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The Free iPod + iPhone Book4

Ask iLounge 6-3-05

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By Kirk McElhearn

Contributing Editor
Published: Friday, June 3, 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: Yesterday, I went running with my iPod stuck in my sports bra so I didn’t have to hold it. I turned my iPod off after I finished running and, this morning, it would not work. I had the Hold button on, so I moved it, and the screen displayed the last song I had been playing. But no matter which button I pressed, I couldn’t get the iPod to do anything. I fidgeted with the Hold button some more, and the iPod wouldn’t come on unless I moved the Hold button back and forth; once it’s on it won’t do anything. I can charge it, however. I tried resetting it, holding the Menu and Play buttons down for well over ten seconds, but nothing happened. After I leave it like that for a while, the screen goes off and the image of the charging battery comes up.

- [No name provided]

A: The first thing you should try is use the iPod Software Updater to restore the iPod; this resets it to factory settings (and deletes all your music; make sure you have a backup), and fixes many such problems. If the problem continues, you could assume that you may have gotten sweat into the iPod, and that the contacts are not functioning correctly because of this moisture. Let the iPod sit in a dry place for a while with the hope that the sweat will dry out. If this doesn’t fix it, it’s time to go for service.


Q: I used to live on a college campus and authorized 5 computers so they could listen to some of my music. Now I have moved away and I want to de-authorize those computers so that I can choose 5 new ones. How does one do this?

- Christian

A: You will have to go back to the campus and find each of the computers, then manually de-authorize them – or have someone else do this for you. You can try contacting the iTunes Music Store customer support and see if they’ll reset your account, if you cannot do this manually.


Q: I’m pretty sure I saw this feature listed in a recent description of an iPod and/or iTunes software update, but have been unable to find it in any kind of Help file. The feature allows you to mark two songs, so that they are “joined,” and always played together during shuffle play. Is my memory faulty, or have I just failed to ask the right question in the iTunes help?

- John

A: No, your memory is fine. In fact, we explain how to do this in a recent article on ripping audiobooks from CDs that you’ll find here. You can join two or more songs - or an entire CD if you want. However, you can only do this when ripping CDs; you cannot join tracks after you import them.


Q: What are the possible reasons for a discrepancy between the number of songs showing in my iTunes library and the number of songs on my iPod? Currently, my iTunes library shows 2077 songs, and my iPod shows 2075. I’ve searched for duplicate songs, but I cannot locate any. Am I missing something?

- Anthony

A: If you check Only Update Checked Songs in the iPod preferences (in iTunes), then iTunes will not copy any songs where you have unchecked the little box at the left of their names. Also, if you happen to have purchased any albums from the iTunes Music Store that come with digital booklets, these PDF files are not copied to the iPod; they are, however, counted as “songsâ€? by iTunes. Finally, it is possible that two of your songs are corrupted, but it’s pretty hard to figure out which ones they are without closely comparing the contents of the iTunes library and the iPod.


Q: I’m going to be re-formatting my PC soon; I know how to extract my songs from my iPod after doing so, but when I did it last time I lost the play counts for all of my songs, which most of my playlists are based on. How do I preserve my play counts?

- Louis

A: This information, including last played dates and ratings, is stored in the two iTunes Library files that are in your iTunes folder. Make sure to back them up before you reformat your PC. See this recent article about backing up your iTunes music library for more information about these files.


Q: I got a 3rd generation iPod from a friend of mine. When I went to configure it, it told me to restore the iPod. When I did, it then said the restoration had not worked. Now I cant do anything with the iPod. Every time I try to charge it, turn it on, or plug it in to my computer, the Apple logo comes up followed but a picture of a file (think the icon for file on your PC) and then nothing happens. What can I do?

- Sophie

A: There are several icons that may appear on your iPod screen if there is something wrong with it. This Apple technical document shows the different icons, and explains how to troubleshoot the problems they represent.


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.








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...

Shop in the loungeStore for iPod + iPhone Accessories.

Next: Equalizers and Advanced iTunes Features

Previous: First Looks: Charging Mount, Soft Jacket, shuffle Charger & PowerStick

Comments

1

My old computer crashed and since it was kind of old already, I ended up getting a new one. Is there anyway to use my iPod with the new computer without losing all the music currently on the iPod? I didn’t have all the music I’d purchased backed up.

Posted by scoopernd on June 3, 2005 at 8:14 AM (PDT)

2

I JUST BOUGHT A SECOND HAND GOLD MINI IPOD AND MY FRIEND HAS A GOLD ONE TOO BUT HIS LOOKS KIND OF ORANGE-Y IS IT POSSIBLE THAT APPLE MADE 2 DIFFERENT SHADES OF GOLD MINI’S?IM JUST CURIOUS..THANKS…

Posted by minnie on June 3, 2005 at 9:53 AM (PDT)

3

I want to know how do I take out the scrtches of the screen??

