iPod classic endless indexing

[Ldf150king]

On 2/23/2020 at 9:07 PM, asteele said:

Yes, when your USB has your music loaded - the SYNC3 will still index it, and as long as your music files contain the correct information - then SYNC3 will know artists, song titles, music genre and even playlists, and even be able to display music artwork too. Depending on how you go you could just copy MP3 files onto the USB and see how you get on, or you could find yourself spending 1,000 hours tinkering and getting it all perfect - there is a lot of material you can research if you had nothing better to do!

 

I spent 1000 hours getting mine perfect, and hardly even listen to it or bother updating it sadly - as all my music and podcasts now reside on my phone and/or are streamed from the Internet; so I just plug my phone in and go from there instead.

So a Sync reset and still no fix.  As a result I experimented a bit with a flash drive.  I opened iTunes and did a drag and drop of 10 songs each from 2 different playlists in to the flash drive folder.  Plugged the drive in to the truck and it indexed immediately given the small track volume on the drive.  All of the song titles show up with album names and the album artwork displays as well when the tracks are playing.  Voice commands also work when requesting song title, artist and album. The only thing I haven't figured out though is how to get sync to recognize playlists.  The Sync menu shows no "Playlist" selection option. I exported the playlist file out of iTunes in to the drive folder and that didn't work.  I also tried manually creating playlist folders within the drive folder and dropping the tracks within those playlist folders but Sync still doesn't present a "Playlist" selection option.  I can select "Explore Device" which then lets me see the manually created playlists and the song tracks within them and I can select "play all" from there which would then play all tracks within that folder.  I'd love to figure out how to solve this and I've tried several things I've read on line but no luck yet so that might be as good as it's going to get.  It's not a major deal getting to the manually created playlist folders via the Sync "Explore Device" option but doing it this way does inhibit you from being able to call-up a playlist by using use voice commands.            

[asteele]

Hi, your playlist files should end in a .m3u extension, such as this example "dire straits.m3u"  .

 

When SYNC3 does it's indexing, it will find the .m3u files and try to use them as your playlists.

It might not matter where they are located, I can't remember if I put them in a folder on the USB called Playlists, or if I just left them in the top directory.

 

Open one of your playlist that iTunes created for you using a simple text editor, such as notepad.

 

The SYNC3 system wants to see a file in this format:

 

 

#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:312,So Far Away - Dire Straits
..\Music\Dire Straits\Brothers In Arms\01 So Far Away.mp3
#EXTINF:506,Money For Nothing - Dire Straits
..\Music\Dire Straits\Brothers In Arms\02 Money For Nothing.mp3
#EXTINF:252,Walk Of Life - Dire Straits
..\Music\Dire Straits\Brothers In Arms\03 Walk Of Life.mp3
#EXTINF:393,Your Latest Trick - Dire Straits
..\Music\Dire Straits\Brothers In Arms\04 Your Latest Trick.mp3

 

 

In my example, my playlist tracks are in the "Brothers In Arms" folder, which is in the "Dire Straits" folder, which is in the "Music" folder.

 

If your iTunes playlist isn't working, then it will probably be down to the folders not being valid.

 

I am hoping you can spot the pattern of what you need to change, and rather than editing every line manually, you could use a "search and replace" function within Notepad to replace the wrong directory tree with the correct one.

 

Maybe your will search for "c:\windows\itunes\media\" and replace all instances with "..\Music\"  - depending on what you are seeing in the iTunes created playlist.

 

I hope that makes sense!

 

 

Also, when you put the USB back into SYNC3, it might not re-index right away - so it may not pick up the new playlist files you have created.

If this is the case, rename your USB drive to be called something different and reinsert it again.

 

 

 

[Ldf150king]

On 2/26/2020 at 4:07 PM, asteele said:

Hi, your playlist files should end in a .m3u extension, such as this example "dire straits.m3u"  .

 

When SYNC3 does it's indexing, it will find the .m3u files and try to use them as your playlists.

It might not matter where they are located, I can't remember if I put them in a folder on the USB called Playlists, or if I just left them in the top directory.

