ml_iPod v3.08 released! iPhone 3G support!!!

[abu]

Hello everybody, a new version is ready for download!

Version 3.08 - 01/11/2009

New features:

• (almost full) support for iTouch with FW 2.x (experimental) without patching device. Special thanks to a developer who wants to stay anonymous and helped a lot here! Without your help this wouldn't have been possible.
• iPhone/iTouch shows "sync in progress", no need to run AfterSync or reboot after transfer
• automatically launch 'aftereject.cmd' after any device eject, if it exists. aftereject.cmd must be in ...\Winamp\plugins\ml_ipod folder and is optional
• a lot of bug fixes and minor improvements

Download here

A full list of all changes can be found in the change log.

Enjoy!

EDIT: The original 3.08 was not yet compatible with iTunes 8, it worked with the iPhone/iTouch, but iTunes refused to connect to such a device afterwards. That is fixed now with patch 3.08p03. I changed the file on SourceForge (there, it is still named 3.08 due to SF restrictions, but when you start the installer you see 3.08p03 in the title bar)

[logaen]

hi abu! I'm testing this new version (3.08) but when I try to play some mp3 stored in my 3G Phone ... I have always the same error "not supported ..."

And now when I connect back to iTunes ... say that i need to restore! PLEASE HELP ME my iphone is full of mp3, cydia and much more!

[logaen]

any help? I don't wanna restore everything!

[abu]

Playing off the iPhone is simply not supported, as stated in the Wiki.
About iTunes: Don't know what causes this, I never tested with iTunes lately. And iTunes usually says nothing WHY it rejects a database, so we are stuck.

[logaen]

and now? I don't wanna restore all my iPhone .. i need to jailbreck again and install everything! Some help ?

[abu]

Don't use iTunes for the moment, stick with WA and ml_ipod.

If you must use iTunes (why?) and you do have all your songs on the PC (I hope you don't have stuff on the device that is not backed up?), you can use a brute force attack :

Simply delete the file /private/var/mobile/Media/iTunes_Control/iTunes/iTunesDB on the device, and all files in /private/var/mobile/Media/iTunes_Control/Artwork and in /private/var/mobile/Media/iTunes_Control/Music. As your device is jailbroken, I assume you know how to do that.
Caution: That will delete all songs from your device! But iTunes will work again, so you'll just have to sync all your songs again.

[logaen]

maybe there's something that i can do? delete something via SSH ?
What's ml_ipod have edited ?

[jdhar]

Thanks for the hard work on this release! I have been waiting anxiously for support for 2.x FW...

One question I have however. I restored and sync'd my music to the Itouch 2G, and that seemed to go ok. However, when I open up Itunes after, it says that the db is corrupt etc.. That's fine since I don't need Itunes for Music, however, what if I want to sync apps that I purchased before? Itunes lets me sync the applications that it finds, but I don't see any support in winamp for this.

[abu]

Originally posted by logaen
maybe there's something that i can do? delete something via SSH ?
What's ml_ipod have edited ?

See my post above, I edited it while you posted...

[abu]

Originally posted by jdhar
Thanks for the hard work on this release! I have been waiting anxiously for support for 2.x FW...

One question I have however. I restored and sync'd my music to the Itouch 2G, and that seemed to go ok. However, when I open up Itunes after, it says that the db is corrupt etc.. That's fine since I don't need Itunes for Music, however, what if I want to sync apps that I purchased before? Itunes lets me sync the applications that it finds, but I don't see any support in winamp for this.

Good point, don't know yet I hope we get the database into a format that iTunes can handle. The main aim for the moment was to get the iPhone work with it...

[narcan]

Thanks for the fix abu! I hope this issue get fixed as I would really love to this plug-in, can't do without iTunes though (even though is a pain in the ass at times).

[abu]

I see an easy way to live with iTunes, but only if you leave ALL music related stuff to ml_ipod, and do only the other stuff with iTunes (like apps, firmware update, calendar sync...) There is an app called SwapTunes, that would help here. Before using iTunes, you would simply swap to an empty iTunes conforming database. Would that be ok, or do you really need full coexistence with iTunes (uploading songs with iTunes AND ml_iPod...). I think the latter would be really hard work, and take a lot of time (that I don't have).

Personally I'm not so much interested in this, as i definitely don't use iTunes for music. As a result, my motivation to put hours or days into this issue is almost zero

[jdhar]

Originally posted by abu
Good point, don't know yet I hope we get the database into a format that iTunes can handle. The main aim for the moment was to get the iPhone work with it...

Is fixing the db so that iTunes can handle it in the plans? As a side note, simply running Winamp and having it parse the database wrecked it to the point iTunes couldn't recognize it. I didn't perform a sync or anything. I'm guessing the Eject did it.

If the goal was to get iPhone to work with it, doesn't the same issue of supporting applications still exist?

