Linux & iTunes Integration & Special Characters - Does it work for you?

[paf]

Most (maybe all) of your frustration is from trying to use the system in an underpowered NAS that wasn't designed to run software like SbS.

I agree that the sluggishness of the system has something to do with the processing power of the NAS.

But the fact that it's not able to import correctly a non-english music library or that it's not possible to save some radio stations easily as favorites and so on has nothing to do with processing power, it has to do with bad software. Maybe not the problem of Logitech (the SBS package is compiled and offered by Synology) but the consequences are the same for me.

Patrick

[garym]

I agree that the sluggishness of the system has something to do with the processing power of the NAS.

But the fact that it's not able to import correctly a non-english music library or that it's not possible to save some radio stations easily as favorites and so on has nothing to do with processing power, it has to do with bad software. Maybe not the problem of Logitech (the SBS package is compiled and offered by Synology) but the consequences are the same for me.

Patrick

also related to synology I suspect, as I can do both those things with no issues on either my linux setup (vortexbox) or windows setup.

[Coatimundi]

also related to synology I suspect, as I can do both those things with no issues on either my linux setup (vortexbox) or windows setup.

garym, are you using iTunes integration/plugin on your linux box? Or is SBS scanning your music folder directly?

The problem with special character translation in linux seems to be related to the iTunes plugin. Otherwise non-ASCII characters work fine.

[garym]

garym, are you using iTunes integration/plugin on your linux box? Or is SBS scanning your music folder directly?

The problem with special character translation in linux seems to be related to the iTunes plugin. Otherwise non-ASCII characters work fine.

No. In my opinion itunes integration should be avoided. It doesn't really add anything other than access to playlists and often causes problems (SB software changes, itunes software changes, and NO coordination at all between the two companies). Itunes integration is best thought of as "experimental".

p.s. I use itunes (I have a mirror set of mp3 files) for my iphones, ipods. I just don't mix this with SB. And the music files can be the same files in the same location if all you have is AAC, mp3, ALAC, WAV. You don't need two sets of files, just point itunes at your files and separately point SB at your files. No need to "integrate"

[Coatimundi]

No. In my opinion itunes integration should be avoided. It doesn't really add anything other than access to playlists and often causes problems (SB software changes, itunes software changes, and NO coordination at all between the two companies). Itunes integration is best thought of as "experimental".

p.s. I use itunes (I have a mirror set of mp3 files) for my iphones, ipods. I just don't mix this with SB. And the music files can be the same files in the same location if all you have is AAC, mp3, ALAC, WAV. You don't need two sets of files, just point itunes at your files and separately point SB at your files. No need to "integrate"

Well, then the iTunes plugin in 7.6.1 should be called "experimental". It worked perfectly for me (and others) in previous versions.

And yes, it is about the playlists. My wife maintains them in iTunes on her laptop and wants to have them on the SBs.

Is there a plugin that synchronises iTunes playlists with SBS playlists?

[garym]

Well, then the iTunes plugin in 7.6.1 should be called "experimental". It worked perfectly for me (and others) in previous versions.

And yes, it is about the playlists. My wife maintains them in iTunes on her laptop and wants to have them on the SBs.

Is there a plugin that synchronises iTunes playlists with SBS playlists?

google around. there are several programs that convert itunes playlists to *m3u files that can be read by about any music player, including SB.

[paf]

there are several programs that convert itunes playlists to *m3u files that can be read by about any music player, including SB.

No, no and no again. Of course, it is possible to have all songs and iTunes playlists in SBS by scanning the library manually and converting all playlists manually into *.m3u - just as it is also possible to hear music using old black vinyl records or Edison's Gramophone!!!

But I paid for a product with "iTunes integration", I have version 7.6.1 and not 0.1 and the problem has been present, reproductible and identified for ages.

I'm no more ready to lose time exporting, importing, converting and so on every time I add a song to my library. My Squeezeboxes were supposed to simplify my life and to be used by the whole family, even the ones who don't own a PhD in computer science.

I'm just tired of that product and I have lost hope that it will get better in a near future.

Patrick

PS: by the way, the structure of the iTunes library file (xml) is absolutely trivial and I don't understand how it can be a problem to interpret it correctly.

[Coatimundi]

google around. there are several programs that convert itunes playlists to *m3u files that can be read by about any music player, including SB.

I agree with paf. We all know that you can do things manually (import playlists, map path names etc.), but that's not "iTunes integretation" as it is advertised on the box.

I'm not a programmer, but I believe that there must be a simple trick to fix the UTF-8 translation. If you agree, please vote for my bug # 17530 http://bugs.slimdevices.com/show_bug.cgi?id=17530. You will make many international users happy.

[garym]

No, no and no again. Of course, it is possible to have all songs and iTunes playlists in SBS by scanning the library manually and converting all playlists manually into *.m3u - just as it is also possible to hear music using old black vinyl records or Edison's Gramophone!!!

I understand your frustration. I'm not a programmer, just trying to offer a work around until things work as you expect. Regarding doing it all manually, I used to have some free program that converted all my itunes playlists (even smart playlists) into playlists recognized by my SB stuff with about two mouse clicks. Can't recall what it was now as it has been several years since I bothered with it and most of my main library is now FLAC files in any case.

[wurz]

I also have this issue on Synology NAS. I just installed Synology's 7.6.1 package. I don't have iTunes integration turned on but use the iTunes statistics import in the CustomScan plugin. I import an iTunes library from a separate machine (mac).

The SBS scanner handles accented characters just fine, it's just the itunes import that errors on tracks with special characters.

As a test, I tried installing SBS on the Mac and ran the itunes stats import. It worked fine - I could see ratings etc for tracks with special characters.