foo_pod - Foobar2000 meets the iPod, iPod -> Foobar2000 0.8 Options

[Aero]

*** October 3, 2006: The latest version is 0.9.9o - read about it in this post***

If you are new to foo_pod, skip to the end of the forum for the latest development and discussion, as foo_pod has advanced quite a bit from this initial post...

http://www.tinkafoo.com/log/foo_pod.html is an excellent source of information about foo_pod, and might save you 8+ hours reading this forum trying to find the answer to a commonly asked foo_pod question.








foo_pod.zip

Here is my initial release of a Foobar 0.8 component to interface with an Apple iPod. The current version (0.1) only supports read access to an iPod - namely, reading the iPod database file and building a Foobar playlist containing all of the songs contained on the iPod.

Is this useful? Maybe...

By building a playlist of all of the songs, you could take your iPod to a friend's computer and play the music and copy songs off of the iPod (by dragging the song from the playlist to a directory or the Desktop), without any additional software. This component might also be useful for people with home theater PCs - leave the iPod dock on the HTPC, sync up on your main computer, and playback directly from the iPod on the HTPC.

To use foo_pod, make sure your iPod is connected to your computer and is visible as a drive in My Computer (very important), and select Components/foo_pod/Load iPod to foo_pod Playlist. There are a few preference settings, but unless the automatic detection doesn't work, you probably won't need to change anything.

Anyway, let me know how this works out on different computers/iPods, and what features people would like to see. I would like to get Foobar->iPod writing working, but I'm pretty happy with EphPod, so we'll see what happens with that. Eventually, I would like to do something like Anapod. I actually have written a component that handles HTTP access/streaming and is more functional than Anapod, but I never updated it from Foobar 0.6...


Special thanks go to Otto42 and his excellent iPod classes. foo_pod relies heavily on Otto42's code, with some minor modifications (Otto42 - remind me to send some diffs). Also, on another thread, Scream mentioned that there is source code available for the Winamp5 plugin. I haven't tried that plugin yet, but I wouldn't mind taking a look at the source, especially for supporting write access (the posted link appears to be dead).

This post has been edited by Aero: Oct 4 2006, 04:56

[Aero]

Version 0.4 is now available.

More good stuff in the new version. Most significantly is a iTunes-like Sync Playlist feature, which will add/remove files from the iPod so that it matches the current playlist. Also, I was able to tap into the iPodService, so foo_pod will automatically mount the iPod if necessary (there is also a menu item for this). There is also a context menu item that allows you to send only selected files to the iPod.

Under the preferences, there are a few new settings - "Eject On Exit" will safely remove the iPod from the system at Foobar2000 exit. You can also set the iPod's name, the owner's name, and control the disk mode setting.

From the Readme:

Version 0.4 - March 23, 2004
* Added full iTunes-like sync support. This will transfer files to the iPod and delete
files from it so that it matches the current playlist. As this operation can involve
deleting files, make sure your playlist is as you want your whole iPod before beginning.

* Added a context menu (right mouse button) that allows an easy way to send only the
selected files in the current playlist to the iPod.

* Added several new preference items:
- Eject On Exit will safely eject the iPod when Foobar2000 exits
- iPod Name and iPod Owner's Names are just strings that you can set if you wish
- Enable Disk Mode is the equivalent of iTunes' Enable Disk Mode option. Unless
you use iTunes and do not want this enabled, I recommend checking this option.

* Added a "Mount iPod" menu option. foo_pod will also try to mount the iPod before
any iPod related activity, so you will probably only need to use this directly if
there is a problem, and you do not have Enable Disk Mode checked.