*************
**
** EphPod
**
**
** by Joe Masters
** joe@swig.com
** http://www.mentaljewelry.org/
** http://www.trentsoft.com/


[-] More Info...

This file is really only up to date with the history.  Read the help file for more info.

[-] What is Eph? How do I pronounce the name of this program?

Eph: the mascot of my alma mater, Williams College (http://www.williams.edu/)

Pronounced EEF.


[-] Thanks

* The Apple iPod on Linux homepage was mucho helpful: http://neuron.com/~jason/ipod.html
* Brett for making the EphPod icon look way better
* Christian Petersen for the new look!

[-] Contact Me

If you have any questions or comments or anything like that: joe@swig.com



[-] Version History
2.77: +Added Make Playlist from Subdirectory option
      -Fixed bug with copying playlists to the local drive not having the correct file extension

2.76: +Reading more values correctly from iTunesDB now, including Song Rating, Play Count, and Audible bookmark information
       (Note: This information can't be edited at present, but it is at least preserved properly by EphPod now,
              and that's probably all EphPod will do with it) 
       (Also Note: this is probably true only for 3G iPods with firmware 2.1, although I'm not positive)
      +EphPod respects the iTunesLock file now
      +EphPod no longer destroys SmartPlaylists.  It can't do anything smart-playlisty with them, but
       iTunes will keep them recognized as SmartPlaylists, so using your SmartPlaylist-enhanced iPod
       won't be de-hanced by EphPod.      

2.75: -Stupid bug

2.74: +Added cool mp4v2 tag library thanks to Dave Mackie and Alix Marchandise-Franquet and Poikosoft.
       Please email me at joe@swig.com for the source code to this great library and Jukka's dll project
       for it.
      +Added support for spaces at the beginning of id3 tags
      +Added "no duplicate songs in a single playlist" check
      +Added "Create Singles" option and corresponding "create singles on sync" checkbox option
       This takes all songs that are in albums with N or fewer songs under the Album, and files
       them all under a single album name of "Singles"
      +Added "Album View" to left side.  Unclear as to why this was so requested, but there it is.
      +Added "Write DB Info to ID3 Tags" routine that will refresh your MP3s' ID3 tags from the iTunesDB Info
      +Added 5 InitCap features to do nice reformatting (i.e. ROCK -> Rock and THEY might bE GiAnTs -> They Might Be Giants)
      +Allow for putting syncdirs.dat anywhere (stored in registry)
      +Added "Randomize Playlist Entries" option
      +Added option to delete songs from device when removing individually from a playlist
      +Added option to "Add EphPod to iPod Manager" so EphPod comes up when you connect your iPod.
      +When copying songs from iPod to local drive, no more making the .1 files if the file already exists
       it just won't copy if the file already exists.
      +Added %M for "Composer" in the naming convention blocks.
      -Fixed bug in "always ask for drive" code that now will actually always ask for a drive
      -FINALLY fixed the "Artist gets overwritten in Unicode by previous Unicode artist name" bug  

2.73: +Added new sorting routines for Playlists (Filename, Track+Filename, File Date)
      -MP4 double-sync floating point bug disappeared...?
      -Fixed WAV files bug (now they get sent over again)
      -Fixed loss of playlists bug

2.72: +Added .mp4 extension support
      -Fixed "losing bookmarks with audible files" bug
      -Fixed bug with appending .mp3 again (only applied in obscure circumstances before)
      

2.71: +Added support for "Adding Songs" tag info in the directory structure
      +Added option to turn on/off id3v1 tag reading, so now you can force everything into
       reading tag info from directory structure, which may be faster
      +New Reading Routines
      +"Send Playlist(s) to Top" option added
      +No longer trimming spaces from either side of id3v2 tags      
      +Now reading "time header" for mp4 files -- should be the correct time
      -Fixed bug in id3v2 tag reading that limited track numbers to 255 or less
      -Now Trimming right spaces on copy to folder
      -File size sorting fixed to do it by size and not by character
      -Fixed "copy to folder" bug that appended .mp3 to everything
      
      

