iTunes + iPod Tips & Tricks
April 2004

Be a Radio DJ

So you want to be a radio DJ? Once upon a time Apple® allowed iTunes users to beam their music, radio station like, across the internet to any destination. Apple removed this function when it launched its music store, fearing reprisals from the Big Five record labels. But, today, users can still play disc jockey across their personal network.

Sharing music on a local network is easy. First, open iTunes Preferences. Then, click on the Sharing icon, and select Share my music. You can choose to share your entire library, or specific playlists. Once you've authorized sharing, go to another computer on your local network, open iTunes, and check the source list to reveal any shared libraries. Select your library, and you're good to go.

Be an iPod Doctor

If your iPod is behaving oddly, you can access the iPod's diagnostic mode and attempt to discover the problem. If your iPod's drive seems problematic, scanning the disc will attempt to repair the drive. First, reset the iPod by holding down the Menu and Play buttons simultaneously. Then, when the Apple logo comes on the screen, hold down the Previous, Next, Select, and Menu buttons. A progress bar, complemented by an animated logo, will appear on your screen. The test can take up to 20 minutes; so if the iPod isn't fully charged, plug it into a power source.

Turn Your iPod into a Tape Recorder

Belkin's Voice Recorder (www.belkin.com), which retails at about $60, allows conversion of the iPod from a portable jukebox into a portable stenographer. The recorder, which attaches to the iPod's headphone jack, allows the recording of personal memos, lectures, interviews, conversations, and anything else you might feel the need to record in mono wave format. Unfortunately, the recorder only works with third generation iPods running iPod Version 2.1 or later software.

The iPod is Your Castle

Ever wanted to play songs off your iPod while at another computer? Or had your iPod mysteriously eat your entire collection? While Apple doesn't explicitly support third party applications that allow users to reverse-rip songs from their iPod to their own or other computers, such applications do exist. One such application is iPodRip (www.thelittleappfactory.com/software/ipodrip.php), which allows users to transfer music from their iPods back to their iTunes libraries.

The program also facilitates listening to music directly on an iPod, saving hard drive space, and serves as a Norton Utilities®-like application for recovering files that would otherwise be lost to the iPod ether.

Make a Smart Playlist

Why go to the trouble of making complex playlists when iTunes can do it for you? Using iTunes' smart playlist feature, users can create automated playlists based on genre, ratings, frequency of play, date added, and a host of other configurations. Just go to the File menu in iTunes, select Create new smart playlist, and configure away.

The most dynamic automatic playlists are based on genre, star ratings, or date added. Try rating your songs, creating a smart playlist with only songs with a four star rating or above. Or, create a playlist that only incorporates songs that have been added to your library in the past two weeks. Or, create a playlist limited to Grateful Dead songs from 1969. The smart playlist option puts you fully in control of your music and makes your listening experience easier and all the more enjoyable.

Make your iPod Faster

You may be familiar with DiskWarrior® (www.alsoft.com), a defragging application that makes hard drives run faster. But did you know you can use DiskWarrior to make your iPod run faster? DiskWarrior basically rebuilds hard drives in a manner similar to defragging but ordering files in a more efficient manner.

The process decreases the time it takes for a hard drive (like the iPod has) to access files. Like anything, the iPod's hard drive begins to show signs of wear and tear after a period of normal, prolonged use. Defragging the hard drive that runs your iPod can reorder the way your iPod stores your MP3s, and thus increases its speed.

Make Your Favorite Artists Come out on Top

Have you ever been in a rush to get to that song by your favorite artist, only to be thwarted by the sheer mass of your iPods MP3 collection? Would you like a way to make sure your favorite or most frequently played artists always appear at the beginning of your iPod's artist list? Try this: When you are on your computer, go to your iTunes music library and find the folder for the artist whom you'd like to place on top of your iPod's artist list. Place a hyphen (-) before the artist's name. Repeat for as many artists as you'd like to appear first in your iPod's artist list. The next time your iPod autosyncs with iTunes, these artists will appear first on your iPod. Or, if you move songs over manually, any song by the artists you've specified with a hyphen will now appear under that artist's heading in your iPod's artist directory. This method also works for songs that you want to appear first in a particular sub directory or artist's catalogue.

Amplify Your MP3 Collection

Plug in iTrip (www.griffintechnology.com/products/itrip) and unleash your favorite iPod tunes. iTrip allows you to take over any FM radio with your iPod to play your tunes through its system. Now, you can freak out your friends hijacking their sound systems. Best of all, no batteries are necessary.

Publish Your Top Ten List

Now playing in iChat is an iChat AV-to-iTunes tool that integrates the two great Apple applications into a nice little package so that you'll be able to view and show other, using iChat, what you're listening to on iTunes.. When you start iTunes, then start up iChat AV. Insert the script into your iTunes scripts folder located in Home > Library > iTunes. Finally, select it by clicking on its name.

Your Own Music Video Without MTV or VH1

Visualizer allows you to view a truly fascinating kaleidoscopic of animated graphics moving in concert to the rhythm of whatever music you're playing. With one simple keystroke, pressing the H key, you'll be able to control the frame rate of the animations and know who made what particular animation. Here's one nifty trick: turn on the Visualizer, press the H key, then when the menu pops up press the ? key. Another menu will appear at which point you can then click the R key repeatedly to randomly change the designs flowing across your screen. Addictive.

iTunes Easter Egg

Finally, I thought I'd throw in an iTunes Easter Egg that has been whispered about, but not widely acknowledged. It's not super sexy, but entertaining nonetheless. Open the About iTunes window. Then, while credits for the software team are scrolling, click the Option key and you'll see that you can make the text flow backwards in real time. If you're completely juvenile, like me, you'll probably use the function to scratch the text back and forth like a DJ.

Okay, there's your road map to fun with iTunes and the iPod. Now get out there and have fun!