iPod/iTunes Questions...

[nkotb]

Hopefully some of you can answers these for me.  I've tried the Apple forums with not much success, and would rather not try these things out and risk losing music or messing something up...
 
 !0 My biggest question is the sync up.  I've never used it with past iPods, but I've definitely seen the benefit with the Shuffle.  I just got an 80gb, and want to manually put the music on my iPod, but was hoping I could still sync changes between the two.  Is that possible without having iTunes automatically put everything in my library on my iPod?
 
 2) I also primarily use my iPod at the office to listen to music.  I realize that having sync messes things up because I don't keep a library at work.  Is it possible to turn on sync at my home computer and turn it off at work and avoid any data lose?

[TheDirector217]

That would be a negative, my friend.  My advice to you would be:
 
 1) Keep the iPOD on manual sync for both PCs
 2) Maintain a "Recently Added" List, that way you won't have to memorize what it is you've already added.
 
 Syncing between the two will almost ensure loss of songs, unless the two PCs have identical libraries (which I doubt).  Or you wil have to constantly backup/update the libraries on both PCs. (Of course, you cannot backup your iPod with iTunes.)
 
 Hope that helped . . . .

[ratioci nation]

You dont have to sync your entire library, you can choose playlists to sync with, i have a playlist that i call ipod which i treat as if i were manually updating my ipod
 
 and why do you need to plug your ipod in to the computer at work to listen to it? cant you just listen to it at work and then only plug it in to the computer at home?

[nkotb]

Maybe I should've made that part a little clearer.  I listen to music far more at work than I have a chance to at home.  Work is also where I do most of my ratings and things like that.  I was hoping to be able to put songs on the iPod, rate them, then have the play count and ratings be synced up to the home library.  Sounds like that isn't possible.
 
 I'm pretty new to actually using a lot of the features iTunes has.  I used to just throw songs on the iPod and have no backup library.  Two iPods later, I've since seen the error of my ways.
 
 

Originally posted by pdx pollard:
  You dont have to sync your entire library, you can choose playlists to sync with, i have a playlist that i call ipod which i treat as if i were manually updating my ipod
 
 and why do you need to plug your ipod in to the computer at work to listen to it? cant you just listen to it at work and then only plug it in to the computer at home?

[Jaguar]

Originally posted by TheDirector217:
  2) Maintain a "Recently Added" List, that way you won't have to memorize what it is you've already added.
 
 

Excellent suggestion.
 
 Another thing you may want to consider at times is if any given song is under 10mgs, Gmail it to yourself so you can upload it at your leisure.
 
 In fact, you may want to start doing something I do, partially for storage reasons but it helps for organization's sake too. Open a Gmail account that you use only for yourself. Whenever you receive an MP3 or picture you want to store, forward it to that account. Then create folders/tags for MP3, pictures, whatever, that you assign once they come in.
 
 Another thing I love about Gmail that I've never seen in any other email service is that you can assign multiple tags/folders to any given email.
 
 One suggestion though, do not give that account to anyone. No matter how many pleas you give to others to use it only for MP3s and pictures, others will still carry on conversations. Just stick to using it for your own storage and filing purposes.
 
 The downside is that each one will have to be uploaded individually rather than uploading an entire playlist as The Director suggested. Either way, they both have their advantages.

[ratioci nation]

Originally posted by nkotb:
  Maybe I should've made that part a little clearer.  I listen to music far more at work than I have a chance to at home.  Work is also where I do most of my ratings and things like that.  I was hoping to be able to put songs on the iPod, rate them, then have the play count and ratings be synced up to the home library.  Sounds like that isn't possible.
 
 I'm pretty new to actually using a lot of the features iTunes has.  I used to just throw songs on the iPod and have no backup library.  Two iPods later, I've since seen the error of my ways.
 
 

most stuff you can do directly on the ipod now, click the center button a couple of times while you are on a song and you can see you can rate a song right there on the ipod, when you sync at home the rating will be transferred to your library
 
 i was recently away from home for 2 weeks and while away rated songs and created playlists, when i got home I synced it for the first time in those 2 weeks and everything i had done while i was away transferred to the home computer, with a little trial and error I think you will find that you can avoid plugging in at work

[nkotb]

Wow, that's a feature I was hoping the iPod would have.  Had no clue it actually did!  Thanks pollard.  That's exactly what I was looking for!
 
 

Originally posted by pdx pollard:
  most stuff you can do directly on the ipod now, click the center button a couple of times while you are on a song and you can see you can rate a song right there on the ipod, when you sync at home the rating will be transferred to your library