Moving Your iTunes Music onto an iPod


While iPod models vary in features, how much disk space they have (or whether they have a disk at all) and so on, they are very similar in how you configure the music that is stored on them. The general steps to stock an iPod with music are the following:

1.

Fill your iTunes Library with great (or not so great, depending your taste) music.

2.

Connect your iPod to your Mac.

3.

Perform general iPod configuration.

4.

Choose the music in your iTunes Library to move onto the iPod and how it will be moved there.

5.

Disconnect your iPod and use it to listen to your music.

These general steps are explained in more detail in the following sections, but step 4 is the only one that presents any complication and even that one isn't too complicated. You have three basic options, which are fully automatic updates, selecting specific music to update automatically, or performing manual updates.

NOTE

The iPod shuffle is different than the other models as you will see.


Connecting an iPod to Your Mac

For all models except the Shuffle, you use the supplied FireWire cable to connect the iPod to the computer. The Dock end connects to the Dock port on the iPod while the FireWire end connects to a FireWire port on your Mac. This both recharges the battery and enables you to update the music on the iPod.

NOTE

You can also use a Dock to connect an iPod to the computer. You connect the cable to the Dock and then you can just pop the iPod in or out of the Dock when you need to connect it. If you don't put your iPod in a case (or if the case is easily removable), this is a great way to be able to connect your iPod easily and quickly. If you do use a case that is hard to remove, it is often easier to just use the cable.


The iPod shuffle uses USB to communicate with your Mac. The bottom side of the Shuffle is a USB port. You simply plug the Shuffle's USB connection directly into a USB port on your Mac.

In either case, by default, when you connect an iPod to your Mac, iTunes will open automatically and attempt to update your iPod.

Battery Management

All iPods are electronic devices and so they need electrons to flow in order to work. These electrons come from the iPod's internal battery. The specific battery an iPod has and its capability (in terms of the number of hours it will play) depends on the specific model you have. For example, current versions of the iPod are rated for up to 12 hours of playing time. That is an ideal of course. In order to get this much time, you would need to start music playing and not touch the controls again for the duration; each time you use a control, more energy is required.

The good news is that it is simple to charge an iPod's battery. When you connect your iPod to your computer, its battery is charged automatically. You can also use a separate power adapter to charge iPods; some models include this adapter and some don't. For most models, it takes about 1 hour to charge the battery to 80% of full charge. It usually takes about 4 hours to completely charge a battery.

Here are some tips to help you get the most out of your battery:

  • Recharge your iPod battery frequently. The type of batteries in iPods benefit from frequent charging.

  • Let your battery run all the way down once in a while. Every so often, say about every 30 charges, run your iPod's battery down until it stops playing. This will reset your iPod's battery management system so that you continue to get the most life possible.

  • The fewer times you control your iPod, the longer the battery will last. Starting and stopping the iPod increases power use as does moving forward and backward among songs, and so on.

  • If your iPod has a screen, keep its backlight off or set it to be on for only a couple of seconds at a time.

  • If your iPod has one, use the Hold switch to ensure that accidental commands don't happen.


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If your iPod ever stops responding, make sure you haven't forgotten to turn the Hold switch to the Off position. Sometimes, you might forget you activated the Hold switch and be puzzled when the iPod won't respond to your commands (again, this has never happened to me of course).


Setting iPod General Preferences

Within iTunes, there are a couple of general iPod preferences you can set:

1.

Connect your iPod to your Mac. When you do this, iTunes will open and the iPod will appear in the Source pane.

2.

Open the iTunes Preferences window and click the iPod icon to open the iPod Preferences pane.

3.

Click the General tab (see Figure 19.6).

Figure 19.6. Use the General tab to determine some default behaviors when you connect an iPod to your Mac.


4.

Uncheck the "Open iTunes when this iPod is attached" check box if you don't want iTunes to launch automatically when you connect it to your Mac.

5.

Uncheck the "Enable disk use" check box if you don't want your iPod to act just like other mounted volumes on your computer when it is connected.

To learn more about using an iPod as a hard disk, p. 600.


6.

Click OK to close the Preferences window.

Using Fully Automatic Updating to Move Your Music from iTunes onto an iPod

NOTE

You can't use either of the automatic methods with an iPod shuffle.


You can have iTunes automatically move all of the music in the Library onto the iPod and keep it synced each time you connect the iPod to the computer. This is definitely the easiest option and ensures that all the music in your Library is always available to you when you use your iPod.

