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Showing posts with the label iTunes

Help with iTunes 11

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With the changes to iTunes 11, I struggled finding a couple of features. First, the left side-bar was missing. Hide or show the left side-bar by clicking CTRL-s (or CMD-s). The other thing I struggled with was finding the option to Manually manage music and video . It was quite easy once I found it. The problem was that it was hidden below the fold. Go to your device (iPod, iPhone, or iPad), and click on the Summary section. From the Summary section, scroll down. The option is located just above the Reset Warnings button. Then it's simply checking or unchecking the box and clicking Apply .

iTunes was unable to load provider data from Sync Services. Reconnect or try again later.

If you're experiencing this problem, "iTunes was unable to load provider data from Sync Services. Reconnect or try again later," perhaps the fix I found will work for you too. At the time of the error, I was running iTunes 10.4.1.10 on Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit OS. I had just starting using iTunes again to sync with my iPhone 4. It had been nearly 2 years since I had used it with an iPhone -- the original. Try these steps to correct the problem: Eject / disconnect your all iTunes devices (iPhones, iPods, etc) Close iTunes Open Task Manager and kill the Sycservices process Rename the "C:\Users\ [your user name] \AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\SyncServices" folder. DO NOT delete the folder, because if this doesn't solve it or causes other problems you can always return to this older version of the folder. Restart iTunes Re-attach your device This worked for me. Let me know how it worked for you.

iTunes 9.1 on Windows 7 (x64) fails on update

Perhaps like me, you accepted the prompt when iTunes notified you that 9.1 was available for updating on your Windows 7 (x64) computer. After the rather large download though, the installation failed. Trying again later ended with the same results. I found some reports of this occurring on 32 bit Windows 7 and on Vista. From what I could gather, it appears to occur due to a conflict with the version of Bonjour that is already installed. (Bonjour is Apple's service discovery protocol, and is used by iTunes to find shared music on your network.) I was able to successful perform a manual update. Download iTunes 9.1 for Windows (64 bit) Close iTunes Run the install When I ran the install, it reported that my version of Bonjour was newer than the version within the install package, but it didn't cause any issues. (Note, I had previously installed the Bonjour Print Utility in troubleshooting a previous problem with my wireless modem and Apple TV. That fix ended up needing a firmware

Unable to Sync iPhone and Unable to Sync Photos to iPhone

Another issue I found moving my iTunes and iPhone to a new PC, was Sync'ing was hanging, though I did have my Apps, Podcasts, and Music. Upon further investigation, I discovered that if I did not sync my photos, then it no longer got stuck. First I was thinking it was a permission issue with Windows 7 -- but I made no progress. I finally figured out how to solve the issue. Stop the sync'ing Delete the iPod Photo Cache in my photo folder(s) Resync I can only assume the iPod Photo Cache had pointers to the location of my photos on my old computer.

iTunes Clean Up

In moving my music onto a new computer, I copied my backup music folder, which contained my iTunes library definition, onto my new drive. Then when I installed iTunes, I had duplicate entries of each file, with one being a bad link (as the path was different on my new computer). With nearly 4000 files (8000 listed), I didn't want to manually go through my list and delete the Songs that were broken (Exclamation point next to the Name in iTunes.) Fortunately with some searching, I found Paul Mayne , who had a solution. Through the use of 2 Smart Play Lists and a Play List, I was able to quickly remove the dead, duplicate listings. See Paul's post for the specific details. You can may also find yourself in trouble if you let iTunes scan your backup drive and your primary drive. This would actually create duplicates, one pointing to each drive. To correct this, temporarily rename the music folder on your back drive, which will make all the listings on the backup drive to now have i

Rip / manage music on your iPod

Sometime you need to manage music on your iPod that iTunes doesn't allow. I tried iDump, and it didn't recognize my music, so I tried SharePod . While iDump has a 30 day trial before purchase, SharePod is completely free -- donations accepted. SharePod installed quicker, and was very simple to use.

Fix iTunes to burn CDs again

On February 26, 2009 I wrote about problems with XP and my CD/DVD drives . After a fix to the Registry, the last step was to re-install any software that I use to burn CDs and DVDs. It seemed all was good, but I apparently hadn't tried iTunes. The next time I launched iTunes, I was greeted with the following message: Warning! The registry settings used by the iTunes drivers for importing and burning CDs & DVDs are missing. This can happen as a result of installing other CD burning software. Please reinstall iTunes. With prior experience using iTunes, I was not about to uninstall iTunes. Instead I just tried a Repair through the Add/Remove Software interface. That failed. I then tried installing iTunes over my current install, and that failed too. Finally I went fishing on Apple's site. I found an entry that looked promising. Apple recommends I remove a Registry key, add an new one, and then re-install all CD/DVD burning software. Sounded a bit like a loop, so I tried just

Get iTunes catalog DRM free MP3 from Amazon

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Do you like using the Apple environment of iPod/iPhone and iTunes, but hate that you have to get DRM music? Using Adventageous mp3 , you no longer have to. After installing Adventageous mp3, find your Artist or Album in iTunes like you always do, but then instead of purchasing, click on Adventageous mp3 to be directed to the equivalent on Amazon. Here you can make your purchase for the same music without the DRM.

