Joe Masters
2004-01-03 06:52:20 UTC
Okay, let's look at the list of things I said I was going to work on...
1) New Directory Structure on iPod (this is a brilliant idea, and needs
to happen)
2) SoundCheck
3) Use LAME to Encode Ogg and downsample larger MP3s and auto-convert WAVs
4) Use drop-down lists for Artists, Genres
5) Better compatibility with song ratings and smart playlists
Weeelll.... I did #5.
So, we have 2.76, which is intended as the last "stable, works
completely with iTunes" (I think...) release for a while. The other
experimental features coming soon.
2.76: +Reading more values correctly from iTunesDB now, including Song
Rating, Play Count, and Audible bookmark information
(Note: This information can't be edited at present, but it is at
least preserved properly by EphPod now,
and that's probably all EphPod will do with it)
(Also Note: this is probably true only for 3G iPods with firmware
2.1, although I'm not positive)
+EphPod respects the iTunesLock file now
+EphPod no longer destroys SmartPlaylists. It can't do anything
smart-playlisty with them, but
iTunes will keep them recognized as SmartPlaylists, so using your
SmartPlaylist-enhanced iPod
won't be de-hanced by EphPod.
Tomorrow, I am planning to overhaul the web page. It needs to be
completely redone, and I think now is as good a time as any. I
especially need to run a filter through the archives to get rid of email
addresses there.
Also, I am very strongly considering shifting this list to the
iPodLounge.com EphPod forum. There are several good reasons for this...
The main one is that I believe this list is too "private" for general
support, and since I've lost the ability to archive on my current list
(and don't really want to recreate it on another server), it seems
easiest to run with the forum. One nice thing about this forum is that
you can "subscribe" to it, which I believe means you'll get an email
every time a new message is posted, so it can essentially function as an
email list for you.
For me, it will allow me to better support EphPod by compartmentalizing
it into a section of my time each day, and I'll be better able to
forward individual support requests to specific forum posts.
However, if anyone has any good specific reasons not to do it, please
let me know!
The above features are still my top priorities, and you'll probably see
them slowly emerge. I will probably do #4 next, just because it won't
be difficult to do. Probably #1 last, because it does deviate from the
iPod's design.
Finally... EphPod's bizarre licensing situation (there are so many
pieces of donated commercial software within EphPod that it makes it
pretty much impossible to do anything either open-source or shareware
with it) is pushing me toward creating one or more other iPod programs.
None of these would be intended as EphPod replacements, but rather as
smaller-faster-lighter programs that would make common iPod tasks that
are currently arduous much easier to do. I am imagining tasks we do
commonly, like backing up an iPod, or quickly adding songs to an iPod,
synchronizing a set list of directories, etc.
Okay, I think that's about it. Let me know if you have any opinions on
any of the above items... And especially if you find that 2.76 doesn't
fix one of those nagging problems like Audible bookmarks or
SmartPlaylists or Song Counts. .... As I've said above, I think it's
possible that Apple switched from using one storage format (Play Counts
file) to using another (writing directly to iTunesDB) with firmware
2.1. All I know is that my iPod running firmware 2.1 seems to have no
problem with those above issues.
--joe
------------------------------------------------------
ephPod Mailing List
FAQ and HomePage http://www.ephpod.com
mailto:ephpod-***@wso.williams.edu to susbcribe
mailto:ephpod-***@wso.williams.edu to unsusbcribe
mailto:***@wso.williams.edu the mailing-list itself
1) New Directory Structure on iPod (this is a brilliant idea, and needs
to happen)
2) SoundCheck
3) Use LAME to Encode Ogg and downsample larger MP3s and auto-convert WAVs
4) Use drop-down lists for Artists, Genres
5) Better compatibility with song ratings and smart playlists
Weeelll.... I did #5.
So, we have 2.76, which is intended as the last "stable, works
completely with iTunes" (I think...) release for a while. The other
experimental features coming soon.
2.76: +Reading more values correctly from iTunesDB now, including Song
Rating, Play Count, and Audible bookmark information
(Note: This information can't be edited at present, but it is at
least preserved properly by EphPod now,
and that's probably all EphPod will do with it)
(Also Note: this is probably true only for 3G iPods with firmware
2.1, although I'm not positive)
+EphPod respects the iTunesLock file now
+EphPod no longer destroys SmartPlaylists. It can't do anything
smart-playlisty with them, but
iTunes will keep them recognized as SmartPlaylists, so using your
SmartPlaylist-enhanced iPod
won't be de-hanced by EphPod.
Tomorrow, I am planning to overhaul the web page. It needs to be
completely redone, and I think now is as good a time as any. I
especially need to run a filter through the archives to get rid of email
addresses there.
Also, I am very strongly considering shifting this list to the
iPodLounge.com EphPod forum. There are several good reasons for this...
The main one is that I believe this list is too "private" for general
support, and since I've lost the ability to archive on my current list
(and don't really want to recreate it on another server), it seems
easiest to run with the forum. One nice thing about this forum is that
you can "subscribe" to it, which I believe means you'll get an email
every time a new message is posted, so it can essentially function as an
email list for you.
For me, it will allow me to better support EphPod by compartmentalizing
it into a section of my time each day, and I'll be better able to
forward individual support requests to specific forum posts.
However, if anyone has any good specific reasons not to do it, please
let me know!
The above features are still my top priorities, and you'll probably see
them slowly emerge. I will probably do #4 next, just because it won't
be difficult to do. Probably #1 last, because it does deviate from the
iPod's design.
Finally... EphPod's bizarre licensing situation (there are so many
pieces of donated commercial software within EphPod that it makes it
pretty much impossible to do anything either open-source or shareware
with it) is pushing me toward creating one or more other iPod programs.
None of these would be intended as EphPod replacements, but rather as
smaller-faster-lighter programs that would make common iPod tasks that
are currently arduous much easier to do. I am imagining tasks we do
commonly, like backing up an iPod, or quickly adding songs to an iPod,
synchronizing a set list of directories, etc.
Okay, I think that's about it. Let me know if you have any opinions on
any of the above items... And especially if you find that 2.76 doesn't
fix one of those nagging problems like Audible bookmarks or
SmartPlaylists or Song Counts. .... As I've said above, I think it's
possible that Apple switched from using one storage format (Play Counts
file) to using another (writing directly to iTunesDB) with firmware
2.1. All I know is that my iPod running firmware 2.1 seems to have no
problem with those above issues.
--joe
------------------------------------------------------
ephPod Mailing List
FAQ and HomePage http://www.ephpod.com
mailto:ephpod-***@wso.williams.edu to susbcribe
mailto:ephpod-***@wso.williams.edu to unsusbcribe
mailto:***@wso.williams.edu the mailing-list itself