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

[clunesy]

The idea of putting the last 2 digits of the year before the album is great.
I just switched from Ephpod, and I think foo_pod rocks.
Unfortunately because foobar won't read .lnk (windows shortcuts), I've had to change my 'folder full of .m3u links' approach to syncing the pod that worked so well with Ephpod. I always found playlists named Artist-Year-Album the easiest way to navigate, so -

Sorry if this is more of a foo tagger question, but could someone tell me the string
for renaming the albums in the ipod db to

xxxxx-yy-zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

where xxxxx is the first 5 characters of the album artist
-should be blank if its comp. cd.
-also should remove string 'The ' from the front of the artist if present.

yy = last two digits of year

zzzzzzzzzzzzz = as much of the album string that can be fit on.

I ask this because if you have a great number of V/A CDs, it can be hard to browse through the artist list, and the album list is sorted by year regardless of artist !

Last question - To listen to my ipod on my work mac rig (I'm an audio engineer) - I have no choice but to listen to it thru itunes. Arrogant piece of software that it is, it rewrites the itunes db with the album tag info (cos it knows best !!!) - whenever it plays any file, which screws the db when you listen to the pod undocked. I have tried permission-locking the db as root user - no dice.

Instead of / As well as using the above format for the album name, is it possible to get foo_pod to create a playlist in the ipod for each album on the ipod using a custom string syntax? If you copy .m3u files onto the ipod itself, and you rebuild the database with foo_pod, can it read .m3u's on the ipod ?

Sorry for being an irritating noob ! Hope someone can shed some light.

This post has been edited by clunesy: Mar 16 2005, 23:16

[hunted]

Unfortunately because foobar won't read .lnk (windows shortcuts)

have you tried foo_lnk, it resolves shell links, http://pelit.koillismaa.fi/plugins/search....lsearch=foo_lnk

[dsuliman]

I think what hes saying, is if he were to use foo_quicktag_mod it would be called __copy_to_portable instead of copy_to_portable, and he is wondering if foo_pod will support this.

Yup that's what I meant. I need this since foo_quicktag_mod will create __copy_to_portable instead of copy_to_portable.

Thanks in advance.

[quazi]

-should be blank if its comp. cd.

If the artist section is sometimes blank, that means some of them will start with artist and some of them won't, and that means it won't sort right.

How do you check if it's a compilation CD? %various% = 1, %album artist% = "VA", VA or OST in the album name (or path)? Do you use %album artist% and %artist%, %artist% and %track artist% (or %composer%) or just %artist% without a track artist?

therefore, this ain't right yet:

CODE

(code removed to alleviate confusion)

This post has been edited by quazi: Mar 17 2005, 17:16

[clunesy]

Thanks very much for this !
I mistated myself - the artist field in my tags is never 'blank', I'm just saying for albums where each track has a different artist, it could 'appear' blank, - or VA would do. The test for this is %various% = 1 then, is it ?
I don't knowingly use %track artist% %album artist% or %composer%. Only different info in each artist tag.

I just don't want it to come up under the artist from Track #1 for instance, like some programs do. Is it possible to say - insert string 'VA' for artist, if
%various% = 1

And hunted, thanks for that foo_lnk info, I'll give it a try. Is there any way I can get foobar to edit my playlist names to the format above ?
I take it the answer to foo_pod creating new ipod playlists for each album is no ?

thanks

This post has been edited by clunesy: Mar 17 2005, 10:16

[quazi]

The test for this is %various% = 1 then, is it ?
I don't knowingly use %track artist% %album artist% or %composer%. Only different info in each artist tag.

I just don't want it to come up under the artist from Track #1 for instance, like some programs do. Is it possible to say - insert string 'VA' for artist, if
%various% = 1

Adding %various% = 1 is one way to do it.

I personally use %album artist% because of the Foobar Encouraged Tag Standards.

For more details, I recently wrote up a naming scheme tutorial.. specifically check out my naming schemes and see if they make sense.

