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iPod.iTunes

...and the music goes on...

3.9.4

 

Running Song Synchronization

iPod.iTunes creates first a backup of the iTunes Library file. Just for the unlikely case something goes wrong, iPod.iTunes will restore the original. Even if a crash/power outage should happen, iPod.iTunes will restore/cleanup things if necessary when you start it the next time.
iPod.iTunes creates then some temporary playlists in iTunes to work with. These playlists will be removed when synchronization has finalized.

Now iPod.iTunes evaluates the songs in the source to check which ones are not in the target. Evaluating songs may take a moment. This depends on the number of songs in the iTunes library, the number of songs in the target which are already in the iTunes library (the more the faster). You can use other applications while iPod.iTunes evaluates songs, but you should not touch iTunes until synchronization has finalized and iPod.iTunes shows "Ready." in the log.
In the target you will then see a date&time stamped playlist which contains the songs which were copied during the synchronization. If you don't need this playlist you can just delete it after the synchronization. iPod.iTunes doesn't need this playlist for further synchronizations.

Running Playlist Recreation

Playlist recreation is completely independent from song synchronization. It does not copy song files from the source to the target. A playlist entry is not a song file but just a pointer to the actual song in the library (which is itself a pointer to the actual file on disk). Playlist recreation creates in the target new playlists named as the playlists in the source. iPod.iTunes checks which playlist entries are in the source playlist and searches for matching songs in the target. If found, the playlist entry in the target playlist will be created.

Usually you will just choose "Songs & Playlists" in the Settings tab to synchronize songs (files) and recreate playlist entries. But if the songs in the source are already in the target you can choose "Playlists" in the Settings tab to recreate just playlists and their entries.

Playlist Recreation in more detail:

  1. •Creates the playlists from the source in the target with those source songs which are also in the target.

  2. •If a source playlist has songs where no song of it is in the target, the playlist is not created at all.

  3. •If an equal named playlist in the target already exists, it will be expanded by new playlist entries, if there are any. Playlists and their entries are never overwritten or deleted by iPod.iTunes.

  4. •If you don't want create playlist entries in existing playlists use a playlist prefix to create new independent playlists.

  5. •Recreation of smart playlists is possible, but they will appear as common playlists in the target (limitation of iTunes).

Using iPod.iTunes

Please note that the interface has tool tips. Resting the mouse cursor for a few seconds over  a button or something else shows more info about that thing.

Before you synchronize you make your settings in the Settings tab, where you can choose how you want to synchronize.

To start the synchronization, choose the Synchronization tab and click the "Sync" button.

Viewing the Log & Guide

In the Synchronization tab, iPod.iTunes has an area where you can see what's currently happening (black text) and hints for guiding (blue text). The guiding is especially useful if you use the manual song copying mode the first time.