XBMPSync

XBox Media Player Synchronization Software

Updated June 19, 2003

What it's for

XBMPSync is a Windows application that automatically copies MP3 and WMA files from your PC to a modified XBox running XBox Media Player (XBMP from now on). If audio files have been ripped with Windows Media Player 9, XBMPSync will transfer album cover pictures to the appropriate folder thumbnail files used by XBMP so instead of seeing a blank folder, you see the album cover. XBMPSync also does the same thing for artist folders. It builds a mosaic image for the artist folder from thumbnails of up to four of the album covers for that artist. XBMPSync also fixes your MP3/WMA filenames so they'll fit into the naming conventions used by the FAT-X filesystem on the XBox.

The Gotchas

XBMPSync assumes one thing - when you ripped your CDs to the PC you configured the software to record each artist in a folder and then each album in a folder inside the artist folder. Like this:

If you didn't use this model, I have no idea what XBMPSync will actually do -- but I'm sure you'll get the wrong album cover thumbnails. I'll add Genre/Artist/Album to the model in a future version.

OK, another gotcha - you need to have Internet Explorer 6 installed since XBMPSync uses IE to handle the FTP protocol.

Installing and Running XBMPSync

• Download XBMPSync from this link (see below for source)
• UnZIP all files into a folder of your choice.
• Launch XBMPSync.exe which should reward you with the following dialog

• OK, so not exactly like this since you've got some info to fill in first - the folder names, the IP address of your XBox and the username & password for EvolutionX's FTP server. By default, the username & password are set to the EvolutionX default - "xbox" for both.

What the Sync function does

• Connects to the XBox FTP server - either the EvolutionX FTP server or the FileZilla server in XBMP. I'd recommend using the EvolutionX FTP server since it apears quite a bit faster than the one in XBMP.
• Goes through each folder in your PC Audio Folder
• Adjusts folder and filenames so they fit the rules for the XBox FAT-X filesystem (42 characters max with most accented characters missing)
• Transfers the MP3 and WMA files to the XBox if the file previously didn't exist on the XBox or the file size on the PC is different from the XBox file size
• If each album folder contains an album thumbnail file (AlbumArtSmall.jpg file - created by Windows Media Player 9 is the default, but you can change it to something else), it is transfered to the XBox to the artist folder, renaming it correctly to make XBMP display it. If selected, XBMPSync can re-size the thumbnail to 64x64 - the size that XBMP expects.

So, basically you run it once which takes forever to move all your WMA and MP3 files and then each time you rip a new CD, just run it again and it'll transfer the new files.

What the Folder Thumbnails function does

• Connects to the XBox FTP server
• Builds a list of artist and album folders and looks for the thumbnail files created by the Sync function
• For each artist, the first four of these thumbnail files are merged into a single mosaic thumbnail and that's placed in the top level folder.

Before and After Screen Shots

Can you someone tell me how to take a screenshot of an XBox running XBMP over the network? :) [email protected]

What if I didn't rip with Microsoft Media Player 9?

Two choices:

• Get Media Player 9 installed and point it to the top level of your music folder. As you move through each album, Media Player 9 should figure out what the album is and locate & download the appropriate album cover from the 'net.
• If you've got thumbnails for the albums, just change the name of the thumbnail file in XBMPSync and make sure the resize option is set. XBMPSync will then look for these files in the album folders.

Source

Source is freely available. Do whatever you want with it - just don't hold me responsible for it! The source requires Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 to rebuild plus a development license for the ImgSource library from Smaller Animals.

Changes

0.9.1 June 18, 2002	Initial Release
0.9.2 June 19, 2002	When connecting to the XBox, checks that the audio folder on the XBox is accessable. Ability to change the album thumbnail JPG filename for non-WM9 users Resize option for thumbnail JPGs. WM9 generates 76x76 typically which XBMP has no problem resizing quickly, but if you've got 512x512 JPGs, you don't want them on your XBox. XBMPSync will resize the thumbnail files on the XBox to be 64x64. Compatibility with both the FTP server in EvolutionX and the FileZilla FTP server in XBMP.