This chapter takes you to the outer limits of what is possible with iTunes. You discover how to play streaming radio stations, assign equalizer presets to songs and use those presets on your iPad, iPod, or iPhone, and even modify content in the library, including splitting a song track into multiple tracks (a useful technique if you’ve ripped an entire side of an album and want to divide the music into separate songs).
You also find out how to manage multiple iTunes libraries on the same computer. You might want to do this if you share your computer with someone else, or your main library is too large to fit on an iPad, iPod, or iPhone and you don’t want to resort to manually managing music and videos — you can synchronize the iPad, iPod, or iPhone with a subset of the main library, managed as a separate library. In fact, you can create one or more sublibraries of your main library on the same hard drive, sharing the same content folders and files so that you don’t waste space. You can then automatically synchronize different iPads, iPods, and iPhones with each sublibrary. All this and more is covered in this chapter for advanced iTunes users.
Playing Radio
Radio stations from nearly every part of the world are broadcasting on the Internet. You can tune in to JapanStation for the top 40 hits in Japan, Batanga Salsa for the best salsa from the Caribbean, or Radio Digitalia for La piu’ bella Musica Italiana. You can also check out the local news and sports from your hometown, no matter where you are. In other words, you can listen to talk radio and music shows from all over the country and the world.
By radio, I really mean a streaming broadcast. A streaming broadcast sends audio to your computer in a protected stream of bits over the Internet. Your computer starts playing the stream as soon as the first set of bits arrives, and more sections are transferred while you listen so that you hear it as a continual stream. To play radio stations in iTunes, follow these steps:
- Select the Radio option in the Library section of the source pane. The iTunes window displays a list of categories of radio stations.
- Click the triangle next to a category name to open the list of radio streams in that category. Some large radio stations offer more than one stream. iTunes automatically connects to the Internet to retrieve the latest list of radio stations for each category.
- Select a stream and then click the play button. To select a stream, click its name in the list pane. Within seconds, you hear live radio off the Web.
If you have a slow connection to the Internet, you might want to choose a stream with a bit rate of less than 56 Kbps for best results. The Bit Rate column shows the bit rate for each stream.
Using Equalizer Presets
The iTunes equalizer allows you to fine-tune sound spectrum frequencies in a precise way. To open the iTunes equalizer window, choose Window>Equalizer. You can use iTunes presets to fine-tune the sound and even save your own presets. To choose an equalizer preset, click the Equalizer’s pop-up menu, which by default is set to Manual:
You don’t have to settle for the built-in equalizer presets — create your own! Follow these steps to save your own presets to the iTunes equalizer:
- Make the frequency changes that you want by dragging the individual sliders up and down. The Equalizer window’s pop-up menu automatically switches to Manual if it is not already set to it.
- Choose Make Preset from the Equalizer window pop-up menu. The Make Preset dialog appears.
- Enter a descriptive name for your preset in the New Preset Name text box and then click the OK button. The name appears in the pop-up menu from that point on — your very own preset.
You can rename or delete any preset, including those supplied with iTunes (which is useful if you want to recall a preset by another name). Choose the Edit List option from the pop-up menu. The Edit Presets dialog opens. Click Rename to rename a preset, click Delete to delete a preset, and then click Done when you finish editing the list.
One reason why you go to the trouble of setting equalizer presets is to assign them to your iTunes content. The next time you play the item, iTunes uses the equalizer preset that you assigned.
When you transfer content to your iPad, iPod, or iPhone, the standard iTunes presets transfer with it; you can choose whether to use these assignments when playing the content on your iPod or iPhone.
Assign an equalizer preset to a content item or set of items by following these steps:
- Select the item. It’s easy to select songs under the Songs tab.
- Choose File>Get Info and then click the Options tab. The options page for the item appears.
- Choose a preset from the Equalizer Preset pop-up menu. The standard presets appear in this menu.
- Click OK when finished.
