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Managing Coptic Hymns on iPod

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fbebawy

Posts: 117

Joined: Dec 16, 2003

Posted: Feb 06, 2007 - 05:45 AM

Looking for assistance with managing Coptic hymns on my iPod. The problem I am having is when I move some of the hymns over to iTunes, it truncates the file name. It only takes 36 characters.

Can someone offer some assistance here?

Thanks.

Fady

abahoor

Posts: 358

Joined: Feb 14, 2004

Posted: Feb 06, 2007 - 11:58 AM

fbebawy wrote:

what would you do with more than that.
36 characters are like this much:
[------------------------------------]

also i know that you can't change the way an ipod is set up.

Mathitis

Posts: 1623

Joined: Oct 07, 2003
Location: "Legitimate" Business Headquarters

Posted: Feb 06, 2007 - 12:35 PM

Here's an idea; How about gettign something other than an Ipod, something much better for cheaper?

Ipods are not worth their price.

_________________
For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned. - Matthew 12:37

+ To Protect and Preserve +
HCOC: Sing it! Live it! Love it!

Katherine

Posts: 54

Joined: Apr 27, 2006
Location: Virgin Mary and St. Athanasius, Mississauga

Posted: Feb 06, 2007 - 03:06 PM

Well, firstly, let me say that I don't have an Ipod, so I can't help you Fady Sad

, sorry. However, your post reminded me of something that I wanted to ask:

Can somebody please create like a "mini-guide" per say for using MP3 players with coptichymns.net or copticheritage.org or any other coptic hymns related site? Because my mom bought me an MP3 player for Christmas (a Sony one) and I spent a very long time putting on TONS of music that I downloaded off of various Coptic sites on in ...specifically a Tasbeha session of Abouna Anastasi and Anba Youssef. Then, when I went to play this Tasbeha session on the MP3 player, the MP3 player said, "CANNOT BE PLAYED" and would shut off. The same thing happened when I tried to put it on both of my sisters' MP3 players, so I know this isnt a case of my MP3 player being defective. Also, some other songs I put on it were skipping, despite not skipping on a CD or when played on my computer. So, could somebody please explain to the computer illiterate, like myself, what sort of files work on MP3 players, and which one's don't? Also, how can I go about converting files to a format that an MP3 player can play? Please help me, and Fady as well so that I can buy a good MP3 player and fill it with all my Coptic downloads that are flooding my computer:D

Sorry for rambling, and God bless

Katherine

Mina88

Posts: 107

Joined: Nov 17, 2003
Location: United States

Posted: Feb 06, 2007 - 03:57 PM

I agree with Mathitis' opinon on iPods. Most people don't use all the free space they have. I personally don't own one as I prefer flash based players because they're much smaller, cheaper, and easy in file transfer because they don't require special software.
As for Katherine's problem. MP3 players simply do what they're named after Smile

...play mp3 files. Some players play Windows Media files (WMA) as well. Katherine, you need to make sure the files you download are in MP3 format and not .ra files, cuz there are lots of sites that have their multimedia files in the .ra format, these don't play on mp3 players. The easiest way to sync your files in an organized way on your player (in playlists ir you like) is to make playlists on either Windows Media Player or WinAMP, then sync these playlists to your player.
To convert .ra files to mp3, use a software called dBPowerAMP (http://www.dbpoweramp.com/).
I think some mp3 players require the files to be in certain frequencies and bitrates, so check your manual to see what's required to play a file.
Good Luck.

catcouta

Posts: 300

Joined: Mar 13, 2004
Location: Virgin Mary COC, Mtl, Canada

Posted: Feb 06, 2007 - 04:25 PM

What's wrong with you people not liking iPods? they are the easiest most user friendly thing to use! and iTunes is no special software, most people nowadays have that software installed on their computers. Searching for a song on iPod is so much easier than most other mp3 players, and besides iPod come in various capacities and different sizes (nano & video) just incase you find one too big Very Happy

(mine is 6 GB and only about 1 GB is empty)

anyways I'll stop now...I'm just a little biased towards apple products... so I'll be quiet...

Mathitis

Posts: 1623

Joined: Oct 07, 2003
Location: "Legitimate" Business Headquarters

Posted: Feb 06, 2007 - 05:13 PM

Mina, thanks for agreeign with me. Ipods are terrible.

