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

[Lew_Zealand]

This version brings smart playlist support for 1st and 2nd generation iPods, as well as a few new rules that even iTunes doesn't support.

I'm very psyched to see this, Aero! I won't be able to provide any feedback for a few weeks, as I'm off on vacation, but thanks again for the continued development of foo_pod.

btw, I use XP Pro, so no help there either.

[SNAG]

The latest version works like a charm...

And Aero, sent a copy of my DB to your email.

[eido]

I'm trying to set up a rule in the smart playlist editor for "date added is in the last 2 weeks", but every time I click apply and open the smart playlist editor back up it has changed from 2 weeks to 2 days. The rule seems to be working correctly though, so I assume it's just a display glitch.

[Otto42]

1st and 2nd generation iPods (iPods with the firewire connector) aren't able to create smart playlists on the fly, like newer iPods.  But thanks to some nifty code from Otto42, foo_pod can build a regular playlist based on the smart playlist rules.  Speaking of smart playlist rules, this version adds some new rules (Does Not Start With, Does Not End With, and Is Not In The Range) that work on the iPod, but for one reason or another, aren't available in iTunes.  Maybe someday, iTunes will catch up to foo_pod...

Just so everybody knows, this method of building the playlists should be identical to the way iTunes does it. But I may have missed something, as it's a medium sized piece of rather annoyingly complicated code to do it.

So anybody with a 1st or 2nd gen iPod, keep a close eye on any smart playlists you create, and if you happen to notice anything "off" about them (on the iPod side), please let us know. This may not be an easy one to spot, as the playlist may simply be populated incorrectly, with songs there that should not be, or vice versa. Still, keep an eye open for it.

The new rules work, BTW, but will likely make iTunes freak out or behave oddly or something. So I would not recommend using these rules if you use iTunes with your iPod. But they work well, best as we can see. There's some other possibilities for rules that are not implemented in iTunes too, and I'll be looking into those. The iPod has a lot of hidden capability.

[Aero]

I'm trying to set up a rule in the smart playlist editor for "date added is in the last 2 weeks", but every time I click apply and open the smart playlist editor back up it has changed from 2 weeks to 2 days.  The rule seems to be working correctly though, so I assume it's just a display glitch.

Thanks for the bug report. Yeah, that was just a typo in the initialization code for the days/weeks/months drop down box, so as long as you change it back before you click Apply, everything should be fine.

I have just fixed the bug and it will be in the next version.

[Aero]

I did a little experimenting with Nero's AAC encoder tonight, and here is a short guide on how to get it to work with foo_pod's transcoder.

Step 0: Buy Nero 6 and install it. The free demo also works, but you are limited to 50 encodings and a message box pops up before each encoding.

Step 1: Download NAACEnc, unzip it, and put NAACEnc.exe in your Foobar2000 directory (where foobar2000.exe is located).

Step 2: Go to the foo_pod Preferences, Transcoder tab, and select "Use Custom Encoder Settings". Click on the "Configure" button.

Step 3: Change the following settings:
Encoder: NAACEnc.exe
Extension: m4a or mp4 (doesn't really matter)
Parameters: -internet -qf -lc %s %d
Highest BPS Supported: 16
Display Name: Nero AAC (Fast Internet AAC-LC)

Step 4: There is no step 4.

You can change the encoding quality by replacing -internet with one of the following (from lowest to highest quality): -tape, -radio, -internet, -streaming, -normal, -extreme, -audiophile, -transcode. Also, the -qf argument means to use the fast quality setting. -qh (High quality) doesn't seem to be any slower than -qf, but the bitrates are higher than with -qf. Display Name can be anything you want, but it is written to the transcoded file as the TRANCODER metadata, so pick something descriptive.

I did some informal tests, and the Nero AAC encoder seemed to produce about the same quality as FAAC 1.24, at a 10kbps lower bitrate. So it isn't a huge difference, but if you already own Nero 6, it might be worth using instead of FAAC.