After assigning a standard preset to a content item in iTunes, enable the equalizer in your iPad, iPod, or iPhone by choosing any equalizer setting (other than Off) so that the device uses the item’s equalizer preset for playback.
To select an equalizer preset on an iPod classic, choose Settings>Playback>EQ from the main menu to display a list of presets (choose Settings>EQ on older models). On an iPod nano, tap Settings on the second Home screen, tap Music, and then tap EQ. You can scroll the list of presets and press the select button to select one. The equalizer is set to Off until you select one of the presets.
To select an equalizer preset on an iPad, iPod touch, or iPhone, choose Settings>Music from the Home screen. Then choose EQ to display a list of presets. You can scroll the list of presets and touch a preset to select it. The equalizer is set to Off until you select one of the presets.
No matter what equalizer preset you choose on your iPad, iPod, or iPhone, any item that has an assigned preset uses the assigned preset. That’s right — the assigned equalizer preset from iTunes takes precedence over the preset in the iPad, iPod, or iPhone.
Tip: If you want items that have assigned presets to play with those presets while the rest of the content plays without any equalizer adjustment, choose the Flat EQ preset in your iPad, iPod, or iPhone.
If you know in advance that you need to use specific presets for certain songs, assign standard presets to the songs in iTunes before copying the songs to the iPad, iPod, or iPhone (but not custom presets, which don’t transfer to the iPad, iPod, or iPhone). If, on the other hand, you don’t want the songs fixed to a certain preset, don’t assign presets to the songs in iTunes. You can then experiment with the presets in the iPad, iPod, or iPhone to get better playback in different listening environments.
You can temporarily play a content item with an assigned preset via one of the other equalizer settings in the iPad, iPod, or iPhone. Start playing the item on your iPad, iPod, or iPhone, and while the item is playing, return to the main menu or Home screen. Choose an EQ preset from the Settings menu, as described previously. The content plays to the end with the new equalizer preset. The next time that item is played, it uses the assigned preset as usual.
Modifying Content in iTunes
Although iTunes was never meant to be a media-editing application, it does offer a simple control over the starting and stopping points for playing back media. You can use this feature to cut unwanted intros and outros of a song, such as announcers and audience applause, or to skip opening credits or commercials of movies. You can also use it in conjunction with File>Create New Version>Create format Version (where format is the encoding format, such as AAC or MP3) to split an item — or, in the parlance of record label executives and artists, split a track.
iTunes can play only a portion of a song, video, audio book, or podcast episode — that is, if you specify start and stop times for the item. To set the start and/or stop points, select the item, choose File->Get Info and then click the Options tab. Click inside the Start Time field to set the start time. Then click inside the Stop Time field to set the stop time. The start and stop times are in minutes, seconds, and hundredths of a second: for example, 5:52.105 is 5 minutes and 52.105 seconds.
To determine with accuracy the time for the start and stop points, play the file and look in the status pane at the upper-center part of the iTunes window for the elapsed time on the left side of the scrubber bar. You can drag the scrubber bar in the status pane to move quickly and find the exact times for the start and stop points you want to set.
iTunes plays only the part of the content between the start and stop times. You can use this feature to your advantage because when you convert a song to another format — such as AIFF to MP3 by selecting the AIFF version and choosing File>Create New Version>Create MP3 Version — iTunes converts only the part of the song between the start and stop times.
You might have a CD that was created with all the songs combined into one track, or you might have recorded an entire side of a record or cassette tape onto one sound file. Either way, you probably want to separate the songs into tracks in iTunes. You can separate a track into smaller tracks as long as you use the AIFF or WAV format for your track at first. Follow these steps:
- Before ripping a CD or importing a sound file, set the encoding format in your importing preferences to AIFF or WAV. See Bonus Chapter 2 to find out how to import music in the AIFF or WAV formats.
