[seemingly abandonware] iPod manager, also known as foo_dop Options

[Canar]

1. Lock-up as in it ceases to transfer files and the Abort button ceases to function (still depresses when clicked, but clicking does nothing).

2. It locks up while transferring files, like I said. I select the files in foobar, right click, and select iPod->Send to iPod. I'm not certain what other info to give. The progress dialog reads "Sending files to iPod...".

3. Hopefully, the correct information is below.

CODE

ntoskrnl.exe!ExReleaseResourceLite+0x206
Fastfat.SYS+0x4bcb
Fastfat.SYS+0x156e4
Fastfat.SYS+0xcde2
Fastfat.SYS+0xb9a
sptd.sys+0x148a8
ntoskrnl.exe!IofCallDriver+0x32
ntdll.dll!KiFastSystemCallRet
kernel32.dll!CopyFileExW+0xc30
kernel32.dll!FreeResource+0x1943
kernel32.dll!CopyFileExW+0x39
foo_dop.dll+0x168c1
foobar2000.exe+0xd1901
foobar2000.exe+0x35592

This post has been edited by Canar: Jun 11 2006, 16:44

[musicmusic]

Is that really the latest version of foo_dop?

[Demonanya]

Will foo_dop eventually support Unicode as the vast majority of my music is in Japanese text. Just been having a play around with it as I decided to upgrade to foobar 0.9.2 today and so far, apart from it not moving my Japanese MP3's it's working great. Just wish it could carry over the embedded artwork but can't have everything I suppose

[musicmusic]

Well, of course it supports Unicode, the behaviour you describe is a bug.

The iPod will only play the file if its path and filename consists of ASCII chars only. After converting the filename to ASCII it ended up with some ?s in place of characters that couldn't be mapped to anything else, and of course those are not allowed in the filename so the copy operation failed.

I fixed the bug for the next version.

[Demonanya]

Well, of course it supports Unicode, the behaviour you describe is a bug.

The iPod will only play the file if its path and filename consists of ASCII chars only. After converting the filename to ASCII it ended up with some ?s in place of characters that couldn't be mapped to anything else, and of course those are not allowed in the filename so the copy operation failed.

I fixed the bug for the next version.

Ah, didn't realise it was a bug, and looking forward to the next release as this component will mean bye bye to ITunes for me

[Canar]

Ack, apparently I was still using 1.7. I thought I remembered upgrading. Will test and get back to you.

Sorry for the mistake.

[musicmusic]

0.2.2 TEST released. Super-experimental (more so than 0.2.1) and only for testing. It writes something more like an iTunes 4.9 database, somemore details in changelog.

BTW if anyone has a 5G (or otherwise), updated by iTunes, with any of the following:
* TV Shows with episode number/season number set
* Podcasts
* Something with chapter data (Podcasts?)

I wouldn't mind looking at your iTunesDB

[magnusak]

I just tried rewriting my iPod 5G database (originally written with foo_pod, later maintained by iTunes latest version) using foo_dpo 0.2.2 TEST.

The good news:
- It worked.
- foo_dop did a better job than iTunes on some tags (tags from the latest foobar had a strange "blank" character at the end when uploaded with iTunes)
- Playcount and last played were preserved.
- Smart playlists were preserved.

The bad news:
- "Kind" is deleted from all files ("MPEG audio file" etc)
- Podcasts seemed to be converted into normal audio files.
- iTunes (for some strange reason) changed it's setting for maintaining podcasts to "Manual" instead of "Automatic"

Now, after that I tried syncing podcasts again with iTunes, and then adding some files with foo_dop. This worked perfectly with only one small problem: The podcast playlist (automatic itunes) is converted into a normal playlist and then when iTunes is started a new, smart one is created (resulting in two podcast playlist).

Anyway, I'm thrilled. I will start using foo_dop regularly to upload music to my iPod. If you want me to perform any more tests, tell me so here or on mail (i just sent you a mail with my iTunes DB).

