3.0.6 1190 still corrupting my iPhone 3G (2.1)

[msfeinstein]

Unfortunately, it appears that my iPhone 3G (running version 2.1) is still getting corrupted when I sync from MM (3.0.6.1190). Please forgive the length of the post, but I'm going to try to describe the complete setup and circumstances in the hope I am missing something and can easily fix this (as I do not want to go back to iTunes)

In MM, I use "auto-sync". The auto-sync list consists of a single playlist and I have "Sync a random subset of selected Music and Playlists up to device capacity" checked. On Auto-sync options, "Delete Tracks that aren't on the Auto-Sync list from the device" is checked, with the Exclude Folder set to *.mp4. I also have "Confirm deletion" checked, and no confirmation dialog every popped up during synchronization. Auto conversion is on, set to down-convert all MP3s to 128 kbps. Device configuration is set to Sync tracks to <Artist> - <Title>.

After I connected the iPhone to MM, I selected the phone and deleted all existing music (I left all ringtones on the phone, as they showed up on the list as well). That seemed to succeed (very quickly). I then right-clicked on the phone and selected "Auto-Sync". That took a while and, when the sync was complete, the iPhone displayed a message that the phone was at capacity and I needed to delete photos or music to make room). When I select the iPhone in MM, I see a small number of files (1.9GB worth) and it shows 0 Bytes free.

iTunes is set up to manually sync music, syncing contacts and calendar wirelessly (from Apple's MobileMe service).

Once the sync is complete, the iPhone is showing no music (or any other media - there were videos on it when I began). When I hook it back up to iTunes, I get the dreaded "iTunes cannot read the contents of the iPhone...click Restore to restore this iPhone to factory settings."

At this point, I'm at a bit of a loss on what to do next. If there are any other details required, please let me know and I'll do my best. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

[damoek]

I have exactly the same issue. Not sure if its important but my iphone is 3g. Tried this 2x yesterday. Exactly the same device setup in MM. Had to restore last night.

[msfeinstein]

Quick update. I did a restore in iTunes, set it to manually manage music and video and, after syncing my ringtones, it appeared that this choice was no longer set. In the hopes that I'd found the root cause, I reset iTunes for manual maintenance, manually copied over some videos and then fired up MM.
It's syncing the music now, and taking a *lot* longer (which is a good thing, since the previous failed syncs ran much too quickly considering how much conversion and data movement was necessary). So, I am hopeful and will keep you posted.

[msfeinstein]

The sync is finally complete and, unfortunately, I continue to have the same problem.

My best (and it's probably not very good because it is extremely uneducated) guess is that since I am syncing up to the capacity of the phone, somehow the sync is not completing normally and it is leaving the phone in some indeterminate state. Next time, I'll try to sync a smaller set of files (and, as an added advantage, it'll take less time to confirm/deny).

[damoek]

I wonder... On my attempts I auto generated a playlist of random albums totaling 14GB, during the sync on the screen I continued to recieve a warning about running out of space. But this shouldn't be an issue considering the erase music that isn't on the sync list option is selected. This is puzzling.

[msfeinstein]

To test my theory (filling up to capacity is somehow causing the corruption), I created a new Auto playlist, consisting of only about 500MB (58 files, in this case), right clicked on the list and hit "Send to" to synchronize my iPhone with a smaller list. After the sync was complete, MM reported the iPhone correctly (58 music files plus 15 ring tones I had copied in manually from iTunes) with over 14GB free. I disconnected the iPhone and, voila, it has music. I connected it to iTunes and no corruption error.

Could I have found something here?

Off to try an even larger list (but still well below capacity, just in case)...

[msfeinstein]

...synchronized a couple of GB (~1300 songs) and all appears to be well.

Assuming I did correctly identified the issues, it would be nice if we could set MM to fill up the iPhone with music, start synchronizing and forget about it rather than having to manually track and manage the space available. Any chance of that in an upcoming update?

[damoek]

I wonder if it has something to do with MM not deleting the files correctly? I'm going to try and re-sync my library clean in Itunes and then move my 14G auto playlist over to the MM. I'll make a backup in iTunes first to be sure, and I'll post back to see if we are indeed on to something here or not...

[damoek]

I too have success.. Looks like for me the issue was extending the auto playlist beyond maximum capacity

[damoek]

A little bit more detail. My auto playlist was 14 gigs of random albums. I didn't realize that the 16 gig was only 14.63 gigs of actual capacity, so once I cleaned the music off by telling itunes to only sync the music I selected, then selected NO music and made sure it synced everything else. Then once it was all free and clear I made a new auto playlist of 11 gigs just to be certain that everything was going to fit and I wasn't approaching a maximum that my photos and apps have set. everything appears to be darling now. seems like a bug but at least we have a work around. I appreciate your help

[jiri]

For your information, this issue will be fixed in the next release, i.e. MM 3.1.

Thanks,
Jiri

[msfeinstein]

Thank you very much. I look forward to it.