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Topic: foo_pod - Foobar2000 meets the iPod (Read 1309236 times) previous topic - next topic
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foo_pod - Foobar2000 meets the iPod

Reply #1350 –
Welcome back, Aero! I hope you had a fun, and relaxing, visit to Europe. I'm going in a month or so myself... hopefully you didn't take all the good pictures

Glad to hear you were able to get another ipod photo as well. Any work you may want to do with photo-only capabilities is fine by me! Thanks a bunch, as always.

foo_pod - Foobar2000 meets the iPod

Reply #1351 –
Welcome back Aero!

Well most of my problems have been solved with uninstalling iTunes.  Don't ask me why, but almost everything thing seems to work properly now (transcoding, files showing up on iPod)!  I'm a happy man.

However, the one last thing I'm having trouble with is the iPod Pre-amp Volume Adjustment, Sounds with SoundCheck data.  I've transcoded songs to the iPod with it set to -100% and 100% and can't hear a difference  .  I know that SoundCheck data is in the file however, because when I turn off SoundCheck on the iPod, the song is much louder. It doesn't seem to me that the preamp part is working.  Is there a bug with this when transcoding the files (rather than just copying them to the iPod)?

Thanks!

foo_pod - Foobar2000 meets the iPod

Reply #1352 –
Quote
However, the one last thing I'm having trouble with is the iPod Pre-amp Volume Adjustment, Sounds with SoundCheck data.  I've transcoded songs to the iPod with it set to -100% and 100% and can't hear a difference   .  I know that SoundCheck data is in the file however, because when I turn off SoundCheck on the iPod, the song is much louder. It doesn't seem to me that the preamp part is working.  Is there a bug with this when transcoding the files (rather than just copying them to the iPod)?


I don't think it is transcoder related, because the preamp settings are applied after all of the songs are already on the iPod.  Maybe certain iPod firmware versions ignore the preamp volume is SoundCheck data is available?  Apple has been doing some weird stuff with firmwares lately, like removing the _show_voltage hack in the latest Photo firmware (but leaving it in for the 4G firmware).  I'm pretty sure that the preamp volume is getting set correctly in the database, so maybe it is something like a firmware change?

I'll do more experimenting and see if I can figure out what is going on.

Edit: At least on my iPod Photo with v1.1 firmware, this feature works as expected.  I tested that non-SC volume works by setting the volume to -90%, and it was nearly inaudible.  Then I transfered 2 identical files with SoundCheck (-5.56dB), but manually edited the database so one has -90% preamp, and the other had +90%.  The -90% song was very quiet, and very slightly louder when SoundCheck was turned off.  The 90% song was very loud and even louder with SoundCheck turned off, as expected.  I didn't test it on my 4G iPod with 3.0.2 firmware, but I am almost certain I tested it on this model when I added the feature to foo_pod. 

If you are still having problems, please post your iPod model and firmware, and the preamp volume settings for both non-SC and SC.

foo_pod - Foobar2000 meets the iPod

Reply #1353 –
Quote
If you are still having problems, please post your iPod model and firmware, and the preamp volume settings for both non-SC and SC.
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]


I must be doing something wrong.  I have a 4G iPod Photo with 3-23-05 (v1.1) firmware.

Here is the relevant settings:
[a href="http://www.matonian.com/preamp.jpg]http://www.matonian.com/preamp.jpg[/url]

I did the same trick of sending an identical song to the ipod, one with -100% and 100% and I didn't hear a difference.  That's why the slider is on 100% in the settings above.

My workflow is as follows:
EAC->FLAC
FB2k sets replaygain for the album
Highlight files, right click, foo_pod, send files to ipod
foo_pod then proceeds to transcode the file to MP3 using LAME 3.96.1 and puts it on the iPod.

Am I missing a step or something?

Thanks!

foo_pod - Foobar2000 meets the iPod

Reply #1354 –
Quote
I must be doing something wrong.  I have a 4G iPod Photo with 3-23-05 (v1.1) firmware.

Here is the relevant settings:
http://www.matonian.com/preamp.jpg

I did the same trick of sending an identical song to the ipod, one with -100% and 100% and I didn't hear a difference.  That's why the slider is on 100% in the settings above.

My workflow is as follows:
EAC->FLAC
FB2k sets replaygain for the album
Highlight files, right click, foo_pod, send files to ipod
foo_pod then proceeds to transcode the file to MP3 using LAME 3.96.1 and puts it on the iPod.

Am I missing a step or something?

The same preamp settings are applied to all songs, and it is updated whenever foo_pod writes the iTunesDB database.  So if all of your music has ReplayGain/Soundcheck, it will all get the same preamp value and you won't notice a difference.  Also, make sure your song really does have ReplayGain information by checking the technical data in the Foobar Properties window. 

