iPhone iPod Question

Posted by: oliver

iPhone iPod Question - 23/10/2007 13:48

I just picked up an iPhone last friday, which I love besides the activation process. (needed a pre-approval code, it was after hours so I couldn't goto the AT&T store, everyone on the phone was completely useless, ended up making 2 trips the next day to the store, and finally got someone on the phone the next day which was able to sort things out)

Anyways, Now I've got some music loaded onto the device, I figured it would be pretty simple to play an album in it's track order. Unless I'm completely blind and don't understand the iPod at all (I've never owned one before).

I have to...
1. Tap Shuffle inside the album
2. Tap Album Art
3. Tap the Shuffle icon
4. Tap the tracklist icon
5. Scroll up to top, and tap the first song.

Which is complete and utter garbage. Like I said, maybe I'm blind, but that's the only was I could figure out to play an album how it was designed to be listened to.

This is also the first product I needed to check the user manual to figure out something which should be dead simple. Otherwise I probably would of never of found to tap the album art when it was playing, to get the shuffle/repeat controls.
Posted by: drakino

Re: iPhone iPod Question - 23/10/2007 14:55

Just went through this on mine, and you are force turning on shuffle, then turning it off. The iPod then just keeps playing from the track it was on to the end of the album, till you go to the first track.

Instead do this:

1. Tap iPod icon
2. Tap Albums at the bottom
3. Select Album
4. Tap first song, the one listed below shuffle.

Album will start playing the first track, and if shuffle mode is off (tap the album artwork, verify shuffle icon is white to indicate off) then the next track will be number 2.
Posted by: drakino

Re: iPhone iPod Question - 23/10/2007 15:00

Also, something that might help to get fully up to speed on the device would be to watch the videos Apple has posted here and here.
Posted by: oliver

Re: iPhone iPod Question - 23/10/2007 15:30

Quote:

Album will start playing the first track, and if shuffle mode is off (tap the album artwork, verify shuffle icon is white to indicate off) then the next track will be number 2.


I just assumed tapping a song, would play just that one song. I never tried going about it that way. And you're right, it does work. Thanks!
Posted by: altman

Re: iPhone iPod Question - 24/10/2007 04:07

Yes, that's how the original empeg/rio stuff worked, but from user comments ISTR that people preferred that you just "kept playing" after picking a track. I think the Trekstor worked that way but it's not to hand...

Hugo
Posted by: hybrid8

Re: iPhone iPod Question - 24/10/2007 12:27

I'm sorry to say this Hugo, but only one company, as far as I can tell, has DAP done (as close to) right as possible: Slim Devices with their SlimServer (now Squeeze Center). A very close second to the empeg. I've never used a Karma, but I definitely didn't get along with the UI/navigation on the Chiba and Cali.

I'm glad to see the new touch-screen interface for the iPod improve things a bit, but the classic interface (every iPod except the touch and iPhone) has a UI that completely stinks, is totally unintuitive and has abysmal sorting and grouping performance based on tags. I'm guessing they didn't let you completely overhaul that.

I'm convinced that the only reason we don't see more complaints is because most people just play individual tracks and pre-defined playlists. Or likely, play the whole thing on shuffle. To someone with a properly tagged music collection and the expectation of being able to change music on the fly without interrupting what's now playing, it's a nightmare.

Don't even get me started on the scroll wheel. It's the interface equivalent of that animated spinning ballerina silhouette.
Posted by: rob

Re: iPhone iPod Question - 24/10/2007 21:37

Quote:
I'm convinced that the only reason we don't see more complaints is because most people just play individual tracks and pre-defined playlists.

I think it's likely that to most people the iPod is complete magic and it hasn't occured to them that things could be better.

Rob
Posted by: oliver

Re: iPhone iPod Question - 25/10/2007 05:23

i just wish i could find a pair of black headphones with a clicker for less than $100. i hate walking around with these stupid white headphones. plus, working in a shop during the day, white is the absolute worst color on the planet when you're around grease.

also, i can't figure out why iTunes likes to group 1-3 songs from a few of my albums separately, even though I've reset all the tags (artist, album, album artist, genre, and year).

can i sort the iTunes music list to display by folder? so I can try and fix a few of these a bit easier (like thievery corp, which almost every song is a separate album)

are their any alternatives to itunes on windows?
Posted by: tman

Re: iPhone iPod Question - 25/10/2007 06:26

Quote:
are their any alternatives to itunes on windows?

There are some programs around like EphPod but I don't know if they even work for the latest versions. Probably doesn't work at all for the iPhone or the iPod Touch as the interface is different now.
Posted by: Roger

Re: iPhone iPod Question - 25/10/2007 07:46

Quote:
are their any alternatives to itunes on windows?


Yeah, I'd like something else instead too, 'cos I loathe iTunes.

I tried Anapod, but I couldn't get it to work with my Shuffle (probably because I run non-Admin).

I used XPlay in the past, and may try it again. I'd have preferred something a little less invasive than a shell extension, because it's not like I plug the iPod into the PC every day.
Posted by: oliver

Re: iPhone iPod Question - 25/10/2007 12:42

on a non-ipod related question. the built in alarm clock causes the usage counter to increase while the device is in standby, it also causes about 2x the battery drain. it seems like a simple alarm shouldn't create such a hit on the battery.

also, if i have a weekend only alarm, to remind me it's time to go drinkin', shouldn't it know today isn't friday or saturday and not cause that much/any usage/drain?
Posted by: tman

Re: iPhone iPod Question - 25/10/2007 15:06

It has to check to see if the alarm time has past so it has to keep leaving sleep mode.

