Article
Ask iLounge 7-24-09
By Jesse Hollington
Applications Editor, iLounge
Published: Friday, July 24, 2009
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.
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Q:
Are there any products out there that would allow us as a company to put something on our website that shows everyone what songs that all the computers on our Wi-Fi network have recently been listening to in iTunes?
- Kimberly
A:Although there are a number of third-party tools that are available to publish recently played information from a single iTunes library, most of these rely on simply writing the local playlist to an HTML file and are therefore not really suited for use in a multi-user environment.
Your best option in this case is to actually consider using a third-party web service such as Last.fm which can aggregate your play information from multiple computers. To do this, you would setup a single Last.fm user account to aggregate the information from all of your users, and then download and install the Last.fm client to each workstation using that single username and password. As content is played on iTunes at a given workstation, that data is reported to the Last.fm servers and added to a list of tracks that you’ve recently played.
From there, you could take advantage of various widgets and HTML plug-ins that are available from Last.fm to display this play history on a web page of your own.
The downside to this approach, of course, is that you’re reporting your play data to an external server and then pulling this information back to your own web site, so it’s a somewhat roundabout way to go about it, but it’s definitely the easiest way to aggregate play data from more than a single computer. As another option you could even have each user in your company sign up with their own Last.fm account and then create a Last.fm group for all of the members of your organization and publish the played tracks as a group representing your company. The use of a third-party aggregation service provides many more options as they’ve already done the heavy lifting of implementing the web service.
If my iPhone 3G is playing music through my car stereo connected via a mini stereo cable to the stereo’s auxiliary jack, will I still be able to receive phone calls on my Bluetooth headset or handsfree device in the car? What will happen when I receive a call while music is playing?
- Allen
A:The iPhone music playback and phone audio are handled separately in this case, so you can easily listen to your iPhone music through the headphone jack or a Dock Connector based audio accessory and continue to use your Bluetooth headset or handsfree accessory to make and receive phone calls.
When a call comes in, the music will fade down and the iPhone will ring as it normally would. Answering the incoming call from your Bluetooth headset or handsfree kit will route the phone call audio through the Bluetooth accessory and the music will remain paused while the call is in progress. When you hang up the iPhone will automatically resume playback by fading the music back up to its previous volume.
Note that if you answer the call from the iPhone screen itself, the call audio will not be sent to your Bluetooth accessory by default, but will use the iPhone’s audio input and output, meaning that you will likely hear the call audio through your stereo speakers and the iPhone mic will be used to pick up your voice.
The same process also occurs when dialing an outbound call from the iPhone. You do not need to pause your music playback before making a call—simply place the call and the iPhone will fade down and pause the music while your call is in progress.
For more information on how this all works, be sure to check out our Complete Guide to iPhone Car Integration.
I’m having trouble for the first time getting my iPod to play video on my TV. I’ve done it before and there was no problem. Now I have a 120 GB iPod classic and it won’t play. The TV output is on and the signal is NTSC. When I plug the iPod into my TV, on my iPod it says “TV Out Enabled. Please connect video accessory.” Why isn’t it working?
- Anonymous
A:It sounds like you were previously using a fifth-generation iPod prior to upgrading to the 120GB iPod classic. Unfortunately, all of the iPods released since 2007 now require video cables that use a specific iPod authentication chip to enable the video output feature. Cables manufactured for the fifth-generation iPod are not compatible with the newer iPod models, including the iPod classic, third and fourth-generation iPod nano, iPod touch or iPhone. Firstly, these devices no longer output video through the headphone port at all, requiring a Dock Connector based cable to output video, but more importantly the Dock Connector cable must contain a chip to identify itself to the iPod as a compatible video accessory. The message you’re seeing prompting you to connect a video accessory is indicating the iPod is not detecting this chip and therefore doesn’t think you’ve actually connected a video accessory.
If you’re using a Dock Connector video cable and have an iPod audio recording device that connects to the Dock Connector port, you might be able to work around this by connecting that in order to trigger the video output and then switching back to your video cable. This works as the Dock Connector based audio recording accessories all use authentication chips as well, similar to those used by video accessories. However, these only work in certain firmware versions on and on certain iPod models.
Otherwise, you’re pretty much stuck purchasing a new video cable to enable TV output on your new iPod classic. Apple sells both Component AV Cables and Composite AV Cables for around $50 each, although you may find other third-party cables available for slightly less. Unfortunately, the cost of licensing these accessories with Apple and including the authentication chip means you’re unlikely to see any of these cables available for less than $30 USD.
