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The Free iPod + iPhone Book4

Ask iLounge 1-12-06

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By Jerrod H.

Contributing Editor, iLounge
Published: Thursday, January 12, 2006
Category: Ask iLounge

Ask iLounge offers readers the opportunity to get answers to their iPod-related questions from a member of the iLounge editorial team. We'll answer several questions here each week, and of course, you can always get help with more immediate concerns from the iLounge Discussion Forums. Submit your questions for consideration using our Ask iLounge Submit Form. We reserve the right to edit questions for grammar, spelling, and length.

The most asked question at iLounge.com:

How do I copy music from my iPod onto my computer?

Click here for the answer.

The second most asked question at iLounge.com:

How do I put DVDs on my iPod?


For converting DVDs, web video, TV shows and home movies to your iPod, iPhone or Apple TV, we have a three-part series outlining the best formats, settings, and various tools to use for converting all types of video content for use on these devices.

The Complete Guide to iPod, Apple TV and iPhone Video Formats

The Complete Guide to iPod, iPhone and Apple TV Video Conversion (Mac)

The Complete Guide to iPod, iPhone and Apple TV Video Conversion (Windows)

Top five questions most recently asked by iLounge readers:

Q: What are the best speakers to use with my iPod? (15, 76-79, and 90-92)

Q: What are the best headphones to use with my iPod? (10, 72-75, and 90-92)

Q: I really want to get a nice case for my iPod. Do you have any suggestions? (36-37, 54-67, and 90-92)

Q: How can I connect my iPod to my car stereo? (14, 32-35, 68-71, and 90-92)

Q: Are there any batteries that I can use to extend my iPod's battery life? (82-83 and 90-92)

A: Answers to these and many other questions can be found in two places. Our Free iPod Book 3.3 provides a complete report card to all of the iPod accessories we've reviewed as of summer 2007, as well as over 125 iTunes and iPod tips & tricks. Further, our new 2008 iPod & iPhone Buyers' Guide has accessory tutorials at the page numbers listed in parentheses above. These and other publications in our Library are free downloads, developed by the editors of iLounge!

And now, for this week's Ask iLounge column:

Q: In iTunes 6.0.2, there’s a MiniStore displayed when I’m viewing my local Library and Playlists. I not only find this annoying, but I consider it a potential invasion of my privacy. Is there any way to get rid of it?

- Bill

A: We’re not terribly happy about the MiniStore either, but it’s easy enough to get rid of:

In the bottom right-hand corner of iTunes’ main window, there’s a new “collapse this” button, just like the one displayed in the bottom-left corner for the Album Art box. Press this, and the MiniStore will disappear and stay gone until you manually bring it up again. If you prefer menu items, “Hide MiniStore” is available in iTunes’ “Edit” menu.

If its any consolation, Rob Griffiths has learned from an Apple representative that absolutely no data is being collected from the MiniStore, and Kirk McElhearn has confirmed that it supplies no data to Apple’s website when minimized.

As another option for those who simply don’t use the iTunes Music Store at all, remember that it (and the MiniStore!) can be disabled entirely in the Parental Controls pane of iTunes’ Preferences window.

Q: I have a good hi-fi system, and I’d like to play my iPod through it. The trouble is that I sit on one side of the room and my hi-fi is on the other, so I need a remote control option. However, the iPod will be too far away for me to see the display to know which songs I am choosing.

What I need is a cunning solution! Are there products that will give me a display on a handheld remote so I can see what I’m doing? Or has someone addressed this in a different way?

- David

A: These products are indeed on the way. We’ve seen working models from two different companies on the show floor at Macworld this week, and - said without full reviews or seeing final models - appear to be promising products.

Keep an eye out for DLO’s HomeDock Deluxe and Griffin Technology’s TuneCenter. The former is a $149 device offering on-screen navigation of the iPod’s music and videos, and the latter, expected to debut at $99, offers the same functionality in addition to streaming internet radio through a Wi-Fi or wired ethernet connection. Less expensive and better featured, the TuneCenter is something to get excited about: we’ve awarded it ”Best of Show” at Macworld this year.

Q: One day I changed my Screen Lock code, but now I can’t remember it so how do you change it back? I’ve tried everything… Help!

- Whitley

A: To bypass the Screen Lock when you’ve forgotten your secret code, simply connect the iPod to its home computer. This will disable the Screen Lock, sync the iPod as usual, and enable you to access to the menu system once the iPod has been disconnected properly. Then, simply redefine your Screen Lock code as usual.

Q: How can I update my iPod, withholding a specific genre such as “Holiday,” without deleting the genre from my iTunes library entirely?

- Lynne

A: There are at least two methods to do this, but we’ll mention only our favorite, as the second is considerably more cumbersome:

For our favorite method, it will help to begin with a Smart Playlist which contains your Holiday music. Create the a Smart Playlist with the following attributes, and name it “Holiday Music”:

Genre...Is...Holiday

Once this is done select this new “Holiday Music” Smart Playlist, hold Command (Mac) or Control (PC), and click the check mark just left of any track’s title. This will deselect all songs in that playlist.

