iPlaylist Importer 1.6 - Updated 25/05/2008

[nynaevelan]

Copy and paste the "localhost/" lines after the "file://" lines.

Thank you, that worked.

Nyn

[fender-bender]

I have just installed Media Monkey on a secondary computer whose primary purpose is to play music files located on the primary computer. I will still use iTunes on the primary computer to manage and sync to the iPod.

I wanted to import my playlists from itunes so I downloaded iPlaylist Importer. First I exported the xml file as suggested. I directed the export to a temp folder on the C drive of the secondary computer where MM is at. Then I ran iPlaylist on the MM computer and it ran FOREVER. Anyway about 20 hours later it imported one playlist comprized of all 33000 songs. When I clicked on a song it went haywire and not I have 66000 songs as it duplicated all of the original songs into the library.

I can delete then entire library and reimport so I'm not worried about the 66000 entries. I just need to figure out how to use iPI to do what others have accomplished.

I don't know if this is important, but my music files are not in the default "my music" location on the c: drive, but rather on a secondary hard drive.

Thank you for any assistance you can provide.

System Information
Running iTunes Ver. 8.0.2.20 on Windows XP-SP3. Connected via CAT5 cable on 2 computer home network. Running Media Monkey 3.0.7.1191 on Windows 2000-SP4. 33,000 songs.

[trixmoto]

During the import process the filenames are checked to see if they exist and if not then a new track is created. This means that for the script to work the paths in the iTunes playlist must match the paths in the MM database. It doesn't need to be the same drive letter, but the rest of the path (including filename+extension) must be the same.

[fender-bender]

Sorry I didn't get back to you earlier. I really thought I'd get an automated email from the MM forum when there was action on this string so I didn't check back right away.

Let me see if I follow what you are saying. These are the knowns:
1. itunes is installed on C: drive of computer #1
2. itunes library of song files is located on F: drive of computer #1
3. playlists are exported from itunes via, File Meun/Library/Export Playlist, then saved as: (Network folder titled "Garage C Temp on Garage") music.xml on computer #2, which as you might guess is the computer in the garage.

I think I might have just had an "ah-ha" moment. As I was walking through this again and typing my steps, I was thinking how I was just about to type that when I did this last time that I only got one playlist, which was the complete collection. In the meantime the "Music" icon on the left side of iTunes is highlighted. Maybe if I highlight "Playlists" it will export playlists??? Gonna try it.

OK, so I'm back, you can't just select "Playlists" and surely you don't have to eport each list one at a time???

