What's the best way to play iTunes Library?

[norburban]

I've had SageTV running for about a week now and still have a lot to learn. What's the best add-on for iTunes Library & Playlist support?

[PGPfan]

I'm not sure there is a way via Sage. One of the major downsides to iTunes (or most things Apple) is the way that they lock down everything to maintain control of 'their' content. As such, I don't use iTunes so I'm no expert on it.

I think there is a company called "Double Twist" that makes software to 'free up' iTunes, but I have no idea how Sage would fit into all that.

-PGPfan

[norburban]

There are several programs for various platforms that are able to play MP3s out of iTunes libraries and playlists. Galleon for TiVo is a good example. The plugin only needs to read the XML file that contains playlists and song library. Simplify Media taps into iTunes as well.

[Brent]

I export my iTunes playlists into SageTV. And them play the music from SageTV. It isn't integration with iTunes but it gets you mostly the same thing in the end.

[SWKerr]

I converted my Music Library to all AAC m4a files with itunes awhile back. Most players will support this format and I have found it to work better in Sage and on all my different players. Sage reads the music library and the tag information just fine.

The xml playlist files are not compatiable with Sage but like Brent I create and maintain my playlists in iTunes and then convert them to m3u playlists. Sage and the Zune player will both read these without issue. The whole process is relatively painless.

When I used XBMC for music it had the ability for awhile to interact with iTunes but Apple shut it down. Apple does not like to play well with others. (Don't know why) I would not invest much time in something that they may elect to crush at some point. Just exporting the xml playlist is easy and works well. No need to do anything special with the library just map your itunes library with sage.

[norburban]

Thanks for the tips! I'll give it a try this week.

[Sparhawk6]

Why is sage not seeing my playlists? I export my itunes playlist as a .m3u file, refresh my imported media, and the playlist doesn't show up anywhere in the playlist list. What am I missing?

[SWKerr]

Sage can be picky about the structure of the m3u. It seems to want the path completely defined or it will not import it. Some exports do not do this.

I use:
http://www.ericdaugherty.com/dev/itunesexport/

One of the last options is to define the music folder prefix. I explicitly put in my music folder path.

Mine will look like:
#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:300,The Alarm - Knife Edge
\\KERRMAIN\Music\Music Library\The Alarm\Strength\01 Knife Edge.m4a
#EXTINF:166,The Alarm - Strength
\\KERRMAIN\Music\Music Library\The Alarm\Strength\02 Strength.m4a
#EXTINF:91,The Alarm - Absolute Reality

Also: Once Sage reads the playlist it will not continue to update it. You will need to delete it in Sage before it will update even if you change the m3u file that originally imported.

Hope this helps.

[Sparhawk6]

Originally Posted by SWKerr

Sage can be picky about the structure of the m3u. It seems to want the path completely defined or it will not import it. Some exports do not do this.

I use:
http://www.ericdaugherty.com/dev/itunesexport/

One of the last options is to define the music folder prefix. I explicitly put in my music folder path.

Mine will look like:
#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:300,The Alarm - Knife Edge
\\KERRMAIN\Music\Music Library\The Alarm\Strength\01 Knife Edge.m4a
#EXTINF:166,The Alarm - Strength
\\KERRMAIN\Music\Music Library\The Alarm\Strength\02 Strength.m4a
#EXTINF:91,The Alarm - Absolute Reality

Also: Once Sage reads the playlist it will not continue to update it. You will need to delete it in Sage before it will update even if you change the m3u file that originally imported.

Hope this helps.

SWKerr,

Thanks for the advice, but I still cannot get Sage to import my playlist. Here is how it currently appears:

#Playlist: '1My Top Rated' exported by iTunesExport (Flex) http://www.ericdaugherty.com/dev/itunesexport/
\\Rob\mp3\Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band\Forrest Gump The Soundtrack (Collectors\2-17 Against the Wind 1.mp3
\\Rob\mp3\Ne-Yo\In My Own Words\10 Sexy Love - Ne-Yo - Ne-Yo.mp3
\\Rob\mp3\Supertramp\The Very Best of Supertramp\13 Give a Little Bit - Supertramp -.mp3

When I hit "Refresh Imported Media", I don't see the playlist under my "Playlist" section of the Media Player. Very frustrating.

[Sparhawk6]

Well, I managed to great a very small playlist (2 songs) in iTunes that Sage found. The main playlist I am trying to export has 469. I suspect that somewhere in there there is a problem that sage doesn't like. Apparently Sage is very picky about what playlist it will import. too bad.

Is there anyway I can see WHY Sage won't import a particular playlist? Like a debug or logging feature?

[Brent]

I'm in the process of updating the playlists on my HTPC server and have to say, Music is the number one weakness for SageTV now that SageTV7 seems to have addressed most of my other, main issues.

I'm preparing a list of "bug" reports to submit and playlist importing/management are top on that list.

For instance, I exported several playlists from iTunes into m3u files. None of them imported into SageTV. The way it should work is the way playlists import into Sonos - I took those same playlists and mp3 files and imported into Sonos with zero problem - and the playlists update each time your Sonos music library is indexed.