My iPod shuffle 4th generation yellow status light is flashing and I can't find this in the manual that came with it, or in the online bigger manual. What does it mean when the yellow light is flashing.??
iPod shuffle (4th generation late 2012), I don't know what operating system
Might be the battery > iPod shuffle (4th generation): Checking battery status
Might be the battery > iPod shuffle (4th generation): Checking battery status
Thanks for your reply. I had the iPod Shuffle connected to the computer, so the battery was charging or had finished charging. However in the link you gave me, I see that it says Status Light When Connected To Computer: Blinking orange : Do not disconnect - iTunes is syncing, or iPod shuffle is enabled for disk use), may be still charging or may be fully charged.
I wish I'd read this before I disconnected my iPod Shuffle from my computer. But I assume I can reconnect it to my computer without any ill effects.
I thought the flashing orange might mean that the iPod Shuffle was full up.??
If the light is blinking orange (yellow), that means DO NOT DISCONNECT. Doing so while light is blinking may cause data on shuffle to become corrupted. It's a warning, like a flashing yellow traffic light. Blinking orange does not saying anything about state of the battery. It may or may not be fully charged.
When the light is blinking, you need to click the Eject button for iPod in iTunes (before disconnecting). It's the small triangle (with line under it) next to iPod's name. That turns the iPod's light to a solid (not blinking) color. Solid light means OK TO DISCONNECT. Now, the color has meaning. Solid orange means battery is charging. Solid green means battery is fully charged. But either way, you can disconnect it safely.
Note: Most of the time, no harm is done if you accidentally disconnect the iPod while light is blinking, so you are probably OK.
Why don't they write that in the little booklet that comes with the iPod Shuffle? It explains a solid yellow, a red and a solid green but no where does it mention flashing yellow.
Well, I didn't click the Eject button because I forgot. I've written down your reply, thanks so much. I've just plugged my iPod Shuffle back into my Mac computer and it is sitting there with the orange light flashing. So I will leave it until the light stops flashing.
I am wondering how many songs I can put on my iPod Shuffle though? I have about 700 I think on my computer in iTunes. Will they all download into the Shuffle? Thanks again.
FYI, this is the support web page for current iPod shuffle, with link to full user guide
https://www.apple.com/support/ipodshuffle/
So I will leave it until the light stops flashing.
No, it will keep flashing forever. 😮 When you want to disconnect it, click the Eject button (see previous reply) for the iPod in iTunes. This makes iTunes unmount the iPod's disk from the computer's system, and the light will become solid (not blinking). When the iPod's light is solid, you can disconnect the iPod safely. If it's solid orange, that means the battery is still charging, so you can leave it connected that way until the light becomes solid green, fully charged. But if you're in a hurry, you can disconnect it before it become green, as long as the light is NOT flashing. Solid light, orange or green, means it's OK to disconnect iPod.
NOTE: If you want it to stop blinking by itself, you can set the iPod to use automatic syncing. Then, when the iTunes is done syncing, the light becomes solid automatically. You don't have to remember to click the Eject button before disconnecting. But that's a whole post by itself, so if you want more details on HOW, you can reply back... 😀
The number of songs that will fit depends on the song files. Higher quality song files are larger than lower quality song files. Longer songs are larger than shorter songs. With that shuffle model, and typical songs, my guess is between 200 and 300.
Hi Kenichi, Yes, I had found the full user guide and downloaded it, but it has no reference to the flashing orange light.
I was afraid it might be flashing forever, since it has been over 2 hours now and it is still flashing. OK, I just went to iTunes and found the iPod symbol. It said it was still syncing, but after a few seconds it said it was finished and I ejected it. I didn't know the iPod eject would be in iTunes. Thanks so much.
I would like to set it to use automatic syncing. How do I do that please?
Some info about you will help... You're new to iPod shuffle. Are you also new to using iTunes? Do you know how to load songs on your shuffle using the manual method (the way it is now set up)? Do you know how to create playlists in iTunes? Is your computer that runs iTunes a Mac or Windows PC?