Posted by forinox on June 3, 2005 at 6:22 PM (PDT)

4

I was wondering if there was any way to transfer the music from my Ipod to another computer. I live in California for the summer but my computer is in Denver where I am for the Remainder of the year and I need to send my Ipod in to get fixed and I didnt want to lose any of my music.

Posted by Andria22 on June 3, 2005 at 7:02 PM (PDT)

5

It’s an Itunes question, sorry. Actually, maybe it’s two...or three…

How come sometimes I can burn my Itunes to MP3 and get over 150 songs on the disc and other times I burn to MP3 and only get 50? And when it will only allow for 50 or 60, how does IT choose which songs from my playlist make it to my CD? I am using the same brand and size of CD each time…

Also, Ipod related, I have a Shuffle, have been thinking about getting a docking station for my car (although the car has MP3 player capabilities--rah rah Scion xA). But I only see docking stations for the IPod, not the Shuffle. Is there a station for the Shuffle?

Posted by shufflela on June 4, 2005 at 4:53 PM (PDT)

6

is there anyway that i can put photos on my ipod photo without using the music store on itunes?

Posted by cazydaisy44 on June 5, 2005 at 6:29 AM (PDT)

7

You can reset the five authorized computers through the accounts panel of iTunes once per year. Just click on sign in and then click on options of some sort. You can then deauthorize all the computers. This is also documented on the iTunes music store FAQ.

Posted by jaba813 on June 5, 2005 at 7:42 AM (PDT)

8

How do I transfer the music in my “purchased music” folder into my “Library”?

Posted by IpodLaw on June 6, 2005 at 6:24 AM (PDT)

9

When I try to connect my I-Pod to my Windows cpu so I can update my I-Pod with new muzik....The I-Pod wont connect....I dont see the “Dont Disconnected” sign on my I-Pod when its connect to my usb port.....This problem started 2 nights ago and its still not fixed....

Posted by BamBeatz on June 6, 2005 at 8:25 AM (PDT)

10

Can ipods or ipod photos play mpeg-4 files. If not is there a way to quickly convert them to mp3s?

Posted by atomic8969 on June 6, 2005 at 8:14 PM (PDT)

11

righty-o about deauthorization.

Posted by iPod Dance in VA on June 6, 2005 at 10:29 PM (PDT)

12

I have a new computer with a new itunes library on it. I went ahead and restored my ipod therefore erasing everything on it and would like to now update it with this new library. However, when I plug my ipod into the computer ,iTunes doesn’t seem to see it. Please advise.

Thanks

Posted by honolulubaby on June 6, 2005 at 10:45 PM (PDT)

13

I have my girl’s ipod,..How can I download new music from my computer into her ipod without erasing her current music???
Please help I am desperate..

Posted by ross007 on June 7, 2005 at 8:53 AM (PDT)

14

In anticipation of buying an iPod I have been using iTunes on my desktop and laptop. I have a sizable amount of tunes on both computers. I now have the iPod. How do I consolodate the music files from the two computers on to the one from which I will download my music into the iPod? I also have an external hard drive. Can I back both computer iTune folders onto that one drive so that the tunes merge into one bigger file?

Posted by jimro on June 7, 2005 at 5:16 PM (PDT)

15

It seems we have lost the installation diskette for the ipod and I dont know what to do. I have all the booksa and everything and the adapters/stands. but cant put it on ,my new computer.  Help please

Posted by s4audinut on June 7, 2005 at 7:58 PM (PDT)

16

I have seen Apple scripts that remove genre from itunes and possibly from the ipod itself, is there anyway to limit/remove the amount of genres on the ipod, perhaps under the windows formating, there is just so many ones i dont use and to scroll through them is a hassle.

Tobias

Posted by brnr on June 8, 2005 at 12:57 PM (PDT)

17

Well, if you cant remove them, i just rename the genres i use the most with a . infront to bring them to the top for easyer searching

Tobias

Posted by brnr on June 8, 2005 at 1:49 PM (PDT)

18

I tried to format my Mac-formatted iPod mini, to Windows, but I am getting a message that says something like this:
“firmware update failure. Disk write error”. When I go back to the Mac updated, I can update, but I cannot copy more than 150 songs on the ipod…
how can I solve this to format either way so it works...Is there such thing as a “hard reset” that can help?

Posted by alonso on June 8, 2005 at 3:21 PM (PDT)

19

When I plug my iPod into my other computer, I’m supposed to hold down SHIFT+ what else so that it doesn’t automatically get updated? I’ve done it before but now I forget.

Posted by rotochileno25 on July 14, 2005 at 9:28 PM (PDT)

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