Guide to iPod syncing

Get answers about syncing MediaMonkey 4 with iPods and other devices.

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Lowlander
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Re: Guide to iPod syncing

Post by Lowlander »

If you're running iOS8.3+ on the device you will need MediaMonkey 4.1.8 or newer (beta).
penfold
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Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 7:06 pm

Re: Guide to iPod syncing

Post by penfold »

Lowlander wrote:If you're running iOS8.3+ on the device you will need MediaMonkey 4.1.8 or newer (beta).
Nope, Im running 7.0.3
Peke
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Re: Guide to iPod syncing

Post by Peke »

You should update also as we included number of fixes even for older iOS versions, but incompatibility with newer itunes versions and recognition problems on x64 Bit windows.
Best regards,
Peke
MediaMonkey Team lead QA/Tech Support guru
Admin of Free MediaMonkey addon Site HappyMonkeying
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westi2002
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Re: Guide to iPod syncing

Post by westi2002 »

Until recently my iPod 160GB was syncing fine. Now the played songs on my iPod do not all get the right playcount and last played date in MM. For example: today I listened 60 songs on my iPod, after syncing, on 3 of them got an updated playcount and last played date in the MM database.

Initially I thought it was caused by the last update (4.1.8.1751), but even after installing an earlier version I had on my computer (4.1.7.1741) the syncing still doesn't work correctly.

Any ideas how this is possible and how to correct?
GeoffWhere
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Joined: Thu Feb 09, 2017 4:43 am

Re: Guide to iPod syncing - Here's My Recent Experience

Post by GeoffWhere »

After struggling through the various instructions on this topic I'm still unable to get my iPod Classic to Sync with my Media Library.

Here's a summary of the trials and tribulations over the last 10 or so days:
1. Of course, downloaded and installed MMW (since upgrade to 4.1.15.1827) on W10 PC
2. Got massive list of errors about unsupported media file format - later discovered that at some time in the unknown past my media files must have been screwed up (probably by iTunes) to create duplicate file links with an invalid NAS Drive IP address (where my music files are/were stored) and the file named as a long string of unrecognisable characters that in fact were invalid duplicate pointers for the real, correctly named files. After I woke up to this I deleted those invalid file references which got rid of the unsupported media error
3. Continually got error messages about unable to convert WMA files. Updated MMW to latest Beta version 4.1.15.1827 as a supposed fix. Continued to get WMA error (35 files).
4. Followed instructions for changing iPod to become a storage device, disabled iTunes options for Auto Sync, etc.
5. Tried to figure out why MMW showed iPod as 2 separate devices, one with iPod in the folder name, the other just appearing as a disk drive (G:). Gave up wondering about that when I discovered that the disk drive folder (G:) had the full list of music files (4,000+), while the iPod folder showed only 589 music files
6. Rebuilt MMW iPod folder media library index on the iPod folder of the device music tree. This went through all 4,000+ files but continued to only show 589 files on the iPod
7. Searched through he Forum posts on this topic and found heaps of questions about syncing an iPod, none of which seemed to have answers that fixed my problems above.
8. Resorted to lodging this post in the hope that someone knows what's wrong with my system and can provide a solution to fix it.

In addition to the above, several helper responses on this Sync topic mentioned configuring MMW to force iTunes type folders. I'm unable to find that option anywhere in MMW.

FOOTNOTE: POSTED 09:45 (GMT +7) 13FEB17 AFTER BURNING LAST NIGHT"S MIDNIGHT OIL
I should add to the above:
6A. After rebuilding the library index, I followed a hunch and re scanned the library folder. What a disaster! I ended up with over 8,800 music files, the additions being apparently forced by MMW as dup/triplicate entries of actual music files, with a dummy file name of either 3 or four characters (made up from the Artist Name) with an MP3 extension. Hours later, after manually deleting the additional files, I ended up with what seemed more like the actual 4,400 or so files. Weird thing though, the iPod indicated only 58 music files, so I did a rebuild of the iPod from MMW. MMW said 4.400 files, none of them would now play on the IPod which mysteriously kept trying to reboot itself.
6B. After all the above, I tried one final step that appeared logical to me, I rebuilt the MMW library index. No change.
ZZDoug
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Joined: Sat Dec 24, 2011 10:03 pm

Re: Guide to iPod syncing

Post by ZZDoug »

Geoff I feel your pain. After wasting sooo many hours experiencing some of these same issues and more I have come to the conclusion that the developers don't care much about Apple product users. Either that or they just can't figure out how to make it work right. I have been wrestling with MM and Ipod problems for YEARS now and it just never ends. What I have ended up doing is using ITunes to reset (wipe) the device, then use MM to synch the entire library back onto it. Then and only then does MM seem to synch properly, mostly, for awhile. One thing it still doesn't do is delete files from the ipod after they have been deleted from the library. So the ipod drive eventually fills up and, well, I have to reset it regularly anyway......
GeoffWhere
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Joined: Thu Feb 09, 2017 4:43 am

