2010 iPod + iPhone Buyers' Guide

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Ask iLounge 7-20-06

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By Jerrod H.

Contributing Editor, iLounge
Published: Thursday, July 20, 2006
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:

When listening to a song on my 5G iPod, a speaker symbol appears next to the song title within the list of songs in the Album’s folder. However, if I enter the list of songs for the same artist through the “All Songs” menu shortcut, the speaker symbol does not appear next to the song that is still playing. Why is that? Is this a problem with my specific iPod’s hardware or is it a general hardware issue?

- Peter

A:

Your iPod is working as designed - you needn’t worry. In fact, you’ll notice that iTunes behaves the same way: when a song is playing from within a playlist, the speaker icon only appears next to it in that specific playlist… not in the Library or any other playlist.

The reason for this? It’s a visual cue for not only what song is playing, but also where. This way, you have a better idea of what’s coming next, or at least what pool of songs you’re shuffling from.

Q:

My iPod has lost sound in one of the headphones. It’s not the headphones themselves, since I have tested several sets.  Is this a fixable problem, and if so, how?

- Bob

A:

We’ve seen this quite a few instances of this question in our queue lately. Unfortunately, we expect that it’s a hardware defect that’s not fixable by anything you can do. As always, we can recommend restoring your iPod to factory condition using the latest iPod Software Updater from Apple to absolutely rule out software problems, but we suspect this problem will require a trip to the Apple Store for an in-warranty repair or replacement.

Q:

I arrange my music by artist-specific smart playlists. There are, however, songs that fall through the gaps as I only have playlists for artists with many songs. Is there a way I can construct a playlist of all those songs that do not have a playlist? I have tried with a smart list using “Playlist is not ....” but I can’t seem to add enough options to include all of my playlists. Any ideas?

- Alex

A:

You’re right - manually excluding each playlist you have isn’t the best solution to your problem, even if you could set it up; you’d have to keep tweaking it each time you add another playlist. Luckily, there’s at least two better ways:

The first, if you’re on a Mac, is to use the “Not in Any Playlist to Playlist” script available from Doug’s Applescripts for iTunes. As its title suggests, this script compiles all songs not in any current playlist into a new playlist. We haven’t seen any similar VBScripts or Javascripts for iTunes on the PC yet - if you have, let us know in the comments!

A second method is a slight twist on the idea you started with. We’re going to use the fact that playlist folders inherit all songs contained in the playlists beneath them. First, create a Playlist Folder in iTunes by selecting “New Folder” from the “File” menu. Call it “All Playlists,” and then proceed to place all of your existing playlists inside it.

Then, create a new smart playlist with a single rule “Playlist” “is not” “All Playlists.”

This works well, doesn’t require scripts, and is easier to create and maintain than calling out each playlist in the smart playlist logic. Enjoy!

Q:

My iPod mini no longer shuffles songs. It now will only play complete albums. The music is fine, and works in iTunes, but the iPod doesn’t randomly choose songs - it stays with the same artist for at least a full album side.

I’m sure I have it set on shuffle, but it has a mind of it’s own. Do you know how I can fix this ?

- Ricky

A:

The most likely explanation is that your iPod mini is simply set to the wrong kind of shuffle mode. In your iPod’s “Settings” menu, you’ll notice that if you repeatedly press the center button while “Shuffle” is highlighted, the status indicator shifts from “Songs” to “Albums” to “Off” and around again.

The behavior you’re describing sounds like your iPod is set to shuffle albums, not songs. Change this setting, and everything should work as expected.

Q:

I’ve previously synchronized Contacts and Calendar to my iPod. However, I now wish to remove them. Can you tell me how that’s done?

- Eric

A:

Absolutely, and it’s easy: regardless of which method you were using to synchronize the data, and regardless of whether you’re on a Mac or a PC, you can clear all contacts and calendars directly by manipulating the iPod’s contents in Windows Explorer or the Finder.

First, ensure that iTunes’ iPod Preferences have “Enable disk use” checked so you can access the iPod. Then, browse to the iPod’s hard drive in Windows Explorer or the Finder (Mac), and simply erase the contents of the iPod’s “Contacts” and “Calendar” folders.

