2010 iPod + iPhone Buyers' Guide

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Ask iLounge 12-12-08

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By Jesse David Hollington

Contributing Editor
Published: Friday, December 12, 2008
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:

Hello, I recently updated to iTunes 8 and am having a problem classifying my videos as Music Video, Movie, ot TV Show. In previous versions of iTunes when I uploaded a video into iTunes, it would be classified as a Movie and I would go into the “Get Info” screen and click the Video tab, which would have the menu for Music Video, Movie, and TV show, and sort it accordingly. iTunes 8 does not have that tab and all my video is going into Movies and I can’t get it out. I have an iPod Classic 160GB. Please help.

- Bruce

A:

With iTunes 8, the option for changing your video kind has been moved from the “Video” tab over to the “Options” tab and re-labelled “Media Kind.”

For videos, this still presents the same three options as the “Video Kind” menu did in iTunes 8, but this can also be used to set the media kind for audio files to either Music or Audiobook.

As an added bonus, iTunes 8 now also allows you to change the Media Kind for videos purchased from the iTunes Store, and you can now tag more than one video file at a time—simply select them all in iTunes before choosing Get Info and you will note that most tabs remain available in the multiple file information dialog boxes. Be sure to check out our newly-revised Complete Guide to Managing iTunes Videos for more information.

Q:

I wanted to know if I buy an iPod touch and upgrade can I share the music between my old iPod and my new one and can everything being transferred from my old one. Can I have multiple iPods authorized under my iTunes?

- Joyce

A:

Absolutely. iTunes treats each iPod you connect as a completely separate device with its own settings for synchronizing your content. Simply connect the new iPod touch, and iTunes will offer to transfer everything in your iTunes library onto the new device—subject to available storage of course.

If you have content stored on your old iPod that is not already in your iTunes library, you will need to transfer that back into iTunes first so that you can transfer it out to your new iPod. Keep in mind that iTunes is intended to be the central repository of your media content with each iPod device as an extension of that core library. If you need to transfer content back from your iPod, check out our guide on Copying Content from your iPod to your Computer for information on how to do this.

Q:

I just moved iTunes from an old Windows XP PC to a new Vista PC. Your article on moving iTunes was great. On Vista, I put the music content in the Public Music folder, and the
iTunes libraries in each user account. It all works except for Mobile Applications and Games, which are still stored under each user account. Is there any way to direct iTunes to use the Public folder for Mobile Applications and Games? I can do it on a one-off, but each time I buy one it goes into that user’s account and the other users cannot find see it.

- Wayne

A:

Unfortunately, the location for the Mobile Applications and iPod Games folders are hard-coded to live within the iTunes library database folder itself, and there’s no way to change this.

The only solution to share the application folders would be to move the entire iTunes library database folder to a single common location, and then redirect each user account to use that as the library database. This is accomplished by holding down the SHIFT key when starting iTunes and choosing the new library folder.

The downside to this approach, of course, is that each of your users would be sharing the same iTunes library database as well, including all playlists, ratings, playcounts and other metadata. You could of course still sync multiple iPods to this single database, but sharing this data may not be what you want to do, and more importantly you would not be able to use “Fast user switching” to have more than one user running iTunes at the same time, as you would risk corrupting the iTunes database by doing so.

Q:

Does the iHome iH9 work with the new iPhone?

- Judy

A:

The iH9 is not officially compatible with any model of iPhone—either the original or the iPhone 3G. However, like most other Dock-connecting iPod speakers and accessories, the iH9 will work just fine with the iPhone to provide the standard functions such as audio playback, charging the iPhone, and standard playback controls and even basic menu navigation support from the iH9 remote control.

Connecting the iPhone to the iH9, however, will result in the “Accessory Not Compatible” nag screen, prompting you to enable Airplane Mode prior to using the accessory in order to avoid potential interference from the cellular radio in the iPhone, as the iH9 is not shielded against this type of interference. The iPhone will continue to work with the iH9 regardless of whether or not you choose to enable Airplane Mode, although depending on your cellular service you may hear static or interference from the cellular phone radio while listening to your music on the iH9. This is generally only a serious problem if you are using EDGE coverage, as opposed to an active Wi-Fi or 3G connection, although it is possible to get some interference on 3G as well.

