MediaMan wrote:It's good to see this interim solution (plug-in plus ITunes) as a workaround to syncing IOS5 devices with MM4.
However, most of my music is in FLAC, and FLAC is not supported by iTunes..so I assume this workaround does not work for FLAC files....correct?
Someone can correct me if I'm wrong - but part of the functionality this plugin gives is all the MM functionality, including on-the-fly conversion from incompatible to compatible (and more compact) formats for your mobile device. However, it does so by syncing first to iTunes, and then relies on iTunes to actually sync with the device. With this plugin iTunes functions as a middle-man until they can get native syncing working between MM and iOS5 devices.
I too use FLAC format extensively, and expect this to be a non-issue using this plugin.
MediaMan wrote:It's good to see this interim solution (plug-in plus ITunes) as a workaround to syncing IOS5 devices with MM4.
However, most of my music is in FLAC, and FLAC is not supported by iTunes..so I assume this workaround does not work for FLAC files....correct?
....it does so by syncing first to iTunes, and then relies on iTunes to actually sync with the device. With this plugin iTunes functions as a middle-man until they can get native syncing working between MM and iOS5 devices.
I too use FLAC format extensively, and expect this to be a non-issue using this plugin.
Can anyone confirm if this really works? Native iTunes won't even import FLAC..... So I'm unclear how the plugin would allow it to recognize FLAC files ... But perhaps it does.
Windows 7,8 | iTunes 11.2.2.3 | IOS 7.1.2 | MM Gold 4.1.3.1708 | d_itunes4.dll Ver 4.0.4.2438
MediaMan wrote:Can anyone confirm if this really works? Native iTunes won't even import FLAC..... So I'm unclear how the plugin would allow it to recognize FLAC files ... But perhaps it does.
No, no...
You're right that iTunes doesn't recognize FLAC files. When MM syncs with iTunes it converts your FLAC files to whatever format you've told MM to convert incompatible files to. This is exactly what MM does with an iOS 4 phone or iPod, but it does it in the process of syncing directly with the device. With iOS5, we have to sync from MM to iTunes - and converting incompatible file formats in the process. THEN you sync from iTunes to your device. Thus iTunes never has to deal with any incompatible file formats. They've already been converted before they ever hit iTunes' music library.
It's a two-step process, but I understand that you can have iTunes automatically sync with your device as soon as the sync between MM and iTunes is complete.
It does. I'm just not clear(yet) on how to set this up.
I get it's a two step process
- have mm sync with iTunes (ie treat iTunes as a device)
- sync iTunes to my iOS device as I normally would
The part I don't get is how to do this without messing up my mm4 database, or my actual music library files.
Currently iTunes and mm4 both point to the same music folder.I assume now that I would be syncing them, I should configure iTunes to point somewhere else - correct? Ie create an empty new folder I assume that if that new folder is initially empty, then if the plugin in works as intended, and itunes is suscessfully synced with mm4, then the new empty folder would be filled with a second set of files - correct ????
Windows 7,8 | iTunes 11.2.2.3 | IOS 7.1.2 | MM Gold 4.1.3.1708 | d_itunes4.dll Ver 4.0.4.2438
MediaMan wrote:Currently iTunes and mm4 both point to the same music folder.I assume now that I would be syncing them, I should configure iTunes to point somewhere else - correct? Ie create an empty new folder I assume that if that new folder is initially empty, then if the plugin in works as intended, and itunes is suscessfully synced with mm4, then the new empty folder would be filled with a second set of files - correct ????
This is hilarious, because I should be the last person explaining this - I upgraded my iPod to iOS5, and have yet to get around to actually DOING this with the iPod. my iPhone is still iOS4, and I'm using MM to sync that natively.
