ipods: is there something a non-hifi person can use

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

When you put in a CD and the window comes up asking 'Do you want to import the CD' click 'No'.

Then uncheck the tracks you don't want. Then click the bottom right 'Import CD' button. It will only import checked tracks.

Don't try and change anything until it is in your library. I initially got confused trying to rename the CD itself!

Yes, on my second attempt, I clicked "no" I didn't know I could change it once it was in - that sounds a better bet.

You don't have to change every track individually. Highlight all common tracks - then if you right click over them anything you chance in the main box will change on all highlighted. It does not show the bar for track title if you highlight multiple tracks so there is no danger of relabelling everything 'So What?'

I'll try that next time.

Thanks Bev.

MG

[Noj]

Quick keys can be really handy.

CTRL + A = Select All

CTRL + I = Get Info

These and many more appear in the drop down menus.

[Jim R]

Well, I had a go. Bleedin' 'ell!

So I've found out all about the sorting stuff.

You're... welcome?

That's fine if you have only a few things in there, but I can't see any way to play some Zouglou, when I have twenty thousand tracks in there I'll end up playing Avant Garde Jazz all the time

Another indispensable tip (sorry, these things are taken for granted by those of us who are used to using iTunes):

The search function!! Upper right corner of the iTunes window, just type in Zouglou. In fact, just type in Zo, or Zou, and all you'll see in your list below is your Zouglou (whatever the hell that is ).

We'll start afresh some other time.

Really, iTunes is complex, but once you begin to get used to it, it really is a very well-designed program. Getting used to it takes some time, and I'm even still learning some useful tips as I go, after years of using it. Keep asking questions, preferably one or two at a time. Seriously, a lot of folks including me might benefit from this sharing of ideas.

[A Lark Ascending]

Quick keys can be really handy.

CTRL + A = Select All

CTRL + I = Get Info

These and many more appear in the drop down menus.

I knew A but not I. Useful.

[A Lark Ascending]

Another indispensable tip (sorry, these things are taken for granted by those of us who are used to using iTunes):

The search function!! Upper right corner of the iTunes window, just type in Zouglou. In fact, just type in Zo, or Zou, and all you'll see in your list below is your Zouglou (whatever the hell that is ).

I only worked that one out last week! Very useful.

Really, iTunes is complex, but once you begin to get used to it, it really is a very well-designed program. Getting used to it takes some time, and I'm even still learning some useful tips as I go, after years of using it. Keep asking questions, preferably one or two at a time. Seriously, a lot of folks including me might benefit from this sharing of ideas.

Quite - alot of these things have so many options that you can't work them out intuitively...well, not until you've been pointed to certain basics.

If you find iTunes bewildering, don't go near Photoshop or Adobe Dreamweaver! I only started to work out the former in the summer - I had to be shown one-to-one. Dreamweaver still bewilders me.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Well, I had a go. Bleedin' 'ell!

So I've found out all about the sorting stuff.

You're... welcome?

That's fine if you have only a few things in there, but I can't see any way to play some Zouglou, when I have twenty thousand tracks in there I'll end up playing Avant Garde Jazz all the time

Another indispensable tip (sorry, these things are taken for granted by those of us who are used to using iTunes):

The search function!! Upper right corner of the iTunes window, just type in Zouglou. In fact, just type in Zo, or Zou, and all you'll see in your list below is your Zouglou (whatever the hell that is ).

We'll start afresh some other time.

Really, iTunes is complex, but once you begin to get used to it, it really is a very well-designed program. Getting used to it takes some time, and I'm even still learning some useful tips as I go, after years of using it. Keep asking questions, preferably one or two at a time. Seriously, a lot of folks including me might benefit from this sharing of ideas.

I'm really most grateful, Jim - particularly for the search tip.

(Zouglou is a kind of music they have in Cote d'Ivoire. Very dancefloor-friendly.)

MG

[Jim R]

I check only the categories I want the Ipod to snyc so I don't get my son's (heavy metal; ugh) collection on there.

This reminds me of something I wanted to ask about. I've always noticed, but never found any need to use, those small checked boxes to the left of each song title in the iTunes music display. I've figured out that by un-clicking a box, that song will be skipped during normal continuous play. I suppose that it would also cause that track to be omitted from any drag-and-drop (to an ipod or to a playlist) of the album it belongs with (just a hunch, I haven't tried it). Other than that, are there any useful or imporant functions of these boxes that I should know about?

[mjzee]

Oh, one thing I discovered in the latest version of iTunes: you can now rip with VBR. For example, I used to rip @ 192 kbps; I now rip at 192 kbps with VBR (I've heard this makes the sound quality equal to a CD). To do this, click "Import Settings..." (in the lower right of the screen), then Setting: Custom..., then check "Use Variable Bit Rate Encoding (VBR)," with Quality: Highest.