 

Open one of your playlist that iTunes created for you using a simple text editor, such as notepad.

 

The SYNC3 system wants to see a file in this format:

 

 

#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:312,So Far Away - Dire Straits
..\Music\Dire Straits\Brothers In Arms\01 So Far Away.mp3
#EXTINF:506,Money For Nothing - Dire Straits
..\Music\Dire Straits\Brothers In Arms\02 Money For Nothing.mp3
#EXTINF:252,Walk Of Life - Dire Straits
..\Music\Dire Straits\Brothers In Arms\03 Walk Of Life.mp3
#EXTINF:393,Your Latest Trick - Dire Straits
..\Music\Dire Straits\Brothers In Arms\04 Your Latest Trick.mp3

 

 

In my example, my playlist tracks are in the "Brothers In Arms" folder, which is in the "Dire Straits" folder, which is in the "Music" folder.

 

If your iTunes playlist isn't working, then it will probably be down to the folders not being valid.

 

I am hoping you can spot the pattern of what you need to change, and rather than editing every line manually, you could use a "search and replace" function within Notepad to replace the wrong directory tree with the correct one.

 

Maybe your will search for "c:\windows\itunes\media\" and replace all instances with "..\Music\"  - depending on what you are seeing in the iTunes created playlist.

 

I hope that makes sense!

 

 

Also, when you put the USB back into SYNC3, it might not re-index right away - so it may not pick up the new playlist files you have created.

If this is the case, rename your USB drive to be called something different and reinsert it again.

 

 

 

 

Thanks Asteele.  So..... after going through all of this I happened to sync new music to the ipod classic yesterday, plugged in to Sync and no change.  Then I went to general settings in Sync > Media devices > Reset Indexing.  A warning came up stating all previous indexing would be cleared for the device. I ignored the warning, unplugged the ipod, plugged back in and within about 5 min indexing successfully completed.  Unbelievable because I had tried that before and nothing !  So then I drove the vehicle.  Parked it for awhile and when I restarted it the thing indexed again but again successfully completed in a few minutes.  The next start and stop it did not re-index and all was still good with the music.  Absolutely no rhyme or reason to it.  So, it's working again but who knows for how long so I think I'll still pursue putting the music on a flash drive as my plan B.

 

On the playlist issue I think I follow you.  For example there are online instructions on how to export iTunes playlist to USB Drive and that's what I did.  Started iTunes. Clicked on a playlist >file > Library > Export Playlist > Save as M3U file.  I saved that file to the USB drive at the top directory level.  I did not place it in any folder on the drive.  If I look at the file using notepad it has the exact same structure as the file structure you show in your post starting at the very top with #EXTM3U followed by all of the other song file info just as you had shown.  However it's not clear to me if that file is a compressed file that actually contains the song MP3 audio files themselves or if it  just dictates that particular MP3 song title is part of that playlist ?  I'm thinking it's the latter because the file size is only like 16Kb.  As a result I also drug and dropped that actual song MP3s for that playlist on to the drive as well but again at the top directory level and not in any folders thinking the playlist file would just associate with the MP3 audio files on the drive and Sync would sort it all out but of course that wasn't the case.    

 

I'll try what you recommended,  first doing a "Reset Indexing" on the drive through Sync and if that doesn't work rename the drive.  Am I taking the right approach though by dumping the actual MP3 files on to the drive along with the M3U playlist file associated with those MP3s or do I need to create some kind of folder structure on the drive to put the files in ?  

 

Thanks for all your help / patience !                     

            

[asteele]

I am not sure that you have to have a directory structure, but I choose to have one... has to be easier in the long run to have /music/artist/albumname directory structure in my opinion.

 

Also, when iTunes exports your playlist, it will follow the directory structure it uses - so watch out for having to do the "search and replace" so that the file path in the playlist file it creates can be made to work on your USB.

 

It's a good idea to experiment with a smaller number of files, albums, artists etc first, rather than trying to do your entire library in one go.

