (x of 3487)" first, and after it was done, then it put up the "This could take a while" dialogue.  

Dunno if it's a bug, but it was painful.



*The rebuild process locked MC up completely.  Unlike the synch, when the rebuild is going on, you can't move the dialogue, nor can you interact with Mega-Me in any way.  Can this be improved like the synch dialogue was?  (edit:  Ditto for the initialization dialogue.)

[ashawley]

brgale:

This should be working fine for you.  First, I suggest you reinitialize your iPod.  Right-click the iPod under CDs, DVDs and Handhelds and select Initialize iPod.

Then, right-click the iPod again, select synchronize and select the playlist you made.  Don't click on the "Select All" button or your playlists won't go over.

Adam

[ashawley]

Steve:

I just gotta report one thing

IT WORKS  

Everything worked perfectly for me.

Kurt, saw your post.  I really think that you need to start w/a nice fresh iPod like you ended up having to do to make things all honky-dory.  

The only small thing I still noticed was that the right-click menu stays up after you select Sync iPod info to PC.  Minor issue.  

Can't wait for one-touch syncing!!!    

GREAT WORK.  

Now I'm off to making my playlists w/that rule I've been dying for:  "haven't heard in 2 weeks"  

Adam

[brgale]

ashawley,
Thanks for the advice.  It worked this time.  Which leads to another question - I have a playlist on the ipod now but when I select it, I just have a long list of songs there.  Is there a way to browse by artist, album, etc within one playlist on the ipod itself?  Is this not a problem I'm having, but just a limitation by design?  I'm not sure if it's related to the MC transfer or not.  Make sense?  

Brian

[ashawley]

brgale:

No, the iPod displays only songs when you're looking at playlists.

To view by Artist, click Browse>Artist>Album etc.  That will give you more info.

I've you've got iPod questions etc, might want to jump on over to iPod Lounge.  The forums there are great (IMHO) and have a ton of info for you.  We also have a full board dedicated to MC9 and a bunch of us will help you  out.

Adam

[Grimmi]

The 33.7 years ago thing is still sorta kickin around.  When I sync iPod info to PC "never played" seems to change to 33.7 years ago...however syncing PC to iPod seems to change it back to "never played"

[digitaltrapper]

Steve...
 Did a sync last night and it looked like everything when well... MC showed that it synced 4313 files (with Delete checked), however after it syncs a message appears "Upload file not supported" or something. When I compare the playlist synced and the ipod, there are songs that did not get copied. Only 4295 songs appear on the ipod.

Any thoughts?

[Kurt Young]

Steve...
 Did a sync last night and it looked like everything when well... MC showed that it synced 4313 files (with Delete checked), however after it syncs a message appears "Upload file not supported" or something. When I compare the playlist synced and the ipod, there are songs that did not get copied. Only 4295 songs appear on the ipod.

Any thoughts?

Check your smartlists for non-mp3 files, like jpg or avi.  I've actually put a rule in each of my smartlists, "[File Type]=[mp3]"

Ahh, freshly initialized and loaded iPod.  Bring on the good times tomorrow!

[BlueGlow]

Hi Steve,
I've been lurking while more of the bugs get worked out. I'm now happy to say that with 250 my iPod ratings are transferring to the PC. This will be the perfect way for me to check out new music and mark the songs that really catch my interest. Great work!

One strange thing seems to be happening. I check "delete files" and "update tags" while syncing my 7000+ songs and after every sync a small OK dialog pops up, "Upload Files Not Found". It doesn't seem to cause any problems with the sync and the message has persisted through several builds and re-initializing the iPod three times, most recently for 248. Any idea what could be causing the message?

[Kurt Young]

Hi Steve,
I've been lurking while more of the bugs get worked out. I'm now happy to say that with 250 my iPod ratings are transferring to the PC. This will be the perfect way for me to check out new music and mark the songs that really catch my interest. Great work!

One strange thing seems to be happening. I check "delete files" and "update tags" while syncing my 7000+ songs and after every sync a small OK dialog pops up, "Upload Files Not Found". It doesn't seem to cause any problems with the sync and the message has persisted through several builds and re-initializing the iPod three times, most recently for 248. Any idea what could be causing the message?

