Article

Ask iLounge 2-16-06

Author's pic

By Jerrod H.

Contributing Editor, iLounge
Published: Thursday, February 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:

Unsurprisingly, I often find myself navigating songs from within the playlists I’ve created. The problem is that when I come across a song I’d like to remove from my library, I find it cumbersome to have to navigate back to my main Music Library before I can easily do so. That is, selecting a song and hitting the delete key while in a playlist only removes the song from the playlist, not the library. Is there a better way?

- Will

A:

Absolutely, and it’s simple:

On a PC, use the “Shift-Delete” key combination instead of simply “Delete.” On a Mac, use “Option-Delete.” We should note that the same special key combinations apply if you’d like to delete an entire playlist and all of the songs it contains, as well - just start by instead selecting the playlist from iTunes’ “Source” column. In either case, a warning message will be shown before the songs are permanently deleted, but still - be careful!

Q:

Help! I love my iPod but want to use iTunes to manage my music on my Creative MuVo as well. Can I do this or do I need to use another method?

- Tim

A:

There’s a little-known feature in the Mac version of iTunes remnant from much earlier revisions of the software—it actually works well with certain non-Apple MP3 players! Lucky for you, the MuVo happens to be one of them.

Simply plug in the MuVo, and it will appear in the iTunes’ “Source” column. To load it, simply drag MP3s from your iTunes Library right onto the MuVo icon:

At the bottom of iTunes’ window, the capacity indicator bar works as it does for an iPod:

 

In the bottom right of iTunes, the icon usually reserved for “iPod Preferences” changes into a lightning bolt, which will empty the player (music and data) for music use.

 

Granted, automatic synchronization isn’t supported - but on small devices, this isn’t much of a problem.

Finally, if you’re on a Windows PC, you’re out of luck, here. However, it remains very easy to load an MP3 player such as the MuVo, as they simply play files stored in their root directory. Simply drag MP3 files out of the main iTunes Library window and drop them into the MuVo’s hard disk letter in Windows Explorer. It’s not as pretty as the MuVo-iTunes interaction on a Mac, but it works!

Q:

I have a 5G 30GB iPod. While I love iTunes and the iPod interface, and also enjoy listening to comedy and other talk tracks (like podcasts). Unfortunately, this results in having comedy come up while I’m listening to music. It’s annoying and distracting, but I would like to keep the comedy for when I feel like it. Is there any way to designate tracks or podcasts to not show up in shuffle?

- Justin

A:

There are several ways to do this.

In iTunes, you’ve probably noticed the checkmarks next to each track. When unchecked, a song will not be “shuffled to” in iTunes. In fact, it won’t play at all unless you specifically ask iTunes to do so. However, this behavior does not transfer to the iPod’s “Shuffle Songs” feature.

Luckily, there is a second way of accomplishing this that does. In the latest versions of iTunes, there is a checkbox in the “Options” panel of any song’s “Get Info” window called “Skip when shuffling.” This option does apply to the iPod’s “Shuffle Songs” feature.

However, this still isn’t our ideal solution, since because the setting isn’t available when editing multiple tracks, it’s very time consuming to apply the setting to more than a few individual songs.

How do we exclude comedy and podcasts, and still emulate the “Shuffle Songs” feature? We simply create a smart playlist like following, and use it instead:

Q:

Why can I no longer access “Photos” on my iPod? The menu option isn’t there anymore, and no amount of re-syncing through iTunes will help!

- Dean

A:

Chances are very high that the menu option has simply been disabled in the iPod’s preferences. To re-enable it, simply go to “Settings → Main Menu,” and re-enable “Photos.”

In this menu, you can also customize which of many other iPod features appear in the iPod’s top-level menu (though not order in which they appear). An option at the bottom of this menu allows you to instantly restore the Main Menu to the factory default listing.

Though we are quite sure that this simple fix should restore your “Photos” menu, the next step would be to restore your iPod’s software to the latest firmware using the iPod Software Updater, which - although certainly a brute-force method - frequently fixes many software-related iPod problems.

Q:

I’m having intermittent issues extracting audio from the Dock Connector port on the iPod nano. Sometimes, when I put the nano in the Universal Dock, or connect it to my car adapter, no audio comes out regardless of iPod volume. How can I fix this?

- Dan

A:

This is a common problem with iPod nanos using Version 1.0 of the iPod’s internal software. The problem is alleviated instantly by resetting the iPod (toggle the Hold switch, then hold down the Center and Menu buttons simultaneously), but is fixed permanently by upgrading the iPod’s software to Version 1.1 using iPod Software Updater 2006-01-10 or later.

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Ask iLounge Archives:

6-26-09: Recovering a dead iPod touch after 3.0 update, Battery Percentage Display on iPhone 3.0, Options hidden after 3.0 update, iPhone locked after 3.0 update, Managing videos on iPhone, iPod classic accessory compatibility

6-12-09: Conserving power on iPhone, Syncing iPhone Notes, Syncing Apps on new iPod touch, Block pop-ups in Safari, Syncing new iPhone, Playing multiple albums

5-29-09: Sorting tracks in iTunes, iPhone Bluetooth Headset Dock, Recovering Mac-formatted iPod on Windows, Screen damage on 4G iPod nano, Syncing purchased tracks back to iTunes, Managing a class set of iPods

5-22-09: Syncing iTunes content between computers, Importing music into iTunes, Re-transferring apps from a new iTunes library, New iPods and charging accessories, Using multiple iTunes libraries

5-15-09: Starting out with an external hard drive, Syncing playlists manually, Recovering lost iPod serial number, Music count vs Playlist count, Multiple iTunes Store accounts on the same computer, Optimizing album artwork

See the rest of the Archives...

Next: Ask iLounge 2-23-06

Previous: First Looks: PocketParty V2, Aural Earbuds, Cases for Apple Remote, nano, 5G

Comments

1

does ‘skip when shuffling’ not work on 3G iPods?  doesn’t seem to work for mine…

Posted by 3voices on February 16, 2006 at 2:34 PM (PDT)

2

can you get other games on a nano without linux?

Posted by FB on February 23, 2006 at 9:37 AM (PDT)

3

please tell me has anyone been able to get the “5g ipod video"alarm to work?

Posted by thepidd on March 6, 2006 at 6:13 AM (PDT)

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