Post Your Sync Issues Here

I can't seem to drag and drop individual items to sync with my zune after the latest update.  It says to drag items to the zune icon in the lower left hand corner but then when I do it just blocks it.  I have tried dragging the songs just about everywhere(songs, albums, artists) and it does not work.  I am so frustrated with this software.  The old software wasn't the best but at least it was functional.  This new update is as slow as the original software and doesn't function correctly.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Hordus I've run into the same problm as you. First, I think the software displaying your entire collection as reserved space is a bug,
Me too

Since Mp3Tag has the ability to delete the PRIV tag frame, I think the two programs I posted previously aren't necessary.
Not true, I found your programs very usefull, I would like to have seen them before, since you are able to delete only the PRIV data without erasing other "normal" tag information.

@Solar
I see you tried the same operations I did, :-D as you could read on my old thread.
Firstly I had the problem to let Zune Software to recognize ALL my songs, since I noticed that some songs were missing (how many out there has the same problem but they simply don't know?? :-D ). Very hard work (24 gb of files). Then I discovered that, with zune software opened, just putting all the songs in mp3tag and click SAVE (without doing anything else)...missing songs appeared magically in the software. So I focused my attention to a couple of this files (they were about 40-50 songs).
After that It happily came out the syncing problem...and I saw that the 2 problems were connected. I captured a screenshot of double synced files and sent my database to zune team. Zune team confirmed me that it was a problem of "metadata" in files (and obviously in the .sdf file) showing me songs with same "Service ID" (I think the 28 Binary bytes of ID3/Priv). I will update a pic of what ZuneTeam sent me.
I tried to directly transcode files with no success (metadata seems to follow the transcoded file), then I tried indirect transcoding to Wav and then to Aac, and this solved the issue. Zune Software recognize all the songs and no sync problem anymore. This is the worst solution (transcoding) to solve this problem, but I had only ~40 files so I did it.
I would advise to not let Zune Software "update automatically" (specially "replace all media info") if you experience this problem till Zune Software is able to find ALL the songs you have (make sure of it). If you have identify problematic songs and your songs are MP3 or WMA you could:
1-Remove the entire Id3 frame from hostile songs
2-Open Zune Software (with "update automatically" disabled)
3-Open Windows Media Player and find information by hand (like the ZuneSoftware v1). When finished, Zune Software should add in the catalog in the right way.

NOTE: I'm quite sure that Marketplace is not the place where Zune Software retrieve information (and WM Custom metadata) and album arts.
All the information are taken from AMG servers (My Braveheart OST CD and other ones has the album art from AMG and not the one from Marketplace. If a album has a albumart in Marketplace but in AMG hasn't, in the Zune Software that album will be without albumart).

lukgunner, when I was going through my experiment, I noticed it was similar to what you went through. I should have put that im my notes, sorry. I added on a step in the end, which I have not seen you mention after retagging all the files. I made them read-only, specifically so the soft wouldn't rewrite the tag back even when I told it not to or if it wanted to secretly. I also redid my whole library becasue I didn't know which file had the PRIV frame. When I was first hunting around, some had one and some and some didn't, now they all don't (muwhahahaha).

I've tried this out for the past 24 hours or so, and so far it's worked. Rebooting, closing the software and disconnecting, disconnecting and closing the software, allowing my podcasts back onto the device, making subsequent tag changes, it still has only resynced two song, but I fixed that by making a change from within the software, by changing the title there. It titled one song as another but I fixed it by editing the title field from within the software, because the tag info was already correct. Any time I have needed to update actual tag information, I set the problem files as writable, use Mp3Tag to make the updae, and the lock up the file again as read-only. As a result, I haven't seen that PRIV frame come back. I still have to try rebuilding my library database and having it read the read only tiles, because I'm still missing songs too and my usual suspects are all showing up in the software. At least I think I've solved one problem of having the songs resync repeatedly. Now it's onto the next.Wouldn't you agree that hunting for the missing songs is a pain?

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Zune MVP
Contributor, http://www.insidethecircle.net

ahahhaha it's a deep pain!!! I know what you mean!
Do you know the actual, correct number of songs you have (that is the correct number of songs that Zune Software should recognize)??? in other terms, my question is Are you sure that you're still missing some songs? I had some flac and ogg files in my music folder, that are obviously not recognize by Zune Software. I wasted a day just to realized I had those fu&$"(* files.
I used the search in Windows to be sure about the correct number of files...I looked for *.mp3, *.wma, *.aac, *.m4a.
I hope you could solve this problem soon ;)

Hey Solar,

Thanks a lot for your suggestions. I appreciate it.  I will try those.  I am really annoyed by this sync problem.  I mean, how many more times should I erase this device and resync everything? This looks like the most important problem on the software.  Do we/you know whether Zune programming team is working on this? Any idea when this would be corrected? Any educated guesses? It really feels like I bought a broken machine and I am trying to fix it myself (only I can't).