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Ask iLounge Archives:

10-30-09: Authorization problems with iPod touch, Changing Grid View background in iTunes, iTunes library and Music Folder are different sizes, Older iPods and firmware updates, Reconciling two different iTunes libraries, Syncing multiple devices to one iTunes library

10-23-09: Using a laptop with an iTunes library on an external hard drive, Transferring YouTube videos to iPod, iPod touch accessibility settings, Disabling Shake to Shuffle on iPod nano, Purchased songs fail to download from iTunes Store, Charging and powering off iPhone

10-16-09: Moving iTunes to a new computer, Transferring contacts from Blackberry to an iPhone, Disabling iPhone Backups, Using AV cables for audio only, Problems syncing photos to iPod touch, Memorex iFlip and iPhone compatibility

10-9-09: iPhone OS and external keyboards, Adjusting ratings in a remote iTunes library, Excluding tracks from Genius Mixes, Moving iTunes library out of My Documents, Playlist folders on iPod touch, Refreshing random Smart Playlists

9-25-09: iTunes 9 and Shopping Cart, Restoring iTunes to an external hard drive, Using an HTTP Proxy over 3G, Problems transferring movies from iTunes to IPhone, iPod touch shuffle mode, Using an iPhone without a SIM card

See the rest of the Archives...

Next: Editorial: Ex-Microsofties, Time to Join the Pod

Previous: Ask iLounge 7-13-06

Comments

1

The Outlook synchronizes fine the contacts to my iPod nano, and in the beginning I also had no problems synching my calendar entries. However, accidentally, I deleted the sync-file from the Calendar folder on the iPod, and since then the calendars won’t sync.

I tried to reinstall iTunes completely, and also Outlook (Version 2002) but it did not solve the issue.

Can you help me on this one? All answers are welcome!

Posted by bubihusi on July 21, 2006 at 12:56 AM (PDT)

2

My i-pods sick and I don’t know how to fix it! Its an i-pod mini, and whenever I select a song to play, it plays it for about 8 seconds, then skips to a totally different song! And when I turn it off it decides to play again, doing the same thing, but nothing comes up on the screen.Its just over a year old, so Im pretty distraught over the whole things, its practically still a baby!Any help would be appreciated!

Posted by lollipop_les on July 21, 2006 at 2:53 PM (PDT)

3

I forgot to add to my above comment that when it plays the songs, there’s a symbol on the upper right hand side, underneatn the battery, that looks like, what I really can only describe as a pair of scissors? with a plus sign on the “handles” if thats any help!

Posted by lollipop_les on July 21, 2006 at 2:59 PM (PDT)

4

I just got a 4G nano, and tried to upload my contacts and calendar from outlook.

The contacts loaded fine, but the calendar will not…any thoughts.

Posted by swmmo on July 22, 2006 at 4:37 AM (PDT)

5

Myself and my wife bought an ipod each in the UK so that we could put all our music on for when we moved to the US. When we tried to set up I-tunes on a new computer it advises that the ipods are linked to another account and if we link to the new one, we will lose all our music. We have asked in an apple store and they advised that you cannot swap computers as it would promote file sharing.

Can you advise me on anything we can do to move the music from our ipods onto the new itunes so that we can save all our music but also put on new stuff?

Posted by Matt Hawley on July 22, 2006 at 10:05 AM (PDT)

6

Hello folks, nice site & I’m glad you’re here. I recently bought a Ipod mp3/mp4 60g video setup and am interested in a car setup that will support this player so I can watch movies, & listen to my tunes in the car. any help would be wonderful.
Thanks in advance, Eddy

Posted by eddysemail on July 23, 2006 at 11:01 PM (PDT)

7

Folks, it’s unlikely that your questions will get noticed here. Head into the appropriate place in the Forums, and you’re more likely to get the help you need.

Posted by Aceon6 in New England, USA on July 24, 2006 at 10:32 AM (PDT)

8

Is there an easy way to copy my dvd’s onto my i pod 60 Gb Video,it all seems unecessarily complicated

Posted by callian on July 25, 2006 at 4:54 AM (PDT)

9

how do i delete the explicit(red) symbol that is next to a explicit song?

Posted by trevor on October 12, 2008 at 5:49 PM (PDT)

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