Sync The Sync v1.3 (11-09-08) [MM3]

[shayguitarra]

I think this is the kind of script that if you could actually explain what it was you wanted, you'd realise that you need it. It's shot almost right to the top of my most useful scripts.

Got it working, and have done a trial run by synching some of the converted tracks to my ipod and back again after playing them. The Flac files had updated their playcounts. And there seems to be no loss on my ipod with regard to album art, lyrics etc.
And it's turning out to be a lot more straightforward than I thought. My synch playlist just points to the path for the converted files, and that seems to be it.

I haven't tried it with my various shuffle playlists (worked by ratings, last played etc.) yet, but I think if I just exclude the Flac files from those it should work fine.

And yes, converting all those albums is a bit of a pain, but once off pain I can deal with. It was the constant reconverting I found arduous. You have given me months of my life back.

Kudos!

[MoDementia]

Thanks for your comments, I'm glad you didn't find it too dificult to get set up

You are so right...

I think this is the kind of script that if you could actually explain what it was you wanted, you'd realise that you need it. It's shot almost right to the top of my most useful scripts.

[docbobo]

Thank you! This script is clever, useful - and hard to understand what it DOES. Once you understand it (and how to properly use it), it is magic.

I might volunteer to write a better description of why people would want that script with scenarios. Might have the time next week.

Thanks, Boris

[MoDementia]

Thank you! This script is clever, useful - and hard to understand what it DOES. Once you understand it (and how to properly use it), it is magic.

Your welcome and thanks, I think

I might volunteer to write a better description of why people would want that script with scenarios. Might have the time next week.

This would be great as I'm sure more people would find it useful if they only knew WHAT IT DOES
I have no trouble describing how it works, but even I struggle describing what it does/can do and how to set it up
It's pretty much a set and forget script which makes it difficult to point to the results. i.e. I can't do a screen shot of time saved

[phantomwhale]

As a FLAC / M4A user, I think this is exactly what I need !

However, may of hit a small bug - after installing and enabling the script, I restarted MM then selected 20 tracks (10 master FLACs and 10 M4As) and selected the "Add Sync the Sync Set" option.
In the pop up I selected the 10 radio buttons for the FLACs and hit "OK"

Then I got a popup error window saying:
Error #424 - Microsfot VBScript runtime error
Object required: 'PnlButtonCheckedIDList'
File: "...SyncTheSync.vbs", Line 452, Column: 2

I installed the script today (using the link) so presume it's the 1.3 version. I have MM Gold v3.0.3.1140

Thanks for any assistance,
Ben

[MoDementia]

Oh bugger, I haven't revisited that panel since the first release I don't think.

I don't think I will get a chance to look at it until the weekend

In the mean time I suggest making 2 playlists with the flacs in 1 and the M4A in the other and using the build links option from the options sheet (just select the 2 playlists) Just make sure they are in the same order to be 100% sure

This is the main way to create links in the latest versions.

[EDIT] That's actually a very strange error because the variable should exist, even if it might be empty of values.
If you tried to run the script without restarting MM (i.e staright after the install) there might be an issue, you might like to try again after restarting MM

[EDIT] Never mind I get the same error very weird error

[MoDementia]

If you delete line 317 from ...\Scripts\Auto\SyncTheSync.vbs

Code: Select all

  Script.RegisterEvent Form1, "OnClose", "SyncTheSyncOnClose"

The panel will work again but...

It produces an access violation error on exit
This is a known bug with MM so I think I will just remove the option in the next release until the bug is fixed

[phantomwhale]

Well, the playlists works, but as I don't have perfectly matching FLAC and MP3 collections, I was hoping to sync on an album by album basis.

In any case, I am only up to "H" in my CD ripping, so will be a few weeks off fully ripping my collection - will cross fingers that some solution can be found in the meantime !

For now will play around with just the one sync'd album and see if it works exactly as I think it does. So far, note it doesn't sync album art, but that's not a big issue (nor expected, as FLACs don't actually have an album art tag, IIRC ?)