Dig my reply to digitaltrapper above, I think y'all are having the same problem.

[BlueGlow]

Good call, Kurt. I did a library clean-up to remove a few references to mp3 files that no longer existed and that cleared up the message. Thanks!

[udeups]

I'm using a gen 2 iPod with software 1.3 on it. I'm also using MC 9.1.250. Should the Synchronize Ipod info with PC command work reliably and transfer my playcount information to MC? I have been playing with it the past couple hours and have seen some weird results like the Number Plays field getting set to some ridiculously huge number. If I clear the Number plays field for the given song, load it back on the ipod, play it on the ipod, connect, invoke Synchronize ipod info with PC, I end up with the same result. I'm excited that all this stuff and the ratings is working with G3 ipods. I sure hope that the playcount stuff works for those of us with the old ones.

Now, I remember reading something about the old ipods not saving this information. But, I'm not sure if that's true for 1.3 or not. Any help is appreciated...

[Macavity]

Everything seems to be working great for me. Just like Adam, I get to go make some new Smartlists now!

Thanks for all the great work, Steve!!! You rock!

[GaryD9]

Some comments from a new user (all based on 249 build):

First of all, I think that the iPod plugin is the most redeeming quality of MC.  I generally dislike "jukebox" type applications, preferring to use a player for playing, a tagger for tagging, etc.  (Yes, I also like command line prompts.)  The ONLY reason I even bothered to load MC on my machine was to play with the iPod plugin.  Based on what I've seen already, I'll most likely purchase MC - ONLY for the iPod support.

So far, with 249, my ratings, dates and counts all appear to sync properly.  I haven't seen any 33.7 year issue, thankfully.

So, I have some questions... of course...

Being that the only method to sync is to do it via a playlist, is there any way to tell the plugin to sync the CONTENTS of the playlist, but not the playlist itself?  This would be useful for the so-called "master playlists" that everyone seems to be coming up with.  I've managed to "fake" this by embedding illegal characters in the playlist name (ie: vertical bar: "| ipod master").  However, this causes an error to be shown at the end of every sync, which is annoying.

The plugin seems to carry the tradition of MC in general of not giving the user enough information.  If I have 'delete' checked on the sync dialog, and files are deleted, it would be nice to pop up a dialog telling me WHAT files where deleted.... perhaps I screwed up a list causing that to happen.  I'm one of those people that likes to know whats going on...

I'd like a way to force the plugin to re-copy a file over to the ipod.  An example why:  I'm forced to use mp3Gain in MANY cases instead of MC for ReplayGain adjustments. This is simply because MC doesn't support finding the replaygain on a "per album" basis, while mp3Gain does.  Being that MC doesn't seem to support the method mp3gain uses to embed the gain info (though iPod DOES support it - and no, mp3gain does NOT alter the encoded mp3 frames - it only adds id3 tag frames), I have to essentially copy the adjusted mp3 file back to the iPod.  See what I'm getting at?

Did I mention that it would be nice if the plugin gave the user more feedback on what it was doing?

Probably not possible:  read the "On-the-Go" playlist from the iPod before the iPod nukes it.

Again, thanks for the plugin...

Take care
Gary

[mclaugh]

Now, I remember reading something about the old ipods not saving this information. But, I'm not sure if that's true for 1.3 or not. Any help is appreciated...

I was planning to post this very thing today, you beat me to it.  
In general, I think we should all make an effort to indicate which Ipod OS we are using.  For example, I have a 10gig Ipod with 1.3OS and the mechanical scroll wheel, so I can't rate songs on my Ipod, or create on the fly playlists.  I remember much earlier conversations that said we couldn't transfer playcounts from Ipod to MC, but I read a few posts in the last Ipod thread here that indicated differently?  
I know that SteveG has an older (1.3) ipod, as well as a new one.  My questions to Steve is this- will an Apple Update & an MC 9.1.250 "initialize Ipod" result in a 1.3 Ipod that can relay playcounts back to MC?
(crossing fingers.....)

