Ask iLounge 6-13-08

Article

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: There a few artists which I have downloaded from iTunes or from a CD that do not show up under the “Artists” section on my iPod. The songs are in there, but I can’t find the artist under the “Artists” menu on the iPod. How do I correct this so the artists show up properly?

- Lloyd

A: The most common cause of this is the “Compilations” settings on the tracks and the iPod itself.

iTunes includes a feature to mark tracks as “Part of a Compilation” which is generally used to indicate that these tracks are from a multi-artist album, such as a movie soundtrack or other “Various Artists” album. Since in many cases the artists on these albums may be “one-hit” wonders or may represent artists that aren’t otherwise in your library.

To avoid cluttering the “Artists” listing, iTunes and the iPod have a feature whereby you can group your tracks by compilation, in which case any artists that are only on a single compilation will be excluded from the “Artists” list on the iPod. Instead, these albums are grouped directly under the Music, Compilations menu on the iPod.

Unfortunately, many people misunderstand the “Compilation” flag and incorrectly set it for “Best of” albums from the same artist (on the idea that such albums are “compilations” of a single artist’s work). As a result, there are a number of albums in the Gracenote CD Database (where your inserted CD track information is looked up), or even in the iTunes Store, that erroneously have this flag set.

The solution to this problem is to either turn OFF the “Compilation” grouping on the iPod itself, or to modify these tracks in iTunes to remove the “Part of a Compilation” flag from them.

Turning OFF the compilation grouping differs slightly between iPod models. If you have a pre-2007 iPod model (ie, fifth-generation iPod with video, or first or second generation iPod nano), then you will find a “Compilations” option under the Settings menu on the iPod. You can set this to “OFF” to remove the Compilations menu on the iPod and basically ignore the “Compilations” flag entirely.

If you have one of the traditional 2007 iPod models: the iPod classic or iPod nano (video), this setting is instead controlled by whether you choose to display the Compilations menu option, set under either Settings, Music Menu or Settings, Main Menu on the iPod. As you might expect, if the “Compilations” menu is shown, then the iPod will group tracks by compilation and exclude these artists from the “Artists” list. If the “Compilations” menu is hidden, then naturally the “Part of a Compilation” flag is ignored.

The iPhone and iPod touch do not have a “Compilations” setting. They always show the “Compilations” menu option, but do not omit any compilation artists from the “Artists” listing.

iTunes itself also has a separate “Group compilations when browsing” setting which can be found in your iTunes preferences:

To remove the “Part of a Compilation” flag from your tracks entirely, simply select those tracks in iTunes, and choose File, Get Info from the iTunes menu. You can then set the “Compilation” dialog to “No” and click the “OK” button to reset that for all of your tracks:

Q: My wife and I share an iTunes library. I have an iPod classic which syncs everything in the library and my wife uses an iPod nano (video) and syncs only the checked songs. When I use my Apple Remote with iTunes on my iMac and I push the “next
button” it skips to the next CHECKED song rather than the actual next song. Is there any way to change this?

- Patrick

A: This is actually by design, and is one of the oft-misunderstood aspects of syncing only checked songs. Generally, UNchecking songs should only be used for music that you don’t want to listen to via iTunes. This can be a great feature for seasonal music, for instance (ie, to keep all of the Christmas music out of your playlists for the 10 months of the year that you don’t want to hear it). As you have observed, however, if you’re going to listen to your music through iTunes itself, it creates a problem. Tracks that are UNchecked will not be played as part of any playlist, Party Shuffle, or any other playback sequence. They will only be played if they are selected specifically.

There is no way around this feature itself, as this is the way iTunes is designed to work. However, the good news is that you can change the way in which you synchronize your wife’s iPod nano. Instead of synchronizing only checked items, try creating a set of playlists for the music that should be transferred to her iPod, and then set her iPod to synchronize only those specific playlists. You can then leave ALL of your music in your iTunes library checked without having to worry about it not playing back.

The easiest way to do this is to create a playlist, or a set of playlists, and list all of the music that you want kept on your wife’s iPod in these playlists. Note you can also store these in a single playlist folder for easy reference.

Once these playlists are set up, then simply connect your wife’s iPod and select the “Music” tab from the iPod settings:

Choose “Selected Playlists” and then simply choose the specific playlists that you have set up and click the “Apply” button. Only the tracks that are in those playlists will be synchronized with the iPod, and any tracks NOT in those playlists will be removed from the iPod.

Once this is working the way you want, you can REcheck all of the previously-unchecked content in your iTunes library and it will still not be transferred to her iPod nano unless it is also listed in one of the synced playlists. Note that you can quickly check/uncheck all displayed tracks at once by holding down the CMD (Mac) or CTRL (Windows) key while clicking on a checkbox beside a track.

