Ask iLounge 6-7-07

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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:

I have a 30G iPod and I just won an iPod shuffle. I have a library for each. Is there a way to put all my songs on both?

- Ronnie

While you will obviously only be able to store as many songs on your iPod Shuffle as you can fit within the 1GB of space provided, you can sync them both to the same iTunes library to save you the trouble of having to manage two libraries.

Doing this is really just as simple as starting up iTunes with your main library selected and connecting the iPod Shuffle to it. If it’s a new iPod Shuffle, you will be taken through the normal setup wizard. If it’s been used with your other iTunes library already, you will be advised that you need to erase it in order to sync it to your present library.

Once you’ve erased it, it should remain visible in your iTunes library, and you can just set it up as you normally would, either using auto-fill from your library or a selected playlist, or simply dragging any content you want on it from your iTunes library. Any settings for the iPod Shuffle will remain independent of the settings for your full-size iPod.

You can even connect both your Shuffle and 30GB at the same time. They will both show up in your source list and even sync simultaneously.

I would like to know if it is possible to convert songs that are presently on my 8GB nano from AAC to Apple Lossless format? Also, once they are converted will they fit on a standard audio cd due to the larger format? I’m basically looking for a better quality sound. Thanks in advance.

- Michael

Although you can use iTunes to convert tracks from any format to any other format, the reality is that you would be wasting your time and disk space by converting AAC tracks to Apple Lossless, since you will not gain any quality by doing so.

Most of the popular digital music formats such as MP3 and AAC are what are known as “lossy” formats. Essentially, what this means is that when you convert a higher-quality audio track (such as one from a CD) to MP3 or AAC, there is actually audio information being removed from these tracks. Depending upon the bit-rate that you are using, and the quality of your equipment and ears, much of this discarded information will be frequencies and audio fidelity that you cannot hear, which is why to the average undiscriminating listener, a 128kbps AAC file sounds more than adequate when compared to the original CD.

Unfortunately, once this conversion is complete, this discarded information is gone forever from the resulting file, with no way to get it back. Converting a “lossy” AAC file back to an Apple Lossless file will produce a larger file with absolutely NO additional audio quality, since you can’t regain that which is already lost.

If you’re looking for higher-quality audio, and want to consider Apple Lossless, the only way to get true Apple Lossless tracks is to re-rip your music from your original CDs or other original source. Apple Lossless is, as the name implies, a lossless format, which means it compresses audio without actually discarding any audio information. The result is a file that is going to be around 60% of the original CD track size, but still considerably larger than even a 256kbps AAC file.

For burning any tracks back to audio CD, similar logic applies. Audio CDs are the ultimate lossless format (original uncompressed audio), so you can burn any format back to an audio CD without worrying about whether or not the tracks will “fit” since they’re all converted back to the standard CD Digital Audio (CD-DA) format. However, much like converting AAC to Apple Lossless, you cannot regain any audio fidelity that is not in your source track to begin with, so while burning an audio CD from a lossy track can be an efficient way to play it on different equipment such as a car CD player, you won’t gain any quality at all over the original AAC or MP3 file.

When I connect my iPod via USB to my computer, it takes a long time to appear on the iTunes page. When it does, a window pops up telling me that it has detected an iPod which is corrupt. If I then unplug and retry, I can eventually get a connection that works. What would be the reason for this “corrupt iPod” window, when the device is in reality just fine?

- Pat

The first thing that is important to understand about how your iPod interacts with your computer is that it’s really just an external hard drive or flash memory device as far as your operating system or even iTunes itself is concerned. There’s really no “magic” interface between iTunes and the iPod—rather iTunes just writes to the iPod as an external storage device, updating files and databases directly through the file system.

What this means in practical terms is that many other tools and utilities that may be running on your computer will also see the iPod as just another external hard drive that is showing up on your computer. If you look in Windows Explorer or Finder (Mac) when connecting your iPod, you will actually see it appear as a drive while iTunes is accessing it. If you are using automatic synchronization, it will normally automatically eject when the synchronization has completed, unless you have specifically enabled “Disk Use” for it in iTunes.

If the iPod is in fact working fine, and you are not having any problems with music playback on the device or synchronizing it to iTunes, but still receiving messages regarding a corrupt iPod being detected, the most likely cause is some other system management tool, anti-spyware tool, or anti-virus utility on your computer that may be detecting the connected iPod as a hard drive that it should be scanning or performing some other type of maintenance on. This can get in the way of what iTunes is trying to do with the iPod, since a virus-scanner may lock files on the iPod that iTunes needs to access, with the result being that iTunes produces an error message.

