Q: Windoze has suddenly decided to disconnect my iPod as soon as iTunes recognises it
-
Mar 25, 2016 10:15 AMby turingtest2,HelpfulSee Audiobooks on iPods for the first issue.
For the second try If iTunes doesn't recognize your iPhone, iPad, or iPod - Apple Support.
Or failing that try a full tear down and rebuild of iTunes as set out in Troubleshooting issues with iTunes for Windows updates.
tt2
-
Mar 21, 2016 11:04 AMby Dirty Li'l Monkey,Hi tt2, thanks for the links but since I can't sync with my iPod, I don't know if the additional settings would have the desired effect but just altering the "Media Kind" did not change the way the books were being handled.
Regarding the "If iTunes doesn't recognize your iPhone, iPad, or iPod - Apple Support."
My version of itunes is 12.1.3.6, the available update version offered via a link is "
-
Mar 21, 2016 4:00 PMby turingtest2,The user tip in my last link includes links to recent iTunes installers. 12.1.3.6 is the final version for XP & Vista.
Once you get iTunes talking to the iPod I suspect you should uncheck the items and sync to remove them, then check again to sync back where they should be treated as audiobooks. Genre shouldn't have any effect on how the iPod treats them.
tt2
-
Mar 22, 2016 8:37 AMby Dirty Li'l Monkey,Thanks for pointing that out, I didn't scroll down your "Troubleshooting issues with iTunes for Windows updates" link far enough to see the comprehensive list of installers you listed!
I was referring to the "If iTunes doesn't etc. ..." link in which there is a link to "the latest version of iTunes".
I have to say, owning just an old iPod and a 4th gen iPad Retina, I have little experience of the world according to Apple!
It mainly consists of the nightmare of attempting to update my version of iTunes when nagged so to do, ...the updates seem to be interminably long and ultimately fail to install, leaving me only able to glean the intended version number and downloading it directly from Apple's website.
I then hold my breath for 20 minutes or so (well it seems like that!), to see if all has gone well and that I have not lost everything in the process!
The "Tear down and rebuild" suggestion quite literally sends my bladder into panic mode!
A few questions before embarking on this "surgery"!
1) Will I lose anything, eg. Library content and back-ups from my iPad?
2) Will the playlists I have painstakingly created still be there?
3) Can the state of "Unchecked" sound files and music tracks be preserved during this re-install? (This is how I exclude them from any future iPod sync)
4) Is this situation likely to occur again? I ask since I don't believe I have done anything to cause Windoze to take umbrage in the first place!
-
Mar 22, 2016 9:05 AMby turingtest2,- No, but you have a backup just in case something unexpected should go wrong don't you?
- Yes. In the unlikely event that they are not see this recovery advice or restore that backup you made.
- Same as 2.
Note checked status can be easily altered in error if you accidentally Ctrl+Click on a check box while trying to select tracks for some other purpose. I would recommend you have a regular playlist that lists all the tracks that you don't want to sync (you can make a copy of the items in a smart playlist that shows your current unchecked tracks), then make a smart playlist that is everything in the music playlist but not in the exclude playlist and sync this new list to your device. This makes it easier to play your unchecked content in iTunes, would allow you to manage multiple devices, and so on. You can still uncheck things like bonus interview tracks that you wouldn't ever want to hear at random.
tt2
-
Mar 22, 2016 10:30 AMby Dirty Li'l Monkey,Wow!
Lots of stuff to learn there, I'll have to study that when I can give it my full attention (such that it is!)
Having given "SyncToy" a cursory "butchers", it looks as if the "Left Folder" is your original "iTunes Folder" on the "C" drive and the newly created "RightFolder" on local drive X is possibly a partition on the same physical HDD.
My own set up consists of one physical Drive unit partitioned into Primary plus 3 logical drives.
Since Windows resides on the Primary, I have attempted to marshal "Programmes" and "Data" to two of the remaining Logical drives or partitions.