Further, here’s another hint you might find useful in setting up these initial playlists: Since you’re already using checked tracks, you can build a quick Smart Playlist that gives you a list of all of your checked tracks as a starting point. To do this, simply choose File, New Smart Playlist from the iTunes menu, and set the criteria similar to the following:

This will produce a playlist that includes only your checked tracks. While this won’t work in the long-run (since eventually you’re going to check ALL of your tracks), you could easily copy this information to a standard playlist as a starting point by selecting all of the tracks displayed in that playlist and then choosing File, New Playlist from Selection. You could then choose to sync ONLY that new standard playlist to the iPod nano, and you’d have a very quick and easy starting point without having to manually sift through dozens of tracks and add them to playlists manually.

Note that Smart Playlists offer another useful advantage to synchronizing using selected playlists rather than checked items. The check boxes in iTunes themselves are static, whereby a Smart Playlist could be used to create a dynamic music rotation that updates itself every time your wife syncs her iPod, using information such as the number of times a track has been played, when it was last listened to, when it was added to the library, what the rating of the track is, and more.

Q: I’ve run into a problem with trying to import CDs that have been burned by my mother’s iMac into iTunes on my PC running Windows Vista. Half the time, iTunes doesn’t even recognize the CD at all and just lists “Track 01” “Track 02” etc.
On the rare occasion that it does recognize the CD correctly there are often either huge spelling errors or the tags are vastly different than the original iTunes tracks. All of these original tracks were purchased through iTunes, so why does the information get so jumbled and is there anything I can do about it?

- Christina

A: The problem here is that by default the audio CD format does not actually store track information, so when you insert a CD into iTunes to import that music, it is not reading the track information from the CD itself. What it is actually doing is looking up the track information on the Internet using the Gracenote CD Database (CDDB). This look up is based on trying to identify the unique properties of the CD itself, rather than anything about the individual tracks.

This works reasonably well for commercial CDs or CDs burned of actual albums (which should more or less match the commercial CD of the same album). However, for “mix CDs” it’s unlikely to work at all, since such mixes are generally unique, and therefore wouldn’t be listed in CDDB.

Further, keep in mind that CDDB is a user-contributed system, whereby most of the track information has been uploaded by users such as yourself. The CDDB team strives to correct errors, but most of the time these are corrected by multiple submissions for more common CDs. Spelling errors do sometimes slip through, particularly for less popular CDs where there aren’t a lot of repeated user submissions to correct the information. Further, the CDDB system will sometimes misidentify a CD that you have burned yourself as actually being completely different, largely due to the algorithm that is used to match the CD you’ve inserted against the CDDB system.

Unfortunately, there isn’t really any way you can fix this without burning the CDs again from the source computer. iTunes 7 introduced a “CD-Text” feature that can be enabled when burning CDs which will include the track information on the CD using the CD-Text standard, although it should be noted that both the CD burner on the source computer and your CD drive on Windows Vista must support the CD-TEXT standard for this to work—not all drives support this. This is a useful feature for burning an audio CD that can display track information on a standard CD player that supports CD-Text (ie some car stereos, for instance), but it’s not really the preferred method for burning CDs to move songs between computers.

The better option is to burn a data CD (or DVD) from your mother’s computer. This will provide the advantage of fitting five to ten times more tracks on a single disc (since they are stored in their original MP3 or AAC compressed format), and of course all tag information is automatically included. Further, burning an audio CD and then re-ripping it to MP3 or AAC normally results in a quality loss since you are compressing the digital audio twice by converting it back to an audio CD and then “re-ripping” it back into MP3 or AAC.

Note that if these tracks were purchased from the iTunes Store and are not “iTunes Plus” tracks then your computer will need to be authorized for the account that was used to purchase them in order to play them back. If a track requires authorization in order to be played, you will be prompted for the iTunes Store user name and password when you try to play that track. You can authorize up to five computers for the same iTunes Store account. “iTunes Plus” songs are not protected by digital rights management (DRM) and therefore do not require authorization to be played back.

You can adjust your CD burning properties in iTunes preferences under the Advanced, Burning tab:

Note the “Include CD Text” option for the “Audio CD” settings, which you can enable if you really need to burn an audio CD with CD-Text information, and the “Data CD or DVD” option which can be used if you’d rather just burn a data disc instead of an audio disc, which is the recommended option if your goal is simply to transfer the music between two computers.

If you’re working with a data disc, you would simply insert the CD or DVD into your computer, and then use the File, Add to Library menu option to actually add the tracks to your library, since in this case they’re just MP3 or AAC files like any others that you might download from elsewhere.

Q: I want to buy my dad an older iPod just for his car drives, but I want it to be podcast compatible. What is the oldest/cheapest model I could buy for this purpose?