The simplest solution to this is to look at the drive letter that the iPod gets assigned when you connect it to your computer, and then go into any anti-virus tools or system management tools that you may installed, and exclude that drive letter from being scanned. This will prevent any other program that may be running on your computer from trying to access your iPod while iTunes expects to be updating it.

There is a volume difference during playback on my iPod between different albums I have loaded. I have found and enabled the Sound Check setting under iTunes’ preferences but it hasn’t helped. I checked it after I loaded everything. Must I check the box first before I add the music files? Also, what is crossfade playback?

- Peter

The Sound Check setting in iTunes itself does two things: First, it scans your music and other audio files to determine the necessary information to apply sound check to these tracks and adds the sound check volume adjustments, and secondly it actually enables the use of these adjustments when listening to music in iTunes itself.

To apply these settings on your iPod, however, you must enable the Sound Check setting separately on the iPod itself. This can be found under the “Settings” menu, and is simply a matter of being toggled on or off.

Sound Check does not need to be enabled in iTunes before importing tracks, since the first time you enable it, all existing tracks will be scanned to have the necessary volume adjustments applied. After this, any new tracks added to your library will have this information added to them as long as sound check is on when you’re importing them.

Once the volume adjustment information has been added to your files by iTunes, turning OFF the Sound Check option simply disables the feature for playback—any volume leveling information added to your tracks is retained. If you later re-enable Sound Check, it will therefore only need to scan those tracks that were added while you had it turned off. Further, other than to apply the sound check information itself, the setting in iTunes has no impact on the iPod setting.

Like the iPod, the Apple TV also has a sound check setting that can be accessed under the “Settings” menu. This works in the same fashion as it does on the iPod (ie, enables or disables the feature for tracks that already contain the necessary sound check information).

To answer your second question, the Crossfade Playback feature in iTunes is used for playing back non-gapless albums. Essentially, it fades down the volume at the end of the current track while simultaneously fading up the volume from the next track, creating a DJ-style overlap between two tracks while you’re listening to them. Note that this setting only applies when listening to tracks in iTunes (there is no equivalent setting on the iPod), and will not be used for any tracks that are marked as “Part of a Gapless Album” in the track info, as the cross-fade would get in the way of the normally-seamless transition between gapless tracks.

I run a video podcast for posting videos of my kids for friends and family in distant places. Since I bought an iMac in January I’ve been using iMovie to create the videos, creating an iPod-compatible version for posting on the podcast. The problem is that when I select the Share, iPod setting in iMovie, it exports the file as a 320x240 video. I know iPods can support much better resolution, and 320x240 looks very bad on a computer screen. Is there a way to change this setting so that I don’t lose file quality OR the convenience of the exporting directly to an iPod-ready format?

- Jason

Unfortunately, this setting in iMovie is pre-configured and there’s no way to change it. However, you can use the QuickTime export setting, and then select the “Movie to iPod” preset from QuickTime, which is pre-configured to produce a 640x480 iPod-ready video file.

To do this, simply choose QuickTime from the Share menu, and you will be presented with the export to QuickTime dialog box:

Select “Expert Settings” from the “Compress Movie for:” option, and then simply click the “Share” button. A QuickTime dialog box will then come up, asking you to choose your export settings and provide a name for the resulting file.

Simply choose “Movie to iPod” from the export settings and click “Save” and QuickTime will create an iPod-ready converted file for you.

Alternatively, you can also choose “Movie to Apple TV” if you wanted to create a higher-resolution video suitable for viewing on an Apple TV, although the result will not be usable for viewing on any current model of iPod.

The only disadvantage to this approach is that iMovie will not automatically import the resulting file into your iTunes library for you, but this can be easily accomplished in the same way that you would import any other content into your iTunes library: simply find the resulting file and drag-and-drop it to the iTunes window or dock icon.

Is there a way to transfer video from a Dish Network DVR to a 30GB Video iPod?

- Alan

Unlike TivoToGo, there are not yet any canned software or hardware solutions that specifically do this for cable or satellite DVR devices/receivers.

However, depending on the model of receiver you are using it may be possible to record a video stream from the receiver’s FireWire port directly to your computer, assuming that you also have a FireWire port on your computer. Almost all HDTV cable receivers and many satellite receivers with FireWire ports provide an MPEG2-TS stream through the FireWire port that can be captured by your computer with the right software.

Unfortunately, due to the lack of simple packaged tools available for this, and the time and disk space required, this isn’t a canned “just works” solution for the faint of heart. If you’re comfortable working with your computer, however, and want to invest some time in getting it to work, it can certainly be accomplished, and isn’t an unreasonable solution.

