iPod sync broken, 'transcoder not available' but transcoder should not be needed

Yup. Got the same thing happening on Windows Vista. Songbird 1.4.0b3, 4th gen iPod Nano.

Forgot to include the iPod model: 4th gen iPod Nano, w/ newest firmware as of 10/13/2009.

Same thing happening here, Ubuntu Jaunty with Songbird 1.4.0b3, Build 1303 (20091007151150) and version 3.0.15.1303 of the iPod Device Support plugin. I'm using a second generation nano. It also might be worth noting that I have the sync setting for my iPod as "Manually manage."

I'm not sure the manual/automatic setting matters. Mine's set to automatic and I still have this problem.

Also confirmed the problem for myself on the same computer, but running Linux, Ubuntu 9.10 (Beta) x64, with the sane 4th gen iPod Nano. Downloaded a fresh tarball from the getsongbird nightly site, but no improvement.

Same issue on Win XP x64, 5th Gen 30GB iPod. Songbird 1.4b3. Is the transcoder 32-bit only? I see that most people reporting problems here are running 64 bit operating systems.

I'm only on 32-bit Windows Vista, so no, that isn't the issue.

I created a bugzilla bug for this a few days ago, but it has been completely ignored so far :(
http://bugzilla.songbirdnest.com/show...

On the idea of all systems in question being x64: very good idea, unfortunately debunked by jeslimak.

It did get me thinking though - it seems that a common aspect between all of our cases is that these are all iPod Nanos that are not syncing. Can someone confirm/deny this?

I'm using an iPod Classic and i'm getting the exact same error, so it's not a Nano problem.

Hope someone solves this quickly!

Actually, I think iPod support is entirely broken at the moment.. The iPod shuffle isn't supported either atm.

Uh, nope. It's not 64-bit stuff. I'm on 32-bit Vista. As I mentioned before.

I asked on #songbird on IRC and the team said that unfortunately that's a problem with the iPod addon, which is no longer supported and is open-sourced. Somebody that has strong addon coding skill is going to have to fix this, the Songbird team won't.

Does anyone know where to file a bug with the team (hopefully one exists...) that owns/publishes the iPod add-on now? I will gladly report the problem, but unfortunately my programming skills are more on the Python/Tcl/Sh scripting side of the world...
I have split feelings about open-sourcing the iPod add-on. On the one hand, more free open-source software for the win. On the other hand, no more dedicated support team for the loss.

I found a workaround we can use for now. I have Songbird 1.2.0 installed from http://www.getdeb.net/app/Songbird , and I have 1.4.3b from http://wiki.songbirdnest.com/Develope... unpacked somewhere in my home folder. Both versions use the same profile (and library), but 1.2.0 allows me to sync with my ipod, whereas 1.4.3b does not.

My solution is this: Play music with 1.4.3b until I need to sync, then close Songbird and open 1.2.0. Sync and close, then open 1.4.3b back up. Continue playing music.

I know this doesn't fix the problem, but it does allow me to add and remove songs from my iPod while still enjoying the stability of the beta.

I wish I could help more.

Hi there,

I have the same problem on Ubuntu 9.10, 32bit with two iPod classics (4th and 3rd gen). As I can't sync my iPods anymore and I don't think that this is going to change soon, I've been looking for a workaround and I found a quite simple one:

1. Grab this Addon: http://addons.songbirdnest.com/addon/51
If it isn't compatible with your songbird version (e.g. 1.3b oder 1.4b) follow this instructions (at your own risk!) to disable the extension compatibility check: http://www.getsatisfaction.com/songbi...

2. Make an intelligent or a normal playlist in Songbird that contains all the songs you wanna sync with your iPod.

3. Export the playlist with the addon installed first

4. Use any media programme on your platform available to write on your ipod that is able to import a playlist file (eg. rhythmbox, gtkpod, etc...) and sync it to your iPod.

5. Enjoy your music

I'm not happy with the overall situation concerning device support on Songbird, especially on linux, but at least this workaround lets you enjoy your music without having to change your favourite music programme (that still is Songbird in my case).

Hope this helps you guys.

cheers

Quite a useful proposal, thanks for the how-to. I really wish there was more active development for the iPod add-on. I actually resisted buying an iPod until Songbird came out because I wanted to avoid iTunes as much as possible (at least on Windows). Now Songbird iPod support is slipping away... And like you said, I don't think it'll improve in the near future unless someone organizes some developers to take over the add-on.

If we're talking about taking a short cut, then there's another possible simple solution (at least for windows):

Download Songbird Portable at:
http://portableapps.com/apps/music_vi...

Import your media.

Install the iPod add-on and start syncing.

Of course this is just another short term solution, because the essential is having a fully functional iPod add-on.

