Devices that synchronize well with MM 2.5 -- Please Comment

[easyrotor]

I am new to MM and MP3 players (3 weeks) but I have used the last two betas with my X5L with no problem at all. I did a bit of headscratching to get items on the player as I like them. I am album based-that is-I like to play whole albums not selected singles. As noted elsewhere compilations cause minor issues as each artist ends as a folder on the player.

My approach to syncing the player is simple two step process: I use a a custom slot to note if an album is a compilation or not when I rip it. Then I sort on the custom column and mark all the compilations. Next I use the Syncronize Selected" with "Syncronize tracks to" set to: "\MUSIC_Comps_Sndtrks\<Album>\<Artist>-<Title>". Next I mark the rest and use "Syncronize Selected" and set the "Syncronize tracks to" to: \MUSIC\<Artist> - <Album>\<Title>.

The result is two seperate folders in my root folder on my player. One is compilations sorted by album and the other is albums sorted by artist. In the case of the latter an artists albums show up as subfolders with all titles for that album in a subfolder.

I only need to navigate the album title to and hit play to play the album. Playlists are accepted from MM or can be built locally on the player.

I have not figured out how to get the tracks in same order as they were on the albums but it is not a big issue to me.

I only tried the software that came with the player long enough to be sure that MM is by far the best way to go. MM is a fantastic program.

I know trhis may have come accross confused but I will be happy to answer questions and would love to hear suggestions as well.

-Howard

[pah68]

I am new to MM and MP3 players (3 weeks) but I have used the last two betas with my X5L with no problem at all. I did a bit of headscratching to get items on the player as I like them. I am album based-that is-I like to play whole albums not selected singles. As noted elsewhere compilations cause minor issues as each artist ends as a folder on the player.

You can use the Album Artist field to combine compilation albums so they display as one album. The default (if using File > Maintain Library) is "Various"

My approach to syncing the player is simple two step process: I use a a custom slot to note if an album is a compilation or not when I rip it. Then I sort on the custom column and mark all the compilations. Next I use the Syncronize Selected" with "Syncronize tracks to" set to: "\MUSIC_Comps_Sndtrks\<Album>\<Artist>-<Title>". Next I mark the rest and use "Syncronize Selected" and set the "Syncronize tracks to" to: \MUSIC\<Artist> - <Album>\<Title>.

The result is two seperate folders in my root folder on my player. One is compilations sorted by album and the other is albums sorted by artist. In the case of the latter an artists albums show up as subfolders with all titles for that album in a subfolder.

I synchronise Autoplaylists with my players and use a mask similar to:
\<Album Artist>\<Album>\<Track #> - <Artist> - <Title>

This seperates compilations into a folder called various, with the albums seperated below it.
Because I use Autoplaylists I can sort by Album and then track #. The player lists the tracks the way they are listed in the playlist, mine appear in the correct track order because of this.

I only need to navigate the album title to and hit play to play the album. Playlists are accepted from MM or can be built locally on the player.

Only a small number of players support playlists. And only a small number of those allow the importing of playlists. I can create them on my player but can't do much with them.

I have not figured out how to get the tracks in same order as they were on the albums but it is not a big issue to me.

Using autoplaylist will fix this. However if you only want to Synchronise Selected Change the order of the playlist before syncing. (Right click track in playlist and Update Order)

I only tried the software that came with the player long enough to be sure that MM is by far the best way to go. MM is a fantastic program.

I agree

I know trhis may have come accross confused but I will be happy to answer questions and would love to hear suggestions as well.

-Howard

[leetucker]

I confirmed today that MediaMonkey Alpha 3 syncs properly with the Toshiba Gigabeat. It only syncs at USB 1.1 speeds, but that seems to be a limitation of the Gigabeat firmware, not MM (it only works at USB 2.0 speeds if one uses their proprietary software).