- Rip the CD track into iTunes or import an AIFF or WAV sound file into iTunes. Because you set the importing preferences to AIFF or WAV, the CD track is imported into iTunes at full quality (uncompressed). You want to perform this step because you’re going to convert it in iTunes, and you need the uncompressed version to convert. Use a song name to identify this track as a long track with multiple tracks — for example, call it something like side one.
- Change your import encoding format to AAC or MP3. See Bonus Chapter 2 for more about changing your import settings and converting songs.
- Select the song under the Songs tab in iTunes and then choose File>Get Info. The song information dialog appears.
- Click the Options tab to show the Start Time and Stop Time fields. You can set the start and stop times for the song.
- Define the Start Time and Stop Time for the first song in the long track and then click the OK button to close the dialog. Play the song and look in the status pane at the upper-center part of the iTunes window for the elapsed time on the right of the scrubber bar. You can drag the scrubber bar in the status pane to move quickly through the song and find the exact times for the start and stop points you want to set. For example, if the first song is exactly 3 minutes and 12 seconds, define the first section to start at 0:00 and stop at 3:12.
- Convert the defined segment of the long track to AAC or MP3. For example, select the long track (side one) and then choose File>Create New Version>Create AAC Version (or File>Create New Version>Create MP3 Version if you chose the MP3 format in Step 3). iTunes converts only the section of the song defined by the Start Time and Stop Time fields that you set in Step 6, and it creates a new song track in the AAC or MP3 format (depending on your choice in Step 3). iTunes converts the uncompressed AIFF segment into the compressed AAC or MP3 format.
- Change the song name of the newly converted track to the actual song name. The converted section of the long track still has the same name (side one). Change its name by clicking inside the song name in the iTunes song list or by choosing File>Get Info, clicking the Info tab, clicking in the Name field, and entering the new name. You can also enter a track number in the Track field.
- Repeat Steps 4-8 for each song segment. Repeat these steps, selecting the long track (side one) each time and setting a new start and stop time for each new song, converting the song to MP3 or AAC, and then changing each newly converted song’s name.
- When you finish, delete the long track in AIFF or WAV format. Delete the long track (side one) by selecting it and pressing Delete/Backspace. You don’t need it anymore if you converted all the segments to separate songs.
Manipulating an iTunes Library
If you’re like me, your iTunes library is huge. I’ve nearly filled the internal hard drives of two computers. What do you do if you want to expand your library but you run out of space? How do you move your library to a higher-capacity hard drive? What if you have media files all over your hard drive and you need to consolidate them all in one place so that you can reclaim drive space? You can do all that and more.
Changing the location of the library: You can store your iTunes library in a different location on your hard drive or on another hard drive — as long as you tell iTunes where to find it. To change where iTunes stores your content library, follow these steps:
- Choose iTunes>Preferences (Mac) or Edit>Preferences (Windows).
- Click the Advanced tab. The Advanced page of preferences appears.
- Click the Change button.
You can then browse to select another location on any connected hard drive.
After selecting a new location, the content you bring into iTunes (by ripping CDs, downloading items from the iTunes Store, or dragging media files) is stored in the new location. However, previously imported media files stay where they are. To move the previously imported files to the new library location, drag the media files into the iTunes window so that iTunes stores them automatically in the new location and updates its library file properly. You can then delete the media files you copied from the old library location.
To restore the storage location back to its original location — the iTunes folder inside the Music folder on a Mac or the My Music folder in Windows, click the Reset button under the Advanced tab of the Preferences window.
Changing how files are stored in the library: The default method of organizing files in the iTunes library is to store content files in album and artist folders, naming the files according to the disc number, track number, and title.
For example, the song “Here, There and Everywhere” has the track number and song title in the filename (05 Here, There And Everywhere.mp3). The filename extension even tells you the type of encoding format — in this case, MP3. This song is saved in the Revolver folder (for the album), which is in The Beatles folder (for the artist) in the iTunes Media folder (or the iTunes Music folder if you upgraded from a previous version of iTunes).