And don't forget we're still at beta stage. Once the 1.4. is out and people start updating SB, there will be a lot more complaining.

aka Use the 1.2 version of everything for now. Couldn't we just mess with the maxversion of the addon for version 1.2? Would that work?

Come on you songbird guys. It'll take you like 2 seconds to fix this i'm sure :)

Happens here too with 1.4.0b3/ipod add-on 3.0.15.1335 on Fedora 11 32-bit and ipod nano.

Wow this problem was reported a month ago and still nothing...

Having the same on Vista x32 with a rockboxed Sansa E250 (which is just another mass storage device to Songbird).

What bizarre sort of mass hysteria does the SB community suffer from, whereby they feel they can ignore ipod and mp3 ripping support -- and possibly remain relevant? Wow, where's the icon for "I feel amazed that people so intelligent can be so freaking clueless?" ....

PRL...

1) What good is supporting iPods, when Songbird CAN'T support them reliably. There are actually MANY media players now doing the same, and discussing dropping official iPod support. Now that apple upgrades the iPod's, new versions of the iPod software can break support.

Any company (other then Apple) which claims it can support the iPod's well, is simply claiming so to compete. But unless they use iTunes, they will find that support for the future iPods will constantly break! That's the facts, and they are only starting to become obvious now.

It would make more sense for Songbird to focus on android support and other devices first (which can be WELL supported). Apple owns a lot of the market, but, if the rest of the market can be supported with 1/2 the effort of basic iPod support, then overall, more users will flock to Songbird.

2) Winamp and iTunes are the only free players which seem to offer MP3 encoding support out of the box. And, only 2 players were mentioned here that require it. iTunes is useless though to anyone without an iPod (making Mp3 support on iTunes mostly useless). Nullsoft seems to be competing directly with Songbird now, based on the timing of their announcements and such, but with the introduction of the Audio and video HTML tags (everyone seems to be supporting ogg), its likely that ogg support will become more popular.

Either way, MP3 support can be added using an extension, and one only need to compile the Mp3 LAME Gstreamer component. Hopefully someone will do so soon..

Just my opinion though. Mp3 encoding would be nice, but long term, its hard to say if it will be required. I don't mind if its supported by 3rd party only, because almost every other player requires a manual download of something (the Lame library) anyway.

Firstly, I should reiterate, I'm community.. Not part of POTI at all.

Its easy to say "lets support the iPod's" when you don't have a broad support experience, except:
1) iPod's are supported in Songbird, just not the newer versions. Find me a popular player 3rd party player though that does support the iPhone. It sucks, but players such as the iPhone and iPod touch realistically need ITMS to work well.
2) Its hard not to run into corruption issues. Yep, they are rife in the 3rd party world.
3) Apple can sue Pioneers of the Inevitable for trying to support the new iPod's, because apparently encryption is used to store the ipod database. I'm sure if POTI pours tens of thousands of dollars into iPod support, and they get shut down, it is a waste of money.
4) You will notice MANY media players are slowly discreetly winding down iPod support. They don't talk about it, but its getting kind of obvious ;)

You are assuming iPod development is free. Remember though that it takes many developers, and months to support the latest ipods to a substandard level. Instead, POTI can work with media players such as Sansa, and be shipped WITH their products (and maybe even provide new types of media syncing methods). Such collaborations would grow the Songbird market possibly a lot quicker then half broken ipod support, and since such companies might work along with Songbird, reliable support could exist.

In terms of MP3 encoding:
1) Last I checked, Pioneers of the inevitable never said anything about MP3 encoding actually.
2) In fact, in Linux, Mp3 encoding probably already works if you install the Gstreamer MP3 plugins with the OS.
3) I don't really see the difference between having media players which support Mp3 encoding only after downloading LAME manually, between having to download an extension possibly from the songbird addon's website.
4) Last I checked, POTI WAS investigating MP3 encoding actually. They never said they wouldn't. They are investigating using encoding codecs shipped with Windows, and I'd imagine possibly using quicktime, which would eliminate the need to pay for licencing costs.

But yeah. Having worked in an Applecentre, I know from experience people are using iPod's as primary storage devices (despite being advised not to), and the last thing POTI should risk is lawsuits filed by useless lawyers who think POTI should be held responsible when their iPod messes up.

If you need iPod support, the best option for everyone, would be to find and use programs which allow you to treat it as a USB drive to copy music on, or MSC/MTP (this would allow existing plugins to be used).

Anyway, as mentioned, I'm not a rep, not hired by POTI, or a Songbird developer, so everything I say is entirely my opinion. Like I said though, no comment seems to have been made about MP3 encoding yet, and iPod support is disappearing from a lot of players..