This is a thankless task somewhat similar to "cat wrangling", and I have all but given up, however my previous efforts have resulted in my iTunes folder calling my "D" (Data) drive "home".
If installing this software, should I create its "Right hand Folder" on another partition or on another Drive?
If another Drive, does it matter that that Drive is not generally connected?
Regarding "Ticked" vs. "Unticked" items, I must admit that I live in fear of accidentally changing the status quo:
At risk of sounding like a character from "Alice Through the Looking Glass", I have (logically I thought) created a playlist of the remaining ticked tracks, - those I wish to hear, rather than creating a playlist for those I don't!
Realising the value of a "not to playlist", I bow to your superior logic and hope I can still create one!
Is there perhaps a simple way to create a "negative" version of the existing playlist, or must I do it the hard way?
-
Mar 22, 2016 10:51 AMby turingtest2,Backups should be on a separate physical drive. (I might have used subst to create a temporary drive X: for the purpose of making screenshots. ) The backup drive only needs to be connected when you want to use SyncToy to update the backup set. Keeping it stored elsewhere could be considered good practice. I actually run three parallel clones of my library, one at home, one at work, and one on a portable drive that shuttles between them.
See Make a split library portable for thoughts on library manipulation.
Matching all the rules Playlist is Music and Playlist is not X gives the desired negative of list X as a smart playlist. Whichever way around you do it one regular playlist and one smart playlist should be able to give you control, visibility, and accuracy. You should be able to tell from viewing either list if a particular track is currently set to be synced, and you can add or remove the track to or from the regular list to flip its sync status. Using a regular exclude list and a smart sync list probably works best since new content added to the library will be automatically included for syncing.
tt2
-
Mar 22, 2016 11:12 AMby Dirty Li'l Monkey,turingtest2 wrote:
Backups should be on a separate physical drive. (I might have used subst to create a temporary drive X: for the purpose of making screenshots. ) The backup drive only needs to be connected when you want to use SyncToy to update the backup set. Keeping it stored elsewhere could be considered good practice.
Fine, I have a few bare drives but given my pathetic music collection, It may be sufficient to use a dedicated USB Flash Drive, if that is acceptable.
My entire library currently amounts to 4.01GB, this is why I only upgraded my iPod with a broken 4GB Microdrive, to an 8GB CF card.
The iPod Mini is amazing, it is possible using a CF to SD converter and get up to 64GB capacity, I would never fill that in a lifetime (not that I have much time left!),
turingtest2 wrote:
I actually run three parallel clones of my library, one at home, one at work, and one on a portable drive that shuttles between them.
See Make a split library portable for thoughts on library manipulation.
Way too complicated for the likes of me!
turingtest2 wrote:
Matching all the rules Playlist is Music and Playlist is not X gives the desired negative of list X as a smart playlist. Whichever way around you do it one regular playlist and one smart playlist should be able to give you control, visibility, and accuracy. You should be able to tell from viewing either list if a particular track is currently set to be synced, and you can add or remove the track to or from the regular list to flip its sync status. Using a regular exclude list and a smart sync list probably works best since new content added to the library will be automatically included for syncing.
tt2
You have totally lost me here!
Can you put that into "simpleton" please?
-
Mar 22, 2016 11:50 AMby turingtest2,You said:
Is there perhaps a simple way to create a "negative" version of the existing playlist
Assuming this list is called X then use File > New Smart Playlist, tick the + at the right to create a second rule, then edit the drop down boxes so it reads:
Match all of the following rules:
Playlist is Music
Playlist is not X
You can ignore all of the other bits below, default values work for this purpose. Ctrl+B will reveal the menu bar if it is hiding.
This gets you the negative or inverse of a given list as a smart playlist. If you need this as a regular list use Ctrl+A to select all then right-click on the selection and use New Playlist from Selection.
When I initially had an iPod Classic it was big enough for my whole library but over time the library grew and I had to work out what to leave off. I used a regular playlist called Exclude and a smart playlist called Steve's iPod with the rules Playlist is Music and Playlist is not Exclude. I synced Steve's iPod to my device. As the library grew I would throw things into the Exclude list to keep the synced list small enough to fit on the iPod.