If you choose to enable Airplane Mode, you can listen to the iPhone, but all wireless communication capabilities will be disabled and you will not be able to receive calls. Removing the iPhone from the iH9 automatically disables Airplane Mode, however.

The other notable feature on the iH9 that does not work with the iPhone is the ability to wake up to a custom playlist—when the alarm sounds the iPhone will simply resume playing where it left off, or start playing content randomly if you had not already been listening to a playlist.

Note that iHome now also sells the iP9 speakers, which are basically identical to the iH9 but are certified as iPhone-compatible.

Q:

How do you get your purchased folder back where it suppose to be under iTunes store icon?

- Charlie

A:

The “Purchased” folder that appears below the iTunes Store is actually nothing more than a standard playlist with a special icon and location. If you happen to delete this playlist, iTunes will re-create it for you the next time you download content from the iTunes Store.

Since this is just a standard playlist, however, it does not necessarily encompass all of your purchased content—tracks can be removed from this playlist, and if you delete it entirely, when iTunes re-creates it only new tracks that you download from the iTunes Store will be included.

If you would like to create a playlist that keeps track of all of your purchased music, the best solution is to use a Smart Playlist. To do this, choose File, New Smart Playlist and you will be presented with a dialog box asking you to enter some criteria for the Smart Playlist. Simply use the “Kind” criteria to include items that contain the word “Protected” for standard iTunes tracks or the word “Purchased” for iTunes Plus tracks, ensuring that you also set the “Match” field to include items that match “any” criteria, rather than “all.”

The resulting Smart Playlist will show all of your purchased items, and any new items that you download from the iTunes Store will also be included in this list.

Q:

I am awaiting delivery of a new iPod classic, which will be replacing a 20 GB 4th generation iPod. Having purchased many albums over the last 3 years from iTunes I believe that some of those albums included videos, but they do not show up in my iTunes Videos’ folder. Is that because the 4th gen iPod was not video capable? When I sync my new classic will those videos now be installed in the new device?

- Mike

A:

In iTunes 7, Music Videos were removed from the standard video sections and included in the “Music” section alongside their respective audio tracks. Therefore, if you purchased albums from the iTunes Store that included music videos, these should have been downloaded to your computer, but they will be listed in the normal albums alongside the respective music tracks, indicated with a small video icon shown to the far right of the track name:

These are completely ignored by iTunes when syncing a non-video-capable iPod, however they will be transferred to your new iPod classic according to your synchronization settings for your music. Specifically, you must be syncing either your entire music library using the “All songs and playlists” setting, or you must ensure that these music videos are included in any selected playlists that you may be syncing with your iPod. Further, when you connect your iPod classic, you will notice that there is an additional checkbox on the “Music” tab to determine whether music videos are included on your iPod:

Another way to quickly find all of the music videos in your iTunes library is to create a Smart Playlist that filters them out. When you setup a new iTunes library, this “Music Videos” Smart Playlist is automatically created for you, but it will not necessarily have been created if you had upgraded from a previous version of iTunes. However, since it’s just a standard Smart Playlist, you can easily create it yourself simply by searching for files with a “Video Kind” of Music Video:



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: iPhone Gems: Two-Dimensional Touch Games

Previous: Purchasing Music Online for your iPod or iPhone

Comments

1

Incorrect information concerning the iH9: I have an iH9 and an iPhone 3G. The wake to playlist function works fine, assuming one follows the directions and creates the “iHome” playlist, and sets the alarm to “playlist”.

I use it several times a week!

Another interesting consideration when using the 3G with the iH9: since the only time I dock my iPhone in it is at night when I’m crawling in bed, I actually *like* the fact that it prompts me to immediately enter Airplane mode. I don’t want my phone ringing / buzzing / whatever until I get out of bed; and it immediately pops back out of Airplane mode when you undock it. So, in my case, I get in bed, dock the phone, hit “yes” (to enter airplane mode), and when I get up (to my custom playlist) I undock it and am good to go!

Posted by Jake on December 15, 2008 at 9:13 AM (PDT)

2

I have an old Ipod 160gig. It works when you plug it in to charge it in the wall, when it’s plugged in the computer, it just sits there and says “charging” won’t play. When unplugged nothing at all happens. Is this a battery problem, or what can I do to get it back working?
Thanks

Posted by B on December 16, 2008 at 12:38 PM (PDT)

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