- Nick

A: Technically speaking, Podcast support was first introduced in iTunes 4.9 and as a firmware update for the fourth-generation iPod about three years ago. Very limited podcast support was added to the third-generation iPod, which in reality was just iTunes organizing podcasts into a “Podcasts” playlist on the iPod itself.

Therefore, the minimum iPod model with full podcast support would be the fourth-generation (4G) iPod. The iPod mini also had limited podcasting support, although features like bookmarking of podcasts did not work reliably on the iPod mini itself.

Depending upon the number of podcasts and other music tracks that your father intends to store and listen to, however, it may worth looking at an early-generation iPod nano as opposed to the larger hard-drive based models. Podcasts are relatively small since they are generally spoken-word audio and therefore encoded at much lower bit-rates than music. Further, since the iPod nano is flash-based, you’re much less likely to run into technical problems related to the hard drive.

Even a low-capacity (1GB/2GB) iPod nano should easily be able to store hundreds of podcast episodes, and still leave room for a handful of CDs. Typical used prices for these models are slightly below even the lowest prices we’ve found on eBay for the larger hard-disk based iPod models.

Our Free iPod + iPhone Book 4 provides a summary on page 124 of average selling prices on eBay for various iPod models.

Q: I have an 8GB iPod Nano, and am thinking of getting an 80GB iPod classic. If I just hook up the new iPod classic and synch, will what I have in iTunes load to the iPod classic, and will iTunes recognize that I now have 80 GB of space and not just 8 GB? Also, if I give the iPod nano to my daughter, can she get rid of what I have on it and put her own music onto it?

- Martin

A: Actually, about all you need to do is to plug in the new iPod. It really is that simple.

What will happen is that you will be taken through the same “iPod Setup Assistant” that you were when you first set up your iPod nano, and be asked a few questions about what you would like to call your iPod, whether you would like to automatically or manually sync content and so forth. Provided your library is smaller than 80GB, just select automatic sync and iTunes will take care of the rest.

Essentially, iTunes recognizes each iPod you connect as a completely distinct device, and stores each iPod’s settings independently. You could therefore easily sync different content from the same iTunes library to each iPod through selected playlists or other settings, and in fact can even connect both iPods are the same time. Your new 80GB iPod classic will be seen by iTunes as a new iPod and managed separately from your old iPod nano.

When you hand down your old iPod nano to your daughter, she can just connect it to her own iTunes library and she will receive a message that the iPod has already been synced with another iTunes library (yours) and asked what she wants to do with it:

From this prompt, she can simply select “Erase and Sync” and all of the content on the iPod nano will be replaced with content from her own iTunes library. She can also rename the iPod simply by double-clicking on the iPod name where it appears in the iTunes source list.

Alternatively, if she wants to completely reset the iPod to its out-of-the-box settings (ie, as if it were a new iPod), she can click the “Restore” button for the iPod nano, found on the “Summary” page which appears when the iPod is connected to the computer. This will erase everything on the iPod, including all configuration settings and other information, and basically return the iPod to the same state it was when it was first unpacked. She will then be taken through the same “iPod Setup Assistant” to name the iPod and select which content she wants placed on it.

Q: How can I put photo albums onto my iPod touch using Windows? I’ve been told that I can only make photo albums on a Mac.

- Russ

A: Actually, you can create “photo albums” on the iPod touch itself via iTunes on either platform. The only major difference with the Mac platform is that new Mac computers include the “iPhoto” application which allows you to manage and organize your photos. iTunes can read iPhoto directly and transfer pictures onto your iPod based on their album organization within iPhoto.

On a PC, similar functionality is available with Adobe Photoshop Elements or Adobe Photoshop Album, but these are not normally included with your PC and instead have to be purchased separately.

A photo management application is not required, however. On either the PC or Mac platform, you can instead choose to simply synchronize a folder of photo images directly. To do this, you simply connect your iPod, select the “Photos” tab from the main iPod configuration screen, and then choose the folder that you would like to synchronize your photos from (ie, “My Pictures").

In this configuration, each first-level sub-folder under the main folder is represented as a photo album, and you can select which photos “albums” (ie, folders) that you wish to sync to your iPod. To add or remove individual photos, you simply either add the photo to a synced folder, or remove it from that folder and store it elsewhere on your computer. The next time you sync your iPod, any photos that have been added will be added to your iPod, and any photos that you have removed from these folders will be removed.

You can find more information and some detailed instructions in our iPod tutorials section, specifically in our Complete Guide to Displaying Photos on iPod + iPhone.

