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

[Aero]

One problem I'm having though is when foo_pod runs into a playlist that is filled with files that need to be transcoded into mp3. When foo_pod automatically transcodes them, these transcoded songs are then seperated from the playlist and aren't where they should be when I look for them on the ipod. In order to access these transcoded songs, I need to search for them individually by artist/title whatever; they aren't in the playlists like they are in foo_pod.

Thanks for reminding me of this - the problem of missing transcoded songs in a playlist is a known bug in foo_pod (at least to me). I looked at fixing it at one point, but it was unusually difficult to fix for some reason, and I eventually forgot about it. I'll take another look and see if I can do anything with it.

[Aero]

So if I'm reading that right, if ALBUM_ARTIST is "VA" or starts with "Various", it is a compilation.  I'll do that same in the next version of foo_pod.

It would save me a bit of trouble, but I like being able to configure it with TAGZ strings. On my current strings for example, I'm checking for when album artist exists, but isn't equal to VA, do something else (because my collection has different types of compilation discs).

A quick "check for compilation discs" checkbox would make sense along with the encouraged tag standards though.

The compilation bit in the database is either a 0 (for normal tracks) or 1 (for compilations). So would you want a TAGZ string that was able to return 0 or 1 based on whatever was in the string?

[Klato]

How do you:

-delete a playlist off the iPod? (I have a playlist with everything single song on my iPod...which I never ever use and want to get rid of it. Tried left/right clicking everywhere.)
-prevent the On-the-Go playlist from being deleted whenever you sync?

I just can't find any way to do these 2 things with foo_pod?
'Thanks!

This post has been edited by Klato: Mar 27 2005, 16:55

[quazi]

The compilation bit in the database is either a 0 (for normal tracks) or 1 (for compilations).  So would you want a TAGZ string that was able to return 0 or 1 based on whatever was in the string?

I'm not too sure what I was getting at.

I think the best idea is to have a checkbox: "Autodetect compilations based on Album Artist". When this is checked, all tracks with an album artist tag will get the compilation bit. That way it's really simple, but we can still use TAGZ strings when we want to get crazy with it.


Sorry, but I just can't shut up about global metadata.. I don't know about anyone else, but that is the handiest feature in any piece of iPod software! For those of us who didn't want an iPod because it wouldn't let us organize by folder structure, this lets us get in there and do it anyway ..and it's non-destructive! (but anyway..)

-delete a playlist off the iPod? (I have a playlist with everything single song on my iPod...which I never ever use and want to get rid of it.  Tried left/right clicking everywhere.)

foo_pod menu / Playlist Editor / "Remove Playlist" button

This post has been edited by quazi: Mar 27 2005, 20:19

[Otto42]

-prevent the On-the-Go playlist from being deleted whenever you sync?

You don't. This is not possible. The OTG playlist is a separate file that is basically a list of indexes to the songs in the iTunesDB file. If the iTunesDB file changes (as in during a sync) the iPod itself will delete the OTG files.

During a sync, foo_pod could read the OTG playlists first and convert them into normal iPod playlists. There's functionality in the iPodDB classes to do this. But that's the only way to save 'em, they won't be OTG playlists anymore after it does that.

[daniel1113]

The compilation bit in the database is either a 0 (for normal tracks) or 1 (for compilations).  So would you want a TAGZ string that was able to return 0 or 1 based on whatever was in the string?

It would be awesome if it was controlled by a user-customizeable TAGZ string, that way it would work with just about any collection.

In the settings there could be a checkbox for "Use compilation TAGZ" along with a text box that would be activated to enter the appropriate string.

Of course, this assumes that I am understanding everything correctly.

[Aero]

I think the best idea is to have a checkbox: "Autodetect compilations based on Album Artist". When this is checked, all tracks with an album artist tag will get the compilation bit. That way it's really simple, but we can still use TAGZ strings when we want to get crazy with it.

I see - so you would envision it as a textbox where the user could enter their own TAGZ string to determine if a song is part of a compilation, followed by a checkbox that, if checked, would use the default method (ALBUM ARTIST = "VA" or starts with "Various") instead? That should be pretty easy to hook up...

Sorry, but I just can't shut up about global metadata.. I don't know about anyone else, but that is the handiest feature in any piece of iPod software! For those of us who didn't want an iPod because it wouldn't let us organize by folder structure, this lets us get in there and do it anyway ..and it's non-destructive! (but anyway..)

Originally, I was planning on adding support for a scriping language, like Lua. But TAGZ strings are almost as powerful, and a lot easier to use.

[kl33per]

Hi Aero, thanks for your great plugin. I'm another who would not have got an iPod unless this plugin existed.

Anyway, I think I've found a bug in the latest version. Because I have serveral "Greatest Hits" albums, I've had to use a POD_ALBUM tag to seperate these on the iPod's Albums list. For eg. "Greatest Hits" by Queen would become "Queen's Greatest Hits". However, This appears on the iPod as "Queen[SYNTAX ERROR IN FORMATING STRING]". Obviously the inverted comma is causing problems. This doesn't happen on normal tag information, only the alternative POD_ tag information. Should be an easy fix.

