Attention iTunes Users!

[wideasleep1]

I bought my computer do do some work for me, not me to do some work for him. O.k. in many many discussions, i found out, that most windows users will be unhappy, if anything works;-) But i dont want to do ANYTHING, only cause apple changes something, or roku does not.

I bought Mac's cause they are easy and simple. I bought Roku cause it says it works with iTunes easy and simple. Now it will do not. But thats not my fault! Why must i install any software on all of my computers, to do anything they should do without?
O.K. for windows users maybe it is quite usual to do the work because their soft- or hardware products won't. But not for me. I dont use windows, cause i don't want to become a computer professional. And i will listen music without any ambitions of beeing a firefly-, slim- or something else -professional.

Just take a look at this forum. Many "tricks and tips about how to get your playlist..., or rating...., or resources of servers...." and stuff like that! I bought a product, not a course of instruction.

As someone described, if roku says it works with iTunes, they have to offer a solution. I'm not interested in how THEY will do this. I'm not interested in doing their job, i have paid for. If they will say we will offer a solution in about xxx days/weeks/month, everyone including myself can make the decision to install anything to get a wokaround untill it's done. But i don't have to, cause only roku will not.

so long, tatek

I find it ironic that it took you longer to compose this post than it would have taken to download and install Firefly, give it your iTunes xml file and be off to playing your music.

[mikepa]

M@rk,

The fact is the Soundbridge is advertised as working with iTunes and that’s why many people bought the product. Roku has a legal obligation to make sure it does work with iTunes or they are in breach. Roku could say it DOES work with iTunes, just not the latest version and that argument will hold up for some period of time. The problem is compounded because of the easy almost automatic upgrade to version 7 Apple offers … and the tricky solution to return to using iTunes 6. Some people just don’t have the technical savvy to do it

Roku has worked diligently in the past to make the Soundbridge better and better and in the past they have never given out schedules of when something is going to be implemented. In this case however, perhaps they need to reconsider this cavalier attitude so everyone has an idea if this is going to be a week or so or months. People have the right to know when their products they paid good money for will work again. Given my past experience with Roku I am sure they are working 16 hours a day to get it fixed, but everyone doesn’t know that.

Apple is the bad guy here, but perhaps Roku is complicit in not having in place some sort of agreement with Apple that they will be forewarned of changes to the iTunes protocols that will render their products inoperative.

When Apple releases new iPod products I know at least some of the OEM partners have the opportunity to try their products with the new iPod before it goes on sale. Roku needs to drag Apple over the coals on this one and make every attempt to prevent problems like this happening in the future.

[mikepa]

[/quote]

I find it ironic that it took you longer to compose this post than it would have taken to download and install Firefly, give it your iTunes xml file and be off to playing your music. [/quote]


Everyone does not have the technical savvy to install firefly, even though I'll grant you it's not difficult. It would help if Roku could write some official instructions that would help people try - including how to handle having your music files and itunes library in different places as some peopel do. I'm a computer engineer and I couldn't get it working without a pointer from this thread.

I'm also not sure firefly is working properly anyway .. yesterday there were severals pauses in the music and it stopepd playing after a few hours - even though there's 5 days worth of songs in the playlist I chose.

[mikepa]

Just thought I'd let everyone know the problems I had with firefly yesterday - breaks in the music and only playing 30 or 40 songs (out of 388) before stopping, do not seem to be apparent today. It's been playing all day with no gaps - but I do hear the occasional "screech" between tracks. I have very occasionally heard this screech when using iTunes as a server.

[wideasleep1]

I find it ironic that it took you longer to compose this post than it would have taken to download and install Firefly, give it your iTunes xml file and be off to playing your music. [/quote]


Everyone does not have the technical savvy to install firefly, even though I'll grant you it's not difficult. It would help if Roku could write some official instructions that would help people try - including how to handle having your music files and itunes library in different places as some peopel do. I'm a computer engineer and I couldn't get it working without a pointer from this thread.

I'm also not sure firefly is working properly anyway .. yesterday there were severals pauses in the music and it stopepd playing after a few hours - even though there's 5 days worth of songs in the playlist I chose.[/quote]



http://www.rokulabs.com/firefly/
Has the basic rundown, but it does appear they could enhance the intructions for a few of the library scenarios you describe. That said, I believe both Roku and Ron Pedde provide sufficient documentation for the majority of users to get the most out of their purchase, and the fora can pick up the slack for the unusual circumstances (like your screeching files). Even with excellent documentation, you will still have folks ranting that is should simply just work! I sure wish the world worked the way I want it to, but I know I've gotta give a little to get a little...I'm realistic.
Lets not lose sight of the fact Apple is the bad guy in this issue, and it is their responsibility to keep thier partners and customers.

[StewB]

I find Apple's actions really underhand, I expect this sort of thing from Microsoft but not Apple.

I thought putting a fence around their software and hardware was vintage Apple and explains why they have less than 5% of the home computer market arguably with what was a better product.

On another question - most of the users here are current M1000 owners. What if I am looking to purchase an M1000 SB now, should I wait until this mess with iTunes sorts itself out???