In addition, I asked this question elsewhere, but since I think it is related to the syncing issue I will ask again.  Perhaps you know an answer:

The playlists on the software section and on the device section are different from one another, though I selected to autosync. And, since autosync does not change anything, I insisted and selected all the playlists on the software section, RT clicked, and then selected "Sync with Zune80GB". However, nothing seems to be changing on the device side. The playlists on the device do not update. Do you know why?

Also, the arrangements of the playlists are different on the software from what's on the device. For example, The Innocence Mission is listed under "T"s in the software and when the device is connected. However, when I disconnect the device and want to browse the playlists, I see The Innocence Mission under "I", ignoring the "The". Why is there a discrepancy in the listing? Is it related to syncing?

Thanks a lot again.

S1N1STA,
What are your sync settings? Automatically sync? "Let Me Choose"? and where are you dragging items from? Your Zune collection or desktop? If its your desktop, then I believe the files have to be in the Zune software first and then you can drag them over to your icon. Also what are you trying to sync? I know certain file types won't sync, while others have to be converted.

Hordus,
I have no idea when it's going to get fixed. I've submitted a request over the phone about the issue of the software not seeing similar songs, in the process I directed the service technician to the thread in my signature. He was able to replicate my problem. Lukgunner talked with the Zune Team about the same, issue, and to my knowledge has not yet received an update. I noticed a Zune Team member posted on the 6th, and he had his head bit off in the next post (unfortunately). I understand what you mean about not being able to fix it yourself. I think I just tried to beat the software at its own game by not giving it permission confuse itself. So far, it's still working.

If you could post screen shots of the playlist issue in action I'm sure it would better illustrate your point. I figure, if we show pictures of the software acting up or document our progress, it'll also help other people realize they're not alone. I don't know why your playlists aren't syncing. The playlists are different how? in song totals? or Alpha-organization? Did you create them in the software? (side note, don't you find it annoying how you don't know how long your playlists are? or how many songs are in them, unless 'selecting all'?) If "The" is being seen in one instance and not another, the differences could be a programming error, again post pictures so everyone can see.

For posting I'd recommend Photobucket the site works well for me. Vista also has a program called Snipping Tool which makes the process of taking screenies much easier. In XP you can use the "Print Screen" key and paste (ctrl + v) the image into the Paint program.

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I'm currently seeing what happens when I rebuild the library and have it see my read-only collection. (so far so good) I'm also rebuilding my Vista search index to see how many files the OS thinks I actually have in my music collection. This is to answer lukgunner's question about how many files I really have. It may also answer the question of why I think I'm short files on my Zune.

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Zune MVP
Contributor, http://www.insidethecircle.net

After 2 days, I still have not had a song, that was not supposed to, resync itself back to my device. Over the course of those two days, I've rebuilt my library, having it parse my 'Read-Only' folders and files, and reformated and resynced everything again. All has been going along well, note the sized of the 'Reserved Space' in the second picture. Now, I'd love to see others try this workaround and see if their songs stop automatically resyncing.

Lukgunner: I'll have totals posted in my Transgressions thread, becasue I wouldn't consider it a sync issue

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Zune MVP
Contributor, http://www.insidethecircle.net

Solar,

You are right about screenshots.  I have taken screenshots and pictures this time. 

I have a question regarding files and folders in Windows.  Some of the tags on the mp3s do not get removed by the mp3tag software.  So, I wanted to make sure that they were not read only or archive files.  I right-clicked on the entire mp3 folder and unchecked all the read-only, hidden, archive sections like this.  And, then I hit OK (applying the selection to all folders, subfolders, and files).  Then, I tried removing the tags of these songs, but still the software could not remove them.  When I went back and RT clicked on the entire mp3 folder again, I saw this.  Do you know how I can remove all the selections once and for all?

Sorry, I was not really clear on my explanation of the playlist problem.  As you said, the playlists are different in song totals. The playlists on the software has more songs than the ones in the device.  I created the playlists in the software.   In terms of the "The" problem, here is the entry on the software, and here is the same entry on the device.  They are different in alpha organization.  Somehow, the device ignores the "The" in front of the The Innocence Mission (or the software fails to get rid of the "The" if there is a code that tells to get rid of it).

