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MusicBridge ReadMe

The best tool to synchronize between iTunes and Windows Media PLayer

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
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REQUIREMENTS

iTunes 7+
WMP 11+
Windows XP, Vista
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DESCRIPTION

MusicBridge attempts to help people who use both iTunes and WMP keep their libraries in sync by updating information in one application and then duplicating
that data to the other application using MusicBridge.

For MusicBridge to work both WMP and iTunes must be pointing at the same set of files in the same location on your hard drive and those files must be
playable in both applications. MusicBridge does not copy or move any music files from one application to the other. Additionally iTunes, WMP and MusicBridge
must all be running on the same machine.

Music Bridge has the following functionality:

1: Sync General Data From iTunes to WMP

Artist,
Name,
Album,
Album Artist,
Rating,
Year Released,
Genre,
Track number,
Album Art

2: Sync just ratings from iTunes to WMP

3: Sync General Data from WMP to iTunes

Artist,
Name,
Album,
Album Artist,
Rating,
Year Released,
Genre,
Track number,
Album Art

4: Sync just ratings from WMP to iTunes

5: Copy Album Art from WMP to iTunes when a folder.jpg or an album art 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 following folder C:\Users\yourUser\AppData\Roaming\JimbobSoft folder 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. You will be offered the option to include playlists such as "Smart" playlists. It will empty an existing WMP playlist before updating.

8: Sync Playlists to iTunes. You will be offered the option to include playlists such as "Auto" 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 added (WMP & iTunes) or was modified (iTunes only) in the destination library

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NB If you want to play AAC files in WMP I suggest the codec from 3ivx.com

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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

Additional options:

-IncludePlayCount Includes the play count data in the chosen sync
-OverwriteAlbumArt This option will overwrite all destination album art even if it already exists

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 -OverwriteAlbumArt
musicbridge -AllWMPToiTunes -SourceModifiedDate 4/4/04 -IncludePlayCount
musicbridge -iTunesRatingXMLExport

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Version 2.0.1 September 16th 2007

Change History:

Fixed a bug where mismatched iTunes and WMP libraries would cause mismatched information copying.

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Version 2.0.0 July 9th 2007

Change History:
General rewrite to work correctly on Vista
Updated to .Net 2.0 framework
Updated threading to be threadsafe with .Net 2.0
Added IncludePlayCount option to include play counts in syncs
Added OverwriteAlbumArt option to force overwrite of destination artwork
Improved logging and changed location to ~ApplicationData\JimbobSoft\MusicBridgeLog.txt
Added support for iTunes 7 album art tag

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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.

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Version 1.6.1 October 4th 2005

Change History:
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:

musicbridge <action>

where action is one of:

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
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Version 1.6.0 September 19th 2005

Change History:
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.

musicbridge <action>

where action is one of:

If you want playlists to include Smart/Auto playlists add an additional parameter "-SmartPL"

musicbridge -synciTunesPLToWMP -SmartPL

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.
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Version 1.5.5 August 29th 2005

Change History:
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
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Version 1.5.4 August 12th 2005

Change History:
Playlist sync in both directions no longer syncs Smart/Auto Playlists
Added an exclusion so that the iTunes "Podcasts" playlist no longer gets synced

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.
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Version 1.5.3 July 27th 2005

Change History:
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
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Version 1.5.2 April 19th 2005

Change History:
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
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Version 1.5.1 March 10th 2005

Change History:
Fixed existing error that sync covers to WMP was ignoring date criteria
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Version 1.5 March 8th 2005

Change History:
Added functionality to sync playlists in both directions.
Added functionality to deal with compilations when doing an "All" sync in either direction.

Known Issues:
Imported WMP playlists have some weird problem where ratings don't seem to show up.
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Version 1.1 February 26th 2005

Change History:
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

Known Issues:
If a ratings export fails or you push the stop button, the lock on the XML file does not get released.
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