iLounge iPad 2 Buyers' Guide

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Ask iLounge 11-22-07

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By Jesse Hollington

Applications Editor, iLounge
Published: Thursday, November 22, 2007
Category: Ask iLounge

Ask iLounge offers readers the opportunity to get answers to their iPod-, iPhone-, iPad-, iTunes-, or Apple TV-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.

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

Q:

I have just bought the game Phase from the iTunes Store and am extremely frustrated with it. I manually manage my iPod, and I only use iTunes as a program to put songs from my computer into my iPod. After installing the Phase game, I noticed a “Phase Music” playlist in my iTunes. I read from the iTunes instructions that I have to sync the Phase game and the playlist into my iPod. I tried dragging the game and the playlist in iTunes to the iPod icon, but nothing happened. I disconnected the iPod from the computer, and I couldn’t find the game anywhere on it! What in the world am I supposed to do? Can you please help me find a solution to this problem?

Daniel

A:

The issue here is that the “Manual” mode actually only applies to music and video content, as the name implies (“Manually manage music and videos” ). Other types of content, including podcasts, photos, contacts, calendars, and games are always synchronized automatically, regardless of this setting.

To synchronize the Phase game to your iPod, you must enable synchronization of games in the appropriate iPod settings. This can be done by connecting your iPod, and simply selecting the “Games” tab from the iPod settings screen that appears:

From here, you can simply choose to synchronize either ALL games, or only specific selected games, and then click the “Apply” button. Enabling this option will not affect the manual management of any other types of content (ie, music and videos), nor in fact the sync settings on any other tab within the iPod settings.

Once you click the “Apply” button, iTunes should start a sync operation on the iPod and transfer any selected game(s) to the iPod. Again, this will not synchronize anything else except for the selected content—in this case games only.

In the case of the Phase game, however, there is an additional step, and that is transferring the playlist to the iPod. Fortunately, this can be transferred to the iPod in much the same way as any other playlist would be in manual mode—simply drag-and-drop the playlist to the iPod as you normally would.

Q:

How do I remove album artwork?

James

A:

Removing album artwork is done in a similar way to adding artwork, although you cannot do so from the main screen—you must visit the file information dialog box to do this.

For an individual track, simply choose the track you wish to remove artwork from and choose File, Get Info to bring up the File Info dialog box. From here, select the “Artwork” tab, and you will see any images that are associated with that particular track:

Highlight the image(s) that you wish to remove, and simply click the “Delete” button, and then the “OK” button. Those artwork images will be removed from that track.

For multiple tracks, the procedure is similar, although you would select all of the tracks that you wish to manage, and then choose File, Get Info. This brings up the multiple items dialog box, allowing you to edit the properties of all select items at once:

In this case, there is no “Artwork” tab—rather you simply click the checkbox beside the “Artwork” section, as shown above, without inserting anything in that spot. When you click OK, the artwork will be removed from all selected tracks (effectively overwriting the artwork already there with no artwork).

Q:

If I decide to replace a file on my iTunes library with a file of the same name (assuming I decide to re-rip a song to a higher bit rate, for instance), will my iPod “know” the file is to be replaced next time I sync? If not, how can I “force” a file to be overwritten on my iPod?

Luciano

A:

This largely depends upon how you go about replacing the track. Normally, if you simply replace the underlying file within your music folder, iTunes will not pick up that anything has actually changed, and therefore will not update this track to your iPod.

If, on the other hand, you actually remove the existing file and then re-add the new one, iTunes will of course see this new file as completely different, in which case it basically removes the old one and transfers the new one.

The disadvantage to this method, however, is that the new file is effectively a completely new library entry, so any ratings, play counts, and playlist entries will be lost by doing this.

If you simply want to replace the underlying file, however, there is a workaround that should work: Simply edit the file properties after replacing the underlying file itself (by selecting the file(s) in iTunes and choosing File, Get Info) and make a change to the properties such as artist or album name. This will force those tracks to be re-transferred to the iPod during the next sync. This can simply be a minor change just to force the sync, and you can always change this back to its original setting later.