 

With the reindexing, you dont want it to do it all the time - it needs to know that something has changed on the USB if you want it to re-index, and the way that I achieved this was to rename the USB drive each time I made a change, especially when I was making frequent changes and experimenting. If you dont do this, then it will re-index at some point - but it could be a frustrating wait if you are trying to see the affect of a change you may have just made.

 

 

When you are exporting or creating the playlist, you are just using itunes to great the .m3u file; great to hear it is in the same format as my example that we know works great with SYNC3.

 

You need to know that the playlist file is just a list of what is in your playlist, and it does not contain the actual music files themselves - just their names and where they are located.

The "located" but can be a problem if the directory structure doesnt match the structure on your USB.

 

 

Look at the .m3u file you have created, you need to see what the directory structure looks like.

 

In my example, this is the reference to the music file "so far away.mp3"

 

..\Music\Dire Straits\Brothers In Arms\01 So Far Away.mp3

 

The file MUST be located in the directory ..\Music\Dire Straits\Brothers In Arms\  if it is going to be played, as the playlist shows this directory tree as you can see in the line above.

 

If your music is all in the root directory, then your line would look like this:

 

 

..\01 So Far Away.mp3

 

But I do recommend you follow a folder structure.

 

 

I hope this makes sense.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ldf150king]

18 hours ago, asteele said:

I am not sure that you have to have a directory structure, but I choose to have one... has to be easier in the long run to have /music/artist/albumname directory structure in my opinion.

 

Also, when iTunes exports your playlist, it will follow the directory structure it uses - so watch out for having to do the "search and replace" so that the file path in the playlist file it creates can be made to work on your USB.

 

It's a good idea to experiment with a smaller number of files, albums, artists etc first, rather than trying to do your entire library in one go.

 

With the reindexing, you dont want it to do it all the time - it needs to know that something has changed on the USB if you want it to re-index, and the way that I achieved this was to rename the USB drive each time I made a change, especially when I was making frequent changes and experimenting. If you dont do this, then it will re-index at some point - but it could be a frustrating wait if you are trying to see the affect of a change you may have just made.

 

 

When you are exporting or creating the playlist, you are just using itunes to great the .m3u file; great to hear it is in the same format as my example that we know works great with SYNC3.

 

You need to know that the playlist file is just a list of what is in your playlist, and it does not contain the actual music files themselves - just their names and where they are located.

The "located" but can be a problem if the directory structure doesnt match the structure on your USB.

 

 

Look at the .m3u file you have created, you need to see what the directory structure looks like.

 

In my example, this is the reference to the music file "so far away.mp3"

 

..\Music\Dire Straits\Brothers In Arms\01 So Far Away.mp3

 

The file MUST be located in the directory ..\Music\Dire Straits\Brothers In Arms\  if it is going to be played, as the playlist shows this directory tree as you can see in the line above.

 

If your music is all in the root directory, then your line would look like this:

 

 

..\01 So Far Away.mp3

 

But I do recommend you follow a folder structure.

 

 

I hope this makes sense.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes I think I follow you and it means a whole lot more trial and error I think,  especially if I need to manipulate the playlist files since I have many playlists.  Given the amount of time I’d need to spend on this just for Sync to present me with a playlist option on the menu and the fact the classic is working again I think I’ll just take the easy way out on my plan B.  That is just manually create the playlist folders in the drive and drop the MP3s in to their respective playlist folder on the drive.  The “Explore” device command on sync will show me all of the playlist folders and I can manually select accordingly.  
 

When you initially said you spent 1000 hours arranging all of your music I just thought well I’m sure it took a lot of time but he’s way over exaggerating.  Now I know better ?

 

Again, can’t thank you enough for your help on this. 

[aknott1]

I know this is an old thread, but I use iTunesFusion to sync my iTunes playlist to a flash drive.

https://www.itunesfusion.com/

[Ldf150king]

Right now the iPod is working out okay but this might definitely be a good future option.  It looks like it would do a lot of the heavy lifting in organizing / structuring the media to play nicely with the existing Sync structure or in other words plugging in my media device would be just like plugging in my iPod.  If the application works as advertised the price isn’t bad either for a lifetime permanent license.  Thanks for the info!