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The Free iPod + iPhone Book4

Ask iLounge 1-5-06

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By Jerrod H.

Contributing Editor, iLounge
Published: Wednesday, January 4, 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: I use my iPod for classical music.  Many classical CD’s (and albums on iTunes) separate a work into its movements, with each movement having its own track.  Since I don’t keep a constant eye on my iPod’s screen as I listen, it can be hard to remember which movement I’m listening to. Ideally, I’d like to be able to insert “blank space” of a few seconds of silence, which I can manually place at the end of the last track for each movement in a playlist. Is there any way to create this file, or do you know if one exists?

- Karen

A: While we could never imagine deliberately interrupting classical pieces with foreign silence, we definitely see how it could be useful to you, and yes - it’s certainly possible to do.

In an effort to faciliate the transfer of MP3’s to older MiniDisc players, several websites have created silent MP3s of various lengths, and made them available online. Near the bottom of this website, for example, there are silent MP3’s in various short lengths. Simply download one you’d like (right-click and choose “Save Target As..."), and save it to your desktop. Then, import it into your iTunes library using its “Add To Library” feature, or by simply dragging the file into your Library window.

Then, you can then manually drag as many copies of this track as you’d like into your playlist, and place them between the other tracks.

Q: If most of my iTunes library is encoded in the Apple Lossless codec, is it possible to set up iTunes so that songs are automatically encoded to AAC when they are transferred to my iPod?

- Luke

A: This feature is built into iTunes, though unfortunately it’s available for the iPod shuffle only. For users of other iPods, we unfortunately don’t know of any true solution for maintaining two copies of every track in an iTunes library, outside of storing both independent copies in the iTunes Library itself, and sending only AAC to the iPod using Smart Playlists. Clearly, this isn’t the best solution, but it may be all you’ve really got.

Q: I’m wondering if there is a product made for the nano and 5G iPod that allows you to hook up old accessories. For example, I have a Burton iPod Jacket. It cost me a load of money, and now that I have a new iPod I cannot use the jacket’s control features. As designed, it uses the remote port near a 3G or 4G’s headphone jack. Is there a product that allows this port to be translated into the dock connector?

- Anonymous

A: We typically aren’t able to give happy answers to users desiring backward compatibility, but as a matter of fact, accessories exactly like you describe are indeed on their way.

The first is the U-Link from Battery Technology Incorporated. While it hasn’t been made available for sale quite yet, we have published a very brief first look at the device here.

Second, we were just informed that Targus plans to release a similar adaptor soon. As with the U-Link, this is not yet available - slated for release in March 2006.

Though it’s useless in a Burton Amp Jacket, we should mention to our other readers that ABT’s new PowerJet appears to be a simple car charger, but comes with 9-pin to 30-pin conversion as a handy bonus. The PowerJet will reportedly ship later this month.

Q: When I put (properly converted) videos onto my iPod and go to watch them, they play like music files. I can hear the sound of the movie but there is no picture; instead, I only see the position bar down the bottom like when I listen to music.

- Chris

A: There are two possible reasons for this problem, and both of them are extraordinarily easy to resolve:

The first possible issue is that you’re accessing your videos through the “Music” item on the iPod’s main menu. This is a feature very useful for Music Videos, for example, where you can listen to the audio track of a movie file without dealing with the video track. To watch a video, you must access it from the “Videos” menu.

Another possible reason for this issue is that you simply have TV-Out activated. The iPod doesn’t simultaneously output the video track to both the TV and the iPod’s screen. To reenable on-iPod viewing, navigate to “Videos → Video Settings” and toggle the “TV Out” option to “Off”.

Q: How can I export contacts from my PalmOS PDA to my new iPod’s “Contacts” feature?

- Anonymous

A: The easiest way to do this is actually from the desktop software which accompanies your PDA, Palm Desktop, rather than the PDA itself.

Using Palm Desktop for Mac, begin by highlighting the contacts you’d like to transfer to the iPod. Under the “File” menu, choose “Export.” Here, change the export format to “vCard,” and save the file to your computer’s desktop. On the Mac, you can actually just drag the address book entries to the desktop to do the same thing without using the menus (although be aware that this will create a separate vCard for each entry, instead of one combined file).