I totally agree with your point about the playlist counters.  It is so frustrating not to know how many songs are in a particular playlist.  There must be a counter.  But, this issue is not new to this new software.  It was missing in the first generation as well.  I thought they would put this functionality, but they haven't.  I am hoping that they will in the next update.  Also, I am very frustrated with not being able to sort in any way in the playlists, according to albums for an artist, for example.  Come on Zune team, was that so hard to code that you left these functionalities out??? Also, there must be a scroll indicator on the device while we are browsing the songs in a playlist.  In a playlist that contains 40 or so songs, it is impossible to know where you are without a scroll indicator on the left.  I know these issues are not related to the subject of this thread, however, here is one more suggestion.  On the device, when you go to artists section and click on it, you see the albums of the artist only.  Why? Maybe I do not remember which album the song belonged to? There must be a sub-menu making it possible to browse both by song names and album names within an artist.  That's a lot better. 

I am yet to try the removing and retagging everything, but I cannot do it because the mp3tag software does not remove these tags.

Thanks a lot for your help.

I'm having an issue with "leftovers"

I have two playlists on my zune device that the zune desktop doesn't "see" and I therefore cannot delete.

I had originally re-named these two playlists, and before I deleted all playlists (that I can "see") from the device I had those two lists in there twice; one under the old name, one under the new name.

This is extremely frustrating, if I could just look at the zune like a regular harddrive I know I could just get rid of those extra playlists....

Help!  {=(

I get the same thing on my folders too, if you look at the files within the folders, they will all be checked as read only. That is, if you selected the option to "apply to all sub-folders and files as well" (or something like that when you selected the read only check box).

As for Mp3Tag I got that sticky-tag issue too, sometimes I had to run the remove tag operation twice (only once, 3 times for one song) to get certain tags completely clear. For me, I saw no correlation between the sticky-tagged song and syncing issue, it just seems like some of my songs had two sets of tags on them. Good call not doing all your library at once and testing it out step by step. Whenever I retagged whole sections of my library with the  copy, remove, paste method, I made sure to keep the files I was working on selected, I don't know what happens when you loose focus on them and then select "paste tag" without having all of the songs in question selected first. I'm not too inclined to find out.

Thinking about the playlists: You're referring to the titles of the playlists, and that seems to be a listing inconsistency between the software and device. Looking at the differences between device totals and on-computer totals, have you deleted files off the computer version of the playlist while hoping the computer would resync it the updated playlist to the device? When I make metadata edits to videos, I have to manually remove the video from my device and my collection and then re-add them to back to both places to get the software to recognize my changes. Try deleting the playlist off your device and then resyncing the updated playlist from your computer. It's not auto sync, but hey, this thread is about syncing issues. And I'll concede, manually syncing a lot of playlists could get tedious. I don't think the playlist section has a scroll indicator (you mean scroll bar?) because none of the other sections do, they're always organized alphabetically. Or do you mean the playlist section doesn't even have the  large alphabet character to orient you? Other than my quick list, I've only made one playlist. Finally, I do agree that being able to simply view an artist by song would be a nice feature to add ("view all songs") right below the "play all" option. More often than not I remember a song name, not an album.

Good luck trying the retag operation, I am really hoping we have a valid work around.

Edit: If you have playlists that are on your device but not in your software, then I believe the only way to remove them, other than editing your registry to make your Zune a portable hard drive, is to reformant your device. I wish that weren't the case and hope some one knows another way of removing playlists (and songs for that matter) that show up on the device but not in the software.

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Zune MVP
Contributor, http://www.insidethecircle.net

ok how about this (i have a zuneoriginals 80):
I have some music (singles and stuff) that i have purposefully remove the Album tag on. On the zune the ONLY way i can see those is to browse to Albums -> "Unknown Album" or just browse through the songs and they will be in there, but only by title obviously.

The problem is that they dont show up under the Artist at all. Nowhere! If i have one album by Artist A and then some other song by Artist A, if i browse to Artist A i only see the album, not the other song. However if i go to Songs and browse down to the title, i can play the song, its on the zune, but its not listed under Artists. Same thing applies to every single mp3 on the Zune that has a blank Artist tag

what gives?

I don't know what gives, and that sounds weird, but I do know that you should have at least something in every album and artist field, even if it is something like 'Unknown Album' or 'Singles.' The software is picky in that regard. If you don't enter an album title the software will enter something for you and that is usually 'Unknown Album 1/01/07' (or whatever the date you imported into the software was). I see entering something into the album field as a good thing. For me it helps me keep better track of my music and also helped to cut down on the amount of songs that I had that would continually resync.

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Zune MVP
Contributor, http://www.insidethecircle.net