I didn’t know that…thanks for the info!
-XT
I have the Ipod Touch and use a free utility - Sharepod.
My iTunes install got screwed and tried to reinstall but the process always aborted because there were still traces of the previous version on my comp. Never could get rid of everything even going into the registry. But Sharepod works for me. It autosyncs with each file as you add.
No one knows the answer to my question???
Does it make a difference if you go into the Audiobooks menu, as described above, and play them that way instead of through playlists or the regular Songs menu?
No. You can choose to only copy specific playlists, or you can just have it sync the folder designated for that ipod in which you put whatever music you want on the ipod. There’s slightly different criteria for other types of media (podcasts, audiobooks, etc) but they aren’t just synced over entirely unless you choose that as an option.
Really the best way to control what’s on your ipod is through iTunes. There’s some pretty sophisticated controls for deciding what goes on your ipod and what doesn’t.
I haven’t tried it myself, but I strongly suspect that audiobooks will ignore shuffle if you play them from the audiobook menu. If they don’t appear as audiobooks for some reason, you can select ‘get info’ on the audiobook files in itunes and change their format to audiobook.
If you refuse to use itunes, maybe if you stick the files in the audiobooks folder on the ipod it will have the same effect, I don’t know. You can always just turn off the shuffle while listening to the audiobook.
But in iTunes, as far as I can tell, there is no way to make playlists “always shuffle” or “never shuffle”, although there’s an option to skip compilation files when in shuffle mode.
Of course, this all doesn’t mean much if you have the tiny ipod with no screen…is that the case?
Some more useful audiobook on ipod info: http://aldoblog.com/audiobooks/itunes/frequently-asked-questions/
If you select a song or group of songs and right click and select “get info”, and the “options” tab, you will see a checkbox called “part of a gapless album”… I’m not sure what it does, but it seems worth trying. Assuming all your chapters are tracks and your audiobook is an album, I would guess that checking that box will force them all to play together in order.
I THINK that just eliminates the 2-3 seconds between tracks you might otherwise hear, making it seem like a seamless transition.
And when are they going to fix the Ipod cover flow so it goes by “album artist” instead of “artist”?
To jackdavinci:
I do use iTunes, but I don’t want it to automatically sync anything. I don’t have the same playlists on my iPod as I do on my computer; why would I? One is for traveling and one is for home and thus I have different needs for them. I am quite content to drag songs one at a time or in groups. That’s not important anyway…
But the whole point is, I don’t want to have to turn shuffle off every time. I mean, I do it now, so it’s not the end of the world, but I was hoping for an alternative method.
Oh, and I have a 30GB iPod, with the screen. An older model but it serves me quite well.
Since this thread is still open I have a question/problem. I have a directory with a bunch of .MP3 audio books in it. When I go into iTunes and do an Add Folder to Library it adds in the folder fine…but only about half of the files are listed in the iTunes folder, though a quick check indicates they are all there. When I go to Add File to Library it seems to add the files…but I can’t find them anywhere.
Anyone know what’s going on?
-XT
Unfortunately there is no real way around this problem. You have to go to settings and turn off shuffle to listen to your audio book playlists, then go back and turn it on to listen to music playlists. I listen to music and audiobooks and this drives me crazy. I love when I forget to turn shuffle on and don’t realize it until I have listened to 5 songs that begin with ‘A’.
One option would be to use the ‘shuffle songs’ option on the main menu of your iPod, this will shuffle all your music and skip your audiobooks and anything else marked ‘skip when shuffling’ If you did this you could leave the ‘shuffle songs’ option off but you cannot select certain playlists, it only shuffles all your music.
Another option would be to merge your audio books into large files (about 4-5 hours) so that having shuffle turned on is not a problem.
I don’t quite understand this, since more than one playlist can have the same song in it. The standard way to use itunes is to have every playlist on your computer, but only sync the playlists to you ipod that you want on your ipod:
Library: Songs 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8
Playlist 1 for home: songs 1, 4, 5, 6
Playlist 2 for home: songs 1, 7
Playlist 3 for away: songs 2, 3, 7, 8
Play list 4 for away: songs 4, 8
Sync playlists 3 and 4 only to your ipod, then your ipod will have playlists 3, 4, and songs 2, 3, 4, 7, 8 but not playlists 1 or 2 or songs 1, 5 or 6
If you don’t sync, I don’t see how you can put the same song in more than one playlist without duplicating it?