Movies, music videos, and TV shows follow similar naming conventions. Here’s an example from the TV show Monk. Episode 8 (season 5) is titled “Mr. Monk Goes to a Rock Concert.” This information makes up the filename (08 Mr. Monk Goes to a Rock Concert.m4v), which is stored in the Monk folder (the artist) inside the TV Shows folder in the iTunes Media folder (or the iTunes Music folder if you upgraded from a previous version of iTunes).
What about songs performed by multiple artists, such as movie soundtrack albums and compilations with multiple artists? Compilation and soundtrack albums, and songs designated as part of a compilation, are stored in album folders within the Compilations folder, rather than within individual artist folders.
The filename and location within artist and album folders change when you change the information for a song (or video, audio book, or podcast episode) in the information fields. For example, if you change the song title, the filename also changes. If you change the artist name, the folder name for the artist might change or the file might move to a new folder by that name. iTunes organizes the files based on the song information.
Tip: You may want to change song information without changing the names of the folders and files. To make changes to song information without changing the file and folder names on your hard drive, choose iTunes>Preferences (Mac) or Edit>Preferences (Windows) and then click Advanced. Then deselect the Keep iTunes Media Folder Organized option.
Maybe you don’t want to store copies of your media files in the library — especially if you already have copies stored on your hard drive in another location and need to conserve space. If you want to add content to your iTunes library without copying the files into the iTunes Media folder, here’s what you do:
- Choose iTunes>Preferences (Mac) or Edit>Preferences (Windows).
- Click the Advanced tab.
- Deselect the Copy Files to iTunes Media Folder When Adding to Library option.
The next time you drag a media file into the iTunes window, it stores only a reference to the file in your iTunes library that specifies its actual location. The file isn’t copied or moved. Of course, if you move the file, iTunes may not find it and may display an exclamation point next to its name in the song list.
Consolidating the library media files: If you have media files that are stored on different hard drives that are connected to the same computer, you can have iTunes consolidate your library by copying everything into the iTunes Media folder (or the iTunes Music folder if you upgraded from a previous version of iTunes). By first consolidating your library, you make sure that any backup operation you perform is complete.
To consolidate your iTunes library, choose File>Library>Organize Library, and then select Consolidate Files. The original media files remain where they are, but copies are made in your iTunes Media folder. (To save space you may want to delete the original media files after these copies are made.)
Tip: You can also upgrade your library to the new iTunes Media organization, with subfolders for Music, Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts, and so on. Choose File>Library>Organize Library, and then select the Upgrade to iTunes Media Organization option.
Moving your library to another hard drive: To move your entire library to another hard drive (presumably a higher-capacity drive), you can change the location of the library and consolidate the library at the same time. Follow these steps:
- Create a folder — name it “iTunes” — on the other hard drive. “iTunes” is a good name, but you could call it anything, and iTunes can still find it after you change the location of the library.
- Choose iTunes>Preferences (Mac) or Edit>Preferences (Windows).
- Click the Advanced tab, and then click the Change button.
- Browse to select the new “iTunes” folder on the other hard drive.
- Select the Copy Files to iTunes Media Folder When Adding to Library checkbox. This option might already be enabled. Just double-check it to make sure that it’s selected.
- Select the Keep iTunes Media Folder Organized check box. This option might already be enabled. Just double-check it to make sure that it’s selected.
- Click OK.
- Choose File>Library>Organize Library, and then select Consolidate Library.
iTunes automatically copies all the media files, along with playlists, into the new iTunes Media folder. You can now delete the old iTunes folder to free up hard drive space.
Exporting iTunes playlists: With iTunes, you can export a playlist onto a different computer to have the same playlist in both places.
Tip: You must also copy the songs, videos, podcast episodes, and audio books in the playlist for the playlists on the other computer to work. Better yet, copy the entire artist folders containing the items to keep them organized. Exporting a playlist doesn’t copy the items in the playlist. You get only a list of the items in eXtensible Markup Language (XML) format — not the content of these items. You still need to copy the actual media files to the other computer.
