Seeking working iTunes alternative

[Woodsie1]

Hello, i have an iPhone 4 - white 32GB.

I run Fedora 14-64bit.

(I also have a win XP pro installation on my machine - but no dual-boot)

I would very much like to be able to transfer music to my iPhone, from my linux-fedora, which the iPod device on the iPhone is able to see...

I have successfully transferred several "libgpod-something.mp3" files to my iPhone, but I can't play them on my iPhone.

I have tried the following software:

Rhythmbox (came with Fedora 14), here i am able to see the content of my iPhone, and transfer libgpod files. But I cannot see any music folder under the iPhone icon. So I just drag and drop .mp3 files to iPhone. iPhone can't see them.

Banshee (newest available version installed with add/remove programs), here I'm also able to see the content of the iPhone, and I can see a music folder icon under the iPhone icon, but I can't drag and drop to the music folder, but I can drag and drop to the iPhone icon, and the files gets transferred, but again iPhone can't see them.
But I can play the transferred files from Banshee...

Gtkpod (newest available version installed with add/remove programs), is largely the same as Rhythmbox, but i get a warning that says: Extended info will not be used, when the iPhone is mounted.
There is no music folder icon, but only a poscast icon, under the iPhone icon.
And again, I'm able to transfer files to the iPhone, that my iPhone can't see...

In Gtkpod, there is no option for the white iPhone 4, so I've used the "xC605" profile, which is for the black iPhone 4, 32GB.

I'm also able to see content of my iPhone with nautilus.
I discovered that the linux software I'm using, are converting the .mp3 files into "libgpod" files, but iTunes(transferred with WinXP) is converting the .mp3 files into "XXXX.mp3" files (X= is for random letters).

Is this significant?

I've also just updated libimobiledevice with "libimobiledevice-1.0.6-1.fc14.x86_64.rpm", but my iPhone still can't see any of the linux transferred files. Only the iTunes transferred files.

Believe me I've tried and tried for a week now. I've searched a lot, but most of the hits in my search, were for Ubuntu...

My iPhone is not jailbroken.

Am I missing something here, is my iPhone 4 supposed to be jailbroken to work with the above mentioned software?

[beaker_]

Have you tried installing the needed libraries to work with rhythm box?

yum search ipod

[Woodsie1]

I've not installed any libraries manually.

I'm not sure how.

I ran yum search ipod as root. Here is the result:

================================ Matched: ipod =================================
ipod-sharp.x86_64 : Support for high level features of Apple's iPod
gtkpod.x86_64 : Graphical song management program for Apple's iPod
ifuse.x86_64 : Mount Apple iPhone and iPod touch devices
ipod-sharp-devel.i686 : Development files for ipod-sharp
ipod-sharp-devel.x86_64 : Development files for ipod-sharp
libgpod.i686 : Library to access the contents of an iPod
libgpod.x86_64 : Library to access the contents of an iPod
libgpod-sharp.x86_64 : C#/.NET library to access iPod content
libgpod-sharp-devel.i686 : C#/.NET library to access iPod content
libgpod-sharp-devel.x86_64 : C#/.NET library to access iPod content
podsleuth.x86_64 : Probes, identifies, and exposes properties and metadata bound
: to iPods
python-gpod.x86_64 : Python module to access iPod content
usbmuxd.i686 : Daemon for communicating with Apple's iPod Touch and iPhone
usbmuxd.x86_64 : Daemon for communicating with Apple's iPod Touch and iPhone
banshee.i686 : Easily import, manage, and play selections from your music
: collection
banshee.x86_64 : Easily import, manage, and play selections from your music
: collection
banshee-devel.i686 : Development files for Banshee
banshee-devel.x86_64 : Development files for Banshee
banshee-musicbrainz.x86_64 : MusicBrainz libraries for the Banshee Media
: Framework
banshee-musicbrainz-devel.i686 : Development files for banshee-musicbrainz
banshee-musicbrainz-devel.x86_64 : Development files for banshee-musicbrainz
exaile.noarch : A music player
gpodder.noarch : Podcast receiver/catcher written in Python
hfsplus-tools.x86_64 : Tools to create/check Apple HFS+ filesystems
kipi-plugins.x86_64 : Plugins to use with Kipi
kmenu-gnome.noarch : K Menu with Gnome directory
libgpod-devel.i686 : Development files for the libgpod library
libgpod-devel.x86_64 : Development files for the libgpod library
libgpod-doc.noarch : API documentation for the libgpod library
tango-icon-theme-extras.noarch : Extra Icons from the Tango Project
xorg-x11-drv-synaptics.x86_64 : Xorg X11 Synaptics touchpad input driver

I forgot before, when I use Gtkpod, and "save changes", I get a warning that says "Unsupported checksum type."