[mjzee]

I check only the categories I want the Ipod to snyc so I don't get my son's (heavy metal; ugh) collection on there.

This reminds me of something I wanted to ask about. I've always noticed, but never found any need to use, those small checked boxes to the left of each song title in the iTunes music display. I've figured out that by un-clicking a box, that song will be skipped during normal continuous play. I suppose that it would also cause that track to be omitted from any drag-and-drop (to an ipod or to a playlist) of the album it belongs with (just a hunch, I haven't tried it). Other than that, are there any useful or imporant functions of these boxes that I should know about?

If you uncheck a box to a song before importing the CD, that song won't be imported. Also, if a song is unchecked in your library, it won't be included in iTunes DJ.

[Jim R]

Thanks mjzee, but I'm not familiar with iTunes DJ. I did a quick search, and it looks like one of those "over-thinking" ideas that Apple has come up with (at least in my opinion). I see absolutely no use for "Genius", for example. Like all these new search engines that try to think on your behalf, they just bug me.

With DJ, aside from being a shuffle function (which I do love, and use more often than not), it allows people to "vote" on which tracks are shuffled...? Can't see myself using that.

Any other functions regarding those check boxes in iTunes music?

[mjzee]

"iTunes DJ" is just a new name for the shuffle (or "party") feature. That's the main way I listen to music. I don't use "Genius," and, in fact, I turned it off (you do that in Preferences). Allowing people to vote...that's (I think) for social situations where many people can access the same iTunes database. Probably appropriate for college students or those in a roommate dwelling.

To sum up, I only know of two uses for those checkboxes:

1) To not play something in shuffle (very useful if a track just bugs you, but iTunes loves it and insists on playing it over and over)

2) To not import a track from an album. Alternately, if it's an anthology, and you only want to import a few tracks, uncheck the others.

[Jim R]

"iTunes DJ" is just a new name for the shuffle (or "party") feature. That's the main way I listen to music. I don't use "Genius," and, in fact, I turned it off (you do that in Preferences). Allowing people to vote...that's (I think) for social situations where many people can access the same iTunes database. Probably appropriate for college students or those in a roommate dwelling.

Thanks. I love shuffling too, but more so on the ipod than in iTunes. Most of my iTunes listening is reviewing new additions, where I'm listening straight through each album. Anyway the idea of un-ticking a box to remove something from the list seems a bit unnecessary to me. If I really dislike a song that much, I just delete it, which is pretty uncommon.

And I disabled Genius on day one.

To sum up, I only know of two uses for those checkboxes:

1) To not play something in shuffle (very useful if a track just bugs you, but iTunes loves it and insists on playing it over and over)

2) To not import a track from an album. Alternately, if it's an anthology, and you only want to import a few tracks, uncheck the others.

#1 would also include not playing something in continuous play mode.

Re #2, do you mean importing a CD into iTunes, as you mentioned earlier, or moving tracks from iTunes to the ipod? I thought the latter might be useful too, so that one wouldn't have to use the command key when selecting only certain tracks from a given list to move to the ipod.

Edited November 22, 2009 by Jim R

[mjzee]

Re #2, do you mean importing a CD into iTunes, as you mentioned earlier, or moving tracks from iTunes to the ipod? I thought the latter might be useful too, so that one wouldn't have to use the command key when selecting only certain tracks from a given list to move to the ipod.

I meant the former. I only move music to my iPods using Autofill (= randomly), so I just don't know otherwise. But give it a shot. Especially since, with the newest version of iTunes, it allows you to specify artists to sync to the iPod. Choose an artist, uncheck some songs, sync, and see what happens. Sorry I can't be of more help there.

[Jim R]

Okay, I just tried it. Before I dragged and dropped several albums worth of tracks to my ipod, I unticked a couple of boxes (but still included those two tracks in the drag & drop). The result was that those two tracks were transferred to the ipod along with the others, with the only difference being that the boxes next to those two tracks in the ipod music list stayed un-ticked.

Oh well, I was just curious what would happen. If one wants to transfer only certain non-consecutive tracks (e.g. tracks 1,3,4,7 and 9 from a 10-song album), it's pretty easy to do by holding down the command key as you click on the tracks you want.

[Shrdlu]

Don't you just plug in the headphones and press Play?

[Noj]

Not without praying first.

[Jim R]

Here's another question (gotta take advantage of MG's thread here ). When my ipod is connected to the computer and all synced with iTunes, and I open the music list, it seems that the contents can only be displayed in "list" format. The buttons for viewing as list/grid/cover-flow all appear to the left of the search box at the top of the frame, but the only one that works is the "list" button. Is this the case for all of you, or is there some setting in the menus or prefs that will allow me to view the ipod contents in grid or cover-flow form?

[Noj]

I don't think so, Jim. I've wanted my iPod to do that for a while. Maybe it will happen with one of the software upgrades.

