Re: itunes
Doug Knox MS-MVP
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"///" <@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:26AE432F-5A1B-4EB0...@microsoft.com...
> is the itunes upgrade download free or is their a hitch?
John Lockwood
26AE432F-5A1B-4EB0...@microsoft.com, "///"
<@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> is the itunes upgrade download free or is their a hitch?
If you are referring to just the standard iTunes software from Apple then
such questions are not relevant to this newsgroup.
If you are referring to upgrading the iTunes module for MCE 2005 as provided
by HP on their Media Center computers then such software is only for use on
said HP computers and upgrades to that software are a free download from the
HP website.
However don't bother, I (briefly) tried the HP iTunes module and it is
awful. You are far better off setting up Windows Media Player to access the
iTunes music library. This requires you to make sure your music is in a
format WMP can play (which might mean installing an additional codec for
WMP), for example you could use AAC in iTunes and install CoreAAC to allow
Windows Media Player to play AAC format music tracks.
It is also possible (although tedious) to add the album art to WMP. WMP will
not read the embedded art used by iTunes.
Once you have done all this, the music will show up and work in MCE just
like you would expect.
Cheers, John Lockwood
Jago@discussions.microsoft.com Rebecca Jago
have an Imac G5 which has my (pretty large) music collection on it in itunes.
My children's laptop can curently access the music on my mac from their
laptop running itunes for PC. We are now thinking of buying a Media Center PC
for the family room, which I want to use to play music including the music on
my mac. I am having an ethernet network installed, so all computers can be
networked. However, when I spoke to ELonex (possible supplier of a MCE pc)
they said that MCE pcs wouldn't recognise/use itunes at all. Is the
installation of CoreAAC straightforward? I am by no means a techy. It took me
way out of my comfort zone to network my two macs via the router! Any advice
much appreciated, inc recommendations on decent MCE pcs that won't break the
bank!
Thanks
Rebecca
Dana Cline - MVP
within Media Center itself. Why? Something called DRM, Digital Rights
Management, and the fact that Apple won't license theirs to anyone. Your
best bet is to take that huge iTunes collection and burn them to CD. Then
you can rip those CDs into MP3s, which all players and software recognize.
Dana Cline - MCE MVP
"Rebecca Jago" <Rebecca Ja...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:D041042C-173F-4E53...@microsoft.com...
John Lockwood
D041042C-173F-4E53...@microsoft.com, "Rebecca Jago" <Rebecca
Ja...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
As Dana mentioned this will only work for unprotected tracks (ones not
bought from the iTunes Music Store). If you want to use iTunes purchased
tracks you will first need to burn them to an Audio CD, and then re-import
them from the CD back in to iTunes.
Regarding recommendations for an MCE PC, you could use one of the new Intel
Macs (e.g. an iMac 24 inch) and set it up with BootCamp and MediaCenter. By
the way, Elonex have gone bust, see
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2006/06/13/elonex_throws_in_towel/
MediaCenter itself cannot directly talk to iTunes (although HP did write a
plugin a while ago to do this, it is awful and to be avoided). Instead you
need to first get Windows Media Player to see and support your [unprotected]
iTunes tracks.
Note: do NOT use WMP 11 beta, only use WMP 10.
This would ideally be done with the iTunes music being stored on the same
computer as is running WMP and MediaCenter, however in theory you could have
the MediaCenter PC login to the hard disk of the Mac that is storing the
iTunes music.
As mentioned previously CoreAAC is a suitable codec but I find it more
difficult to install, FFDShow is another, and so is 3ivX. However I think
the one from Orban at http://www.orban.com/plugin/ might be easier to
install for someone like yourself. I have multiple codecs installed and
right now I am unsure which is the one WMP is using (probably FFDShow).
So to summarise the steps needed so far are
1. Music to be unprotected
2. Music to be accessible by the PC preferably on a local hard disk but also
possible over the network (Macs support Windows file-sharing)
3. A suitable Codec to be installed in to Windows
The next step is that WMP cannot itself read the ID tags used in AAC (MPEG4)
music files, you need to install a plugin for WMP so that it can then read
these tags. So go to http://wmptagext.sourceforge.net/ and download WMPTSE
and then install it.
You will also need another utility called Album Art Fixer, which despite its
name you will NOT use to fix the artwork with but only to add an additional
ID tag called "Album Artist" which WMP needs.
You should also set WMP to not manage the files, and to not automatically
find and add meta data.
So to summarise again
4. Install WMPTSE
5. Get Album Art Fixer
6. Set the preferences in WMP
With everything now ready, you can run WMP and add each album (by browsing
to the folder in your iTunes Music directory). By telling WMP not to manage
the files it will not move them out of the iTunes directory (it will merely
add them to its list).
Once they have all been added to WMP you need to use Album Art Fixer to fill
in the missing Album Artist tag (turn off all other options in Album Art
Fixer).
In WMP use "Find Album Info" to add artwork to each track. However you might
want to read my [much] longer post at
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=2963485#2963485 for
details on how to beat WMP and MediaCenter into submission regarding
artwork.
Summarising again
7. Add albums to WMP
8. Use Album Art Fixer to add Album Artist Tag
9. Add Album Artwork in WMP
I now have dozens of CDs successfully imported in to WMP from iTunes and
then also accessible in MediaCenter, all complete with the correct artwork
(in both WMP and MediaCenter). Even users using just WMP seem to struggle
getting this far!
I even have iTunes running permanently in the background on the MediaCenter
machine (an Apple Mac mini of course) and sharing across my home network to
my other Macs and Roku SoundBridges.
PS. You could of course stick to just using Apple's FrontRow [complete with
remote control] which has built-in support for accessing other iTunes
libraries on your network, if however you also want the TV functionality
then [currently] FrontRow is not as good as MediaCenter.