[bonedome]

Hello
I've been wondering the same thing, I can put video or music files on an ipod but the ipod can't see them.
One of my colleagues has an ipod and told me you plug your ipod into your pc, either itunes will open automatically or tap the itunes icon, an itunes file browser should appear (on your pc) click on file > import file then drag and drop into the itunes folder, audio or video formats that are not supported are transcoded as they're transfered.
He mentioned apple have gone out of their way to make this as long winded and difficult as possible.
I shall give this a try tomorrow and maybe see if I've missed out any steps, either way imported files need to go via itunes

[smr54]

Add the rpmfusion repo. Install ffmpeg. Then, you have to play around a bit with settings to get something that works for you. Note that a lot of google results have -acodec aac which which is now considered experimental.

http://www.catswhocode.com/blog/19-f...-for-all-needs has some useful examples. Again, to do it with aac you need, for example



ffmpeg -i <infile> -strict experimental -b 576k -s 480x320 -vcodec mpeg4 -ab 200k -ar 44100 -acodec aac -ss 300 -t 300 -sameq out.mp4

(Though leaving out an -acodec option usually doesn't seem to make a difference.)

[Woodsie1]

Hi bonedome, the procedure You're mentioning regarding file transfer and transcoding is also what I think is happening, when it comes to iTunes.

As I mentioned earlier, iTunes makes files called ex.: "WGYT.mp3" or "TDEK.mp3" and not "libgpod-some numbers.mp3", as the software i mentioned earlier creates.

---------- Post added at 01:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:30 PM ----------

Hello smr54.

I've installed ffmpeg and rpmfusion repo.

When I try to add the free rpmfusion with this command I get this:

"Warning: /var/tmp/rpm-tmp.5VOV7B: Header V3 RSA/SHA256 Signature, key ID a3780952: NOKEY
fejl: Failed dependencies:
rpmfusion-free-release >= 14 is needed by (installed) rpmfusion-nonfree-release-14-1.noarch"

The non-free version were allready installed in a newer version and also the livna repo.

I forgot to mention, that I'm new to Fedora and Linux, so please be patient.

---------- Post added at 01:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:15 PM ----------

I forgot to post the url I got the commands from - here they are:
http://fedorasolved.org/post-install...ons/yum-config

[AndrewSerk]

I helped some one move some music to a Itouch from F14 last night. We used gtkpod to transfer music, edit tags ect.. Gtkpod seemed to for well.

I used package kit to install what was needed. I just typed Ipod in the search box and installed anything that I thought might be needed from the list.

[Woodsie1]

Hello AndrewSerk.
Gtkpod also works for transferring the files to the iPhone, but iPhone can't see or play them. Maybe it's an OS4 problem...

@smr54: When I transfer music now with Rhythmbox, it no longer renames the .mp3 files.
So they now gets transferred to the iPhone with they're original name, but that does'nt work either...

---------- Post added at 02:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:26 PM ----------

Originally Posted by AndrewSerk

I helped some one move some music to a Itouch from F14 last night. We used gtkpod to transfer music, edit tags ect.. Gtkpod seemed to for well.

I used package kit to install what was needed. I just typed Ipod in the search box and installed anything that I thought might be needed from the list.

I did that a few days ago. But I typed in "iphone"

I'll give "ipod" a go, it can't hurt.

[smr54]

As for rpmfusion, issues, I'm not sure. (And don't worry, we were all new once.) I think the easiest thing to do would be remove the rpmfusion rpms and just reinstall them. (That is, the rpms that add the rpmfusion repos, e.g., rpmfusion-free-release-15-1.noarch
rpmfusion-nonfree-release-15-1.noarch. Then, you can just reinstall the current ones.

When you say it doesn't change the name, do you mean that even though it's named with mp4 you still can't see it?

The only way I've ever done is with a friend who had either Windows or Mac, they'd put it on their machine then use iTunes to make the transfer, so can't help with that aspect.

[Woodsie1]

Originally Posted by smr54

When you say it doesn't change the name, do you mean that even though it's named with mp4 you still can't see it?

I have only tried to transfer mp3 files until now, I figured that I had to get that going before I turned to transferring video.

What I meant was that when I transfer mp3 files from my pc to the iPhone with either: Rhythmbox, Banshee or Gtkpod they do get transferred, to the iPhone, and I can see the files from linux in the programs I use. I can even play them from the programs while they are on the iPhone.

The way iTunes work is that it renames the mp3 files so they now consist of 4 big letter characters .mp3, and distributes them out in 50 folders called "F00" to "F49". Besides that there are no directory like you would find on a normal mobile phone with a micro-sd card installed, or the same structure you know from any PC OS, i guess.
So it looks like the files are placed random in these folders, but i guess that Apple figured out a cunning way to make people dependent on iTunes...
The files gets transferred, but they are either called by their original name or they are called libgpod121666.mp3 or something like that.
The iPhone folder structure is like you know it from pc's, it is only the transferred objects that is placed rather oddly.
I have to access the music folder, with nautilus, on the iPhone to delete the obsolete transferred .mp3 files each time.

And I can't play/see them in my iPhone.

[Woodsie1]

Okay now I'm a little wiser.