[triode]

Areo,

I've just been experimenting with Otto's iTunes scripts (http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....showtopic=22391) and Foo diskwriter/foo_podclienc to transcode using iTunes (to ACC or Lossless) driven by foobar.

This is almost giving me a one hop route to import my flac collection into iTunes. But is giving me error messages if I just import files to iTunes (i.e. don't enable the copying of the converted file back to the destination location expected by foo_podclienc.)

1) Would it be possible to turn off whatever error checking is done in foo_podclienc to create "ERROR (foo_podclienc) : Encoding failed" in the console which interupts the process.

2) Have you considered writing a transcoder which accesses iTunes directly as this gives access to Lossless as well as AAC. Looking at the documentation for the iTunes interface it appears the functions accessed by Otto's script are also directly accessable from C?

Greate work on foo_pod btw.

Triode

[Otto42]

2) Have you considered writing a transcoder which accesses iTunes directly as this gives access to Lossless as well as AAC. Looking at the documentation for the iTunes interface it appears the functions accessed by Otto's script are also directly accessable from C?

It would be pretty easy to write an EXE to use the COM interface of iTunes to convert files into whatever format you want, of course. If this is needed I can create it pretty fast, if someone wants it. The script method was just simpler.

But foobar doesn't actually support Apple Lossless, does it? I mean, if you had an ALE file then foobar wouldn't be able to read it or play it, right? Would it work with foo_pod in that case?

[triode]

Hi Otto,

I can't make up my mind whether to convert from Flac to Apple lossless. At present I think Flac is probably safer as my main archive. Hence I see two applications:

1) Bulk conversion of Flac (or other format) into iTunes as ACC/Apple lossless (not my primary application, as I am not yet converted to iTunes!)

2) On the fly transcoding to Apple lossless for download to iPod via Foo_pod. This is probably my favourite as I stick with Foo_pod and Flac on the PC.

The scipt works well for 1, except for the error checking done by foo_podclienc (as I have turned off the copy of the file back at the end)

I do have a problem with the script when file copying is enabled as I can't seem to stop my virus checker (McAfee) complaining every time! Hence a com/exe solution would probably help here (ideally with the option to do ACC or Lossless).

Triode

[Aero]

1) Would it be possible to turn off whatever error checking is done in foo_podclienc to create "ERROR (foo_podclienc) : Encoding failed" in the console which interupts the process.

Possible, but the check is there on purpose to catch real encoding errors, and it removes the song from the iPod database, so you don't have dead entries on the iPod. I haven't tried it, but it could be that the encoding error is due to the script returning the "wrong" return value.

2) Have you considered writing a transcoder which accesses iTunes directly as this gives access to Lossless as well as AAC. Looking at the documentation for the iTunes interface it appears the functions accessed by Otto's script are also directly accessable from C?

I hadn't considered it, but it is an interesting idea. Personally, I wouldn't use lossless encoding on the iPod, since I can get transparent quality with MP3 and/or AAC at much lower bitrates. Using the iTunes AAC encoder might be worthwhile, though, since it is free (as in beer) unlike Nero and is supposedly better than FAAC at the same bitrate.

As far as I can tell, Otto's script should work in foo_pod as a custom encoder - I'll test it later tonight and see if I can see why it isn't working.

[Aero]

But foobar doesn't actually support Apple Lossless, does it? I mean, if you had an ALE file then foobar wouldn't be able to read it or play it, right? Would it work with foo_pod in that case?

That is correct - Foobar doesn't play or understand Apple Lossless encoded files, so foo_pod won't do anything with them. I think triode's point is that he can take files the Foobar does play (like FLAC) and use the iTunes encoder to write either AAC or ALE encoded songs to the iPod. That should work fine, although there might be some hidden complication that is causing it to fail.

[triode]

As far as I can tell, Otto's script should work in foo_pod as a custom encoder - I'll test it later tonight and see if I can see why it isn't working.

