2010 iPod + iPhone Buyers' Guide

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Ask iLounge 11-3-06

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By Jerrod H.

Contributing Editor, iLounge
Published: Friday, November 3, 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 just installed the latest version of iTunes (7.0.2) and when I went to the iTunes Store, everything was suddenly displayed in German, despite the fact I’m in America. What’s up?

- Henry

A:

This is a known issue with the iTunes Store that has affected many users of multiple iTunes versions (even back to version 4), although it only materialized at the release of iTunes 7.0.2. With this bug, users who launch the iTunes Store often seem to be taken to the localized store of a random country.

When users are taken to the iTunes Store for non-english speaking countries, this problem is easy to identify. However, another, trickier variation of this issue is that when American users open the iTunes Store and are greeted with, perhaps, the United Kingdom’s storefront, all they notice is that the iTunes Store has suddenly stopped offering movies and TV shows.

We’re not sure what the technical issue is behind the bug, or why Apple still hasn’t fixed it for good. In fact, they seem to have installed a temporary user workaround for the problem, by adding a “My Store” country selection pull-down menu at the top of non-US storefronts, to mirror the one that’s always been there on the bottom.

Until the issue is resolved for good, simply use this pull-down menu to change to your local country, or sign into your iTunes account using the “Sign In” button in the top right of the window.

Q:

Hi! I’m having a weird problem: whenever I play a song, it picks up where it left off last time. Almost every song in my library that I don’t listen to completely will remain in that exact place until I go back to that song. What can be done for a situation like this?

- Malcolm

A:

This is an easy-to-fix problem with your songs’ tag information. It seems that, somehow, every track in your library has been tagged with iTunes’ “Remember Playback Position” flag.

Thankfully, it’s easy to remove en masse:

View your main “Music” library, and choose “Select All” from the “Edit” menu. Then, choose “Get Info…” from the “File” menu. Now, check the box next to “Remember Position,” and change the pull-down menu’s value to “No.” Do not check the boxes next to any other option, or you risk overwriting many tags in an irreversible way.

Click OK, and all of the erroneous flags will be removed.

Q:

I was wondering if I could make a duplicate of a song through iTunes and convert it to mono. I want to make sure that I have both a stereo and a mono copy of the song, though - this is for a temporary project, so I don’t want to permanently lose the full-quality track.

- Ben

A:

Absolutely! iTunes’ built-in song conversion feature makes a copy of the original file by default, so you won’t have to worry about overwriting your good-quality copies.

This conversion feature uses the CD-importing audio settings as its configuration. Therefore, to set up the feature to convert songs to mono, simply alter the importing settings in the “Advanced → Importing” tab in iTunes’ Preferences. For example, for a mono AAC setting, you’ll need to select the “Custom…” setting from the pull-down menu and configure the settings as below, where “Channels” is set to “Mono”:

With these settings prepared, how do you activate the conversion? Simply right click on the song(s) you’d like to convert, and choose “Convert Selection to AAC.”

Q:

I have had an unusual problem with my iPod:  Every morning at 8:10AM it starts playing by itself!  This happens even when I have securely shut down the system with the Hold switch. If I forget to check it, it uses up my battery completely! Plus, since I listen to audiobooks on tape, it completely throws me off of my bookmark and then I have to re-listen to huge portions of the book in order to get back to where I was the last time that I used it.

The only thought that I have about this problem is that I recently had a bad virus on my computer. Could that possibly have affected the programming of the iPod? If so, can I fix this problem by re-installing the software?

- Connie

A:

No need to worry - nothing is malfunctioning, and nothing has been damaged by a virus: you simply have your iPod’s alarm clock set, and programmed to play a playlist!

To disable the alarm, simply browse to “Extras → Clock,” enter each of your iPod’s clock entries, and find the one with “Alarm” set to “On.” Then, simply disable it, and your problem is solved!

Q:

I recently ripped Tim McGraw’s Greatest Hits CD into my iTunes library, and then dragged it to my iPod. The album is listed on my iPod while it’s connected to my computer, but once I disconnect my iPod from the computer, it doesn’t appear in the iPod’s menu system. I’ve deleted it and tried it again, but it still doesn’t appear. I’ve also ripped CDs after that and the new CDs appear on my iPod. What’s up with that?

- Roger

A:

Since the problem is occurring with a “Greatest Hits” album, here’s our two-part guess:

The track information that iTunes automatically fetches when you import a CD has marked the album as a “Compilation.” That’s the first part of the issue. The second is that your iPod is set to display “Compilations” separately from regular albums. To verify that this is the case, go to your iPod’s “Settings” menu, and see that the “Compilations” setting is set to “On.”

This is nothing but good news, then: your iPod is behaving exactly as expected, given the settings it has, and the tags on the album. The album is, in fact, on your iPod, but to browse to it, you must select “Music → Compilations” instead of any of the other second-tier options.

If you’d rather this album fall within the other Tim McGraw albums in a regular listing, simply either disable the iPod’s “Compilations” option, or remove the “Part of a Compilation” flag from the tracks’ information in iTunes. To do this, highlight the tracks in iTunes, and select “Get Info…” from iTunes’ “File” menu.

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Ask iLounge Archives:

11-20-09: Sharing iTunes libraries between two user accounts, Enlarging text on iPhone 3GS, Transferring an iPod to a new user, iPhone shuffles when walking, New 8GB iPod touch models, Transferring purchases from a remote iTunes library

11-13-09: Syncing different contact info with two iPhones on the same computer, iPod shows no content, Syncing music and videos in playlists, Exclamation marks next to tracks in iTunes, Playing podcasts on 3G iPod shuffle.

11-6-09: Storing iPod software updates, Playing an iPod continuously, Transferring play counts to a new iTunes library, iPhone backups, Klipsch S4i earphones

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

See the rest of the Archives...

Next: DJ-AM and Sean Avery on iPods & Accessories

Previous: The New shuffle: Seven Facts Worth Knowing

Comments

1

I have just bought an Ipod Video. I am trying to find a wireless remote control, battery charger and FM transmitter to use in my vehicle. I am unwilling to remove the stereo to connect cables and wires. The only option I have found is the Scosche Wireless Remote and FM Transmitter Combo Kit. It has not been reviewed by iLounge, so I am unsure if it works well or not. Any suggestions?

Posted by airforcenav on November 10, 2006 at 11:05 AM (PDT)

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