AIFF files will not play on iPod, will on iTunes

[Gale_Andrews]

@ohjeans

I stumbled onto a fix for this. I used a USB turntable to record my vinyl records into Audacity, then “export Multiple” to turn them into AIFF files. When I loaded the new AIFF files into my iTunes, all was well. However, when I loaded the files from iTunes onto my iPod, the files appeared in the lists, but would not play on the iPod.

Thanks for the input. Can you please identify your iPod from this list iPod - Wikipedia ?

@ohjeans

However, by coincidence I also had used iTunes to make playlists of each newly-loaded album and had burned each to a CD. So what I did was re-load each just-burned CD into iTunes, OVERWRITING the files I had just used to create the CD in the first place.

Yes, that is one of the fixes because iTunes creates a new AIF when you import the CD, assuming your import settings are set to import files as AIF.

If you had not burned a CD, you could have right-clicked over the problem file > Create AIF version to create a new “fixed” version of the file.

@ohjeans

For the very first album I converted, I did not use Open Metadata Editor, and instead typed in the album name, genre and other metadata one track at a time as I “exported multiple.” The files for this first album played just as they ought to when loaded for the first time onto iPod. For every subsequent album, I used Metadata Editor BEFORE exporting multiple, and no files for those subsequent albums would play on iPod without first going through the burn-a-cd-and-overwrite fix described above.

Do mean you hid Metadata Editor for the export step in Preferences? In the “fixed” 2.0.4-alpha I tried entering the metadata before export and hiding and not hiding Metadata Editor, but the exported files still have the added space if the metadata has an odd number of characters.

@ohjeans

My version of Audacity is 2.0.3 running on Windows 7

OK. If you can, please test this 2.0.4-alpha build gaclrecords.org.uk which contains the fix. Be sure to quit 2.0.3 before running 2.0.4-alpha.


Gale

[audio_pete]

Downloaded 2.0.4
Opened saved Audacity projects of my original tape to digital projects: Cursin’ Classics, Bluegrass tape, and Tommy.
Did multiple aiff export
Added to iTunes library
Synched to my iPod Classic
All played fine.

Did the same for the Testaiff tone file
It also played fine.

Thanks for fixing my iPod Classic ; )

Too bad it did not fix that Windows IFF file utility Riff-pad : (

Now I need to find time to work the project I was practicing for.

[Gale_Andrews]

Thanks for testing.

The crazy thing is if it wasn’t for Riffpad and Robert (or finding some other app that had the same bug) it would have been hard to find out the change to accommodate your old iPod.


Gale

[audio_pete]

Question 1:
If I bought a “new” iPod Classic today
which would be identical to my “old” iPod Classic
what would you call my iPod?
http://www.apple.com/ipodclassic/
besides junk?

Question 2:
I know the code change “fixed” Windows IFF file viewer utility Riff-pad,
so why not mention this in the release notes.

I know you do not like Apple or Apple products
but please try to drop the 'tude,
it can get in the way of improving Audacity.

[Gale_Andrews]

@audio_pete

Question 1:
If I bought a “new” iPod Classic today
which would be identical to my “old” iPod Classic
what would you call my iPod?
iPod touch - Official Apple Support

Perhaps it was sixth generation if you bought it from Apple. Here is the word from the horse’s mouth: Identify your iPod model - Apple Support

You can distinguish the iPod classic from the iPod (5th generation) by the last three digits of the serial number. The iPod classic serial number’s last three digits will be one of the following: Y5N, YMU, YMV, and YMX.

@audio_pete

Question 2:
I know the code change “fixed” Windows IFF file viewer utility Riff-pad,
so why not mention this in the release notes.

Because that text already took two lines up and no-one except seekers of iPod bugs would (or should) be using RiffPad.

@audio_pete

I know you do not like Apple or Apple products
but please try to drop the 'tude, it can get in the way of improving Audacity.

If so, why do we make releases for OS X? I’m currently the only active person on Audacity Team who builds Audacity on Mac - we could badly do with some Mac developers.


Gale

[Robert_J_H]

@audio_pete

Question 2:
I know the code change “fixed” Windows IFF file viewer utility Riff-pad,
so why not mention this in the release notes.

I know you do not like Apple or Apple products
but please try to drop the 'tude,
it can get in the way of improving Audacity.

It hasn’t fixed Riff-Pad. I’ve stumbled over the product by mere chance and I don’t know if there’s any development going on anyway. It has been created to view the MS pendant to AIFF files and I’ve not tested if it has the same problem with little endian files.