That said, look in the manual w/regard to the "cache" which is where the files get placed when you sync from MM to iTunes. As to the iTunes library, I deleted the library in iTunes because I don't want iTunes to know anything about my music library, and I don't want it doing any syncing - except at the behest of MM at this point. From what Mark has said, the only directory that iTunes looks at to rebuild it's music library (unless you point it to something else) is C:\Users\<UserName>\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media\Automatically Add to iTunes
If you want iTunes and MM to both work with the same directories of music files to build populate their libraries, I have no idea how to do that, or if there is any downside to trying to do so.
MediaMan wrote:As to the iTunes library, I deleted the library in iTunes because I don't want iTunes to know anything about my music library, and I don't want it doing any syncing - except at the behest of MM at this point.
Agree completely. I think for this plug-in workaround, we are all after the same thing here... ie underdstand how it works. and set things up so that is as safe and secure as possible. Last thing I want is to mess up my library or my ipad
So, if I can summmarize/simplify (!), lets say one has this:
----------------------------------------------------
- media files are stored in folder 1
- MM4 database is in folder 2
----------------------------------------------------
- the folder where flies are placed in when you sync from MM to iTunes is folder 3
----------------------------------------------------
- Itunes points to a default media folder 4 for imports
- itune database is stored in folder 5
----------------------------------------------------
If I understand all this correctly (hah!), one can/should do the following for the first-time use of the installed plug-in
-leave folder 1 (media) alone
-leave folder 2 (mm database) alone
-confirm where folder 3 (converted files) is and ensure its not the above
-clear out any media within iTunes , ie keep it empty
-initiate the sync in MM to sync to "Itunes"
QUESTION A -- at this point, if I open Itunes, do I need to import files them from folder 3?? ... or will they already be in iTunes?
-leave folder 5 (iTunes database folder) alone
QUESTION B- What do I need to do next time i want to refresh the MM-to-iTunes sync , ie say 20 files were added to MM and I want to get those 20 files over to iTunes. Can I do that??? or must one always do a full sysnc of MM to iunnes??
Many thanks !
Windows 7,8 | iTunes 11.2.2.3 | IOS 7.1.2 | MM Gold 4.1.3.1708 | d_itunes4.dll Ver 4.0.4.2438
MediaMan wrote:So, if I can summmarize/simplify (!), lets say one has this
Like you I've been looking at this so I understand what will happen and how, but from my research I think you're over-thinking it!
If I read the manual correctly, you only need to set up a cache folder when you configure the iTunes plugin, and MM and the plugin take care of everything else - your converted files get written to the cache folder, and the plugin tells iTunes to read the files in that folder and sync them to the device. Bottom-line is you only need to be concerned with two folders - the folder that holds your music files that your MM library monitors, and the cache folder that you specify in the configuration, which is an empty folder until you do the synchronization.
I'm sorry I can't be more definitive as I haven't had the time to sit down and push the buttons to actually make this happen, but from reading this forum and the manual, that's my understanding and what I'm expecting when I finally have an hour free to play with this some more.
markstuartwalker wrote:F1nchy:
The default settings in MM will update the files' ID3Tag information if you update those attributes within MM. This is surprisingly easy to do to many files e.g. You might rename a genre from "Rock" to "Heavy Rock" and all the files with that genre would be updated. iTunes does similar things. Ratings and playcounts are not stored as ID3 information and so don't cause timestamps to be updated.
Yes, you need both MM and iTunes running to sync between them.
Ah, thanks for that Mark. That explains why Syncback was reporting that >20000 tracks have changed and need to be backed up!
MediaMan wrote:So, if I can summmarize/simplify (!), lets say one has this
Like you I've been looking at this so I understand what will happen and how, but from my research I think you're over-thinking it!
If I read the manual correctly, you only need to set up a cache folder when you configure the iTunes plugin, and MM and the plugin take care of everything else - your converted files get written to the cache folder, and the plugin tells iTunes to read the files in that folder and sync them to the device. Bottom-line is you only need to be concerned with two folders - the folder that holds your music files that your MM library monitors, and the cache folder that you specify in the configuration, which is an empty folder until you do the synchronization.
