Q: I have downloaded a non-commercially made CD of bird songs with the intent of transferring them to an iPod. iTunes imports and labels them as “Track 1,” “Track 2,” etc. This will not help me once on an iPod so I renamed them with the appropriate bird names using the “Get Info” area. Then, I also renamed them within the computer storage area (My Music\iTunes Music) so that I can find them to run on a sonogram system. However, now when I try to play the songs within iTunes it says they can not be found. I presume this is because I also renamed them in the computer storage area, but then how can I have both areas have the songs with bird names rather than track numbers?  Further, how do I keep a bird name instead of a track number when I ultimately transfer them onto an iPod?

- Jan

A: You are essentially correct in that iTunes has lost track of the actual files due to you renaming them in the actual iTunes folder. When a file is imported into the iTunes library, the full path and name of the file is stored within the iTunes database, and iTunes does not expect you to actually manipulate the file names or move them around within those directories.

The good news is that you don’t actually need to worry about the underlying file system as long as you have the option to “Keep iTunes Music folder organized” enabled. This option can be found in your iTunes preferences, by selecting Preferences, Advanced, General:

With the “Keep organized” setting enabled, iTunes will automatically move and rename your tracks according to the tag information contained in them. Therefore, when you update the name of a track from “Track 1” to something else, the underlying file should automatically be renamed. Likewise, adding information into the Artist and Album fields will automatically move your tracks into sub-folders based on this information as well, so you can further categorize your tracks this way if necessary.

Note that only tracks that are located in the “iTunes Music Folder” path (as indicated in the same preference screen) are actually organized in this way. Tracks imported from CD are stored in this location by default, so if you’re only importing tracks from CD this should not be a concern. If you have existing MP3 files that you’re adding manually, however, you’ll want to ensure that the “Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library” (shown above) is also enabled so that these files will also be copied into your iTunes Music Folder when adding them to your library.

In terms of the iPod itself, the names of the underlying files do not matter. The iPod uses the tag information exclusively to identify tracks, so they will be named according to the title shown in iTunes itself. You can browse to them on the iPod either via a complete track listing, by grouping them using album and artist fields, or by organizing them into playlists.

Q: I am looking at buying the Altec IM7, however I have been given conflicting reports whether or not it will fit the new iPod nano (with video). I have seen the cassette-like iPod dock and wondered if it did fit the new sized nano. Can you please put me right? Does the loading bay accommodate the nano properly?  Is it a good fit, or are there gaps left by the mechanism?

- Daniel

A: The Altec Lansing IM7 was originally designed to hold a full-sized fourth-generation iPod. Newer full-size iPod models continue to fit reasonably well as the fifth-generation iPod and iPod classic are the same width and height as the fourth-generation iPod, with only the thickness (depth) being different.

From a technical point of view, the 30-pin Dock Connector remains fully compatible with the newer iPod models for audio output, although the video output features of the iM7 are not supported by the 2007 iPod models. The iPod nano will fit into the docking bracket and connect to the Dock Connector, but there will be additional space since there is no dock adapter available for the newest iPod nano.

The IM7 does include an adjustable spacer at the back of the iPod dock, although this doesn’t necessarily adjust all the way to the thinness of the newer iPod nano models. You can however add your own spacer, or alternatively look at simply leaving the iPod in it’s case—the iPod nano can still fit inside the docking bracket with many of the skin-type cases that are available.

Note that many retail stores have display units of the Altec Lansing iM7, so you may want to consider bringing your iPod nano to a store with you and comparing the size for yourself if this is an option.

Q: I cannot copy music from my playlist to a CD or DVD as in the area where it is supposed to show as “Burn CD” it only shows “Burn MP3.” When I try to burn it says it cannot burn a CD. Any suggestions?

- Anonymous

A: iTunes supports different formats for burning a CD, and in this case it’s most likely that you have the default format set to burn an “MP3 CD” which basically burns a computer-readable data CD with your tracks stored in raw MP3 format and laid out for CD players that support the MP3 CD format. Note that this format will only allow you to burn files that are already in the MP3 format—it will not convert AAC files or iTunes purchased content into a compatible format for you.

You can find this default setting in your iTunes preferences, under Advanced, Burning:

If you want to burn a standard Audio CD, simply change the format back to “Audio CD” and click the OK button. This will allow you to burn an audio CD that can be played in any standard CD player. Note that you cannot burn Audio DVDs using this method.

Alternatively, if you are looking to backup your music for archival purposes or to copy it to another computer, you should select “Data CD or DVD” which will simply burn the tracks in the selected playlist in whatever format they are current in to a computer-readable data CD or DVD. Note that you won’t be able to actually listen to this CD or DVD on anything but another computer—this setting is intended primarily for archival/backup purposes.

Q: If you go travelling around the world but want to add purchased songs to your iPod whilst away, what is the best method? If I set my iPod to manual mode before I leave, can I then download iTunes in an Internet Cafe and use it to make purchases from the iTunes Store and transfer them onto my iPod?