2.70a:+Added support for m4a/m4p (mpeg-4 audio) files.  Tagging as done by Apple is supported.
      +Added "Delete playlists not in sync directory" option
      +Decreased timeouts for downloading news and weather
      +Support for cascading track numbers when quick-editing multiple rows
      -Fixed tab order, cosmetic, focus, etc (general ui) bugs
      -Stopped stripping spaces from title tag

2.60:+Actual EULA included with software.  Retroactively effective.     
     +Support for displaying 20 gigs in size on the progress screen     
     +Audible.com file support (audible file formats 2, 3, and 4) (firmware 1.2+)
     +TrentCal added for editing vCalendar files on iPod (firmware 1.2+)
     +Auto-Renaming scheme added, so no more overwritten files
     +Tab Orders, Tab Stops improved on the Contacts, Config, Tag Editing forms
     +Windows API routines now update the progress form
     +Cosmetic fixes
     +Reset Column Widths feature added
     +WinAmp playlists support now works with forward slashes in addition to backslahes
     +EphPod playlists now separated from other playlists by starting with "+"
     +Support for relative paths in playlists
     +Selection problems with Songs Grid fixed
     +Saves "Modify id3 tag" form preferences
     +Added quick-key for editing track number
     +Numerous cosmetic fixes with the String Grid
     +Added support for auto-save on exit
     +Now makes sure that Artist case is consistent for all of your songs
      (this slows stuff down a little, so you can turn the option off)
     +Added Search-and-Tag function to select all songs with common text
     +Copy Playlist(s) to Directory feature
     +Contacts now auto-fix the spacing problem introduced by Palm Desktop
     +Added support for Composer Tag
     -Fixed playlist reordering bugs
     -Deleting songs bugs fixed (headers disappearing, grid not updating properly)
     -Stupid bugs gone
     -Dropped Outlook support in favor of recommending OutPod (http://outpod.stoer.de)

     +Support for Volume Adjustment, Start Time, Stop Time added to EphPod.
      Set Start Time by right-clicking in the song view.
     +Works with newly restored Windows iPods *without* deleting iPod_Control directory.
     ~No longer truncating filenames
     -Bug where some songs not playing on iPod fixed
     
     

2.50:+Internationalization: Now features EphPod in Spanish, French, Japanese, Swedish,
      German, and Jive
     +Normalization of MP3s through MP3Gain (included with EphPod, and available from
      http://www.geocities.com/mp3gain) - Just right-click on a song and choose
      "Adjust Volume"...
     +Added iPod Updater by podtronics to update the firmware.
     +Added "Make Playlist for Each Directory Added" for those of you who want more
      playlists made automatically.  (Check Regular Options)
     +Added "Make Special Playlists" on sync command to make genre, recent, and orphan
      playlists on every sync.
     +Added "Make Playlist From Recent" to make playlist of songs added in the past X days
     +Added "Save Song List to CSV" function that saves the current songs listed in the
      song list to a CSV file.
     +Added flexible renaming of songs copied from iPod
     +Added new set of keyboard shortcuts (CJ's keys) for a more "windows standard" feel
     +Added "minimum number of songs" specification for playlists made from genre/playlists
     +Added "Sync and Quit" option
     +New "Add Playlist" button
     +Support for MusicMatch playlists
     +Support for iTunes 3
     +Improvements of Sync Directory Selection.
     +Minor Bug Fixes

2.35:+Includes Help File and Context-Sensitive Help now
     +Option to delete corresponding songs when deleting a playlist
     +Built-in Weather Downloading
     +You can now change the iPod Drive in Configuration (in case you select the wrong one)
     +EphPod now saves column sizes so you can fit everything on one screen.
     +Misc. Cosmetic Changes
     -Fixed Synchronization bug with having directories that recursed
     -Playlist Synchronization should work now.