Regards,
Magnus

[musicmusic]

I just tried rewriting my iPod 5G database (originally written with foo_pod, later maintained by iTunes latest version) using foo_dpo 0.2.2 TEST.

Thank you very much for testing it

The bad news:
- "Kind" is deleted from all files ("MPEG audio file" etc)

Actually that was kind of knowingly done - I didn't think the iPod displayed it anywhere. I fixed in 0.2.3 TEST. But it will write foobar2000 "codec" tech field + "file" for files sent using foo_dop.

- Podcasts seemed to be converted into normal audio files.
- iTunes (for some strange reason) changed it's setting for maintaining podcasts to "Manual" instead of "Automatic"

I fixed a bug in 0.2.3 TEST which was the probable cause the first; and maybe the latter was caused by the first too.

Anyway, I'm thrilled. I will start using foo_dop regularly to upload music to my iPod. If you want me to perform any more tests, tell me so here or on mail (i just sent you a mail with my iTunes DB).

Regards,
Magnus

Thanks for that and thanks for your detailed feedback

0.2.3 TEST

[furious]

i am beside myself with excitement over this- i've been waiting to ditch iTunes for a while.

musicmusic- the website says that the 5G (video) isn't supported- is this in reference to videos or for the DB structure as a whole- i'm assuming that note is in reference to an older version of foo_dop and/or videos- given magnus' success...?

can i start to use this on my video ipod? (videos excluded)?

[elishnevsky]

musicmusic, first of all thank you for the time you spend on writing this plugin! I have one question ony. I was wondering how soon do you think you can make it working for files with non-ASCII characters in their names. There's a lot of such files in my music library therefore I'm still forced to use this freaking iTunes. Thanks a lot.

[mobyduck]

Thanks for your time, musicmusic.

I have an "old" 20Gb click-wheel iPod and I'm currently using foo_pod (no iTunes, thanks). I'd like to test your plug-in but, before I do, I have a couple of questions, if you don't mind.

1. 99% of the work I need to do with my iPod is synching: I have a single PL in foobar that is "replicated" on the iPod and when I change it in foobar (adding, updating or removing songs) I simply "sync" it with foo_pod. Is this feature already implemented or are you planning to develop it in the future?

2. As I use foo_pod, I have not upgraded the firmware to the latest release: will this be a problem with foo_dop?

I look forward to trying your new toy!

Alessandro

This post has been edited by mobyduck: Jun 13 2006, 15:53

[musicmusic]

i am beside myself with excitement over this- i've been waiting to ditch iTunes for a while.

musicmusic- the website says that the 5G (video) isn't supported- is this in reference to videos or for the DB structure as a whole- i'm assuming that note is in reference to an older version of foo_dop and/or videos- given magnus' success...?

can i start to use this on my video ipod? (videos excluded)?

The TEST version is the one that is aimed to work properly on a 5G. You can use it, if you're feeling brave. If there are no reported problems, it will replace the non-test-but-alpha version.

musicmusic, first of all thank you for the time you spend on writing this plugin! I have one question ony. I was wondering how soon do you think you can make it working for files with non-ASCII characters in their names. There's a lot of such files in my music library therefore I'm still forced to use this freaking iTunes. Thanks a lot.

The only bug I know of like that was fixed in the TEST version if you want to try that one.

Thanks for your time, musicmusic.

I have an "old" 20Gb click-wheel iPod and I'm currently using foo_pod (no iTunes, thanks). I'd like to test your plug-in but, before I do, I have a couple of questions, if you don't mind.

1. 99% of the work I need to do with my iPod is synching: I have a single PL in foobar that is "replicated" on the iPod and when I change it in foobar (adding, updating or removing songs) I simply "sync" it with foo_pod. Is this feature already implemented or are you planning to develop it in the future?

2. As I use foo_pod, I have not upgraded the firmware to the latest release: will this be a problem with foo_dop?

I look forward to trying your new toy!

Alessandro

1. Sync is my main target to implement Its not implemented yet, but what I planned was sync with foobar2000's music library + selected playlists. I guess probably I could make the media library bit optional as well then.
2. It must be newer than the latest 3G firmware I think so I doubt it But generally I think later firmware is prefered (out of interest, what problem does that create with foo_pod?)