[PaulH]

Steve,

Works like a dream.

.250 has worked perfectly...

33.7 years problem has gone.

I restored the ipod and then initialised and loaded the songs.

I played and rated songs on the ipod and all data was transmitted perfectly.

I now have playlists based on this data on the ipod working perfectly.

Thanks for all the good work.

Cheers,

Paul

[SteveG]

Everyone,

If you were testing previous versions and are getting some weird Playcount / rating results, try re initializing to wipe out any possible errant settings from before.

The first build next week will include improved messages for waiting during preparation for synching and uploading as well as better error reporting for failed file transfers. This is done but did not get in today's build.

mclaugh and udeups,

1.3 firmware iPods will allow Playcount updates. mclaugh's suggestion about including firmware version (especially when dealing with issues related to playcounts and ratings) is a great one.

GaryD9,

is there any way to tell the plugin to sync the CONTENTS of the playlist

If you just want to transfer files without a playlist, you can either right -click and select 'Send-to' for the files or drag and drop the files on the iPod drive letter. When you do this the files will be queued.  Click on the iPod drive letter and then select upload.

The plugin seems to carry the tradition of MC in general of not giving the user enough information..

This is subjective. The balance between too much and too little information is open to many opinions. I think what we have is good, but if others share GaryD9's opinion, please voice your opinion and I am open to modify this.

I'd like a way to force the plugin to re-copy a file over to the ipod....

This can be done if you drag and drop or use send to. When you upload files in this way, MC will notify you that a duplicate is detected. If you select "Overwrite" the new file will replace the old.  The second part of your problem is getting the mp3Gain settings recognized by MC from another program. Overwriting will not solve this. iPod does not read the gain setting from the file tag, it must be set. If MC does not know the setting, the Plugin cannot set iPod to the appropriate Gain setting.

Probably not possible:  read the "On-the-Go" playlist from the iPod before the iPod nukes it.

This appears to be correct. As far as I can tell by the time the iPod is recognized by the PC this information is gone.

DigitalTrapper,

Kurt's message has you covered.

Grimmi,

Try the reinitialize.

brgale,

Adam has you covered.

Kurt,

Monday's build will include the feature that Rating and NumberPlay information will be remembered when doing RebuildDatabase. FYI anyone who uses RebuildDatabase, to restore your Playlists (and tag info) after a Rebuild, resynch with 'Update Tags' and your Playlists selected and this will occur very quckly.

[digitaltrapper]

Steve...
 Did a sync last night and it looked like everything when well... MC showed that it synced 4313 files (with Delete checked), however after it syncs a message appears "Upload file not supported" or something. When I compare the playlist synced and the ipod, there are songs that did not get copied. Only 4295 songs appear on the ipod.

Any thoughts?

Yeah, I had an album that was in WMA format. How it got that way I HAVE NO IDEA! I never use WMA. ;-)
Thanks for your help.

[mclaugh]

Playcounts a little strange for me.
Upgraded to 9.1.251 (10gb ipod, 1.3OS).
Restored Ipod using Apple Updater.
Initialized using MC.
Sent 1 playlist (best of 2003) and 1 album (Castaways & Cutouts) to Ipod.  Disconnected.
On Ipod, did not see playlist, but I can see songs are there.  Played Postal Service's Such Great Heights song.  Next, played tracks 1,2,&4 from album- skipping track 3 midway through to see if that would be counted as a play.
Reconnected Ipod to computer.  I was unsure whether just syncing Ipod would bring info over to PC, so I first synced info with MC (which took less than a second?).  Next, I synced my usual playlists w/ my Ipod, and disconnected.
On my PC, I checked the songs I played on the Ipod- each had not been played before on the PC.  Here are my results (song, plays, last played):
Postal Service, Such Great Heights:26564832, last played 1.7 years ago
Castaways track 1: 1, last played 1.7 years ago
track 2: 1, last played 1.7 years ago
track 3: 26564832, 3.0 minutes ago
track 4:2082844801, last played -19588285.7 minutes ago
Then I realized I hadn't set the time on my Ipod after restoring.  Set my Time.  Played 1 song, called Night Light.  Then replayed Castaways track 2.
Plug Ipod back in.  This time, both show on my PC with the correct number of plays, and the correct last played time.
Play Postal Service song again on Ipod, play simultaneously on PC.  Reconnect Ipod, right click to update info, Media Core error- MC shuts down.  Try again, same result.
Initialize Ipod again, and resync all my playlists.
Play Postal Service one more time on Ipod, then reconnect to PC.  Sync info w/ Ipod works ok, and then the Postal Service song displays this many plays:
26564834.
So I'll reset that, and continue.  Anyone have any suggestions for the wacky playcounts?