OK, so trying one at a time. Starting with list titled "Elton Rockers", exporting to Garage C temp, that seemed to go ok. Here's an excerp from the beginning of that file:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<!DOCTYPE plist (View Source for full doctype...)>
- <plist version="1.0">
- <dict>
<key>Major Version</key>
<integer>1</integer>
<key>Minor Version</key>
<integer>1</integer>
<key>Application Version</key>
<string>8.0.2</string>
<key>Features</key>
<integer>5</integer>
<key>Show Content Ratings</key>
<true />
<key>Music Folder</key>
<string>file://localhost/F:/My%20Music/iTunes/iTunes%20Music/</string>
<key>Library Persistent ID</key>
<string>205A22E0D5C19E21</string>
<key>Tracks</key>
- <dict>
<key>13622</key>
- <dict>
<key>Track ID</key>
<integer>13622</integer>
<key>Name</key>
<string>Can You Feel The Love Tonight?</string>
<key>Artist</key>
<string>Elton John</string>
<key>Composer</key>
<string>Elton John/Elton John, Tim Rice</string>
<key>Album</key>
<string>Greatest Hits 1970-2002 [Disc 2]</string>
<key>Genre</key>
<string>Pop</string>
<key>Kind</key>
<string>AAC audio file</string>
<key>Size</key>
<integer>3910394</integer>
<key>Total Time</key>
<integer>242809</integer>
<key>Disc Number</key>
<integer>2</integer>
<key>Disc Count</key>
<integer>2</integer>
<key>Track Number</key>
<integer>10</integer>
<key>Track Count</key>
<integer>17</integer>
<key>Year</key>
<integer>1994</integer>
<key>Date Modified</key>
<date>2009-04-18T02:49:33Z</date>
<key>Date Added</key>
<date>2007-08-29T12:21:17Z</date>
<key>Bit Rate</key>
<integer>128</integer>
<key>Sample Rate</key>
<integer>44100</integer>
<key>Play Count</key>
<integer>5</integer>
<key>Play Date</key>
<integer>3288410702</integer>
<key>Play Date UTC</key>
<date>2008-03-15T12:25:02Z</date>
<key>Rating</key>
<integer>80</integer>
<key>Album Rating</key>
<integer>60</integer>
<key>Album Rating Computed</key>
<true />
<key>Normalization</key>
<integer>1937</integer>
<key>Compilation</key>
<true />
<key>Persistent ID</key>
<string>7E73EBB03E78160B</string>
<key>Track Type</key>
<string>File</string>
<key>Location</key>
<string>file://localhost/F:/My%20Music/iTunes/iTunes%20Music/Compilations/Greatest%20Hits%201970-2002%20%5BDisc%202%5D/2-10%20Can%20You%20Feel%20The%20Love%20Tonight_.m4a</string>
<key>File Folder Count</key>
<integer>4</integer>
<key>Library Folder Count</key>
<integer>1</integer>
</dict>
<key>19550</key>
- <dict>
<key>Track ID</key>
<integer>19550</integer>
<key>Name</key>
<string>Honky Cat</string>
<key>Artist</key>
<string>Elton John</string>

OK, so then I went to computer #2 and ran the importer from the Tools/Scripts menu. It seems to import the list (slowly) then the playlist appears in the left library tree in the Playlist section. Clicking on the first song results in following error:
Warning. Tracks from the following location are currently inaccessable: Garage Drive 2 Please reconnect the drive, insert the CDs or save the tracks to the virtual CDs"

The tracks are not located at Garage Drive 2 (the second hard drive on computer #2) they are located on the second drive of computer #1.

By the way, this is my system information: Running iTunes Ver. 8.0.2.20 on Windows XP-SP3. Connected via CAT5 cable on 2 computer home network. Running Media Monkey 3.0.7.1191 on Windows 2000-SP4. 33,000 songs.

I can't help but think that there is something quite simple that only needs to be flipped to make this work. Anything would be better than manually trying to make this happen.

[fender-bender]

MORE INFORMATION:

I keep reading through the posts thinking, come on Les, you can figure this out. Here's what I found, I went to MM to look up a property of a working song in the main library listing regarding it's file location and here's a sample:

\\office\mainmusic\itunes\itunes music\elton john\live in austrailia\05 Sorry seems to be the hardest wor.m4a

So, the path in a random song in an imported playlist is:

E:\my music\itunes\itunes music\elton john\greatest hits\03 Honky Cat.m4a

which is the second hard drive on computer #2 (where there are no files) rather than the second hard drive on computer #1 where the files really are.

Questions:
1. This script only exports one playlist at a time, is that correct?
2. Presumbly, I could open this in Microsoft word and use the replace all function to find all instances of "E:\my music|" and replace all of them with "\\office\mainmusic\" - would that work?

[fender-bender]

Me again.
Tried the trimming the localhost\ thing that didn't help.
These are the lines I added to the script:

'create playlists
prog.MaxValue = gtot
Dim max : max = crep+fndp
For trid = 1 To max
If dtn.Exists(trid&"p") Then
Set ply = dtn.Item(trid&"p")
tot = 1
While (dtn.Exists(trid&"d"&tot))
Set dat = dtn.Item(trid&"d"&tot)
Dim fil : fil = fixhex(dat.Item("Location"))
If Left(fil,7) = "file://" Then
fil = Mid(fil,8)
End If
If left(fil,10) = "localhost/" then
fil = Mid(fil,11)
End If
If InStr(fil,":") > 0 Then
fil = Mid(fil,InStr(fil,":")-1)
End If

Also tried exporting a playlist to the folder where the music is located, then coming to this computer with MM and pointing the script to that folder - no change.