Essentially, in this case, you would have to record and encode the content onto your computer first, either from a live stream or a pre-recorded show from your DVR, in much the same way as you would from a FireWire video camera. You could then take the resulting MPEG-2 stream and convert it into an iPod or Apple TV ready format, using any number of the video conversion tools presently available.

The stream that comes out of the FireWire port on a cable or satellite receiver is the same raw MPEG-2 Transport Stream (MPEG2-TS for short) that is being received by the cable/satellite receiver itself. Unfortunately, normal video capture protocols that are used for camcorders do not normally work with cable/satellite receivers and MPEG2-TS streams, so you would need to obtain a software package that can specifically record this stream.

If you’re a Mac user, Apple themselves provide some rudimentary tools that can be used to do this as part of the FireWire SDK available from the Apple Developer Connection site, although a free basic membership registration is required to download it. The AVCVideoCap and VirtualDVHS tools in this package should be all you need to get started.

For Windows users, special FireWire drivers will also be required, making this something of a more cumbersome solution, and the choice of software will depend largely upon the cable or satellite receiver that you are using, since many of the applications out there use device-specific commands and protocols. If you’re adventurous and want to explore this area, however, a great place to start is with a search through the AV Science Forums.

One very important caveat to all of this, however: More and more cable and satellite companies are transmitting their signals in encrypted form, particularly for their premium and/or HDTV channels. If a channel is encrypted when it is being broadcast, the cable/satellite receiver will simply output the same encrypted stream via the FireWire port. The result of this is that while all of the above can be made to work somewhat smoothly for non-encrypted content, whether it is even practical or not will depend on the content you’re looking to record/convert.

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Ask iLounge Archives:

11-13-09: Syncing different contact info with two iPhones on the same computer, iPod shows no content, Syncing music and videos in playlists, Exclamation marks next to tracks in iTunes, Playing podcasts on 3G iPod shuffle.

11-6-09: Storing iPod software updates, Playing an iPod continuously, Transferring play counts to a new iTunes library, iPhone backups, Klipsch S4i earphones

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

See the rest of the Archives...

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

9-18-09: Recovering unlisted media content from iPod, Repeat and continuous video playback on iPod touch, iPhone 3G vs 3GS, Customizing iTunes sorting, Rebuilding an iTunes library, Removing artwork from iPod in iTunes 9

9-11-09: Genius Mixes and iPod classic, Drag-and-drop content to iPod, Sharing home libraries in iTunes 9, Using an iPod without iTunes, Waking to a playlist on iPod touch, Kensington LiquidAUX, Disabling Geotagging Warnings

8-28-09: Consolidating Multiple iTunes Libraries, iPod touch Bluetooth headset compatibility, iPod holds less than advertised number of songs, Transferring media between iTunes Store accounts

8-21-09: Recover Contact/Calendar info from iPod touch, Connect iPod without automatic sync, Managing On-The-Go playlists, iPhone and Stereo Bluetooth Support, Sharing an iTunes library between multiple users on the same computer, Disabling Shake-to-Shuffle on iPod nano

8-14-09: Syncing iPod touch apps and data with a new iTunes library, Automatically adding media files to multiple iTunes libraries from a network share, Downgrading to iTunes 7, iPod nano and disk mode, Displaying release dates on iPod, Playing iPod through TV USB port

8-7-09: Clean up album artwork in iTunes, Syncing media content and calendar/contact info from different computers, Reorganizing recovered tracks in iTunes, Using multiple iPods and iPhones on one computer

7-31-09: Using an iPod and a Zune, iPod and on-TV menus, Backing up Notes from IPod touch, Sharing an iTunes library between a Mac and a PC, Waterproof earphones, 3G iPod and iPhone Accessory compatibility, Shure earphones

7-24-09: Displaying recent plays on web site, iPhone and car integration, iPod classic TV output, Renaming iPhone, Sound quality on different iPod models, iPod shuffle accessory compatibility

7-17-09: Transferring saved application data to new iPhone, Recovering Content from Mac iPod on Windows, iPhone 3GS and charging accessories, Recreating Recently Added playlist, Restoring old iPod touch, Track sorting on iPod classic

7-10-09: Passwords on iPod touch, iPod headphone jack problems, Tagging tracks imported from CD, Adding chapter markers to audiobooks, first-generation iPhone and stereo Bluetooth, Nike+ shoes

7-3-09: iPhone Recent Calls list and location info, iPod touch Bluetooth audio support, Car interface fails after 3.0 upgrade, iPhone battery life, iPhone stereo audio recording,