If you decide to go that route, this would be the metadata setting you're looking for:

CODE

$left($if(%album artist%,$if($strcmp($left(%album artist%,4),The ),$right(%album artist%,$sub($len(%album artist%),4)),%album artist%),$if($strcmp($left(%artist%,4),The ),$right(%artist%,$sub($len(%artist%),4)),%artist%)),5)[[-$right(%date%,2)]-%album%]

If you don't want to use %album artist%, and would rather use %various%, this would work:

CODE

$if($stricmp(1,%various%),VA,$left($if($strcmp($left(%artist%,4),The ),$right(%artist%,$sub($len(%artist%),4)),%artist%),5))[[-$right(%date%,2)]-%album%]

Is there any way I can get foobar to edit my playlist names to the format above ?

Check out the Advanced Playlist Generator. I've never used it, so I'm not quite as familiar with that as, say TAGZ strings.

This post has been edited by quazi: Mar 17 2005, 13:40

[clunesy]

once again - thanks for your help. Gratefully received.
Like you say, it nearly works, but creates one album per track on each VA album !
It occurs to me that you aren't talking about ID3v2 tags, are you ?
[I don't think that spec has anything other than artist, album, title].
Do I need to use APEv2 to make this work ? My files only have ID3v1/2 right now.
Although I'm thinking of using APE to RG them.

Is there a TAGZ string that would be clever enough to do what I'm after based only on info available in ID3v2 ? eg (if an album has more than one artist, then show blank field). Strikes me you'd be the guy to come up with it if there were

[quazi]

Like you say, it nearly works, but creates one album per track on each VA album !

You are putting this under "Album", right?

I used the first string (the 'album artist' one) here (ignore the other fields, they don't matter for this), and these albums came out looking like this (the bottom two).

It doesn't matter what type of tags you use. (If you're wondering, I use ID3v2.)

To make 'various' albums return a blank field, remove the bold part from whichever string you're using:

$left($if(%album artist%,$if($strcmp($left(%album artist%,4),The ),$right(%album artist%,$sub($len(%album artist%),4)),%album artist%),$if($strcmp($left(%artist%,4),The ),$right(%artist%,$sub($len(%artist%),4)),%artist%)),5)[[-$right(%date%,2)]-%album%]
( EDIT: note the bold comma right before ",5)[[" )

or

$if($stricmp(1,%various%),VA,$left($if($strcmp($left(%artist%,4),The ),$right(%artist%,$sub($len(%artist%),4)),%artist%),5))[[-$right(%date%,2)]-%album%]

This post has been edited by quazi: Mar 18 2005, 05:59

[Aero]

I think what hes saying, is if he were to use foo_quicktag_mod it would be called __copy_to_portable instead of copy_to_portable, and he is wondering if foo_pod will support this.

Yup that's what I meant. I need this since foo_quicktag_mod will create __copy_to_portable instead of copy_to_portable.

Thanks in advance.

Is there any particular reason why foo_quicktag_mod won't create COPY_TO_PORTABLE, instead of __COPY_TO_PORTABLE? My first reaction is that I probably will not add support for __COPY_TO_PORTABLE, unless there is a good reason why the 2 underscores are there.

[jkwarras]

Is there any particular reason why foo_quicktag_mod won't create COPY_TO_PORTABLE, instead of __COPY_TO_PORTABLE?  My first reaction is that I probably will not add support for __COPY_TO_PORTABLE, unless there is a good reason why the 2 underscores are there.

Afaik, all metadata stored in the database is called via title formatting with a double underscore. i.e. %__fieldname% inserts tech info field named <fieldname> like this

bitrate is returned via %__bitrate%, extrainfo is returned via %__extrainfo% and so on...

As playcount mod and quicktag mod both uses sql are available as techinfo, and so you can call them via titleformatting using the double underscore. that's why if you use quicktag mod to write copy to portable tag, it'll in fact write %__copy_to_portable%, idem for rating.

Hope it helps

[clunesy]

Like you say, it nearly works, but creates one album per track on each VA album !

You are putting this under "Album", right?

It doesn't matter what type of tags you use. (If you're wondering, I use ID3v2.)