Then, connect your iPod, and ensure that “Enable Disk Use” is checked in iTunes preferences, so that the iPod is usable as a hard drive. Then, transfer the vCard file to your iPod’s “Contacts” folder using Windows Explorer (PC) or the Finder (Mac).

For Windows users, Palm Desktop can only export one vCard at a time, which is a problem for our purposes. Thankfully, there’s actually an even easier way: Use Sappenin’s PalmPod software to export your Palm Desktop’s calendar, todos, contacts, and memos onto your iPod without any of the manual labor.

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Ask iLounge Archives:

10-3-08: Displaying lyrics on iPod touch, Calculating playlist sizes, Transferring tracks to iPod in manual mode, Purchasing older iPod models, Using iPhone without phone service, Shuffle modes

9-26-08: iTunes HD TV episodes showing up twice, Shure MPA-3C and iPod touch, Synchronizing iPod to a new iTunes library, Problems updating iPhone applications, Managing iTunes media files on an external hard drive, Managing multiple iPods on one computer

9-19-08: Removing Genre column in iTunes 8, Syncing TV Shows by playlist, Recovering Mac-formatted iPod on Windows, Recovering photos from iPod, XtremeMac Luna X2, iPod flash memory capacity, Restoring older iPod models

9-12-08: Managing iPhone Backups, iPod disk mode and deleted items, iPod Plays only single tracks, iPhone and T9 predictive text, Copying ratings and play counts from iPod to computer, Automatically retrieving CD information and album artwork

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

See the rest of the Archives...

Shop in the loungeStore for iPod + iPhone Accessories.

Next: iPod @ CES 2006 Part III: From the show floor

Previous: iPod @ CES 2006 Part II: Early Announcements

Comments

1

Recently bought a new computer, transferred existing library via network to new computer, connected ipod photo(20g)and kaput! All files deleted on ipod and got the exclamation mark/folder symbol on it. I still have the library on new computer, on which I also run the SONOS system which is working fine, but I cannot get anything on to the ipod. I’m at the edge of my knowledge envelope - can anyone help and tell me how to get it going again?
Ta

Posted by NeilT on January 5, 2006 at 9:45 AM (PDT)

2

Hi
Is there any software that allows you to put web sites on a Ipod video.
I’ve only managed to do screen movies and then convert them to iPod so far.

Posted by chris place on January 5, 2006 at 3:31 PM (PDT)

3

I Personally have 2,000+ songs and I added 7,000 from my friends iTunes… can I upload those songs to my iTunes and make playlists? And I also found out I can’t burn CD’s off of my iTunes.. is it because I got a few off of LimeWire?

Posted by Lordsbassman in Corn Fields of Illinois on January 8, 2006 at 2:04 PM (PDT)

4

Is it possible to transfer songs from the new music file sharing software, Mercora, to my ipod?  If so, can you tell me how?  Thanks

Posted by doddpa-c on January 10, 2006 at 2:19 PM (PDT)

5

i have a 60GB Ipod Color, the most recent ipod to date, i beleive. heres my problem. i had a laptop with 2250 songs on it. i added the songs to my ipod. i recently had to get rid of my laptop and install itunes on my desktop. my songs still remain on my ipod, but i want to put the songs on my desktop on my ipod. i tunes wont let me do this. it asks me if i want to replace my existing files with the files on my desktop. i dont think i want to do this. i just want to keep my original songs from my laptop on my ipod and put the songs on my desktop as well.
Any thoughts?
PLEASE HELP!!!

Posted by brian05 on January 10, 2006 at 7:04 PM (PDT)

6

Hi. Apologies if this has already been covered but I am new to the forum as well as being new to ipod.

OK - what I want to do is this. I have a good hi-fi system and want to play my ipod through it. Trouble is 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 whcih songs I am choosing.

Sooo...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?

All advice welcome!

Posted by misterpenguin on January 12, 2006 at 7:21 AM (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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