2.31:+Get Outlook Contacts now supports Mobile phone number, Notes field
     +Support for VCard carriage returns added
     +Now will create missing iPod directories on startup
     -Deleting Contacts bug fixed
     -Canceling make playlist from selected now won't make a blank, empty playlist
     -Bug when adding only songs that existed on iPod fixed
     -Toggling Include Subdirectories in sync folder selection fixed
     -Misc. cosmetic changes

2.30:+New way to select directories to Sync
     +Sync now checks filesize
     +Sync Option now allows removing songs from iPod that aren't in the sync directories
     +Follow ShortCuts in Directories now allows you to follow shortcuts when syncing and
      adding songs from directories
     +Added Option to Export Outlook Contacts to iPod
     +Support for Unicode id3 tags installed (making Windows work with non-UTF8 characters
      may require updates to Windows)
     +Support for news "slurpers" -- programs that can download news/weather/movie listings/stocks/
      directions/etc to text files.  Try http://sitescooper.org/ for a cool free one.
     +Supports multiple VCards in one .VCF file now
     +Manually saving (using File->Save) will now clear the "Recent" list
     +Supports blank playlists (for separators) now
     +Added a filesize verification feature to "check exist" and renamed to "Verify Database"
     +Allows auto-saving of id3 tags when using the quickedit options (F2-F6)
     +Support for WAV files added.
     -Synchronizing Playlist bug fixed
     -Drag and Drop songs to playlists now orders correctly (instead of in reverse)
     -Negative percentages and MBPS in transfer screen finally fixed
     -Allows other programs to read MP3s while copying them now
     -If Downloading crashes, it now properly resets the status
     -Sort by Album for playlist ordering now uses proper numeric sorting
     -Editing and Deleting songs no longer screws up the display/sorting in the Song View
     -Add Playlist from File from the right-click menu now works.
     -Fixed small cosmetic errors     

2.20:+Works fully with iTunes now (songs will display in iTunes)
     +Working with PlayList boxes is now much more intuitive (multi-selection and deletion,
      more intelligent drag-n-drop, etc)
     +Upgraded Song List box now has better support for drag-n-drop
     +Sort Songs in Playlists By Name
     +Sync now has option to synchronize playlists (m3us) in sync directories
     +You can now sort by multiple columns in the song list by shift-clicking
      on secondary and tertiary columns by which you want to sort
     +Supports Playlists with non-alphanumeric characters
     +Probe iPod for Lost Music now checks more than just the FXX directories
     -Saving Database on Exit should now never result in the blank-iPod bug
     -Fixed bug when trying to copy from a read-only volume
     -Updates Total Progress Bar properly when some of your songs exist
     -Fixed problems with selecting subdirectories automatically in the Sync Configuration
     -Fixed Ampersands display in dialog boxes
     -Fixed writing-to-last-specified-directory bug (F19 never written to)
     -Fixed sorting problems with song grid (file date, file size)
     -Fixed assorted small cosmetic bugs
     

2.15:+Better handling of text files as Contacts
     +Better formatting for news downloads
     +Option to Include Year of Song in Song Title
     +Option to Boost Song Length by 5 seconds (for those MP3s that are trashed at the end)
     +Allows Multi-Select with Contacts so you can delete several at a time.
     +After Delete, remembers where you were.
     -Refreshes to Recent Files instead of to Contacts.
     -Errors with not writing full database out every time hopefully fixed again
     -When copying files, now you can't mess around with the database in the background.

2.10:+Contacts Editor (first shot at this, so be gentle)
     +News Feeds (also first shot)
     +New Config Screen look of Tabset
     -Took another shot at fixing the floating point errors
     -"No Album" Copy To Directory function error fixed

2.00:+New Look by Christian Petersen
     +New Features to go along with look (lots of little things)
     +Rudimentary "Synchronize" Feature (it'll get more full-featured soon!)
     +Version Management for later multi-lingual support
     +Checks to see if MacDrive is set up properly
     +Doesn't change views all the time on save / delete anymore
     +Select All function on the right-click menu for Songs (Also Ctrl+Alt+A)
     +Deselect function on right-click menu for Songs (Also Ctrl+D)
     +Gridlines On/Off Config Option
     +Turn On/Off Track Number Prompting in Add Songs
     +Play Playlist Feature
     +Re-arranged Config Screen
     +New iPod FAQ v.4
     +New Bug Reporting System: Visit http://bugs.ephpod.com (Thanks to Ellis Rahhal!)     
     -Possible fix to "Invalid Floating Point Operation" with internal copying routines (?)
     -Fixed F6 edit comment changed Genre
     -Fixed display of negative numbers in copying routines 
     -Fixed Copy Songs to Folder bug that screwed up with illegal folder characters