[BlueGlow]

MC error messages are generally not very informative. "Upload Files Not Found" was not enough for me to work out that 8 out of 7000+ mp3 files were missing. I checked the program directory for a log file with more detailed info, I searched the help file and the forums before I posted my question. (Yes, I know, the answer was three posts above my question and I still missed it. )

Suggestion: "One or more files in the upload list were not found. [OK] [Details]" where [Details] displays a list of files that were not found. Ideally it would behave like the import where the problem library entries are displayed in the MC lower right corner file list box after the message.

[Kurt Young]

After re-initializing from my last post, I arrived home and tried to Synch iPod info with PC.  Crashes every time.

I think that it may have something to do with the fact that I've played, re-rated, or otherwise altered my MC library since the time I last synched and now?  Dunno, really.

I'll dl the new build later, use the updater, etc.  

[mclaugh]

After re-initializing from my last post, I arrived home and tried to Synch iPod info with PC.  Crashes every time.

I think that it may have something to do with the fact that I've played, re-rated, or otherwise altered my MC library since the time I last synched and now?  Dunno, really.

I'll dl the new build later, use the updater, etc.  

I was thinking the same thing- I was moving files, changing ratings, etc while the Ipod was disconnected.  Maybe they'll be a new build on Monday that fixes this?

[Mishimatic]

When I attempt to change 'Artist' information for an MP3 on my iPod (30GB, system software 2.0.1), Media Center crashes right after I hit ENTER - either throwing up a Media Core error message or just disappearing quietly.  However when I go back into Media Center and check the file, the information for the MP3 has been changed.

So it's possible for me to modify the information for an album but it's rather time consuming.

I tried an alternate method by changing the 'Artist' field in the 'Tag Info' button, but when I click somewhere else (e.g. Media Library) and then back into the album directory on the iPod, the change is not committed.

Media Center 9.1.251, Portable Drives plugin 9.0.52.

Media Center 9.1.251 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\

Microsoft Windows XP 5.1 Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
AMD Athlon 2087 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 1048 MB, Free - 754 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: 4.60 (1021) , ASPI for Win32 (95/NT) DLL, Copyright © 1989-1999 Adaptec, Inc. / Aspi32.sys: 4.60 (1021)

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

Burning /  Drive D: PIONEER  DVD-RW  DVR-105    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

EDIT:  If I edit the Artist information through the main track listing under 'CD, DVD, & Handhelds' instead of drilling down through the Albums tree, Media Center doesn't crash.  However after editing each song the list scrolls back to the top, which I would rate somewhere around the 'chocolate teapot' on the Scale Of Usefulness.

[ashawley]

Mishimatic:

You really shouldn' be changing tag info directly on the iPod.  Yes, a crash shouldn't be happening, but the way you use MC9 is this:

1. In Media Libary view (you know the version of the songs on the PC, change all your tags so they are the way you want them.

2. Then when you want to apply those to the iPod, just do a sync.  Because MC9 supports changing of tag data on the iPod w/o the need to reupload the entire song, the sync will go by super fast (like 200MB/sec).

I don't recommend trying to do it the way you're doing it as you'll end up w/the problem of iPod tunes not mathing the properties (tags) of the tunes in your MC9 library,.

Adam

[webcash]

I am having serious problems and im not sure where i am going wrong.