[Jim R]

Yeah, with each upgrade I've almost been expecting it. Doesn't seem like a very tall order.

[Brad]

I don't know if this answers any questions (and if it's repetitous, sorry) but when I create a playlist and drag what I want in there, I only bring in what I want. If I bring in a whole album but don't want all its songs, I will delete those. I also think when you create a playlist, everything is automatically checked so it gets uploaded into your ipod or itouch. Others have already answered the question but when you uncheck a song, it doesn't get uploaded into the ipod. A few years ago, when my son got his ipod, I had to go and uncheck over 1,000 songs (at least) so they wouldn't get uploaded into his. It took awhile to say the least.

[Jim R]

I don't know if this answers any questions (and if it's repetitous, sorry) but when I create a playlist and drag what I want in there, I only bring in what I want. If I bring in a whole album but don't want all its songs, I will delete those.

Good point. I had forgotten that I do that also (as opposed to just dragging selected tracks).

I also think when you create a playlist, everything is automatically checked so it gets uploaded into your ipod or itouch. Others have already answered the question but when you uncheck a song, it doesn't get uploaded into the ipod.

Hmm... you lost me there. As I said in post #89 above, the unchecked songs still got transferred to the ipod along with the checked songs in my experiment. In the ipod music list, their boxes remained unchecked, but they were there in the list with all the others.

A few years ago, when my son got his ipod, I had to go and uncheck over 1,000 songs (at least) so they wouldn't get uploaded into his. It took awhile to say the least.

I'm trying to wrap my mind around that... especially since it conficts with what I said above. Maybe transferring tracks to a Nano works differently from transferring to an ipod Classic? Anyway, what I used to do to keep my music separate from my son's (in iTunes) was to use the "Grouping" field to label what was mine and what was his. It worked very well, especially since I could just type "Dad's" into the search box and omit all of his stuff from what was displayed in the list. I could also sort using the "Grouping" field as a heading, and separate our stuff that way.

Edited November 23, 2009 by Jim R

[John L]

I don't know if this answers any questions (and if it's repetitous, sorry) but when I create a playlist and drag what I want in there, I only bring in what I want. If I bring in a whole album but don't want all its songs, I will delete those.

Good point. I had forgotten that I do that also (as opposed to just dragging selected tracks).

I also think when you create a playlist, everything is automatically checked so it gets uploaded into your ipod or itouch. Others have already answered the question but when you uncheck a song, it doesn't get uploaded into the ipod.

Hmm... you lost me there. As I said in post #89 above, the unchecked songs still got transferred to the ipod along with the checked songs in my experiment. In the ipod music list, their boxes remained unchecked, but they were there in the list with all the others.

A few years ago, when my son got his ipod, I had to go and uncheck over 1,000 songs (at least) so they wouldn't get uploaded into his. It took awhile to say the least.

I'm trying to wrap my mind around that... especially since it conficts with what I said above. Maybe transferring tracks to a Nano works differently from transferring to an ipod Classic? Anyway, what I used to do to keep my music separate from my son's (in iTunes) was to use the "Grouping" field to label what was mine and what was his. It worked very well, especially since I could just type "Dad's" into the search box and omit all of his stuff from what was displayed in the list. I could also sort using the "Grouping" field as a heading, and separate our stuff that way.

As I understand it, when you drag a song to your iPod, it will transfer whether it is checked or not. When you sync an iPod with iTunes, however, it will not load the unchecked tracks.

[Jim R]

As I understand it, when you drag a song to your iPod, it will transfer whether it is checked or not. When you sync an iPod with iTunes, however, it will not load the unchecked tracks.

Aha... okay, that would explain things (my confusion, in particular ). Thanks John, and Brad.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

OK, well I got my wife an ipod shuffle for Christmas and have spent the last two days loading stuff (including a very small amount of real music) into it. About 160 tracks so far, copied from CDs, or downloaded from itunes 3 years ago, to burn a couple of CDs she could use in the car.

I did what Brad suggested, so I would know where I was with it. I got confused about what had and what hadn't been loaded into the ipod, so I opened up a new playlist called "nu stuff" and pulled the most recent tracks. Then I'd sync that playlist to the ipod, delete the tunes from the playlist, then copy another bunch of tracks from another bunch of CDs (usually only 1 track per CD - this system was really MADE for my wife), then go into the recent acquisitions thing, shove that lot into the playlist and do it all again.

Not sure I included everything she wanted, though. But I couldn't work out how you get a list of the songs on the shuffle, so you know if there's something that's slipped through the cracks. Anyone got any ideas on this?

MG

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

And for my next trick....

Tomorrow, we're going to try to spend the itunes voucher my daughter gave her. I managed to find one track - "La bamba" by Ritchie Valens and was surprised to find the identical record on sale at itunes (UK) for two or three different prices. Is this usual?

MG