Article
Ask iLounge 8-27-10
By Jesse Hollington
Applications Editor, iLounge
Published: Friday, August 27, 2010
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:
Does the iPad 3G GPS work without a data plan?
- Aaron
A:The short answer is yes, although if you’re using the built-in Maps application you will still require a data connection—either cellular or Wi-Fi—in order to actually download the Google Maps data, since this is not stored locally on the device. If you have no Internet connection at all you will need to use a third-party application that stores map data locally on your device.
The iPhone and iPad 3G contain an actual GPS receiver but also use a technology known as Assisted GPS (AGPS) which references cellular towers to provide a faster GPS fix. Normally, a GPS received must be able to receive a signal from several GPS satellites in order to provide an accurate location fix, but of course this assumes that you’re potential location is anywhere on the surface of the earth. Identifying nearby cellular towers provides a very quick approximate location requiring less time and fewer satellite signals to determine your specific position. Note, however, that AGPS does not require a cellular data connection in order to find nearby towers, so you don’t specifically require a data plan to use it, although on an iPad 3G, no data plan likely means no cellular connection at all.
This would normally result in the iPad taking a longer time to find your location, however the Location Services in iOS also use nearby Wi-Fi access points in much the same way as cellular towers to assist the GPS lookup process, meaning that as long as you have Wi-Fi turned on and are in an area with one or more nearby Wi-Fi access points you should still get a reasonably quick location fix. Keep in mind as well that you don’t need to be connected to any Wi-Fi networks for this purpose—iOS Location Services looks at all of the access points that it can see nearby whether you’re connected to them or not.
At worst if you are travelling in a remote area with your iPad 3G and no cellular data connection or nearby Wi-Fi you will find that a GPS fix can take up to five minutes to happen, but you’ll still eventually get one. As noted earlier, however, you’ll still need to be using an app with locally-stored maps to see your location indicated on an actual map.
I just bought a used iPod classic and it didn’t come with the setup CD so my computer won’t let me install iTunes or download a podcast that I subscribe to. This is my first iPod so I have never had one installed in my computer. Any advise?
- Jordan
A:Actually, you shouldn’t need a setup CD. In fact, Apple doesn’t even include these with new iPods anymore. Instead, Apple expects that most users have reasonable Internet access and can download the latest version of iTunes from http://www.itunes.com. Since the version of iTunes available for download is frequently newer than whatever is included with the iPod anyway, this ensures that people are using current software as well as helping the environment.
The version of iTunes that you download from Apple is normally all you need to get your iPod going. If you’re having problems installing iTunes on your computer then chances are that something else is causing problems or conflicting with the installation process. Try disabling any background system utilities such as anti-virus and anti-spyware apps while you attempt to install iTunes; you can always re-enable these later once you’ve managed to get iTunes successfully installed.
I have just bought an iPod touch and rented a movie from iTunes. The movie appears in iTunes under Rented Movies, but I don’t see any way (in iTunes 9) of moving it to the iPod. The “Videos” tab does not have the two-column appearance - only the means to manage syncing. Any ideas how I can move the rented movie to the iPod touch?
- Chris
A:If you are using iTunes 9 and a recent-model iPod touch there should actually not be a “Videos” tab in iTunes but instead separate tabs for “Movies” and “TV Shows.” Options for transferring Rented Movies normally appear under the “Movies” tab as one would expect. Assuming that you purchased a brand-new, current model iPod touch it’s likely that you’re already running a semi-recent firmware version, but it’s worth noting that old v1.x versions of the iPod touch firmware did not provide support for Movie Rentals; this was added in the v1.1.3 update in January 2008. If you’ve purchased an older, used iPod touch model this is something worth considering.

Keep in mind also that the iPod touch does not support High-Definition (HD) rentals, so if you have rented an HD movie you will only be able to watch it on your computer or transfer it to an Apple device that does support HD such as the iPhone 4, iPad or Apple TV. In this case the options to transfer rented movies does not appear on the iPod touch settings as iTunes cannot find any compatible movies in your library.
It may also be worth re-authorizing your computer for your iTunes Store account, particularly if this is the first item you’ve purchased and tried to transfer to your iPod touch. In certain rare cases your iTunes Store authorization info can become disassociated with your iPod which will prevent iTunes from transferring purchased content onto that device. To do this, simply choose Authorize Computer from the Store menu in iTunes and enter your iTunes Store account name and password when prompted.
We have an second-generation iPod touch and are running the current version of iTunes. We have just bought and downloaded three short films from the iTunes Store, each under 40MB. There is currently 3.87GB of space left on the iPod. After the purchase, we tried to sync them to the iPod and we got a this message: “Are you sure you want to remove all 73 applications from the iPod? This will delete these application and their data from the iPod.” We have enough room there; why would it want to delete the apps?
- Jenn
A:iTunes should never try to delete apps from your iPod touch unless you specifically ask it to. Even if your device is running low on space, iTunes will simply display an error message and refuse to transfer any additional content to your device; it will not remove content itself to make room.
If iTunes is suggesting that it’s going to remove applications from your iOS device it is likely because these applications have been removed from your iTunes library or de-selected for synchronization in your iTunes settings or you’re trying to synchronize your iPod touch to a different computer that does not have these apps installed. Check your Apps tab in iTunes to ensure that these apps are still in your library and haven’t been accidentally deleted, and also go to your iPod touch settings in iTunes and check the Apps tab to ensure that synchronization of Apps is still enabled and that all of the apps that should be on your iPod touch are still selected for synchronization.

If you have mistakenly deleted the apps from your iTunes library you can simply download them again from the iTunes Store at no charge. Once they are back in your library they should automatically match up with the apps already on your device.
I recently had my computer restored and after reinstalling iTunes it hit me that all of my music is gone. Further, my computer doesn’t even show that my iPod touch is connected to it. I’ve dealt with this before and know how to transfer music from my iPod to my iTunes library, but it seems this time I can’t find my iPod at all on my computer, except for when I bring up iTunes. I’ve even tried searching my entire computer for it and I still couldn’t find it. So I was wondering if there was anyway I can get my iPod to show up on my computer or if there’s an easier way (where I won’t have to download some software) to get my music back on my iTunes.
- Danielle
A:It sounds like the last time you went through this you were using a Click Wheel iPod model such as an iPod classic or iPod nano. iTunes uses Disk Mode to access these devices and you can therefore access them in the same way to recover music manually. Unfortunately, Apple’s iOS devices such as the iPod touch use a completely different synchronization protocol that does not rely on Disk Mode and therefore do not appear to your computer as external hard drives.
This means that the old manual recovery options will not work anymore and you will definitely need to find some third-party software to help you out. The good news is that there are some inexpensive solutions available for this either in the form of apps that are available on a trial basis or free to inexpensive apps. Our guide to Copying Content from your iPod to your Computer lists several possibilities that are worth a look.
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
When will the white I-phone4 be available?
Posted by sharon Ragsdale on August 29, 2010 at 11:59 AM (PDT)
2
Will there be and software update for the 120gb 2.0.1 to 2.0.3 ????
Posted by Brian T on September 3, 2010 at 6:48 PM (PDT)