MediaMonkey iTunes plugin (d_itunes4.dll)

[markstuartwalker]

Yes, you are correct - the dates are the issue. I simply submit the file name to iTunes and it imports ID3tag attributes from the file to build it's internal database. I've done a lot of work on the MM4 version to validate this information more thoroughly and robustly.

In MM what dates are shown for these tracks?

You could turn the debug level up to 2 for more information.

[Crash Test]

Yes, you are correct - the dates are the issue. I simply submit the file name to iTunes and it imports ID3tag attributes from the file to build it's internal database. I've done a lot of work on the MM4 version to validate this information more thoroughly and robustly.

In MM what dates are shown for these tracks?

You could turn the debug level up to 2 for more information.

Here is 1 track as an example. The modified date of this file in the MMiTunesCache directory is June 23, 2011

The dates in My Music folders are: Created July 08, 2010; Modified January 10, 2010; Accessed July 08, 2010

MM reports that this file has a Last Played date of 04-Apr-09 3:41:02 PM, which is the date from the exception error message.

Could it be related to the date format used in MM not matching what Windows reports?

Perhaps related to this issue, I noticed that starting a few months ago when MM does a synchronization it updates all files, not just the changed files.

[8252] iTunes Plugin 1:41:43 PM 0 iTunesUploadTrack from file C:\Users\Corey.MICROSYS\Music\Sweet\Desolation Boulevard\Sweet-Ballroom Blitz-Desolation Boulevard-1.mp3
[8252] iTunes Plugin 1:41:43 PM Copy to Cache (from to) C:\Users\Corey.MICROSYS\Music\Sweet\Desolation Boulevard\Sweet-Ballroom Blitz-Desolation Boulevard-1.mp3 C:\Users\Corey.MICROSYS\Documents\MMiTunesCache\C--Users-Corey-MICROSYS-Music-Sweet-Desolation-Boulevard-Sweet-Ballroom-Blitz-Desolation-Boulevard-1.mp3
[8252] iTunes Plugin 1:41:44 PM Add new file to iTunes C:\Users\Corey.MICROSYS\Documents\MMiTunesCache\C--Users-Corey-MICROSYS-Music-Sweet-Desolation-Boulevard-Sweet-Ballroom-Blitz-Desolation-Boulevard-1.mp3
[8252] iTunes Plugin 1:41:44 PM syncInitTrack
[8252] iTunes Plugin 1:41:44 PM EXCEPTION DEVICE_UploadTrack EConvertError ''04-Apr-09 3:41:02 PM'' is not a valid date and time

[Crash Test]

I have found the source of the problem. On my computer the short date format was d-m-y while the long date format was m-d-y. After changing the short date format to be consistent with the long format, MM was able to successfully synch with iTunes. Hooray!

Thanks Mark, for your efforts.

[markstuartwalker]

That does make sense. iTunes has no internal configuration of how dates ought to be presented while importing the ID3 information so it will adopt the Windows setting. What isn't clever is that it simply bombs out the import process.

Anyway, problem diagnosed and solution found. Well done.

[markstuartwalker]

http://www.mediamonkey.com/addons/browse/devices/

[nynaevelan]

Hi Mark:

I was having some mm4 issues so I was not able to work on this script, but now when I try to sync I get the following message "The device "iTunes Music" cannot be syncronised at this time" but it looks like it is starting to sync but no music show up in iTunes. You can download the log from here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13254132/itunes%20062411.LOG

Nyn

[markstuartwalker]

Please confirm that you have the latest build (20110623).
If this deoesnt fix things then use the Advanced Recovery Command to delete all of the d_itunes4 devices.

[nynaevelan]

Please confirm that you have the latest build (20110623).
If this deoesnt fix things then use the Advanced Recovery Command to delete all of the d_itunes4 devices.

To tell you the truth I am a little frustrated with mm4 right now, the previous plugin works for me so I will stick with that one. Maybe I will come back to it at a later date.

Nyn

[markstuartwalker]

I know what you mean! Perhaps wait until the release candidate.

Your help was much appreciated.

[gvala]

Hi Mark,
I'm using latest Media Monkey 4 build (4.0.0.1399) and latest iTunes beta (10.5.0.43) on Windows 7 x32. I know that this configuration is highly unsupported but I mentioned a rather strange behavior with the different versions of your plugin.

When d_itunes4-20110613 (reported as 4.0.2.1457 in MM) is installed the plugin works fine. But if I install the latest version d_itunes4-20110623 (4.0.2.1546) iTunes won't launch and eventually no sync. If I start iTunes manually, by pressing the sync button the plugin reports an error (can't sync right now or something like this...)

Thanks in advance

[markstuartwalker]

@gvala

It's probably my plugin which is at fault. The 0623 release changed the way the iTunes 'devices' are named (I regressed the over complicated mechanism that I had before). As it was still beta I didn't bother with checking the transition across versions and it can get into a "locked up" situation as you describe. Nynevan suffered similar problems.

The solution is to use the the Advanced Command that I added to "remove all d_itunes4.dll devices" from the table. Immeadiately close MM after this and then re-open.

I'm not phased by the iTunes beta release. The Windows iTunes interface has been unchanged for 14 months (even then they just added 3 constants). I doubt they are going to change anything now.

[gvala]

Great! It worked. Thanks a lot!

[markstuartwalker]

New version http://www.mediamonkey.com/addons/browse/devices/

[nynaevelan]

New version http://www.mediamonkey.com/addons/browse/devices/

OK, I may be going nuts but where is it on that site??

Nyn

[gvala]

Mark,
I'm testing the plugin (MM4) and I have a few questions to ask:
1. Related to audio files sync, everything seems to work OK. But when I remove a few tracks from the sync list, they are indeed removed from iTunes but not from the cache folder (MMiTunesCache). Is this a desired behavior? Wouldn't be better the unnecessary cached files to be removed?

2. What about video files? Do you plan to support video file sync support?
I tried to sync a playlist with compatible to iPhone video (mp4) and they are transfered to iTunes (and the playlist too). But when I remove the playlist from syncing, they don't get removed from iTunes (but the playlist does get removed). I also tried with video files that need conversion (avi to mp4). It works the same way, except that every time the file gets converted, although the converted file exists in the cache folder.
And something else. One way sync of rating and playcount (from MM to iTunes) works for video files.

Thanks a lot!