Rgds
Stew

[wideasleep1]

NO WAY! Enjoy your tunage now! Slimserver, Firefly, Twonky, TVersity, WMC/WMP11,(and occasionally iTunes) all work to accomplish sonic liberty from your CD player and collection...just do it!

[StewB]

Thanks wideasleep1. I don't need much encouragement when it comes to new toys.
Regards
Stew

[jbp]

Anybody else notice that the only conversation on this thread for the last several days has only been those asking for info or help and responses from the Roku faithfull? Nothing from Roku. Yes, I know, that is what this kind of forum is all about - users helping users but considering the importance of the subject -- some kind of update would be nice. Presuming of course there is any progress.

[mraneri]

Anybody else notice that the only conversation on this thread for the last several days has only been those asking for info or help and responses from the Roku faithfull? Nothing from Roku.

I think they've said all they should say on the issue.. I'd rather them spend time on the beta I'm sure they're working feverishly on, than giving daily updates that will continue to say... We're working on it..

Cut them some slack, and let them do their primary jobs...

[crowman]

I've just installed Firefly as per the instructions above together with Bonjour. The whole process took 2 minutes and the world is good once again. I must say it was effortless and appears to work without any issues alongside iTunes. I've since added a couple of CD's to my collection using iTunes and they picked up almost immedately using Firefly. Looking at my system resources it also appears to be less power hungry than iTunes and also starts quicker. All in all I'm pretty sold on it and would recommend anyone waiting for a resolution from Apple / Roku to just try it out. I didn't even need to resort to the XML side of things as it's just picked up my iTunes library no problem. Tempting me to buy a little Linux based NAS device now with an external drive ... saves switching the PC on and Firefly says it runs on Linux ... anyone else had any succes with this?

Best of luck with the fix Roku guys ... but until then it's Firefly all the way !!

[RokuMike]

:(

Anybody else notice that the only conversation on this thread for the last several days has only been those asking for info or help and responses from the Roku faithfull? Nothing from Roku. Yes, I know, that is what this kind of forum is all about - users helping users but considering the importance of the subject -- some kind of update would be nice. Presuming of course there is any progress.

We already said, several pages back, that we had said all we could say on the subject. Would you like me to repeat that? From three days ago:

Folks, we are not able to comment on the terms of our Apple license. Its terms are confidential and proprietary, as is the nature of any ongoing communication between the two companies. I'm sorry that the information we've been able to give so far (that we're working on supporting iTunes 7, and hope to have support for it as soon as possible) is not satisfactory to some, but it's the only information we can give. We understand that this is frustrating, and appreciate your patience.

Further discussion of the matter, and particularly any discussion of reverse-engineering the protocol should be taken to another venue.

[mikepa]

As with much of the Linux derived open source software, Firefly seems to work very well – when it’s setup correctly. Unfortunately getting it setup correctly when you have anything other than the basic setup is apparently a pain. I got it working in the end when my music was in a non-standard location, but it took a while – and help from this forum.

Well now, I’m trying to get it working using the library and music directly off my main PC – with firefly running on a server PC. It doesn’t seem to like network drives. The other area Firefly is lacking is the error codes. When I tried to set the directory on a mapped network drive I got the subtle message: “Error: 500general:mp3.dir”. Ah, OK, clear as mud!

Hey, it’s free and it works in the basic config so there’s nothing to complain about really, but I do wish these open source guys would take a little time to get the error stuff sorted so we can figure out what their little pet is trying to tell us.

[GuildfordDad]

<quote>What is "Album Artist"?</quote>

Slightly off topic, but someone asked this a few pages ago...

It's provides the ability to ensure your imported playlist remains in the order it was on the CD.

Sometimes you have a CD that is performed by an artist and "a guest", eg. George Michael ft. Elton John.

After importing the CD into a playlist you end up with the "ft. ..... tracks appearing at the end. In other words, out of sync to the original CD.

The "Album Artist" variable allows you to populate the entire CD-group with "George Michael" and the playlist will list the tracks as they originally appeared on the CD.

eg. original CD play order:

GM
GM ft. EJ
GM
GM

after import and loading into a playlist:

GM
GM
GM
GM ft. EJ

using the album artist ensures the play order remains as the original CD.

<oberservation>
whinging about lack of iTunes 7 support
</observation>

I really don't see the problem.

SB works with previous versions, Roku have been upfront about the issue and have committed to fixing it in the future. There's also a workaround in the meantime.

I can understand the reluctance to commit to a timeframe, otherwise they're on a hiding to nothing.

I have never used FF before, but I installed it and started it in about 5 minutes. It took about 15 minutes to scan my library. My SB couldn't connect, but found andyg's post about fixing the port and opening the firewall and it's all fine.

So...my SB works in the meantime, I've still got the same playlist support and can't tell anything's changed (except the load time for playlists seems to be quicker, but I'm sure it's my imagination).

I also have the new functionality of iTunes 7.

[timztunz]

Hey Roku guys - you have a great product and we know you work hard at keeping it as good as it can be. Ignore all these dunderheads that only want to complain and stay busy with a fix. I moved to Firefly to keep the music flowing "somewhat". I have lots of music (40,000 files plus) located in several different places (some on network drives). Firefly does a "fairly good job" but is not without its problems. But we know you'll get us back to better times as soon as you can.