2010 iPod + iPhone Buyers' Guide

Article

Ask iLounge 3-29-05

Author's pic

By Kirk McElhearn

Contributing Editor
Published: Tuesday, March 29, 2005
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:

My wife and I each own an iPod mini. I’d like to set up two accounts in iTunes so we can each have our own library. When I connect my iPod and open iTunes, iTunes tries to transfer the songs in her library to my iPod. Is there a way to set up two accounts in iTunes?

- Lad

A:

iTunes is designed to work with one iPod for automatic syncing; it doesn’t yet allow you to have multiple libraries or accounts. If you want to use a second iPod (or a third, or a fourth, etc.) the easiest way is to sync one of the iPods manually. To do this, choose “Manually manage songs and playlists” in the iPod Preferences menu, then, after you connect one of the iPods and see it in the iTunes Source list, simply drag songs, albums, playlists, artists or entire genres to the iPod. One of the best ways to manage two iPods is to create separate playlists for each of you: you can name them, for example, His Playlist 1 and Her Playlist 1 to differentiate them.

Note that you can allow one iPod to sync automatically and set the other to manual management. In that case, the first iPod will get all the music in the iTunes library, and the second iPod will only have what you put on it manually. We think that a multi-user update for iTunes is highly likely in the near future.

Q:

If I leave my iPod off for a day or so, it reboots itself when I turn it on.  Is this normal?  Can I stop this from happening?

- Jeffrey

A: Yes, this is normal. In order to save battery life, the iPod goes to sleep after 48 hours. This is not entirely “off” though, since it will still respond to a button press and wake up, reboot completely and start at the main menu.
Q:

I love my new iPod shuffle, but I’d love it more if I had a little more control. Here’s my idea/question - is there a way of turning a playlist into a continuous track?  That way you could download a number of playlists onto the iPod shuffle and switch between them (with different moods, or groups, or whatever), listening to the songs in the order they are in the playlist…

- Adam

A:

To do this, you need to join a group of tracks into a single track. There are several ways to do this, but the easiest is when you import songs. When you insert a CD in your computer, it displays in iTunes, showing all the songs. If you select all the songs, you can then select Advanced > Join CD Tracks and have iTunes import the CD as a single track.

So, to get the playlists you want as single tracks, the easiest way is to burn the playlists to CDs then reimport them. You’ll need to have playlists that don’t exceed the length of a CD; and we’d recommend that you use rewritable CDs as well, to save on blank media.

There are other ways to join tracks, as long as they are not protected AAC files. If you’re on a Mac, you can use Doug Adams’ Track Splicer AppleScript (http://www.dougscripts.com/itunes/scripts/ss.php?sp=tracksplicer), which lets you join selected tracks in iTunes. If you use Windows, you can get a copy of the free Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net), which can split and join MP3 files, but not AAC files.

Q:

I have an iPod with 10,000 songs, and want to buy an iPod shuffle. Can I use both iPods on my computer?

- Ivan

A: Yes, iTunes is designed to work in conjunction with both a “regular” iPod and an iPod shuffle. The iPod shuffle syncs a bit differently than the other iPods, and you can manage both easily. One thing we like about the iPod shuffle is the ability to keep its icon and current playlist in the iTunes Source list, even when it’s not connected. You can drag songs there any time you want, and when you connect the iPod shuffle you can sync these songs immediately. This allows you to build the contents of your iPod shuffle whenever you feel like it, and sync when you’re ready.
Q:

I store my music on a removable hard drive with my laptop. My problem is that iTunes does not know where the music is at once the drive has been removed and then hooked up again. What can I do to make iTunes know where my music is stored besides going through each song and showing iTunes where to look?

- Peter

A: In order for iTunes to work with a library on an external hard disk you have to first choose the appropriate music folder in iTunes Advanced preferences. Then, you must connect and mount the hard disk before launching iTunes. If you do this, iTunes will have no problems finding your music. If, however, you connect and mount the hard disk after iTunes has launched, the program will have already looked for your music and not found it. You should also quit iTunes before you unmount the drive to avoid any such problems.
picKirk McElhearn is the author of several books including iPod & iTunes Garage. His blog, Kirkville features articles about the iPod, iTunes, Mac OS X and much more.






Share Share This Article & Win an iTunes Gift Card. Click Here to Enter.

Submit A News Tip



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: Tread: the Ultimate Urban iPod Case?

Previous: Shuffle de Couple? The iPod shuffle's first stands

Comments

1

As far as having multiple iTunes “accounts”, if you’re on a Mac, have a sepparate Mac OS X account for you and your wife, and you will be able to maintain two sepparate libraries.

If you’re on a PC, I think this will work with Windows as well.

Posted by mattwardfh in Texas on March 29, 2005 at 1:42 PM (PDT)

2

How do I download my old LP records onto my laptop so I can get them into my Ipod? I also have loads of cassette tapes I’d like to transfer as well.  Anyone out there know about this stuff?
Pete 61

Posted by pete61 in s f ca on March 30, 2005 at 12:03 PM (PDT)

3

I thought it went into “deep sleep” mode after 36 hours? That’s what I’ve read everywhere else, anyways.

Apple’s page about this.

Posted by YHELOTHUR on March 30, 2005 at 3:40 PM (PDT)

4

Thanks for the correction on deep sleep. I’ve seen variable times for this - Apple says “about 36 hours”; in my tests, I’ve seen both a bit less and a lot more than that. (Yes, I have actually tested it… took a long time…)

Posted by Kirk McElhearn on March 31, 2005 at 1:42 AM (PDT)

5

Regarding the comment on the accounts question… The question was one of many that we’ve received for the column. Most people asking want to share the same iTunes library, with the same playlists. When you create two accounts (which is great for some users) you have to have some music in both iTunes Music folders. If you do want to truly share libraries, though, the only way to do it is to use the method described above. (At least until Apple adds multiple libraries to iTunes; with the number of multi-iPod families, I expect this to be added soon. Maybe in iTunes 5?)

