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

[Aero]

Okay, I've been having a problem for a while now.  Sometimes it simply won't transcode files, and I don't know why.  I've tried replacing my lame.exe, updating foo_pod.  It was doing this before and after a format.  I don't know wtf is going on.  Here is my console (some are in single files + cue sheets, some aren't).

CODE

ERROR (foo_podclienc) : Writing to encoder failed
ERROR (foo_podclienc) : Error writing to pipe
ERROR (foo_podclienc) : Encoding failed - transcoded file does not exist
ERROR (foo_podtranscoder) : Conversion failed.
ERROR (foo_podtranscoder) : foo_podtranscoder: transcoding failed for file://F:\My Documents\Converted Music\Tool - Lateralus.flac
ERROR (foo_pod) : Transcoding failed!
ERROR (foo_pod) : Error #5 copying F:\My Documents\Converted Music\Tool - Lateralus.flac to e:\iPod_Control\Music\F85\7ad7977b59d72a5a9.mp3

Which version of LAME are you using? And have you tried using one of the FAAC defaults, just to see if that has any difference?

[KyPeN]

The newest, 3.96.1 I believe and yes I have.

EDIT: Well, I think it got it working, more or less. I just did a full transfer of about 2500 songs, and no errors (as best I can tell), but the songs that were transcoded that are also in playlists are NOT in those playlists on the iPod. They ARE on the iPod, but not in the playlists.

Did I miss something?

This post has been edited by KyPeN: May 16 2005, 02:32

[KyPeN]

Sorry for the double post, but I also have a request.

In these long file transfers and transcoding sessions, my room is awful quiet. Would it be possible to allow us to listen to music while foo_pod is doing its thing?

[KyPeN]

BUmp

[kl33per]

Your post was less then a day old, I didn't really need a bump.

[Aero]

In these long file transfers and transcoding sessions, my room is awful quiet.  Would it be possible to allow us to listen to music while foo_pod is doing its thing?

Buy a radio or learn to hum?

Newer versions of foo_pod try to do a better job of not monopolizing Foobar, but it isn't completely a background process. Try starting up music before you start the transcoding (and the transcoding/playlist problem is a known bug).

[Aero]

Version 0.9.9h is now available

0.9.9h only has 2 changes over 0.9.9g - I added an Update iPod Database feature (found under the foo_pod/Maintenance menu) and removed the change from 0.9.9e which made the progress dialogs non-modal.

Update iPod Database is useful if you make changes to the files on your iPod, and want to update the database to match. For example, Porschephile posted about his situation - he applied ReplayGain to the files already on the iPod. But since foo_pod didn't previously have a way to take these changes and update the database, his only solutions would be to copy the files off of the iPod and back, or use the Repair Database feature. By using Update Database, you can do things like change artist/album/genre or add ReplayGain, and have those changes applied to the database without having to rebuild the whole thing.

The other change is that I made the progress dialogs modal again. This means that while foo_pod is doing something (like transferring songs), Foobar will be locked. I don't like this, but I think that a rare crash bug was introduced by the original change in 0.9.9e, so I want to see if this fixes it.

One other note is that I am officially switching over to the Visual Studio 2003 compiler. If you don't already have the msvcp71.dll on your computer, you can find a copy in the zip file. Just copy it to your Windows\System32 directory, or to the Foobar directory.


From the Readme:

CODE

Version 0.9.9h - May 17, 2005
*  Added the "Update iPod Database" feature, found under the foo_pod Maintenance menu.  This feature scan all songs on your iPod and update their entries in the iPod database.  This is useful if you change metadata or add ReplayGain information to songs already on your iPod.
 
*  Removed the 0.9.9e change which made the progress dialogs non-modal.  This change may be the cause of some intermittant Foobar crashed.

*  Officially switched to using the VC++ 7.0 compiler (previous versions were compiled using VC++ 6.0).  This should have no impact on users, although foo_pod compiled with VC++ 7.0 seems to be noticably faster in some operations.

[nchase]

I have a problem with the sync option in foo_pod; when I choose sync all playlists, it doesn't recognize the songs that are already on the iPod, and begins copying them all indiscriminately causing the iPod's drive to fill with duplicates. When I choose to synch my main / largest playlist it prompts me to delete 5788 songs, which is basically everything I have on the iPod. Does anyone know what may be causing this?

[shlomomofo]

just got an ipod photo ... foo_pod rocks. i have one problem/bug to report. when i try to use the new "update itunesdb database on ipod" function, i get a runtime error in foobar2000.exe. anybody else have this problem?