To make 'various' albums return a blank field, remove the bold part from whichever string you're using:

$left($if(%album artist%,$if($strcmp($left(%album artist%,4),The ),$right(%album artist%,$sub($len(%album artist%),4)),%album artist%),$if($strcmp($left(%artist%,4),The ),$right(%artist%,$sub($len(%artist%),4)),%artist%)),5)[[-$right(%date%,2)]-%album%]

or

$if($stricmp(1,%various%),VA,$left($if($strcmp($left(%artist%,4),The ),$right(%artist%,$sub($len(%artist%),4)),%artist%),5))[[-$right(%date%,2)]-%album%]

Yep - I'm putting it all under album. I've tried every variant with and without the bold sections. Every time it makes an album for EVERY artist on the album
It is trimming all 'The ' strings though

The best I've had - it made one album, but called it

',5[Syntax Err.......'

any ideas ?

This post has been edited by clunesy: Mar 17 2005, 18:26

[Aero]

Afaik, all metadata stored in the database is called via title formatting with a double underscore. i.e. %__fieldname% inserts tech info field named <fieldname> like this

bitrate is returned via %__bitrate%, extrainfo is returned via %__extrainfo% and so on...

As playcount mod and quicktag mod both uses sql are available as techinfo, and so you can call them via titleformatting using the double underscore. that's why if you use quicktag mod to write copy to portable tag, it'll in fact write %__copy_to_portable%, idem for rating.

Yeah, that is how the TAGZ interface works, to get the tech info. I guess what I really meant was why is COPY_TO_PORTABLE saved as technical info, instead of metadata.

[quazi]

Yep - I'm putting it all under album. I've tried every variant with and without the bold sections. Every time it makes an album for EVERY artist on the album
It is trimming all 'The ' strings though

The best I've had - it made one album, but called it

',5[Syntax Err.......'

any ideas ?

I've tried removing tags one by one from a test track, adding various=1 to test the other string, and everything is working fine for me.

Copy your string right out of the foo_pod window and paste it here. I want to see if your copy is somehow different from mine. (If it's coming up with ",5[", that sounds like your missing a parenthesis somewhere. You're not typing these in by hand are you?)

Other than that, can anyone else test this for us? (You don't have to copy files to your iPod to do it either, just use the masstagger rename window -- without pressing 'Run' of course.)

This post has been edited by quazi: Mar 17 2005, 18:38

[clunesy]

Yep - I'm putting it all under album. I've tried every variant with and without the bold sections. Every time it makes an album for EVERY artist on the album
It is trimming all 'The ' strings though

The best I've had - it made one album, but called it

',5[Syntax Err.......'

any ideas ?

I've tried removing tags one by one from a test track, adding various=1 to test the other string, and everything is working fine for me.

Copy your string right out of the foo_pod window and paste it here. I want to see if your copy is somehow different from mine. (If it's coming up with ",5[", that sounds like your missing a parenthesis somewhere. You're not typing these in by hand are you?)

I'm copying it straight off the screen - I've tried it MANY times

Custom playlist generator might be a better way to go...

BTW - I tried Prefs -> Main -> Send / Sync Playlist Settings
ticked Create iPod Playlists - and entered

[[$right(%date%,2)-]%album%]

in the custom format.

Each playlist is now called rnd_xxxxxx [artist name etc]

.... huh ?

This post has been edited by clunesy: Mar 17 2005, 19:39

[quazi]

I'm copying it straight off the screen - I've tried it MANY times

you know why it didn't work? *I* didn't test my bold edits!

try this one (sorry about all the confusion!):

CODE

$left($if($strcmp($left(%artist%,4),The ),$right(%artist%,$sub($len(%artist%),4)),%artist%),5)[[-$right(%date%,2)]-%album%]

This post has been edited by quazi: Mar 18 2005, 14:05

[foosion]

Yeah, that is how the TAGZ interface works, to get the tech info.  I guess what I really meant was why is COPY_TO_PORTABLE saved as technical info, instead of metadata.

Because metadata is saved to files, but tech info is not.

[Aero]

Yeah, that is how the TAGZ interface works, to get the tech info.  I guess what I really meant was why is COPY_TO_PORTABLE saved as technical info, instead of metadata.