[furious]

<quote>
1. Sync is my main target to implement Its not implemented yet, but what I planned was sync with foobar2000's music library + selected playlists. I guess probably I could make the media library bit optional as well then.
</quote>


isn't this already there in the "load library and playlists" option?

i took two new albums and "send to iPod" and it worked perfectly. if this is the case for all transfers, what is the "rewrite ipod database for"? didn't it do that automatically?

i guess i'm confused as to what some options are for if they are done automatically?

sorry for the questions.


the transfer i did (5G with the 2.3 TEST) worked perfectly.

This post has been edited by furious: Jun 13 2006, 18:36

[magnusak]

The bad news:
- "Kind" is deleted from all files ("MPEG audio file" etc)

Actually that was kind of knowingly done - I didn't think the iPod displayed it anywhere. I fixed in 0.2.3 TEST. But it will write foobar2000 "codec" tech field + "file" for files sent using foo_dop.

Excellent. This seems to work now. "Kind" is not shown on the iPod but it is shown in iTunes and can be used in smart playlists (I think). For this reason it might be advantage if you used the same kinds as iTunes...

- Podcasts seemed to be converted into normal audio files.
- iTunes (for some strange reason) changed it's setting for maintaining podcasts to "Manual" instead of "Automatic"

I fixed a bug in 0.2.3 TEST which was the probable cause the first; and maybe the latter was caused by the first too.

Video podcasts are still lost after a rebuild. The other podcasts work on the iPod, but when I syncronize with iTunes they are not recognized by iTunes as podcasts, and end up being re-copied to the iPod (duplicates).

The second problem mentioned above is no longer a problem.

[musicmusic]

Excellent. This seems to work now. "Kind" is not shown on the iPod but it is shown in iTunes and can be used in smart playlists (I think). For this reason it might be advantage if you used the same kinds as iTunes...

I agree it would probably be more ideal. But the problem is I don't know all of the ones it uses
I know foo_pod seems to have used:
MP3: MPEG audio file
M4A (AAC): AAC audio file

I assume this is the same as iTunes? Also need to know what exactly is used for other types you might send through foobar (WAV, ALAC).

Video podcasts are still lost after a rebuild. The other podcasts work on the iPod, but when I syncronize with iTunes they are not recognized by iTunes as podcasts, and end up being re-copied to the iPod (duplicates).

The second problem mentioned above is no longer a problem.

Ok thanks for testing that.

Using your database, I found a couple more bugs relating to this so hopefully the next build will clear those issues up.

This post has been edited by musicmusic: Jun 13 2006, 20:59

[elishnevsky]

musicmusic, first of all thank you for the time you spend on writing this plugin! I have one question ony. I was wondering how soon do you think you can make it working for files with non-ASCII characters in their names. There's a lot of such files in my music library therefore I'm still forced to use this freaking iTunes. Thanks a lot.

The only bug I know of like that was fixed in the TEST version if you want to try that one.

Yes, it works just fine. Thank you! One thing I noticed is that non-ASCII characters are replaced with underscores when copied to iPod. Is it intended?

[musicmusic]

Yes, it works just fine. Thank you! One thing I noticed is that non-ASCII characters are replaced with underscores when copied to iPod. Is it intended?

Yes The iPod only plays ASCII filenames (at least 3G). So if a character in the original filename doesn't map to anything in the ASCII char set then you get that. I agree if that's all the characters its somewhat stupid. But either way you're going to have a useless filename.

0.2.4 TEST released
I hope it fixes Podcast problems. But probably just introduced new problems

[saratoga]

I was using 2.1, but it wouldn't transfer some files on my 3G (possiblely because they had an apostrophe). I updated to 2.4 Test and everything seems to work great.

Thanks for the plugin.

[david_dl]

Yes, it works just fine. Thank you! One thing I noticed is that non-ASCII characters are replaced with underscores when copied to iPod. Is it intended?

