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Topic: iPod manager (Read 2252983 times) previous topic - next topic
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[seemingly abandonware] iPod manager

Reply #1075 –
0.5.6.36 released. Just a minor update:
  * Should now attempt to pair a mobile device with the computer when it isn't already paired. Better logging in the console in this case.
  * Fixed a potential issue with file conversion.
  * Changed default encoder to Nero. Seems to make sense now foo_dop supports Nero gapless data.
  * Some other minor improvements

Glossary:
  * Mobile device: iPod touch or iPhone.

Quote from: Bojan on
Does the custom sorting work?
I am not sure what you are expecting it to do, but it is in a section titled "Load library".
.

[seemingly abandonware] iPod manager

Reply #1076 –
Quote from: musicmusic on
I guess "stored in the db" is the more accurate description.
I was wondering if I could request something please musicmusic. I think quite a few people would find these interesting.

They both involve sorting.
As quoted above, the sorting without the leading "The" can be done, and this is stored in the db somewhere.
I was just wondering if we could add two more options.

First would be:
When browsing through the iPod - Music>Artists> a list of albums appears from that artist (if there is more than one album, otherwise just the songs are shown). Now, is it possible, the same way that the leading "The" is ignored and stored somewhere, that we can have it so that the albums show chronologically instead of alphabetically. This would entail using the ID3v2.3 TYER field (year/date). The information stored in the db would consist of 'Year - Album'. This way the albums are stored chronologically.
Is this possible?

Secondly: (and this is where it gets tricky)
When browsing through the iPod - Music>Albums> a list of all albums in shown sorted alphabetically. That's fine, until you get to an album called "Greatest Hits" to which you have three or more artists that all have the album name 'Greatest Hits'.
This could be resolved easily by using the ID3v2.3 TPE1 field (artist), storing in the db somewhere 'Album - Artist'. This would result in the albums being split up between the three separate artists, instead of one collective album for all.

Either of these options would work fine on there own.
But when we come to use both of these options, the second would not work, because it would now consist of 'Year - Album - Artist'. This wouldn't work when browsing Music>Albums> because now all the albums would be sorted chronologically, which we don't want.

So basically the question is, can we somehow store both these informations somewhere in the db and call either:
'Year - Album' when browsing Music>Artists>
Or
'Album - Artist' when browsing Music>Albums>

Make sense?
Any input or help on this would be great. =)

[seemingly abandonware] iPod manager

Reply #1077 –
Quote from: musicmusic on
Quote from: Bojan on
Does the custom sorting work?
I am not sure what you are expecting it to do, but it is in a section titled "Load library".
I was expecting the music on my ipod while I'm browsing through it to be sorted. You know, you click on Music, then Artists, then click on some artist, and you see the albums in the correct order (sorted by date)...

If it's not used for that, what does it do?

[seemingly abandonware] iPod manager

Reply #1078 –
Quote from: Bojan on
If it's not used for that, what does it do?

It's used to sort the files in the Foobar2000 playlist created by "File > iPod > Load library" after loading the files from the iPod...
np: 4'33"

[seemingly abandonware] iPod manager

Reply #1079 –
Quote from: TheChipstar on
Quote from: musicmusic on
I guess "stored in the db" is the more accurate description.
I was wondering if I could request something please musicmusic. I think quite a few people would find these interesting.

They both involve sorting.[...]

I don't believe sorting by "Album - Artist" will achieve anything, I believe they will still be combined because they are next to each other. Even if you did "Artist - Album" they would probably be separated in the list but my feeling is that they will still be combined when you click on them. I'll try and check but you can also check with iTunes by editing the sort fields (note: foo_dop will reset those next time you use it).

With the sort field remappings you will be able to do some of this, but it would affect albums in every view. Any other way would probably create problems.

Quote from: Bojan on
If it's not used for that, what does it do?
The "Load library" command.
.

[seemingly abandonware] iPod manager

Reply #1081 –
0.5.7.0 released.

Changes over 0.5.6.36:
  • Adds support for the built-in foobar2000 artwork reader (i.e. embedded artwork support)


Quote from: Bojan on
Sorry for the confusion, my mind was going in a singletrack... Any chance of implementing the option I was looking for?
I'll answer later.
.

[seemingly abandonware] iPod manager

Reply #1082 –
Quote from: musicmusic on
I don't believe sorting by "Album - Artist" will achieve anything, I believe they will still be combined because they are next to each other. Even if you did "Artist - Album" they would probably be separated in the list but my feeling is that they will still be combined when you click on them. I'll try and check but you can also check with iTunes by editing the sort fields (note: foo_dop will reset those next time you use it).
Hmm, really?
I thought that 'Album - Artist' would work. I put two albums into iTunes and set the sorting field to 'Album - Artist'. This definitely separated them in the fact the song titles weren't mingled together.
But I didn't sync it to my iPod (couldn't be bothered restoring my iPod just yet, but will try it sometime maybe).
'Artist - Album'? I can't see that helping at all! Because then it would be sorted by artists, not what we want when trying to browse by albums.

