Help Please? Squeezebox Touch + iTunes Playlists on a Mac = FRUSTRATION!

stretchl

I'm about to pull my hair out here and I don't have much, any really, left to pull out.

Is anyone having any success with the SBT streaming iTunes from a Mac?

The music is there, basically, but the playlists show up only partially on the SBT. For instance, I have an playlist "Boston" that doesn't show up at all. The playlist "BosJourEagStyx" does show up, but only contains music by the Eagles, not their (some would say) partners in crime Boston, Journey or Styx.

There seems to be no rhyme or reason here.

I've been working on a solution for hours and have found nothing online that will help with this.

If anyone has any suggestions, I'd be very grateful for your assistance.

Thanks so much.

audiocr381ve

By no means an expert here, but I'll try and help.

Go to system prefs, then logitech media server, then library. Make sure the correct media folder, which for you would be your iTunes media folder (with all your music), is selected. Then select the correct playlists folder. If you are using multiple drives, make sure you are choosing the drive with all of your music. iTunes very well could have made directories on a different drive and you may be confusing them.

tonyb

Don't own one, but on my Sonos I really don't make playlists from Itunes. I make them within the Sonos software itself. Hopefully more will chime in but on the surface it seems more so a setup issue. You have to tell the SB where to grab the music files/folders from. Go over the setup proceedure, is all I can add.

zingo

I have not tried playing iTunes playlist from my SBT, but it wouldn't surprise if they weren't compatible; Apple doesn't make many things that are compatible with the outside world. I would suggest making the playlist on the SBT, but hopefully someone here will be helpful.

ambiophonics

Are all your audio files in the same format? mp3, wav, flac, etc...

stretchl

I'm sorry that I've been away from this thread. I've been slammed and (though I've found time to argue lens sharpness in another thread...go figure...) I've not had time to get back into the SBT labyrinth. Hopefully tomorrow. I do appreciate, very much, everyone's responses.

audiocr381ve

stretchl wrote: »

I'm sorry that I've been away from this thread. I've been slammed and (though I've found time to argue lens sharpness in another thread...go figure...) I've not had time to get back into the SBT labyrinth. Hopefully tomorrow. I do appreciate, very much, everyone's responses.

You're welcome And go check back in to the thread, updated with comments and pics haha

stretchl

I've decided to start with a completely new iTunes library and build from there.

What's happening right now is that some songs/artists/albums/playlists are showing up and some, many, are not. There seems to be no rhyme or reason whatsoever to it, so I'm guessing there's some gremlin in a line of code somewhere in the Library and the SBT doesn't like it.

The device seems to have enormous potential. I'm counting on the fact that it may live up to its potential and committing to rebuilding a decent size library from scratch.

At least, with this method, I can see where things start to go wrong, if they do, rather than guessing as to why a particular album from a particular artist simply fails to show on the SBT.

I will update the thread with progress, in case it can help others who use the unit.

tonyb

Please my friend, before you reload your whole library, go back and read up on the threads on how to download music, what to use, proper settings. I know Itunes is somewhat easy, but you still have to make some minor setting adjustments.

stretchl

ambiophonics wrote: »

Are all your audio files in the same format? mp3, wav, flac, etc...

No. Some of them are MP3, some are Apple Lossless.

Whether or not they show up on the SBT seems to not be affected by the file type.

stretchl

tonyb wrote: »

Please my friend, before you reload your whole library, go back and read up on the threads on how to download music, what to use, proper settings. I know Itunes is somewhat easy, but you still have to make some minor setting adjustments.

I have to re-upload most everything anyway, as most of it is MP3 and I want as much of it as possible to be Apple Lossless.

rooftop59

Even though I do not use iTunes, I am guessing that this all comes down to a tagging issue. If the music isn't tagged properly, the Logitech media server will have trouble keeping it organized even though media monkey (what I use and highly recommend - well worth the 25 bucks), or whatever player you use keep it organize just fine. When you re-rip your music, be sure that itunes is tagging everything properly and sending it all to one mega-folder (which it what it does by default). Your playlists will then be in that same folder.