I do it a little differently now with several smart playlists that rotate some content on and off the device automatically while keeping a list of essentials. The system is really quite powerful if you're prepared to experiment a little.
tt2
-
Mar 22, 2016 4:55 PMby Dirty Li'l Monkey,tt2 thanks for simplifying the playlist instructions down to my level of understanding!
I have had a test run following your instructions but the last sentence in this paragraph has confused me!
This gets you the negative or inverse of a given list as a smart playlist. If you need this as a regular list use Ctrl+A to select all then right-click on the selection and use New Playlist from Selection.
I stopped at this point:-
Once I understand that sentence, I'll have the balls courage to hit "OK", I just don't know what result to expect
Because I don't anticipate any more "exclusions", I wonder if the "Live updating" box should remain ticked or not.
If this facility is something I can have control over, it gives me some future flexibility which would be good, but if I'm handing control to the programme, I'm not so sure.
To my shame I have "used" iTunes since 2004, but only this last week or so have I begun to learn just how versatile it is, I'm impressed! ...and confused!
I cannot imagine I'll ever have either the need or knowledge to manage my puny collection in the way you describe, but I live in hope of getting my Vinyl and cassette tapes digitised. Who knows, I might end up with more than my iPod will hold!
Subject that is, to reviving my old HiFi decks, replacing perished rubber etc.
Having carefully stored it all away when I was posted to Dubai in 1990, I'm shocked at the level of deterioration that has occurred, but then, I imagine it looks back at me and thinks "Christ, where has his hair gone?"
At least I know my Vinyl will have endured better and the cassettes can be made passable with Audacity!
-
Mar 22, 2016 5:10 PMby turingtest2,Live updating is good. It allows the smart playlist to update as you make changes to your library. In this case as you add media to the iPod Songs playlist it would then drop out of this smart list which I'm guessing represents your exclusions. As it stands new additions to your library won't be added to your iPod Songs list automatically and would end up in this exclusion list instead.
If that works for you then that's great, otherwise you might want to flip things around so you have a manual exclusion list and a smart playlist that picks up the rest. To do this you would select everything in the current smart playlist with Ctrl+A, right-click and use New Playlist from Selection from the context menu which would give you a regular playlist of the excluded content which you could call Excludes. You would then edit the first smart playlist so it becomes Playlist is Music and Playlist is not Excludes, and call this list iPod Songs. The regular playlist version of iPod Songs could be discarded.
tt2
-
Mar 22, 2016 5:48 PMby Dirty Li'l Monkey,Right, tomorrow I will create that smart "Don'tplaylist" leaving the live update ticked.
I understand your description in that paragraph, but the entire second para confuses the **** outta me!
I think the root of my confusion is the fact that I don't understand the difference between smart and regular playlists.
I only encountered either type this last few days.
My first attempt at making one I aborted before it was begun, ergo my first with any content is listed as "Playlist 2", this contains a list of all my library items minus duplicates, sound effects Horns, Ringtones, and songs I just don't want on there!
I then created another with exactly the same list, but I managed to christen it "iPod Songs"
I thought that one of these was a smart playlist, and one was a regular one.
Right clicking on either of them pulls up the same context menu which includes the option "Edit Smart Playlist"
Would this indicate that they are both "Smart"?
I have also noticed that there are two "On The Go Playlists", (OTG 1 and OTG 2) one has no content and one has just one track!
Sneaky feeling that was one of those "I wonder what that does" moments whilst exploring the iPod's menus!
Can it be undone from the iPod or from iTunes?
-
Mar 23, 2016 8:10 AMby Dirty Li'l Monkey,Thanks for that tt2, I know that you are trying to simplify what I need to do but I still don't understand the significance of the use of Regular/Smart playlists and how they interact in the above application.
Can I ask you to walk me through the scenario so that I better understand how it works.
