2010 iPod + iPhone Buyers' Guide

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Ask iLounge 11-16-06

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By Jerrod H.

Contributing Editor, iLounge
Published: Thursday, November 16, 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 know that the iPod can listen to only the audio track of a my videos by accessing them from the Music section. Is there any way to play a video file’s audio only in iTunes?

If not, can I convert the a copy of the video to AAC? I’ve tried playing around the with iTunes converter setting used for songs, but when I right click on a video I can only select “Convert Selection for iPod” and not “Convert Selection to AAC”.

- Dale

A:

You’re right, iTunes can’t play only the audio track of video files, and it can’t convert video to audio. However, there is an easy (though not terribly obvious) way to do this with third-party software. For the benefit of both Mac and PC owners, we’ll explain the process using Apple’s QuickTime Pro, which is identical on both platforms. For other software, the process is similar.

Keep in mind that this clearly only works for videos you yourself have imported into iTunes manually; videos purchased via the iTunes Store cannot be modified due to the copy protection Apple imposes upon them.

You’ll need to copy the file out of your iTunes library first, so simply drag it to your desktop. Then, open this file in QuickTime Pro.

Choose “Export…” from the File menu with the video open, and select either “Sound to AIFF” or “Sound to WAV” options from the Export pull-down menu. The files that result from this conversion can be imported into iTunes for conversion to AAC or MP3, if you wish to futher reduce their filesize.

Q:

I like to manually manage my iPod’s music. To help me in transferring full albums to my iPod manually, I’ve added each album into its own manual playlist. This works OK, but as you can guess, I have way too many playlists, and my work seems a bit redundant. Is there a better way to easily transfer a whole albums’ worth of tracks, without manually highlighting each block of tracks manually?

- Thomas

A:

There’s absolutely no reason for you to manually collect tracks into albums as playlists for this purpose, since iTunes provides several options for dragging whole albums at once without selecting the tracks:

First, you can use iTunes’ Browse function, and drag the Album names from the right column directly into playlists, or an iPod. Access it by pressing the “eye” icon in the bottom right corner of iTunes’ main window.

A new, much more visual alternative is iTunes’ new “Cover Flow” and album artwork listing views introduced in iTunes 7. Here, you can simply drag the artwork that’s displayed in iTunes to the source column to either create a new playlist or add the tracks to your iPod.

Whichever method you choose, you won’t need to create endless numbers of playlists. Enjoy!

Q:

I have set up an iTunes credit card account, but would like to purchase some songs with a gift card I received. How do I let iTunes know that I would like to use my gift card for purchases?

- Larry

A:

As long as you Redeem your gift card through this page on iTunes before attempting to use it, iTunes will always use gift money before charging your credit card. If the amount you’re about to spend (whether via a single purchase, or in your shopping card) exceeds the amount of gift money displayed in the Store’s top right corner of iTunes, a message will appear alerting you that your credit card will be used to pay the difference.

Q:

I have the 5th generation 60GB iPod video. I was wondering if Apple can change the chrome back case of the iPod since it has dents and scratches?

- Chris

A:

You can get your iPod’s back case replaced, but you won’t want to do it through Apple - the cost would be much higher than is necessary. Third-party repair sites like iPodMods stock these parts for purchase. This site, in particular, sells the chrome backings for iPod video units at only $29, regardless of whether you do the installation or have them do it for you.

For less severe damage, you can use polish kits such as these ones reviewed on iLounge.

Finally, and in a completely alternative spirit, several members of our iLounge forums have managed to ‘brush’ their chrome-finish iPod encasings to cover up existing scratches in lieu of replacing any parts. The result is similar to the metal enclosure of an iPod mini or 2nd generation nano, and the process is safe and easy to do, as long as you’re careful not to affect the iPod’s front face.

Below is an example result from iLounge member “Adam,” who first initiated the popular thread in the Hacks & Mods section of our forums with his tutorial on the process.

Q:

After a recent sync with my Treo 650 went awry, I lost all the contacts in my computer’s Address Book. Is there any way to recover them from my iPod’s database, since it has them still?

- Anonymous

A:

Sure, and it’s easy. First, connect your iPod to your computer while holding down Control and Alt (Mac: Command + Option). Hold them down until the iPod appears in iTunes. This will prevent the iPod from syncing with iTunes after you do so, so your contacts don’t get erased now that they’re gone from your PC. Then, make sure “Disc Use” is enabled in iTunes, and browse to the iPod’s “Contacts” folder in Windows Explorer or the Mac’s Finder.

All contacts on the iPod will be stored in a single industry-standard vCard file. Simply import these into your address book program, and you’ve recovered your data.



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: iPod Overseas Report: Tokyo, Japan 11/2006

Previous: Microsoft's Third Strike - Zune Hyped, Lessons Learned

Comments

1

I have the new Shuffle and am having no luck finding cases or “skins” to protect it while jogging.  Are these things available yet?  And if so, where?

Posted by staunen2 on November 17, 2006 at 9:17 AM (PDT)

2

I have the iPod 20G with Firmware version 2.3 on it.  I’ve never been happy with the quality of sound using the iTrip antenna in my car, so I just bought something called TuneBase FM for iPod by Belkin.  If I’m reading the directions correctly, I need Firmware 3.1 or higher in order for this to work with my current iPod.  I’ve been to the website searching for 3.1 under downloads, but not finding it.  Am I doing something wrong, or looking in the wrong place?

Posted by marymixx on November 17, 2006 at 9:26 AM (PDT)

3

Is there a way to burn playlists when your sharing your iPod, on another computer running iTunes, When they are not networked, I’m on the road alot, and don’t have the libary for my iPod on my laptop (or the space). The same is true for some of the people that I would like to share some of my playlists/CDs with. I would like to make a CD of the playlits/CDs to have and listen to, til I get home to put it in my iPod.

Posted by Prophet Norton on November 21, 2006 at 6:39 PM (PDT)

4

I recently bought a new ipod video and I have regulat itunes on my computer because i had an ipod nano before. I have tried downloading itunes 7.0 however it never works, do I need to delete regular itunes in order to install 7.0? Also, how can I transfer all my songs to my ipod video??? Is there any way the software i need to install for my ipod video can be sent to me?

Posted by Celeste13 on December 1, 2006 at 11:36 AM (PDT)

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