iLounge iPad 2 Buyers' Guide

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Ask iLounge 7-13-06

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By Jerrod H.

Contributing Editor, iLounge
Published: Thursday, July 13, 2006
Category: Ask iLounge

Ask iLounge offers readers the opportunity to get answers to their iPod-, iPhone-, iPad-, iTunes-, or Apple TV-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 content from my iPod/iPhone onto my computer?

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The Complete Guide to iPod, iPhone and Apple TV Video Conversion (Mac)

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The Complete Guide to iPod, iPhone and Apple TV Video Conversion (Win)

Best Speakers?

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Find more answers in the latest publications in our Library. Free downloads developed by the editors of iLounge!

And now, for this week's Ask iLounge column:

Q:

I want to ask how you test the battery life on your iPods, because I have a Color 4G iPod that only gets like 7 hours of playtime, but I read that you claimed to get 17 hours out of the same model. How can I acheive the battery life you do? Thanks!

- Mike

A:

We have a rather detailed procedure for testing iPod battery life in our reviews, which is specifically designed to maximize the battery life. Here’s how we do it:

  1. Charge iPod until full
  2. Connect ear buds
  3. Set volume to 50%, with equalizers off
  4. Start music playing in any music category
  5. Don’t touch until iPod dies!

The fifth item above is the most important, and is the primary reason that real-life iPod battery performance isn’t anywhere near Apple’s estimates. When you access the iPod’s controls to change tracks or playlists, you render the contents of the iPod’s solid-state cache (temporary, low-power memory) useless, and cause the iPod’s hard drive to spin up to fetch the music you want. This additional hard drive activity costs dearly in battery life.

However, there’s still another explanation for your less-than-optimal battery life: your iPod is simply getting old. It’s likely your iPod has seen at least a year of use - and, even if you’ve used it lightly, batteries of this type simply lose their maximum capacity with age.

To obtain the maximum battery life from your 4G color iPod, seek a replacement battery kit online, and follow our procedures above.

Q:

I have a new iPod nano and bought an RCA AV cable (specific for iPods) so that I could do slide shows on my TV. However, I just can’t make it work. Could you please tell me the procedure to follow? My TV is about 5 years old - could this be a factor? Thanks!

- Bill

A:

Unfortunately, TV output is one of several features Apple has reserved for only its full-size iPods: even though the iPod nano has a color screen on which it can display photo slideshows, it simply doesn’t have the capability (whether hardware or software) to output them to a television. Sorry!

Q:

My iPod video used to display the time elapsed/left for each song, and the volume meter would show up when I needed it, etc.

Now the bottom of the screen just displays a row of little circles, and the volume meter doesn’t show up any more. Can’t figure out how to change it back in the settings—any ideas?

- Pamela

A:

This is a known issue with an older version of the iPod’s operating system (or “Firmware”). To fix this bug, simply perform an “Update” of your iPod’s software using the latest iPod Software Updater from this Apple website.

Q:

I listen to my iPod in the car using an iRiver adapter that transmits a low-power FM signal to the car radio. It plugs into the car’s cigarette lighter for power. I’m thinking about getting a car GPS unit, but all the GPS units I’m looking at also use the cigarette lighter as a power source. I know some GPS units have built-in mp3 player capacity, but I don’t know if they work with iPods. How can I listen to my iPod and use a GPS unit at the same time?

- Cameron

A:

While many GPS units can indeed accept external audio via a line-in port so that you can listen to your music and turn-by-turn directions at the same time, this is irrelevant to the power concerns you have.

Luckily, the power problem can be easily fixed with a simple car power splitter like two-device model or this three-device model, both available online and in-store from RadioShack.

These devices will allow you to simultaneously power your iPod and GPS unit from a single car power port. With this solved, you can begin to look for a GPS unit which will share audio output with your iPod. To get you started, take a look at the new TomTom GO units, which not only share audio output with an iPod, but can control an iPod via their touch screens also!

Q:

How do I create a smart playlist that orders all songs within a genre such that the least played songs are played first?

- Chris

A:

This is a relatively straight-forward playlist, except there’s one twist that likely has you stuck: sorting isn’t accomplished inside a smart playlist’s logic definition, but simply in iTunes’ list view. The smart playlist you need to create only needs to single out the genre you’d like:

Then, simply sort the playlist as you’d like it to be sorted, by clicking on the appropriate column header. In this case, you’ll want to click on the “Play Count” column header until your least-played item is at the top.

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Ask iLounge Archives:

2-3-12: Deleting pictures from Photo Stream, Transferring Apps to a new iTunes library, Apple Universal Dock and iPhone 4S, Getting Track Names after CD Import, Video Playlists on the iPad

11-25-11: Removing music after activating iTunes Match, Smart Playlists and iTunes Match, Backing up data from an iPhone, Syncing MP3s to an iPod nano, Migrating Playlists to a new Computer

11-11-11: Configure Apple IDs on family iOS devices, Recovering lost audiobooks, Unable to disable passcode lock on iOS devices, Buying an iPod for audio-only use, Preventing deleted tracks from coming back from an iOS device

11-4-11: iPhone 4S storage capacity doesn't match, Transferring HD video from iPhone 4S to a computer, Recovering photos from iPod touch, Notification Center and iMessage in iOS 5

10-21-11: Using iCloud's Find My iPhone on older devices, Batch deleting photos in Camera Roll, Using iTunes Gift Cards internationally, Audiobooks and iCloud, Merging contacts from two devices into iCloud

See the rest of the Archives...

« Ask iLounge 7-20-06

Reader Editorial: Summer 2006 iPod Speculation »

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Comments

1

Mike,

If you iPod is less than one year old (or less than two years old if you have AppleCare for iPod) and you are getting less than 50% of the advertised battery life using procedure Jerrod described, then the repair should be covered by Apple’s warranty.

Posted by Ned5555 on July 14, 2006 at 8:23 AM (PDT)

2

Bill,
You can view the pictures on an iPod Nano on a television if you hook it up via USB to an Xbox 360. The 360 can access both the pictures and music on the Nano for use through the TV.

Posted by zenprism in LA on July 14, 2006 at 12:02 PM (PDT)

3

When I connect my ipod nano to my computer it charges and says DO NOT DISCONNECT but it does not show up on itunes.What should I do!?

Posted by brttkng1225 on July 19, 2006 at 11:31 PM (PDT)

4

My computer crashed and I lost my iTunes music in my library on my windows computer.
The music is still in my iPod but until I get it back on to my computer I am not able to add any more songs. Does anyone know how to get the music from my iPod back on to my computer?

Posted by Skibumkjmj on July 28, 2006 at 4:46 PM (PDT)

5

i recently purchased a replacement iPod battery from [url=http://www.laptopsforless.com]http://www.laptopsforless.com[/url] and it works great but are there any advantages to the high-capacity batteries?

Posted by GreenApple123 on August 24, 2006 at 2:51 PM (PDT)

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