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Ask iLounge Archives:

8-22-08: Cleaning up applications in iTunes, Playing back all songs on iPod, Excluding podcasts from Smart Playlists, Bookmarking tracks, Playing tracks back at a consistent volume level

8-15-08: Transferring play counts back to iTunes, Playing iPod while charging, Customizing iPhone alerts, Syncing movies to iPod nano, iTunes not recognizing new CDs, Sudoku reviews

8-8-08: iPhone and SIM card contacts, Syncing iPhone contacts, Hiding SMS previews on iPhone, Playing iPod touch on secondary computer, Syncing photos to iPod, Resuming interrupted iTunes WiFI Store downloads

8-8-08: iLounge Editor-in-Chief Jeremy Horwitz responds to reader questions on all things iLounge, including technical issues related to iPhone 3G, and behind-the-scenes editorial issues

8-1-08: iPhone Edition: Switching between apps, Car charging accessories, Activating older iPhone models, Sending MMS, App Store in wrong language, Excel and A2DP support

See the rest of the Archives...

7-25-08: MobileMe on iPhone for Calendars only, Buying iPods for International use, Voice recorders for 4G iPods, Free Music for iPod, Problems transferring purchased content to iPod, Playing AAC files in Windows Media Player

7-18-08: Ask iLounge iPhone v2.0 Edition: Installing apps on multiple devices, Converting videos for iPhone 3G, Activating first-gen iPhones, Saved photos on iPod touch, Push e-mail support

7-4-08: Recovering a corrupt iPod, Hard cases for iPhone, Reimporting CDs into iTunes, iPod shows only Other content, Managing multiple audio formats in iTunes, Optimum iPod video output cables

6-27-08: Creating Smart Playlists for Purchased items, Keeping place in multi-track audiobooks, Backing up iTunes before a reformat, iPod Games on 5G and classic, Editing CD tracks before import, Getting Album Artwork automatically

6-20-08: Third-party iPod management tools, Transferring large files on iPod, Shuffling On-The-Go Playlists, Removing played podcasts from iPod, Continuously playing one track, Moving iTunes from PC to Mac

6-13-08: Artists not appearing on iPod, Unchecked items do not play in iTunes, iTunes shows incorrect CD track information, Podcast support on older iPod models, Upgrading to a new iPod, Photo albums on iPod touch

6-6-08: Downloading YouTube videos onto iPod, Selling old iPod models, Fit iTunes Window to Screen, Handing down an iPod, Dock Compatible iPod cases, Problems transferring music from iPod to Mac

5-30-08: Burning iTunes purchases to an MP3 CD, Playing iPhone via computer, Pre-loading a gift iPod on another computer, Music Video playlists on Apple TV, Music videos on 2G iPod nano, Importing existing MP3 and WMA files into iTunes.

5-23-08: Finding and backing up purchased music, Syncing duplicate tracks to iPod, Restoring 4G iPod and AC power, Syncing iPod to a laptop when travelling, Finding photos on iPod, Storing a large iTunes library in multiple folders

5-16-08: Using the iPhone with integrated in-car Bluetooth, Problems with iPods and depleted batteries, Transferring content to a new iPod, iPod displays audio but no video, Removing photos and album artwork from iTunes, Overdrive Media and iPods

5-9-08: About iPod battery life and charging, Using Apple FM Radio remote on older iPod models, Scan and Fix dialog using iPod on Windows Vista, Preserving iTunes metadata when reinstalling Windows, Importing multiple tracks into iTunes, About iTunes and ID3 tags

5-2-08: Transferring digital camera movies to iPod, Reordering and shuffling playlists, Transferring playlists between iTunes libraries, Importing audiobooks, Correcting tags on CD import, Burning CDs with longer gaps

4-25-08: Finding Duplicates in iTunes, Setting files to open in iTunes automatically, Resetting authorizations, 1G iPod nano and voice recording, Syncing a library larger than your iPod capacity, Grouping multi-disc albums

4-17-08: Ripping CDs to external hard drive, Zeppelin speakers and USB port, Bluetooth stereo on iPhone, Converting TV shows to iPod, Audio recording on iPod touch, Wireless security on iPod touch

4-10-08: Transferring LPs to iTunes, Movie Rentals and 5G iPod, New iPod models on older Macs, Maintaining Playback Position on iPod, Importing CDs on multiple computers

4-3-08: Using several iPods on one computer, Renaming imported CD tracks, iM7 and iPod nano, Burning different CD types, Purchasing from iTunes while travelling, Importing CDs on MacBook Air, Sending photos from iPhone

3-28-08: iPod capacity and bit-rates, International iTunes Gift Cards, iPhone charging accessories, Moving iTunes purchases to another computer, iPod touch and third-party tools, iPod videos play only audio