To export a single playlist, select the playlist and then choose File>Library>Export Playlist. On a Mac, choose the XML option from the Format pop-up menu in the Save: iTunes dialog and then click the Save button. On a Windows PC, choose the XML option from the Save as Type drop-down down list in the Save As dialog.
After exporting a playlist to another computer, you can import the playlist into iTunes on that computer by choosing File>Library>Import Playlist, selecting the XML file, and then clicking the Choose button. You can also export all the playlists in your library at the same time by choosing File>Library>Export Library and saving the Library.xml file; then import the Library.xml file into iTunes on the other computer by choosing File>Library>Import Playlist.
Manipulating an iTunes Library
You can create more than one iTunes library and manage multiple libraries with one copy of the iTunes application on your computer. You can also create one or more sublibraries of your main library on the same hard drive, and you can even set up automatic synchronization with a sublibrary. You might want to do this if you share your computer with someone else who also wants to keep a unique iTunes library, or your main library is too large to fit on an iPad, iPod, or iPhone, and you don’t want to resort to manually managing music and videos. Because iTunes can create the sublibrary without copying content files, you don’t waste hard drive space because sublibraries share the same files as the main library.
Consider setting up multiple libraries or sublibraries if you want to do any of the following:
- Create one or more sublibraries of your main library on the same hard drive, sharing the same content folders and files. You can then automatically synchronize different iPads, iPods, iPhones, and Apple TVs with each sublibrary.
- Divide a large library into separate libraries on separate hard drives. You might want to do this to spread a large library over several drives. You can then automatically synchronize different iPad, iPods, iPhones, and Apple TVs with each library.
- Separate your video collection from your music collection to store the larger video files on a different hard drive.
- Keep podcasts in a separate library that’s updated more often than your main library.
- Keep all new content separate from older content.
To create a new library, hold down Option (Mac) or Shift (PC) when launching iTunes. Then choose Create a New Library (the other choices are Quit or Choose a Library) to set up a new empty library.
By default, the hard drive location of the iTunes folder for the newly created library is the same as the previously opened library — the folder is named iTunes 1 to distinguish it from the iTunes folder for the preexisting library. When you add more separate libraries, the folders are named iTunes 2, iTunes 3, and so on.
After you create multiple libraries, remember to hold down Option (Mac) or Shift (Windows) while launching iTunes whenever you want to switch between them. Otherwise, iTunes opens with the library that was last opened.
You can import playlists and drag content from your iTunes folder into your new library without copying the content files because the files are in the same folder on the same hard drive. This makes it easy to consider your main library to be a Master library that links to the entire contents of the iTunes folder as well as to create sublibraries for each iPad, iPod, iPhone, or Apple TV that share the same content files as the Master library.
You can also create a new library that links to a different iTunes folder on a different hard drive so that the content files are divided (not shared) between libraries. For example, you might want to put all video files on a separate hard drive in a separate library. Follow these steps to create a new library on a different hard drive:
- Create a folder — call it iTunes1 or something similar — on the other hard drive. iTunes1 is a good name, but you could call it anything, and iTunes can still find it when you’re done with these steps.
- Create a new iTunes library by holding down Option (Mac) or Shift (PC) when launching iTunes and then choose Create a New Library. The new iTunes library is created, empty of content.
- Choose iTunes>Preferences (Mac) or Edit>Preferences (Windows). The Preferences dialog appears with the tabs along the top.
- Click the Advanced tab.
- Click the Change button for the iTunes Media folder location. Your directory browser appears, enabling you to create and then select a folder to locate your iTunes content files. Alternatively, you can click the Reset button to restore the standard location in your user directory (the default setting when you first use iTunes).
- Using the directory browser, select the folder you created in Step 1.
- Activate the iTunes folder management options. Make sure that the Keep iTunes Media Folder Organized option and the Copy Files to iTunes Media Folder When Adding to Library option are both selected.