Firstly  i have installled the regular version from the website which gave me a problem.I then decided to install the beta verson which basically gave me the same problem.

Here we go then

I rip my cd no problem and then i highlight everything and drag it to the F Ipod drive.So far so good.However once i then try to upload at first it told me that i needed to go into options ( on the original download) and activate cda .I did this but as soon as i tried to upload i simply got an error programme crashed and i was back to the start.Did this three times.Next i decided to try the beta programme see if that fixed it but i got eactly the same problem.System just crashes

I am using windows 2000 pro and i have a 20 gig 2nd gen ipod hich has been reformatte by media centre

Looking forward to your advice

Peter

[ashawley]

It sounds like your trying to grab the songs from the CD, not the ripped mp3s that you need to upload.

Try it this way.  In Medial Library view, select the songs you want to upload to the iPod, then just click on the iPod Toolbar icon.

That should do it for you.

Oh, and when you're looking at the iPod, make sure you're looking at the drive letter for you iPod under the CDs, DVDs and Handhelds. tree item.

Adam

[Kurt Young]

After using the updater, reloading, undocking, playing and rerating music all evening, docking, and sending info to MC, I get a crash.  It crashes when executing the command, doesn't update the data.

I zipped up my \iTunes folder from my iPod and backed up my library, if you'd like either zip, email me.

iPodOS 2.0.1, Plugin version 9.0.52

Media Center Registered 9.1.251 -- P:\Software\Installed Programs\J River\

Microsoft Windows XP  Workstation 5.1 Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
Intel Pentium 4 1799 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 523 MB, Free - 209 MB

Internet Explorer: 6.0.2800.1106 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2800.1106 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shell32.dll: 6.00.2800.1106 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / wnaspi32.dll: N/A
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: No /  Get cover art: No /  Calc replay gain: Yes /  Copy volume: 32767
 Eject after ripping: No /  Play sound after ripping: Yes  Soundfile:   chord.wav

Burning /  Drive E: PLEXTOR  CD-R   PX-W8432T   Addr: 0:1:0  Speed:4  MaxSpeed:8  BurnProof:No
 Test mode: No /  Eject after writing: Yes /  Direct decoding: No /  Write CD-Text: No
 Use playback settings: Yes /  Normalization: None

[roadrunner562]

I posted on the old before about having problems sync ipod to pc. The problem was that the program would crash. At the time I was told to restore and then initialize the ipod and reload my music. After doing that it still gave me a media core error in win xp. I tried playing a little, clicking on a file on the ipod and then back to right clicking on the drive letter for the ipod and it worked that time. I've only had it work once. I've kept up with the new builds and now I'm running 251, but I can't seem to get it to work. Please any help!!! I would really love to be able to use the play count, stars, last played features.

Thanks!!!!


Also, I did restore and re-load everything friday night after I got 251 and stil having the problems.

[willrmc]

i am also having the info sync crash. it just quits out of the program before i have a chance to do anything. i am running the latest plugin. this was first experienced on my 2nd gen 10gb newly formatted to 1.3. then by stroke of luck last night i got a new 3rd gen 30gb for my birthday (hooray!) and i still have this problem.
i haven't been here in a while and this feature is mighty impressive, i didn't think i would see this for the pc!!!

[webcash]

Well seems i am now making some progress if slowly lol.I have nearly got the software to transfer to the ipod.It no longer crashes but now i get the following message
F:\IPOD_control\musiczF03\1062.wav-1073741676c:\Documents and settings\allusers\documents\mymusic\temp(trak details) then -1073741676c

where obviously i have not typed in the name of the artist just the trak details lol

Thanks once again in advance

Peter

[Mishimatic]

Mishimatic:

You really shouldn' be changing tag info directly on the iPod.  Yes, a crash shouldn't be happening, but the way you use MC9 is this:

1. In Media Libary view (you know the version of the songs on the PC, change all your tags so they are the way you want them.

2. Then when you want to apply those to the iPod, just do a sync.  Because MC9 supports changing of tag data on the iPod w/o the need to reupload the entire song, the sync will go by super fast (like 200MB/sec).

