[CatOne]

It appears that the iPod's play count only really "takes" once you plug it into the Mac and iTunes reads it.

By this I mean... listen for a few days, charge it via the charger, etc. Then let the battery die. None of the songs you played will be "counted" if the battery dies before you plug it in to the Mac. They don't seem to be "persisted."

Anyone know why this is and if there's a way to get the iPod to remember this stuff to protect against the loss of play count?

[atomium]

It saves the play count on the iPod. You can get that count off of the iPod by syncing your iPod using iSync. Doesn't matter how many times it's been turned on or off. I've even had the battery drain completely and that count remains saved.

Only problems I have ever encountered with play count transfer via iSync is when I have iTunes open, plug in the iPod, the update to iTunes starts and I start a sync. Now I just make sure I have iTunes closed, plug in and sync things up, launch iTunes and it's all good.

-atomium

[CatOne]

Interesting. So it seems there must be something in iTunes that loses or ignores the info if the iPod was dead when it was plugged in?

Weird.

Though what you've said makes sense -- I would think it has to store the info there.

I guess you could just turn off "launch iTunes when iPod is plugged in" and it would avoid the possiblity of iTunes getting launched first and goofing up the play count?

[atomium]

Originally posted by CatOne:
I guess you could just turn off "launch iTunes when iPod is plugged in" and it would avoid the possiblity of iTunes getting launched first and goofing up the play count?

Yea. I've had it like that for so long, I forgot it was an option and not default.

-atomium

[atomium]

You know, I was just playing around with it here. If I play songs, have iTunes opened up and plug in the ipod, no play count increase. Nothing at all.

If I had to guess, I would say that iSync synchronizes the iTunes DB on the computer and iPod, then that reads in when iTunes is opened. If iTunes is already open, it writes over the DB on the iPod without checking it for changes.

Then again, it's all speculation. I know nothing about how these things work...which is why I went to art school.

-atomium

[CatOne]

Hmmm...

Well sounds like neither you nor I are sure ;-) I checked and what you just mentioned (iTunes doesn't increment play count if it's open when you plug in the iPod) doesn't happen to me.

Then again I went over the iSync log carefully and there is no mention of the iTunes database in the log -- I think iSync may actually only sync the contacts and calendar (because when you later open iTunes it's what's reading the play count database).

I looked at some of the files on the iPod when I plugged it into a Windows PC (so I can see the hidden files) and there's a play count database on the iPod -- I'm not sure exactly when it's incremented though.

It *may* be that it's updated when you turn the iPod off (via holding down play/pause) but it's not if you just hit pause and let it "sleep." Because my iPod did run out of juice once this past week when I was away in Ireland (then I found a US charger :-) but the play count seems to have been captured.

*shrug*

[atomium]

Originally posted by CatOne:
Hmmm...

Well sounds like neither you nor I are sure ;-)

I can totally agree with that. And the plot thickens...

I'm going to have to disagree with the theory that it saves the count when you hold down play/pause to shut it down. The reason I say that is because I NEVER do that. The only way I ever turn mine off is by hitting pause once (quickly) and letting it shut itself off a minute later.

As for iSync having nothing to do with it...the more I play with it, the more I think you're right

Back to more testing. I'll let you know what I find out.

-atomium