1.45:+Drill-Down Renaming in ListBoxes on Top
     +Quick-Editing of fields keeps default in field; Properly figures out OK/Cancel
     +Double-click songs in the playlist song box to make them show up in the big songbox
     +You can now use the F-keys for QuickEditing songs in the playlist song box
     +Changed Shortcut to rename playlists to F2
     +Confirmation on Deleting Playlist
     +Jump Around in Song List by hitting A-Z keys (by whatever column you've sorted by)
     +Brought back right-click (and if you hit INS) option to add selected songs to selected playlist
     +Delete All Playlists Option
     +F6 quick-edits Comments field
     -Fixed Drag-n-Drop songs drops in reverse order bug
     -Christen iPod + Cancel bug fixed
     -Maybe fixed some drag-n-drop scrolling problems
     -Fixed not-saving-database-properly-when-all-songs-not-shown bug

1.40:+SongBox drill-down view allows you to view songs as they appear on your iPod
     +"Recent Songs" listing allows you to see only the songs you've added this session
     +"Go to Playlist" option in playlist view to tie Playlist View to Song View
     +New StringGrid that allows resizing columns, gets rid of scrollwheel bug
     +Saves Column sizing information
     +Launches associated program to play MP3s on double-click
     +Only allows one copy running at a time
     +Warns about overwriting files on copy
     +Allows "No to All" and "Yes to All" on overwrites
     +Allows you to use the Internal copy routines or Windows API copy routines
     +Allows you to specify buffer sizes for internal copy routines (128kb->4mb)
     +Checks to see if files exist on the iPod (Tools menu)
     +Remove duplicates in the Song database (Tools menu)
     +Made all forms screen-center instead of desktop-center
     +Column Sorting is done intelligently
     +Make Playlist from Album now includes artist name
     +Sped up probing iPod for lost music
     +Wiped Playlist View (Moved up to iPod view)
     +Changed Playlist Storage Mechanism
     +Includes the iPod with a PC FAQ by Michael Richmond
     -Fixed buffer underruns (i.e. nothing showing up on the iPod) by double-copying the database
     -Fixed "Make Playlists from Album" bug where album name was the name of one of the songs
     -Doesn't include non-existant songs in iPod database
     -Strips illegal characters from filenames constructed from id3 tags
      (on "copy to folder")
     -Autoscrolling on Treeview fixed (I hope)

1.30:+Drag-n-Drop now accepts folders and playlists
     +id3v2 tags now take precedence over id3v1 tags
     -Fixed Access Violation if you hit delete with no playlists existing
     -Fixed Error when creating playlists if you had no playlists existing
     -Cleaned up some more iTunes incompatibility issues

1.25:+Information on iPod space available added
     +Checks available disk space on iPod before copying
     +Drag-n-Drop Songs to Song List from Explorer, WinAmp, etc.
     +Switched MPEG-reading library to one that can better detect Duration and VBR.
     +Duplicate-checking on making and adding playlists
     +No longer collapsing playlists all the time
     -Changed "High-Ascii" check to just consider < 32 and 255 as "bad" characters
      (For all songs with accents on letters, etc)
     -Removed pausing option; it wasn't doing anything
     -Fixed bug in saving ID3 tags to file
     -About Box should now fully appear in XP

1.22:+Keeps track of files not added
     +New Copy Routines - Should stop lockups after transferring tons of files
     -Stupid Bug with Batch-Editing fix (Now the F3-F5 batch editing should work)
     -High-Ascii characters in ID3 tags were screwing things up, so I'm stripping them now.
     -Periods in filenames seemed to screw things up, so I'm stripping them now.

1.21:+"Preserve Filename" truncates to the Macintosh 31-character limit
     +Batch editing of Title/Album/Artist/Genre by F-keys
     +Sped Up Probing
     -Disappearing Songs bug should be fixed (no longer checking to see if songs exist)
     -Ignores files that don't end in .mp3
     -Censors the pipe-character out of strings now (caused some problem with the iPod)

1.20:+More status information when adding a lot of songs
     +Probe iPod for Lost Music Tool
     +Will correct database inconsistency with interrupted uploads
     +Can turn off reading ID3v2 Tags if wanted
     +Wipe iPod Clean Option
     +Saves Program Position/Size
     -Should now work with iTunes if you use EphPod on a virgin iPod
     -Highlighting problems with the Playlists
     -Index Out of Bounds Error on dragging songs to playlists
     -Control Button with Drag 'N Drop works better now.

