Q:
I plan to switch from an iMac to a MacBook Pro. I have a very large iTunes library (300GB+) and plan to still acquire additional content. I understand I can store my iTunes library on an external hard drive, which is great. However when I travel, what should I do if I want to get a few TV show episodes and a couple of movies with me on the laptop (assuming my entire library is on the external hard drive and most of my Movies / TV shows are DRM protected from iTunes store)?
- Nicolo
A: There’s actually a fairly simple workaround for this based on the fact that iTunes will always temporarily fall back to looking in tis default location for any media that it can’t find in the specified location.
The key is to keep the iTunes database stored on your MacBook Pro and only move your actual media content to your external hard drive. This way, when you start iTunes with the external hard drive disconnected, your database of content will still be available, even though the actual files are not. In this state, you will still be able to see a listing of your tracks, although of course you won’t be able to play any of them since they’re located on your disconnected external hard drive.
However, when trying to access a given media file, iTunes starts by looking in the specific location (the external hard drive in this case), and then if it can’t find the track there, it next looks in the normal default iTunes Media folder location, which would be on your MacBook Pro hard drive’s Music folder under the “iTunes” folder.
This means that if you want to take content with you when travelling, all you need to do is copy it manually from your external hard drive to the corresponding iTunes Media folder location your MacBook Pro. For instance, if you’ve stored your iTunes Media folder on your external hard drive in a folder named Media, this means that your TV shows would be stored in Media/TV Shows and any specific TV show would be stored as Media/TV Shows/(showname). If you wanted to watch specific episodes of that TV show while travelling, you’d simply copy those episodes to your Music/iTunesiTunes MediaTV Shows(showname) folder on your MacBook Pro hard drive. When the external hard drive is disconnected, iTunes would realize that it can’t find the shows on the external drive and would fall back to looking for them in the default iTunes Media folder, which is where you would have copied them to.
Further, you can even continue to sync your iPhone or iPod to your MacBook Pro even when the external hard drive is disconnected, as iTunes will never remove a track from your iPod as long as it remains listed in your iTunes library, regardless of whether the actual file is available or not. You’ll only be able to add new content that is actually on your computer, but if you happen to import or purchase new content while you’re travelling, this means you can still get it synced onto your iPod in much the same way as you normally would.
This is all explained in some additional detail in our article on Transferring your iTunes Library. Specifically check out the section at the end on Using an External Hard Drive and a Portable Computer. Also keep in mind that there may be some subtle differences in how your files are organized in iTunes 9 depending on whether you’ve upgraded to the new “iTunes Media organization” or not. This is also discussed in the above article.
Q: I have been trying to find an EASY way of transferring YouTube videos to my iPod. I just can’t seem to find an easy way to do it. It doesn’t help that I am a complete computer novice! Can anyone point me in the right direction to find a simple step by step ‘idiot-proof’ guide as to how to do this?
- Mark
A: In order to transfer YouTube videos to your iPod, you first need to download them from YouTube and then convert them to an iPod-ready format. Fortunately, there are several third-party tools that can do this for you in one step.
For a couple of options worth looking at, check out Tooble (http://tooble.tv) or TubeSock (http://stinkbot.com/Tubesock). Both of these are available for Mac and Windows and offer one-step conversion and importing of videos from YouTube directly into an iPod-ready format in your iTunes library. For Mac users, TubeTV (http://www.chimoosoft.com/products/tubetv) is also worth a look. Both Tooble and TubeTV are free while TubeSock sells for $15 with a limited trial available. Tooble also has a Tooble Pro version for $6 which offers additional options such as the ability to convert only the audio portion of a YouTube video and support for additional sites other than YouTube.
You can find some more information in the thread GUIDES TO: Converting Video for iPod - Mac & Window in the iLounge Discussion Forums.
Q: I have an 8GB iPod touch and have recently updated my software on it. The new version is 3.1.1. I want to know how I can have themes installed on it. Even on the Apple site I see a new black theme which we can access by going to the Accessibility section under settings. However, I am not able to see any such option.
- Rajan
A: In its standard configuration the iPod touch does not have any type of customizable theme support beyond reorganizing the icons on your home screens. The accessibility option provides a slightly different look intended to aid readability for the visually impaired, and is not a “theme” per se. That said, only the iPhone 3GS and the third-generation iPod touch models (32GB/64GB) presently support any of the accessibility features. The 8GB iPod touch currently being sold by Apple is last year’s second-generation iPod touch that has simply not been discontinued.
The only way to set up additional themes for the iPhone or iPod touch at this point is to jailbreak your device and install a third-party software replacement for the default “Springboard” home screen app. Several developers in the jailbreak community have written replacement applications that provide enhanced theme support, however by jailbreaking your device you are essentially using it outside of Apple’s normal terms and conditions and will be in an unsupported configuration. Applications for jailbroken devices are not tested or supported by Apple in any way, and many of the background applications that extend or replace Apple’s own built-in applications may have an impact on the stability or battery life of your device.
Q: Is there a way I can disable “Shake To Shuffle” on the new iPod nano?
- Nikki
A: Certainly. The option for this can be found under the iPod nano Settings menu from the main screen. Choose the Playback sub-menu and you should see an option labelled “Shake” which can be toggled between either “Shuffle” or “Off.” Simply set this option to “Off” and the Shake to Shuffle feature will be disabled.
Q: As I was buying songs to transfer to my iPod from iTunes, the iTunes program froze, so I did a ctrl+alt+del and saw that it wasn’t responding. I closed iTunes and when I opened it up the next day, I saw that only 1 of the 12 songs had made it to the library; 7 remained in the download section and 4 were missing entirely. Yet I was charged for all 12. Is there a way i can get those 4 missing songs back?
- Matt
A: The four missing tracks have probably not yet been fully downloaded from the iTunes Store and therefore may still be available in your download queue at the store itself. You can check this by going to the Store menu in iTunes and choosing the Check for Available Downloads… option. If there are any downloads remaining in your iTunes Store queue, they should begin downloading immediately.
If this does not work and these items still fail to appear, you will need to contact the iTunes Store Customer Service and explain your situation. They will generally simply re-add the entire purchase to your iTunes Store queue so that you can download them again.
Note also that the seven songs that are already in your Downloads folder can be imported directly into iTunes, but you may be missing the correct song information and album artwork, as this information is applied at the end of the download process. Therefore, it may be worthwhile to ask to re-download these tracks from the iTunes Store as well.
Q: I have an iPhone 3GS and have 2 questions: First, when not in use does it harm the battery to keep the unit plugged in? Secondly, at night I turn it off completely; will this eventually damage the unit?
- John
A: Under normal use, regularly keeping an iPod or iPhone plugged in to a power source will not do any harm. The charging circuit in these devices is designed to shut off when a full charge is reached, after which the device simply runs from the external power source.
The only issue here is that you should not always leave your iPod or iPhone connected to external power, since in this case, the battery is not getting used at all. Apple recommends that you run your device off battery power for a few hours at least once a month to ensure that the battery is actually getting used. For the majority of iPod and iPhone owners this is not going to be a problem at all.
You can find a much more in-depth explanation of iPod and iPhone battery life and charging questions in our May 9, 2008 Ask iLounge column.
To answer your second question, there is nothing wrong with shutting your iPhone off completely at night either and this will not harm your iPhone in any way. There’s no need to turn your iPhone completely off at night, but there’s also no harm in doing so.
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