- Stephen

A: Subject to restrictions that you may encounter in some Internet Cafes with regards to downloading and installing software, this method should work just fine, and is probably your best option if you are not travelling with a laptop computer of your own.

For purchasing music from the iTunes Store, however, there are a few points that you should pay careful attention to, since you will essentially have to log on to the iTunes Store with your userid and password and authorize any computer that you want to transfer purchased content onto your iPod from.

The first and most obvious consideration is to be sure to avoid leaving behind any purchased tracks or iTunes Store account information. Some Internet Cafes use “volatile” user profiles where your settings are wiped out anyway as soon as you log out of the computer. Others simply use shared accounts, and you may end up leaving your iTunes library behind when you leave. Ensure that you do not select the option to remember your iTunes Store account information, and you’re best to erase your iTunes library (via Windows Explorer) and empty the trash before leaving that particular computer if it’s a shared user profile.

The other important consideration, however, is that you deauthorize a computer after you leave it. Purchasing tracks from the iTunes Store and transferring them to your iPod will require each computer you use to be authorized for that iTunes Store account, and you may not have more than five computers authorized for the same iTunes Store account at any one time. If you forget to deauthorize a computer that you’re no longer using, you could quickly reach your five-computer limit. You should be especially diligent to do this before logging out of a computer with a volatile profile, since depending upon the configuration of that computer, it’s possible that you wouldn’t be able to DE-authorize that computer and it would still count against your five-computer limit.

You can manually deauthorize a computer in iTunes by selecting Store, Deauthorize Computer from the iTunes menu, and entering your iTunes Store user ID and password.

Q: I have recently bought a MacBook Air. However, because my music library from my old Macbook exceeds the MBA memory, I was told by a computer expert to get a 160G iPod classic to hold my music, so I could load new music directly onto the iPod. However, we are running into many problems. Namely, you cannot plug the external optical drive into a hub. It only works when directly connected to the MacBook Air. Thus I cannot have both devices plugged in. Any suggestions?

- Mark

A: Actually, iTunes does not allow you to directly transfer tracks from CD onto your iPod anyway—they must first be imported into your iTunes library and stored on your local hard drive. If you’re managing the content on your iPod manually, you can of course erase those tracks from your local hard drive as soon as they’ve been transferred to the iPod in order to conserve disk space, but they do need to temporarily be placed on your computer’s hard drive before they can be transferred to your iPod.

With that in mind, the solution is simply to connect the MacBook Air SuperDrive to your computer and rip several CDs onto your local hard drive. You can then disconnect the SuperDrive and connect the iPod and transfer these tracks to the iPod itself. Ensure the iPod is set to Manually manage music and videos (found on the “Summary” tab for your iPod settings within iTunes) and you can simply drag-and-drop these tracks from your iTunes library onto your iPod.

Once these tracks have been transferred onto your iPod, you can erase them from your local iTunes library simply by deleting them normally. They will remain on your iPod, since you are managing the content manually rather than using automatic synchronization.

Anytime you want to rip any additional CDs to your iPod, simply repeat the above process—importing them to your MacBook Air’s local hard drive (which is where they will go anyway), and then switching the SuperDrive out and connecting your iPod in its place, and then transferring those tracks to your iPod and removing them from your MacBook Air’s local drive.

Note that some will suggest that you could use a traditional iPod as an external hard drive to also store your iTunes library and use automatic synchronization, however this is not recommended, as you’re unnecessarily using up twice the space and twice the USB bandwidth—essentially synchronizing tracks that live on the iPod as disk mode files back onto the iPod as iPod-playable tracks. This offers no real benefit over simply using the iPod in manual mode.

You can find more information on managing the content on your iPod in our Beginner’s Guide to Filling your iPod.

Q: How do you send a photo from the iPhone to another cell phone?

- Colleen

A: Most cell phones that provide “picture messaging” capabilities use a feature known as Multimedia Messaging Services, or MMS for short. Unfortunately, the iPhone does not support MMS, so there is no way to send a picture directly from the iPhone to another cell phone.

You can work around this, however, by using the iPhone’s e-mail feature. Since the iPhone does allow you to send photos via e-mail, and many cellular carriers provide e-mail-to-MMS gateways, you can send a picture to another cellular phone user simply by e-mailing it to the appropriate e-mail address. These addresses normally take the form of the recipients cellular phone number followed by a carrier-specific domain name. For example, to send a message to somebody on the T-Mobile network you could send it as an e-mail to 9175551212 @ tmomail.net. A user in our iLounge Discussion Forums has created a helpful post with common MMS gateways for U.S. carriers in the thread How to Send MMS from the iPhone.

Of course, if you’re sending a picture to another iPhone user, or even a user of a device like a Blackberry, Palm or Windows Mobile device, there’s really no need to use MMS at all. Since these devices also support e-mail, you can just send the picture out via e-mail like you normally would, and the recipient should be able to view it through their normal e-mail client on their smartphone.