iPods not syncing/mounting??

[zach.1]

Hello, I'm new to the forums and Kubuntu/linux in general and am having a lot of problems with ipod support. I've searched around the net, but can't seem to find anything that solves the problem, so I've come here to see if anyone could help me out. I hope this is in the right spot, there's an awful lot of subforums!

I'm having a lot of issues trying to connect and sync any of my iDevices. I can mount and see two different iPod nanos (one 4th gen the other 2nd gen) in the various media players I've tried (Clementine, Amarok, Banshee) but when I move tracks over to the iPod, it says that it's copying files and the iPod says that it's syncing, but when I try to access them on the actual device, it doesn't see them at all and there are no added tracks. gtkPod works with the 2nd gen one but not the 4th gen.

The other issue is with the iPod Touch (2nd gen) which doesn't mount in any way. Kubuntu doesn't seem to see it at all, as there is no popup and nothing mounted.

There's no error messages with either issue, it just doesn't do anything.

Thanks for any light you can shed!

[oshunluvr]

Re: iPods not syncing/mounting??

First thing to check is dmesg.

Open a terminal, run dmesg, then plug in your device, run dmesg again and see if it says anything.

can't help you with actual syncing - I don't have any apple products.

[zach.1]

Re: iPods not syncing/mounting??

Do I just type dmesg? I did that and it gave me a tonne of output and I'm not exactly sure what I'm supposed to be looking for.

Out of curiosity I ran df with the iPod touch plugged in and there was a file system called ifuse that was the right size for the ipod, but it was mounted in /tmp/kde-balesfamily/amarok/imobiledevice whereas other devices are mounted in /media/. Could that be the problem?

[oshunluvr]

Re: iPods not syncing/mounting??

dmesg compiles the latest system messages. The reason I had you run it twice is the see if there is any new output immediately after you plug in the offending device. In other words - look at the difference of the before and after results and post that if there is any.

If there is no difference at all it means your device is not connecting, which is way different than not mounting correctly.

[SteveRiley]

Re: iPods not syncing/mounting??

Out of curiosity I ran df with the iPod touch plugged in and there was a file system called ifuse that was the right size for the ipod, but it was mounted in /tmp/kde-balesfamily/amarok/imobiledevice whereas other devices are mounted in /media/. Could that be the problem?

Do you have the package ifuse installed? Actually, let's look for all related packages:

$ dpkg --get-selections | egrep -i 'fuse|pod|phone'

[zach.1]

Re: iPods not syncing/mounting??

dmesg compiles the latest system messages. The reason I had you run it twice is the see if there is any new output immediately after you plug in the offending device. In other words - look at the difference of the before and after results and post that if there is any.

If there is no difference at all it means your device is not connecting, which is way different than not mounting correctly.

Oh, I see, that makes sense. There appears to be no new output when I attach the touch, unlike when I attach the other ipods.

Do you have the package ifuse installed? Actually, let's look for all related packages:

$ dpkg --get-selections | egrep -i 'fuse|pod|phone'

Okay, I ran this and I got the following:


fuse-utils install
gtkpod install
gtkpod-data install
ifuse install
libfuse2 install
libgpod-common install
libgpod4 install
libgpod4-nogtk deinstall
libgtkpod1 install
libpod-plainer-perl install

[SteveRiley]

Re: iPods not syncing/mounting??

Like oshunluvr, i don't have any iDevices that I can test. I found an older post on the OpenSUSE forums that describes certain problems, seems like some versions of the libs don't update the iPod databases correctly. If no one here on KFN has iPod experience, you might check on the Ubuntu forums.

[oshunluvr]

Re: iPods not syncing/mounting??

With the touch plugged in, what's the output of lsusb

[zach.1]

Re: iPods not syncing/mounting??

Like oshunluvr, i don't have any iDevices that I can test. I found an older post on the OpenSUSE forums that describes certain problems, seems like some versions of the libs don't update the iPod databases correctly. If no one here on KFN has iPod experience, you might check on the Ubuntu forums.

Okay, thanks to that link I can now mount the touch to my home directory and sync files with gtkPod, however I have to manually mount and unmount every time, is there a way to automatically mount it?

With the touch plugged in, what's the output of lsusb

It shows the the touch.

So, basically, I've almost got this fixed (and for that you guys are my heroes ) the only thing I need now is a way to automatically mount the touch.

[SteveRiley]

Re: iPods not syncing/mounting??

