The *official* Ipod help thread

[Hermosa11]

Subscribing!!! So happy to see this thread! I bought myself a 30gb Video iPod for Christmas. Cannot wait to enjoy it on the plane! People are going to look at me laughing my off listening to Lewis Black, etc. Cannot wait.
I am sure I will have a question in the future...........

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

do i have to have ITUNES to put music on my IPOD?

 

[toddp3]

you can up to five authorized computers using the same iTunes library. after five, iTunes won't recognize a sixth if you don't deauthorize one of the first five.

make sense?

Also once a year (usually in April) Apple gives a grace period where you can deauthorize old computers that you either no longer have (and forgot to deauthorize) or had a bad disk that you couldn't recover from. You can also always call Apple to reset your authorizations completely.

 

[cruisnfamily]

you can up to five authorized computers using the same iTunes library. after five, iTunes won't recognize a sixth if you don't deauthorize one of the first five.

make sense?

Quick note from the owner of 2 nanos and 1 shuffle. You can only use 1 computer for the shuffle.(at least I think that's what you guys told me)

 

[toddp3]

OK,,Well,I'm going to do a windows recovery right now and hope for the best.

Well I hope you set your iPod to Disk Mode... as that's the only way you're going to get the stuff back off and iPods are usually set to disk mode by default.

If you didn't just go read this article.

The reason is that while iTunes will copy your purchased music/video back from an iPod, it will not copy off music/video that you ripped and put there on your own. To get back all the music/video you can use a tool like Sharepod.

You can also just copy your music video off the iPod but the filenames will be funny. To do this, once you're in disk mode, go to the drive that represents your iPod, then to iPod_Control, then to Music. For example, my iPod mounts as drive K, so I go to K:\iPod_Control\Music

Remember to do this you need disk mode (see above).

 

[toddp3]

do i have to have ITUNES to put music on my IPOD?

No. There are alternatives. Anapod Explorer is a very popular alternative.

 

[Hermosa11]

How difficult is it to take a dvd movie and download it to computer, then transfer to iPod. Is that legal and possible?

 

[JennyMominRI]

Well I hope you set your iPod to Disk Mode... as that's the only way you're going to get the stuff back off and iPods are usually set to disk mode by default.

If you didn't just go read this article.

The reason is that while iTunes will copy your purchased music/video back from an iPod, it will not copy off music/video that you ripped and put there on your own. To get back all the music/video you can use a tool like Sharepod.

You can also just copy your music video off the iPod but the filenames will be funny. To do this, once you're in disk mode, go to the drive that represents your iPod, then to iPod_Control, then to Music. For example, my iPod mounts as drive K, so I go to K:\iPod_Control\Music

Remember to do this you need disk mode (see above).

Thanks for this Info...Sharepod got me my music back...I really, really appreciate the help

 

[Dakota_Lynn]

How difficult is it to take a dvd movie and download it to computer, then transfer to iPod. Is that legal and possible?

You need two programs. DVD shrink is free of charge and very safe. You use this program to rip the movie to your hard drive. It will be a large file....approximately 4.5 gb and it takes anywhere from 10 minutes to 45 minutes depending on the movie and the speed of your computer.

Then you download CloneDVD mobile and run your movie through that program to format it to your Ipod. You can download it for a free trial period. It's easy to use and and takes about 45 mintues to process the file. So the total time it takes to get a movie onto your Ipod is about an hour and a half.

 

[Kycha]

Okay. I am a complete novice when it comes to this ipod stuff. Of course I just purchased two refurbed 30gb video ipods for DH and me. Any help would be greatly appreciated. So, my first newbie question is how do I know what generation ipod I have?

It is pretty pathetic when I must quote myself. But, I didn't get an answer to my question. How do I know what generation ipod that I have?

 

[toddp3]

Okay. I am a complete novice when it comes to this ipod stuff. Of course I just purchased two refurbed 30gb video ipods for DH and me. Any help would be greatly appreciated. So, my first newbie question is how do I know what generation ipod I have?

Sorry missed it

Video iPods are all 5G (5th Generation) also technically speaking.

While this is very technical, the iPod Linux project has a very good breakdown of the difference between all the generations, including the technical specs. You can find it here.

Edit: for something a bit less technical and more comprehensive history-wise, try Wikipedia

 

[debster812]

My turn. My turn.

I updated my iPod 2 nights ago, charged it last night overnight, and for the first time ever, I am experiencing the skipping songs in the iPod.

I know toddp3 mentioned earlier in this thread that this is probably a result of my not finishing my updating session properly.

My question is, if I re-update the iPod, and disconnect cleanly, will this resolve itself, or do I need to do something else to fix it?

 

[Kycha]

Sorry missed it

Video iPods are all 5G (5th Generation) also technically speaking.

While this is very technical, the iPod Linux project has a very good breakdown of the difference between all the generations, including the technical specs. You can find it here.

Edit: for something a bit less technical and more comprehensive history-wise, try Wikipedia

Todd,

Thanks. That is exactly what I was looking for.

 

[toddp3]

My turn. My turn.