3-21-08: Basic DVD conversion, 5G iPod and subtitles, Slideshows on iPod touch, Using the Voice Memo function, iPod classic TV output quality, iPod Dock Connector extender cables

3-14-08: About Skip Count, iPhone alarm clocks, 5G firmware updates, Cleaning up after a library move, Syncing new playlists to iPod nano, Authorization of multiple iTunes Store accounts

3-7-08: Transferring MP3 files to new iTunes library, iPhone ringtones on Windows, Wired remotes for iPod classic, Sharing iTunes with multiple users on one PC, iTunes library and Time Capsule, Chargers for 3G iPods

2-29-08: Finding iPhone Backups, Contact Display on iPhone, Automatic vs manual iPod management, iTunes CD burning restrictions, iTunes movie rental expiry on iPods, Downloading podcasts to iPhone

2-22-08: Upgrading your iPhone, Recovering data from corrupted iPod, Recreating default playlists, Syncing iPod Games from more than one computer, Problems playing purchased TV shows on iPod, Output settings when playing movies from iPod to TV

2-15-08: Setting up an AirTunes network, Shuffling music, Playing podcasts sequentially, Firewire support on modern iPods, Recovering Mac-formatted iPods on Windows, Recovering iTunes library from a virus

2-7-08: Transferring music from iPod touch, Voice recorders for 2007 iPods, Cover Flow on 5G iPod, Renaming your iPod, iTunes and iLife, Organizing music transferred from the iPod

1-31-08: Apple TV AirTunes Support, iPod Games on 5G and classic, Keeping videos only on iPod, Syncing iPod using checked songs, Charging with Universal Dock, International iPod and iTunes Store use

1-18-08: Macworld Expo 2008 Special Edition: Questions about the new iTunes Movie Rentals and Apple TV features, including Time Capsule and the Apple TV, Renting HD Movies from iTunes, Transferring rented movies to and from the iPod, Fifth-generation iPods and movie rental support, AirTunes support on Apple TV Take Two.

1-10-08: TV output quality, iPod windows driver installation errors, Connecting iPod to portable DVD player, Syncing games, iPhone charger compatibility, Reformatting iPod for Mac

1-3-08: 2007 iPod models and speakers, Video resolution vs bit-rate, Preventing auto-deletion of podcasts, Videos with no sound, Using iTunes Store when travelling abroad, Transferring videos to iPod, Importing Audiobooks

12-27-07: Your First iPod, Differences between iPod models, Accessory compatibility, Converting DVDs for iPod, New iPods and older computers, Earphone Recommendations, Troubleshooting iPod Problems

12-21-07: Other space on iPod, Search feature on iPod touch, Adding third-party ringtones to iPhone, iPod suddenly shows no content, TV Dock compatibility, Artists appearing more than once on iPod

12-14-07: New iPods - Buy now or wait? Transfer music from an old iPod, Convert MP3 to Lossless, Listening to videos and battery life, Bluetooth headphones for iPod nano, Universal Dock and line-out volume

12-7-07: Using Compilations settings, Re-syncing iPod after hard drive replacement, Locating iTunes Plus tracks, New iPod firmware - video output and iPod Hi-Fi support, Mac-formatted iPods, Cover Flow on iPod, iPhone screen goes blank when on a call

11-29-07: Photo resolution on the iPhone, Obtaining video content for the iPod touch, Restoring older iPod models, Sharing iTunes library on a single computer, Transferring iTunes via external hard drive, Auto-deleting played podcasts

11-22-07: Syncing games to iPod, Removing album artwork, Replacing files in iTunes library, Limiting volume on iPod, Preventing iPod sync when connecting with iTunes, Skipping audiobooks when shuffling songs

11-16-07: iTunes and Vista, iPod classic video output (revisited), Transferring iTunes from PC to Mac, Organizing Music Videos in iTunes, Using newer iPods with older OS X versions, Sorting photos on iPod

11-9-07: Editing calendar on iPod touch, Multiple iTunes libraries on one computer, Creating an iTunes Store account without a credit card, Burning CDs with track names, iPod/iPhone remote control, iPhone TV output from Safari

11-2-07: TV Docks for new iPod models, Calculate song file sizes, iPhone backup and restore, Sync selected content with iPhone, Universal Dock compatibility, Managing podcast synchronization

10-26-07: iTunes Plus, Play Slideshow on iPod nano, Activate TV out on new iPods, Recover Mac iPod in Windows, Add descriptions to TV shows, iTunes not opening when iPhone is connected

10-18-07: iPod and Windows Autoplay, Reinstalling iTunes, Manually Managing Videos, iPod charging accessories, iPod touch power and sleep modes, Resyncing recovered iPod content

10-11-07: Managing a class set of iPods, New firmware and older iPods, Windows ME support, Sorting artists by last name, 3G iPod car audio compatibility, Resetting iPod language

10-5-07: iTunes WiFi Store, Videos with no sound, Managing video content manually, Tagging TV Shows, Renaming iPod, Flash support on iPhone, Removing multiple artwork images, iPhone and multi-recipient SMS, US/UK iPod compatibility, Photo storage on iPod touch

9-27-07: iPod classic audio quality, New iPod models: features and accessory compatibility, Transferring music from iPod 5G to classic, iPod nano voice recording, Storing multiple bitrates in iTunes

9-7-07: Special Edition on the new iPod lineup - users most common questions answered about the new iPod lineup and new iTunes release, including accessory compatibility and new software features.

