Regarding foo_pod development:

Just looking at the release dates, it is no secret that foo_pod development has (considerably) slowed down. Due to time constraints, I don't really have a lot of time to work on foo_pod. Also, the code has reached a state where adding new features is troublesome. Any future development really needs to start from scratch; starting with the current feature set and doing it right, rather than hacking on the current code.

Development also depends on my motivation level. Honestly, foo_pod works pretty well for me, and there isn't too much more I need it to do, or do better. I was pretty excited when the podcasting features were added to the firmware, but since Apple botched the dynamically updating smart playlists feature and hasn't bothered to fix it in over 3 months, that has pretty well killed off that enthusiasm.

I'm also not particuarly interested in Foobar 0.9 at this point. If there were an SDK available, I'd see how much work would be involved in updating foo_pod. Admittedly, I haven't followed the 0.9 beta progress, at all, but the last feature set I saw didn't look like it would be worth the trouble of updating foo_pod along with ALL of the other components I use.

As for the foo_pod source code, the most important piece is already open source - the iPodDB library. I have submitted all of my changes back to Otto, and I will gladly send my working version of iPodDB to anyone who requests it. The rest is really just the glue that hooks up iPodDB with Foobar. If someone is interested in starting clean, I am happy to provide any assistance and advice. Otherwise, any future foo_pod updates are going to be dependant on firmware changes from Apple, major bug fixes, and interesting feature requests.

any possibility of fixing how foo_pod intereacts with the itunes 4.9 database? that's my only real concern right now

thanks for getting back to us on the true state of things. i'm sure there are people here who know enough code (is it c++?) to take on the project if you'd like to pass it on.

i hope 0.9 becomes a really big thing (i still use 0.8.3), it'd be cool to have a big fat update, and hopefully inspiring for you and the other coders of the most popular plugins

thanks again for all you've done

As soon as Apple fixes their firmware and I start using it on a regular basis, it is very likely that I'll add full 4.9/5.0 support. There has been a lot of work done by myself and others in figuring out the new database format, so it should be fairly easy to implement.

I forget to note in the release notes, but I did add one significant 4.9 related fix in 0.9.9l, so you might want to try it again and see if it works a little better than 0.9.9k.

Actually IIRC, the original ReplayGain spec targets 83db, but current ReplayGain implementations target 89db.

Yeah, 89dB sounds right. Thanks for the correction.

In any event, move the slider in the positive direction if you want louder SoundCheck songs.

i'm having trouble transcoding my flac files to mp3 with foo_pod

i decided to test out the transcoding feature with foo_pod by sending the dire straits song brother in arms.flac to the ipod. foobar gave me the following error message:

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://C:\Music\Lossless\Dire Straits\Brothers In Arms\Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms - 09 - Brothers In Arms.flac
ERROR (foo_pod) : Transcoding failed!
ERROR (foo_pod) : Error #0 copying C:\Music\Lossless\Dire Straits\Brothers In Arms\Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms - 09 - Brothers In Arms.flac to d:\iPod_Control\Music\F05\ab7d56a6dcfea7c3c..mp3

what's going on?

Are you using one of the MP3 presets? And do you have lame.exe in the same directory as Foobar2000.exe, or somewhere else in your system PATH?

i'm using a custom encoder setting, which is pointing to the lame.exe in my EAC folder (3.97b1). here's a screenshot of the custom encoder settings window:



the encoder parameters are the recommended ones in the recommended settings thread for lame 3.97b1

See if it works with one of the LAME presets. You should also remove the ID3 tagging parameters - they aren't necessary and are probably causing the problem (your recommened parameters are for use with EAC, and aren't completely applicable to foo_pod).

BTW - using LAME 3.97b1, foo_pod's highest quality MP3 preset (--preset fast standard) is the exact same setting as '-V 2 --vbr new'. If you really want to do a custom preset, use "-V 2 -vbr new - %d" (no quotes) for the parameters.

Aero,

I'm interested in your thoughts on these recently posted issues:

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....ndpost&p=327406

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....ndpost&p=327408

Could someone upload the plug-in on his website or send it by e-mail (if so contact me by PM), because when I try to download it from the link in this post (I have tried several times already ), I only get a file of 1ko unusable.. Many thanks

Edit: problem solved It came from mozilla and a plug in

This is a well known bug in foo_pod (check the archives), and while I fixed it at one point, the fix caused worse problems. Basically, it is too hard to fix at this point, which is a good indication that foo_pod needs to be rewritten from scratch.


foo_pod determines the uniqueness of a file that is to be transcoded by computing a MD4 hash of the original file, and using the hash value as the filename on the iPod. Note that the hash is of the original file, not the transcoded file...

This is a pretty clever approach (if I may say so), because it doesn't change the metadata of the file on the iPod, you don't need to don't something as heavyweight as a database, and since the hash is the filename it is very fast to find matching files on the iPod since you don't have to open every file on the iPod to get the hash.

As far as I can tell, this works fairly reliably. For example, if you transcode a file onto the iPod, then try transcoding it again, it won't be duplicated. If you are getting duplicates, then either your original file is changing or there is a bug in foo_pod.

but why is transcoding not working for me (see above problem)?

