2010 iPod + iPhone Buyers' Guide

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Ask iLounge 1-2-09

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By Jesse David Hollington

Contributing Editor
Published: Friday, January 2, 2009
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:

My son wants an iPod touch. Can a person block access to all sexual content and porn? If yes, how do you do it?

- Eddie

A:

The iPod touch and iPhone both provide some basic parental controls, however these are limited to restricting access to the iPod touch or iPhone features in general, rather than blocking specific content.

For instance, you can block access to the Safari browser entirely, in which case your son will not be able to access the Internet browser at all, but if you do permit access to the Safari browser, you cannot lock down which sites he can actually visit.

The only exception to this is the ability to prevent playback of media content from the iTunes Store which is marked with the “Explicit” tag. If this is disabled, then songs that are tagged as “Explicit” cannot be played back without entering the parental control password.

Q:

I am currently trying to clear up my computer hard drive and transferring things onto an external hard drive. I am aware that the iTunes library can be backed up to the external hard drive but can iTunes run using the hard drive as the source for the files? In other words, can I delete the files from my computer hard drive and use my external drive only?

- Bryan

A:

Absolutely! You simply need to relocate the iTunes Music folder and the iTunes database in two separate steps onto the external hard drive. Once you have done this, iTunes will run almost entirely from your external hard drive. The only exception will be your iTunes preference settings, which remain stored in a preference file on your computer. However, these preference files as extremely small compared to the iTunes library database and media content.

Check out our recent tutorial on Transferring your iTunes Library for detailed instructions on how to do this.

Q:

I have a 60 GB video iPod and I am wondering how to put the search program on my iPod. I have seen other video iPods that have this feature and I am wondering why I cannot access it on mine. Do I need to add or configure something on my iPod to enable this feature. It is a nice feature as you can scroll to each letter to search for music, video, or even TV shows. Thanks for you help.

- Sam

A:

Unfortunately, this feature cannot be added to the 60GB fifth-generation iPod with video. There were actually two slightly different models of fifth-generation iPod released by Apple. The original fifth-generation iPod, released in September 2005, was available in both 30GB and 60GB models.

In September of 2006, Apple refreshed the fifth-generation iPod lineup with enhanced models that provided increased screen brightness and improved battery life, as well as offering the new Search feature, improved 640 x 480 video playback via the TV output, and gapless playback capabilities, and support for iPod Games. These new models were available in 30GB and 80GB capacities, with the 60GB model being discontinued at that point. These were often referred to as the “5.5G” iPods. With the release of this new lineup, Apple provided most of the new software features to the original 5G iPod models in the form of a firmware update, including support for gapless playback and iPod Games. However, for some reason the Search feature was not provided to the original fifth-generation iPod models, and that remains the case to this day.

Q:

I received an iPod touch for Christmas. I used to have a 30GB video iPod and now I’m using the same iTunes and all my songs are on the new iPod touch but I can’t figure out how to get my movies and new applications on there. When I first hooked my iPod touch up to the computer it automatically created a new playlist for my iPod touch, and if I buy a song off iTunes I have to drag it to that specific playlist for it to be put on my iPod touch. However, my movies are in that playlist too, but they are not showing up on the actual iPod. Any help is appreciated.

- Trina

A:

It sounds like you may want to connect your iPod touch and take a closer look at the synchronization settings for it within iTunes itself to customized your preferences in a bit more detail.

To do this, connect the iPod touch to your computer, select it in the iTunes “Devices” list on the left-hand side of the iTunes window, and you should see a Summary screen appear, with tabs across the top for the different categories of content that you can sync to your iPod touch.

If you have an iTunes library larger than the capacity of your iPod, then when you connect a new iPod, iTunes will offer to automatically create a static playlist of content to fit on your iPod, and automatically set your iPod to only sync that specific playlist. However, this playlist is only set to synchronize under the “Music” options, which means that any videos or other types of content stored in this playlist will not be synchronized to your iPod.

To change these settings, simply look at the appropriate tabs within iTunes while your iPod is connected. You can select additional playlists for synchronization on the “Music” tab for instance if you want to customize your content further. For instance, selecting the “Purchased” playlist for synchronization would automatically sync all of your purchased tracks to your iPod touch without having to manually add them to your iPod touch playlist.

To synchronize movies and TV shows to your iPod touch, you must choose the “Movies” and “TV Shows” tabs and configure the appropriate settings from there. TV Shows can be synced either by series or by playlist, while Movies must be selected individually for synchronization to your device. Likewise, the applications which sync to your iPod touch are selected individually from the “Applications” tab.  Once application synchronization is enabled, any new applications you download are automatically added to your iPod touch during the next sync unless you specifically DE-select them for synchronization on the “Applications” tab for your iPod touch within iTunes.

For more information on managing and syncing video content on your iPod touch, be sure to read our Complete Guide to Managing iTunes Videos.