8-30-07: Playing single tracks, iPhone sleep timer, Deleting iPod content, TV shows do not appear on iPod, Manually sorting playlists, Fitting content onto audio CDs, Car line-out solutions

8-23-07: Set Video Kind within files, Authorization and iPod transfer, Chat Clients for iPhone, Importing CDs for gapless playback, Tethering iPhone, Burning Purchased Tracks

8-16-07: Managing podcasts, Bookmarking audiobooks, No artwork in Cover Flow, Storing iTunes content on two hard drives, Sleeping with an iPod, ROKR sunglasses and iPhone, Selling an iPod

8-9-07: Playing Podcast episodes in sequence, Recording radio in iTunes, New iPod with songs already on it, Authorized Computers, Sync iPod with a new computer, Transferring a Windows iPod to a MacBook

8-2-07: Syncing the iPhone to more than one computer, Transferring iTunes music to the Blackberry, Continuous video playback on the iPod, Problems editing track info in iTunes, Transferring content from iPhone to computer, Video playback from the iPhone, Sending MMS messages from the iPhone

7-26-07: Transferring photos from iPhone, Using iPhone speaker and dock, Song volume adjustments in iTunes, Transfer from a Mac-formatted iPod in Windows Vista, iTunes Other category and TV show syncing, Printing track lists from iTunes

7-19-07: Importing MP3 CDs, Using two iPods on one computer, Showing current track in Windows Messenger, iPod nano accessory compatibility, Keeping content only on the iPod, Transferring between two iTunes libraries

7-12-07: Sorting in iTunes 7.3, Joining CD tracks, Selecting TV Shows for sync, Recovering photos from iPod, Tagging multiple video tracks, iPhone activation requirements

7-5-07: Managing your iPod content with Smart Playlists, External hard drives and iTunes, Problems getting CD info from CDDB, Grouping by Album Artist, Using iPod as a removable hard drive

6-28-07: Manual mode and preventing auto-sync, Transferring iTunes library, Burning, ripping and sound check, Saving your place in multi-track audiobooks, Renaming your iPod, Resolving lost iPod content, Drivers and Software for 4G iPods

6-21-07: Smart Playlists for Podcasts, Incorrect track info when importing CDs, Deauthorizing computers revisited, Problems transferring purchased tracks, Transferring photos from iPod to computer, Deleting On-The-Go playlists, Songs not appearing under Artist name

6-14-07: Problems syncing re-ripped MP3s in iTunes 7.2, Grouping albums with multiple artists, Radio tuners for older iPod models, Managing Podcasts, Using an iPod on Mac and Windows, Selecting items for synchronization, iTunes not showing full iPod capacity

6-7-07: Using two iPods with the same library, Converting to AAC to Apple Lossless, Corrupt iPod errors, Sound Check and Crossfade, Exporting from iMovie to iPod and Apple TV formats, Copying from DVR to the iPod

5-31-07: iTunes Plus DRM-free music, Using iTunes songs in Windows Movie Maker, Storing notes on the iPod, Restoring the iPod, Synchronizing Watched TV Shows, Adding music from a second library, Viewing iPod menus on a TV screen

5-24-07: Storing artwork on an external hard drive, Nike+iPod kit and treadmills, Setting up a new iPod with an existing library, Using the iPod as an alarm clock, iTunes fails to transfer all tracks to the iPod, Syncing selected items to iPod, Identifying iPod models

5-17-07: Converting e-books for iPod, Problems Syncing Selected Playlists, Normalizing volume between tracks, iTunes truncating long filenames, Sorting tracks properly within albums, Pausing and remember playback position on the iPod

5-11-07: Video conversion: iPod vs Apple TV format, Automatically adding music to iTunes, Finding iPod-compatible music online, Organizing tracks on the iPod, Bluetooth speaker accessories, iHome speakers

5-3-07: Tagging content for your Apple TV, Organizing your Music Videos, Duplicate copies of your iTunes library files, Using the Universal Dock line-out, Problems restoring your iPod, Power adapter compatibility, Unlocking your iPod's volume limit