I don't recommend trying to do it the way you're doing it as you'll end up w/the problem of iPod tunes not mathing the properties (tags) of the tunes in your MC9 library,.

Adam

Thanks for the tips, Adam.  The niggle I have with this solution is that I don't intend to keep two copies of all my iPod's MP3s - one copy on the iPod, one copy on the PC.  But hey, if this is the workaround I have to use then so be it.

[SteveG]

McLaugh,

Can you get tonight's build and retest. Before you synch info back from iPod to PC, for the files that have wrong information, check that the incorrect information is corrected or deleted in MC.

BlueGlow,

This will be better in tonight's build.

Kurt and mcLaugh,

If you delete and reimport files to MC and the files are already on iPod this will not work well. I will improve the crashing part, but when synching, I rely on the MC track id number which if you delete and reimport, changes.

Mishimatic,

I cannot duplicate the Artist edit crash. Can anyone else? I hit F2, edited the Artist field and hit enter with no problems.

Peter,

Please use MC 9.1.251 or better yet, use tonight's 9.1.252. The pathname you gave in your second message is bizarre. Please try reinitializin iPod.

Kurt,

I am not sure. Can you try to narrow it down a bit.

Roadrunner,

Please try reinitializing and then try smaller tests to help isolate the problem for you.

Willrmc,

i am also having the info sync crash. it just quits out of the program before i have a chance to do anything.

 

Are you using MC 9.1.251 on a freshly initialized iPod? If so, please specify the steps preceding the crash.

[Grimmi]

I'm running build .251.  Aside from the semi-frequent crashes, syncing my 3G iPod to my pc seems to be working.  There is one thing that I found rather odd though.  When I sync my pc to my iPod it updates the playcounts on the iPod to be the same as what's in my library, then when I in turn, later sync my iPod to my pc, the playcounts are transfered back to my pc again, so basically doubling my playcounts from what they were before.  With the way MC handles playcounts on the iPod (adding them to the library then reseting them on the pod) wouldn't it make more sense to have the playcounts NOT transfer over when syncing pc -> iPod?

[SteveG]

Grimmi,

There was a time when the plugin did this, but it does not anymore. Your iPod Database may have older information in it. Try reinitializing and then the Playcounts on iPod should always reset to 0 after you synch the information to PC.

Steve

[mclaugh]

SteveG-
since those posts, I've been able to sync up my "number plays" from Ipod to PC.  I'm not getting all my playlists to show up on my Ipod (which is an intermittent problem, not something new), and some of the last played times on my PC are funky (I'm still getting some -1million values on some files).
I plan to get the new build tonight, but I'm wondering if I should "sync ipod info" before or after I upgrade to 252?  
By the way, I am so jazzed (can't think of a better word) about the play counts.  This means I can finally start to use some of those "last played on" functions in my smartlists, and that songs that say "never played" on my PC actually weren't!  Most of my music collection gets played M-F at work on my Ipod- being able to finally compile that info is great.

[Grimmi]

Running .251 with a 3G 30gig iPod, I just initialized my iPod, then sync'd a small playlist of about 30 songs.  Sync went find, playcounts were all 0, I then sycn'd iPod -> pc just to see what would happen, pretty much nothing happened...no crash, no updates (as expected on a freshly sync'd pod).  I then re-sync'd the playlist from the pc -> iPod, all my playcounts on my iPod were then updated to what was on my pc.  I always sync with the "update tags" box checked, but since playcounts aren't an actual id3 tag I assume this is not the problem?  Basically my first sync after initializing my pod went fine, after that MC updated the counts on the pod to reflect what they are in my library.  I plan to completly uninstall and reinstall MC, initialize my Pod and try this again but it's gotta wait till after class .  Great work btw Steve, keeping my iPod organized has never been so easy.

edit: my playcounts do indeed reset to 0 when syncing my pod to my pc...but if I sync pc -> pod, then pod -> pc....my playcounts basically double, since the pc's counts are transfered to the pod, then added BACK to the pc when syncing pod -> pc

[SteveG]

mclaugh,

Is there one Playlist that never appears on iPod? If so, can you initialize iPod, then drag and drop the Playlist or Synch the playlist and then send me a copy of your iTunesDB file so I can look and see what is going on. Also, tell me the name of the Playlist. Thanks

steve @ jriver.com

Grimmi,

I fixed this in tonight's build. Now, Playcounts will always be set to 0 on iPod after any synch / or update. This way Playcounts will only ever reflect the number of Plays after iPod is disconnected and reconnected. This data will continue to be additive into MC if 'Update iPod data with PC' is selected.