[Aero]

I have a problem with the sync option in foo_pod; when I choose sync all playlists, it doesn't recognize the songs that are already on the iPod, and begins copying them all indiscriminately causing the iPod's drive to fill with duplicates.  When I choose to synch my main / largest playlist it prompts me to delete 5788 songs, which is basically everything I have on the iPod.  Does anyone know what may be causing this?

It could be a foo_pod bug, but similar things have happened to others in the past, and it usually turns out to be something they did that modified the song files on the iPod. Do you know of anything you've done to the files (some Foobar components - like some versions of Play Count or Ratings - will modify a file's metadata behind the scenes.
Still, it seems strange that all 5788 songs would have changed. Let me know if you know of anything that would have modified the files.

[Aero]

just got an ipod photo ... foo_pod rocks.  i have one problem/bug to report.  when i try to use the new "update itunesdb database on ipod" function, i get a runtime error in foobar2000.exe.  anybody else have this problem?

Would you please send me (foopod(at)argz.com) your iPod_Control\iTunes\iTunesDB file? I haven't experienced any crashes, but it is a new feature and so there are bound to be some problems.

[godhenry]

just got an ipod photo ... foo_pod rocks.  i have one problem/bug to report.  when i try to use the new "update itunesdb database on ipod" function, i get a runtime error in foobar2000.exe.  anybody else have this problem?

Would you please send me (foopod(at)argz.com) your iPod_Control\iTunes\iTunesDB file? I haven't experienced any crashes, but it is a new feature and so there are bound to be some problems.

I have the same problem too... I will send you the iTunesDB file shortly...

[veryevilmike]

I'm just starting to play with foo_pod and so far am rather impressed - well done Aero, Otto &co.

One question regarding the treatment of multidisc albums. iTunes has a box for Disc 1 of 6, but when you save such info it doesn't appear in any tags, suggesting it is instead stored somewhere in an itunes db on the hard disc. The godfather tagging program has a tag called "partinset" and i've seen other people suggest a pair of tags DiscNumber and Disccount.

I'd like foo_pod to transfer this information when it populates my ipod - is there a default tag that it looks for with this information in it?

Mike

This post has been edited by veryevilmike: May 20 2005, 19:00

[nellistc]

Hi guys,

Great work on foo_pod so far - much appreciated.

I have a question regarding Ottofill. Whenever I use it, I only get ~2GB of songs transferred (10GB 2g ipod). Is this a limitation in the current version, or is something going wrong?


thanks.

[nchase]

I have a problem with the sync option in foo_pod; when I choose sync all playlists, it doesn't recognize the songs that are already on the iPod, and begins copying them all indiscriminately causing the iPod's drive to fill with duplicates.  When I choose to synch my main / largest playlist it prompts me to delete 5788 songs, which is basically everything I have on the iPod.  Does anyone know what may be causing this?

It could be a foo_pod bug, but similar things have happened to others in the past, and it usually turns out to be something they did that modified the song files on the iPod. Do you know of anything you've done to the files (some Foobar components - like some versions of Play Count or Ratings - will modify a file's metadata behind the scenes.
Still, it seems strange that all 5788 songs would have changed. Let me know if you know of anything that would have modified the files.

I don't know what may have modified the files. I do not have ratings, and I do not believe I have play count. I decided to sync, just to see what would happen, and even though it copied all of the songs to the iPod just fine, they do not show up (all menus under "Browse" are blank). I can see all the files on the iPod when I connect it to my PC though. This is really puzzling me!

[Aero]

just got an ipod photo ... foo_pod rocks.  i have one problem/bug to report.  when i try to use the new "update itunesdb database on ipod" function, i get a runtime error in foobar2000.exe.  anybody else have this problem?

Would you please send me (foopod(at)argz.com) your iPod_Control\iTunes\iTunesDB file? I haven't experienced any crashes, but it is a new feature and so there are bound to be some problems.

I have the same problem too... I will send you the iTunesDB file shortly...

Thanks to everyone who sent their iTunesDB files and other debugging information. I wasn't able to reproduce the crash, but I did narrow the problem down a little, and I have posted a test version of foo_pod for you to try to see if it works on your computer.

foo_pod 0.9.9i test version

[Aero]

I'm just starting to play with foo_pod and so far am rather impressed - well done Aero, Otto &co.

Thanks!

