[TIPS] For not working iTunes

[Otracina]

I have the same situation as guussie. What happens when the iTunes server on the Qnap server chokes on a file? Is it like guussie describes, where you click on the server name, it tries to load for a second, then the blue bar jumps up to the Library > Music tab?

I moved all my music out of the qmultimedia folder, restarted the server and then added music back to qmultimedia in small batches. This was initially successful, but eventually the connection was lost while playing and iTunes reverted to the Music tab. At this point I still had Firefly running on the Macbook. I got this error in the Qnap log at a similar time to the dropped connection: localhost Re-launch process [proftpd]. The console shows that Firefly on the Mac peformed a scan a minute or so before the Qnap iTunes server connection was lost.

I'm currently repeating the process with Firefly turned off on the Mac. It has held the connection longer this time.

Is it possible that having Firefly run on my Macbook as well as having iTunes server enabled on the Qnap is causing the problem?

[Otracina]

I figured out the problem. Out of over 25,000 files there were a handful of files or albums that were tripping up the iTunes server. The problems can be with both filenames and tags. One track was called "Spring St." and the filename for this track was "03 Spring St..mp3" Firefly doesn't seem to like anything with two consecutive punctuation marks. I had another file that had two apostrophes together which also caused the server to fail.

There were some other weird tagging issues. Some of the files that were causing the server to fail appear with English tags in iTunes, but in some other programs (I tried Cog on OSX) the tags appeared to be Chinese or Japanese characters.

If you're comfortable working in the Terminal, the link pelle900 posted should help you root out the problem files from a library. I found them by using Firefly on my Macbook. I set the library location to my music folder, started the server then opened up the Firefly webpage so I could enter the advanced configuration options and set the debug level to 9. Then I went to the log tab in the Firefly preference pane to view what was happening. When one of the problem files is encountered the log will stop on that file and Firefly's CPU usage will go through the roof. Make sure you have Activity Monitor open before you start so you can force quit the Firefly process. In my experience if you don't force a quit it will cripple the computer, making a restart necessary.

After identifying the problem files I retagged / renamed them and they now work ok. iTunes server on the Qnap is now working fine with 25,000+ files.

[rabe69]

Hello,

I had a similar problem:
After Updating my TS-209 to V 3.3.0 the iTunes share was not shown in iTunes anymore.

The problem was a bug in the file "/etc/init.d/init_iTune.sh", near the end of this file:
/etc/init.d/bonjour.sh reload 2>/dev/null 1>/dev/null

This line should normally restart the bonjour service, which is needed by iTunes to find the iTunes-share (especially on the mac plattform).
The problem is the parameter "reload", which does not exists for the bonjour.sh script.
Changing it to the following will do the job correctly:
/etc/init.d/bonjour.sh restart 2>/dev/null 1>/dev/null

I hope this will help some body else.

Alex

[Venz]

Hi Alex,

Is it possible to post a little "How To" to fix this problem? I'm not very familiar to do this on my mac. (Can't find that file)

Thanks,

Sven

[boylemeister]

Just wanted to post a thank you to Silas for the .m3u tip.

I had a problem where I could see my NAS on itunes but when I clicked on the shared library, it just took me back to my own library. Deleting the .m3u files solved this instantly. I had noted all sorts of advice on other forums stating the only way to solve this was to downgrade to itunes v9. Just for searching purposes - v10 running fine on win 7 & vista laptops.

Cheers!
Steve

[pleasuredome]

I think it ** to delete .m3u files. I use them to make various playlists from my albums.
It is more a workaround than a solution IMHO.
It's a crappy Itunes server app.

[pleasuredome]

In my book they aren't. I also have a Popcorn Hour which reads .m3u files flawlessly.
Also, my jailbroken AppleTV plays .m3u files perfectly via XBMC.

So it still goes >> it's a crappy Itunes server app

[THans]

The real problem are not the .m3u-Files itself but the incorrect format of several of them. A quick workaround is to disable the processing of m3u-files completly:
Just edit the init_iTunes.sh file:

Code: Select all

 nano /etc/init.d/init_iTune.sh

and alter the line

Code: Select all

PROC="process_m3u     1"

to

Code: Select all

PROC="process_m3u     0"

After this, disable and the enable again the iTunes-server in the webinterface.

The server itself is the firefly media server (http://www.fireflymediaserver.org/) and the m3u-files are used to display playlists. If they are not in the correct format (Winamp produces wrong files for instance), iTunes refuses to use the external source.

These alterings disappear after a server reboot but there are several ways documented in the forum to prevent the server to do so.

Great this make it work over here - anyhow there is no nano on my TS-412 so i used vi. and insted of using the WebIF to restart you can also use /etc/init.d/init_iTune.sh restart

Anyway - Thanx for that information

[schumaku]

It's worth mentioning here /etc/init.d/... is a volatile folder - mods will most likely be lost after a reboot.

[pleasuredome]

I've edited /etc/config/mt-daapd.conf

The directory changed to my MP3 files which do have good tags
Changed the process_m3u to "0" instead of "1"

Things seem to work now, BUT my iTunes does not show album covers/images
Does anyone know how to get this going?

[sc430fan]

Hi ...

Just found the answer to all my iTunes server problems.

Having spent all day online with QNAPDavid who was really helpful and completely rebuilding my NAS from scratch. I was once again able to see my itunes server.

However as soon as I put my itunes library back on it stopped working.

Then I discovered this link

http://www.micsaund.com/2010/05/29/how- ... es-server/

After about an hour and removing 6 files from my 5643 track library it is up and running. BTW I am on the stock mt-Daapd

Good luck I hope it helps

Paul