- Click the OK button to close Preferences.
The new library links to the new folder location so that when you add new content to the library, the content is copied to the new folder. If the purpose of your new library is to hold all your videos, you can now copy all your videos from the original library’s content folder to the iTunes window, adding the content to the new library. iTunes copies the content files to the new folder. You can then delete the videos from the original library.
I am a Apple novice, and I just finished reading your latest book, but I am still confused on setting up my columns. I have a nano 7th generation. Is it possible to have one column with all my song titles and a second column for draging and dropping?
I’m not sure if your question is about iTunes or about the iPod, or what you mean by “columns” in this case. Do you mean dragging and dropping songs from iTunes into your iPod? If so, here are the steps:
1. Click the iPod button that appears after connecting your iPod.
2. Click the On This iPod tab. The music on your iPod appears.
3. Click the Add To button in the upper-right corner of the view under the Done button. Your iTunes library shifts over to the left to make room for the iPod column showing the content types and playlists on the iPod.
4. Drag items (such as one or more songs or an album) directly from your iTunes library to the iPod column. You can drag individually selected songs or selected albums — the number of items you are copying appears over the pointer as you drag the items. When you drag an album cover or album title, all the songs in the album are copied. If you drag a playlist name from your library to the iPod column, all the songs associated with the playlist copy along with the playlist itself. You can also copy albums into a playlist on the iPod by dragging them over the playlist name in the iPod column.
5. Wait for the copying to finish and then click Done.
I currently have iTunes installed on my PC (32 bit processor)which runs on Windows XP. I plan to replace this computer with a new PC (64 bit processor) which runs on Windows 8.1
Will I need to copy any iTunes related files from my old PC to the new one (via external hard drive); or is my music purchased from the iTunes store kept by Apple somewhere on the Internet (e.g. iCloud)?
If I do need to copy the files, can I simply copy the iTunes folder on to the external hard drive?
Also, when I install the iTunes software on the new PC will iTunes still recognize my orginal account inforamtion?
I am a novice iPod user. Your two publications, “iPod Touch for Dummies” and “iPOd and iTunes ofr Dummies” have helped me a great deal in learning the many features of these Apple products.
Hi,
For best results, copy the entire iTunes Media folder (or iTunes Music folder) from the old PC to the new one.
Although Apple does keep music you purchased in the cloud (using iTunes Match). However it would take a while to download all of it. It takes less time to copy the folder. Also, if you have ripped CDs or grabbed music from some other source, Apple may not have copies in its iTunes Match.
After installing, you log into your iTunes Store account, and everything should work fine.
If you have more than one store account, you may want to create more than one instance of iTunes. You can read about that in “Managing Multiple Libraries“.
I have manually organised my IPod Classic using ITunes and would like to synchronise my Itunes files so they are the same as my IPod files. Is this possible?
To make my IPod easy to access I have on compilations added the artist into the song title name and made artist/artist name the same ie Various Artists.
My large Music collection is on a MyBookLive hard drive, arranged by Artist in a MUSIC folder but most of my latest downloads/ additions are in a MUSIC/Music folder.
Hope you understand what I am trying to say, I like this organised as per IPod.
Thanks
If you manually copied music to your iPod without using automatic syncing (by playlist etc.), you will have to make sure that you have the same music, with the same song title information, etc., in your iTunes library — before doing anything to change your iPod. If you need to copy music FROM your iPod to your iTunes library (if the music is not in your iTunes library), you have to use a third-party utility (see the bottom of my “Tips on Using iPod and iPhone Models” article – http://tonybove.com/blog/?page_id=470).
If you have the same music in your iTunes library, all you need to do get your iPod in sync with iTunes is connect and change your sync options, and then sync. Your iPod library will be wiped out, replaced with the synced content (you can select playlists, artists, etc. to sync).
