Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Manually Managed Ipod - Syncing Play Count with Itunes Library

I've had a 80gb 5th Generation Classic for 7 years or so, ive always manually managed it. Now that i've bought an iphone 5 with enough storage for my itunes library i want to transfer my music onto my new phone, so i don't need to carry round an ipod and iphone!


However my play counts in my library are all very low as i don't play music on my laptop too often.


Is there a way to get the play counts off my manually managed ipod on to my laptop to put on my phone? I would really like to continue my play counts from my ipod to my iphone.


Much appreciated.

iPod classic

Posted on Nov 2, 2012 3:28 AM

Reply
19 replies

Nov 2, 2012 4:42 AM in response to Kylie84

I know there are third party tools that can recover both media, ratings & playcounts all at the same time. Some are listed in the user tip: Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device. What I don't know is if any can just update the playcounts. You'll have to do some research.


Actually this is a situation that should be amenable to scripting but I've not really explored it myself as I sync all my devices. If you don't mind waiting a day or two I'll see if I can cook something up.


tt2

Nov 2, 2012 2:41 PM in response to turingtest2

OK, I'm nearly ready to go with this one. What are your thoughts on whether the iPod should always overwrite the library? I'm leaning towards taking the highest play count of the library or the device, and while we're at it, taking the highest skip count, highest rating and most recent played and skipped dates. It would be relatively easy to disable any of these extra features if you didn't want them but they might be neat.


tt2

Nov 4, 2012 7:40 AM in response to Kylie84

I've unloaded a script called SyncStats. To make sure it works as you want start by selecting a handful to tracks in the iPod's window when it is connected to iTunes, then double-click on the script to run it. Click No at the first prompt so you can see the difference between the two sets of values that will be updated and can make sure you are happy with how it behaves. Once you're happy you can select all the tracks and let the script process them all automatically by clicking Yes at the first prompt..


tt2

Nov 4, 2012 8:37 AM in response to Kylie84

Hmm, that makes the problem harder, though perhaps not insurmountable. How many tracks are we talking about? I'd have to add a phase to the script that effectively catalogues the entire music section of your library before looping through the tracks on the device to see if there is a matching item that can be updated.


May be another few days before I can get something ready.


tt2

Nov 19, 2012 6:56 AM in response to turingtest2

Hi, I finally found some time to sit down and wrap my head around this one. I've uploaded a new build of the SyncStats script which should now be able to find a track in the main library with the same tag properties to sync the stats to.


Matches are detected on tracks having the same (case insensitive) values for Artist, Album, DiscNumber, TrackNumber, Name & Size so if you've made changes to the tags since the tracks were put on the iPod and the tracks have been removed and then later reimported they won't be matched. I've just realized the matching size requirement is unnecessary in this context and removing it will allow matches to tracks that have been reripped. Newer build uploaded!


Let me know how you get on...


tt2

Dec 11, 2012 1:31 PM in response to turingtest2

Hey, apologies for not getting back sooner, ive been working away.


I've just tried the script out and i appear to be having some issues.


When i script more than a handful of songs (15+ ish), i get the following error:


Line: 136

Char: 53

Error: The track is not modifiable

Code: A0040203

Source (null)


and consequently none of the stats are transferred over.


If i script in small batches i seem to be able to script and also focus in on the song that appears to be causing the issue, and the error pops up again when i only script the suspect song. However the stats also get scrpted over from the song. I then pick the next 10 songs or so and script and carry on. With over 7500 songs this is a long long exercise.


Do you know any reason for the above error, and is there anything to solve it?


I must point out im scripting from my iphone 5. My ipod was left at work so ill try that tomorrow night. The itunes version im using is the latest build, 11.0.0.163


Cheers.

Dec 11, 2012 1:47 PM in response to Kylie84

Hmm, not really sure what would trigger that. One way around would be to add a new line 126 after the line that beings StartEvent


On Error Resume Next


This would make the script ignore subsequent errors in that section of code and attempt to keep processing other instructions. It would probably be OK to do this but not as satisfying as understanding the cause of the error and avoiding it. I can't get access to my website at the moment but when it is up again I'll post an updated version of the script.


tt2

Manually Managed Ipod - Syncing Play Count with Itunes Library

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.