Next, open iTunes’ iPod Preference (when your iPod is connected), and enable the “Only update checked songs” option.

We like this method since it’s so simple, and since we are free to delete the “Holiday” playlist from our Source column once we’ve finished unchecking or checking the songs.

Q: I’m trying to get my new 5G iPod loaded. Most of the songs download to the iPod OK, but some randomly “stick” when trying to put them on iPod from library. iTunes ends up hanging, and has to be restarted.

I’ve tried removing the errant songs, but then some others stick down the line that have previously been taken in by the iPod.

- Anonymous

A: One of our editors’ initial fifth-generation iPod exhibited exactly the same symptoms. The transfer would begin normally, but pause indefinitely (crashing iTunes) on nearly any (random) song in a many-gigabyte synchronization. After extensive testing (including simple non-iTunes data transfers using the iPod’s hard drive functionality), we eventually concluded it was a hardware issue.

Our local Apple Store gladly replaced the iPod, and our replacement has worked flawlessly since.

That said, we urge you not to jump to this final conclusion without trying some troubleshooting steps first:

1) If you can, try it on a different computer, with a different music library.
2) Try restoring the iPod’s software using the latest iPod Software Updater.
3) Try reinstalling iTunes.
4) Try loading a large amount of non-music data onto the iPod’s hard drive to see if the problem lies with iTunes or the iPod’s drive.

If none of these help to resolve your issue, you’re almost sure to have a hardware problem… contact Apple.

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Ask iLounge Archives:

9-5-08: AV output from iPhone 3G dock, New playlists not appearing on iPod, Transferring music on iPod touch from multiple computers, Resetting iTunes Store authorization counts, Editing tag information, iPhone task applications

8-29-08: Disabling data on iPhone 3G, iTunes Plus and Apple Backup, Deleting photos from iPod, iPhone v2.0 and TV Out accessories, Consolidating multiple iTunes libraries, Restoring iPod touch from backup

8-22-08: Cleaning up applications in iTunes, Playing back all songs on iPod, Excluding podcasts from Smart Playlists, Bookmarking tracks, Playing tracks back at a consistent volume level

8-15-08: Transferring play counts back to iTunes, Playing iPod while charging, Customizing iPhone alerts, Syncing movies to iPod nano, iTunes not recognizing new CDs, Sudoku reviews

8-8-08: iPhone and SIM card contacts, Syncing iPhone contacts, Hiding SMS previews on iPhone, Playing iPod touch on secondary computer, Syncing photos to iPod, Resuming interrupted iTunes WiFI Store downloads

See the rest of the Archives...

Shop in the loungeStore for iPod + iPhone Accessories.

Next: Macworld Expo 2006 Report (Updated x2)

Previous: 2006 Best of Show Awards: Who Won, and Why

Comments

1

Can someone help my active the “Enable Disk Drive”.  I have the turorial from Podutil but neither the Ipod in the bottom corner nor the Preferences exist as it shows in the tutorial.  My preferences has Ipod but when you open it tells you “no Ipod connected”.  I use PC software, can someone direct me to more details on how to activate this feature.

Thanks
David

Posted by dastal on January 12, 2006 at 4:44 PM (PDT)

2

I recently got a new laptop. I’ve mapped it via a network drive to the folder on my desktop with my iTunes library and can see the library and play-list on the laptop. The problem is iTunes only plays the first song in the selected play-list and then stops. How can I get iTunes to play the complete play-list? Both computers are running Windows XP, the desktop has iTunes 5.0 and the desktop has version 6.01.

Posted by Graybeard in Castle Rock, Colorado on January 16, 2006 at 6:40 AM (PDT)

3

Just saw an error in my post above and can see no way to edit it. I said “Both computers are running Windows XP, the desktop has iTunes 5.0 and the desktop has version 6.01.” I meant to say that the desktop has iTunes 5.0 and the laptop has 6.01. Sorry if I confused anyone.

Posted by Graybeard in Castle Rock, Colorado on January 16, 2006 at 7:06 AM (PDT)

4

how to rip a dvd movie into QuickTime pro to play on my ipod

Posted by DTague127 on January 16, 2006 at 7:38 PM (PDT)

5

I have a 4g ipod photo and just bought a griffin ITalk so I can record my childs first words.

These voice memos show up beautifully in my itunes window but when I try to copy them to my library or burn a cd Ic an’t find them.

Are they is the same format? How do I get them into my system and then burn them… I copied them to my library and created a folder/playlist for them but couldn’t burn a cd I even tried looking into my itunes music folder to find them but the playlist folder I amde is empty… they do show up in my playlist through itunes though… what do I do?

Posted by boxercox on January 28, 2006 at 11:29 PM (PDT)

If you have a comment, news tip, advertising inquiry, or coverage request, a question about iPods or accessories, or if you sell or market iPod products or services, read iLounge's Comments + Questions policies before posting, and fully identify yourself if you do. We will delete comments containing advertising, astroturfing, trolling, personal attacks, offensive language, or other objectionable content, then ban and/or publicly identify violators.

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