Try this - set the non-Soundcheck slider to -90% and the Soundcheck slider to +90%.  Then copy 2 new songs - one with Soundcheck and one without.  Put them in a new playlist, so you can easily compare them.

foo_pod - Foobar2000 meets the iPod

Reply #1355 –
I'm having a slight problem with foo_pod and my iPod photo 30gb. I like to Replaygain all my files - however I didn't get a chance to replaygain then before uploading them onto the iPod. Hence, I tried adding the iPod playlist into foobar (i.e. directly playing the songs off my iPod using foobar) - and then Replaygain'ing them. The scans would happen but the Replaygain info wouldn't 'stick' to the files - i.e. when i play those files off my iPod after reconnecting it or over the iPod on a standalone basis through headphones - the files are still distorted and the replaygain info has disappeared. My only solution is hence to copy the files back onto my hard disk, replaygain them, and then upload them again - a very lengthy process!! Is there any way around this??

I'd also like to take the opportunity to say that iTunes is a piece of fascist dogsh*t, and foo_pod f*cking rocks a*s.

foo_pod - Foobar2000 meets the iPod

Reply #1356 –
Quote
I'm having a slight problem with foo_pod and my iPod photo 30gb. I like to Replaygain all my files - however I didn't get a chance to replaygain then before uploading them onto the iPod. Hence, I tried adding the iPod playlist into foobar (i.e. directly playing the songs off my iPod using foobar) - and then Replaygain'ing them. The scans would happen but the Replaygain info wouldn't 'stick' to the files - i.e. when i play those files off my iPod after reconnecting it or over the iPod on a standalone basis through headphones - the files are still distorted and the replaygain info has disappeared. My only solution is hence to copy the files back onto my hard disk, replaygain them, and then upload them again - a very lengthy process!! Is there any way around this??

There is a way, but not a really good way...

The only way to do this without copying the files off of the iPod is to use the Rebuild iTunesDB Database menu item, found under the Components/foo_pod/Maintanence menu.  This will rescan your iPod and build a new database based on the files on your iPod.  So if you have applied ReplayGain to the files *on* the iPod, it will pick up those changes.  The downside is that rebuilding the database deletes any normal (but not smart) playlists, and you also lose dynamic infomation, like rating, last played time, and playcounts. 

What I really need to do is create a feature that does the updating, without having to do a full database rebuild.  As I was typing this, I figured out how I could do this, so if you want to wait about a week or so (maybe less, maybe more), I'll put that feature on the top of my todo list.


Quote
I'd also like to take the opportunity to say that iTunes is a piece of fascist dogsh*t, and foo_pod f*cking rocks a*s.


Heh.  Thanks for the praise!  I was using iTunes last night, to help in reverse engineering the Photo Database format, and I felt dirty just using it...

foo_pod - Foobar2000 meets the iPod

Reply #1357 –
Quote
Heh.  Thanks for the praise!  I was using iTunes last night, to help in reverse engineering the Photo Database format, and I felt dirty just using it...
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=296421"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]


Cool - the ONLY two things I use iTunes for now are:

1. Uploading photos onto the iPod photo (but why does this create a HUGE cache file as well as copying the images themselves?!)

2. Applying my customised EQ curve to my music - I've created a customised EQ setting as I didn't like any of the defaults in iTunes - and applied this to every single song I have - although I'm not sure where this data is saved (or if it even accessible by any program except iTunes itself) but hope my iPod is playing back my tracks with this EQ curve being the functional one. I usually apply a gentle EQ curve on top by turning on the iPod EQ- e.g. Classic. My custom EQ doesn't appear in the iPod EQ list.

If somehow foo_pod could integrate custom EQ settings, that would be major achievement and would address what I think is the iPod's 2nd largest shortcoming... (the first being the lack of any proper user DSP functionality)

foo_pod - Foobar2000 meets the iPod

Reply #1358 –
Quote
1. Uploading photos onto the iPod photo (but why does this create a HUGE cache file as well as copying the images themselves?!)

The whole photo syncing procedure with iTunes is crazy and poorly implemented.  When the iPod Photos first came out, I figured that Apple rushed the current implementation out the door just so there would be *something* to load images.  But I expected something better by now.

Part of the problem is that there are 4 different images (5, if you include full size resolution) that are created for each image copied to the iPod.  One of them is for TV display only, which is uncompressed 16 bit @720x480, or around 675kB in file size.  It appears that this is what iTunes caches on your hard drive - I can only guess that to speed up syncing, but there are better ways to avoid resending the same images. 

