iPod manager component for foobar2000

iPod manager component for foobar2000 0.9.5 or newer.

• Load your iPod library into foobar2000.
• Send and remove files from / to your iPod
• Automatically convert files which are in a format not supported by the iPod
• Convert ReplayGain data into SoundCheck data
• Gapless playback for LAME MP3, Nero AAC and iTunes AAC on iPods supporting gapless playback
• Artwork support
• …

Supported models (as of version 0.6.5.7):

You will need the following software installed:

Supported operating systems (as of version 0.5.6):

1. Install dependent software as per requirements section above
2. Download foo_dop and use a program such as 7-Zip to extract the archive.
3. Close all running instances of foobar2000.
4. Copy the foo_dop.dll file to the foobar2000 components directory, typically %programfiles%\foobar2000\components\.
5. Start foobar2000.

Download foo_dop

• For standard iPod models (not iPod touch or iPhone) you need your iPod mounted as a removable hard drive for the component to work. You should enable “Manually manage music […]” in iTunes (or at the least “Enable disk use”).
• For iPod touch and iPhone, see notes.
• iPod commands are then found under “File/iPod” in the menu bar and the “iPod” group in shortcut menus.

The documents below explain the options in the respective tab in foo_dop's options page.

• Database
• Conversion
• iPod Features
• Behaviour
• Mobile Devices

• Further usage notes

• Metadata fields that the component uses

Mainly applies to older models - not recommended

Copy the files to the iPod in your desired structure. Then load the files from you iPod into foobar2000 and run the “Send to iPod” command on the files. Notes:

• The path of media files on the iPod must be less than or equal to 57 characters, including a leading backslash (but not the drive letter or colon). To achieve this limit, you need to set the number of extra filename characters allowed to 23 in advanced preferences.
• The path of media files may only contain ASCII characters.
• Some iPod models will only play files contained within the iPod_Control\Music folder.

That is your choice. But keep in mind you will still need iTunes to update firmware and restore your iPod, so it is useful to have to hand. For the iPod touch and iPhone, you will need to retain some parts of iTunes (see above requirements section).

Note: Applies to 5G and older iPods.

This can be caused by fragmentation of the artwork .ithmb files. You can use the contig utility to defragment specific files.

On some iPod models (~5G), if you select an artist on the artist menu, and there is only a single album by that artist, it will automatically go into that album's menu. This means that you will not be able to select any tracks by that artist that do not have an album field through this menu. A work around is to use a metadata remapping for the album field, such as

$if2(%album%,'('None')')

See the database preferences page for more information.

The most common reason for this is that the file is corrupt and has multiple ID3v2 tags at the beginning of the file. One way to correct this is to use the “Rebuild MP3 stream” command in foobar2000.

No, you should always close iTunes before using this component. Some, like iTunes, will rewrite the iPod's database in the background, which can cause changes to the database made by foo_dop whilst the other program was running to be lost.

iTunes will do this for files without embedded artwork whilst it is determining gapless playback information. To prevent this in the future, in this component's preferences enable gapless scanning and the option to set dummy gapless data. See the iPod Features preferences page for more information.

Direct your bug reports here.

• Make sure you enabled mobile devices support in preferences.
• Make sure you have iTunes (or at least Apple Mobile Device Support and Quicktime) installed
• If you receive a “Could not locate matching USB device for Apple Mobile Device” message, this can normally be fixed by uninstalling/reinstalling Apple Mobile Device Support. It can be uninstalled from the control panel. To reinstall, extract the installer from the iTunes installer using 7-Zip and run it.
• If you receive a “Failed to pair device” message, this means that for some reason the component was not be able to pair the device with your OS/computer. This can normally be resolved by unlocking the device if it has a passcode and then connecting the cable, or connecting the device to iTunes once on the same OS install. Alternatively, you may be able to copy the encryption keys, normally located in %allusersprofile%\Apple\Lockdown OR %appdata%\Apple Computer\Lockdown\, from another OS install.
• Also check what messages are displayed in the foobar2000 console.