Yes The iPod only plays ASCII filenames (at least 3G). So if a character in the original filename doesn't map to anything in the ASCII char set then you get that. I agree if that's all the characters its somewhat stupid. But either way you're going to have a useless filename.

0.2.4 TEST released
I hope it fixes Podcast problems. But probably just introduced new problems

I'm pretty sure my 4G supports non-ascii characters, at least the europeanish ones. It correctly displays all the weird characters in Sigur Rós track names.

Edit: the Mount and Unmount commands used to work fine (I have iPodService installed, and am using firewire,) but now i get:

IDispatch error #56938 Code: -7FFB1F96

Edit: Just tested 0.2.4 on my 4G, seems to work fine, however it messes up the sort order (it's now purely alphabetical, it used to ignore 'The'. Perhaps once this component matures we could configure a custom formatting string for use in sorting the Artist/Albums/Tracks?

This post has been edited by david_dl: Jun 14 2006, 06:20

[musicmusic]

I'm pretty sure my 4G supports non-ascii characters, at least the europeanish ones. It correctly displays all the weird characters in Sigur Rós track names.

But that's not the filename, is it? The metadata is usually fine. (In fact, stored in Unicode).

However, one character that my iPod refuses to display in the ARTIST list is ý. I wonder if they fixed that in later models.

Edit: the Mount and Unmount commands used to work fine (I have iPodService installed, and am using firewire,) but now i get:

IDispatch error #56938 Code: -7FFB1F96

I have seen it do that once too, it seems to be slightly temperamental (I didn't change anything from the previous versions). My guess is it has something to do with whether iTunes is running. I have no idea what the error code means right know, because the iPodService uses its own error codes. I'll see if I can work it all out..

Edit: Just tested 0.2.4 on my 4G, seems to work fine, however it messes up the sort order (it's now purely alphabetical, it used to ignore 'The'. Perhaps once this component matures we could configure a custom formatting string for use in sorting the Artist/Albums/Tracks?

Known, mentioned someplace on wiki.

The sort strings I am using are:

CODE

            t_index_pattern library_indices[] =
            {
                {library_index_types::title, "%title%"},
                {library_index_types::album_disc_tracknumber_title, "%album%|%discnumber%|$num(%tracknumber%,2)|%title%"},
                {library_index_types::artist_album_disc_tracknumber_title, "%artist%|%album%|%discnumber%|$num(%tracknumber%,2)|%title%"},
                {library_index_types::genre_artist_album_disc_tracknumber_title, "%genre%|%artist%|%album%|%discnumber%|$num(%tracknumber%,2)|%title%"},
                {library_index_types::composer_title, "%composer%|%title%"}
            };

If I make those strings user-configurable, there's some room for user error, since they have to follow a specific pattern. I guess putting it on the advanced prefs page would counter-act that Alternatively I could make each of those fields configurable (TITLE, ALBUM, ..) which would also eliminate that.

The other alternative is not writing the 'sort tables' at all, which seems to give back the normal ordering, but that make browsing the library super-slow (on my 3G at least).

This post has been edited by musicmusic: Jun 14 2006, 09:27

[david_dl]

I'm pretty sure my 4G supports non-ascii characters, at least the europeanish ones. It correctly displays all the weird characters in Sigur Rós track names.

But that's not the filename, is it? The metadata is usually fine. (In fact, stored in Unicode).

Sorry, mustn't have read the previous post properly

If I make those strings user-configurable, there's some room for user error, since they have to follow a specific pattern. I guess putting it on the advanced prefs page would counter-act that Alternatively I could make each of those fields configurable (TITLE, ALBUM, ..) which would also eliminate that.

The other alternative is not writing the 'sort tables' at all, which seems to give back the normal ordering, but that make browsing the library super-slow (on my 3G at least).

Advanced prefs page sounds like a good idea; at least then users can have a fiddle and restore the defaults if they break something.

Also, for the soundcheck values, is album or track gain used? Perhaps this could be user configurable, as well as a replaygain 'preamp' value for those with volume limited (european) iPods.