Because metadata is saved to files, but tech info is not.

I would expect that people would specifically want the COPY_TO_PORTABLE saved to disk so it would be serialized. But it isn't any extra work for me to check the tech info COPY_TO_PORTABLE (and IPOD), so I'll add that for the next version.

[mhuxley]

hi all,

first of all, foo_pod rocks, nice work !

i recently bought an ipod shuffle,
the only real problem i have with it is a lack of any 'album seek' functionality.
i was browsing my ipod thru explorer and noticed the two text files (Track_Order.txt, Shuffle_Order.txt) which i understand are created by foo_pod.
i came up with the idea of editing the shuffle list to include only the first track from each album (instant album seek !!!) but it doesn't work
Whats the deal here, can i make this work ?

thanx in advance

Matt

[Aero]

first of all, foo_pod rocks, nice work !

Thanks!

i recently bought an ipod shuffle,
the only real problem i have with it is a lack of any 'album seek' functionality.
i was browsing my ipod thru explorer and noticed the two text files (Track_Order.txt, Shuffle_Order.txt) which i understand are created by foo_pod.
i came up with the idea of editing the shuffle list to include only the first track from each album (instant album seek !!!) but it doesn't work
Whats the deal here, can i make this work ?

Those files are written when foo_pod writes the iPod Shuffle's database, but are there only for reference; they aren't used by foo_pod.

Currently, there is no way to manually set the shuffle order - and even if you could, the iPod Shuffle can and does automatically reshuffle songs on its own. For example, when you have listened to all of the songs in shuffle mode, the iPod Shuffle will re-randomize the shuffle list. Also, quickly pressing the play key 3 times will reshuffle the list.

I'm more than willing to try different ideas to enhance the iPod Shuffle's shortcomings, but I don't think your album seek idea would work. I guess the best you can do is transfer the songs in album order, then use the non-shuffle mode for playback.

[clunesy]

I'm copying it straight off the screen - I've tried it MANY times

you know why it didn't work? *I* didn't test my bold edits!

try this one (sorry about all the confusion!):

CODE

$left($if($strcmp($left(%artist%,4),The ),$right(%artist%,$sub($len(%artist%),4)),%artist%),5)[[-$right(%date%,2)]-%album%]

Sorry - no dice - still one album entry for EVERY artist on a VA album.
When I think about it - I don't understand how it COULD work. My files only have
ID3 (v1+2). They only contain, %artist% %album% and %title% fields. How can the TAGZ string know whether a track is from a various album, without comparing it to all the other tracks on the same album ?

I think I might have to get into the EPG, or rewrite APEv2 tags on all albums with %album artist% and %various% tags completed.

Thanks very much for your help though

Clunes

This post has been edited by clunesy: Mar 18 2005, 18:19

[quazi]

Sorry - no dice -  still one album entry for EVERY artist on a VA album.

That is what happens when you browse by artist first, as opposed to album first. (Unless you've got a mutant iPod that goes Album / Artist / tracks.)

Have you tried moving the artist tag to Composer, and putting VA in Artist? (just for foo_pod, don't actually change your tags):

Metadata strings
-------------------
Artist: VA
Composer: %artist%

But even this will only work for your compilation albums. In order for foo_pod to tell the difference bewteen VA-albums and non-VA, use either %album artist% or %various%=1 and check for it with $if statements. (Check the other examples on my website.)

And yes, trust me, ID3v2 *will* take an %album artist% tag! (but APEv2 will update 100x faster)

This post has been edited by quazi: Mar 18 2005, 21:22

[jaypaulw]

I know this is probably considered a waste of a post, but I just have to say that after using foo_pod for quite some time, I am extremely happy with it.

Keep up the excellent work!

JP

[Aero]

I know this is probably considered a waste of a post, but I just have to say that after using foo_pod for quite some time, I am extremely happy with it.

Keep up the excellent work!

Nope - not a wasted post...I always appreciate praise!


Thanks!

[Aero]

Verison 0.9.9f is now available

This is an interesting release, but more on that in a little bit.