Here's a method called Autofill, that is convenient for iPod shuffles. I usually use this method with my shuffle. It's not automatic syncing, but it's easier to explain without knowing answers to the above questions.
Connect iPod to the computer running iTunes. It appears as a small button on horizontal bar that goes across iTunes window (where you found the Eject button). Click that iPod button to select your iPod, and iTunes window becomes your iPod's Settings screen. There is a sidebar (column) along left side of iTunes window, with a small picture of iPod and your iPod's name at the top. In that sidebar, look underOn My Device and click on Music there.
To the right, iTunes window now shows the list of songs that are currently on your iPod. Look near bottom right corner of window, to find the Autofill button. Click the Settings button next to it. In small window that comes up, put checkmarks in the two checkboxes for Replace all items when Autofilling AND Choose items randomly (if they are not already checked), and then OK. Over to the left of the Autofill and Settings buttons (along the bottom), it says Autofill From. Make sure Music is selected there (should be already) from the dropdown list.
Hi Kenichi, I've used iTunes for over a year, I'm not expert but I can put songs in it, buy songs, and download songs. I think what I did to load songs by the manual method is that I plug the Shuffle into the computer, and the computer automatically finds it, and in iTunes I can press Sync and it downloads automatically. I don't know how to create playlists but didn't feel this was something I needed, since I can select music either by Album, Artist or alphabetically. I have a Mac Mini with a large memory running OS X 10.9.5. I know this is not the up-to-date version but when I went to the more recent version it ruined my Pages documents and I couldn't use them, so I went back to 10.9.5.
I have just followed your instructions for AUTOFILL. I connected my Shuffle to the computer, with iTunes open. I clicked on the iPot button and got the Shuffle's SETTINGS screen. I selected ON MY DEVICE. I clicked on MUSIC. However when I look near the bottom right corner of the window, I don't see an AUTOFILL button. Along the bottom of the window, it says AUDIO on the left then there is a long bar, then it says 148.7 MB free, then in the bottom right the button says SYNC. If I click on it, SETTINGS does NOT appear. I can send you screen shots but I don't know how to do it in this Community Window.
So that is where I am now - stuck at the step FIND THE AUTOFILL BUTTON.
If iTunes was automatically adding songs, it may be set to use automatic syncing. But that doesn't work as well if your iTunes library is larger than the iPod's capacity, unless you tell iTunes exactly what to sync. That is where playlists come into play.
To use Autofill, the iPod needs to be set for manual loading. Select your iPod shuffle in iTunes so that you see its settings screen. To the left, in the sidebar, under Settings, click on Summary. To the right, you see the iPod's main options. Checkmark the box for Manually manage music. Then click Apply button at the bottom.
Now, go back to my previous post. You should see the Autofill button now.
Hi Kenichi, I've followed your instructions and did Manually Manage Music. You are right, the Autofill button is there now. So then I followed your instructions from your previous email. The checkmarks were already there for Replace All Items When Autofilling AND Choose items randomly. I clicked OK. In the Autofill From, MUSIC was selected. I have clicked the Autofill button to load my Shuffle with songs from my Music library, as you have said.
Then you say that the download will take some time, and I will see progress in the iTunes window. I don't want to sound stupid, but where is the iTunes window - the reason I ask is because in the rectangle where the Apple logo is (which is what I thought was the iTunes window), nothing is happening. It briefly said something about syncing and now there is only the Apple logo. So my thought is that it was very fast at the syncing and downloading. On the right 2/3 of the page it says Music and lists all my songs. It says 335 songs, 19 hours 59 minutes. This is odd because when I downloaded it into my car, I'm sure it said 600 songs or more.
On the bottom of the window or page there is a long horizontal bar called Audio and most of it is peach coloured, with the last half inch to the right in gold and a tiny sliver of grey. Does this mean my Shuffle is almost filled up? (The title of the page, shown below the apple logo, is Bronwen Williams's iPod (that is me)).
