Category — iTunes

Beloved wife, closest peeps, dear family, and various internet brethren:

As we gather via this blog, or tumblog, or RSS feed, or various other digital platforms, I come before you to report that I have reviewed the state of my iTunes library and it is strong.

Although we may find ourselves divided at times about what rocks us, there can be no mistaking that - amongst the 5,776 song files - there is something there that blows our hair back. And through the 26.65GB of music, indeed there is ample time - 17.3 days - to find that which unites us.

And when our ears have been bled dry by poorly designed iPod headphones and we tire of tunage, we can find comfort within the Movies menu and the full 5.1 sound that awaits. Just a few short years ago I stood before you confused, bewildered, and forlorn. But today I am proud to say that my high-res mp4s have reached 100 feature length movies - formatted for iPod and TV, spanning 7.3 days and 60.52GB. And while the humor and action in many of these flicks are best appreciated among those of legal drinking age, I am pleased to count 28 Disney feature animations among the library for the enjoyment of the peeps both young of age and of heart.

And when our week of film has come to an end, we will fear only the absence of popcorn, as 565 television episodes await. Complete series of 24, Prison Break, and the Sorpranos compliment broader selections, such as Lost, Friday Night Lights, and Pinky & the Brain… and everything in between.

Where I was once afraid that I might fill a single drive with music, I have embraced the oracle of nf0 and the era of networked digital media… and my library has benefited greatly because of it. Today, I am pleased to say that my iTunes library now exceeds 112GBs.

There will be many more albums, epic movies, and landmark series to come and, while the challenge to encode them all will be great, my TeraStation NAS stands ready and my Handbrake & VisualHub installs are updated.

Thank you, my fellow peeps, and may Raid5 watch over and protect us all.

Popularity: 1% [?]

What would Christmas be without the holiday yule log? Or, in this day and age, the iYule - a free, roaring, holiday yule log for your iPod.

"…which is to say christmas, as in yule… yule log…. Not a log, I don't have a log. I mean you know. If I had a log, not in the sense that you think I said I did.

(laughs)

Good golly. 'Tis the season to be merry."

'Tis the season indeed.

Popularity: 1% [?]

My Palm Treo phone (a Treo 650) has some decent output for mp3s, so I wanted to convert a song in iTunes to use as a ring tone .

How to convert a song in iTunes to ringtone for Treo:

1. Open iTunes, choose a song you like, and play it. NOTE: [purchased music won't work this way]
2. Watch the time on the top of the window and make note of the start time you want the sound to start and the sound to end….so for example, it you like the part of song 30 seconds into it then that would be your start time and if it ends 20 seconds later then your start time is :30 and your end time is :50
3. With the song still selected, go to File>Get Info
4. This brings up the window with Summary, Info, Options, Lyrics and Artwork, CLICK options.
5. Now just add the start and end times.
6. Close window
7. With the song still selected….go to ADVANCED>Convert Selection to Mp3. It will make a copy of the snippet for you in Mp3 format. Your original song remains untouched.
8. Drag the new Mp3 into the Install on Card window in Missing Sync. And do a sync and BINGO…you have customized ringtones added to your SD card on your Treo!!!

If you want to take this one step further, you can assign a different ringtone per caller using mRing.

Enjoy!

Popularity: 3% [?]

For those of you looking to download music from an iPod to a computer using Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Mac OSX, here's all the tools you'll ever need.

[Read more →]

Popularity: 5% [?]

iTunes 7.2 (34) is out and sporting the long-awaited DRM free (ie unprotected) songs from EMI. The best part? You can "upgrade" your purchased songs for $0.30 each, rather than having to repurchase them from iTunes Music Store.

More on that later. For now I'm off for some DRM-free splurging with some birthday iTunes cards! (Thanks, Mer-Mer!)

Popularity: 2% [?]

• How to move your iTunes library to an external drive - Lifehacker
  (tags: apple audio itunes library lifehacks mac osx macosx music mp3 storage technology tips tutorial usb nas howto organization)

Popularity: 2% [?]

I can't tell you how many times my post on overriding your iPod sync options to manual sync mode has saved me. I'm traveling this week and needed to charge my iPod from my laption, but I don't want to sync it. No problem - you can easily charge your iPod with USB or Firewire without syncing.
[Read more →]

Popularity: 6% [?]

• Blue Coconut - Copy from iTunes shared libraries
  (tags: itunes applescript utilities drm hack hacks macosx osx network music mp3 tools audio apple)

Popularity: 2% [?]

I've run into this more than a few times, so I thought I would post a work around (aka hack) for setting the iTunes sync mode to manual. Most people may never need this, but it is really helpful is some/all of your music/videos are hosted on an external or network drive.

To override your iTunes and iPod sync settings and force iTunes to start in manual sync mode, hold down Command and Option (Mac OS X) when you connect your iPod and keep holding it until iTunes starts.

(Windows PC users - hold down Control and Shift and keep holding it until iTunes starts)

This will force iTunes to initiate the iPod connection wizard. You will be prompted to confirm the name of your iPod. Simply deselect (un-check) the option for "Automatically update" your iPod.

By over-riding the iTunes automatic sync option, you can keep everything that is already on your iPod and easily add songs, movies, etc that you have picked up while your away from your external hard drive or network music storage.

This is also pretty handy if you just want to charge your iPod using the USB or Firewire cables, but don't want to sync any music/movies/etc.

To return to automatic sync, simply select your iPod in the iTunes source pane, select the Music tab, and check to automatically sync your songs.

Popularity: 8% [?]

One of my favorite features in OS X is Automator, a clever way to expedite routine tasks.

Since I maintain my entire iTunes library on a network music server, one of my most routine tasks was connecting to the music server and then launching iTunes. On average, it's a process that took me… eh, about a billion clicks. (OK, maybe not a billion, but enough to be annoying.) But now - thanks to Automator - connecting to the music server and launching iTunes is a one-click job.

[Read more →]

Popularity: 5% [?]

Here's a little known fact: Your Windows PC cannot read your iPod if you formatted it with a Mac.

I found that out the hard way today, when I wanted to transfer some files from a Windows laptop to my iPod (which was formatted on Mac OS X). But the iPod is supposed to work on a Mac or a PC, right? Well, that's correct, but Windows can't read the mac HFS+ file format, so… if you're using your Mac ipod on Windows, here's the how-to.

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Popularity: 7% [?]

• Firblitz: iTude 0.1 released
  Looks like a script is being developed to allow you to play your purchased music on as many computers as you want - rather than locking it to just five authorized computers.
  (tags: applescript ipod itunes mac macosx osx music software hack hacks)
• Social News is here to stay - New York Times adding "Digg" buttons
  The NYT is adding buttons to news stories making it easier to add their content to social news services like Digg, Newsvine, and Facebook.
  (tags: digg online news newspaper web2.0 media NYTimes)
• How To: Set default email address in Mail.app distribution list
  (tags: apple email help howto osx mail.app addressbook mac macosx)

Popularity: 2% [?]

One of my biggest complaints about iTunes is that it doesn't monitor folders for new music. Well, after a little trial and error, here's a quick way to make iTunes scan a folder and add any songs that aren't currently in your music library.

• Run iTunes.
• Choose "File" > "Add To Library…"
• Browse and choose the folder you wish to scan

This will cause iTunes to scan the music folder, adding any new tracks that in the folder and subfolders without duplicating music that is already in your iTunes library.

Side note to Merrin: To use for your laptop, browse & select the Music folder on the network drive.

Popularity: 10% [?]