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The Free iPod + iPhone Book4

Ask iLounge 8-6-05

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By Jerrod H.

Contributing Editor, iLounge
Published: Saturday, August 6, 2005
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: I have an iPod mini and I want to put my contacts on it. I already put them into Microsoft’s Address Book and put them in the iPod’s “Contacts” folder using Windows Explorer, but they don’t show up on my iPod. Please help me!
- Chloe

A: You’re quite close! The iPod indeed reads contacts from its “Contacts” folder, and you’re correct that you’re supposed to manually place them there.  However, you need to first be sure that the contacts files are in standard vCard format.  Most modern address book programs offer an option to “Export to vCard.” Do this, then move those files to the “Contacts” folder as you did before.

Alternatively, there are some utilities that can help you along the way.  iPodAgent, for example is a $15.00 utility that will (among many other things) automatically export your contacts, calendar, and tasks from Microsoft Outlook to your iPod.  Check our Software section for other options.

Q: I have purchased an album from the iTunes Music Store and would like to play it on my phone (Nokia 6230i). The album is in a protected format… any suggestions?

- Papagolf

A: The iTunes Music Store sells its songs in a Protected AAC format, which - as you’ve noticed - adds restrictions to files which use the otherwise-normal AAC compression format.

While the Nokia 6230i can play AAC-encoded files (many phones can’t!), you’re correct that it’s simply unable to play iTunes’ FairPlay-protected songs. There are ways to get around this, but we have to warn you that doing any of them could violate the iTunes Music Store Terms of Sale you implicitly agreed to by purchasing music. The least objectionable is to burn your Protected AAC files to an Audio CD and import them into an unprotected MP3 or AAC format.

The resulting files will be playable on your phone, either using the 32MB internal memory or an MMC memory card.

Q: There are several songs on my iPod that cut out after a few seconds. The timer at the bottom of the screen gives the full play time, but the song never makes it through. I can hear the iPod struggling with the song. They are complete files on my computer, some have been downloaded and some ripped from my CDs. What’s going on? How can I fix this?

- j2718

A: It’s hard to tell with any certainty what the issue could be. While iTunes and the iPod appear to be a seamless system, they use wildly different hardware and software decoding algorithms. Unfortunately, a song that works great in iTunes can’t be guaranteed to work on the iPod - especially if you’ve ripped it with a program other than iTunes.

However, your problem sounds extreme even considering this. We have a few suggestions, but none are guaranteed to work. Try them in this order:

  1. Your iPod might just need to be reset. Reset your iPod, and try the problem files again.
  2. Perhaps the songs were copied badly to your iPod’s hard drive.  Use the iPod Software Updater to “Restore” your iPod, wiping it clean. Reload your iPod with the music in your Library, and try the problem files again.
  3. Perhaps the problem lies with the files themselves.  Re-import the problem songs with iTunes’ own import functionality (to better ensure compatibility), and try them again.

If none of the above work, it could be a problem with the iPod’s own hard drive, and you’ll likely have to contact Apple support for service. We’re thinking it’s more likely number three than numbers one or two.

Q: When I charge my iPod mini, it says it’s charged after a couple hours or so, so I disconnect it and it still shows the battery is almost dead! What is up with this?Please help!
- kaitw1017

A: Problems like these are often very hard to diagnose.

If your iPod lasts longer than you’d expect given what the meter is telling you, then your battery is fine, and the meter is inaccurate.  This is often the case, and might be fixable by resetting your iPod using the procedure found here.

In the case that your battery is really faulty (likely true if resetting doesn’t work), there are a couple possible courses of action:

  • Take your iPod to an Apple Store or call Apple support.  If your battery has less than 50% of its capacity, and you’re still within your warranty, then a replacement iPod battery (or refurbished iPod, under some conditions) is available to you for free.  If you’re out of warranty, then Apple will replace your iPod or battery for $59.00.
  • Purchase a replacement battery and install it yourself, or have a service center replace it for you.  Such services and replacement batteries are available from TechRestore, iPodResQ, or Other World Computing, among others.

Q: I went to a friend’s house and put plenty of his songs onto my iPod. How can I put these songs into my iTunes Music Library?  iTunes doesn’t seem to let me.

- Palmi

A: Quite simply, there’s a reason Apple has made this difficult… they don’t want the iPod to be an easy enabler for mass piracy. So we’re going to assume the unlikely - your friend also sold you all the CDs for the songs you transferred, so you’re not doing anything wrong.

