GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 321288
podcast syncing
Last modified: 2005-11-16 10:08:58 UTC
I would like to suggest a new feature for GNOME related to podcasting and iPod-like devices: It would be great to see something related to the "Import" feature for digital photography devices but that would do a "Sync" of Monopod (read: any other podcast application) content when an iPod-like device is plugged. Something along the lines of (what I have only heard about) auto-sync in iTunes. For example: John has Monopod always running in his computer, which downloads the latest podcasts for his adored feeds. John realizes he has to leave in 30 minutes, so plugs his iPod-like device in the computer to sync the content: A menu (similar to the "Import" menu for photos) appears asking for confirmation to "Sync" the content of Monopod in the device. The content of Monopod is synced in the device. In case the device would need extra space, the oldest entries in the Monopod list would be erased in the device, leaving enough space for the newest to be synced. A confirmation appears when the sync is completed and the device can be unplugged.
As it is explained in bug http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=318737 "all I do for iPods is check if it contains a directory named iPod_Control/ at the toplevel, if it does then it's considered an iPod." What I believe could be done is to check for a "Monopod/" structure at some tree level.
Found about SyncPOD: http://armin.emx.at/ipod/ This script syncs a local directory with your iPod. If the directory is larger than the space on your iPod you can sync this larger directory with a master playlist. As alternative you can sync just a bunch of playlists. By typing "SyncPOD" the sync is done ... nothing more nothing less. Configuration is done with a config file ("~/.ipod/config"). You need a FAT32 iPod, Linux with IEEE1394 harddisks support (*BSD may work too) and Perl5 to do that. Everything is done in Perl, not just a C wrapper. Nothing is OS specific. The iPod needs to be mounted somewhere, if you can manage that, you have won...
I don't get why you can't just change the command-line that g-v-m starts when an ipod is detected.
Interesting feature to consider: in case the device would need extra space, the oldest entries in the "Monopod" list would be erased in the device, leaving enough space for the newest to be synced.