iTunes crash course needed.

[matt j]

So having taken delivery of an ipod touch earlier I'm now some sort of apple geek or something, unfortunately this geekness doesn't get downloaded to your brain on first use of the headphones (Pffft) so I have absolutely no clue how to effectively use iTunes.

My music is stored as FLAC as I use a squeezebox for the Hi-Fi, so how do I quickly convert and add music to itunes to sync with the touch? for some reason DBpoweramp isn't playing ball, even though I have the mp4/ACC codec installed.

Quality isn't a priority as it's only an 8gb (bought more for a remote than a portable music player) so 128kbps will do.

Ironically I've got the touch working a treat and it's already running ipeng and controlling the Hi-Fi, but I could do with some advice on adding music to it easily and quickly.

[Purite Audio]

Matt HI, just sync it with your itunes library, when you plug it in, you will be asked what you want to do,
Keith.

[matt j]

Hi Keith,

There isn't anything in my itunes library, it wont take FLAC will it? I thought I'd need to convert stuff.

[spacey]

You'll need to do a batch convert with dbpower from flac to alac.

[matt j]

isn't that lossless? not enough room on the ipod for lossless me thinks.

I reckon I've cracked it now, I'm converting to mp3 and then dragging them into itunes, not sure if it's the most convenient way but it seems to be working.

One thing that does have me scratching my chin - eventually I want to use an apple TV for the music which will obviously be ALAC, but how do I sync an ipod with itunes and put the same music on it but in 128 or 192? can itunes cope with multiple copies of albums at different bitrates, or am I getting confused?

[spacey]

No no don't do that, convert all to ALAC (if you have hdd space) as iTunes transcodes to 128 on the fly when syncing to an ipod. I use exactly what you want, my ATV and laptop both run ALAC and my iPod, iTouch and iPhone are all synced to the same library only transcoded to lossy on the fly. Are you running the latest version of iTunes?

[matt j]

I'm lost now.

[moo-fi]

Everything you ever need for Itunes;
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/art...sts-in-itunes/
Nothing to do with me but it helped a lot to sort my collection out.

Fred.

[Jack Barriere]

Lots of room on 160 classic for lossless. Making play list for your touch also works.

[Peter Stockwell]

Originally Posted by matt j

isn't that lossless? not enough room on the ipod for lossless me thinks.

I reckon I've cracked it now, I'm converting to mp3 and then dragging them into itunes, not sure if it's the most convenient way but it seems to be working.

One thing that does have me scratching my chin - eventually I want to use an apple TV for the music which will obviously be ALAC, but how do I sync an ipod with itunes and put the same music on it but in 128 or 192? can itunes cope with multiple copies of albums at different bitrates, or am I getting confused?

arrggghhhhh.

Do what Spacey sez:

Convert your FLACs to ALACs using an dBPoweramp or whatever.

Import those ALACs to iTunes, There's an option in iTunes that collects all your music and puts in one place, your iTunes library.

If you do that, you'll now have iTunes as your music organiser and tagging utility, and i'ts pretty good for that. There's lot's of ways you can edit sort criteria, etc. to get your music organised how you want, but we'll not go into that here.

Now, when you connect your iPod Touch, there's an option that says "convert higher rate files to 128Kbps", you check this box before syncing to your touch.

Also, before syncing your ipod touch, you either, check the box that says select only "selected playlists and/or artists", or you check "manage music manually". The difference between these two is, that the first is semi automatic you check your favourite artists in the artists list that is proposed when your ipod is connected for syncing (the page is not presented when there's no ipod connected) . With manual management you drag the files that you want from your music library(within iTunes) to the ipod your are syncing.

You'll need to change some settings, also, in squeezebox server so that squeezebox uses your iTunes managed music.

If you do what I've outlined above you'll only have one music source to manage.

I have the similiar setup to you, Squeezebox for the main rig, ipod touch for on the go.

PM me if you wish.

[matt j]

Thanks Peter, I get it now. I'll have a fiddle today and see if I can get it all set up properly.

[onlyconnect]

Originally Posted by matt j

So having taken delivery of an ipod touch earlier I'm now some sort of apple geek or something, unfortunately this geekness doesn't get downloaded to your brain on first use of the headphones (Pffft) so I have absolutely no clue how to effectively use iTunes.

I try to avoid iTunes but Apple doesn't make it easy if you want to use its gadgets.

I use dbPowerAmp batch converter to convert my FLACs to MP3 in a separate folder, then point iTunes at that folder.

Why MP3? Because it's a bit more universal than AAC.

Tim

[onlyconnect]

Originally Posted by Peter Stockwell

Convert your FLACs to ALACs using an dBPoweramp or whatever.

Do you really want ALAC on a Touch? Up to you, but it seems a waste of space to me.

Tim

[matt j]

The ALAC isn't for the touch, squeezebox imports itunes so the lossless is for the hi-fi, I can select the stuff going onto the touch to be dropped down to 128 when syncing.

[garyi]

This thread is hilarious.

Just to throw another spanner in the works, fuck apple and install XBMC or BOXEE on your apple tv, now you don't need itunes at all and it will happily play FLACs and just about any video format known in this fair country.