There is a catch however. Your iPod must have enough storage space to be able to store all of the music that is in your Library. If not, you will have to use one of the other methods to put music on your iPod.

To determine if the fully automatic option is feasible, select the Library as the source. Take a look at the Source Information area located at the bottom of the iTunes window (see Figure 19.7). If the total space required by your iTunes Library is less than the storage space available on your iPod, you can use this option. If the space required is greater than your iPod has available, you'll have to use one of the other methodsupdating automatically based on a playlist or manuallydescribed a little later in this chapter.

Figure 19.7. As long as my iPod has at least 11.71GB of storage space, I can use the Fully Automatic update option (since it happens to be a 40GB model, this isn't a problem).


NOTE

If you use your iPod to store documents, photos, or other files, those items use its memory space too. You can use the Finder to determine how much free memory space your iPod has.


To learn how to use the Finder to see "Using Your iPod As a Portable Hard Drive," p. 600.


To use the fully automatic option, perform the following steps:

1.

Connect the iPod to your Mac.

If the iPod doesn't appear on the Source list when you connect it to your computer, see "I Can't See My iPod in iTunes" in the "Troubleshooting" section at the end of this chapter.


2.

Open the iPod pane of the Preferences window and click the Music tab.

3.

Click the "Automatically update all songs and playlists" radio button (see Figure 19.8).

Figure 19.8. With this setting, iTunes takes care of making sure your iPod has all of your music.


4.

By default, iTunes will move only those songs whose check box is checked onto the iPod; if you want it to move all songs regardless of this check box, uncheck the "Only update checked songs" check box.

5.

Click OK. When you connect your iPod to your Mac, iTunes will automatically move all of your iTunes music to it.

NOTE

No matter which method you choose, when iTunes is updating your iPod, you will see information about the process in the Information area at the top of the iTunes window. When iTunes is actively moving music onto your iPod, you will see a message here (and on the iPod's screen), telling you not to disconnect it from your computer.

6.

When the update process is complete (and when your iPod's battery has had time to charge), click the Eject button next to the iPod on the Source pane to eject it.

7.

Disconnect the iPod from the cable. It will be ready to rock your world.

NOTE

If you enable you iPod to work as a disk and just disconnect your iPod without ejecting it, you'll see a message stating that the device wasn't removed properly and its data could be damaged. You are likely to experience data damage only when you remove the iPod during the update process. Still, it is better to be safe than sorry. Make sure you eject an iPod (from within iTunes or from the Finder) before you disconnect it.


If iTunes isn't able to complete the update because it reports there are missing songs, see "I Can't Move Some Songs onto My iPod" in the "Troubleshooting" section at the end of this chapter.


Updating Specific Music on Your iPod Automatically

If all of your iTunes music won't fit in your iPod's available memory, you can still have iTunes automatically update selected playlists in your Library. When you connect your iPod to your computer, iTunes makes sure that all the music in the playlists you select is moved onto your iPod. To enable this update method, perform the following steps:

1.

Create and configure the playlists that you want to have available on your iPod.

2.

Connect the iPod to your Mac.

3.

Open the iPod pane of the Preferences window and click the Music tab.

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You can also jump to the Music pane by clicking the iPod Options button that will appear to the left of the Equalizer button when you select an iPod on the Source pane.

4.

Click the "Automatically update selected playlists only" radio button (see Figure 19.9).

Figure 19.9. With this setting, iTunes updates only the playlists that you select.


5.

Choose the playlists that you want iTunes to move to your iPod by checking their check boxes.

6.

By default, iTunes will move only those songs whose check box is checked onto the iPod; if you want it to move all songs regardless of this check box, uncheck the "Only update checked songs" check box.

7.

Click OK. If the iPod can store the amount of music you have selected, the iPod will be updated with the playlists you selected. If not, you will see a warning dialog box that explains that the iPod can't be updated because it doesn't have enough free space (see Figure 19.10). Click OK to close the dialog box. You have to unselect some of the playlists you have selected or remove songs from the selected playlists until there is enough room on the iPod to handle the music you have selected. After you do that, try to update the iPod again. Repeat this process until iTunes is able to update the iPod.

Figure 19.10. If you see this dialog box, iTunes is trying to put more music on an iPod than it can handle.