Note that this will be different if you are re-ripping tracks from a CD through iTunes itself—in this case, provided the saved CD track information (or CDDB lookup information) is the same as that assigned to the existing tracks, iTunes will prompt you as to whether you want to replace your existing tracks or not. Selecting “Yes” will re-rip the tracks based on your new settings and simply overwrite your existing library tracks.

Q:

Is it possible to lower the volume control on an iPod? Specifically, I would like to buy my 9 year old an iPod, but I feel the volume would be too loud if she put it up to the max, so I’m wondering if there is a way to adjust the volume to limit how high it can go.

Kimberly

A:

Yes. The iPod offers a volume limit feature that was first introduced as a firmware update to the fifth-generation iPod and iPod nano in March, 2006. This feature has since been standard on all iPod models, including the iPod touch, and is even available on the iPhone.

This feature works by setting a maximum volume limit and then locking it with a four-digit password to prevent it from being changed or reset.

On the traditional iPod models (5G iPod, iPod classic, and all iPod nano models), this option can be found under Settings->Volume Limit. You simply select the volume by using the click wheel in the same way you would normally adjust the volume, and then press the centre “SELECT” button and you will be prompted to set a password to lock the volume limit.

On the iPod touch and iPhone, it is located under Settings, iPod, Volume Limit. In this case, you adjust the volume slider, and then click the “Lock Volume Limit” button in order to set a password.

The iPod shuffle also offers the ability to set a volume limit, but since the device does not have a screen, the volume limit is set via iTunes itself.

More information can be found in our iPod 101 tutorial, Limiting your iPod’s Maximum Volume.

Note that if you choose to lock your volume limit with a password, ensure that you do not forget the password, as there is no way to recover it without performing a “Restore” operation, which will erase all of the content on your iPod, requiring it to be reloaded via iTunes.

Q:

I have an iPod classic which is half full. My old computer has broken so I’ve reinstalled iTunes on my computer, but am hesitating in docking my iPod as I believe when it syncs it will wipe the music on the pod - is there any way this can be avoided?

Anonymous

A:

Actually, this is a rather common myth, but is not generally the case. In reality iTunes is fairly cautious about erasing your iPod content when syncing to a different iTunes library. The only situation in which iTunes will actually remove content from your iPod is if it has been removed from your existing iTunes library.

So in other words, selecting all of the tracks in your existing library and deleting them would result in them also being removed from your iPod. However, reinstalling iTunes entirely and creating a brand new empty library would cause iTunes to recognize that your iPod has been synchronized with another library, in much the same way that it behaves when you connect it to a different computer. In this case, rather than performing a sync operation, iTunes will prompt you with a notification that your iPod is linked to another iTunes library and ask you what you want to do:

Obviously in this case, you would select “Cancel” rather than “Erase and Sync.” Selecting the “Cancel” option will leave your iPod connected, but no synchronization will occur. From here, you can then either set it to “Manual” mode (by selecting “Manually manage my music and videos” in the Summary tab) to allow you to add additional content to it manually, or you can simply shut down iTunes and recover the music from it using a third-party software application such as those described in our iPod 201 article, Copying Content from your iPod to your Computer.

As explained earlier, the only time any data on your iPod is actually at risk from automatic synchronization is if you’ve accidentally deleted content from within your existing library. In this case, iTunes will perform an automatic synchronization as normal, since you are connecting your iPod to its existing library. However, you can prevent iTunes from performing an automatic sync in this case simply by holding down the SHIFT+CTRL keys (Windows) or OPT+CMD keys (Mac) while connecting your iPod, and keeping these keys held down until your iPod appears in the source list in iTunes.

Lastly, if you’re using iTunes 7.5, you can disable automatic synchronization for all iPods that you connect to your iTunes library via the Preferences, Syncing tab in iTunes:

Simply check the box labelled “Disable Automatic Syncing for all iPhones and iPods” and click OK. With this option selected, automatic sync will be bypassed for any iPod that you happen to connect to your computer.