Take a look at this link:
http://www.libimobiledevice.org/

Then scroll down to the colored stuff, and look for "Music/Video Synchronization" and "IOS 4.3.3" were it says:

"The iPhone 4, iPod Touch 4, iPad 1/2 and Apple TV do NOT work"

I guess that saves some people, including myself, a lot of trouble.

But it looks like it might be fixed sometime soon.
This is pasted from line #2 in the news:

"28.04.2011: libimobiledevice-1.1.1.tar.bz2 (unstable) for developers has been officially released to lead to the 1.2.0 stable series. Most prominent is full backup/restore support on iOS 4+ and compatibility for iOS 4.3"

So I'll just have to wait, and in the meantime transfer files to my iPhone4 with iTunes and WinXP...

[relaxing]

I successfully installed Wine and the windows loader, sorry forget the name but wine will prompt you to install, and then installed Winamp.exe which is an excellent alternative to Itunes. Works fine, you have to tinker with the skins settings till you get winamp to render correctly, but does a beautiful job. I already had the mp3 codecs installed but don't know if that would have made any difference. Installation was a breeze, I installed wine from root, yum install wine, then downloaded the windows version of winamp and opened it from the wine file manager after a breif configuration of wine itself.

The audio app rythem box that came with F15 ain't bad either, seems to do fine, not quite as visually robust but a real workhorse that does great with mp3, mp4, streaming .pls once you have the gstreamer and gstreamer ugly plugin's installed.

Scott

Scott

[Woodsie1]

Hello relaxing, have you successfully tested this solution with the iPhone 4 running iOS 4.3.3?

---------- Post added at 10:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:33 PM ----------

Originally Posted by relaxing

The audio app rythem box that came with F15 ain't bad either, seems to do fine, not quite as visually robust but a real workhorse that does great with mp3, mp4, streaming .pls once you have the gstreamer and gstreamer ugly plugin's installed.

Scott

Yes I know - only one thing wrong with that solution = GNOME 3

I've tried F15 for 14 days and tried to stay positive, and I've even had Docky installed...

[Woodsie1]

Update:

I've made a fresh install of Fedora 15 (yes 15), because I may have been to hasty in my judgment of Gnome3.

Everything besides the problems described in this thread works - even Docky runs better than it did in F14.

Libimobile is now version 1.1.1.1 86_64 - so according to http://www.libimobiledevice.org/ there shouldn't be any problems with iOS 4.3.3 on the iPhone4.

Rhythmbox sends the files to the phone, but the phone never finishes the data transfer. (I've waited for about 40 minutes)

Gtkpod transfers the files, and renames the files to libig-something.mp3, but returns an error when the data transfer has ended, that says:"Unsupported checksum type".

These are the iPod and iPhone related installations I've made so far:

============================== N/S Matched: ipod ===============================
ipod-sharp.x86_64 : Support for high level features of Apple's iPod
ipod-sharp-devel.i686 : Development files for ipod-sharp
ipod-sharp-devel.x86_64 : Development files for ipod-sharp
gtkpod.x86_64 : Graphical song management program for Apple's iPod
ifuse.x86_64 : Mount Apple iPhone and iPod touch devices
libgpod.i686 : Library to access the contents of an iPod
libgpod.x86_64 : Library to access the contents of an iPod
libgpod-sharp.x86_64 : C#/.NET library to access iPod content
libgpod-sharp-devel.i686 : C#/.NET library to access iPod content
libgpod-sharp-devel.x86_64 : C#/.NET library to access iPod content
podsleuth.x86_64 : Probes, identifies, and exposes properties and metadata bound
: to iPods
python-gpod.x86_64 : Python module to access iPod content
usbmuxd.i686 : Daemon for communicating with Apple's iPod Touch and iPhone
usbmuxd.x86_64 : Daemon for communicating with Apple's iPod Touch and iPhone


============================= N/S Matched: iphone ==============================
festvox-kal-diphone.noarch : American English male speaker "Kevin" for Festival
festvox-ked-diphone.noarch : American English male speaker "Kurt" for Festival
hispavoces-pal-diphone.noarch : Male Spanish voice «PAL» for Festival
hispavoces-sfl-diphone.noarch : Female Spanish voice «SFL» for Festival
ifuse.x86_64 : Mount Apple iPhone and iPod touch devices
usbmuxd.i686 : Daemon for communicating with Apple's iPod Touch and iPhone
usbmuxd.x86_64 : Daemon for communicating with Apple's iPod Touch and iPhone


But still, I have no option to chose a white iPhone in Gtkpod - don't know if that is significant...
I use profile "xC065" which is for the black iPhone4, 32GB.

Any ideas anyone?

[Woodsie1]

I guess this settles it:

The following is copy/pasted from this site:

http://www.gtkpod.org/wiki/Libgpod

Regarding Libgpod:

"Latest stable release is version 0.8.0. This release has support for all iPod models except the iPod Nano 6g (the touch one). Most non-jailbroken iOS devices (iPod Touch, iPhone) are also supported with the notable exception of the iPad and the iPhone/iPod Touch 4 which are only supported as read-only devices. "