iTunes / iPhone buggy

The iPhone is the phone that everyone wants to love. Unfortunately, Apple makes that difficult at times. The 2.2 upgrade was the first error free upgrade I've had. But now I ran into another problem. I had added a new, 2nd drive to my PC as my media was consuming so much space. With that, I moved my photos and videos to the new drive. With photos, it was easy to point iTunes to the new location, but unfortunately for the videos it wasn't. iTunes uses a custom database (itl file) to store its media index and creates an xml file for a backup. If the itl file should become corrupt, it will rebuild with the xml file. If the itl file is non-existant, it will start over. Based on some various guides I found online, I used search and replace and updated the location for all the videos, and then I caused the itl file to be corrupt. iTunes read my updated xml file and rebuild the itl database file and I seemed to be back in business. Ahh, not so fast. Apparently iTunes does not back up

Replace iTunes without replacing your iPod

Are you tired of too many bloated updates for iTunes, (Reminds you too much of Windows?) yet you love your iPod? Well there are alternatives to iTunes that will let you continue to enjoy your iPod. For Windows only users, there's SharePod ; for Windows, Mac, and Linux users there is YamiPod . Both applications claim to run off the iPod, so you can avoid installing it to your computer. With a replacement for syncing your iPod, now you can explore other music and media players such as Songbird . Songbird is an open-source music player that feels a lot like iTunes, but offers a lot more flexibility. If you are interested in other iPod utilities, try The 20 Best iPod Utilities from LifeHacker. Enjoy!

Remove the DRM from iTune purchased music

Most of us who have purchased iTunes music know that we can remove the DRM from the M4P audio files by burning the music onto a CD. But if you have a large collection, this can be very time consuming -- though having your music backed up to CD isn't a bad idea. For those of you who do not relish the idea of bacing up each every track, there might be a solution available for you. This first program, MagicISO , will convert up to 3 minutes per song for 14 days without purchasing -- I tried a song under 3 minutes and it seemed to work fine. You can buy it for $30 or get it free when you buy a 3rd party item or service through their site. For example, you can get the 2009 Entertainment Book for $25. Your second option is NoteBurner -- a $35 software that will allow you to burn to a virtual CD, and then back to MP3s. This batch converter works with iTunes, Windows Media Player, RealPlayer, Winamp, and SonicStage. Another option is TuneBite . TuneBite appears to play and capture, getti

iTunes 7.7.1.11 and iPhone 2.0.1 spell disaster

Just a few nights back after work, following a fairly normal routine, I accepted the iTunes request for an update to 7.7. Upon completion and plugging in my iPhone, I was prompted to update the firmware to 2.0.1. Again, I accepted. During the middle of this process, iTunes crashed. Upon clearing the dialog boxes, iTunes restarted (my iPhone was still connected). Only this time, iTunes had nothing in it's library -- no music, no movies, no Podcasts -- nothing. And then looking at my iPhone, it was cycling between the Apple logo and an image of a USB plug and the iTunes logo -- my iPhone had become an iBrick. Wow! In a bit of shock, I tried closing and restarting iTunes, and I tried shutting down and restarting my iPhone. Neither one helped. Here I went from a few casual, routine updates to a lot of unplanned for, and really unnecessary rebuilding. First, i had to figure out how to un-brick my phone. The best I could come up with was some instructions posted on ...my first tech blog

Legal new movie releases on your computer

Friday may 2nd, Apple announced a partnership with the 4 major Hollywood studios where they will make movies released to DVD available through the iTunes store on the same day they are released on the shelves of your favorite store. You can buy the movie in electronic format, with Apples proprietary DRM for $15 or rent it for $3.99.When was the last time you bought a new release for under $20? Never. Of course watching it from your computer is not as comfortable as from your easy-chair. And, you need to wait for it to download into iTunes... unless you have Apple TV. With the release of Apple TV 2.0 in February, after a short buffer time, you can begin watching your new movie immediately while it finishes downloading in the background. With Apple already being the leading provider of music in the U.S., I'm sure this move has gotten he attention of retailers Wal-Mart and Best Buy, and of course Netflix and Blockbuster. Apple continues to make it easier and easier to avoid the cost o

Back to school with iTunes U

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Did you know that many colleges and other educational institutes have made audio and video content free through the iTunes store? iTunes U was created in collaboration with colleges and universities that were looking for ways to expand and enrich their curricula with digital content. Standford University lists 13 different categories of materials from Science and Technology to Health and Medicine to Personal and Professional Development . There is also commencement addresses from 2005 - 2007. MIT has used iTunes U as one of the delivery channels for their OpenCourseWare initiative . This is a big investment; take for example the Electrical Engineering & Computer Science category, where MIT offers 161 tracks. If you move outside the classroom, there are offerings from the New York Public Library , PBS , and others. You can find over 20 Jazz oral history video interviews and 13 audio presentations in the Small Business category at New York Public Library. I have just scratched

