By Lou Dolinar
Ninth in a series
Updated Feb. 14, 2006

Pods seem so easy to use, few people do more than skim the manual before they start out transferring files. But there are some quirks you need to understand.

The main one is that the iPod presents a classic problem of synchronization, the bugaboo of data management. How do you keep identical sets of data on two devices when you update one or the other?

The usual setting for sync issues is the good old PDA, or personal digital assistant. You have lists of phone numbers, addresses and appointments on the computer; sync software, when you plug in the PDA, automatically transfers this data to the PDA. Off you go with the PDA, meet a new client, jot down an appointment and phone number on the PDA. Plug it back into the computer, and the info is transferred to the PC as well. Unless you intervene manually, when either device is updated, the other device becomes its mirror image when reconnected. Thus you not only have sync, you have automatic backup of all your common data.

The key thing to understand about data management on an iPod is that synchronization only works one way - from the Mac or PC to the iPod, not from the iPod to the computer. Your iPod will take music from iTunes, but you can't easily transfer music from the iPod back unless you use non-Apple software or some other work-around. I suspect that, in part, Apple went this route because it is easier to understand and implement.

It also tends to deter music piracy. If the iPod worked like the typical PDA, it would be the greatest device ever for stealing music: Plug it into a friend's PC, and you would get all of his or her tunes, and the friend would get all your tunes, in a matter of minutes. Plug it back into your PC, and you'd have a full copy there as well. Repeat with all your friends until everyone has 40 gigabytes of illegal MP3s.

But of course iTunes and iPod do not work that way. In its default mode on the original computer where iTunes is installed, as many new users have found to their horror, iTunes automatically deletes any files from the iPod that aren't in iTunes, even as it adds any new files it finds, all without prompting or a chance to backtrack. When you connect the iPod to another computer, all that a naive pirate accomplishes is to replace his library with his co- conspirator's - something my teen daughter, Ann, tells me has happened inadvertently to the majority of her iPodded classmates. On a more mundane note, if you've inadvertently messed up some of your iTunes library, the deletions or changes will be automatically implemented on the iPod.

This brings us to the first, most important iPod trick: How to turn off auto-sync so you only add files manually.

In Windows iTunes, go to Preferences, select the iPod tab and check "Manually Manage Songs and Playlists." Note that you can only do this with an iPod attached. This turns off auto-sync, while still allowing you to copy individual files by hand. This is the safest setting to use if you've loaded most of your library and only need to copy a few songs at a time. You'll also use this approach if you have two iPods sharing parts of a common library.

What happens if you lose your iTunes library by, for example, a disk crash? If you install iTunes and have it running, then plug in the iPod, it will then dutifully update your iPod to a blank library, deleting all files without prompting.

On a PC, the simple work-around here is to first move the files, then load iTunes. (Paranoid me, when this happened to my daughter, I deleted iTunes before I moved the files.) A PC treats a PC- formatted iPod like any other disk drive. You'll find it listed under My Computer. Set your options so you can view hidden folders: Tools Folder Options View. Under Hidden Files & Folders select Show Hidden Files & Folders. Then browse your iPod. Go to the folder: iPod_control/Music. Drag the folder to your PC's desktop, eject the iPod by using the taskbar's Safely Remove Hardware, then unplug your iPod.

The contents of the folder you've transferred are a mishmash and aren't sorted into subfolder by artist and album. Assuming the track information is there, you can correct this when you import the files into iTunes. In iTunes for Windows, go to Preferences/Advanced. Check "Keep iTunes Music Folder Organized" to sort the files by artist and album, and check "Copy files to iTunes library." Then go to File/Add Folder to Library and select the desktop folder where you've place the music. This should all be copied to the default iTunes folder (the path is listed in Preferences/Advanced) where it will be restructured into folders by artist and album.

You'll need add-on software to do this on a Mac, and third-party software makes the job easier on a PC as well. More on that next time.

PERSONAL TECHNOLOGY, Synchronizing your iPod files

[NASSAU AND SUFFOLK Edition]

Newsday - Long Island, N.Y.

Author: Lou Dolinar

Date: May 29, 2005

Start Page: A.70

Edition: Combined editions

Section: MONEY & CAREERS

Text Word Count: 892

Document Text

(Copyright Newsday Inc., 2005)