Cheers,
Ben

[MoDementia]

As long as the playlists are in the same order then checking the one to one manual checkbox will still link them correctly

Album art is a tricky issue, now that you mention it it's not quite synced immediately but because both album artist and title are in sync changes to album art are synced when changes are made (check box - apply to all tracks in the album) they are in sync.

I will have a think about this and see if there is a possability the establish the art transfer initially outside of conversion

As I understand it if you convert from a track (not flac) that has the art it will be transferred to the converted track. Which is how I created my duplicate library.

[SmoochiesBoss]

For the life of me, I can't figure out how to set this up. I create my autoplaylists of identical files (mp3's previously converted from flac's) in the same sorted order and let it rip. I end up with about 10% of my tracks not in sync. And I sure don't know what the different options are for.

I'm usually pretty savvy, so any help or some sort of documentation is greatly appreciated.

[MoDementia]

Try sending the auto playlists to static playlists, they may not be in the correct order when reread.
I have only tested it with static playlists, although technically they should both work.

If you are not sure the title, album and album artist are correct on both versons you need to have the one to one option ticked.

All the activication checkboxes should be ticked.

The it's a matter of deciding which data you want to keep in sync, I have every thing check except for a couple of custom fields which are unique to either master or mp3 file.

[skulthog]

Modementia, you're a star. This is such a useful script, I can hardly believe it - thanks so much.

I'm not sure I've got it quite right though. I had ~10k flac library, then I installed your script, and then converted the whole lot to mp3 in a parallel directory. I've built 2 filters to show only flac, or only mp3. I've based an autoplaylist on the mp3 library, and I can see when I sync that to my iPhone, play tracks on the iPohone, and re-sync, the play count and last played fields are updated on the flac versions - so far so good.

However, the "Tracks Not In Sync" node contains just over 100 files (in pairs of flac+mp3) - these are tracks I've updated in the flac library since the conversion. Some because I've updated tags on the flac side, and some because I've played tracks from the flac side (I guess from a tag point of view, there's no difference between those two things). Anyway, the question is - what do I do now? How I get those tracks sync'd again? I might have misunderstood, but I thought Sync The sync would keep them sync'd automatically. I set it to be active, to activate on startup, to write tags, and to sync conversions. The "Tracks Not Linked to a Master" node is empty (pretty much - just the usual sample music in there).

thanks again for a brilliant script.
Reg

[MoDementia]

Firstly see if you can fnd out which field(s) are not in sync
and also see which fields are checked for syncing in the options sheet

depending if they match up or not will determine the next course of action.

if it something simple like a custom field or a genre then you can just change it to something (on the flac or mp3), then change it back and they should sync up.

dates and times can go for many decimal places so sometimes its hard to compare them accurately which might be giving false entries in the node,

if all else fails delete the MP3s and reconvert them (the 100 or 50?)

something may have just gone a little silly during the conversion
mine are wma/mp3 pairs so there may also be something diff with flacs? cause I know not all the info can be saved to the file.
ie it might be complaining about embedded vs extrenal artwork or something like that

PS Glad you like it

[skulthog]

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.

The unsync'd tags were last played date and play count, both of which were checked in the options.

I noticed most of the tracks came from only a few albums - i.e., they weren't distributed across the collection. I did the whole conversion (12020 tracks) all at once - it took a week - so maybe that was the problem.

Anyway, I updated a field as you suggested, and then reset it, and the files all sync'd as expected. Now my "Tracks Not In Sync" node is empty

I also spent a couple of evenings (post conversion) going through all my album art for the flacs. I've decided to keep a single external image with the same name for each album - with nothing in the tags. For the MP3s, I'm going to embed the art in each file, even though I could do it on the fly as I sync to the iPhone - ...it seems if you fill it right up (or even exceed its capacity) the artwork gets all jumbled. If you don't have the artwork embedded, you can't tell how many tracks will sync (since they'll get bigger by a random amount as the artwork is embedded). Luckily, another public spirited genius (trixmoto, iirc) has done all the hardwork with his album art tagger script.

Anyway, all sorted, sorry for rambling, and thanks again Modementia.
Reg

[hithrog]

This script sounds like exactly what I'm looking for, Modementia - is it still available anywhere?