Windows software that uses "Stars"

No, not yet. The problem is that the playcount and rating function are turned off--they're aren't functional (even though you can still access the rating screen). Apple turned this off for the winpod, but in the future (when itunes for windows is available), they will probably be enabled. In which case, programs like Media center 9 and Itunes for windows will be able to use them. I doubt mmjb ever will have that capacity though...

Originally posted by bdjohns1
I was reading something on the GTKPod site that indicated one of their developers reverse-engineered the info about song-rating and playcounts in the database and they got it working. I took a look in my WinPod (in ipod_control\Itunes\Play Counts) and there's definitely some data in there. I'm going to poke around in mine a little bit tonight and see if the data actually updates at all.

Ok, following up to myself. I played around with repeatedly playing the first track in my database over and over and noted a few things:

1) On the WinPod, it is definitely keeping track of playcounts, last time played, and star ratings. However, it seems like this information is always lost once you've connected and disconnected your iPod. So, Ephpod or your software of choice will have to read the data on open, then rewrite it when you close down.

2) Playcount only seems to be updated if you reach the end of a song. Listening to even 30-45 seconds doesn't count.

Originally posted by ashawley
[B]Yeah, this has been researched by a bunch of folks bd.

The problem is, that the minute the iPod is connected to the PC, the playcount file is cleaned out so there's no way for any program to get the data. Apple could have done this differently by having the file get deleted/re-created upon unmount but they didn't do that.

Actually, on my box I was able to catch it if I went into Explorer immediately after the iPod was mounted (ie ~10 seconds)

My first thought would be to have EphPod launched before you mount the iPod, and have a listener waiting for the iPod to show up. When it sees it there, it snags the Play Counts file. I'll take a look at the gtkpod source and see how it works.

Kurt is absolutely right, but I must warn you, never trust a man who adores foccacia, and absolutely run as fast as you can from a man who can actually spell it correctly...

I commend you on your quest for the Holy Grail of ipodness, let us know how it going periodically, and beware of killer rabbits...

**Disclaimer: I myself do not adore foccacia, nor know how to spell it. The spelling was pinched from Kurt's avatar over at the Jriver forum. Everyone beware of Kurt, the maniacal bread fiend that he is...

Originally posted by c.c.r.
bdjohns1,

This is, indeed, a noble quest that you are embarking on. All who have gone before you have failed. Failed to the point where the only logical alternative is that "Apple has turned the ratings and playcount/playdates off" is the only line of reasoning.

If you can make it work... make it work WITHOUT having to install a "hacked" or "alternate" firmware onto the iPod itself... make it work only with software on the PC...

Well, sir, you'll be a hero.

Enough of my motivational speaking... get a-coding!! :D

Ah, if only I knew how to write code in Windows. Asides from a little CS in college, I'm not too sharp. I can read the code enough to know what's going on, but that's the extent of my skills. I did review the code that gtkpod uses to read playcount data, but I haven't reviewed how/if the Linux version manages to keep the information preserved. Ok...well, my g/f hasn't called me back yet, so let's take a look at the gtkpod source.

file.c - If I'm interpreting the code/comments right at a look-see, it appears that gtkpod keeps a local version of the iTunesDB file and Play Counts file handy. It also uses a file called iTunesdb.ext for extended information, but I haven't figured out exactly what. Once it's got a copy, if it sees a song which had a rating and last-play time now zeroed, it overwrites them with its backed up data, then writes that to the iPod.

I'd suggest the EphPod developers play around with it, but that might mean they'd *have* to GPL it. (but would that necessarily be a bad thing?)

Originally posted by dmt1
Hmm...Looks like you spelled it correctly...I'm getting VERY concerned...

But in that same vein:

bdjohn, before we will help you on your quest, you must bring us a.......focccacia!

Sorry...don't have any foccacia :)

How about a 30-pound box of Philly cream cheese? :D

bdjohns1:

Do you have a link to the site you're looking at? Just wondering if maybe we could shot that off to Steve at JRiver for him to have a look-see.

Unless, Kurt, you know that he's tried this before and run into the "hacking firmware" issue...

Adam

Otto,

Excellent Research. My understanding then is that you can get information from the iPod, but could never add that information back to the iPod, so that the iPod itself could use that information.

MC9 already makes use of stars and playcounts locally, but as of right now doesn't take any of that information from the iPod. They're going to look into it, and hopefully we'll then be easily able to update the MC9 stats from the iPod.

Rob

Originally posted by Otto
OH, okay, now I see.

The Play Counts file is cleared when: You Undock the iPod and then play a song. I've confirmed this through experimentation, to my own satisfaction.

I think the reasoning behind this is that it's only designed to show you what has happened since it was last docked. That is, since the last time you docked the device to a computer, the play counts file will tell you the last time you played every song, how many times you played each song, and any ratings you have given that song via the iPod.

In this way, iTunes (or whatever program) can update it's own counts and ratings and such accordingly.

What gtkpod is doing is keeping it's own copy of the database, and then adding to it. So if you change any star ratings, the next time you dock, it updates it's ratings from your iPod, adds the play counts to it's own data, etc, etc.

So there you go. You can't use the Play Counts file to store your data, you can only use it as a counter since the last time you docked up. No big deal though, because I figure you could keep a file on the iPod itself to store totals and all the ratings and things of that nature.

I'll work on it. Maybe I can make an easy way to make playlists like "5 star songs" and such.

Excellent! Thanks for putting in the legwork to figure out the specifics and get some code together!

I think we need to get this code over to the EphPod coders. Really, all they need to do is parse the data, and just add in rating, playcount, and last-played time columns. Then I'd be happy as a clam :)

Nice catch there John! :D

Turns out that what happened was w/the release of 2.0.1 Apple changed it so that this file was in fact being written to on WiPods. I've checked it on 2.0 and it's not written to on the old version.

Silly us, not to check it when the release came out...

Adam