When I Googled for "automount ipod touch ubuntu" the first result was Ubuntu's PortableDevicesiPhone page. Sounds like you might need to do just a bit more exploration to get that last feature working for you.

Wish I could be more helpful...so far I've managed to keep my life iFree. Can't wait for the PSP Vita to reach the US...I'm bored with my PSP-1, haha.

[zach.1]

Re: iPods not syncing/mounting??

What have you found works for mp3 players with linux? I've read a lot about various things working/not working, but a lot of the pages were 3 or 4 years old.

[SteveRiley]

Re: iPods not syncing/mounting??

I don't rely on synchronization procedures, because they all demonstrate varying degrees of brittleness. My general procedure for music is this:

1. Find something I like
2. If CD/DVD, rip to FLAC (lossless codec)
3. Move files to server in downstairs closet
4. Enter metadata, download art from somewhere, and allow it all to index
5. If new files are FLAC, run a script that encodes to AAC for my PSP
6. Plug PSP into PC, drag-drop MP3 or AAC files with Dolphin

It's actually less work than what you might think. Mostly it's entering metadata -- I'm obsessed with correct and consistent formatting of composer/artist/group/genre/year/albumart. I don't care about star ratings at all. I keep files organized in folders that simplify transferring to the PSP: if I bought a new Tiesto album, for instance, once I enter the metadata and the script finishes the encoding, I pop the "trance" MemoryStick into my PSP and do a one-time drag-drop. QED, really.

[zach.1]

Re: iPods not syncing/mounting??

I don't rely on synchronization procedures, because they all demonstrate varying degrees of brittleness. My general procedure for music is this:

1. Find something I like
2. If CD/DVD, rip to FLAC (lossless codec)
3. Move files to server in downstairs closet
4. Enter metadata, download art from somewhere, and allow it all to index
5. If new files are FLAC, run a script that encodes to AAC for my PSP
6. Plug PSP into PC, drag-drop MP3 or AAC files with Dolphin

It's actually less work than what you might think. Mostly it's entering metadata -- I'm obsessed with correct and consistent formatting of composer/artist/group/genre/year/albumart. I don't care about star ratings at all. I keep files organized in folders that simplify transferring to the PSP: if I bought a new Tiesto album, for instance, once I enter the metadata and the script finishes the encoding, I pop the "trance" MemoryStick into my PSP and do a one-time drag-drop. QED, really.

If steps 2-5 were skipped it would be very simple, haha. So presumably, any player that works like a flash drive would work in the same drag and drop fashion?

[SteveRiley]

Re: iPods not syncing/mounting??

Steps 2 through 5 are actually the outcome of years of refinement. My first portable music device (excluding cassette Walkman, hah) was a CD player that knew how to read MP3 files. So I ripped all my CDs directly to MP3.

Then I replaced that with -- ugh -- an iPod v.1. Not knowing any better, I re-ripped all my CDs again. When my iPod resolutely refused to give up its stupid little sad face after getting banged around too much in my backpack, I got a Toshiba Gigabeat and re-ripped everything a third time. When I decided to consolidate devices, the Gigabeat went to my son and I use my PSP for gaming, music, and movies.

Halfway through that process, it dawned on me that there has to be a better way, and I began investigating. This is where I learned about lossless codecs and how valuable they are for creating your reference library -- you need to rip only once. Because there's no information loss, you can very easily move from one lossless format to another. Indeed, I've already done this: I began with .WMA lossless (I was a Microsoft employee at the time, heh). It was very easy to convert all that to FLAC last year.

Now that I have a reference library in place, and one that's easy to maintain and grow, introducing new content or even new media players is a cinch. Steps 2 through 5 are a 10-minute process for a new CD. Recovery is similarly quick: if I loose my "happy hardcore" MemoryStick, it's a one-step drag-drop to copy the AAC versions onto a replacement, since I keep both the lossless FLAC files and the encoded AAC files. If someday I decide to switch devices, and the new device doesn't support AAC, I can fire off a script to encode from FLAC to new-file-format and just let that churn for a few hours.

So presumably, any player that works like a flash drive would work in the same drag and drop fashion?

Sitting here typing these messages has made me realize that it takes longer to describe the process than to just do it! However, the point you make is rather important: players that present themselves as simple flash drives provide a lot more flexibility in how you build and manage your music collection.

[zach.1]

Re: iPods not syncing/mounting??

Wow, very interesting, thanks for sharing. As crazy as I am about organizing/backing up my music I'm surprised I've never thought to look into lossless formats. Cheers!