Did you see my above reply?

Thought I may want to update you guys with the latest developments in the iPod foray:

The 5G iPod (supporting video playback) is out, and so is iTunes 6.0. Supports internet video downloads.

this may have been asked before, but i don't want to wade through 69 pages of posts.

often i get the message that the file "Play Count" is corrupt, and that i need to run chkdsk. why does this happen?

(i did do a search, but searches don't allow you to go directly to the post that contains your search terms. ...unless there's something i don't know?)

edit: nm, after some more google searching i found that it's a problem with the ipod, not caused by foo_pod.

http://forums.ilounge.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=73012

Use "Search topic" near the bottom left of each page of the post.

I've been getting an error copying files to my Shuffle (software version 1.1.2) which is happening totally randomly: since using 0.9.9l. All was working OK before. I did a brand new install of Foobar2000 0.8.3 (Special installer) but problem persists. It's always Error #123
Can anyone direct me to a previous version of foo_pod to try?

I saw that yesterday for the first time, and I'll work on a fix for it shortly.

Almost all previous foo_pod versions are online. For example, the previous version is http://www.loodi.com/foo_pod_0.9.9k.zip

Thanks Aero. 0.9.9k is working fine

i know this is stupid and i didnt LOOK for an answer, but do i have to have itunes installed?

No. This is a nice feature of foo_pod - you can throw it and Foobar on any USB drive (or the iPod itself), and run it from any Windows computer without installing Foobar or iTunes.

Version 0.9.9m is now available

0.9.9m fixes a fairly serious and intermittant problem with filename corruption. This is the "Error 123" problem that rectangle was experiencing. This bug was introduced in the previous version, and while it seems to happen more frequently on iPod Shuffles, it will affect all iPods - so you should upgrade as soon as possible.


From the Readme:

im sure this is not a bug but something im doing wrong:

when i add files/playlists to my ipod from foo_pod it all works with no errors and if i bring up the playlist explorer afterwards it shows the new playlists on my ipod.

yet when i eject my ipod and look under playlists there never there. i have to send a file to my ipod using winamp and then eject my ipod and the file from winamp along with the files/playlists from foo_pod and then visible on my ipod.

4g 60 gb ipod with latest foo_pod

I've seen similar behavior with my 4G 60GB too. I'm pretty sure it's foo_pod, but haven't been able to track down what the issue is. Are you doing transcoding?

occasionally but even if i send a playlist with 2 mp3's its not untill another app has transferred a song that my ipod will display the playlist.

made a mistake it above post its a 4gen 40GB (not 60)

i have an iPod nano, not shuffle.?

So, what is the problem, the "Name" or the 'Insufficient free space" or both?

Don't worry - foo_pod is physically incapable of transmuting your iPod Nano into an iPod Shuffle.

The message is from the pre-Nano days, where anything smaller than 4GB could be assumed to be a Shuffle. I have a better way to detect iPod models, so I'll see about removing that text.

Aero:

Any chance you could incorporate a method like strftime() for translating "last played" times to a human-readable format? We mentioned it briefly many moons ago (#1433)...


Thanks,
Steve

Sorry to interupt your comely conversation...but I am having inexplicable trouble using foo_pod on win98se with foobar 0.83


i get this error upon running foober (in le console):

"ERROR (CORE) : Failed to load DLL: foo_pod.dll, reason: Unable to load DLL."


I have downloaded Msvcp60.dll and msvcr71.dll (I remember having truble with another component before that needed them... I have extracted them to the components folder (I am that far past noob at least )


Is there any particular reason this could happen or am I just a fool


ta

Yeah, I'll try to squeeze that onto the Advanced tab or something for the next release.

Windows 98 is the problem - foo_pod only works on Windows 2000 or better. I posted some time ago and asked if anyone was interested in a Windows 98 version, and I never received any responses.

As I no longer have any Windows 98 machines to test or build on, I will not be supporting Windows 98 in the future.

I have the exactly same problem as oscar has, but I'm using XP Pro (english) SP2 and Foobar 0.8.3:

INFO (CORE) : startup time: 375 ms
ERROR (CORE) : Failed to load DLL: foo_pod.dll, reason: Unable to load DLL.
ERROR (CORE) : Failed to load DLL: foo_podclienc.dll, reason: Unable to load DLL.
ERROR (CORE) : Failed to load DLL: foo_podtranscoder.dll, reason: Unable to load DLL.

I've tryed 3 different versions of foo_pod including the newest 0.9.9m. Could the files be corrupted? I used winzip 8.1 SR-1 for extraction.


Kim

I have now downloaded foobar 0.8.3 normal and special edition, foo_pod 0.9.9 l,k and m on two different computers (Intel and AMD, both XP SP2) via two different ISP's. Installed and uninstalled all the different versions of both foobar and foo_pod. I have extracted foo_pod.dll, foo_podclienc.dll and foo_podtranscoder.dll to D:\Program Files\foobar2000\components folder according to the foo_pod readme (what is the use of msvcp71.dll? Also tryed to extract that one to the components folder). Every time I get the same error message.

