# The Offcial "iPod for Dummies" Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 4, 2006, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-offcial-ipod-for-dummies-thread/338417 "2006-01-04T17:11:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-offcial-ipod-for-dummies-thread/338417/21 "2006-01-04T20:39:07Z")
Here’s a stupid question: I have iTunes installed on both my home laptop and my work laptop. In anticipation of Santa bringing me an iPod, I’ve been purchasing music for a few months, sometimes downloading songs at work and sometimes downloading them at home. (I have to download them when the mood strikes!) So I’ve got two p.c.s with different playlists. Now I have my iPod and I want to transfer all the songs to it. It automatically downloaded the playlist into the nano when I connected it. Trouble is when I connect to my work laptop, it overwrites the existing playlist with that library. I want BOTH playlists on my nano. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Spongemom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Spongemom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spongemom)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-offcial-ipod-for-dummies-thread/338417/22 "2006-01-04T20:56:54Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > Here’s a stupid question: > > I have iTunes installed on both my home laptop and my work laptop. In anticipation of Santa bringing me an iPod, I’ve been purchasing music for a few months, sometimes downloading songs at work and sometimes downloading them at home. (I have to download them when the mood strikes!) So I’ve got two p.c.s with different playlists. > > Now I have my iPod and I want to transfer all the songs to it. It automatically downloaded the playlist into the nano when I connected it. Trouble is when I connect to my work laptop, it overwrites the existing playlist with that library. I want BOTH playlists on my nano. > > Any ideas? Here’s one (only semi-complicated) idea: On one computer, put all your music files into a zip file, upload the zip to [yousendit.com](http://yousendit.com) and send it to your own email address. Open that email on the other computer, download the zip file and unload it, thus combining your entire collection in one place. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingDragonFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c89c15/32.png) [@FlyingDragonFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingDragonFan)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-offcial-ipod-for-dummies-thread/338417/23 "2006-01-04T21:39:29Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > You can’t get rid of the gap. At all. The iPods has to get the next song from its harddrive. That takes time. I don’t think that’s what causes the gap. It’s my understanding that the iPod loads roughly 30 minutes of music into its memory at one time, so it’s not accessing the hard drive so often. I could be wrong, though. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-offcial-ipod-for-dummies-thread/338417/24 "2006-01-04T22:31:48Z")
From my recollection of reading the manual, it said the iPod does actually load individual songs as they come up, not a half-hour (or any bloc of time) at once. It said this in the context of cautioning me not to play “long” songs very often, because the iPod has to keep the whole thing in active memory, so the longer the song, the more power the dingus has to expend to keep that much memory active. Hmm, I may try re-ripping my operas as single files per disc. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-offcial-ipod-for-dummies-thread/338417/25 "2006-01-04T23:07:16Z")
Okay. I have duplicate songs and one file that makes the iPod freeze up. How do I get rid of these? Robin ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-offcial-ipod-for-dummies-thread/338417/26 "2006-01-04T23:12:07Z")
> [@Spongemom](#): > > Here’s one (only semi-complicated) idea: On one computer, put all your music files into a zip file, upload the zip to [yousendit.com](http://yousendit.com) and send it to your own email address. Open that email on the other computer, download the zip file and unload it, thus combining your entire collection in one place. You could set the iPod to **manually manage songs and playlists** , then it won’t automatically overwrite the existing songs on connection. You can just drag and drop. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-offcial-ipod-for-dummies-thread/338417/27 "2006-01-04T23:15:44Z")
To import specific CDs as single tracks (such as operas): > [@](#): > > To remove the gap of silence that normally occurs between songs, make sure the songs on the CD are sorted by track number in ascending order (click the top of the first column so that it’s blue and you see a triangle that points up), then select two or more adjacent songs and choose Advanced \> Join CD Tracks. > > iTunes imports any joined songs as one track. To change back to importing the songs separately, select the joined songs and choose Advanced \> Unjoin CD Tracks. To identify duplicate songs in a library or playlist, use Edit \> Show Duplicate Songs. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingDragonFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c89c15/32.png) [@FlyingDragonFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingDragonFan)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-offcial-ipod-for-dummies-thread/338417/28 "2006-01-05T00:35:59Z")
> [@MsRobyn](#): > > Okay. I have duplicate songs and one file that makes the iPod freeze up. > > How do I get rid of these? With your iPod selected in iTunes (but not any individual playlist), go to Edit \> Show Duplicate Songs. Then just select the songs you want to delete, then just Delete 'em. Click the Show All Songs button at the bottom of the content window to go back to full view. And if I’m not mistaken, deleting a song from a playlist on your iPod does not delete the file from the iPod. You have to be viewing the full iPod contents to delete a file. ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-offcial-ipod-for-dummies-thread/338417/29 "2006-01-05T15:41:35Z")
Thanks **Crusoe** , I’ll have to re-rip the albums that have connecting tracks and try that out. Here’s something I just discovered in iTunes that’s helpful: If you want to highlight a big chunk of songs (that are in a row), rather than holding down CTRL and clicking each one separately, you can click the first one in the group, hold down the Shift key, and click the last one in the group, and it will highlight everything in between! Pretty nifty… ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-offcial-ipod-for-dummies-thread/338417/30 "2006-01-05T15:52:23Z")
> [@DooWahDiddy](#): > > If you want to highlight a big chunk of songs (that are in a row), … you can click the first one in the group, hold down the Shift key, and click the last one in the group, and it will highlight everything in between! FYI, that’s standard behavior for Windows (and maybe other systems too). You can select multiple files in Windows Explorer that way, for example. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-offcial-ipod-for-dummies-thread/338417/31 "2006-01-06T10:50:22Z")
> [@FlyingDragonFan](#): > > With your iPod selected in iTunes (but not any individual playlist), go to Edit \> Show Duplicate Songs. Then just select the songs you want to delete, then just Delete 'em. Click the Show All Songs button at the bottom of the content window to go back to full view. And if I’m not mistaken, deleting a song from a playlist on your iPod does not delete the file from the iPod. You have to be viewing the full iPod contents to delete a file. Ah, thank you. I just went through and weeded out the bad file plus other stuff I didn’t really want. Robin ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-offcial-ipod-for-dummies-thread/338417/32 "2006-01-06T15:28:59Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > You can’t get rid of the gap. At all. The iPods has to get the next song from its harddrive. That takes time. > > As for other neat tweaks, did you know you can put linux on your iPod? Linux is kinda neat, but not nearly as cool as puting [Doom on your iPod](http://idoom.hyarion.com/index.php). ---
**Author:** ![Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stark_Raven_Mad)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-offcial-ipod-for-dummies-thread/338417/33 "2006-01-06T16:38:14Z")
For the folks who have problems with the gap between tracks, have you tried defragging your iPod? It _is_ a hard drive, you know. I’ll report back after I try it. ---
**Author:** ![Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stark_Raven_Mad)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-offcial-ipod-for-dummies-thread/338417/34 "2006-01-06T17:28:27Z")
Yep. Try it. Disk mode, then defrag it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-offcial-ipod-for-dummies-thread/338417.md?page=1)