The biggest fix is that I fixed quazi's bug (discussed here). Also, I added support for __COPY_TO_PORTABLE and (re)added the textbox in the Main foo_pod Preferences to set the "Load iPod Songs To Foobar2000 Playlist" sorting format. I also fixed the problem with writing empty metadata to the iPod database.

But the fun feature is a side-effect of the change I did for quazi's bug. As Otto discovered, there is a special item in the iTunesDB file that controls how the browse menus (Artist/Album/Song Name/Genre/Composer) are sorted. I had written some code to do this, but never quite got it finished until quazi's bug popped up.

So tonight, I finished adding support for controlling the sort order of these menus. And unlike how iTunes does it, I do it strictly in an alphabetical order. So previously, "The Doors" would appear before "Mojo Nixon", since the "The" in "The Doors" was ignored, and 'D' comes before 'M'. But with the current foo_pod sorting, "The Doors" will appear along with the rest of the "The"s in the 'T's. I don't have support for any other sorting orders yet, but it would be easy to add them.

The real benefit of using doing the sort in foo_pod instead of on the iPod is that the browse menus are much, much faster now - especially when you first undock your iPod and try to display all of the artists, for example. If you want to test this out, there is are 2 menu items under the Maintenance menu called "Add iPod Browse Menu Speedup" and "Remove iPod Browse Menu Speedup" (quazi - either one should fix your problem, BTW). These are only temporary, and the next time foo_pod writes to the database, it will use the setting found in the Advanced tab of the foo_pod Preferences. Feel free to test this feature out - I have only been testing it for an hour or so, but worst case, you will be able to go back to the old iPod sorting mechanism by unchecking the option on the Advanced tab and using "Remove iPod Browse Menu Speedup".


Also, I added section in the Readme if you are interested in donating a little money in support of foo_pod. This is all I'm going say about this...if you are interested, check it out.


From the Readme:

CODE

Version 0.9.9f - March 21, 2005
*  Fixed a potentially serious bug that occured when using both foo_pod and iTunes to add songs to the same iPod.
  Symptoms of this problem are weird (missing or out of order) items in the Artist/Album/Genre browse menus on the iPod.

*  Along with the aforementioned fix, added *experimental* support for super fast iPod browse menus.  There are two ways to use/test this feature.  Under the Maintenance menu, there are "Add iPod Browse Menu Speedup" and "Remove iPod Browse Menu Speedup".
  These will allow you to test out this feature, as well as removing it is you discover that it causes problems.  Note that adding or deleting songs will undo this.  To make your choice permanent, there is a checkbox called "Speed up iPod Browse Menu" on the Advanced tab of the foo_pod Preferences.

  One interesting side-effect of this feature is that instead of the lexigraphical order used by iTunes (e.g. "The Doors" is listed before "Duran Duran", foo_pod currently uses a strictly alphanumeric sort).  There may be alternate sorting schemes available in future versions.
 
*  Fixed the alternate metadata behavior so that empty or "?" strings aren't written to the iPod database.

*  Added support for "COPY_TO_PORTABLE" as a technical info metadata item (i.e. accessible in TAGZ as %__COPY_TO_PORTABLE%).

*  Added support for choosing the sorting format used for "Load iPod Songs To Foobar2000 Playlist", on the Main Preference tab.

[quazi]

The biggest fix is that I fixed quazi's bug (discussed here).

I'm flattered!

But I fixed that original problem by starting from scratch -- deleting all songs, nuking the database and reuploading everything.

Everything is fine now, but this happens when I try the menu speedup option,

for example, this album is already on my iPod:


Without browse menu speedup (the temporary option):


With browse menu speedup:


When I navigate Music / Artist / Album, the tracks for each album are out of order. When I navigate Music / Songs, that list is in order. When I disable menu speedup, everything is fine.

This might have something to do with it: Right after I upgraded to this latest version, Foobar abended while my iPod was mounting. When I restarted it, and ejected the iPod, none of the songs showed up and I had to rebuild the database. *shrug*

I could flatten my iPod again and that would probably fix it, or I could send you a before and after iTunesDB file if you want to look at them.

(excellent update otherwise!)