1.15:+Supports ID3v2 Tags now (will save to ID3v2 if the tag is ID3v2, otherwise defaults to ID3v1)
     +Add New Playlist Option (with control-n shortcut)
     +Will load song information from directory structure if ID3 tags are missing
     +Speedup of loading / saving database (Hopefully)
     +Drag and Drop Songs into Playlists
     +More information in the Wizard

1.1: +Copy Songs from iPod to any directory
     +Allows canceling long processes (try to avoid doing this during a rebuild)
     +Add Files from Directory option
     +Make Playlist from Genre Options (For all Genres and for a Specific One)
     +Edit "ALB: " and "GEN: " prefixes to playlists made from Album and Genre
     +Allows mixing up of where we write the files to (F00 - F??)
     +Allows you to preserve the MP3 filename when it's copied over to the iPod
     +Allows you to avoid saving database when you quit (if you mess up editing playlists or whatnot)
     +Saves database every time you add or delete song(s) (in case of a crash)
     +F2 to edit playlist names now
     +"Edit Tags" is now also in right-click menu
     +Checks to see if songs exist on database load (if not, removes song from database)
     +Checks to see if songs listed in playlists exist in the database (if not, deletes from playlist)
     -Bug that tried to save ID3 tags every time you hit a key in the Songs Box
     -Bug that Automatically Scrolled Playlists Box
     -iPod doesn't like playlists that start with non-alphanumerics, so I check for that.
     -Bug with Rebuild feature that assumed the wrong filename
     -Now keeps out non-MP3 files (Sorry if you *really* wanted to put WAVs on there, but, if
      you were... that's silly!)

1.0: +Add Songs without ID3 Tags Now; Allows you to edit them as you add songs; includes nifty memory
     +Edit ID3 Tags and Database Information by double-clicking on a Song
     +Quick-Edit Name, Artist, Album, And Genre ID3 tags and DB information by hitting F2-F5 keys
     +Use Drag 'N Drop to Re-Order Songs in a Playlist, or even move songs to different playlists
     +Use Drag 'N Drop to Change the Order of Playlists
     +"Make Playlist From This Song's Album" feature in the right-click menu of the Songs
     +Rebuild Database Option; attemps to recreate playlists
     +Remembers which row / sorting was in place whenever you add songs
     +New Polished Icon from Brett!
     -Stupid bug that would overwrite some of your songs (and use duplicate IDs)

0.95:+Added Christen iPod Feature
     +Added "Make Playlists From Albums" Feature

0.91:-Fixed "Failed to Create Directory" Bug
     -I finally figured it out -- the first "playlist" needs to be a list of all of the songs.
      Otherwise the iPod doesn't seem them in its main list. (DUH!!!)

0.9: +Connection Wizard
     +Add Playlists (and automatically add all the songs associated with a playlist)
     +Rename Playlists
     +Make Playlist from All Songs
     +Add Songs to Selected Playlist
     +Right-Click Options on the Grids (no need to use menus now)
     +more graceful handling of no-id3 tag files
     -Fixed bug with adding songs to empty database

0.81:+Automatically adds at least one playlist (All) -- maybe this will fix problems?
	-- if there are no playlists
     +New About Box
     -New DB Option resets filename (duh)

0.8: +Delete Songs from DB (but not physically)
     +Delete Playlists and Playlist items
     +New DB Option
     -Stupid List Index Bug

0.7: +Add Songs feature
     +Save iTunesDB to File

0.5: Starting Keeping Track


[-] Testimonials

"Last night I wasted an entire evening literally fighting with XPlay to interface with my shiny new iPod.  After 4 hours of trying every
trick in the book, I was ready to throw in the towel.  To make matters worse, I was under the misconception that XPlay was the only
game in town.  Lucky me, someone had a comment regarding EphPod in the XPlay forum...  and the rest is history.