Just to clarify - it works, but because I have turned off the file copy at the end of the script, foo_podclienc creates the error message. I think it is just looking to see if the correct file is produced (which it isn't as I have dissabled this due to my virus checker).

The scipt + foo_podclienc works fine appart from this and my PC is busy transcoding a few hundred flacs at present. NB this is importing them to iTunes not really foo_pod, but it is a very worthwhile side effect of the code. Thanks to you and Otto.

Triode

[Otto42]

I do have a problem with the script when file copying is enabled as I can't seem to stop my virus checker (McAfee) complaining every time!  Hence a com/exe solution would probably help here (ideally with the option to do ACC or Lossless).

Well, if that's the only real problem, then I'll see what I can do to make an EXE version of the script. Should be simple enough, really. Probably easier than writing the script was, because I don't know javascript too well.

Kinda sucks that McAffe has no way to turn that off though.. Norton complains too, but I tell it to "Authorize this script" and it stops complaining for that script and that script only. Until I modify the script, at which point it complains again.

[Mike Giacomelli]

2) Have you considered writing a transcoder which accesses iTunes directly as this gives access to Lossless as well as AAC.   Looking at the documentation for the iTunes interface it appears the functions accessed by Otto's script are also directly accessable from C?

It would be pretty easy to write an EXE to use the COM interface of iTunes to convert files into whatever format you want, of course. If this is needed I can create it pretty fast, if someone wants it. The script method was just simpler.

But foobar doesn't actually support Apple Lossless, does it? I mean, if you had an ALE file then foobar wouldn't be able to read it or play it, right? Would it work with foo_pod in that case?

So this would allow the use of iTunes's encoder from within foobar? That'd be pretty handy.

[Otto42]

So this would allow the use of iTunes's encoder from within foobar?  That'd be pretty handy.

Umm, sure. I guess. I don't exactly know how foobar works with that sort of thing. But it's just a command line program, sort of thing. Should work with most anything.

I'm working on it now, will have it within an hour or two, no trouble. All it does is to take some parameters, then call iTunes to do the actual work. Simple enough.

[Otto42]

Oops. Sorry. Posted twice somehow.

This post has been edited by Otto42: Jul 11 2004, 05:12

[Aero]

So this would allow the use of iTunes's encoder from within foobar?  That'd be pretty handy.

Umm, sure. I guess. I don't exactly know how foobar works with that sort of thing. But it's just a command line program, sort of thing. Should work with most anything.

I'm working on it now, will have it within an hour or two, no trouble. All it does is to take some parameters, then call iTunes to do the actual work. Simple enough.

What Mike means is that instead of using LAME, FAAC, or NeroAAC as the encoder used by foo_pod when transcoding, it is now also possible to use iTunes' encoders.

Basically, this adds the ability to transcode to Apple's Lossless Format (so FLAC/APE/Shorten users can keep their music unmolested on the iPod, without have to resort to WAV or AIFF), as well as a high quality AAC encoder for free. The downside is that iTunes' COM interface doesn't appear to allow setting the encoder settings, so you have to use iTunes to configure the encoder or accept the default values.

[Otto42]

What Mike means is that instead of using LAME, FAAC, or NeroAAC as the encoder used by foo_pod when transcoding, it is now also possible to use iTunes' encoders.

Basically, this adds the ability to transcode to Apple's Lossless Format (so FLAC/APE/Shorten users can keep their music unmolested on the iPod, without have to resort to WAV or AIFF), as well as a high quality AAC encoder for free.  The downside is that iTunes' COM interface doesn't appear to allow setting the encoder settings, so you have to use iTunes to configure the encoder or accept the default values.

Ah. I see now. Okay. I was just confused before.

Anyway, I'm done. Took me a couple extra hours to figure out weirdness with regard to how to convert between two similar COM interfaces. But then i'd never programmed COM stuff in C++ before, so I learned something new.

Here you go: http://otto.homedns.org:8888/iTunes/iTunesEncode.zip

Feel free to mirror a copy somewhere else if you like (rarewares?), as my connection may go up and down, being on cable and such.