I'm sorry I can't be more definitive as I haven't had the time to sit down and push the buttons to actually make this happen, but from reading this forum and the manual, that's my understanding and what I'm expecting when I finally have an hour free to play with this some more.
What you describe sounds great - really appreaciate all the patience . You have been more than acomondating!!
I too have not pushed the button yet. Last two times I pushed MM buttons was not pleasant .
In terms of ensuring I have enough space....(and I know you have not run it yet but others have), I assume this cached folder is going to be quite large, ie if I have 20GB of mp3 music now, I can expect the cache folder to also be about 20GB - sound reasonable?
Windows 7,8 | iTunes 11.2.2.3 | IOS 7.1.2 | MM Gold 4.1.3.1708 | d_itunes4.dll Ver 4.0.4.2438
MediaMan wrote:In terms of ensuring I have enough space....(and I know you have not run it yet but others have), I assume this cached folder is going to be quite large, ie if I have 20GB of mp3 music now, I can expect the cache folder to also be about 20GB - sound reasonable?
If you assume that you're going to convert most files to a more compact format (320kbs MP3 -> 128kbps MP3 or FLAC -> 128kbps MP3) then no, the "cache" copy will take up much less space than the corresponding files in your MM library folder. What would be a better way of estimating disk space usage is to take your device and figure that the cache will hold a maximum of the capacity of that device. This assumes that the sync is being managed to not exceed the device's capacity
One of the questions I haven't yet found the answer to is if we still have the functionality of randomly syncing files until the device we're syncing to has reached its capacity. Obviously in most cases my HD and the MM/iTunes cache can hold much more than the 30 or so GB on my iPod/iPhone. There may be a setting to allow us to configure the cache to be some max size to facilitate this, but I don't recall encountering it yet.
1) The more I think about this interin plug-in solution, the more I think that it's actualy more of a preferred sotulion - I like the notion of having ITunes being the only app to sync with my IOS device.
I must say, i am suitably impressed. This plugin is super polished and worked great the very first time. I did not read all 65 pages of posts so I don't know if this is the norm, or if there are major issues others are having, but I got lucky this time and it was smooth sailing.
I did some prep work and discussed above, ie
-backed up my iPad
-confirmed backup of all my media
-deleted my music library from withih iTunes
-turned off music syncing in iTunes (for now)
-exittedand restarted iTunes
-created my desired caching directory
-downloaded and installed the plugin
-opened mm4 and configured the plugin (Tools/Options)
-right clicked on the iTunes "device" and auto-synced
...and voila, mm4 started reporting it was syncing, the cache folder started filling up, and itunes started to fill up with iTunes music.
I chose an 8gb folder as a start just to get familiar with the process. All are mp3, so this is the easy part.. I am not seeing any compression here (didn't expect any), but I will review settings again
My entire library of about 7000 songs is 105gb I figure about half that , ie 50gb, is FLAC , so that's likely about 9 gb when converted and the other 50 gb, perhaps I can get down somewhat. I have about 40 gb free on my iPad. Clearly I don't need all my music on the iPad, so this is not really a issue at all.
UPDATE - once I select the option to covert above 160 , to 128, the total requirement drops from to 17 gb, so looks like I can fit the whole library on the iPad
For the fun of it, I may try to see if it can process the whole thing.....
But I am thrilled to get this working for now.
Windows 7,8 | iTunes 11.2.2.3 | IOS 7.1.2 | MM Gold 4.1.3.1708 | d_itunes4.dll Ver 4.0.4.2438
MediaMan wrote:1) The more I think about this interin plug-in solution, the more I think that it's actualy more of a preferred sotulion - I like the notion of having ITunes being the only app to sync with my IOS device.
Once you get over the distasteful thought that iTunes is still hanging around it does have quite a few nice side-effects. Have you used the iTunes Remote app yet? http://www.apple.com/itunes/remote/