[quazi]

I think the best idea is to have a checkbox: "Autodetect compilations based on Album Artist". When this is checked, all tracks with an album artist tag will get the compilation bit. That way it's really simple, but we can still use TAGZ strings when we want to get crazy with it.

I see - so you would envision it as a textbox where the user could enter their own TAGZ string to determine if a song is part of a compilation, followed by a checkbox that, if checked, would use the default method (ALBUM ARTIST = "VA" or starts with "Various") instead? That should be pretty easy to hook up...

I had the idea without the textbox, just a checkbox for compilation checking. I was referring to the TAGZ strings on the global metadata tab. But I think the textbox idea is better though:


(feed the compilation bit a "1", everything else is a "0")

Okay, now I see where you're going: what happens if I enable the checkbox but leave the textbox blank? Will it automatically use a preset string built into the plugin? Or should I do away with the checkbox and have the string itself do all the work?

Ah heck, don't listen to me.. Make something that makes sense!

Originally, I was planning on adding support for a scriping language, like Lua.  But TAGZ strings are almost as powerful, and a lot easier to use.

yeah, I think one language is bad enough.

[Aero]

Hi Aero, thanks for your great plugin.  I'm another who would not have got an iPod unless this plugin existed.

Thanks!

Anyway, I think I've found a bug in the latest version.  Because I have serveral "Greatest Hits" albums, I've had to use a POD_ALBUM tag to seperate these on the iPod's Albums list.  For eg. "Greatest Hits" by Queen would become "Queen's Greatest Hits".  However, This appears on the iPod as "Queen[SYNTAX ERROR IN FORMATING STRING]".  Obviously the inverted comma is causing problems.  This doesn't happen on normal tag information, only the alternative POD_ tag information.  Should be an easy fix.

Hmm...yeah, I can see where could be a problem. The single quotation mark is used to start a literal string in TAGZ, and without a matching closing single quotation mark, you get the SYNTAX ERROR.

I guess I'll have to escape the strings before running them through the TAGZ processor. Not only single quotes, but also [ and ].

Thanks for finding and reporting this bug!

[Aero]

I see - so you would envision it as a textbox where the user could enter their own TAGZ string to determine if a song is part of a compilation, followed by a checkbox that, if checked, would use the default method (ALBUM ARTIST = "VA" or starts with "Various") instead?  That should be pretty easy to hook up...

I had the idea without the textbox, just a checkbox for compilation checking. I was referring to the TAGZ strings on the global metadata tab. But I think the textbox idea is better though:


(feed the compilation bit a "1", everything else is a "0")

Okay, now I see where you're going: what happens if I enable the checkbox but leave the textbox blank? Will it automatically use a preset string built into the plugin? Or should I do away with the checkbox and have the string itself do all the work?

Ah heck, don't listen to me.. Make something that makes sense!

Well, since I don't usually use compilations, I need feedback from people who do use them.

I think actually understand want you are looking for now, though. The checkbox would enable/disable compilation checking completely, so if you didn't want the compilation bit set, you would uncheck the box and the TAGZ formatting string would be ignored. But if you did want compilation, you would check the box, and foo_pod would use the TAGZ string to determine when a song was a compilation. By default, I would supply a string that checked ALBUM ARTIST, and if it was "VA" or "Various", it would be considered a compilation. But the user could change the TAGZ string to their liking (maybe they are non-English speakers, and want to check for "varios artistas" instead).

[kl33per]

Thanks for finding and reporting this bug!

No worries!

[jayzer]

By default, I would supply a string that checked ALBUM ARTIST, and if it was "VA" or "Various", it would be considered a compilation.  But the user could change the TAGZ string to their liking (maybe they are non-English speakers, and want to check for "varios artistas" instead).

Well, how about checking just to see if ALBUM ARTIST exists? For my compilations, I use the ALBUM ARTIST tag, but I don't simply put VA or Various Artists in there, I put the name of the Compilation in there and use the Album tag for other information. I realize that's probably not a standard thing, but I hate the idea of having something as boring as Various Artists show up in my playlist or my iPod.

[jkwarras]

I just used %album artist%=various artist or =name of the main album artist. (i.e. an album where the main artist collaborate/sing/etc... with a lot of different artists in every track).

[daniel1113]

Well, how about checking just to see if ALBUM ARTIST exists?

Not everyone uses that the album artist metatag, though. That's why it should be left up to the user to type in the correct TAGZ line, IMO.

[jayzer]

Not everyone uses that the album artist metatag, though. That's why it should be left up to the user to type in the correct TAGZ line, IMO.

