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The Free iPod + iPhone Book4

Ask iLounge 1-26-06

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By Jerrod H.

Contributing Editor, iLounge
Published: Wednesday, January 25, 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: Is there a way to specify which MP3 codec iTunes uses for converting audio to MP3 format? I’d love to use the LAME codec, but iTunes seems to use the “XING” codec.

- Michael

A: Generally speaking, no, one can’t do that. To use LAME on a PC, we’d recommend you encode with a separate third-party application, and then import the resulting tracks into iTunes.

However, if you’re using a Mac, shareware developer Blacktree, Inc. has developed a clever and very useful solution called “iTunes-LAME.”

This AppleScript application, which is available free of charge, places direct access to a customizable LAME encoder into the “Script Menu� on a Mac. iTunes-LAME will import audio tracks using the popular “--alt-preset standard,� “--alt-preset extreme,� or “--alt-preset insane� configuration options, as well as any of an enormous number of custom combinations of bitrate, verbosity, and other power-user options.

Q: All of my music videos are imported into iTunes and properly converted to iPod format, but when I go to Preferences and click on the iPod’s “Videos” tab, the “Do not update videos” option is selected and greyed out; I’m unable to select the other options. How am I supposed to synchronize my videos?

- Daniel

A: The video synchronization options are greyed out because you have elected to manually manage your music tracks and playlists.

In this case, you’ll need to manually manage your videos in the same manner as you manually manage your songs: drag and drop.

If you’d like to be able to use one of iTunes’ automatic video synchronization methods, you’ll need to switch from “Manually manage songs and playlists” to one of the two Automatic music synchronization options. These are available in the “Music” tab of the iPod Preference panel in iTunes.

Q: I have a 4th Generation iPod and I really want to get a new video iPod with a color screen. I was wondering if I sent in my current iPod for a battery replacement, would I receive a new 5th Generation iPod as the replacement? I thought this would be a cheap way to get a better iPod… surely Apple doesn’t just make old iPods for battery replacement.

- Hunter

A: Sorry, but we certainly wouldn’t expect that to happen. We’ve never heard of anyone receiving any sort of upgrade through Apple’s Out-of-warranty Battery Replacement Program.

According to Apple, the iPod you receive may be “new, used, or refurbished,” but nowhere does Apple suggest that you may receive a different iPod model (better or worse) than the one you paid for. In most cases, you’ll receive a refurbished unit of the same model number you sent in.

Apple’s refurbished iPods, however, are most often in excellent condition, with new batteries and new or like-new external casings.

Q: Is there any way to add album art to every song on a certain album simultaneously? It’s annoying to have to do an album track by track.

- Martin

A: Absolutely! Simply select all songs in the album simultaneously (by Shift-, Control-, or Command-clicking on various track names) before dragging the artwork into the Album Art box or adding it via the “Get Info” window.

For more information about adding album artwork to your music library, see our iPod 101 tutorial on ”Adding Album Art in iTunes.”

Q: I noticed in the My Music folder of my Windows PC a folder iTunes created called “Compilations�, comprised almost entirely of various greatest hits CDs. Most all of the artists included in this Compilations folder have separate folders outside of this Compilations folder. In an effort to keep all of an artist’s music together, I’d like to know if and how I can move music (individual files or complete folders) within the My Music folder without disrupting iTunes.

- John

A: Our basic guideline for manually working with iTunes’ underlying file structure is “don’t.” Because iTunes doesn’t “watch” folders for changes, any attempt to change the file structure that iTunes has designated for your library will cause iTunes to lose track of those songs, forcing you to re-add them to your library.

However, the specific thing you’re asking to do is extremely easy to do within iTunes itself.

iTunes places songs which have their “Part of a compilation” checkboxes enabled into a separate folder in the underlying music file structure. If you don’t like this organization method, all you have to do to revert it is to simply deselect the “Part of a compilation” checkbox for the affected tracks.

To do this globally, simply open your Music Library in iTunes, select “Select All” from iTunes “Edit” menu, and then choose “Get Info” from the “File” menu. Then, check the box next to the “Part of a compilation” area, which should display “No” by default. Make sure you haven’t checked anything else, then click “OK.”

This will remove the compilation status from all of your tracks, and iTunes will proceed to reorganize its file structure (in the background), placing each artist’s tracks into their respective artist folders.

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Ask iLounge Archives:

7-4-08: Recovering a corrupt iPod, Hard cases for iPhone, Reimporting CDs into iTunes, iPod shows only Other content, Managing multiple audio formats in iTunes, Optimum iPod video output cables

6-27-08: Creating Smart Playlists for Purchased items, Keeping place in multi-track audiobooks, Backing up iTunes before a reformat, iPod Games on 5G and classic, Editing CD tracks before import, Getting Album Artwork automatically

6-20-08: Third-party iPod management tools, Transferring large files on iPod, Shuffling On-The-Go Playlists, Removing played podcasts from iPod, Continuously playing one track, Moving iTunes from PC to Mac

6-13-08: Artists not appearing on iPod, Unchecked items do not play in iTunes, iTunes shows incorrect CD track information, Podcast support on older iPod models, Upgrading to a new iPod, Photo albums on iPod touch

6-6-08: Downloading YouTube videos onto iPod, Selling old iPod models, Fit iTunes Window to Screen, Handing down an iPod, Dock Compatible iPod cases, Problems transferring music from iPod to Mac

See the rest of the Archives...

Shop in the loungeStore for iPod + iPhone Accessories.

Next: First Looks: Altec iM3c, SmartShare, OtterBox 5G, Commuter & Mork Mount

Previous: First Looks: Applesauce, Blinkit, EyeTV 2, iM11, iRhythms & More

Comments

1

With an iTunes under Windows 2000 using a 400 GB external drive for library (but the xm. file is on my internal 20 GB drive), I’d like to be able to fill my iPod with MP3 versions of various of my 6,000 WAV files on the external drive, without having to keep duplicates of all those songs in both MP3 and WAV on the external drive.  Can I somehow create a folder on the internal drive for putting any MP3’s I ‘convert’ into?  If I do that, and convert a few hundred WAV to MP3 there, will iTunes lose stuff?  What would I have to do later when I wanted to import off of a CD in WAV to the external drive?  Too bad iTunes doesn’t have a ‘convert WAV to MP3 while loading iPod’ command!

Any advice would be helpful.

Posted by AJMD429 on January 28, 2006 at 8:04 PM (PDT)

2

I have filled my iPod and I want to add new songs to my iPod but I don’t want to erase songs from my iTunes. How can i keep songs on my iTunes with out adding them to my iPod?

Posted by Burchwood on January 29, 2006 at 8:27 PM (PDT)

3

My computer broke so we took it down to the local fixer person.  My whole itunes library got deleted and I am worried that if i plug my ipod into the computer all of the songs will be deleted.  I asked a friend and she recomended this site to me and said that you could download all of the songs onto this site and they could be put into my library.  Is this true?  ~Mari

Posted by i_lovey_bunnies on January 30, 2006 at 7:40 PM (PDT)

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