[Grimmi]

Nice, I look forward to checkin it out    

[SteveG]

Everyone,

Tonight's build includes the ability to update Star Ratings on iPod by clicking on the new rating in the HandHeld list view Rating column. It works like a Field Rename.  

I also tried to make the Database less crash prone if it gets corrupted, instead there should be a prompt to rebuild the iTunesDB which also has been improved.

If you can, start with a clean iPod to rule out any latent issues with data corruption from older builds and then start with small numbers of files and play with the features so if there are problems I can troubleshoot them more easily, that would be  a big help.

Steve

[roadrunner562]

SteveG,

Ok I reformat my ipod.
Then I uninstalled all MC files.
Installed 252 and reinitialized my ipod.
I loaded 59 songs. Played 3 and tried sync ipod to pc. It worked fine.
Then I put a 908 songs on. Played 5 and graded w/stars. Again everything worked fine.

Then I loaded 2666 songs on. Played 6 and graded. This time it gave me a media core error and closed the program 3 times in a row then on the forth time it worked.

Then I loaded all my song 5854. Played 10 and graded and just as you would think, a media core error everytime. I tried it about 10 times and not once would it work.

Any new ideas??

Thanks!

[ashawley]

Hey Steve:

I had  100% sucess w/the build tonight.  I especially like some of the things you did to clean it up a bit.

It would be cool if you could maintain the look of the status dialog though--I'm talking about the one that comes up when it's syncing.

It'd be nifty if a status bar came up for syncing the iPod data to the PC and saving tags looked the same.

Ditto with the "Deleting files not in sync" and "Preparing to Sync" messages.  Again, a progress bar matching the sync progress bar would give a more "polished" feel.

And finally, I'm all for adding this as a feature to the Sync dialog box with a check box.  

Don't know how others feel about this, but to make space for it you could remove the "Update Tags" option and default that to always on.  I mean, now that we have 2-way syncing you pretty much always want that on.  Also, with Replay Gain.  I personally can't think of a situation where you wouldn't want Update Tags on.  Can anyone else?

It might also help to alleviate user errors in may cases.  Especially with the 2-way sync capabilities.


Anyway, those are my thoughts.  Anyone else?
Adam

[Kurt Young]

I agree with your thoughts, Adam.

However, the plugin causes crashes when I try to send iPod info to MC.  I get the "this will overwrite tags" prompt, followed immediately by a Media Core crash.  This is after a full day of playing music via iPod and MC.  I installed the new build after much playing of tunes, attempt the synch, and crash.


Interesting.....

I had Media Server running.  The Media Core crash took it down, too.  Still getting Media Core crashes.

So, I loaded Media Server, and exited it gracefully.  Whatcha know, it works!  ("it" being iPod->MC sync)

Strange, though... the "highlight" in the tree is stuck on my iPod.  Selecting other tree nodes puts them in the right frame, like it should, but the F: drive is still highlighted.  Closing/restarting MC fixed that.

'Scuse me whilst I get my w00t on...

[Kurt Young]

I agree with your thoughts, Adam.  (imagine that, eh?  it's only a matter of time till steve finds out that "ashawley" is just one of my many sockpuppets!  baaaaaaaaahahahahahahahaha!!)

However, the plugin causes crashes when I try to send iPod info to MC.  I get the "this will overwrite tags" prompt, followed immediately by a Media Core crash.  This is after a full day of playing music via iPod and MC.  I installed the new build after much playing of tunes, attempt the synch, and crash.


Interesting.....

I had Media Server running.  The Media Core crash took it down, too.  Still getting Media Core crashes.