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

5-8-09: Organizing audiobooks, Problems transferring purchased items back to iTunes, Keeping played podcast episodes on iPod, Transferring iTunes library to a new computer, iPod shows no content, Using a new iPod with an existing iTunes library

4-24-09: Playing iTunes purchases on a non-networked computer, Finding iPod manuals online, Sharing an iTunes library between separate user accounts, Equalizer on iPod shuffle, Recovering content from Apple TV, Screenshots on iPod touch

4-17-09: Converting tracks to higher bit-rates, Using iPod with non-iTunes content, Using iTunes with an external hard drive, Expired rentals don't delete on iPod, Using only part of a song, Restoring 4G iPod stuck on AC adapter icon

3-27-09: Transferring iTunes library from XP to Vista, Using iPhone as an alarm clock, Splitting iTunes library across two iPods, Recovering iPod onto a computer with an existing iTunes library, Purchased TV Shows stuck in downloads folder, Tagging tracks as Audiobooks in iTunes 8

3-20-09: Using two iPods on a single computer, iPod shuffle 2G/3G accessory compatibility, Displaying TV Show seasons separately in iTunes, Playing iPod through secondary computer, Stopping iPod playback on iPhone, iPod touch 2G and Dock audio

3-13-09: iPod touch vs iPhone, Storing music only on your iPod, Problems transferring rented content, Managing content manually on iPod shuffle, iPod lyrics display, Playing video out to TV from iPhone

3-6-09: iPhone playback on other computers, Games on iPod classic and 5G, Transferring iTunes tracks to SD cards, Group compilations on iPhone, Transferring your iTunes library, iPhone Car Integration

2-27-09: Problems transferring iTunes content to external hard drives, Using an iTunes library database from an external hard drive, Converting Palm address book for iPod touch, How iTunes organizes music videos, Preventing iPhoto from opening when connecting an iPod touch

2-20-09: Video docks for 5G iPod, Connecting an old iPod to a new iTunes library, Downloading iTunes 8 on another computer, Erasing a used iPod and starting fresh, Recovering photos from an iPod, Tracking purchases in iTunes

2-13-09: Waterproof cases and sound quality, Upgrading to iTunes Plus with a manually managed iPod, Reinstalling games on the iPhone, iPhone 3G Dock options, Fixing album artwork problems, Display iTunes Applications category

2-6-09: iPod nano voice memo format, Buying iPods abroad, Skipping a playlist when shuffling, Adjusting playback speed of music tracks, Not all TV Shows syncing to iPod, Checking and unchecking multiple items in iTunes

1-23-09: Synchronizing contacts to iPod touch, Pairing iPhone Remote app, iPhone call audio via Dock Connector, Recovering iPhone apps, New iPods and charging, Remote control of Windows via iPhone

1-16-09: Creating Smart Playlists based on other playlists, Transferring or syncing an iTunes library between two computers, Converting Mac-formatted iPod to Windows, Using Artist and Sort Artist fields, Using an iPod on more than one computer, Importing audiobook CDs as audiobooks

1-2-09: Parents controls on iPod touch, Running iTunes from an external hard drive, Search feature on 5G iPods, Syncing videos to iPod touch, Safari problems on iPod touch, Other content on iPod shuffle

12-19-08: Keeping podcast episodes, iPod and TV USB inputs, Converting PC-formatted iPod to Mac, iPod touch e-mail accounts, Backing up iTunes to a hard drive, Managing and syncing iPod touch On-The-Go playlists

12-12-08: Classifying videos in iTunes 8, Sharing music between iPods, Sharing apps between iTunes libraries on the same computer, iH9 and iPhone compatibility, Recreating Purchased folder, Locating Music Videos

12-5-08: Creating custom slideshows for Apple TV, Optimal album artwork size, Transferring iPod touch from PC to Mac, Upgrading to a new iPod touch, Authorizing iPod Games on new computer, Managing iPod content manually

11-21-08: iPod keeps resetting, Organizing iPhone apps, iPod touch video accessories, iPod-compatible online music sources, Reordering playlists manually

11-14-08: Cover Flow on 4G iPod nano, Setting up iPod touch without Internet access, Internet radio for iPod touch, Apps button missing on iPod touch, mm50 speakers and new iPod models, Including Year field on iPod

10-31-08: iPod charging accessory compatibility, Adding tracks to multiple albums, Removing pre-installed games, Transferring contacts from iPod touch to a second computer, iPod touch accessory compatibility, iPod synchronization to a new computer

10-24-08: Importing folders with M3U files, AV cables with 2008 iPods, Moving iTunes libraries between computers, Unknown albums after importing music, Newly added tracks don't show up on iPod