One question regarding the treatment of multidisc albums. iTunes has a box for Disc 1 of 6, but when you save such info it doesn't appear in any tags, suggesting it is instead stored somewhere in an itunes db on the hard disc. The godfather tagging program has a tag called "partinset" and i've seen other people suggest a pair of tags DiscNumber and Disccount.

I'd like foo_pod to transfer this information when it populates my ipod - is there a default tag that it looks for with this information in it?

foo_pod currently uses the metadata entries "DISC" and "TOTALDISC" for Disc 1 of 6, respectively. I'm pretty sure I just made up those names, and since no one has ever asked about them, I never had a reason to change them.

I can easily add new metadata name aliases, such as DiscNumber and DiscCount, if those seem to be a more widely used standard. I just did some quick Googling, and it looks like those names are used by several different programs (including by the iTunes Music Store, in its XML format), so I'll add those in the next release.

[Aero]

I have a question regarding Ottofill. Whenever I use it, I only get ~2GB of songs transferred (10GB 2g ipod). Is this a limitation in the current version, or is something going wrong?

No, that is a bug. I capped the number of songs that can be transferred at 400, as a hack, and never went back and implemented it correctly.

I'll try to fix it for the next build.

[nellistc]

No, that is a bug.  I capped the number of songs that can be transferred at 400, as a hack, and never went back and implemented it correctly.

I'll try to fix it for the next build.

Ok, thanks. In the meantime, running ottofill a couple of times without replacing the existing songs works fine.

[KyPeN]

First off, since I found this plug-in, I absolutely refuse to use iTunes. It's so bloated and clumbsy. foo_pod is simple. foo_pod --> send all playlists to iPod --> play video games --> done. I really appreciate your hard work.

I'm just wondering if there is any progress on the transcoded files showing up on iPod but not on playlists bug? I'm not a programmer or anything, I'm just wondering if I can help. I'll send my iTunes DB, try other computers, foo_pod, iPod, foobar builds, whatever needs to be done. Whenever this gets fixed, I can fully uninstall iTunes.

Thanks again.

[Aero]

I'm just wondering if there is any progress on the transcoded files showing up on iPod but not on playlists bug?  I'm not a programmer or anything, I'm just wondering if I can help.  I'll send my iTunes DB, try other computers, foo_pod, iPod, foobar builds, whatever needs to be done.  Whenever this gets fixed, I can fully uninstall iTunes.

Thanks for the offer of help, but I know exactly what the problem is and how I need to fix it. I just need to sit down and commit myself to working on it (it won't be too hard to fix - I just need to make sure I don't break anything else while fixing this bug).

Speaking of working, I spent some time tonight with Album Cover Art Downloader and leeched a bunch of cover art from Amazon.com. No promises on adding album art support to foo_pod, but at least I have some extra motivation to implement it.

I think it will work like this: when you copy a song to the iPod, foo_pod will check that song's directory for 'folder.jpg' (configurable). If it is found, that is what foo_pod will use for the artwork. If nothing is found, it will go up a directory, and so on and so forth until it finds a folder.jpg. So if you are like me and organize your music by Artist/Album, even if you don't have album art for a particular album, you could put some generic artist artwork in the Artist directory.

[Aero]

Version 0.9.9i is now available.

This version might fix the crash reported in Update iPod Database, and should take care of the long-standing problem where transcoded files would not be included in iPod playlists. It also adds a workaround for OttoFill, so it will fill up iPods with capacities >1GB. I also added "DISCNUMBER" and "DISCCOUNT" metadata supported, as requested by veryevilmike.


From the Readme:

CODE

Version 0.9.9i - May 23, 2005
*  Fixed a potential crash that would occur after an OttoFill session was completed.

*  Fixed a long standing bug in "Send Current/All Playlists To iPod" where files that needed to be transcoded would not appear in the iPod playlist.

*  Added a possible fix for crashes reported in the "Update iPod Database" feature, added in 0.9.9h.
 
*  Changed the metadata entries for discs and sets of discs to "DISCNUMBER" and "DISCCOUNT", respectively (they were previously "DISC" and "TOTALDISC").  For example, to indicate that a song if from Disc #2 of a 6 disc set, you would set DISCNUMBER to 2, and DISCCOUNT to 6.  These values are stored in the iTunesDB database.

*  Added a workaround so OttoFill is able to send more than ~2GB of songs (400 songs).  