I am not averse to Apple in particular. I am disposed against all big ones that try to obtrude their way of life onto their customers by monopolizing and and creating open or hidden selling networks.
Google, Face book or Microsoft are just as bad. they do lack the necessary transparency in their business doings.
I love Audacity because it is literally open to anyone without advertising us to death. What’s more important, it is fairly accessible to visual impaired people. Commercial products are simply discarding us in this regard. It costs some thousand francs to make an professional audio work place accessible in addition to the expensive pro-software (a friend of mine is blind and she works as moderator for our No. one radio station and has experienced just that).
I’ve grown up with Apple products (Apple II and the classic Macintosh). Without their innovative thinking, we wouldn’t have mice, windows and a lot of other user friendly things. I am nevertheless happy when non-commercial products hit notches into the money and power oriented big business alliance.

[audio_pete]

@Gale Andrews

@audio_pete

Question 1:
iPod touch - Official Apple Support

Perhaps it was sixth generation if you bought it from Apple. Here is the word from the horse’s mouth: Identify your iPod model - Apple Support

You can distinguish the iPod classic from the iPod (5th generation) by the last three digits of the serial number. The iPod classic serial number’s last three digits will be one of the following: Y5N, YMU, YMV, and YMX.

Gale

It was bought in 2009, box says 2009, it has 160 GB, model MC297LL,
last serial 9ZU, Version 2.0.4 Mac
I think it is the same as you can buy today.

So I think it is same as new.

My other ipod is old, very old
but I only did 1 test on it, at the very end.

[audio_pete]

from IFF specs
http://code.haskell.org/~thielema/iff/spec/IFF-EA-spec.html

Alignment

All data objects larger than a byte are aligned on
even byte addresses relative to the start of the file.
This may require
padding. Pad bytes are to be written as zeros, but don’t count on that when reading.

This means that
every odd-length “chunk” (see below) must be padded so that the next one will fall on an even boundary.
Also, designers of structures to be stored in chunks should include pad fields where needed to align every field larger than a byte. Zeros should be stored in all the pad bytes.

Justification:
Even-alignment causes a little extra work for files that are used only on certain processors but allows 68000 programs to construct and scan the data in memory and do block I/O. You just add an occasional pad field to data structures that you’re going to block read/write or else stream read/write an extra byte. And the same source code works on all processors.
Unspecified alignment, on the other hand, would force 68000 programs to (dis)assemble word and long-word data one byte at a time. Pretty cumbersome in a high level language. And if you don’t conditionally compile that out for other processors, you won’t gain anything.

IFF likes EVEN
Audio IFF likes EVEN
[in hindsight] Is not a big secret.

It is old stuff that still works.

[Gale_Andrews]

@audio_pete

from IFF specs
http://code.haskell.org/~thielema/iff/spec/IFF-EA-spec.html

Would be nice if RiffPad and old iPod followed that wouldn’t it:

If ckData is an odd number of bytes long, a 0 pad byte follows which is not included in ckSize.

Gale

[audio_pete]

audio_pete’s pluuuleeelese notes:

Enhancements
An earlier version of Audacity created custom metadata chunks for AIFF files to be used in high end audio editors.
These additions created issues for non-IOS iPods, a Windows IFF file reader and some older versions of Mac audio editors. These applications tried to read the additions as standard AIFF files but could not. Changes to the structure of the new chunks allow these applications to process the new AIFF files.

the way I see it YMMV

Adios amigos

[Robert_J_H]

@audio_pete

audio_pete’s pluuuleeelese notes:

Enhancements
An earlier version of Audacity created custom metadata chunks for AIFF files to be used in high end audio editors.
These additions created issues for non-IOS iPods, a Windows IFF file reader and some older versions of Mac audio editors. These applications tried to read the additions as standard AIFF files but could not. Changes to the structure of the new chunks allow these applications to process the new AIFF files.

the way I see it YMMV

Adios amigos

You’re right in that the current release notes do not reflect the issue in its entirety. But we have this ~120 posts long thread that tells the truth.
Who knows if not one will produce a docu for the history channel in a hundred years? Applology, Part Two - Pads, Pods and Phones under the big little i.

[Gale_Andrews]

@Robert J. H.

@audio_pete

audio_pete’s pluuuleeelese notes:

Enhancements
An earlier version of Audacity created custom metadata chunks for AIFF files to be used in high end audio editors.
These additions created issues for non-IOS iPods, a Windows IFF file reader and some older versions of Mac audio editors. These applications tried to read the additions as standard AIFF files but could not. Changes to the structure of the new chunks allow these applications to process the new AIFF files.

the way I see it YMMV

To be clear, Audacity was following the standard you linked to (we were not adding anything). It was old iPod and buggy apps that were not following the standard. Those buggy apps (or rather you) convinced us to add a space that the user did not enter in their metadata in order to appease the buggy apps.



Gale