Catcouta, b/c of your bias, your opinion has no value. Smile

_________________
For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned. - Matthew 12:37

+ To Protect and Preserve +
HCOC: Sing it! Live it! Love it!

Remnkemi
Ask me for help!
Posts: 678

Joined: Apr 07, 2003
Location: Boston, MA USA

Posted: Feb 07, 2007 - 08:27 AM

I agree with Catcouta,

Ipods are user friendly. From a hardware and software prespective, Ipods like Macs, are designed to be one way, tamper-proof and idiot-proof. This is how NASA and the Military approach hardware and software. There is no biderectional feature. (For example, you can add songs to the ipod through iTunes, but you can't add songs from ipod to iTunes.) When you give people extra features, people tend to crash the Ipod. Using iTunes, I never had a problem. I bought a Windows program that allows me "to add features to my ipod." In other words, it made ipod bidirectional. Guess what. It crashed and I lost all my ipod songs.

If you use ipod and itunes as it was designed, you will not have a problem. Why do you think it is so popular? It is not just because of marketing. It is because people liked the way it worked and it spread.
George

fbebawy

Posts: 117

Joined: Dec 16, 2003

Posted: Feb 07, 2007 - 09:11 AM

Well, thanks for the discussion here.

Back to my problem. Can someone offer some guidance about this truncating problem.

I have various Coptic hymns with long file names. For example, this file:

T2-09 - Saturday of Joy - Psalm & Gospel Arabic - Pascal - Annual - CIA.mp3

When I copied it over to iTunes, became this file:

T2-09 - Saturday of Joy - Psalm & Go.mp3

I could go into iTunes and rename this, but this would be too much work, especially with 300 or 400 files or more.

Catcouta and RemnKemi, please let me know your thoughts here.

Contrary to what you mentioned RemnKemi, I just don't find the iPod and the iTunes to be that intuitive. I may be old school a bit, but it doesn't even have a stop button.

The reason I got the iPod in the first place is so that I can have all the hymns for all the occassions handy, right at my fingertips, any time. So, I would be much indebted if you please work with me to find a solution. It wouuld also be a service to the Church as well.

I look forward to your reply. If it makes more sense to work offline on this, that's ok too -- I just need to get over this impasse.

Thanks so much.

Fady

abahoor

Posts: 358

Joined: Feb 14, 2004

Posted: Feb 07, 2007 - 11:19 AM

fbebawy wrote:

ok, how about setting up your files to mach the ipod settings. bascilly all you need to do is first number your hymns in the order you want (use number (00), than put the file's name only as a title, the season as an album title, and an artist for the person or the Chorus, and u can also use the track number to may be number the files.

instead of writting:

T2-09 - Saturday of Joy - Psalm & Gospel Arabic - Pascal - Annual - CIA.mp3

you can only write as:

File Name: 99 Psalm & Gospel Ar Pa-An
Album Title (Season): Bright Saturday
Artist: HICS

carolb

Posts: 408

Joined: Mar 24, 2004
Location: Southern California

Posted: Feb 07, 2007 - 01:02 PM

Mathitis wrote:

Here's an idea; How about gettign something other than an Ipod, something much better for cheaper?

Ipods are not worth their price.

Tsk, tsk. Blasphemy.

Fady,

As Abahoor mentioned, if you spend a little time in the beginning with the iPod (setting up appropriate folders/labels, re-naming hymns, etc.), it will set up an excellent template and reduce the work you put into it in the long run.

For example, the name of the hymn you provided -
T2-09 - Saturday of Joy - Psalm & Gospel Arabic - Pascal - Annual - CIA.mp3

Can be broken down to:
Genre: Coptic Hymns (or Pascha or whatever else you like)
Album: Saturday of Joy
Title: Psalm & Gospel Arabic
Artist: CIA or HICS or whomever

There are also shortcuts on iTunes to rename multiple entries at once (on the Mac it is Apple+I; not sure what it is on a PC). Play around with it - it took me a few hours to set up my library and perfect it. Now, whenever I add files (including video), it takes moments because everything is already so well-organized.

Mathitis

Posts: 1623

Joined: Oct 07, 2003
Location: "Legitimate" Business Headquarters

Posted: Feb 07, 2007 - 01:36 PM

carolb wrote:

Mathitis wrote:

Here's an idea; How about gettign something other than an Ipod, something much better for cheaper?

Ipods are not worth their price.

Tsk, tsk. Blasphemy.