I updated my iPod 2 nights ago, charged it last night overnight, and for the first time ever, I am experiencing the skipping songs in the iPod.

I know toddp3 mentioned earlier in this thread that this is probably a result of my not finishing my updating session properly.

My question is, if I re-update the iPod, and disconnect cleanly, will this resolve itself, or do I need to do something else to fix it?

Is it skipping on all your songs, or just new ones?

What I mean is did you just rip some new songs, and those are the problem? Or are songs that you already had on your iPod the problem? There's an issue with some CD drives being jumpy when they rip music, that's why I ask.

What you can try is this (it's a little time consuming, sorry), before you do make sure there's nothing on your iPod that you can't put back there from your computer:

1) Connect your iPod and start iTunes (one may do the other)

2) In the tree on the left, under DEVICES, chose your iPod.

3) Under Version on the Summary tab, choose Restore

4) Wait for #3 to finish. When it's done you will have a fresh iPod, no music, just like you bought it from the store.

5) Right click on your iPod under DEVICES and choose Sync

Test out your music now. If it still skips, then you may want to note the songs and play them in iTunes and see if they skip there.

If they do, then you may just need to re-rip them.

If after a re-rip they still skip, then look at the following option:

1) Go to Edit->Preferences

2) Choose the Advanced tab

3) Choose the Importing sub-tab

4) Check off "Use error correction when reading Audio CDs"

Re-rip, restore iPod, sync, listen again.

If music purchased from iTunes skips, even in iTunes, you'll need to contact Apple, let them know, and they'll let you re-download it.

 

[ZuZugal]

My DD's nano was set (by her or me) to manually update, but she has now decided that is not the way to go. So I unchecked "manual" so it will sync automatically. It told me I would lose all content and the nano would be updated with all of the songs in our library. Wow. Not the answer I was looking for because she doesn't want all of that stuff. Is there a way to delete the content and bascially "start over" w/o uploading everything?

Thanks.

 

[debster812]

Todd--thanks for the info.

What's weird, is that it's playing songs I've ripped from CD's I own, and seems to be skipping purchased, downloaded songs from iTunes. Bizzaro.

I've done this hundreds of times, it's an older ipod picture 20gig, and never seen this before. I suspect it's got something to do with the updated version of iTunes and the fact we now have my 20gig photo, and DS's 2 gig Nano hanging off the same computer.

I'll fuss with it some tonight, and might be back for more help tomorrow

 

[toddp3]

My DD's nano was set (by her or me) to manually update, but she has now decided that is not the way to go. So I unchecked "manual" so it will sync automatically. It told me I would lose all content and the nano would be updated with all of the songs in our library. Wow. Not the answer I was looking for because she doesn't want all of that stuff. Is there a way to delete the content and bascially "start over" w/o uploading everything?

Thanks.

Yes.

For starters, double check with your daughter that there's nothing on there she can't replace (as in everything on her iPod is already in your iTunes library). This includes, notes, calendars, contacts as well (if she uses them - I'm pretty much the only person I ever see using my iPod as a PDA).

1) Have your daughter sit down and define Playlists containing the music she wants.

2) Once she's done with that, make sure her iPod is connected and showing under DEVICES in iTunes. Then select it.

3) Select the Music Tab

4) Change "All songs and playlists" to "Selected playlists"

5) Check off the playlists your daughter created in #1

6) Right click on her iPod under DEVICES, and choose Sync.

At this point all the music/video that is not in her iPod will be cleared from her iPod. And only the music in her selected playlists will remain on her iPod. As well as all her playlists will be selectable under playlists.

My wife and I share a library. I have an iPod Video, she has a Nano. She uses this method to keep her stuff distinct from mine.

 

[ZuZugal]

Yes.

For starters, double check with your daughter that there's nothing on there she can't replace (as in everything on her iPod is already in your iTunes library). This includes, notes, calendars, contacts as well (if she uses them - I'm pretty much the only person I ever see using my iPod as a PDA).

1) Have your daughter sit down and define Playlists containing the music she wants.

2) Once she's done with that, make sure her iPod is connected and showing under DEVICES in iTunes. Then select it.

3) Select the Music Tab

4) Change "All songs and playlists" to "Selected playlists"

5) Check off the playlists your daughter created in #1

6) Right click on her iPod under DEVICES, and choose Sync.

At this point all the music/video that is not in her iPod will be cleared from her iPod. And only the music in her selected playlists will remain on her iPod. As well as all her playlists will be selectable under playlists.

My wife and I share a library. I have an iPod Video, she has a Nano. She uses this method to keep her stuff distinct from mine.

Gotcha...thanks. I've spent some time creating playlists this morning so she and DS can better manage their ipods. She doesn't have much interest in having his music on her ipod.

 

[Fitswimmer]

How do you use your Ipod as a PDA? How do you enter the information?

 

[aes74]

Ok, I have two totally nerdy, embarrassing questions.

I just got a Nano 4gb for christmas. Pink, by the way.

a. can I download songs from itunes and emusic.com? (I got a coupon for free songs at emusic)
b. how the heck do i put my cds on to my nano? i am worried it is going to take up tons of space on my computer.