[KyPeN]

Thanks for the update Aero. The fix for transcoded files works. Unfortunetely, I'm having a bit of an issue. First I'll tell you what I'm doing. It could very well be me. I tried to add 4 playlists: My favorites, a playlist of 503 of my favorite songs, Top 100, my top 100 favorites, a playlist of 100 of my favorite songs, a playlist of a single 12 song album, and another simply called "iPod" which is about 2250 of the rest of my music. Each playlist except for the single album have files that need to be transcoded.

I had all 4 playlists loaded in foobar, and went foo_pod --> send all playlists to iPod. Only 3 showed up, and 1 was way off. The My Favorites list had all 503 songs, yay! You fixed the bug. The single album was fine as well. The list entitled "iPod" didn't show up, but all the files on it did? Also, the Top 100 list, only 1 song was on it? Wtf?

Each song on the Top 100 list is on the My Favorites list. The 1 song that showed up on the Top 100 list seemed completely random.

If you need any more details of what happened, I'll be glad to provide them.

BTW: Thanks for the update. I really appreciate the work you are doing. Do you accept donations for the work? Usually I don't do this, but when big contributions are made to a community, I feel it should be rewarded a bit. Thanks again.

EDIT: I also tried renaming the playlist and sending it or deleting it off of the iPod, renaming it, then sending it, or any of the above combinations. They don't even show up on there. I must be missing something...

EDIT 2: Okay, no matter what, unless I use iTunes, I can't get foo_pod to create a new playlist. Unless something has changed on foo_pod's level, I feel really stupid...

EDIT 3: Okay, did a little experiment. I completely removed foobar, foo_pod, my entire foobar folder, the whole 9 yards. Reinstalled it all, completely updated. Tried again and getting similar symptoms. Went into iTunes, and it seems the songs that don't get sent (some transcoded, many just plain MP3s) have exclamation points by them. iTunes can't play them nor edit them, hence they aren't on those playlists, but apparently ARE on the iPod. And, they are all at the beginning of the list of songs (516 songs total sent, wierd songs stopped after AC/DC). As far as I can tell, nothing is unique about these songs over others. For instance, one AC/DC song from the same album worked, another didn't, both are transcoded. This seems to be the root of the problem, I just don't know what is wrong with these songs. I hope this helps.

EDIT 4: To add to this experiment, I resent those songs, but not with the "send playlist" rather, just "send songs to iPod" and they are just fine. I then manually added them to my playlists via iTunes and every song was accounted for.

This post has been edited by KyPeN: May 25 2005, 02:02

[nellistc]

Thanks for the update, Aero.

It also adds a workaround for OttoFill, so it will fill up iPods with capacities >1GB.

Seems this works a little too well now. Ottofill attempted to copy ~2500 songs; made it to 1750 before running into disk space issues. Did you just up the limit of songs copied or should it have only picked enough songs to fill the disk?

thanks

[nchase]

I have a problem with the sync option in foo_pod; when I choose sync all playlists, it doesn't recognize the songs that are already on the iPod, and begins copying them all indiscriminately causing the iPod's drive to fill with duplicates.  When I choose to synch my main / largest playlist it prompts me to delete 5788 songs, which is basically everything I have on the iPod.  Does anyone know what may be causing this?

It could be a foo_pod bug, but similar things have happened to others in the past, and it usually turns out to be something they did that modified the song files on the iPod. Do you know of anything you've done to the files (some Foobar components - like some versions of Play Count or Ratings - will modify a file's metadata behind the scenes.
Still, it seems strange that all 5788 songs would have changed. Let me know if you know of anything that would have modified the files.

I don't know what may have modified the files. I do not have ratings, and I do not believe I have play count. I decided to sync, just to see what would happen, and even though it copied all of the songs to the iPod just fine, they do not show up (all menus under "Browse" are blank). I can see all the files on the iPod when I connect it to my PC though. This is really puzzling me!

Okay, more on this problem I am still having. With my iPod in the state I noted in my previous post (not showing any songs), I tried using the rebuild iTunes DB on iPod feature multiple times to no avail. Then I decided to reinstall iTunes, just to see what would happen. Oddly enough, it recognized the iPod immediately, and saw all the songs on it. Nothing was transferred over that I know of. Then, I ejected the iPod and all the songs now appeared on it! This was great. Since this happened, I have been able to use foo_pod to send songs to the iPod. I am unable to send normal playlists (they do not appear under the playlists menu on the iPod). I am able to create smart playlists though. Is it possible that I am overlooking something? Also, is it important that my iPod connects to my PC through a firewire port?