[seemingly abandonware] iPod manager

Reply #1083 –
Quote from: TheChipstar on
Hmm, really?
Well, the artist already varies between the tracks. So if that was the case we'd have multiple listings already. What you would achieve is the tracks for the combined entry being sorted by (album) artist.

Quote from: TheChipstar on
But I didn't sync it to my iPod (couldn't be bothered restoring my iPod just yet, but will try it sometime maybe).
You can edit the properties of the tracks directly on the iPod, that's what I meant, it's fairly painless.
.

[seemingly abandonware] iPod manager

Reply #1084 –
Just a little feedback on the new version, using iPhone.

Converting from any foobar format to mp3 works nicely.  M4A too, but since foobar doesn't map the lyrics correctly I don't use this.

I am still getting that semi-transparent artwork bug when viewing the library in cover-flow view on the iPhone.

I saw you mention in the previous post that you can edit the metadata right on the iPod, but this is not working.  I wonder if this is a peculiarity's with the iPhone/Touch specifically if it works on classic iPod.  When I edit a metafield and press OK, it accepts it but if you re-open the properties dialog it's back to the old value.

Finally, embedded art seems to work out quite nicely, tested with a few albums that didn't have folder.jpg with them; though they do also have that transparent display bug.

[seemingly abandonware] iPod manager

Reply #1085 –
If you "reload info from files" the changes should show up. Im not sure why they arent automatically updated like with local files.

[seemingly abandonware] iPod manager

Reply #1086 –
Quote from: RainDawg on
I am still getting that semi-transparent artwork bug when viewing the library in cover-flow view on the iPhone.
I don't know the cause and don't really have any good leads (I have one lead but it's not very good).

Quote from: RainDawg on
I saw you mention in the previous post that you can edit the metadata right on the iPod, but this is not working.
Oh, we were talking about iTunes there.

Quote from: RainDawg on
I wonder if this is a peculiarity's with the iPhone/Touch specifically if it works on classic iPod.  When I edit a metafield and press OK, it accepts it but if you re-open the properties dialog it's back to the old value.
It's all quite complicated. The Apple Mobile Device stuff does not provide me with any last modified times for files on the iPhone/iPod touch, so after you edit the file foobar2000 does not realise it has changed, so you see the old info. You need to manually run Tools/Reload info. Then to update the iPod's database you need to run "iPod/Update metadata.." in the normal context menu.
.

[seemingly abandonware] iPod manager

Reply #1087 –
As far as I know, jpeg doesn't even support transparency...I wonder if Apple is converting the images to some other kind of format.  Either way, it's not really that big a deal.

As far as editing metadata, I can see now that I need to have foobar2000 re-read the tags.  I was wondering if it is possible to then sync those metadata updates back to the main files on my PC.  I may edit fields (like correcting lyrics) while I am listening on my work computer, and then want those changes to be reflected back.  From what I can tell, Apple doesn't want you bringing stuff back up from the iPhone once it's there...

[seemingly abandonware] iPod manager

Reply #1088 –
Quote from: RainDawg on
As far as I know, jpeg doesn't even support transparency...I wonder if Apple is converting the images to some other kind of format.  Either way, it's not really that big a deal.

Question: If you send a album with just one track (with artwork) does it show up transparent in the cover flow view?
.

[seemingly abandonware] iPod manager

Reply #1089 –
Yeah, single tracks are doing it too.
 

[seemingly abandonware] iPod manager

Reply #1090 –
Could someone please explain how to get TV Shows to appear in the TV Shows menu on the ipod? I've searched the thread, and the links to "field mappings" on musicmusic's site are dead.

I've added the following custom metadata fields without success:
SHOW - Simpsons
MEDIA KIND - TV Shows
EPISODE NUMBER - 01
SEASON NUMBER - 8

Those were just guesses based on comments I found throughout this thread, but they didn't work.

[seemingly abandonware] iPod manager

Reply #1091 –
Quote from: Bojan on
Sorry for the confusion, my mind was going in a singletrack... Any chance of implementing the option I was looking for?
The thing is, not everyone tags their albums the same way and so DATE is liable to change between tracks. Which is liable to give me a headache..

If I add sort field remappings then you could achieve this on every view with albums listed. I am not sure how happy the iPod would be if the sort tables aren't consistent with each other, which relates to just doing it on one view. I did check iTunes though and it also sorts it alphabetically here.