Good luck. It can be a pain but the ability to sit your arse on the couch (or chase your three tiny children as the case may be) while scrolling through your entire library on your phone is priceless and worth the pita.

tonyb

Itunes will tag them all for you, make sure you choose lossless in the setup and error correction is a choice, or should I say double edged sword. No error correction means a better transfer, faster too. Though it is good for those older cd'd with scratches when turned on. With it on, it doubles your download time so be prepared.Once all of your music is in Itunes, do nothing more, let the SB know to grab anything from Itunes and create playlists and save them in the SB software, not Itunes itself.

If you want to open up your world, subscribe to a music service such as Rhapsody for 10 bucks a month and get access to millions of songs, movie soundtracks, comedy, etc.

stretchl

I HATE THIS THING!!!!!!

I have a master's degree in multimedia journalism. I teach multimedia at a tier one research university. I've been using Macs since 1988.

But I REGRET spending $200 on this damnable Logitech device.

I've created a new iTunes Library. The songs I'm uploading to my computer from the original CDs seem to be showing up, however...

In the list of "Playlists" on the SBT, in addition to the Playlists I've created there's an item called "Music," within which is a list of every song in the library.

Anyone know how do get rid of this?

heiney9

iTunes is not easily compatible with non-apple stuff.

Stop blaming the device when it's the interphase that is the issue.

Dump iTunes and it's interphase of buy an Apple product that is 5X the cost so you can use your iTunes.

I HATE iTunes

H9

heiney9

stretchl wrote: »

Anyone know how do get rid of this?

Dump iTunes.

H9

heiney9

Probably should have done your homework before buying and now bashing a unit that everyone but you seems to love.

vcwatkins

I agree re dumping iTunes. Have you tried Media Monkey?

nwohlford

I have never had any problems with it finding songs using it with a Mac with lossless files imported through iTunes, but I don't use playlists on it except through Spotify.

The networking stuff can be a little maddenning when dealing with a non-conventional network, but honestly that is true of most add on devices.

The one thing that drives me mad is that I can set it to organize albums just by albums, but it still considers it a different album if the artist is different for a particular song. (This can not just be an iTunes problem, since my Sonos could figure this out.)

tonyb

I use Itunes on a Windows machine with my Sonos, not a single issue, flawless. Has to be something in the setup process the OP isn't doing right. How about some step by step guide for the man from you other SB owners instead.

heiney9

Not from me. Don't use iTunes and probably never will.

Good luck to the OP, I realize how frustrating it can be when something should work w/o issues. Just don't start posting all over the place about how crappy the unit is. It's not fair since 99% of the people here who have them don't think they are crappy.

H9

stretchl

heiney9 wrote: »

Not from me. Don't use iTunes and probably never will.

Good luck to the OP, I realize how frustrating it can be when something should work w/o issues. Just don't start posting all over the place about how crappy the unit is. It's not fair since 99% of the people here who have them don't think they are crappy.

H9

Appreciate your pointing that out for the third time.

stretchl

heiney9 wrote: »

Stop blaming the device when it's the interphase that is the issue.

H9

Correction.

Four times

stretchl

Possible solution -

1) Uninstall iTunes

2) Uninstall the Logitech Media Server

3) Remove ALL related files from Lion's "hidden" user libraries, caches, application support folders, etc., etc. (Here's how to find those hidden files: http://osxdaily.com/2011/07/22/access-user-library-folder-in-os-x-lion/ )

3) Reinstall iTunes

4) Create a new Music

4) Reinstall LMS

6) Update SBT to latest firmware

7) Let the Playlists Folder default to /Users/stretchl/Music/Playlists I tried typing this in manually yesterday and it wouldn't take. But by using clicking on ADVANCED SETTINGS in the SETTING tab of the LMS it seems to default to the proper folder.


So far, I've uploaded three CDs to the new iTunes library and created two Smart Playlists and everything seems to be copacetic.

Thank you for everyone who contributed constructive advice.

And for the rest of you...



...wait for it...




THANK YOU, TOO!

stretchl

Just to continue updating this thread in case someone else runs into these issues -

I tried integrating my old iTunes Library to the new one and everything went to hell, at least in the sense that new playlists wouldn't show up. I suspect there's a corrupt file or a stray line of code somewhere in that Library and the SBT doesn't like it.

So I again deleted everything and have started from scratch.

The one thing I've done differently this time is that I've not downloaded the Logitech Media Server, choosing instead to use Logitech's online server setting interface. Maybe it will help to keep things simple if I only have one place to tweak the settings, and the web based interface seems to provide a greater number of options than the LMS.