The music folder organization in iTunes can be changed, but it’s a big topic. I suggest you read the “Manipulating an iTunes Library” section of my Bonus Chapter 3: Advanced iTunes Techniques – http://tonybove.com/blog/?page_id=450.
Hi, where can i get a hold of your entire book on itunes…thank you..
My book iPod and iTunes For Dummies (10 Edition) is the most recent book I’ve written on iTunes. I will be publishing a new e-book on iTunes in 2015. Stay tuned!
Hi Tony, I just finished a pc build with Windows 7 install on a 256GB SSD. I also installed a 2TB HDD and have transferred about 45,000 songs and all scanned and downloaded album artwork from an external backup HDD to the new HDD. I installed the latest version of iTunes on the SSD and I would naturally like for all the content on HDD to stay where it’s at. What is the best way to accomplish this?
Hello. iTunes is essentially an index to your media files. You want to have iTunes index your media files that are on another hard drive.
While this technique works OK no matter what the folder containing your media files is named, it is best to rename the folder holding your media files to “iTunes Media” before doing this.
First, open iTunes, and choose Edit>Preferences, click the Advance tab, and deselect the “Keep iTunes Media folder organized” and “Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library” options — make sure BOTH options are off. Click OK.
Next, drag the entire folder of your media files OVER the iTunes open window — essentially adding your files to iTunes (or you can choose File>Add to Library and select the folder). Because you turned off the above options, the files will remain where they are and not be copied. However, this will take a while, because iTunes has to index the files.
Finally, when iTunes is finished adding the files, choose Edit>Preferences, click the Advance tab, and click the Change button next to iTunes Media folder location. Choose the folder that has all of your media files. You can then turn back ON the “Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library” option. That way, if you add new music, it will be added to that folder.
Good luck!
Tony Bove
Hi Tony,
I have thousands of start and stop points on my songs (in playlists) in iTunes on my Mac laptop. I’ve always been able to sync my iTunes songs/playlist to my ipod nano and the start/stop points synced with the songs. However, I’ve never been able to figure out how to do the same on my iPhone 5s. Any direction you can provide is much appreciated.
Syncing should be the same. Note that when I set start/stop points for a song, I typically then choose File > Create New Version > AAC (for the AAC format) to create a new version of the song. The new version of the song uses those start/stop points as the actual beginning and ending of the song. I have never had a problem with this method.
HI, I am wondering- if I have 3 ipods & need a separate library for each, will I still be able to autofill them or will I have to manually manage all the libarres to keep them from syncing the entire master library. Also, can I use the master library/playlists for my main iPod & do autofill?
Thank you.
Hi, Somebody gave me an unwanted iPod. I decided to give it to my brother
who is not into computers what so ever. He is also into entirely different music than I am (AC/DC verses country and James Last!)
To put it simply, I tried following your information about creating separate files for different iPods. All I succeeded in doing was losing all my my stuff from iTunes, leaving me to reload my files. I seem to be able to reload only one album file at a time rather than the whole lot into iTunes. I am sure that with older versions of iTunes I could simply reload the whole lot in one go. I know age is no excuse- but lets just say I get lots of ‘senior moments’. If you can give me any advice on how to manage things (in a simple way)- I would be most grateful.
I don’t understand the problem. You should be able to create separate playlists of different songs, and sync one or more of those playlists with each iPod or iPhone as you wish, all from the same iTunes library, in order to have different songs on different devices. In other words, manage what is on your device by syncing playlists. You can also sync artists separately to each device. Does that help?
does anyone know how to copy my itunes library from one p c to another and preserve my custom eq presets list? when i copy to another p c, they show next to my tracks, but i only have the default eq list. when i change to a different preset on on a track they disappear.
Hello,
The EQ presets are stored in iTunes prefs in ~>Library>Preferences>com.apple.iTunes.plist file. You should not edit this file unless you know what you are doing. I recommend either recreating the presets on the new PC, or reading this entire tech support request and answer (in an Apple discussion thread):
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2295780?start=0&tstart=0
Good luck!
Tony