Q:

I recently got an iPod touch and yesterday Safari stopped working. I initially thought it might be the Wi-Fi connection, however all of the other apps that use Wi-Fi are still working. The last page I was on remained loading, and after I opened a blank tab and closed that one, it just stayed blank. I tried to open Google but it’s stuck on eternal load. Any ideas?

- Jane

A:

If your connection is working in other applications, then it’s likely that Safari itself has a problem with a page load in progress or something that is stuck in the actual cache. Note that the Safari application essentially remains loaded even when you are using other applications, so you may want to try forcing it to quit completely by going into the Safari application and holding down the HOME button on the iPod touch for about eight seconds. This should cause the Safari application to unload completely and return you to the main Home screen.

You can also try resetting your iPod touch by holding down the HOME and SLEEP/WAKE buttons simultaneously for about five to ten seconds until you see the Apple logo appear.

If you are still having problems after this, you should also try clearing the Safari browser cache itself. You can do this under the iPod touch “Settings” app by selecting Safari and choosing the “Clear Cache” option.

Q:

Last month my 1GB iPod shuffle showed 847MB of audio, 3.3MB of free space and 116.8MB of “Other.” A couple of days ago the “Other” category had increased to about 400 MB. I have tried deleting everything off the iPod and then syncing some new files on but the “other” remains. I am getting frustrated. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

- Eliza

A:

The “Other” cateogry on the iPod shuffle represents files that iTunes cannot specifically recognize. This is normally an indication of files that you may have transferred onto your iPod shuffle directly as a USB storage device, however it can also represent “Orphaned” files on your device.

In short, when iTunes synchronizes content to the iPod shuffle, it copies the files themselves onto your device first, and then updates the database on the iPod shuffle to reference these newly-copied files. If for some reason the database does not get updated, either due to a failure on the part of iTunes itself, or a connection failure to your device during the sync, these files will have been copied, but not added to the index. Hence, iTunes cannot actually recognize them, even though they’re perfectly valid media files.

Likewise, simply removing all of the files from your iPod shuffle will not solve the problem, since iTunes doesn’t know that these “orphaned” files are even there in the first place, so it doesn’t know to remove them.

The only simply solution is to perform a completely “Restore” on your iPod shuffle, which basically reformats the flash memory entirely and returns the iPod shuffle back to its factory default settings. To do this, simply connect your iPod shuffle to your computer, select it in the iTunes devices list on the left-hand side of your iTunes window, and click the “Restore” button which appears on the main summary screen. This will erase everything on your iPod shuffle, including any “orphaned” files, and you can then reload it from iTunes as you normally would.

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Ask iLounge Archives:

10-30-09: Authorization problems with iPod touch, Changing Grid View background in iTunes, iTunes library and Music Folder are different sizes, Older iPods and firmware updates, Reconciling two different iTunes libraries, Syncing multiple devices to one iTunes library

10-23-09: Using a laptop with an iTunes library on an external hard drive, Transferring YouTube videos to iPod, iPod touch accessibility settings, Disabling Shake to Shuffle on iPod nano, Purchased songs fail to download from iTunes Store, Charging and powering off iPhone

10-16-09: Moving iTunes to a new computer, Transferring contacts from Blackberry to an iPhone, Disabling iPhone Backups, Using AV cables for audio only, Problems syncing photos to iPod touch, Memorex iFlip and iPhone compatibility

10-9-09: iPhone OS and external keyboards, Adjusting ratings in a remote iTunes library, Excluding tracks from Genius Mixes, Moving iTunes library out of My Documents, Playlist folders on iPod touch, Refreshing random Smart Playlists

9-25-09: iTunes 9 and Shopping Cart, Restoring iTunes to an external hard drive, Using an HTTP Proxy over 3G, Problems transferring movies from iTunes to IPhone, iPod touch shuffle mode, Using an iPhone without a SIM card

See the rest of the Archives...

Next: A Somber Start to 2009's Macworld Expo Raises 2010 Questions

Previous: iPhone Gems: Bugs, Balloons, and Crystal Defenders

Comments

1

Hey, Ive been trying to get hold of a silicone case with a headphone tidy, like the ipod touch/ iphone cases, but for my new 120gb classic… any ideas where i can find one, ive been looking everywhere!

Posted by Tom on January 4, 2009 at 5:40 PM (PDT)

2

Is the 4th generation 30gb or 60gb ipod louder than the 20gb version?  should i sell it for $80 with no headphones to buy a larger or newer one or buy headphones that are loud.  which headphones are loud?

Posted by none on January 5, 2009 at 9:09 PM (PDT)

3

How does on duplicate multiple copies?

Posted by Erik on January 10, 2009 at 12:33 PM (PDT)

4

I just got an ipod nano.I dont know how to add games to it i’ve tried alot of stuff.

Posted by Noah on January 15, 2009 at 2:44 PM (PDT)

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