The "iTunes window" is the main window for iTunes. Sorry, I did not mean a new window pops up to show progress. At the top of iTunes window, it should tell you progress for the current operation. Also, down below (in the list of songs on iPod), you should see what songs are loaded and in-progress. The in-progress songs are greyed out (until loaded). If songs that Autofill selects are already on the iPod, it may not take as long to complete the Autofill.
335 songs seems about right for a shuffle with 2GB of storage. But the exact number depends on the size of each song file, as mentioned before. The total number of songs will be a bit different, depending on the songs that are loaded. If you want to maximize the number of songs (this will reduce sound quality slightly for some songs), there is an option on the iPod's Summary settings screen (where you found the Manually manage music option). Checkmark Convert higher bit rate songs to [128 kbps] AAC (and Apply change). It may take noticeably longer to do the Autofill with this setting, because iTunes is converting some songs during the sync. NOTE: The song files in your main iTunes library (on your Mac) are not affected.
The capacity bar at the bottom shows a summary of what's on your iPod. When you move your mouse pointer over each portion of the bar, you should see more information. Peach is Audio. If your iPod was the type that can hold other media, such as videos and photos, those would shown there with a different color. Gold is Other, which is usually stuff the iPod needs to operate (like its onboard software). When you move your mouse pointer over the gold portion, what does it say for the size?
Grey is the free space. If you use Autofill to load your iPod, iTunes is putting as many songs as possible on the iPod, so it should be just a "sliver." Each time you do the Autofill (with the current settings) iTunes is reloading the iPod with a random selection of songs from your iTunes music library, to make it completely full.
There are other ways to load your iPod with songs, including telling iTunes exactly what to load. That involves creating playlists with precisely the songs you want on the iPod.
Hi Kenichi, I think iTunes has finished downloading because it doesn't show progress anywhere, there is no bar that is moving, no circle spinning, no words saying sync in progress etc.?? All my songs seem to be white (not greyed out). You refer all the time to my iPod but please note that I don't have an actual iPod, I have the tiny iPod Shuffle (tiny square about 1 inch each side).
When I move my mouse over the gold portion (not the peach portion), it says 56.9 MB. When I move my mouse on the grey free space portion it says 53.6 MB. It is just a sliver, as you say. I hope I have as many songs as possible on my Shuffle, but it doesn't matter as much to me as having all my songs downloaded into my car. For that, I plug in a flash drive thing, download my songs onto it, and then plug it into the dash on the car and the songs download into the car. Pretty amazing.
This has nothing to do with iTunes, but do you use PAGES to create documents? I do because I don't like Text Edit. But when I want to copy an email message including the header and the date, and I drag the mouse over the header, it refuses to copy the date. I've been told that Apple made it this way for 10.9.5 (I know it wasn't this way before that - it would copy the entire header including the date). Do you have any information on this problem (it is a problem for me)? Is this rectified in newer versions of 10.9?
An iPod shuffle is still an iPod. It's just an iPod without a screen... 🙂
In the latest version of Mail (and OS X), I tried to highlight the date in the header (so I can copy it), and can't do it. The only way I could find to copy/paste the header date is to select the email message, and from the menu bar
File -> Export as PDF...
then select a place (like your Desktop or Documents folder) to save the PDF file. Open the PDF file in Preview, and you can highlight the entire header including date.
Actually, you can also select the email message, then
File -> Save As...
then save the email as a text file. You should be able to open that file directly in Pages.
Hi Kenichi, That is a great analogy - Shuffle is an iPod without a screen. It is so tiny my doctor is sure I'm going to lose it, as he lost his. LOL.
Yes, I have tried the Export as PDF method and then highlight the header, copy and paste, but frankly this takes too much time. I'm a very fast and accurate typist so I've found it is easier for me just to rapidly type in the date on my document and then paste in the rest of my highlighted and copied data. I wish Apple would fix this.
Thank you SO much for all your time and great help with my questions. I wish there was a way I could contact you again if I have more questions. I'm not an expert on computers, but I'm doing pretty well considering I have no children here to help me LOL.
My iPod shuffle 4th generation yellow status light is flashing. What does this mean?