I have an iPod shuffle waiting... Please, somebody help me!


Kim

Try moving mscvp71.dll to the same directory as Foobar2000.exe.

No effect. Still have the same error messages.

I have Macdrive installed, wich enables Windows to read/write (external) Mac HFS(+) formatted HD's. I've disabled Macdrive but it didn't help. Could this still be a problem even if it is disabled? I have used my iPod on both PC and Mac with iTunes.


Kim

It shouldn't matter what you use with your ipod, the dll should load regardless of whether your ipod is actually connected to the pc or not (unless i am gravely mistaken).


Also does anyone know where i can get ottos itunesdb classes from...I tried http://otto.homedns.org:8888/iTunes/iPodDB.zip but it timed out (tried for the last couple of days actually).
edit: they url is wrong should be http://otto.homedns.org/iTunes/iPodDB.zip

I can't make head or tail of it going from some stuff i've found (my db doesnt even look anything like teh way it is described in these docs :'(

Hi,
I had a 20g 4g ipod die on me about two months ago and it had been replaced by a new one.

Recently, I'm getting the same annoyances I was getting with the previous one:
Skipping on songs (which I have to get to manually by using the foreward button), and last night the ipods display got stuck while a song played and I didnt manage to unlock it and restart until after it had finished.

My question is:
what should I do now?
Format it? defrag it? fix it somehow?

Im sure many of you have had these issues, whats the solution?

Also, I saw there is a new firmware available, what do you think of it?

In my experience, the skipped songs is mainly caused by the delay in spinning up or locating a song on the hard drive, and iPod timing out and going to the next one.

Defragging might help, but it is mostly a design flaw in the older iPods. I have had a 3G, 4G, and iPod Photo, and I experienced many more skipped songs with the 3G and 4G models.

As for the stuck UI, that happens occassionally, but I don't know what causes it (other than generally buggyness). Doing a soft reset (hold down the Menu and Center buttons for a few seconds) might help clear things up.



Avoid it like the plague, IMHO. The latest firmware for 3G, 4G, and iPod Photo breaks dynamically updating smart playlists, and seemed somewhat buggier (lockups and crash/resets). Unfortuantely, this has been broken for several months and 2-3 firmware releases, and Apple hasn't bothered to fix it, despite widespread outrage.

what is the latest firmware that a 3g 15gig ipod user should have installed?

The readme file does not say anything about this file, why? What is the use of this file? Tryed to put it in the components folder and foobar folder but nothing works.

I formatted one of my computer and installed a clean Win XP pro SP1. Installed only Foobar 2000 and foo_pod and I still get the same error messages. I am 99% convinced that the problem is not in my computer but in the software. I downloaded Foobar 2000 from here: http://www.foobar2000.org/foobar2000_special.exe and foo_pod from here: http://www.loodi.com/foo_pod.zip.

Could someone please try these versions if you get the same error messages? Is the Foobar version too new even if it is 0.8.3???

Please someone help me, this problem is driving me nuts!


Kim

Well I'm pretty sure you're missing DLL's somewhere. I'm not sure how foo_pod is built, but try installing the .NET Framework. As I understand it, foo_pod shouldn't need it as it's unmanaged code, but install it anywhere and report back. Oh, and get SP2 on that machine quick smart.

I don't understand how I can miss any DLL's as I manually extract them to the components folder? If i take the foo_pod DLL's away from the components folder i don't get the error messages anymore. Obviously Foobar finds the DLL's when they are in the components folder but can't load them correctly.

NET framework is installed now because of another program (Cutterman) that needed it. No help there. The computer wich I formatted is standalone and not connected to internet or any other computer at any time. I only do video/sound editing on that computer so SP2 is not needed.

Where can I find older/other versions of Foobar 2000?


Kim

No your not missing any foo_pod dll's of foobar dll's, but other windows dll's, at least that would be my guess. Have you got the msvcr71.dll. Note that it is different than the mscvp71.dll file.

msvcr71.dll found in: D:\Program Files\Radeon Omega Drivers v2.5.58\AtiTool.


Kim

If that directory is not in your %path%, it doesn't help, as foobar can't find it. Try copying the file to a directory in your %path% (ie. c:\windows\system32).

Bingo! Thanks "kl33per" and "anza"! I copied msvcr71.dll to D:\WINDOWS\system32 and now i get the foo_pod option under the components tab in Foobar.

Now I have to try and transcode flac->mp3 on the fly into my iPod. Thanks again guys!


Kim

Will the new 5G ipod (ie ipod video) work with foo_pod? As I understand it, foo_pod only works with itunes 4.8 database files, but the 5G ipod ships with itunes 6 so... I'm not really sure what that would mean.

I'm getting the 60GB ipod 5G as soon as they are available here in Canada (within a couple of weeks it looks like).

Based on my limited testing, iTunes 4.7 format databases (the kind that foo_pod typically writes) will work wijth newer firmware. You won't be able to use the newer firmware features, like the special podcast features, but otherwise, you should be fine. And if Apple ever fixes the firmware for older iPods, I'll probably add more complete support for the newer iTunes versions as well.