So, I bought my dad an iPod, the new 40 gb one, since he has more music cd’s than a Sam Goody. What he does not have, though, is a huge hardrive - it’s a 20, I think - but in any case, smaller than the memory on the iPod. He’s been methodically transferring his CD’s to the computer to iTunes, then to the iPod, but he will be running out of room soon.
I have the 10mb, and I noticed that if a song is deleted on the iTunes library, it goes away thanks to the automatic sync (right?). If he sets the iPod to manual update, will the 2000 songs he’s already transferred to the iPod be safe when he deletes the files in the library?
thanks in advance for your help!
<returns to lurking>
Why not just try it? Save all the songs you’ve already ripped from the CDs in a safe place (maybe mp3 CDs), but not on the hard drive. (If you don’t do this, you’ll still have the original CDs, but you’ll have to rip them again – not the end of the world.)
In any case, set it to manual update, then transfer something onto the iPod, delete it from the computer, and when you plug the iPod back in, check if it’s automatically deleted from the iPod or not. If it is, then I would check the manual that came with the iPod or the online help at the Apple website, if there is any. Good luck
You can do it with manual update. I was doing this for a while with my 15 GB iPod when I had a 10 GB hard drive in an iMac. I would also point out that hard drives are getting extraordinarily cheap, though. I bought my brother an 80 GB 7200 RPM 8 MB cache hard drive from Best Buy for $50 a few weeks ago. I see drives on sale for this price (usually with a mail-in-rebate) all of the time. Just keep your eyes out.
I believe the files will be “safe” in the sense that they won’t be deleted by iTunes. But they won’t be safe if the iPod gets lost or stolen, or if the drive crashes. (As mine did recently ) In addition, you can’t transfer files back from the iPod to the PC without using third-party hacks. I would recommend buying an additional hard drive for your computer and keeping a copy there.
Manual updating means that you tell iTunes which songs to add or remove from your iPod. Automatic means it will synch up the songs from your iTunes library to your iPod and vice versa.
Seems like a risky proposition. You should consider that even if this does work, if the “automatic update” ever gets turned back on (for example, you rebuild your computer and reinstall all the software, but don’t remember to apply your custom preferences to everything), his only copy of some of his music will just magically disappear.
My solution would probably be to spend $80 or so on an external USB hard drive that can hold all of his music.
) In addition, you can’t transfer files back from the iPod to the PC without using third-party hacks. I would recommend buying an additional hard drive for your computer and keeping a copy there.