10-17-08: Backup up your iPod, iPods and viruses, Using an iPod on Mac and Windows, Managing photos on an iPod manually, Adding iTunes Shared Music to iPod, iPod video out

10-3-08: Displaying lyrics on iPod touch, Calculating playlist sizes, Transferring tracks to iPod in manual mode, Purchasing older iPod models, Using iPhone without phone service, Shuffle modes

9-26-08: iTunes HD TV episodes showing up twice, Shure MPA-3C and iPod touch, Synchronizing iPod to a new iTunes library, Problems updating iPhone applications, Managing iTunes media files on an external hard drive, Managing multiple iPods on one computer

9-19-08: Removing Genre column in iTunes 8, Syncing TV Shows by playlist, Recovering Mac-formatted iPod on Windows, Recovering photos from iPod, XtremeMac Luna X2, iPod flash memory capacity, Restoring older iPod models

9-12-08: Managing iPhone Backups, iPod disk mode and deleted items, iPod Plays only single tracks, iPhone and T9 predictive text, Copying ratings and play counts from iPod to computer, Automatically retrieving CD information and album artwork

9-5-08: AV output from iPhone 3G dock, New playlists not appearing on iPod, Transferring music on iPod touch from multiple computers, Resetting iTunes Store authorization counts, Editing tag information, iPhone task applications

8-29-08: Disabling data on iPhone 3G, iTunes Plus and Apple Backup, Deleting photos from iPod, iPhone v2.0 and TV Out accessories, Consolidating multiple iTunes libraries, Restoring iPod touch from backup

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

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

Next: Made For iPhone Accessories? Not So Fast, Guys

Previous: Sell Your Old iPod, Buy a New One (or iPhone)

Comments

1

Is there any known way to see how much memory/ space checked songs will take up on the Ipod? (while in Itunes?)

I have an 80+gb library and a 40GB Ipod - I can’t figure out a way to have it tell me how much of the checked songs will take up. Very frustrating!

So I have to keep unchecking more and more songs hoping it will fall in the 40gb limit.

Thanks for any help! If they don’t have this function, they should include it in the next update!!!!

Posted by podfrustrator on June 12, 2007 at 8:53 AM (PDT)

2

I have a G3 20 gb. I have filled it 1/4 full with songs ripped, unfortunately, to 128kbps AAC. I need better fidelity, as I’m moving to external quality amplification and speakers.

Is Lossless all that good? The alternative, I guess, would be .wav, which would take up, I think, a whole lot more room and might not even play on my ipod.
So if lossless is that much of an improvement over AAC, and is reasonably close to .wav or CD, I can live with 670 songs, as opposed to 2200.

Assuming that lossless is the format I need (plese tell me if there is some better alternative, terms of fidelity v. reasonable capacity), how is such a mass conversion best accomplished? I’m afraid the answer is simply to delete everything and rerip it a song at a time to the richer format.

Are there any software upgrades I need for the ipod itself to do this (or, for that matter, to enjoy all of the features of a unit like the Tivoli Iyiyi)?

Please let me know, as I’m hot to move up a notch or two in fidelity, even if a serious limitation in the six=ze of my library comes with it.

Dave

Posted by dave osborne on June 24, 2007 at 11:04 PM (PDT)

3

One 30G IPOD. Started with Itunes library and ended up with
2 different Itune libraries and a
mess. Cannot sync any new material with #2 and cannot access #1. Would prefer to
restore only as last resort. Help!

Posted by CCC on June 28, 2007 at 1:46 PM (PDT)

4

OK, I have a question that is the mirror image of multiple ipods on one PC. We USED to have multiple iPods on one PC but now there is only one. The problem I have is we used to just all have our own playlists. Now I don’t need my playlist but would prefer to sync from the “Music Library”. here’s the problem: when I uncheck my playlist iTunes will only update my other playlists (50& 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, etc) thus losing (not really but you get my drift) my music playlist. It would seem that if all of my music is in the main library it would sync into my iPod even though I have unchecked my playlist. I have found that if I place new music in the main library I also have to add it to the playlist in order for it to end up om my iPod. In short I wish to simplify. PLEASE HELP me achieve this goal.

Posted by socrmom on July 18, 2008 at 8:07 PM (PDT)

5

Hi, I put my ipod Nano to charge and it just wont charge anymore, it remains with the display all black and it just won’t charge. Does that means that is bad, do I have to throw it away or can i do something about it? Please help!

Thank you, Khali

Posted by khali on October 13, 2008 at 7:59 AM (PDT)

6

If i have one computer that has itunes with one ipod, how do i add a 2nd library for a seperate ipod?

Posted by Nicole on August 16, 2009 at 2:04 PM (PDT)

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