Q:

My iPod categorizes my audiobook chapters and lectures as Songs, so that when I play “Songs” shuffled, I get these lectures on Greek History, or Cell biology interspersed. How can I label these spoken passages so the iPod doesn’t include them in “Songs”?

John

A:

Although traditionally only audiobooks purchased from Audible.com or the iTunes Store were treated as audiobooks and skipped when shuffling, recent versions of iTunes allow you to select this for any track in your library.

To do so, simply select the track in question, and choose File, Get Info. This will bring up the file properties. Choose the “Options” tab, and you will see the “Skip When Shuffling” checkbox. Select this and click OK.

You can also adjust this setting for multiple tracks by selecting several tracks prior to choosing the Get Info option. In this case, you will be shown with a multiple item info dialog box, and can choose to set the “Skip when Shuffling” option to “Yes” for all selected tracks.

Once you’ve set this option, simply retransfer the track(s) to your iPod, either simply by connecting the iPod (if you are using automatic sync), or re-transferring the tracks via drag-and-drop (if you are using manual management).

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Ask iLounge Archives:

2-3-12: Deleting pictures from Photo Stream, Transferring Apps to a new iTunes library, Apple Universal Dock and iPhone 4S, Getting Track Names after CD Import, Video Playlists on the iPad

11-25-11: Removing music after activating iTunes Match, Smart Playlists and iTunes Match, Backing up data from an iPhone, Syncing MP3s to an iPod nano, Migrating Playlists to a new Computer

11-11-11: Configure Apple IDs on family iOS devices, Recovering lost audiobooks, Unable to disable passcode lock on iOS devices, Buying an iPod for audio-only use, Preventing deleted tracks from coming back from an iOS device

11-4-11: iPhone 4S storage capacity doesn't match, Transferring HD video from iPhone 4S to a computer, Recovering photos from iPod touch, Notification Center and iMessage in iOS 5

10-21-11: Using iCloud's Find My iPhone on older devices, Batch deleting photos in Camera Roll, Using iTunes Gift Cards internationally, Audiobooks and iCloud, Merging contacts from two devices into iCloud

See the rest of the Archives...

« Wrong Thurr: How Dupri, Jay-Z, and Universal Misunderstand iTunes

Ask iLounge 11-16-07 »

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Comments

1

hello i have a error -69 on my i-pod  
shuffle thinks its a 1st gen
have resat many times works for a bit then same error thanks alot
jake

Posted by bob666 on November 23, 2007 at 10:52 AM (PDT)

2

My video ipod 30 GB had a nervous breakdown yesterday. It won’t sync to my computer, and when the ipod is turned on it will only go to the Apple logo screen where it stays until it turns itself off a few seconds later. Then, a few second later it turns itself back on. On and off, on and off until it drains the battery and won’t work anymore. So I recharge it and it does the exact same thing—never getting any firther than the Apple logo screen. I’ve tried resetting the player by toggling the hold switch and by depressing the center and top buttons on the wheel dial—with no resolution. Help!!! The player is 10 months old and has been gently used by an adult only.

Posted by kmiller4 on November 24, 2007 at 6:48 AM (PDT)

3

Okay, so “Manually Manage Music and Videos” only applies to music and videos and not podcasts or games or photos etc.  But what about playlists?  I can make playlists of music, or playlists of podcasts… are such playlists synchonized between iTunes and iPod or not if “Manually Manage” is checked?

Posted by Geckoid on December 18, 2007 at 11:02 PM (PDT)

4

When i try to sync album artwork to my computer it comes up with an unknown error (-50). Can anyone tell me what this is and how do i fix it?

Posted by Josh on May 3, 2008 at 10:06 PM (PDT)

5

Thanks for the tips and instructions.
Sylvia

Posted by Sylvia Guzman on December 28, 2008 at 7:29 AM (PDT)

6

I bought the game phase off of itunes and I have tried to sinc the phase playlist to the game but it won’t work. Is there another way to sinc the playlist and the game?

Posted by Sarah on June 5, 2009 at 7:21 PM (PDT)

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