My photo utility (which won't be part of foo_pod, BTW) will not only transfer images, but let you view the ones already on the iPod and remove them individually.  And no huge, wasteful caches littering your hard drive.  In fact, I plan to make the TV image optional, so if you never connect your iPod to a TV for display, you don't have waste time creating it and waste disk space storing it.

Quote
2. Applying my customised EQ curve to my music - I've created a customised EQ setting as I didn't like any of the defaults in iTunes - and applied this to every single song I have - although I'm not sure where this data is saved (or if it even accessible by any program except iTunes itself) but hope my iPod is playing back my tracks with this EQ curve being the functional one. I usually apply a gentle EQ curve on top by turning on the iPod EQ- e.g. Classic. My custom EQ doesn't appear in the iPod EQ list.

If somehow foo_pod could integrate custom EQ settings, that would be major achievement and would address what I think is the iPod's 2nd largest shortcoming... (the first being the lack of any proper user DSP functionality)

Otto42 has reverse engineered the EQ section of the database on the iPod, but it appears that the iPod doesn't use this information even if it is present.  I haven't tested it recently, but the last time I tried, I was able to create a custom EQ preset on the iPod but it wasn't applied on the iPod itself.

So until the firmware is fixed, you are stuck with the EQ presets.  In the database, it is possible to have different EQ settings for each song, but I can't remember if this is actually applied on the iPod, or if it is ignored and the Settings/EQ is used instead.

foo_pod - Foobar2000 meets the iPod

Reply #1359 –
Sounds awesome, Aero.

Will the photo utility be a foobar plug-in, or a standalone app?

foo_pod - Foobar2000 meets the iPod

Reply #1360 –
Quote
Sounds awesome, Aero.

Will the photo utility be a foobar plug-in, or a standalone app?

Standalone - no connection to Foobar (or foo_pod) at all.  In fact, it is going to be a .NET application. 

I might extend it to also work with album artwork, since that is very close to the Photo Database stuff.

foo_pod - Foobar2000 meets the iPod

Reply #1361 –
Makes sense... I assumed that by photo you meant album artwork, and thus another foobar plug-in. Still sounds awesome for anyone that uses the photo functions of the ipod.

foo_pod - Foobar2000 meets the iPod

Reply #1362 –
Quote
Makes sense... I assumed that by photo you meant album artwork, and thus another foobar plug-in. Still sounds awesome for anyone that uses the photo functions of the ipod.
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=296616"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

The album art writing will (eventually) go into foo_pod - this other app would be more for management (add/removing/changing album art).

foo_pod - Foobar2000 meets the iPod

Reply #1363 –
Quote
In the database, it is possible to have different EQ settings for each song, but I can't remember if this is actually applied on the iPod, or if it is ignored and the Settings/EQ is used instead.
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=296485"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

The per-song EQ in the MHIT is indeed applied iff:
- the EQ you specify is one of the iPod's defaults (since it doesn't seem to load the EQSettings file), and
- the equalizer is not set to "off" on the iPod's settings menu.

The way it works when the iPod's Equalizer is on is that the iPod will apply the EQ specified in the MHIT, or if there isn't one, it will apply whatever EQ is set in the settings. So setting it to "Flat" in the settings is equivalent to turning it "on", as this will leave normal songs alone and apply whatever EQ you specified on those where you specified one.

I have not checked version 2.3 of the software to see if they added/fixed the EQ loading yet.

foo_pod - Foobar2000 meets the iPod

Reply #1364 –
Quote
The per-song EQ in the MHIT is indeed applied iff:
- the EQ you specify is one of the iPod's defaults (since it doesn't seem to load the EQSettings file), and
- the equalizer is not set to "off" on the iPod's settings menu.

The way it works when the iPod's Equalizer is on is that the iPod will apply the EQ specified in the MHIT, or if there isn't one, it will apply whatever EQ is set in the settings. So setting it to "Flat" in the settings is equivalent to turning it "on", as this will leave normal songs alone and apply whatever EQ you specified on those where you specified one.

I have not checked version 2.3 of the software to see if they added/fixed the EQ loading yet.
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=296628"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Thanks for the reminder.  I added some code to iPodDB to set the EQ MHOD, but never adding anything in foo_pod to do anything with it.