Re: Guide to iPod syncing

Post by GeoffWhere »

Doug, I appreciate your input. Somehow, I've managed to get it working but can't be sure how I did that. I do know a couple resets were involved, of both the iPod and the MM database.
One bugbear is sifting through the various forum posts, finding what could be a fix, only to find the instructions don't align with the MM configuration options in my version (latest).
Despite that, I think I now understand more about the interaction between MM and Windows Explorer, by doing some file manipulation and observing the outcome, one step at a time. I also discovered, entirely by accident, how the different Sync options (Music, iPod, Movie, Images, etc.) affect the Sync process. I only found this out by blindly checking the options when, after one of the resets, I noticed that the Sync button just flickered but didn't Sync to iPod. Enabled those options and Hey Presto!
I'm finding that MM is actually a powerful file manager and provides much more flexibility than iTunes, without the frustration that comes with managing my 4,000 plus music files. If only the User Manual was more complete, up to date and better written. Providing even an introductory 'How It Works' chapter would be very useful.
Buy hey, it's free so we get what we pay for. After some more practice I'll seriously consider buying a Gold licence, subject to positive signs on the User Manual front.
Cheers and happy music library excursions.
ZZDoug
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Joined: Sat Dec 24, 2011 10:03 pm

Re: Guide to iPod syncing

Post by ZZDoug »

It's not free for me, I paid long ago which is probably the only reason I have stuck with it all this time. I use Directory Opus as a file manager and there really isn't any software such as this that can match it's file managing ability, although it's quite similar to Photoshop in that it takes years to really learn it's full power. I use Mp3Tag for tags and Media Player Classic for playing, so all I need from MM is simply to make playlists and synch with various players. Just that one thing, but it can't handle it.

Anyway, you were talking about online instructions for configuration options not aligning with your version, me too. These instructions http://www.mediamonkey.com/wiki/index.p ... figuration for example, show Device Configuration and Auto-sync options tabs, I can't find these anywhere in the latest version of MM. Also it has occurred to me that my definition of syncing may be different than the developers. My feeling is that whatever changes have been made in the library should then, upon syncing, be made on the player, in this case the ipod. IE the player should be synced to the library, not the other way around.
Ludek
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Re: Guide to iPod syncing

Post by Ludek »

Hi,
re the WMA encoding issues and 4.1.15.1827.
If you were running skinless version then it should be fixed in 4.1.15.1828 -- there was a bad windows version detection for skinless build causing the WMA encode issues.

Re the oudated guides, you are right, these need to be definetly updated, they are from very old version of MediaMonkey, I guess from version 3,
added to our TODO to update them shortly.

Re Apple product syncing. We understand your frustration and we are still trying to keep all Apple device product sync up to date.
Apple often releases a new iTunes, iOS or FW version and we have to reverse engineer it to support it also. So it often requires the newest beta version of MM to work with the latest Apple's stuff. But AFAIK we are able to support all kind of the Apple's devices over the years.

Re the tracks removed from library not removing from the iPod. I guess that the option
[x] Delete other files and playlists from the device: [All other media files]
takes care about it, isn't it??
Peke
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Re: Guide to iPod syncing

Post by Peke »

Some of the guides are updated to be more current please see if you can add anything more or a suggestion to make them more clear.
Best regards,
Peke
MediaMonkey Team lead QA/Tech Support guru
Admin of Free MediaMonkey addon Site HappyMonkeying
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zdkm
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Re: Guide to iPod syncing

Post by zdkm »

It's impossible to set a bitrate higher than 99 999 kbps as a video format which is supported by a device. The max value which can be set is 99 999 kbps.
I can't send my 4K video files (.mov or .mp4) to the iPhone X.
Most probably some developer in the past didn't expect that bitrates higher than 99 999 kbps will be used. However, nowadays it is common for the 4K videos to have a higher bitrate. The new DJI drones record 4K videos by default using a bitrate which is slightly higher than 100 000 kbps. These videos can be played on iPhone X which also supports recording and playback of 4K videos.

Moreover, the codec HEVC (H.265, the successor of the H.264 codec) isn't available as a video format (however, this is the less important problem, because I can use the H.264).

My 4K videos (using the codec H.264) have a bitrate which is slightly higher than 100 000 kbps (between 101 000 and 110 000 kbps). Their format is supported on the iPhone X, because when I copy them via iCloud then they can be played on my iPhone X.
However, I can't send them to my iPhone X via Media Monkey. This is a big problem, because uploading and downloading of such big files via iCloud is very time-consuming.
Peke
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Re: Guide to iPod syncing

Post by Peke »

Hi,
This is fixed in latest MMW 4.1.20 Release candidate
Best regards,
Peke
MediaMonkey Team lead QA/Tech Support guru
Admin of Free MediaMonkey addon Site HappyMonkeying
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