Best you can do at the moment is to use the field remappings.

Quote from: RainDawg on
As far as editing metadata, I can see now that I need to have foobar2000 re-read the tags.  I was wondering if it is possible to then sync those metadata updates back to the main files on my PC.  I may edit fields (like correcting lyrics) while I am listening on my work computer, and then want those changes to be reflected back.  From what I can tell, Apple doesn't want you bringing stuff back up from the iPhone once it's there...
You mean you are tagging the files on your iPod touch/iPhone with foobar2000? I would have to track file modified times in a database on the iPod since I don't have any other to check them. So yes, it's technically possible, but probably a fair bit of effort and it's not the direction I am going at the moment.

Quote from: alphaex32 on
Yeah, single tracks are doing it too.
OK that throws my idea out of the window  I'll see if I can dig anything else up. BTW: this is ok with other third party apps? (Only ml_ipod and Media Monkey as far as I know..)

Quote from: Fishy Joe on
Could someone please explain how to get TV Shows to appear in the TV Shows menu on the ipod? I've searched the thread, and the links to "field mappings" on musicmusic's site are dead.
Which links?

Quote from: Fishy Joe on
Those were just guesses based on comments I found throughout this thread, but they didn't work.
Just grab the latest version and use 'Video properties' instead.
.

[seemingly abandonware] iPod manager

Reply #1092 –
Quote from: musicmusic on
OK that throws my idea out of the window  I'll see if I can dig anything else up. BTW: this is ok with other third party apps? (Only ml_ipod and Media Monkey as far as I know..)
Everything transferred with itunes or mediamonkey has no problems with the art.

[seemingly abandonware] iPod manager

Reply #1093 –
All of the semi-transparent artwork returns to normal if I let iTunes re-write the database, though oddly I seem to "lose" a handful of covers when I do this (i.e., browsing in foo_dop shows no covers for several songs).

I have a copy of the ArtworkDB from my iPhone both before and after running it through iTunes.  musicmusic, if you want me to send these to you, let me know the best way to do this.

[seemingly abandonware] iPod manager

Reply #1094 –
Quote from: Sleepy on
All of the semi-transparent artwork returns to normal if I let iTunes re-write the database, though oddly I seem to "lose" a handful of covers when I do this (i.e., browsing in foo_dop shows no covers for several songs).

I have a copy of the ArtworkDB from my iPhone both before and after running it through iTunes.  musicmusic, if you want me to send these to you, let me know the best way to do this.

Ah, yes that would be handy. You can use the upload forum, or use yousendit.com and post/PM me the link. The iTunesDB would also be useful (just the current one would do).

Did you perform any tasks in iTunes whilst it was open? (send files etc.) Can you see any pattern to files that lost artwork (files without embedded artwork / all of the files sent by foo_dop etc.)

Also, does the artwork stay non-transparent if you modify the iPod with foo_dop (e.g. rewrite iPod database command)?
.

[seemingly abandonware] iPod manager

Reply #1095 –
OK, did a little experiment for you.  Just to clarify since you don't have a touch, there are two different places album art is shown on the iPhone/Touch...the default view (with the device upright) has a small thumbnail show up next to the title.  When you turn the device on it's side you get the famous iTunes cover flow view.

I started with a bunch of FLAC and MP3 files on my hard drive, all of them with embedded album art viewable inside of foobar2000.  After letting foo_dop send all the files, converting FLAC on the fly, the album thumbnails were all visible, and the cover flow showed all transparent images.

I then let iTunes do a sync, which doesn't touch music but does download my podcasts.  I suppose it did re-write the database at this point, because after that the cover-flow changed to solid images for everything sourced from MP3, and lost the images for everything that was sourced from FLAC.  I would guess that particular bug has something to do with the on-the-fly transcoding.  The strange thing is that even though those covers are gone in the cover flow view, the thumbnails are still present when I browse through the albums in the default view.

I the used foo_dop to do a rewrite of the database, but the above behavior did not change: Cover flow shows missing artwork for my FLAC-sourced files, images are solid, and ALL thumbnails appear in the default view.

I will be able to run some more exhaustive tests later on tonight to see exactly how I can trigger this behavior.

[seemingly abandonware] iPod manager

Reply #1096 –
Quote from: RainDawg on
I then let iTunes do a sync, which doesn't touch music but does download my podcasts.  I suppose it did re-write the database at this point, because after that the cover-flow changed to solid images for everything sourced from MP3, and lost the images for everything that was sourced from FLAC.

I can explain. If you make changes to the iPod using iTunes, it likes to reload the artwork. The embedded artwork in the FLAC files would not have been transferred to the MP3 files during transcoding (I do not believe artwork editing is supported though the foobar2000 API yet). So those get wiped.