4-27-07: Transferring purchased content between iTunes accounts, FireWire/USB connections, External batteries, Problems turning off iPod, Sharing iPods on the same computer, Sorting tracks when importing CDs

4-19-07: iPod widescreen mode, Transcoding lossy formats, Locating missing music files, Assigning artwork to multiple tracks, Transferring iTunes purchases, Playing single tracks

4-12-07: Converting DVDs to iPod, Resetting Screen Lock, Moving an iTunes library to a new computer, Deleting songs manually from an iPod, Compatibility with overseas accessories, Finding accessories for the 5G iPod, Speakers for charging a 3G iPod

4-5-07: Playing iPod through iTunes, Preventing Apple Remote from controlling Universal Dock, Resetting iTunes authorizations, Transferring podcasts from a secondary computer, Finding music by composer tags, Sorting tracks on the iPod Shuffle

3-29-07: iPod photo transfer performance and accessories, Sorting photos on iPod, Syncing music and contacts from two different computers, iTunes video storage and formats, Converting AAC to MP3, Burning MP3 CDs

3-22-07: Album artwork and Other storage on the iPod, Storage size of iPod Games, Multiple iPods on the same computer, Etymotic Earjacks, Charging iPod while recording audio, Syncing TV Shows to iPod, Properly Tagging Albums

3-16-07: Converting Windows-formatted iPods for Mac use, Importing Calendar and Contacts from Outlook, Moving iTunes content to another hard drive, Recovering Playlists from iPod, Recording Lectures, Calculating iPod Storage

3-10-07: Understanding the new sort fields in iTunes 7.1, Smart playlists and rating preference, RSS feeds for new iTunes content, Checkboxes and synchronizing music to small iPods

2-22-07: Hiding the iTunes Store from view, Restoring iTunes' "Recently Played" smart playlist, Restoring an iPod's missing free space, Using third-party A/V cables, Apple TV and Wi-Fi network protocols, Authorizing iPod games

2-1-07: Windows Vista iTunes issues, Music Video organization in iTunes, Removing songs from Shuffle play, Sorting albums by year

1-17-07: iPhone Questions, Apple TV Stereo Connections, Car Stereos with USB ports, Now Playing screen on TV, Locating playlists a song belongs to, Playing podcasts sequentially

12-29-06: Charging iPod video with old AC adapter, Identifying iPod generations, Preventing iTunes from accessing the store, Accessing and playing video with DLO HomeDock Deluxe, Nike+iPod Sport Kit compatibility

12-14-06: Searching the comment field in iTunes, Buying an aux-in cable for the car, Making a recent top 25 playlist, Multiple genres per song, Radio Charts in iTunes

12-9-06: Gifting specific items from the iTunes Store, Linking to photos from the iPod's Notes feature, Properly listening to iPod music in loud places, Using Mac-formatted iPods with an XBOX 360

12-1-06: iTunes visualizers, Programs stored on iPod, Converting music en masse, Charging second-generation iPod shuffle, Adding chapter markers to videos

11-23-06: iPod deals, Continuously playing videos on iPod, Getting replacement iPod manuals, Finding size and playtime of a group of tracks, Fixing podcasts that reset iPod

11-16-06: Extracting audio from videos, Transferring albums to iPod easily, Using iTunes Store gift cards, Dealing with a scratched iPod backing, Recovering contacts from iPod

11-10-06: Volume limit on iPod shuffle, Preserving On-The-Go playlists between syncs, Storing Audiobooks in proper iTunes library, Apple Lossless on iPod shuffle

11-3-06: iTunes Store displayed in foreign language, All tracks begin where they were last stopped, Converting tracks to mono in iTunes, iPod wakes up and plays tunes on its own, Greatest Hits album won't show on iPod

10-26-06: Loading TiVo/DVR TV Shows on iPod, Accessing iTunes music with a Media Center PC, Leaving an iPod in the car, iPod Hi-Fi remote control, Tagging tracks just added to the library

10-20-06: Disc capacity & song quality tradeoff, iPod sleep behavior explained, Ordering albums by year on iPod, Using an iPod while charging via USB, Restoring a deleted playlist in iTunes

10-12-06: Displaying singles in iPod's Artists menu, Party Shuffle not advancing tracks, Two+ iPods on one computer - revisited, Finding songs not in any playlist, Returning to beginning of iPod shuffle playlist

10-5-06: Only one song plays at a time in iTunes, Playing interactive booklets, Resetting iPod's language, Shuffle anywhere on iPod, Isolating MP3 songs from AAC

9-28-06: Suppressing 'Explicit' tags in iTunes Library, Restoring the 'Purchased' playlist, Differentiating 5G 30GB models, Album Artist on iPod, Just for You in iTunes 7