[abu]

Did you read the post above yours? What do you think to that?

[jdhar]

Originally posted by abu
Did you read the post above yours? What do you think to that?

I guess jailbreaking mine is an option; I have been trying to avoid it until now, but I don't know how much longer I can live with crappy iTunes. Nevermind - 2G ipod touch isn't jailbroken yet

[fatcerberus1]

Wait a minute, can't you just buy and download apps directly in the App Store on the iTouch? This way you don't have to use iTunes on your PC...

[abu]

Originally posted by jdhar
I guess jailbreaking mine is an option; I have been trying to avoid it until now, but I don't know how much longer I can live with crappy iTunes. Nevermind - 2G ipod touch isn't jailbroken yet

There would be a way to do it with a non-jailbroken iTouch, too. It involves some manual work, though. Should I describe it or aren't you interested?

[jdhar]

Originally posted by fatcerberus1
Wait a minute, can't you just buy and download apps directly in the App Store on the iTouch? This way you don't have to use iTunes on your PC...

Of course. But when you sync to iTunes, it copies them to the computer so they are both in sync. That way, when I (inevitably) have to restore my itouch, iTunes can copy my apps to the itouch and I don't have to purchase them again. If I were to switch to Winamp, I would restore my itouch anyway since the music dbs would be completely different.

I guess I could just restore it, use iTunes to setup the apps, and then sync using Winamp and leave itunes behind. Maybe I'll give that a try...

[jdhar]

Originally posted by abu
There would be a way to do it with a non-jailbroken iTouch, too. It involves some manual work, though. Should I describe it or aren't you interested?

Sure, if it's not too much trouble to you!

[abu]

Originally posted by jdhar
Sure, if it's not too much trouble to you!

Ok, here we go. You need something like Windows explorer to browse and edit the iTouch or iPhone files from the PC. There are several available, all free, just google for iPhoneBrowser, iPhoneList or the T-Pot plugin for TotalCommander (if you already use TotalCommander, I recommend that).

If you have filled your iPod with Winamp and need to do something with iTunes on the device now, follow these steps:

• Exit Winamp, if it is running
• Attach the iPod with the USB cable.
• If iTunes starts automatically, close it.
• Start iPhoneBrowser (or any other iPhone explorer)
• You will see a directory called iTunes_Control on the top level, rename this to iTunes_Control_wa
• start iTunes, it will tell you something like this:
  
• you can restore from backup, or setup as new iPod, doesn't make too much difference (I only tried restore). This will NOT remove your songs!
• do whatever you want with iTunes
• quit iTunes
• Start iPhoneBrowser (or any other iPhone explorer)
• You will see a newly created directory called iTunes_Control again, created by iTunes, rename this to iTunes_Control_it
• rename iTunes_Control_wa back to iTunes_Control
• start Winamp, all your songs should be back
• hit Eject in Winamp

You can NOT send songs, podcasts or videos to the iPod in iTunes with this method, they will be lost after the last rename. Only apps, firmware updates, photos, calendar, contacts etc.

The next time is easier, simply rename iTunes_Control to iTunes_Control_wa and iTunes_Control_it to iTunes_Control. Now iTunes will not show the restore dialog.

Links:

• http://code.google.com/p/iphonebrowser/
• http://code.google.com/p/iphonelist/
• http://code.google.com/p/t-pot/
• maybe other iPhone managers that I don't know... (personally, I use T-Pot with SpeedCommander and a special plugin that allows TotalCommander plugins in SpeedCommander)

[abu]

I hope I found the problem, and 3.08p03 fixes it so iTunes can read the database written by ml_iPod. So everything said above isn't necessary any more Test it, please...

[King Kong12]

3.08p03 is better. Itunes seems to be normal now.
Only problem is after synching (apps, contacts, no music!) the music is... lost

[abu]

you have checked "manually manage music" in iTunes, I hope?

[jdhar]

Originally posted by abu
I hope I found the problem, and 3.08p03 fixes it so iTunes can read the database written by ml_iPod. So everything said above isn't necessary any more Test it, please...

haha, nice.. after you did all that work in writing those instructions Those steps aren't too bad by any means... nothing close to the pain itunes inflicts.

I will try p03 tonight and give feedback!

[logaen]

If iTunes, now, recognize iPhone/iPod 2.2 after using ml_ipod ... we need just the *play* functionality (any news about that?) and we use itunes just for sync applications

[fatcerberus1]

Good job, Abu. So what was causing iTunes to reject it, anyway (other than Apple being idiots, I mean )?

[jdhar]

Originally posted by jdhar
haha, nice.. after you did all that work in writing those instructions Those steps aren't too bad by any means... nothing close to the pain itunes inflicts.

I will try p03 tonight and give feedback!