• On Windows XP/Server 2003 only, admin privileges are required for artwork support. This is due to the low-level communication between the iPod and the component. iTunes uses a service to avoid this. Windows Vista or newer does not have this limitation.
• Carefully check your settings in preferences under iPod features, and read the information provided by the help button.
• Ensure you have the iPod driver installed for newer models

Unfortunately this is due to a limitation in the file information reported by the device with firmware versions prior to 3.1. To get the changes to show up, you will need to use the 'Tools/Reload info' command in the track's Properties window.

Unfortunately this is due to a hardware or firmware limitation of the device. It is known to affect 2007 80GB/160GB models but it is not confirmed if it also affects the newer 2008 120GB and 2009 160GB models.

Most iPod models display track artists rather than album artists. You can set up remappings in preferences as below to workaround this if you wish:

Artist:

[%album artist%]

Title:

[%track artist% - ][%title%]

Use 'Update metadata' to apply the remappings to existing files on the iPod.

This can happen if your tagging program is set up to preserve file last modified dates as this prevents foobar2000 / foo_dop from seeing changes to the files. Disable any such options in the tagging program, and run 'Reload info' (under Tools in the Properties window) for any tracks you are facing this issue with.

This is low-level system-specific problem relating to USB communication between the device and computer. It tends to happen on affected computers when there is a reasonable CPU load (e.g. from conversion during a sync). Communication between device and computer stops during the problematic period and if a time-out period is reached the attempt is aborted and further operations fail until a new successful connection is made (e.g. restart foobar2000). The problem may be resolved by connecting the device to a USB port on a different controller. (Check using device manager how many USB controllers you have, what devices are connected to each etc. It may be that the ports on internal USB headers are on a different controller, so it could be worth connecting those.) Some have reported that toggling any options to do with CPU C-States in CMOS setup helps.

You may also see messages like “AFCxxx returned 12/23/3/6” (note: only these error codes relate to the issue).

[ One of my computers (Intel P55 chipset) is was affected by this issue. It has two USB controllers, however strangely enough the working controller alternates(!) Other devices also don't seem to have an issue. ]

Update: This seems quite relevant, for those such as me using a P55 chipset.

If this issue has occurred to you, in order to recover any files copied which were not added to the iPod database you should reconnect the device and use the 'Recover orphaned files' command to re-add them to the database.

Update 2009.11.05 ASUS have released a new BIOS version today (on their download server but not on the download pages yet) for their P55 line-up which I can confirm appears to correct the problem. So if you are using a P55 board ensure you are using the latest BIOS version and look out for BIOS updates over the next few days.

Update 2009.11.06 Gigabyte have also released updates with comment “Fix iphone sync issue”

Usually yes, but check the forum discussion thread for the most up-to-date information when a new version comes out. (At the time of writing the latest version of iTunes is 9.0.2).

Note: If you have enabled mobile devices support, make sure you close foobar2000 before updating iTunes.

Usually minor versions are OK, but major versions for the iPod touch/iPhone are often problematic. Check the forum discussion thread for the most up-to-date information when a new version comes out.

…

• Support for cue sheets that reference MP3 files. Should split the referenced files using the cue sheet and set appropriate gapless data.
• More playlist management features.
• Automatic synchronisation
• Better support for Shuffle
• Custom sorting
• Add support for track options based on metadata (Equalizer preset and Gapless album)
• Ability to rebuild iPod database from scratch by searching the iPod for supported files
• Mapping for rating, sort album fields
• Allow for configuring cache folder where converted files can be stored. Reduces processor load and time when re-synching ipod. (Update tags if changed.)
• Photo syncing
• Autofill
• Ability to view artwork for tracks on iPod in foobar2000 artwork viewer
• Ability to exclude certain files from sync operation
• Ability to set compilation for album with various artists
• Ability to edit album art and add missing art from pic files

• Ability to resample/convert files with a sample rate higher than 48kHz done
• 'Convert to iPod' - to reduce the bitrate of transferred files equivalent functionality implemented

• Send autoplaylists to iPod as smart playlists, bring smart playlists to autoplaylists in foobar.

No Autoplaylist API, so can't be done

• Integration with, or allow foobar's media library to scan the iPod library (on iPhone/Touch)

> Unfortunately, not possible to implement at this time.

• Changelog

• List of iPod USB PIDs