True, I was just saying that in response to Aero mentioning that he would only tag something as a compilation if ALBUM ARTIST was equal to VA, etc. I know he said it would be customizable, but my worry is that the contents of my ARTIST ALBUM tags aren't consistent with each other. If we're going to do something like that and it's going to be customizable, I hope there is a way to just say "if ALBUM ARTIST exists, it's a compilation."

edit: I guess I'm just wondering how extensive the comp support is going to be. As long as I can do something like $if(%album artist%, %album artist%, %album%) or whatever, I'll be fine, which is actually what I think I do now. I just hope that doesn't get broken.

This post has been edited by jayzer: Mar 29 2005, 18:28

[Aero]

True, I was just saying that in response to Aero mentioning that he would only tag something as a compilation if ALBUM ARTIST was equal to VA, etc. I know he said it would be customizable, but my worry is that the contents of my ARTIST ALBUM tags aren't consistent with each other. If we're going to do something like that and it's going to be customizable, I hope there is a way to just say "if ALBUM ARTIST exists, it's a compilation."

edit: I guess I'm just wondering how extensive the comp support is going to be. As long as I can do something like $if(%album artist%, %album artist%, %album%) or whatever, I'll be fine, which is actually what I think I do now. I just hope that doesn't get broken.

I think there is some general confusion (me too!) about how the compilation support works on the iPod, and what will be implemented in foo_pod.

In the database, a song is marked with either a 0 if it is not part of a compilation, or 1 if it is. Apparently the latest iPod Photo firmware does something special with compilations, so the compilation bit in the database is suddenly important. If you don't have an iPod that supports the compilation menu, then the whole discussion won't really affect you.

What foo_pod is going to do is instead of hard coding detection of compilations (which is currently incorrectly looking for ARTIST = "Various Artists"), it will add an advanced option to control how the compilation bit is set.

The current plan is add a checkbox that will allow the user to just disable the compilation bit completely. But if you do want to use compilation, you will check the box, which will enable a textbox that lets you enter a TAGZ string that will, in turn, determine when the compilation bit gets sets. The default will be something like:

CODE

$if(
 $or(
   $stricmp(%album artist%,VA),
   $stricmp($left(%album artist%,7),various)
 ),1,0)

So if ALBUM ARTIST = "VA" or starts with "Various", the compilation bit will get set to 1. Otherwise, it will be 0.

99% of users will probably be fine with this, but if you want to change it for whatever reason (different language, don't use ALBUM ARTIST, etc.), you can create your own TAGZ string that will return either 0 or 1. Nothing else will change.

[jayzer]

So I could just do this, and be fine, right?

CODE

$if(%album artist%,1,0)

This post has been edited by jayzer: Mar 29 2005, 19:36

[quazi]

I think actually understand want you are looking for now, though...

Like what a few others have mentioned, just check for %album artist%. For those of us who follow the encouraged tag standards, we always use it on compilation albums, but we set it to anything not just "VA" or "various". (For example, notice how on each of my naming schemes, I use the aa tag on every compilation disc, despite what the tag contains.)

The reason why I added %various% is that instead of %album artist%, some people use %various%=1. It's not part of the tag standards, but that doesn't stop 'em! But that's why I recommended:

CODE

$if($or(%album artist%,%various%),1,0)

If anyone is working any weirder than that, then I'd imagine they'd know what to change to make it work for them.

edit: I guess I'm just wondering how extensive the comp support is going to be. As long as I can do something like $if(%album artist%, %album artist%, %album%) or whatever, I'll be fine, which is actually what I think I do now. I just hope that doesn't get broken.

Yeah I think I'm in the same boat -- I don't really need compilation support since I already turn my comp discs into normal discs with the global metadata, but it would certainly let me consolidate some of my code.

[Aero]

So I could just do this, and be fine, right?

CODE

$if(%album artist%,1,0)

Yes, I believe that is valid TAGZ and simply instructs foo_pod to set the compilation bit if the ALBUM ARTIST metadata is available.

I copied my TAGZ example string out of the default Foobar playlist title formatting, which does the more rigorous checks to see if ALBUM ARTIST not only exists, but is certain values. But if you don't care what ALBUM ARTIST contains, just that it is there, then your string is perfect.

[Aero]

Like what a few others have mentioned, just check for %album artist%. For those of us who follow the encouraged tag standards, we always use it on compilation albums, but we set it to anything not just "VA" or "various". (For example, notice how on each of my naming schemes, I use the aa tag on every compilation disc, despite what the tag contains.)

Ok. I will just use jayzer's string as the default.

[Otto42]

If you don't have an iPod that supports the compilation menu, then the whole discussion won't really affect you.

Unless you make a smart playlist that relies on the Compilation flag. Not likely I admit, but it's possible.

[musicmusic]

The current version of foo_pod is making my ontextmenus take a second or two to appear (No iPod connectted ATM).

[kl33per]

All versions of foo_pod I have used do this. They do not seem to do it when the iPod is connected.

[Aero]

The current version of foo_pod is making my ontextmenus take a second or two to appear (No iPod connectted ATM).

I don't see this on any of the machines I use foo_pod on, but you might want to try forcing the iPod drive (in the Main tab in foo_pod preferences or use the "Select iPod To Use" menu item) and see if that helps.