discontinuation.

Unfortunately, I have decided to stop developing M:2. The project had some very good ideas, (which I believe Olympus could learn from), but it was implemented poorly and immaturely (as a coder). Most of all, the Java ID3 library I chose to use is incomplete and bug-ridden, and I was stuck with it because it was the only one that offered the features I needed (read/write). On top of that, my coding skills are far from professional, and I would do a lot of things differently if I started again.

I am sadly unable to put the time I would like into this project, or develop it further. This page will remain available, and the program is perfectly usable in its current form, though incomplete as to where I wanted to finish. I hope that someone will be motivated enough to continue where I left off (open-source GPL'ed!)

philosophy.

M:2 Screenshot

When creating software, the most important feature is one that will most definitely go unnoticed: flexibility. The downfall of M:Trip, Olympus' proprietary, closed-source software for managing the M:Robe was that it targeted a specific user-group: people who wanted to sync their mp3 player slowly (mine transferred all the music, every time), sloppily (the organization of music was mundane), and only on Windows.

m:2 tries to avoid this fate by offering flexible usage for a wide variety of users. If you want to simply add your music and go, it will transfer it for you, do it's best to organize it by Artist and Album, and then generate all needed configuration files -- with just a few clicks! If you want more control over your m:robe, you can load your music manually, tweak the organization to your taste, and touch up any ID3 tags that might be broken or just plain annoying.

And most of all, m:2's open licensing and source-code allows you to tweak it yourself, AND begins a community project that I hope everyone will contribute to through ideas, knowledge, time, and programming.

use.it.

m:2 is easy to understand and use quickly and effectively. But first, make sure you have Sun Microsystem's Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 1.5 or newer installed. Most people do, but if you're having trouble, I'd check it out.

A great place to store m:2 is right on your m:robe! Simply copy the program file to your m:robe drive or mounted directory, and then it's ready for you to use whenever you need it.

You can choose to keep your existing Music folder (by default, M:Trip places music in /User/Music for 500i's and /SYSTEM/Music for 100's) or erase it and start with a fresh transfer. (Many users choose this because M:Trip organizes the music incoherently, by re-loading it on your first use, you can easily organize your music again...so you can see what you actually have on there!)

When you fire up M:2, it will prompt you for the location of your M:Robe and the folder you keep the music in. Make sure your music folder is actually on the M:Robe, otherwise you'll have no way to play it~! (But don't worry, it won't let you get away with that)

Adding music to your M:Robe is as simple as selecting new songs with the "Add Songs" button, or dragging-and-dropping files and folders of music in the Super-Box (my name). I find this very handy when I buy a new album and just want to add it quickly. Also, M:2 will automatically organize it!

With M:Trip, I had annoying glitches in my music library. Say, for instance, Track 1 of the album Nothing is Sound by Switchfoot has a capital I for "is", but none of the others do...it shows up in a different album! While this case-sensitivity, as well as other bugs, are unfixable (they are part of the M:Robe firmware...and not all bad), this can easily be corrected using the ID3 Tag Editor in M:2. Simply select the file you wish to edit, make the necessary changes, and save it!

And when you're ready to finalize it, all you have to do is press "SYNC"! M:2 will generate all needed info for your M:Robe.

features.

download.

The Java application is packed within a JAR file. With newer Java runtimes you should be able to open it with a double click. Otherwise you need to open it in a console/command prompt by typing "java -jar M2.jar" in the programs's directory.

There is also a Windows binary (*.exe) available. (Created using launch4j)

Source code is packed in the JAR file or available here:

change.log.

licensing.info.

m:2 is distributed under the GNU General Public License. See the included license.txt for more details.

m:2 was created by Timothy Palpant. It features additions and ideas from the mrobe.org community.

It was a modification and extension of Adrian Stutz's m:robe loader.

m:2 is compilation software that utilizes multiple external libraries including:

contact.me.

Please contact me at tim@palpant.us with questions, comments, suggestions, or help. Also, visit for more information and discussion.