For more information, see our article, Apple Locks TV Out in New iPods.
How do I change owners on an iPhone? I recently upgraded from an iPhone 3G to a 3GS, and I want to give my 3G to my wife. When I changed her SIM card for my old one in the 3G, the 3G still thinks it is owned by me. I synced the 3G on my wife’s computer, and all the content changed to hers, but it still doesn’t change the name of the iPhone (Mike’s toy) nor does it change the iTunes account (she has her own). What can I do to change the name of the iPhone and change the iTunes account to hers?
- Michael
A:Actually, what you’re describing isn’t really an issue with the “owner” of the iPhone, but rather merely the name of the device itself and the account that the iTunes Store application is logged in with by default. Neither of these items will affect your wife’s ability to use the iPhone 3G, and as you’ve already observed, her content has already been loaded onto it.
The name of the iPhone is not really of any significance other than for your own reference, and you can easily rename it by connecting it to any computer running iTunes, selecting it from the Devices listing in iTunes, and then double-clicking on it to rename it. From there, simply type in a new name and press RETURN and that’s about it.
The second issue with the iTunes Store account shown in the iTunes Store application and App Store applications on the device is also easily fixed. Whichever iTunes Store account you’re logged into with iTunes itself when you sync your device becomes the default account in use on the iPhone as well, so simply making sure your wife is logged in to her iTunes Store account within the iTunes application and then syncing your iPhone should update the current account information.
Note as well, however, that as of iPhone OS 3.0 you can switch iTunes Store accounts right from within the iTunes Store or App Store applications on the device simply by scrolling down to the bottom of the screen and tapping on the account name shown there. Regardless, the account name in these applications has no direct correlation to the owner of the device nor what content can be loaded or played on the device; it is simply the account that you’re logged in to the iTunes Store as for that particular session.
My first generation iPod still works, but is the sound going to be better on a new iPod? My daughter’s new iPod nano playing the identical song on identical speakers sounds a lot better. Why? Isn’t the music all ones and zeroes, so digitally it should be exactly the same?
- Joanne
A:You are correct that the music itself is stored as digital data and therefore is going to be technically identical on any iPod or other digital media player. However, even though the file may contain the same data, the hardware used to translate those ones and zeros into audio that you hear can vary dramatically. In other words, the data may be stored digitally, but we’re still hearing it in analog form, and it therefore to be translated back to the analog sound wave that we can hear.
Conceptually, this is the same as with any audio hardware: Better amplifiers, better speakers and better earphones will all result in improved sound quality. In the same manner, the chips used inside the iPod to decode those ones and zeroes and turn them into the analog sound that we hear differ in the quality of the sound reproduction, and of course as technology improves in general, so do the audio decoding chips used in the iPod. For the most part, newer iPods have newer technology used to decode the ones and zeros into the sounds that you hear, and the newer technology produces a different sound quality that is generally an improvement.
Our various iPod reviews discuss many of the quality differences between the various iPod models over the years, and in many cases there have been notable improvements even from one generation to the next. The improvement in audio processing hardware from the early first and second-generation iPods to the modern iPod nano and iPod classic would definitley be quite significant and noticeable, although since quality is subjective not every user will necessarily agree that the changes are an improvement.
I have a second-generation iPod shuffle. My dock broke, so I bought a third-generation shuffle charger as it was cheaper than the dock. I figured the third-generation charger would be the same as the dock, minus the actual docking thing, but its
not connecting. Is the charger not compatible?
- Tony
A:Since both generations of iPod shuffle use a headphone-port based adapter, it is a reasonable assumption that the accessories should be compatible. Sadly, however, they are not comaptible for either charging or syncing. With the headphone-based controls on the new 3G shuffle, it seems that Apple made some changes to the charging and syncing conections in the headphone port, rendering the accessories between the two generations incompatible.
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
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1
after updating my iphone to 3.0 i have lost all songs that i puchased on itunes. they are still in itunes under purchased but they have vanished from my phone. any help?
Posted by jasty on July 28, 2009 at 6:39 PM (PDT)
2
My computer got a virus and I lost all the songs on my ipod account. All the songs are still on my ipod. If I purchase more songs from the apple store and sync my ipod will I loose all the songs I have on their already?
Thanks
Dan
Posted by Dan Lydon on July 29, 2009 at 2:05 AM (PDT)