9-21-06: Splitting "hidden" tracks from other songs, Multiple iTunes libraries, Movie trailers in the iTunes Store, iTunes-fetched artwork on iPod, Isolating Music Videos from songs in iTunes

9-13-06: iTunes 7 issues: Preserving library upon upgrade, Authorizing games for iPod, Audio severely distorted with static, Album artwork retrieval problems, Enhanced podcasts menu

9-7-06: Reverting to former iPod software updaters, iPod crashes and loses library, iPod not storing advertised song capacity, Cleaning out one's iTunes Library safely, Deleting Album Artwork en masse

8-30-06: Unchecked songs in smart playlist, Connecting iPod to car Aux-In jack, Deleting songs from iTunes, Filling iPods completely, Playing only one song in iTunes

8-25-06: Quickly erasing duplicate songs, Replacing iPod's front panel, Excluding videos from playlists, Using albums in smart playlists, Album art missing from iPod

8-17-06: Tags disappearing on play, Third party headphones on iPod, eAAC and eAAC+ codecs, Creating random batches of songs with smart playlists, Transferring iTunes Music Store tracks

8-9-06: Size of Smart Playlists, Changing an iPod's file system format, Backing up iTMS video purchases, iPod not automatically disconnecting, iPod shuffling problems

8-2-06: Airport Express not working under "Multiple Speakers", Tuning radio remote in 0.1 increments, Ordering albums properly, Video podcasts on older iPods, Multiple album artwork files per track on iPod

7-27-06: Exclamation marks near playlists, Artist column on far left of library?, Songs in multiple playlists, No options in for iPod slideshow music, Song numbering in iTunes' Library

7-20-06: Speaker icon next to currently-playing song, Sound lost in one headphone channel, Finding songs not in any playlist, iPod mini shuffling by album, Removing contacts and calendars from iPod

7-13-06: Maximizing battery life, Slideshows from an iPod nano, Trouble with iPod's volume meter, Powering two devices from one car power port, Smart playlists and sort order

7-6-06: Custom EQ on iPod, Viewing large text files on iPod, Buying an iPod from overseas, Finding iPod setup files online, Lossless vs. Lossy audio files

6-28-06: Unlocking an iPod, Creating a list of albums in iTunes, Restoring missing menu items on iPod, Converting video to iPod, Increasing the iPod's volume

6-21-06: Preserving select podcasts, Locating tracks in playlists, Automatically ejecting iPod after transfer, Microphone for iPod mini, Tracks missing when browsing via "Artist"

6-15-06: Backing up Smart Playlists, Using 4-pin Firewire ports, Viewing hidden data in iTunes, Recording direct to iPod from cassette, Synchronizing a folder of files between computers using iPod

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Comments

1

Hello- One of favorite features of the old stand alone Coverflow application was the ability to filter albums by their length. This was a great way to browse through complete albums instead of having to look at hundreds of artists with only one or two songs when I only want complete albums. Is there a way to recreate this feature using smart playlists or any other method? If not, Apple, please add to the next version of iTunes!

Thanks
Tom

Posted by Tom on June 16, 2008 at 8:23 AM (PDT)

2

I am having trouble dragging songs from a CD I downloaded to my iPod. The manual setting is checked but I can’t figure out what I am doing wrong. I have done it before but it just started not allowing me to drag the songs.Suggestions?

Posted by Bill on June 18, 2008 at 6:40 AM (PDT)

3

I am picking up my new Mac Book Pro this week, and in anticipation of moving my Itunes, I attempted to consolidate the library. I first moved the itunes folders to a simpler location (I don’t know why, but they were all stored in a very bizarre place in My Pictures). Anyhow, after I hit consolidate library, I opened my music, and many of my songs, including 100 that I purchased yesterday to get ready for the new computer, have the little exclamation point now. When I try to locate the original file, even under the weird path, I come up empty. Could some tech person help me find this stuff, or do I have to spend several hundred dollars again to replace what I just bought, as well as every other song that now has an exclamation point. Help! Jeanne

Posted by Jeanne on June 18, 2008 at 8:16 PM (PDT)

4

Hi,

I am having trouble with transferring my podcasts to my ipod. Some of them show up just fine in iTunes on my PC, but won’t sync to the ipod. Other podcasts sync just fine. Any ideas on how to move a podcast that is in iTunes to my ipod? I have tried both manual and auto sync. If I could get my ipod to hold all of the podcasts that I have downloaded to my iTunes, I would be a happy camper! (BTW I have plenty of free spaced left on my ipod). Thanks ibn advance to anyone who could offer some insight!

Jeff G.

Posted by Jeff G on August 26, 2008 at 4:15 AM (PDT)

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