[magnusak]

I know foo_pod seems to have used:
MP3: MPEG audio file
M4A (AAC): AAC audio file

I assume this is the same as iTunes? Also need to know what exactly is used for other types you might send through foobar (WAV, ALAC).

WAV: WAV audio file
MP3: MPEG audio file
ALAC: Apple Lossless audio file
AAC: AAC audio file

Note that both ALAC and AAC files created with iTunes use the file extension .m4a.

Now, if movies should be of any interest, I'll list those as well:
MOV: QuickTime movie file
MP4: MPEG-4 video file
(Irritating that they use both "movie" and "video", complicating smart playlists based on Kind).

Using your database, I found a couple more bugs relating to this so hopefully the next build will clear those issues up.

I did a new "Rewrite database" with 0.2.4 TEST, and it works very well. Podcasts are kept, both audio and video versions. The only oddity I experienced now was that a WAV file (the only one I had) lost all its tags and got the name "BWAB" after foo_dop wrote the database.

Keep up the good work, musicmusic! This is exciting.

Also, for the soundcheck values, is album or track gain used? Perhaps this could be user configurable, as well as a replaygain 'preamp' value for those with volume limited (european) iPods.

I really hope Album gain is preferred over track gain. Anyway, David, if you have a volume limited iPod, I really recommend you the program goPod, downloadable for free here. It is dead simple to use and requires no installation (i.e. you can run it off your iPod). The only disadvantage is that you have to re-run the program every time you upgrade your firmware. That will set you back approximately 15 seconds every four months .


Regards,
Magnus

This post has been edited by magnusak: Jun 14 2006, 11:44

[musicmusic]

I have seen it do that once too, it seems to be slightly temperamental (I didn't change anything from the previous versions). My guess is it has something to do with whether iTunes is running. I have no idea what the error code means right know, because the iPodService uses its own error codes. I'll see if I can work it all out..

My bad, I found the definition to the error codes. Yours is:
kErriPodHandle = -2147164054,
Which indicates I had a bad "handle" to the iPod. Given the fact I obtain the handle the line before, something else is happening in between.

Did you do something like pull out the iPod before it finished unmounting? In fact that's the only time I ever saw an error so far, but I didn't note down the code.

Also, for the soundcheck values, is album or track gain used?

Awnser in wiki (Album used if present otherwise track gain)

Perhaps this could be user configurable, as well as a replaygain 'preamp' value for those with volume limited (european) iPods.

I'll add the latter at some point, but not for that reason

[musicmusic]

I know foo_pod seems to have used:
MP3: MPEG audio file
M4A (AAC): AAC audio file

I assume this is the same as iTunes? Also need to know what exactly is used for other types you might send through foobar (WAV, ALAC).

WAV: WAV audio file
MP3: MPEG audio file
ALAC: Apple Lossless audio file
AAC: AAC audio file

Note that both ALAC and AAC files created with iTunes use the file extension .m4a.

Now, if movies should be of any interest, I'll list those as well:
MOV: QuickTime movie file
MP4: MPEG-4 video file
(Irritating that they use both "movie" and "video", complicating smart playlists based on Kind).

Excellent, thank you very much for that list

I did a new "Rewrite database" with 0.2.4 TEST, and it works very well. Podcasts are kept, both audio and video versions.

Phew I was running out of ideas

The only oddity I experienced now was that a WAV file (the only one I had) lost all its tags and got the name "BWAB" after foo_dop wrote the database.

Idea of "rewrite database" is to rewrite database using tags as read by foobar2000. Of course, foobar2000 doesn't read any tags from WAV files, so foobar reports no metadata in the file. So the component puts the filename as the TITLE as you saw. In fact, using the filename like that is a bad idea if the file is on the iPod, it was intended for files on the computer, so I will change that.

I can add a special case for WAV files so it leaves existing metadata for such entries in the database untouched.

Keep up the good work, musicmusic! This is exciting.

Regards,
Magnus

Thanks