I checked the latest firmware, and there is no EQPresets string in it, so I'm guessing that custom EQ settings are still unimplemented on the iPod.

foo_pod - Foobar2000 meets the iPod

Reply #1365 –
I thought the newer firmwares were actually encrypted? I need to examine it in more detail, I guess.

foo_pod - Foobar2000 meets the iPod

Reply #1366 –
Quote
I thought the newer firmwares were actually encrypted? I need to examine it in more detail, I guess.
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=296670"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Nope, at least some 2005-03-23 updater firmware is in plain text.  In fact, you can open it in Visual Studio and look at the different firmwares in the "FIRM" resource type, and see the various strings.

foo_pod - Foobar2000 meets the iPod

Reply #1367 –
Aero, I've noticed no regressions in the VS2003 version of your plugin.  The next time you build it, can you build it in release mode so that extra libraries aren't required (it doesn't worry me as I have VS2003 installed, but many people don't have it installed).

foo_pod - Foobar2000 meets the iPod

Reply #1368 –
Quote
Aero, I've noticed no regressions in the VS2003 version of your plugin.  The next time you build it, can you build it in release mode so that extra libraries aren't required (it doesn't worry me as I have VS2003 installed, but many people don't have it installed).
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=297178"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

It is built in Release mode - it is just that not everyone has the VC7 runtime library installed yet.

Edit: I'll put in the runtime DLL for the next release, which will be VC7 based since no one seems to be having any problems with it, and it might be a little faster.

foo_pod - Foobar2000 meets the iPod

Reply #1369 –
I'm confused then.  I've been working on a component, that when built in debug mode requires the VC7 runtime library, but when built in release mode does not.  How can this be?

foo_pod - Foobar2000 meets the iPod

Reply #1370 –
Quote
I'm confused then.  I've been working on a component, that when built in debug mode requires the VC7 runtime library, but when built in release mode does not.  How can this be?
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

The release build only needs the non-debug C++ runtime DLL (msvcp71.dll), while a debug build would need msvcp71d.dll, and maybe other debug libraries.  I can only guess, but you might have msvcp71.dll already installed in your SysDir/System32 directory, but wouldn't have the debug DLLs installed until you have Visual Studio 2003 installed as well.

There is some information about the runtime DLLs [a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/vclib/html/_crt_c_run.2d.time_libraries.asp]here[/url].

foo_pod - Foobar2000 meets the iPod

Reply #1371 –
More specifically, I've had my component work on a computer without VC7, but the VC7 version of foo_pod not work on the same computer.

foo_pod - Foobar2000 meets the iPod

Reply #1372 –
Hi Aero, I really appreciate foo_pod features and your effort to make it ever better.

In my actual condition, most music on my hard disk is encoded in one single lossless file+cue for each album. When I have to transfer an album to my iPod, foo_pod first converts in the chosen format (mp3, aac etc.) but still in a single file, instead of as many files as the included tracks based on the cue.
So every time I must accomplish more steps manually, i.e.: convert to single lossy format files per track; transfer them to iPod; delete them from hard disk.

I found in this thread that it's a known behaviour due to lack of cue support.
Do you have any planned update about this?
Thank you for your attention and your great work.

foo_pod - Foobar2000 meets the iPod

Reply #1373 –
Quote
Hi Aero, I really appreciate foo_pod features and your effort to make it ever better.

Thanks!

Quote
In my actual condition, most music on my hard disk is encoded in one single lossless file+cue for each album. When I have to transfer an album to my iPod, foo_pod first converts in the chosen format (mp3, aac etc.) but still in a single file, instead of as many files as the included tracks based on the cue.
So every time I must accomplish more steps manually, i.e.: convert to single lossy format files per track; transfer them to iPod; delete them from hard disk.

I found in this thread that it's a known behaviour due to lack of cue support.
Do you have any planned update about this?
Thank you for your attention and your great work.
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Yeah, CUE support is lacking, and is something that I have meant to add for awhile now. 

I was just thinking about cue sheets this morning, while driving to work listening to the [a href="http://www.bfbs2.com/rnb1.html]Raven'n'Blues podcast[/url].  I was thinking that it would be great if shows like R'n'B would distribute a cue sheet along with the audio file.  Then with the right program (foo_pod, naturally! ), it would be possible to create a playlist with all of the individual songs as cue sheet entries.  So if you wanted to listen to the 3rd song on the show, you could just skip to the 3rd song in the playlist, rather than fast forwarding or rewinding to the right spot.  I guess it is sort of a chicken and egg problem - there isn't any software to convert a cue sheet into individual tracks on the iPod, and there aren't any podcasts distributing cuesheets...  But since there are a lot of people that use them with Foobar, it definitely would be a good feature to add.

Anyway, yes, I intend on adding cuesheet support at some point.  I have most of the code already written - I just need some time to finish the iPod side of it.

foo_pod - Foobar2000 meets the iPod

Reply #1374 –
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: [Select]
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\Metallica - Nothing Else Matters.ape
ERROR (foo_pod) : Transcoding failed!
ERROR (foo_pod) : Error #5 copying F:\My Documents\Converted Music\Metallica - Nothing Else Matters.ape to e:\iPod_Control\Music\F40\a9370487c93ce50c2.mp3
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


Please help me!