Posted by Kirk McElhearn on March 31, 2005 at 1:44 AM (PDT)

6

I would like to just make 5 to seven seconds snippet of each song in a selected Playlist.
I would like to then play each 5 - 7 seconds song, stop it and ask people who is it by, name of song etc…. Kind of like ‘name that song”
Is there a way to do this?
Thank you in advance

Posted by Red Devil 1968 in USA on April 1, 2005 at 12:34 PM (PDT)

7

I have attempted to connect my ipod to a stereo using the RCA jacks. However, when I play music it only comes out of one speaker. I have tried different cords and different stereos all with the same result. When I play the Ipd throough headphones it comes out both sides. Any ideas what I am doing wrong.

Posted by marc3211 on April 1, 2005 at 11:48 PM (PDT)

8

when is a new ipod going to come out or is there a ipod 5th generation going to come out?

Posted by soulreapor in fewfwfd on April 2, 2005 at 11:52 AM (PDT)

9

To answer mattwardfh’s question, yes if you have separate users in Win 2000 or XP each can have a separate iTunes library.  But as Kirk said, these will be completely separate and must be maintained individually.

Posted by mtully on April 2, 2005 at 8:31 PM (PDT)

10

This is purely speculation, but could you not have some music in a shared folder, and some music in different personal folder?  This way, the music that both want is in both libraries, and each one’s “personal” music will not show up in any of the other accounts.

You couldn’t use the feature to copy music to the iTunes folder, among other things, but it seems like it has the potential to be a solution to the problem.

Posted by Third on April 3, 2005 at 8:41 AM (PDT)

11

When I use itunes music store it won’t let me copy the files downloaded to a cd+rw disc, why and can I fix this?

Posted by ghjcrazy in Belgium on April 4, 2005 at 10:59 AM (PDT)

12

Hey Pete61,

I recently transferred LPs to computer using Adobe Audition, but that is very expensive, and you probably won’t know how to use it. Basically, what you need is a way to plug the sound from your record player into your computer. If you have a standard male plug from your record player (like the one on your iPod headphones) then it should plug straight into the sound card at the back of your computer. If not, then try and connect up the headphone out port on your stereo system to the sound card on your computer. I did this with a guitar lead, and an adaptor to change down a size. Sort this first, and ask at an electronics store for adapters if you need help.

Next. I am on Windows, so I can’t help with programs if you’re on Mac, but someone will know. There is a very useful guide to copying LPs to computer on [url=http://www.mp3.com]http://www.mp3.com,[/url] have a hunt around there. They recommend a program called Goldwave. A free one is Audacity. Basically you just have to record the sides of the LP as whole tracks in real time to your computer. Connect up some decent speakers to your computer and listen along, invite friends around and make a day of it - is it takes some time. Same deal with the Cassettes - link up the headphone out of your stereo system to the computer. Email me if you have specific problems, i’ll see what I can do. It’s not hard once you get it set up, just takes a bit of plugging about until you get it right.

Check out mp3.com for sure, they are likely more pro than me at it!
Miagi

Posted by MisterMiagi in W. Australia on April 4, 2005 at 11:29 PM (PDT)

13

is it possible to get an internal 20G ipod (4G) battery that lasts more than 8HRS and without voiding my warranty

Posted by wambiru on April 15, 2005 at 5:30 AM (PDT)

14

I received my 40GB Ipod for my Bday, and my brother downloaded music from his I-Tunes to my Ipod.  The problem is that when I download music to my personal I-tunes, I am unable to transfer the music from my personal downloads and combine them with the music that is currently on my Ipod.  Is there a way to get around this problem?  Otherwise I have to delete 3000 songs that I would just rather add to.  Any help is appreciated.  Thanks

Posted by Tedotw on April 29, 2005 at 4:57 AM (PDT)

15

I have two iPods.  One is a 10 GB touch wheel with 1.5 software, the other a 60 GB Photo with 1.2 software.  Pause while playing a playlist, go away for a week, then try to resume playing.  The old model picks up where it left off.  The Photo reboots and loses its place.  I like the old behavior, hate the new.

I have read the description of Deep Sleep in

  http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=60945

but am unsatisfied.  The device has a 60 GB disk.  The OS can’t need more than a few KB to save the device’s context before entering Deep Sleep, so that it can restore this context when it wakes up.  Or is this hibernation, supported only on the nano and on 5G models?  (BTW, Apple should fix the misspelled “Hiberation”.)  How hard can it be to retrofit this feature to older models?  It doesn’t need a UI, since it should be the default behavior.

Posted by Art Wong on November 23, 2005 at 11:20 AM (PDT)

If you have a comment, news tip, advertising inquiry, or coverage request, a question about iPods or accessories, or if you sell or market iPod products or services, read iLounge's Comments + Questions policies before posting, and fully identify yourself if you do. We will delete comments containing advertising, astroturfing, trolling, personal attacks, offensive language, or other objectionable content, then ban and/or publicly identify violators.





What's new at iLounge? Subscribe to iPodweek!
Each week we giveaway three (3) iTunes Gift cards.

Recent News

Recent Reviews

Recent Articles


Shop for Accessories: Cases, speakers, chargers, etc.