The most recent version of MusicBridge (2.0) is covered at:
http://jrmwillis.googlepages.com/
Please visit that site for the most up to date information and downloads. Please do NOT download the version at Downloads.com as there is a bug which may affect you, until Downloads.com updates the version you can download this from the page above.
Thanks,
James
MusicBridge allows people who use both iTunes and WMP on the same machine to keep their libraries in sync. MusicBridge offers a variety of synchronization options so that you can manage your music collection in either media player or both.
Originally developed to handle the problem that although WMP can play AAC files with the correct codec it does not read any of the tag information.
Please make sure you read this thread before using, it is useful. I am attaching the latest version (currently 1.6.2) to this first post. Please also read the new README when you install it.
README
Music Bridge will make changes to your media libraries and meta tags in files. Be sure to make backups of all files and libraries before using this application.
I make no guarantee as to the quality or reliability of this software and cannot be held responsible for any damage that may occur as a result of using it
==========================
COMMAND LINE INTERFACE
musicbridge <action>
where action is one of:
-AlliTunesToWMP Syncs ALL DATA from iTunes to WMP
-AllWMPToiTunes syncs ALL DATA from WMP to iTunes
-AlbumArtToiTunes syncs album art from WMP to iTunes
-AlbumArtToWMP Syncs album art from iTunes to WMP
-iTunesRatingsToWMP syncs iTunes ratings to WMP
-WMPRatingsToiTunes syncs WMP ratings to iTunes
-iTunesRatingXMLExport Exports iTunes ratings to an XML file
-iTunesRatingsXMLImport Imports iTunes ratings from an XML file created by export
-synciTunesPLToWMP Syncs iTunes playlists to WMP
-syncWMPPLToiTunes Syncs WMP playlists to iTunes
If you want playlists to include Smart/Auto playlists add an additional parameter "-SmartPL"
If you want to use date criteria use the following parameters followed by a space and then a date:
-SourceAddedDate
-SourceModifiedDate
-DestinationAddedDate
-DestinationModifiedDate
NB you can only use one SourceX and/or one DestinationX in any given execution
Case is important for all parameters.
The action must be the first parameter, other than that order does not matter.
Examples:
musicbridge -synciTunesPLToWMP -SmartPL
musicbridge -AlliTunesToWMP -SourceAddedDate 9/10/2005 -DestinationAddedDate 01/01/2004
musicbridge -AllWMPToiTunes -SourceModifiedDate 4/4/04
musicbridge -iTunesRatingXMLExport
Version 1.6.2 October 21st 2006
Change History:
Attempted to make MusicBridge run on Windows Vista. As Vista is still in beta I don't
plan an elegant version, just one that works. I found that I could only get debug builds
to run with any level of reliability. Therefore this is a debug build, which should make
no real difference to you other than being a little bigger maybe. I also added some error
reporting but nothing that has been too much use to me yet.
Added error reporting
Currently in debug build
NOTES FOR VISTA USERS
I had to take the following actions to get MusicBridge to run successfully on Vista
- Turn off WMP auto downloading information unless you are not interested in transferring album art from iTunes
- Delete all files with a name that starts AlbumArt_{ This again is only needed if interested in transferring iTunes album art
- Set MusicBridge to run in WinXP SP2 compatibility mode
- Set MusicBridge to run as Administrator
- Set iTunes to run in WinXP SP2 compatibility mode
By setting these options this version of MusicBridge did an iTunes to WMP All Data transfer of around 14,000 songs.
There were about about 10 songs that failed to be correctly tagged. Interestingly all were m4a
files produced from store bought m4p files.
Additionally I saw a series of errors on compilations, but it still seemed to tag them OK.
MusicBridge was not perfect on XP and it is not perfect on Vista, but it seems to be working
well for now. When I can get my hands on a WMP 11 SDK I will take another look at it.
Version 1.6.1 October 4th 2005
Changed command line behaviour so that application always exits after execution
Added date criteria to command line input
Playlist "Purchased" no longer gets synced from iTunes
Command line input now works as described here:
Version 1.6.0 September 19th 2005
Added an output log that writes the output information from the most recent action to C:\MusicBridgeLog.txt
Ratings update in both directions will not update if the rating has not changed
Basic command line interface has been added and works as described here.
Currently MusicBridge will remain open after execution unless the parameters are wrong in which case it will close.
WARNING!!!!
If you use the Command line interface you will be offered no warnings or dialog boxes, execution will start immediately.
Version 1.5.5 August 29th 2005
Playlist sync in both directions now asks if you want to sync Smart/Auto Playlists
Added an exclusion so that the iTunes "Podcasts" playlist no longer gets synced
Changed output text area behaviour so it continues to refresh and never fills up
Version 1.5.4 August 12th 2005
Playlist sync in both directions no longer syncs Smart/Auto Playlists
Known Issues:
It seems that the change to the text area in 1.5.3 did not have the desired effect of removing the character limit. I will be looking into this at some point. In the mean time if you have a very large library you might see that box stops updating, this does not mean MusicBridge has stopped.
Version 1.5.3 July 27th 2005
Added "Destination Added Date" Functionality.