[trixmoto]

1) This script only imports one file at a time, I've not got the code on me at the moment but I'm pretty sure it was designed to cope with multiple playlists in one file.

2) Yes, renaming the paths to be what they are on the system you are importing the file into should fix the problem.

[fender-bender]

Apperantly this scrip works well for simple needs where a user is switchng to MM on the same computer with predictable file locations - but nothing I have tried has worked for me. Seems that others have problems moving playlists to other machines as well. Even my slashes go the wrong way.

Right now I am trying to figure out how to make flags in th etunes tags so I can rescan totally. I've got my star rating shown as beats per minute, and now I am trying to use the comment field for playlist names. I don't know how that is going to work yet.

If you have some specific changes I should make and try (like change it there from that to this) I'd by thrilled to try that suggestion.

Firstly, when I am in iTunes and I am exporting the (playlist name).xml file, shoud I export it to computer #1 where iTunes is, or to computer #2 where Media Monkey is? Also, any special place?

You said changing the path would work, by that do you mean, where it says many times (one line entry for every song on the playlist) this:

<key>Location</key><string>file://localhost/F:/My%20Music/iTunes/iTunes%20Music/Compilations/Greatest%20Hits%201970-2002%20%5BDisc%202%5D/2-10%20Can%20You%20Feel%20The%20Love%20Tonight_.m4a</string>

to replace the "file://localhost?F:/My Music/" with "\\office\mainmusic\" ??? Is that gonna work with slashes going opposite ways??

What about up in the header where it says,

<key>Show Content Ratings</key><true/>
<key>Music Folder</key><string>file://localhost/F:/My%20Music/iTunes/iTunes%20Music/</string>
<key>Library Persistent ID</key><string>205A22E0D5C19E21</string>

Any changes needed in that area too?

I'm very keen on making this work - I just need an explanation of what change(s) to make where.

[fender-bender]

Since none of my ideas worked,
and since they may be others stuck in the same place,
especially when you song folders are on another networked computer,
here's the work around I came up with:

First, in iTunes, I changed the BPM (beats per minute) in my songs to refect my rating since that does not come across. Worked fine. When songs were imported to MM I just grouped them by BPM, then rated them enmass. Of course this means that you can't be using the BPM in iTunes, but really, none of the songs I imported had that info anyway.

Second, I used the "Grouping" field in iTunes to similarly group my playlists. The thing to do here is to make a string of letters that won't appear in any other field. So for instance, I have a playlist called "Channel 15", so I clicked on the playlist in iTunes, selected all, then edited the songs so the grouping for all of them read, "ppp15". Later when I imported songs (rescanned the folder) I just searched for that string in MM and turned that list into a playlist.

Kinda the long way around, but in retrospect, it took a couple hours, while previously I had invested many hours tring to get other methods to work.

Hope someone may find this helpful.

[hangsterthemonster]

Hi, I have many Chinese songs in my library and while using the iPlaylist Importer, all the Chinese songs weren't recognized and thus, were recreated in an encoding that wasn't recognizable even though the original Chinese songs do exist. All the English songs I own did import correctly from iTunes to MediaMonkey without duplication. Does the script only work with certain Chinese character encoding (or certain language encodings)?

Thanks for the help.

[trixmoto]

How are the characters encoded?

[hangsterthemonster]

Hi, thanks for the reply. I'm actually not sure what encoding are in the tags. Is there a way to find out what the encoding is?

Thanks!

[trixmoto]

Email me the playlist and I'll take a look - richardpaullewis at gmail dot com.

[hangsterthemonster]

The encoding appears to be UTF-8 from the XML.

[trixmoto]

After more than 10 hours invested in this, unfortunately I have to report that I have failed. VBScript simply cannot read UTF-8 files, which is what this XML file is, only UTF-16. I spent many hours working on binary level conversion and was having some success, but unfortunately I just can't make it work.