musings, ramblings, things about iPods

links, resources, how-tos on the now ubiquitous mean machine: the iPod

iTunes 7 released sept 06

Finally, gapless playback. Our supplications have been answered.

The new iTunes 7 features a new look in buttons, layout and navigation, a tab browser of the iPod settings and delicious new tidbits like downloadable games and album art for tracks available on the music store, movies and TV shows, in addition to the podcast, music , photo and video capabilities it already gained in previous versions.

Gapless playback - why so special? Easy answer: Live albums listening without messy breaks. Bliss. This has got to be one feature that most iPodheads have been berating Apple about since the very beginning. Select the album tracks that should be gapless - e.g. select all, get info -> check option Gapless Album YES! On updating iTunes 7, a prompt window determines gapless playback on existing tracks in your library.

iTunes also now includes a backup feature, allowing you the option of saving your files onto discs.

The 3 view types are also a sweet feature. You can now choose the conventional column list view, a grouped album view and an album kaleidoscope view called CoverFlow. Very cool.

shot

iLounge's roundup on new features in iTunes 7

Apple's iTunes link

Apple's iTunes Service & Support

For newcomers to iTunes: the app is a multi-media jukebox that organizes audio and video files, podcasts, audiobooks, tvshows and movies. It also offers radio streaming and a built-in store.

It is designed as a partner to your iPod world. With iTunes 7, the iPod software updater is now integrated into the app. To add music from an album to your iPod, insert the disc, iTunes discerns album data if you're connected to the net and you're ready to rip the tunes into the library. Choose your quality setting and when done, drag your songs onto the iPod (that is if you are like me and manually manage your iPod).

The genius of iTunes lies in its intuitive categorization and sorting capabilities. The user can sort files in up to 29 categories, listed in vertical columns. Options include Artist, Album, Genre, Beats per Minute, Date Added, Last Played or Size.

my iTunes habits

Since I manually manage my iPod I keep my iTunes library sorted in Date Added order. In this way I know what I've already added to the pod or not.

I use a good quality rip rate 160 AAC. Tips on quality sizes are here: Apple compares mp3 and AAC codecs

audio shootout

Ratings are another thing I like using. For me the stars mean
5 = can't live without
4 = love it
3 = like it
2 = not really
1 = erase

playlists

Me personally, I'm a neat tagger of files, so I like to have my music assigned to genres, track number, the right album, album art etc etc. This is cos I use this data to create smart playlists. Yes, not enough people use playlists or have discovered the greatness of smart playlists. I have several. Here are my faves:

Da capo: date added last 2 months, list 100 selected by most often played, live updating, match checked items (I get to hear stuff I'm addicted to over and over again)

Meet and greet: list 100 items most recently added (I get to know the new stuff I add)

Top of the rock heap: Match all, genre contains "rock", rating is greated as 4 stars, limit to 100 least recently played

Unrated: my rating is (naught) in this way I can listen to songs I don't really know yet

My standard playlists include:

One hit wonder: only song by a certain artist (like a feather/nikka costa, echt/junimond or sweet thing/mary j. blige)

Smells like teen spirit: headbangers (linkin park/faint, p.o.d./sleeping awake, freak on a leash/korn)

Pleasure treasures: tunes that give me an instant high (puddle of mudd/blurry, led zeppelin/fool in the rain, paranoid android/radiohead)

tip: Did you know that you can set the play or list order of songs on your playlists? Sort in whatever order you like (e.g. artist, album or genre) and right click on playlist name -> "copy to play order".

 

More ideas for playlists at smartplaylists.com