I made my way to your download site and about 30 minutes later I was very happily loading up my favorite tunes on my new iPod.

Bottom line:  EphPod is the ultimate iPod PC Solution.

Thank you for sharing your hard work with so many thankful users!"


"After fooling around with XPLAY, which screwed up my ipod and forced me to
return it, I came across your EphPod software and went to buy a new ipod.  In
about 5 minutes, as fast as my computer could install the software, my ipod was
usable with windows.  I did not have 1 problem.  I don't know why anyone would
waste even a second dealing with the software from media four.  You may even
want to try and sell your software to them and put their programmers out of
their misery."


"Okay, I find this a bit ironic . . .

I've played around with several MP3 players.  Diamond
Rio 500, RCA Lyra, Nomad Jukebox, Classic XP3, and of
course the iPod.  And what was the best software for
any of these?

EphPod.

And which has had the best support?

EphPod.

Keep up the great work!"


"Mr. Masters, your software is unbeleivable.
I thought I was doomed to leech off my mac friends when I saw the state of XPlay.
Your software is my saviour.
Thank you for your coding [and for being generous]"

"Your program is  mucho mas better than Media 4's.  Nice."

"Thanks for writing this excellent piece of software.
I tried Xplay first and it just screwed my iPod after crashing in mid
transfer. With the help of your site's advice and your software i'm now in
fully working order.
Very cool."

"Just some positive feedback and a quick word of thanks.  I have over 500
songs loaded on my iPod using MacDrive 5.02 and Windows XP Professional.

Keep up the great work!"

"Hi Joe:

Just thought I'd report my experiences to you (and the others). I have 
an AMD T'bird 1.4Ghz with a Pyro Firewire card (uses TI chipset) running 
WinXP.

I had endless trouble using the variour releases of XPlay. MacDrive 
doesn't have a trial version for XP and I wasn't prepared to buy it 
because I had a feeling that if XPlay didn't work on my hardware, 
MacDrive wouldn't either, given they are the same technology.

 From your website I followed the MacOpener link, downloaded it, 
installed it and it ran flawlessly the very first time. With it running, 
ephpod had no problem coming up, finding my iPod and working perfectly. 
One observation (and I can only speak for my particular setup): After 
ephpod had supposedly written to the ipod and exited I disconnected the 
firewire cable a few seconds later. WinXP popped up a dialogue box 
(thanks Microsoft!) to tell me that a "delayed write" had failed. I 
reconnected the iPod, reran ephpod's write, waited a few minutes, 
disconnected, and all was well. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a 
way to tell when the PC has finished writing to the iPod in the 
background. Ah well, minor annoyance indeed!

Wow, what a blast. I'm ecstatic. ephpod is the greatest! Who needs (or 
wants) to use Windows Media Player? Thank you Joe for an awesome effort. 
I can't wait to see what future relases will bring."


"'My god...It works!', is what I exclaimed as I was actually creating a 
playlist on my iPod for the first time without the help of my friend SLOOBER 
(Creator of the iBay, incidentally) and the use of one of his Macs. After I 
installed it and got it running I was amazed. Its far from being an iTunes or 
Windows Media Player, but it never claims to be. Its simple, well put together 
and adds some features that were really needed, (ie. Making play lists by genre) 
and some other features including letting you rename your iPod. Before I get too 
into it…. Just get off your Windozin’ asses and goto Joe Masters site at : 
http://www.mentaljewelry.org/ and click on the Ephpod link."

"EphPod has saved my life! My XPlay implementation kept corrupting the
iTunesDB and causing me to lose access to *all* my songs. EphPod restores
them instantly."

"thank you very much for EphPod!!!!!
those guys at Xplay... trashed my iPod twice with some shitty writes....
had to run to a mac shop to rebuild the whole thing...
now I just transferred about 300 songs.... added.... and deleted some...
with no problem...
really .. marvellous!!!!!"

"I'm so overjoyed to have like a brandnew iPod with ephpod to put songs and playlists!"

"I can't mail you without express you how grateful I Am about your programms 
that make my iPod at least worth-value since I bought it for christmas... 
You really do a great job that I think a lot of people highly appreciate."

"Great program! The first thing that really works for me!"

"this program rules!"

"Awesome!!!!"

