Over the last twelve months there's been a noticeable trend towards getting more classical CD collections to rip. I'd like to think this is because podServe's marketing and web site (www.podserve.co.uk) has been emphasising the extra attention we pay to classical music libraries.
Maybe we take it for granted (and our Data Grooming software helps) but classical music is better on a Mac. Earlier this week Joe put a classical CD into one of our Windows systems and found the album data that got downloaded was corrupted. Thankfully he stopped and asked for help.
My suggestion, greeted with some scorn, was to put the CD into one of our Apple Macs. He was suitably amazed to find the album data appeared, in the correct format. Well done Apple.
So, if you're thinking of buying a new computer, or looking for a CD ripping platform, opt for the Mac - your music library will thank you for it.
Friday, June 29, 2007
Saturday, June 23, 2007
iPod Mysteries
Got a call for help - an observant iPod user noticed that when he synched his iPod the scren showed that 15 Gb of his 30 Gb iPod's storage was being used by 'other'. His question was what's in this 'other' section and how can he recover it for his music?
I went through what I thought was the obvious culprits, data, contacts, photos, games. No, none of those were responsible. Each time we tried to synch the lost half a disc stayed dedicated to 'other'. We tried to restore, no good. Then we finally accepted that a factory reset was the only option left. Did that, but still found the stubborn 15 Gb was out of reach. However we did prompt an error message - error 1428.
Looked this up on the Apple web site and it seemed to suggest the problem here is with Windows rather than the iPod or iTunes. At this point my client expressed concern that this really was a fault with his iPod and so rang the retailer, the iPod being only three months old and he didn't want a 'Friday afternoon' device. Happy ending - iPod replaced, no problem. That's Tesco for you.
Had to go to the Apple Store to invest in (yet another) 500 Gb hard drive. While I was in the queue to pay I rudely eavesdropped on a conversation between a lady and an Apple employee. She was complaining that her iPod often seemed to stall or jam, just stopping mid track. What was the suggested solution? Take the iPod to a technicain in another part of the store who would blast it with compressed air. The customer laughed (me too) but the Apple man was serious. Her iPod was duly taken away and the young lady stood aside to wait for the air to work its magic. I hung around hoping to hear the outcome but had to leave, not wanting to get a reputation as a stalker.
Can't wait until I get an iPod in with the same symptoms to try compressed air. I didn't think to ask if it should be hot or cold.
I went through what I thought was the obvious culprits, data, contacts, photos, games. No, none of those were responsible. Each time we tried to synch the lost half a disc stayed dedicated to 'other'. We tried to restore, no good. Then we finally accepted that a factory reset was the only option left. Did that, but still found the stubborn 15 Gb was out of reach. However we did prompt an error message - error 1428.
Looked this up on the Apple web site and it seemed to suggest the problem here is with Windows rather than the iPod or iTunes. At this point my client expressed concern that this really was a fault with his iPod and so rang the retailer, the iPod being only three months old and he didn't want a 'Friday afternoon' device. Happy ending - iPod replaced, no problem. That's Tesco for you.
Had to go to the Apple Store to invest in (yet another) 500 Gb hard drive. While I was in the queue to pay I rudely eavesdropped on a conversation between a lady and an Apple employee. She was complaining that her iPod often seemed to stall or jam, just stopping mid track. What was the suggested solution? Take the iPod to a technicain in another part of the store who would blast it with compressed air. The customer laughed (me too) but the Apple man was serious. Her iPod was duly taken away and the young lady stood aside to wait for the air to work its magic. I hung around hoping to hear the outcome but had to leave, not wanting to get a reputation as a stalker.
Can't wait until I get an iPod in with the same symptoms to try compressed air. I didn't think to ask if it should be hot or cold.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
iTunes, Hard Drives and The Joys of Windows
Several of our clients (www.podserve.co.uk) have reached the stage where their music libraries are larger than their hard drive on their laptop or PC. So, more and more people are looking to store their music on a separate hard drive, and it particularly suits people with second homes as it allows them to take their msuic with them.
Music library on a USB connected hard drive is a simple system on our Macs. Just plug the disc in, no problems. Leave the drive unplugged, no problem.
Windows? Oh, no. If you open iTunes even once without your hard drive being connected it loses all links between its internal libraries (the itl and itx files) and the real location of your music. You see a swathe of grey exclamation marks, against every track. You can't play your music, your iPod doesn't synch properly. The 'cure' is to reload all your tracks. Not only does this take time, but it means you lose the contents of all your (simple) playlists. Small consolation in that smart playlists rebuild themselves.
Twice in the last few days we've had to fix this problem for clients, neither of whom were happy that their hard built playlists had gone.
So, if your music is on a free standing hard drive - you must hae your drive connected and powered on BEFORE you open iTunes. Each and every time. Please don't blame podServe, Apple or iTunes. This is down to Microsoft and I'm afraid I don't know a work-around.
Music library on a USB connected hard drive is a simple system on our Macs. Just plug the disc in, no problems. Leave the drive unplugged, no problem.
Windows? Oh, no. If you open iTunes even once without your hard drive being connected it loses all links between its internal libraries (the itl and itx files) and the real location of your music. You see a swathe of grey exclamation marks, against every track. You can't play your music, your iPod doesn't synch properly. The 'cure' is to reload all your tracks. Not only does this take time, but it means you lose the contents of all your (simple) playlists. Small consolation in that smart playlists rebuild themselves.
Twice in the last few days we've had to fix this problem for clients, neither of whom were happy that their hard built playlists had gone.
So, if your music is on a free standing hard drive - you must hae your drive connected and powered on BEFORE you open iTunes. Each and every time. Please don't blame podServe, Apple or iTunes. This is down to Microsoft and I'm afraid I don't know a work-around.
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