So, I loaded Media Server, and exited it gracefully.  Whatcha know, it works!  ("it" being iPod->MC sync)

Strange, though... the "highlight" in the tree is stuck on my iPod.  Selecting other tree nodes puts them in the right frame, like it should, but the F: drive is still highlighted.  Closing/restarting MC fixed that.

'Scuse me whilst I get my w00t on...

Woah... odd browser crashes doing odd things...  time to sync up and go to bed.

[SteveG]

RoadRunner,

Then I loaded 2666 songs on. Played 6 and graded. This time it gave me a media core error and closed the program 3 times in a row then on the forth time it worked.

When did you get the media core error? After connecting to your PC? After selecting sync iPod info with PC?

My best guess is that a file (or files) in the set of 2666 corrupted the database and you were done at that point. If you can, try again and when you see the crash, send me your iTunesDB file so I can see where the crash is.(steve @ jrvier.com)

Adam,

The synch dialogue is a unique featiure of the Portable Plugin. The other dialogues are a standard part of MC and  appear in other locations. The point of using them is to try to keep MC consistent within itself. I understand your point and will try to make it more unified.  Lets wait a few days on automating the new features until any remaining kinks are ironed out.

Kurt,

I tested today with Media Server and could not duplicate the crashing. Any more info you can give might help.

Thanks,

Steve

[bdjohns1]

RoadRunner,


The synch dialogue is a unique featiure of the Portable Plugin. The other dialogues are a standard part of MC and  appear in other locations. The point of using them is to try to keep MC consistent within itself. I understand your point and will try to make it more unified.  Lets wait a few days on automating the new features until any remaining kinks are ironed out.

Steve,

I've had one issue (maybe I just never noticed it before since I've been reinitializing a lot lately as the Playcounts issue was worked out) - the Sync status dialog (the one that has the song title, status bar, transfer rate, time remaining) seems to be stuck in an always-on-top mode.  Even if I minimize MC9, it'll still pop to the top in whatever other app I'm running.  Not exactly the behavior I want when I need to reload 10GB to the iPod...I'm stuck with the box on screen for 30 minutes.

--Ben

[ashawley]

Yeah, bdjohns, I've noticed that too for a while.

Steve:

I can see your point and pretty much thought your were going to say something like that    Actually I thought your were going to say it uses existing status messages and as such cannot be changed.  

I guess though I'd counter with...

Within the construct of the "iPod Syncing Process" don't you want to maintain the look and feel of that process?  I gues that's why I'm saying one progress bar would be optimal, it could have messages at the top (where the loading songs normally appear), such as:

• "Reading iPod Data"
  
• "Processing iPod Tag Updates n of z"
  
• "Updating Smartlists" (if needed)
  
• Then list the songs that are syncing as is done today
  

The beauty of this is that you'd have one status bar that progresses for the entire operation.  Or you could have the bar refresh for each step, that'd probably be cooler.  But the key is to maintain the look w/in the "iPod Experience"  

I know, I know.  Shut the heck up, I've got bugs to deal with!  OK, off to pick on another deceased equine

Oh, I should note that my sucesses so far have come w/o adding new tunes to my library, the iPod or even playing tunes in MC9.  That's probably why I've been sucessful.  

Adam

[bdjohns1]

Oh, I should note that my sucesses so far have come w/o adding new tunes to my library, the iPod or even playing tunes in MC9.  That's probably why I've been sucessful.  

Adam,

For what it's worth, I added a new album into the library last night and had no issues getting it over to the iPod.  One thing I do need to keep an eye on are the last played times - either my eyes were playing tricks on me last night, or it updated the last-played time on a song I don't remember playing.

Now, to see if I can get AAC to play nicely with MC...

[nekura]

Although I'm a Mac person now (! =o), I just wanted to congratulate Steve on getting Playcounts and Ratings to work successfully; good job man.

To all of my fellow iPodloungers, sorry I haven't been around there lately...  it just feels less like the community that it used to be, as some of you have pointed out on there.  We must still keep in touch, though! =D