[aos]

I just got an iHP-120 and from some posts around the web it looks like there's a free database builder (builds the database from tag files that is used to browse by artist/genre etc.) that will do the job much better than the iriver's manager but I cannot find anything with google. And of course Head-Fi search feature goes awol again (forums without search feature are really a little more than a glorified chat room). I only found a red chair software tool, irivium manager which looks cool but is $25. So, is there such a tool?

 

[Big D]

Go to Misticriver for the answers to your questions.

 

[aos]

Thanks, I was looking for that kind of forum. But still nothing in the software section. I'm going to go through forums and see if they are talking about something there. For wav files the database is useless anyway.

 

[vish]

Go to the Iriver support for H100 series players at the link..
http://www.iriveramerica.com/support/H100.aspx

There is a link for "MoodLogic H Manager". Download and install it. It builds
database for you and is more robust than the database builder software that came with the player.
vish

 

[aos]

That's the first one I downloaded as I didn't receive any software with the player. It did work, kind of, but it missed a large number of my files, almost all of them actually. Supposedly it now allows more than 52 chars as long as they're 3v2 tags but that still didn't work for me as expected even though 95% of my files are 3v2. In the end I found some freeware but it renames the filenames so it's not ideal. Actually, one freeware renames but fails to build the database while the other fails to rename but builds the db properly. Combine them and it all works.

 

[Big D]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aos That's the first one I downloaded as I didn't receive any software with the player. It did work, kind of, but it missed a large number of my files, almost all of them actually. Supposedly it now allows more than 52 chars as long as they're 3v2 tags but that still didn't work for me as expected even though 95% of my files are 3v2. In the end I found some freeware but it renames the filenames so it's not ideal. Actually, one freeware renames but fails to build the database while the other fails to rename but builds the db properly. Combine them and it all works.

Why don't you tell us what you are using? That paragraph is agonisingly vague.

There are 3 programs other than Moodlogic and the iRiver manager that create the database and add ogg, wma, mp3 files:

iHPTool

This will show you which files are too long and which have no tags by the two playlist files it creates in the iHPTool folder (toolong and notag).

iRipDB

This is a command line database creator with no real options and it doesn't tell you the files which are too long or have no tags. Compatible with Linux though.

Tag Database Tool

This is quite customisable and will rename your files to <52 characters when adding them to the database and will also create a .bat file that will reverse the process if you want to in the future. It can be told not to rename if you don't want to. It's all in the instructions.


Just a point but Moodlogic does not allow you to play filenames >52 characters in length or which have folders >52 characters in length.

 

[aos]

First I use tag database tool which does rename files (with reversible .bat) but it fails in the second phase while trying to create the database, complaining about an error reading some mp3 file (like td5.mp3) which doesn't exist anywhere on the system (the name of the mp3 sometimes varies as well). So I have to run another tool - iHP tool? the one with the GUI anyhow - which will accept all now shortened filenames and create a proper database. On their own neither tool will work. Also, 52 char limit was supposed to be removed as of last week or so according to some posts I've seen on iriver forums, but only if you use 3v2 tags. Unfortunately it still doesn't work for me so I'm not sure if that is some kind of beta that's not officially released.

By the way the unit is troublesome both on my windows 2000 computer as well as on my windows xp pro laptop. On XP I cannot get the drive to show in the explorer, or it gets there for a split second then goes away. If you manually type the drive letter in the url bar then it works but it still never gets displayed in the left pane navigation. I have this sometimes with my portable hdd unit too - seems to be a bug in windows xp. Also, trying to properly disconnect the unit by ordering the device to stop through the tray icon doesn't work more than half of the time, even with all the windows refering to the drive closed, so you're forced to just unplug it anyway (this happens with iPod on win2000 as well, even though it's firewire, but much less often).