The iPod’s music is available on the iPod if you “Enable Disk Mode” in iTunes and enable “View Hidden Files” in Windows Explorer (PC) or the Finder (Mac). Look in the iPod’s “iPod_Control” folder, and you’ll see more folders which contain music files, but it will be difficult to find what you want. Because this isn’t very elegant, many third-party software developers have stepped in to make the copying process easier:

If you’re on a PC, try iPodAgent, CopyPod, or iPod Access.

If you’re on a Mac, try PodUtil, iPodRip, or Senuti (Free!).

Furthermore, we’ve written a complete tutorial on the process using PodUtil here.

Q: Is it possible to use iTunes to export songs from a playlist to external media. I like to carry some selected playlists on the CF card on my PDA and don’t know how to transfer the songs. Thanks!

- Sonal

A: In typical Apple fashion, this is easier than you might think. To easily “export” the songs from a playlist, simply do the following:

  1. Open the playlist in iTunes;
  2. Select all the songs in the playlist with “Edit --> Select All”;
  3. Drag the songs out of iTunes onto the desktop (or directly to your CF Card in Windows Explorer);

That’s it!  A copy of your files is made where you drop them.  Do be careful that the songs you’re exporting are playable by your PDA’s software.  For example, your software may not play AAC files, and certainly won’t play songs purchased from the iTunes Music Store.

Jerrod Hofferth is an iLounge Contributing Editor, with frequent contributions to our iPod 101 and 201 tutorials, plus occasional hardware and software product reviews. As “azdude_40gb,” he also serves as an Administrator of the iLounge Discussion Forums.

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Ask iLounge Archives:

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

See the rest of the Archives...

Shop in the loungeStore for iPod + iPhone Accessories.

Next: First Looks: TuneStage, TrailVue, NE Cases, Speck shuffle Armband

Previous: First Looks: i-Dog, Krusell, and mini Portfolios

Comments

1

Do you have to buy the charger or does it come with the ipod?

Posted by puffball002 on August 7, 2005 at 11:23 AM (PDT)

2

I have been downloading music off an i-mac, I now have a PC, and would like to start downloading on to the PC.  However the program on the pc said all information would be erased, is there a way to keep my current songs, and start downloading from the PC?

Posted by fafa on August 7, 2005 at 2:03 PM (PDT)

3

I have exactly the same problem as fafa on 08.07.05 and would love to know the answer!  Surely this is quite common?  What if I wanted to change to another mac would this work?  ideally though it would be pc.

Please help!

Posted by lloydie on August 10, 2005 at 6:04 AM (PDT)

4

I got a new computer, and lost all the songs on my old one.  I still have all the songs on my iPod though, so how do i get the songs from my iPod and put them back into iTunes?

Posted by abcd on August 10, 2005 at 8:45 AM (PDT)

5

Two ipods set up on pc’s.  bought & plugged each into emac.  they charged fine, but when unplugged they were really hot and now neither will even turn on !?!

whatup?

Posted by jpkolb on August 10, 2005 at 6:18 PM (PDT)

6

I have a new iPod Photo 60G.
I have been getting complaints from windows about a corrupt art database, but the iPod seems fine otherwise, and the artwork displays.

When I tried to find scandisk, I used the hard disk manager, and it shows a 39G unused disk space.
Think they used a 100G drive, and limited the iPod util to 60G? Is there really another 39G there?

Could I format it with windows and get that 39G?

Posted by techninja on August 11, 2005 at 6:41 AM (PDT)

7

I made a slight mistake about hat unused space: It’s 39MB, not 39GB.

That’s probably not worth trying to add to the drive.

:O(

Posted by techninja on August 11, 2005 at 7:11 AM (PDT)

8

Hi,

My ipod won’t play songs. The display works fine. It even gets to the screen where you select your song and it displays the song info and the “Play” icon is active. However, nothing happens!

Posted by bosipod on August 26, 2005 at 6:18 AM (PDT)

9

how do you delete contacts from your ipod nano??

Posted by ariannax1 on December 31, 2005 at 3:20 PM (PDT)

If you have a comment, news tip, advertising inquiry, or coverage request, a question about iPods or accessories, or if you sell or market iPod products or services, read iLounge's Comments + Questions policies before posting, and fully identify yourself if you do. We will delete comments containing advertising, astroturfing, trolling, personal attacks, offensive language, or other objectionable content, then ban and/or publicly identify violators.

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