What? It is true! The best deal I saw was an 80gb Ipod for 400 dollars. Other than that, it ain't worth it.

I have a Phillips GoGear 30gb mp3 player, and this works like a beauty. I don't have any problems with it whatsoever. It's also very fashionable, especially the touch-screen display. The buttons light up just like the new LG Chocolate phone.

Here is a picture.

Anyways, with this, I still have to rename and edit the files so that I can easily find them. It also has the same method of finding songs as the Ipod, but it cost me less and I don;t have to worry of it breaking or messing up, like all other Ipods. Mr. Green

_________________
For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned. - Matthew 12:37

+ To Protect and Preserve +
HCOC: Sing it! Live it! Love it!

AMoussa01

Posts: 535

Joined: Jan 08, 2007
Location: St. George and St. Joseph in San Jose California

Posted: Feb 07, 2007 - 01:47 PM

WOW, $400 bucks for an 80gb ipod!!!?? I got my AV 500 for like $500 and it could do soooooo much more like, record tv programs, record audio, play movies, transfer files, plus its 100 gigs! all i have to do is copy and paste the hymns i want onto my Arcos (AV 500)...not to mention the screen is like 4&1/2 inches. Ok, enough advertising

fbebawy

Posts: 117

Joined: Dec 16, 2003

Posted: Feb 07, 2007 - 01:53 PM

Thanks All,

Good info on the other machines, but I've made the investment in the iPod, so I really need to see if I can make it work.

Carol and Abahoor, thanks for your comments. I have done what you both suggested in terms of populating the genre, album and artist fields. This will help me navigate through iTunes. But, I also want to maintain the detailed file name convention that I set up for a number of reasons, including it is easier for organizing these files on explore.

So, making the file names shorter is one option, though, not a very desirable option for me unless I just have no choice.

But I'm looking for an option which would allow me to keep this detailed naming convention. There are other files that I copied over into iTunes last year that did not get truncated. I just can't figure out why it's doing it now.

Could you leverage all your IT skills and know-how to see if you can figure this out please?

Maybe take one of your hymns files and make a long name out of it and try to copy that from explore into iTunes. What happens? Also, perhaps it's someting in the settings on my files. In that case, a possible way to figure this out would be to send you the file in my example and (a) see if you can copy it into iTunes without truncating, and (b) have a look at it and see what settings are wrong or not set up that would cause this truncating.

I just can't imagine that there would be such a limitation on this --- it's gotta be a bug or something that I'm doing wrong.

Thank you in advance.

Fady

Mathitis

Posts: 1623

Joined: Oct 07, 2003
Location: "Legitimate" Business Headquarters

Posted: Feb 07, 2007 - 03:07 PM

AMoussa01 wrote:

I knowwhat you're talking about. That is an interestign piece of equipement. Maybe in a few years. when my player breaks, I'll buy one. By then, they will be improved a thousand times over.

_________________
For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned. - Matthew 12:37

+ To Protect and Preserve +
HCOC: Sing it! Live it! Love it!

exGreek

Posts: 1381

Joined: Oct 27, 2004
Location: Spring Lake, Michigan

Posted: Feb 07, 2007 - 03:09 PM

.....or you can just simply read a book. Just a thought.

pavly

Posts: 331

Joined: Feb 10, 2003
Location: St-Mark Montreal, Canada

Posted: Feb 07, 2007 - 04:28 PM

I think some of your problem has to do with what we call ID3 tagging (or something similar...). It means that the file you copied has already built-in titles/artist name/album/etc. This can be "changed" if you copy the file into iTunes and then rename them, either individually or in group.
It's actually pretty easy: if using a PC, you need to select the file(s), right-click and then click on get info. Under the "info" tab, you can change everything you want.

Look at it and let us know if it works or not.

Pavly

catcouta

Posts: 300

Joined: Mar 13, 2004
Location: Virgin Mary COC, Mtl, Canada

Posted: Feb 07, 2007 - 07:20 PM

Fady,

to make the task easier with id3 tags in iTunes you can actually select a more than one song and right click then "get info" and write the artist/album and whatever else you want to write. this actually makes it a lot faster when your changing the tags. that way when you put the songs on your iPod you'll be able to search right away the tracks either by artist, album and/or genre. You can also change the id3 tags while the songs are already on your iPod using the same technique. It will make it a lot simpler this way to search for what you need.

You can also organize your iPod in different playlists if you want...

I hope that helps!

