Export to iTunes

[nynaevelan]

Number 14 just released fixing a bug in the Last Played dates.

This also does the bidirectional playcounts like you alway wanted

Yeah on one hand and boo cause I just updated itunes to have all the playcounts, now I'll have to clear the library again, but YEAH!!

[nynaevelan]

When you export to itunes are your playlists being updated in itunes? Mine are not, at first I thought they were getting messed up because I was sending multiple playlists and several of them had duplicate tracks. But I sent over 1 playlist and although the tracks were all sent over, the playlist is empty. I am also getting the following error, this was after trying to run a second export.

[markstuartwalker]

When you export to itunes are your playlists being updated in itunes? Mine are not, at first I thought they were getting messed up because I was sending multiple playlists and several of them had duplicate tracks. But I sent over 1 playlist and although the tracks were all sent over, the playlist is empty. I am also getting the following error, this was after trying to run a second export.

Playlists transfer exactly as before, please double check you test. Note: the sync option does NOT create a playlist, merely synchronises files. Add creates playlists under the <MM> folder. The original idea of sync is to precreate the tracks in itunes such that the add/delete options work quickly because the tracks are already present.

I've seen that messsage too, I think it is trying to update the track currently being played. What version did you see it on 2.13 or 2.14?

[nynaevelan]

Ok:

Maybe I am going wrong somewhere in the process. Here is what I did.

1. used the option sheet to delete the playlist group in itunes in order to start over.
2. used the iTunes - add export option to add playlist to itunes.
3. played a track in mm in order to get adjusted playcounts.
4. played tracks in itunes in order to get adjusted playcounts.
5. used the iTunes - sync and recover option in order to update the playcounts.

Here is what the playlist looks like in MM and iTunes, see how the iTunes playlist does not have all the tracks synced to it. All the tracks except the last one are already preexisting in iTunes. The playcounts are syncing correctly back and forth for the tracks that are in the playlist but the tracks that are in the MM playlist and not in the iTunes playlist are not updating as they should. How do I get all the tracks to sync into the iTunes playlist correctly in order for their adjustments to show? And is this the correct procedure to use in order to add new tracks to iTunes or should I do them in a playlist by themselves? Is it possible to add a log feature so that we can see where it is failing because the process is not giving any errors but the same tracks will not sync to iTunes?

[markstuartwalker]

Have a look into 2 potential problems

* Are any of your files non-mp3? These will be skipped
* The Delete option from within Options does not take into account the caching of iTunes pointers (sorry, lightweight testing). This can cause some wierd behaviour depending upon what items are cached. Please repeat your test but after #1 exit both MM and iTunes and then restart and continue with #2

[nynaevelan]

* Are any of your files non-mp3? These will be skipped

No, I have only mp3 files.

* The Delete option from within Options does not take into account the caching of iTunes pointers (sorry, lightweight testing). This can cause some wierd behaviour depending upon what items are cached. Please repeat your test but after #1 exit both MM and iTunes and then restart and continue with #2

I tried this but the same behavior continues.

[markstuartwalker]

OK, I think that I've found the problem ..... somewhere around 2.10 when I introduced the the Sync playcounts I duplicated a block of code. Since then I've re-merged the code back together but not very well. I've merged it back together properly now and done some testing of your scenario to prove it.

Try 2.15 to see if I've fixed it now.

[nynaevelan]

Ok:

It is now sending the complete playlist to itunes but now I have a weirder problem. Now it deletes any pre-existing playlists from itunes so it will only allow one playlist to be in itunes.

[nynaevelan]

I think that error might have been a fluke because it has not happened since I rebooted. All is well, the only thing I can think of to suggest is maybe some kind of warning regarding the playing track or maybe some way to skip past the playing track and continue the export. Other than that it is working very well. Now I need to figure out a way to create a playlist that identifies the tracks which have changed in MM since the last export.

OK:

I spoke too soon, the playcounts are not updating into MM.

[nynaevelan]

I have a theory question because I am trying to figure out the best way to have multiple playlist count info synced backed to MM in one go. I have a smartlist in itunes which identifies all the tracks which have been played in a given time period. If these tracks belong to MM in various playlists how do I get it to update the playcounts in MM? Is there a way to have the script search for the songs in MM's db and dump them in a static playlist which has already been created? That way it doesn't matter which playlist(s) the tracks belong to? How do you get yours back into MM, do you listen to more than 1 playlist between syncs?

[markstuartwalker]

I think that you have some misconceptions that are confusing you. Some facts

* Playcounts are per track (not per playlist)
* It is irrelevant what playlist is used to play a track, the playcount for the track always gets incremented.
* Even playing songs by artist causes playcounts to be incremented

Collecting the sync information is relatively slow as there is no 'give me the list of played tracks' function so the entire DB has to be parsed.

My working practice is
* I have many playlists which overlap many tracks
* I select certain playlists to ensure what gets transferred to the iPhone
* I play music mainly on the iPhone and usually randomly
* I have a single 'sync' playlist which I never listen to as itself, simply use it to collect sync information, periodically and usually in the manner of set it off and come back sometime afterwards.

[nynaevelan]

I understand what you are saying but I think my misunderstanding is stemming from the sync and recover function when you select the playlist within MM to use. I guess I need to know how do I use the Sync Smartlist from iTunes to match up with a playlist within MM in order for all the tracks in the iTunes playlist to be updated within MM? I do not have a playlist within MM that matches the one that is in iTunes.

Also, something within the latest version has stopped any tracks in MM from being updated.

[markstuartwalker]

Yes, sorry abut the latest version - I've spotted the problem and will have it fixed soon.

I overlooked your statement about the smart playlist in iTunes (I read as MM). This is a clever idea as it could focus the tracks to be recovered back to MM much more effectively. I can read the content of such a playlist through the COM API but don't believe that I can create a smart playlist automatically . I'll do some experimenting with this once I get the script working again.

The work around is to pull back the complete set of playcounts into MM and do the 'recently played' check in MM. This is less efficient in many respects but will achieve the same effect.

Mark

[nynaevelan]

The work around is to pull back the complete set of playcounts into MM and do the 'recently played' check in MM. This is less efficient in many respects but will achieve the same effect.

Mark

This seems like a good work around, I'll give it a try once the next version comes out. I guess I was thinking that only the tracks in the playlist which I entered would be updated. I did not think that all the tracks would be updated regardless of where they are in playlists. Also, Bex's Tagging Inconsistency script is very good at identifying tracks that have been updated because their playcounts are not in the Playhistory table.

[markstuartwalker]

2.16 ready