Anyway, the command line options for this EXE version are similar to the script version, but different, so you may want to read the readme file first.

Enjoy!

[triode]

Thanks Otto,

Works well and doesn't annoy the virus checker. (I found that you can totally dissable script checking with Mcafee, but not authorise a specific script )

Triode

[Otto42]

Works well and doesn't annoy the virus checker.  (I found that you can totally dissable script checking with Mcafee, but not authorise a specific script  )

May want to grab another copy, I found out that the -d option didn't work properly (it left a copy of the file hanging around). That's now fixed.

[Aero]

As I was rushing to load up some songs on my iPod this morning, I realized that I spend a lot more time wiping and reloading my iPod than enjoying it. So I was wondering - does anyone have an iPod with a dead battery, upgraded to a larger iPod, or whatever, and would be willing to sell it?

It isn't a big deal, but it would help foo_pod development a bit. (I'll have a new version ready to post as soon as a 17 hour transfer/transcoding session completes... )

[Otto42]

Why not get the iPod the way you want it and then back it up to the hard drive? A simple copy of the iPod_Control folder would back up all the music and database and everything else. Then you could restore that to the iPod after you were done messing with it. Seems like it'd be a heck of a lot faster than transcoding anyway, at the cost of some hard drive space, I grant you. Of course, I recently bought a 200 gig firewire drive, so I'm kind of space happy right now.

[Aero]

Why not get the iPod the way you want it and then back it up to the hard drive? A simple copy of the iPod_Control folder would back up all the music and database and everything else. Then you could restore that to the iPod after you were done messing with it. Seems like it'd be a heck of a lot faster than transcoding anyway, at the cost of some hard drive space, I grant you. Of course, I recently bought a 200 gig firewire drive, so I'm kind of space happy right now.

Obviously, if you have enough free disk space, backing up the iPod is simple. But the iPod disk/interface is fairly slow (around 10MB/sec), so a complete backup can take over an hour to copy it off and another hour to copy it back. Certainly better than retranscoding, though. Like I said, it isn't a big deal...

[Otto42]

Obviously, if you have enough free disk space, backing up the iPod is simple.  But the iPod disk/interface is fairly slow (around 10MB/sec), so a complete backup can take over an hour to copy it off and another hour to copy it back.  Certainly better than retranscoding, though.  Like I said, it isn't a big deal...

Hmm.. Assuming you don't fully erase the iPod with every test, you could use something like rsync to undo the changes made, as long as you have a complete copy of what you want the drive to look like. That'd certainly be faster than erasing and recopying the whole thing back, because it could copy back only the files that were modified in your testing. But yes, the drive space would still be needed to keep a copy around.

This post has been edited by Otto42: Jul 13 2004, 22:22

[Aero]

Version 0.9.2 is now available.

This version fixes the display bug noted by eido, and added the Playlist smart playlist rule. This isn't completely tested, so please report any problems or inconsistances. There are also new units (minutes, hours, and years) that are available for In The Last smart playlist rules, and not supported by iTunes.

There is also a new option that will hide the Foobar2000 window during file transfers to the iPod. This is particularly useful for long transfers, such as when doing a lot of transcoding.


From the Readme:

CODE

Version 0.9.2 - July 14, 2004
*  Fixed a bug in the smart playlist editor which caused the date unit to initialized to Days, even though the correct value was stored in the iPod database.

*  Added support for the Playlist smart playlist rule type.  Note that Playlist (and Grouping) are slightly buggy in iPod firmware versions 2.2 and earlier, so there may be problems with the workaround required.

*  Added "minutes", "hours", and "years" units for "In The Last" smart playlist rules.  These are not available in iTunes.

*  Changed the default custom encoder to settings that work with NAACEnc/NeroAAC.

*  Improved the performance when using using custom transcoders that require a temporary file (such as NAACEnc).

*  Added an option (enabled by default) to hide the Foobar2000 window during file transfers to the iPod.