Remnkemi wrote:

There is no biderectional feature. (For example, you can add songs to the ipod through iTunes, but you can't add songs from ipod to iTunes.)

Actually I think that the Fifth Generation iPods do have that feature where you can take your music on your iPod and bring it to another computer.

fbebawy

Posts: 117

Joined: Dec 16, 2003

Posted: Feb 10, 2007 - 03:08 PM

Thanks Catcouta and Pavly,

I am familiar with highlighting serveral files, right clicking and then putting in the genre, artist, albumn, though I never knew it was called ID3 tagging.

However, this is not my problem. I'm looking for a way to keep this detailed naming convention (see my messages above). There are other files that I copied over into iTunes last year that did not get truncated. I just can't figure out why it's doing it now.

I suggested a way to figure this out before and am just repeating it here: Maybe take one of your hymns files and make a long name out of it and try to copy that from explore into iTunes. What happens? Also, perhaps it's someting in the settings on my files. In that case, a possible way to figure this out would be to send you the file in my example and (a) see if you can copy it into iTunes without truncating, and (b) have a look at it and see what settings are wrong or not set up that would cause this truncating. I just can't imagine that there would be such a limitation on this --- it's gotta be a bug or something that I'm doing wrong.

Please let me know what your thoughts, suggestions, etc. on this truncating problem.

Thanks so much.

Fady

pavly

Posts: 331

Joined: Feb 10, 2003
Location: St-Mark Montreal, Canada

Posted: Feb 11, 2007 - 08:19 PM

I checked my iTunes library and I have a few files with longer than 36 characters (i think i have some with up to 45-50 characters).
I must say though that I had that problem, and didn't know why, but i just renamed them 1 by 1 again.
Lengthy process I know...

Pavly

TheLivingWater

Posts: 59

Joined: Feb 04, 2007

Posted: Feb 11, 2007 - 10:26 PM

Since we're on the iPod topic, does anyone know how, if possible, to put songs on the computer from the iPod? And if that's not possible, than to just simply make a CD of the songs if the songs are on the actual iPod and not in the Library?

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"He who is full loathes honey, but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet." Proverbs 27:7

fbebawy

Posts: 117

Joined: Dec 16, 2003

Posted: Feb 16, 2007 - 09:49 PM

Yes, you now understood my point Pavly and I thank you for looking into this on your iTunes. I appreciate the try.

I guess that's it - we've tapped into the intellectual capital of the technology community here and there is just no hope for a solution.

Thanks anyway.

PaulS
Ask me for help!
Posts: 2441

Joined: Sep 09, 2002
Location: St. Abanoub and St. Antony Coptic Orthodox Church in Norco, CA

Posted: Feb 17, 2007 - 09:43 AM

Hello,

I see two potential issues here.

The first, and most likely culprit in my mind, is the ID3 tags of the Coptic hymns you have in iTunes. If you're using an older version of ID3 tags, such as 1.1, you have a 36 character limit on the track name. This has nothing to do with iTunes. To fix it, go to Advanced and select convert ID3 tags on all of your MP3s. I use the latest version of ID3 tags. You can batch select all of them. Please see my screenshot, which reflects iTunes 7 on Mac OS X 10.4.

A second possible issue is Microsoft Windows. I'm not too familiar with these technical issues in Microsoft Windows, but perhaps there is a 36 character limit on file names in the version you're using. I think Windows XP and above offer 255 character limits on file names, similar to OS X, but perhaps older versions of Windows do not.

I would definitely check on the ID3 tags, though.

Hope this helps,
Paul

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http://www.coptichymns.net/

fbebawy

Posts: 117

Joined: Dec 16, 2003

Posted: Feb 20, 2007 - 06:52 PM

Thank you. I will definitely look into this. I may have a potential solution myself - not me, but an IT guy from my Church. If it works and your solution doesn't, I will share the idea.

Thanks again.

Fady

tonyhabibi

Posts: 1221

Joined: Apr 09, 2004
Location: IN THE back of your mind .navagating through your heart , resting in your soul .

Posted: Apr 18, 2007 - 09:21 AM

guys , my ipod only for some reason plays music that are mp3 , but it wont play any music that is programed by real player audio ..... how do i convert the music file to play in my ipod . like for example if i download a file from coptic hymns and try to put it in my ipod it wont work , it says this song cannot be played on this ipod because of its music file . it has to be an mp3 or windows media player

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