[leetucker]

Actually, I have discovered what may or may not be a bug. I will need to do further testing to know for sure that it's a problem with MediaMonkey and not the Gigabeat, but when syncing large numbers of songs, the process tends to freeze. In MediaMonkey, it will say that it is still syncing, but will not list any tracks. Terminating it in MediaMonkey allows one to continue using the program, but I have to remove the Gigabeat from its dock and put it back in so that the computer recognizes it again before I can continue syncing. Typically I go and delete the tracks of the last artist to make sure there was no data corruption, and then restart the syncing process where I left off.

It has done this twice on me, both times after transferring 1500-1800 songs. Again, I cannot be sure that this is a MediaMonkey problem only, but I have yet to see any discussion of this type of bug on any Gigabeat message boards. I would suggest trying to transfer large numbers of songs via USB 1.1 with other devices to see if any issues arise. Thanks.

[jiri]

Does Gigabeat support album art? This sounds like an issue alpha 3 has with synching album art to devices (iPod, etc.).

Jiri

[Guest]

So, now that alpha 3 has been released has anyone retested the Zen Micro against it?

Tony

[leetucker]

Gigabeat does support album art, although I don't have album art set for the vast majority of my collection, including from what I can tell, at the locations in my library at which it stopped syncing.

Additionally, when the Gigabeat is done syncing properly, the syncing status bar doesn't stop. I have to manually terminate it, which sometimes destabilizes the application.

[leetucker]

On the plus side...

it appears that I can sync my Napster to Go tracks to the Gigabeat through Mediamonkey and they'll play. Toshiba claims that this will only work with the Napster application itself (i.e. not with WMP), but this is much better since it allows me to sync all my music into the same folder structure.

Now, can you please make MM 2.5 play Janus WMA files? Then I would finally have one app that did everything I wanted.

[jiri]

As for the synching problems - e-mail me a debug log of the process, it could reveal something.

Re. DRM protected WMAs - we hope to fit it into 2.5.

Jiri

[Kidmoses]

I've tested the sync with the IRIVER H10 and it works pretty well as far as sync goes. However, MM doesn't recognize the H10 if I unplug it and plug it back in. It sees it as another device and is listed as another IRIVER H10 under Tools - Options - Portable/Audio Devices. Don't know for sure, but it seems like its not checking the database to see if the device is already listed and lists it again. I then have two listings for IRIVER H10 in Tools - Options - Portable/Audio Devices. If I unplug and plug in again... I get three listings. If I turn everything off and power down and then power up againa and plug in the H10... I get four listings. Other than that, it works fine.

[jiri]

Again, a debug log would help.

Jiri

[pah68]

Again, a debug log would help.

Jiri

You need a rubber stamp

[sco95810]

Basic auto-sync seems to work with iriver T30.
What I have noticed:
- MM allows to copy "as is" m3u playlist, without "MTP" conversion, file is copied on the T30, but is so unusable, as the T30 only recognised .pla proprietary playlists. I only saw WMP10 successfully creating such playlists until now. Would be nice if MM can do that too.
- T30 supports OGG but OGG is not a "play for sure" compatible media (you can't copy OGG with explorer in the "media" directory). The best way to put OGG media in the T30 is o use the "data" directory, using explorer, which appears to be not controlled (or at least not completely) by the restrictions of MTP. MM does see this directory, whoes content appears mounted at the root of the "media" directory, as it proposes me to remove the content if it's not part of the synchronization. Would be nice if MM is able to manage the content of this directory for OGG. Don't know if it's MTP/"play for sure" standard, or T30 specific.

[1x1]

Just bought this device a few days ago (see thread over at http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/message ... did=531810). $89 for a "playsforsure" 1GB mp3 player is pretty good. Works with MM in default MTP mode and as a drive in MSC mode. Highly recommended (as is MM!)

[Morten]

MediaMonkey doesn't syncronize well with my iPod. When transferring big files, I get an error: "Out of memory". Often it doesn't syncronize album art either.

Another problem is that when I import files that have been tagged with MediaMonkey, it doesn't appear in iTunes. Also when album art is shown, it doesn't get syncronized with my iPod via iTunes.

Here you have some really big issues to handle.