I am trying to work out what exactly is triggering iTunes into thinking it needs to reread the artwork on those files.

Quote from: RainDawg on
The strange thing is that even though those covers are gone in the cover flow view, the thumbnails are still present when I browse through the albums in the default view.
This is strange, I think that they may be cached images - restarting the device may change things.

Quote from: RainDawg on
I the used foo_dop to do a rewrite of the database, but the above behavior did not change: Cover flow shows missing artwork for my FLAC-sourced files, images are solid, and ALL thumbnails appear in the default view.
This is expected as that doesn't reread the artwork. If you run the 'Update metadata in iPod library' in the context menu of the affected files on the iPod, it should retrieve the artwork from the original FLAC files again, if the files are available. [edit] OK, there seems to be an issue with this currently so it may not work correctly. I'll fix that for next build.
.

[seemingly abandonware] iPod manager

Reply #1097 –
Quote from: musicmusic on
This is strange, I think that they may be cached images - restarting the device may change things.

Quote from: RainDawg on
I the used foo_dop to do a rewrite of the database, but the above behavior did not change: Cover flow shows missing artwork for my FLAC-sourced files, images are solid, and ALL thumbnails appear in the default view.
This is expected as that doesn't reread the artwork. If you run the 'Update metadata in iPod library' in the context menu of the affected files on the iPod, it should retrieve the artwork from the original FLAC files again, if the files are available. [edit] OK, there seems to be an issue with this currently so it may not work correctly. I'll fix that for next build.


Restarting the iPhone does not cause the small thumbnails to disappear. 

Also, after letting iTunes do the database re-write, cover images are not viewable when browsing the iPod in foobar2000, nor in the cover flow view....even though they seem to remain in the default album view permanently.

Just as a side question, I see that MediaMonkey is now claiming that they can sync portions of a library to the iPhone and have anything with the genre tagged as "Podcast" to show up in the "podcasts" menu of the device.  Is this option possible for foo_dop?  For myself this would eliminate the need to let iTunes do anything to my iPhone altogether except for during software updates.

Also, I have noticed that MP3 files which are tagged with ReplayGain have this adjustment sent to the iPod SoundCheck adjustment value.  The files that I converted "on the fly" lose the ReplayGain tag, and do not have the SoundCheck value either.

[seemingly abandonware] iPod manager

Reply #1098 –
Quote from: RainDawg on
Restarting the iPhone does not cause the small thumbnails to disappear.
OK, well iTunes is just doing strange things then.

Regarding iTunes reloading artwork, this seems to be directly related to it determining gapless data for files. In my testing, it left the artwork alone for files that had gapless data so if you enabled the foo_dop option to determine gapless data, the converted files should be getting gapless data (assuming they are in a supported format, which they should be) and then iTunes should leave their artwork alone.

Quote from: RainDawg on
Also, after letting iTunes do the database re-write, cover images are not viewable when browsing the iPod in foobar2000, nor in the cover flow view....even though they seem to remain in the default album view permanently.
Artwork stored in the iPod database is not visible in foobar2000 anywhere.

Quote from: RainDawg on
Just as a side question, I see that MediaMonkey is now claiming that they can sync portions of a library to the iPhone and have anything with the genre tagged as "Podcast" to show up in the "podcasts" menu of the device.  Is this option possible for foo_dop?
Probably. I'll look into it at some point.

Quote from: RainDawg on
Also, I have noticed that MP3 files which are tagged with ReplayGain have this adjustment sent to the iPod SoundCheck adjustment value.  The files that I converted "on the fly" lose the ReplayGain tag, and do not have the SoundCheck value either.
The ReplayGain data would be different for the converted files. Unfortunately foobar2000 does not provide a method for foo_dop to automate the replaygain scan of the converted files. The topic has been discussed a fair bit before so have a search of this thread for some more info.
.

[seemingly abandonware] iPod manager

Reply #1099 –
Quote from: musicmusic on
Quote from: Fishy Joe on
Could someone please explain how to get TV Shows to appear in the TV Shows menu on the ipod? I've searched the thread, and the links to "field mappings" on musicmusic's site are dead.
Which links?

This one: http://yuo.be/wiki/dop:dop#field_mappings

Quote from: musicmusic on
Just grab the latest version and use 'Video properties' instead.

This worked well, thanks. When I transferred a full season (each with a number in its title), the files are sorted backwards. For example, 825 is the first episode I see, and 801 is the last. Is there a workaround for this?

Thanks too musicmusic for all the work that's obviously gone into this component. I stopped using it awhile ago due to problems with my 1st gen shuffle, but it's a very mature system now and saves me from installing itunes, which is no small thing.