Keep your iTunes library synchronized

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If you're like me, you have multiple sources of audio, and getting them all into one iTunes is a problem. Sure if you're ripping a new CD, iTunes makes it easy; but if you're merging existing digital collections, it can be very time consuming and error prone. No longer is this a problem with the iTunes Library Updater (iTLU). You can run iTLU through a GUI or from a console (which allows scripting). The following features are supported with iTLU: Adding new music or video clips to the iTunes library Removing entries from the iTunes library that point to non-existing files Synchronizing the iTunes library with one or multiple directories Updating iTunes track information with meta information out of the media files (for example ID3 tags in case of MP3 files) Updating your iPod (initiates a synchronization) iTLU appears to be only available for Windows, but is completely free and comes with a short manual in English and German. If you want to clean up your iTunes, this is a

Miro and Internet TV options

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I have used iTunes for years to listen to my favorite music and podcasts; since the early betas of Joost , I've been able to see some good TV, such as National Geographic , but I still had to search all over the Internet to get a good selection of shows. For example, I would go to CBS for CSI, AOL for a few good reruns, and Disney when my kids were over to see their Saturday morning favorites. And of course there's always YouTube. Recently I heard about a new Internet TV interface that would solve all these problems, and it's open-source -- Miro . I downloaded and tried Miro over the weekend. Miro has an interface that is familiar -- it feels a lot like iTunes, but at version 0.9.9.9.1, it's still buggy. I quickly learned that Miro's primary feeds are the same RSS feeds used for podcasts and videocasts. I took a few of my podcast feeds from iTunes, tried them on Miro, and they worked. Likewise, I took some of the Miro feeds and they worked with iTunes. So I tho

iTunes and Starbucks together

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Apple and Starbucks just started (October 5, 2007) a new service in participating Starbucks stores. Using your laptop, iPhone , or iPod touch , you can get free access to the iTunes site and review and buy up to the last 10 tunes played in the Starbucks store. When using your iPhone or iPod touch, you will also be able to get the song on your Mac or PC for no additional charge. I learned about this today when I went into Starbucks. As part of the promotion, you can get a free, new song every day in Starbucks through November 7th. The first artist was Bob Dylan and has include greats such as Gloria Estefan and Mavis Staples; upcoming releases include Herbie Hancock, Dave Matthews, and John Mayer. Personally, I think this is a great combination of two great products, coffee and music, brrought to us by folks who know how to do it so well, Starbucks and Apple. That'll be a triple-grande-latte for me.

The TWiT Netcast Network

I have been listening to podcasts for years now, and the one that continues to stay on top is TWiT (This Week in Tech), the flagship show for the TWiT Netcast Network. Created by tech legend Leo Laporte, the TWiT network contains many wonderful technology podcasts for those of us who enjoy technology so much. (Go to Wikipedia to learn some TWiT history.) You can read Leo's bio yourself to get a sense of where he's been or read what Wikipedia has to say about Leo. Many of us remember him from the days of the Screen Savers and TechTV. Leo is well balanced between having a deep technology understanding and understanding that main stream technology (i.e. computers, cellphones, and the like) is too difficult for the average person. [BTW: he also hosts a technology help show, The Tech Guy , every Saturday and Sunday.] So what is TWiT and why do so many people enjoy the show? Well, it is Leo and his tech friends discussing the latest in technology news. You can get opinions on new

Finally Updated to iTunes 7

You may recall that September 20th of this year, I suggested that you should not be the first to take new software updates -- let others see if there are problems. In this case, I was speaking of iTunes 7, as many people were having problems (and on Apple's Discussions forum ) with the popular software. About a month ago, I finally installed iTunes 7 on the PC that I did not sync with. The new software seemed to work well, but I had no reason to update my PC used to sync my 3rd generation iPod. Yesterday, I finally took the plunge -- 3 months after my warning. Everything seemed fine, the software loaded fine, my iPod seemed to sync okay too. This morning though, I found a problem -- I no longer had Podcasts listed as an option in the playlist. Fortunately I could scroll through recently added songs and find my podcasts. Tonight I reconnected my iPod, found the Podcast tab on the iTunes sync screen, and specifically synced all podcasts. Now I do not know whether it was coincidenta

iTunes : Movie Studios : Wal-Mart

The New York Post reported September 22nd that Wal-Mart has threatened movie studios if they sell movies through the iTunes store. Consumers want to see several improvements in the online movie distribution business: Quality needs to go up DRM removed (or the same DRM across all platforms) The ability to watch a video without going to the store Access to a larger selection I think Wal-Mart's position works against the consumer and is giving the movie industry one more reason to continue to be scared of online distribtion. The fact is, we are a long way away from having the quality through digital download that you can get off of a disk, because bandwidth limitations. And for DRM consitancy, that will take even longer. Did I mention people are getting a larger selection ofmovies and other entertainment without going to the store, than ever before? So what is the big deal Wal-Mart? Seems like there is a more logical approach -- make a better offer to consumers. Instead of bullying t