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You can update an iPod any time it is connected by choosing File, Update iPodname, where iPodname is the name of your iPod.

8.

When the update process is complete (and when you iPod's battery has had time to charge), click the Eject button next to the iPod on the Source pane to eject it.

9.

Disconnect the iPod from the cable. It will be ready to roll.

Unfortunately, if you select more music than your iPod can store, iTunes doesn't tell you by how much the selected music exceeds your iPod's capacity. The only way to completely fill up your iPod without trying to exceed its storage limits is by experimentation. Keep adding playlists and updating your iPod until you get the warning dialog. Then, remove playlists one-at-a-time until you no longer get the warning dialog box. Check out how much free space your iPod has by selecting it and looking in the Source Information area. This will give you an idea of how much additional music you can put on the iPod.

NOTE

If the iPod has been used on a different computer (meaning it has been linked to a different iTunes Library), you will be prompted to choose to replace the iPod's contents with the current iTunes Library; click Yes, if you want this to happen or Cancel if you don't. If you click Yes, the songs in the current Library will be moved onto the iPod and its previous contents will be erased.


Updating Your iPod's Music Manually

You can also set iTunes so that you can manually update its music by dragging songs and playlists onto it. Here's how:

1.

Connect the iPod to your Mac.

2.

Open the iPod pane of the Preferences window and click the Music tab.

3.

Click the "Manually manage songs and playlists" radio button. You'll see a warning dialog box that explains that when you use the manual setting, you must unmount (eject) the iPod before you disconnect it.

4.

Since this is good practice no matter how you update, click OK to close the dialog box.

5.

Click OK. The preferences window will close. The iPod will become an "editable" source and will be expanded to show you the playlists currently stored on it (see Figure 19.11).

Figure 19.11. This iPod mini can be updated by dragging music from the Library or other playlists onto it.


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If you want to use an iPod with another computer without linking the iTunes Library to it, connect the iPod to the other computer and choose not to link the Library to it. This puts you in manual mode. Then, you can add music from that computer's iTunes Library to it or you can play the iPod's music just like other sources (for example, you can use this technique to play an iPod's music via a PowerBook without copying the music on the PowerBook).

6.

Move music onto the iPod (by songs or by playlists) by dragging the tracks or playlists onto the iPod's icon. When the icon becomes highlighted, the cursor will become a "+" sign which means you can release the mouse button to place the selected tracks or playlists on the iPod.

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If you double-click the iPod icon, its contents will appear in a separate window. This makes it easy to move music onto it.

7.

To remove songs or playlists from the iPod, select what you want to remove and press the Delete key.

8.

When you've finished configuring music on the iPod (and when your iPod's battery has had time to charge), click the Eject button next to the iPod on the Source pane to eject it.

9.

Disconnect the iPod from the cable. It will be ready to rock and roll.

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If you have more than one iPod (and they are so cool, you will probably want more than one), you can use multiple iPods with the same iTunes Library. You can choose different update options for each as well.


Updating Your iPod Shuffle's Music

As you learned earlier, the iPod shuffle is a different sort of iPod. This difference also comes into play when updating its music. You can manually update an iPod Shuffle or use its unique Autofill feature. When you use this feature, iTunes will select songs and place them on the iPod Shuffle for you until the iPod's capacity is reached.

1.

Connect the iPod shuffle to your Mac. It will appear in the Source pane and you will see the Autofill controls at the bottom of the iTunes window.

2.

Choose the source from which you want iTunes to select the music it will place on the iPod shuffle. You can choose any of your playlists or choose Library to have iTunes choose from all of your music.

3.

If you want songs to be selected randomly, check the "Choose songs randomly" check box or if you want songs you have rated higher to also be selected more frequently, check the "Choose higher rated songs more often."

4.

If you want Autofill to overwrite all the songs on the iPod shuffle, check the "Replace all songs when Autofilling" check box. If you uncheck this check box, Autofill won't replace any songs you have manually placed on the iPod shuffle.

5.

Click Autofill. iTunes will select music and place it on the iPod according to your selections.

6.

When you've finished configuring music on the iPod (and when you iPod's battery has had time to charge), click the Eject button next to the iPod on the Source pane to eject it.

7.

Disconnect the iPod from the cable. It will be ready to move you to the beat.



Special Edition Using MAC OS X Tiger
Special Edition Using Mac OS X Tiger
ISBN: 0789733919
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 317
Authors: Brad Miser

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