Looks good from my testing. Album artwork is a little funny... I have all of my mp3s that are 'singles' (aren't part of an album) with the Album name blank. Using iTunes to sync, this worked well since in coverflow, I only saw my full albums there. Now I see some random songs.. I'll see if I can find a connection to this. May not be itouch-2g specific anyway..

Thanks!

[jdhar]

...ok, Artwork problem on songs that don't have an Album name was due to Winamp caching the Album name from a long while back; metadata-refresh fixed this.

As a side note, starting Winamp with the ipod connected, and running an Eject is verrry slow. Maybe 3-5 minutes.. I have a 32GB itouch2G with about 10Gb of music loaded. Not sure if this is typical/expected, but thought I would point it out.

[abu]

Originally posted by jdhar
[BAs a side note, starting Winamp with the ipod connected, and running an Eject is verrry slow. Maybe 3-5 minutes.. I have a 32GB itouch2G with about 10Gb of music loaded. Not sure if this is typical/expected, but thought I would point it out. [/B]

That is definitely too slow! I have a 32GB iTouch with ~24GB of music, and it takes around 30 seconds to eject. Could you send the main debuglog after ejecting, please?

[jdhar]

Originally posted by abu
That is definitely too slow! I have a 32GB iTouch with ~24GB of music, and it takes around 30 seconds to eject. Could you send the main debuglog after ejecting, please?

suurrreee.... wanna give me a hint how? Sorry, I'm new to debugging on Winamp...

The only issue I could find (other than the speed) is that all of my songs that don't have an Album are grouped together into an Album in the album list. MAkes sense since they all have the album name equal to eachother of <blank>, but is there no filter to catch this case? Is this supposed to happen? pmp_ipod and iTunes seems to catch this.

[jdhar]

sorry, figured it out. So initial detection when ipod is plugged in takes 2m20sec. At this point, if I go straight to Eject, it's pretty quick.. a few seconds. If I do a sync with no changes, it is also quick. I'm guessing I need to do something that will update the dB. Here is a debug log of a straight detection, sync with nothing and eject. The detection takes a while in this case...

[jdhar]

..and here is a case where I start winamp, do a sync to add one song (Muse - Assassin), and then an Eject. In this case, the Eject takes around 2:20 again.

In looking at the logs, it looks like it may be due to some references to non-existent files that I have in some playlists. Could that be slowing it down that much?

[abu]

Obviously you have huge files for the cover art. They really take so long for transfer. Could you have a look at
C:\DOCUME~1\JAIDHA~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\shadow for iphone\Artwork while the iPod is attached to Winamp, and see how large the files in there are?
Do you have your cover art in ID3 tags or in folder.jpg files?

[abu]

Originally posted by fatcerberus1
Good job, Abu. So what was causing iTunes to reject it, anyway (other than Apple being idiots, I mean )?

Fortunately it was not one of the mssing MHSD sections. The byte at offset 0x0070 in iTunesDB must be 0x02 now, it used to be 0x00 in all previous versions. Took "only" 17 shots and 2 hours to discover that

[jdhar]

Originally posted by abu
Obviously you have huge files for the cover art. They really take so long for transfer. Could you have a look at
C:\DOCUME~1\JAIDHA~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\shadow for iphone\Artwork while the iPod is attached to Winamp, and see how large the files in there are?
Do you have your cover art in ID3 tags or in folder.jpg files?

eesh.. that folder size is 570MB! I have them in both.. I used to have them all in cover.jpg, until I had to switch to iTunes when I got this new ipod. Then, ipod couldn't handle cover.jpg well, so I embedded them into the ID3 tags.. so now I basically have both. If I could clearly find a statement that said which one works better, I would gladly switch.

[King Kong12]

Originally posted by abu
you have checked "manually manage music" in iTunes, I hope?

Strange... Tried again this morning, everything looks fine. Don't know what went wrong, but it's working now. Thanks a lot!

[abu]

Originally posted by jdhar
eesh.. that folder size is 570MB! I have them in both.. I used to have them all in cover.jpg, until I had to switch to iTunes when I got this new ipod. Then, ipod couldn't handle cover.jpg well, so I embedded them into the ID3 tags.. so now I basically have both. If I could clearly find a statement that said which one works better, I would gladly switch.

see http://forums.winamp.com/showthread....14#post2186914

[jdhar]

Originally posted by abu
see http://forums.winamp.com/showthread....14#post2186914

Makes sense. I'll give it a try and see if that speeds it up! Thanks again.

[gilion]

So I have an iPhone 3G now (previous owner of an iPod Nano 1G) and I've been using ml_ipod every since I heard of it. I've been waiting for something that would work without requiring me to jailbreak my iPhone and so today I installed the latest patch of ml_ipod and succeeded at transferring a song to my iPhone 3g using the plugin. The only weird thing I'm noticing is that the song I transferred shows up under Artists and Albums but not under the Songs category....

[abu]

Welcome to this forum, gilion!
Please try with some more songs. Never seen anything like that...