IMPORTANT: Covers now sync when using Sync From iTunes All Data functionality
Changed output box to not have a character limit
iTunes rating export no longer depends on song being in WMP library as well
Version 1.5.2 April 19th 2005
Fixed bug where sync all from iTunes would clear iTunes ratings and not set WMP ratings
Fixed multiple warnings when syncing playlists to WMP
Fixed bug where buttons were not re-enabled after sync playlists to WMP
Added error message when no match found in WMP when syncing playlists to WMP
Improved (a little) memory usage
Version 1.5.1 March 10th 2005
Fixed existing error that sync covers to WMP was ignoring date criteria
Version 1.5 March 8th 2005
Added functionality to sync playlists in both directions.
Added functionality to deal with compilations when doing an "All" sync in either direction.
Imported WMP playlists have some weird problem where ratings don't seem to show up.
Version 1.1 February 26th 2005
Added functionality to export/import iTunes ratings to an XML file to help people with the same iTunes library in multiple locations manage ratings.
Added radio button that allows user to revert back to no date criteria state
If a ratings export fails or you push the stop button, the lock on the XML file does not get released.
Music Bridge attempts to help people who use both iTunes and WMP10 (Mainly for Windows MCE users) keep their libraries in sync.
NB If you want to play AAC files in WMP I suggest the codec from 3ivx.com
There are numerous applications that already do this, I wrote my own because then I could tailor it to my needs and I'm offering it in case it's of use to anyone.
For Music Bridge to be of any use to you, your iTunes and WMP libraries must be pointing at the same physical music files (AAC, MP3 etc.)
Music Bridge has the following functionality:
1: Sync the following data (noted as 'all' in the application) From iTunes to WMP
Artist,
Name,
Album,
Album Artist (uses iTunes Artist field),
Rating,
Year Released,
Genre,
Track number
2: Sync just ratings from iTunes to WMP
3: Sync the following data (noted as 'all' in the application) From WMP to iTunes
4: Sync just ratings from WMP to iTunes
5: Copy covers from WMP to iTunes when a folder.jpg file is available in the album folder of the current file
6: Export iTunes ratings to an XML file. This file can then be moved to another computer that has a copy of the music library and imported
NB The file must be placed in the root of the c:\ drive for import.
NB The import match is based on the /album/track.mp3 part of the path this allows for import where the library is identical but the path to the library is different
7: Sync Playlists to WMP. This includes all playlists such as "Smart" playlists. It will empty an existing WMP playlist before updating.
8: Sync Playlists to iTunes. This includes all playlists such as "Smart" playlists. It will delete an existing iTunes playlist before updating.
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All functions (except playlist sync) can be restricted by date criteria as follows:
Date the source file was added (WMP & iTunes) or modified (iTunes only) in the source library
AND
Date the destination file was modified (iTunes only)
Unfortunately WMP will not let me write the track length to the library, so those of you using AAC files in WMP will have to live with the fact that it cannot tell how long the file is until it opens it.
I have run this on my full music collection (10,000 songs) on my MCE as the final test. All functions worked as expected.
===========================================================================================
jrmwillis@hotmail.com
DOWNLOAD:
http://www.download.com/3000-2141_4-10530688.html
or
http://www.orbitfiles.com/download/id971378206 (until about 11/5 when Cnet should have the new version up)
1.1 version.
Added the ability to export iTunes ratings to XML on one machine and import them into a similar library on another machine.
Cool, much nicer than mine.
One feature request - can you make the album art two way? (iTMS songs have album art in, and I find WMP's album art finder to be, er, cr@p, and prefer to use the iTunes apps instead).
Did you actually try out any of the functions? And more importantly did they work as expected?
I probably should add it the other way, I didn't because the WMP API doesn't really handle the art, I would have to use a file system object to put a folder.jpg file there. No biggie, just didn't get around to it yet.
Also poses another question. It seems to me that WMP10 handles artwork a little better than WMP9. From my tests it always adds a folder.jpg file. However there was some weirdness with 9 that might still be in 10 with those damn GUID related files. I haven't tested it enough to know that if I drop artwork called folder.jpg in a folder that already has GUID.jpg files which it will read.
I'll try and investigate...
Regarding iTunes Music Store files, you won't be able to play these in WMP anyway because they are DRM'd... Unless you rip the art out, burn to CD, re-rip and add the art back in...?
The iTunes COM interface has a direct command to save the Album Art as a jpeg - check my code if you like.
There are more direct (and quality loss free) ways of removing the DRM from a bought iTMS song, but you can probably end up in Guantanamo Bay for explaining how. Google is your friend.
Yeah, I just thought about that when I woke up this morning! Duh. I guess folder.jpg is the way to go, who knows what all those other image files are for...
Wow - works fantasic. Is there a good freeware app that can automate this in the background? Say to
1. Run program
2. click buttons
3. close program
I used to know some but can't remember for the life of me and all are shareware now.
IS there ANY chance of getting playlists from iTUNES -> WMP also with this app??? If so I will personally send you $20 cash
steve
Glad it's working for you. Out of curiosity which features are useful to you?
Hmm, I'm not a big playlist person so hadn't considered that, but off the top of my head I don't think it would be very difficult. No money required.
So far I have the following features lined up:
1: Copy iTunes covers to a folder.jpg file in the album directory
2: Add playlist sync
The ratings and playcounts seem to work perfectly.
The playlists would be fantastic. Being able to automate the sync every night would be the best