Quote:
also, if i have a weekend only alarm, to remind me it's time to go drinkin', shouldn't it know today isn't friday or saturday and not cause that much/any usage/drain?

You might not turn your iPod back on between now and the weekend.
Posted by: webroach

Re: iPhone iPod Question - 26/10/2007 00:13

Quote:
also, i can't figure out why iTunes likes to group 1-3 songs from a few of my albums separately, even though I've reset all the tags (artist, album, album artist, genre, and year)


This seems to be a bug, but there's an easy fix: multi-select all tracks from the album, change the album name to "<albumname>1", then when it finishes, change it back to <albumname>". Works for me every time.
Posted by: DBALKUNJR

Re: iPhone iPod Question - 29/10/2007 23:05

Give J. River Media Center a try. Can be used to sync Ipods and is all around a great piece of software. The options available are immense. It is like $30 after a 30 day trial period but more than worth it to not have to be tied to Itunes. There might be a problem with the Ipod touch but support is working on it. They have a great BBS and it is moderated by J. River personnel.
Posted by: wfaulk

Re: iPhone iPod Question - 30/10/2007 12:51

Quote:
are their any alternatives to itunes on windows?

An alternate to an alternative is to use iTunes just as an interface to your iPod. You can drag things directly from your filesystem to to your iPod within iTunes and skip over putting it in iTunes' database altogether.
Posted by: visuvius

Re: iPhone iPod Question - 30/10/2007 14:54

Does anyone know the best method to manage an iphone and ipod through the same version of iTunes? My wife has a 60 gig ipod so I've got way more than 4 gigs of music in the library. Anytime the iphone connects it says it can't sync as there isn't enough space.

Quote:
An alternate to an alternative is to use iTunes just as an interface to your iPod. You can drag things directly from your filesystem to to your iPod within iTunes and skip over putting it in iTunes' database altogether.


Can you elaborate on this a tiny bit? I'm pretty sure I did this a long time ago on another ipod but I can't seem to get it right. I know there is some box I need to check and I thought I got it but apparently not because I still have to go through the iTunes library right now on both the iphone and the ipod.
Posted by: wfaulk

Re: iPhone iPod Question - 30/10/2007 14:59

Okay, it's been a while for me, so I suppose this is no longer accurate, but when you attach the iPod, it shows up on the left column in iTunes. As I remember, either I could click on the iPod and drag music from the filesystem into the iPod's playlist area, or I could just drag music straight from the filesystem to the iPod icon. I did not have to do anything in order to enable that feature.
Posted by: hybrid8

Re: iPhone iPod Question - 30/10/2007 17:47

You can select the specific iPod on the left in the source list and then disable auto-sync for it. That setting will apply only to that specific iPod.

iTunes rocks compared to most other music management software. It's iPods that suck.

Posted by: drakino

Re: iPhone iPod Question - 30/10/2007 17:51

Quote:
Does anyone know the best method to manage an iphone and ipod through the same version of iTunes? My wife has a 60 gig ipod so I've got way more than 4 gigs of music in the library. Anytime the iphone connects it says it can't sync as there isn't enough space.


With the iPhone plugged in, go to the Music tab and tell it not to sync all music. Then, just make iPhone specific playlists containing what you want on it. You can also use smart playlists to have some intelligence behind it. For example, I have a smart playlist labeled "iPhone Music" that syncs 3.5 gigs of random music for casual listening. You can add quite a few parameters onto the smart playlists, so it can be "Load 3.5 gigs of randomly selected music that is from my Rock or Pop genre, excluding any songs from Rush, and only sync songs I haven't listened to recently".
Posted by: wfaulk

Re: iPhone iPod Question - 30/10/2007 18:03

Quote:
iTunes rocks compared to most other music management software.

Urine rocks compared to most other bodily excreta.
Posted by: TigerJimmy

Re: iPhone iPod Question - 31/10/2007 16:34

Quote:
Quote:
iTunes rocks compared to most other music management software.

Urine rocks compared to most other bodily excreta.

On you maybe
Posted by: tman

Re: iPhone iPod Question - 31/10/2007 17:56

Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
iTunes rocks compared to most other music management software.

Urine rocks compared to most other bodily excreta.

On you maybe

Umm... TMI?
Posted by: oliver

Re: iPhone iPod Question - 03/11/2007 05:57

this isn't really an ipod question, just more of a complaint of the iphone.

i dropped my 2 week phone tonight onto a carpet floor. half the touchscreen doesn't work anymore. there isn't a scrape/scratch on the phone. the bottom half doesn't work at all for touch, but the top half works perfectly. it's very very very troublesome when you drop something onto a soft surface and it's completely useless. i can't even answer any phonecalls, but it still rings. i could understand if the glass broke or something, but literally half the touchscreen is completely useless.

hopefully apple/att will swap it out tomorrow, otherwise i'll be alot more furious than i am tonight. eitherway, make sure you baby your iphone, because i'd think it's completely stupid you can't get insurance on it, there are way more expensive phones and apple gets $30/month from att from you. i don't understand why they won't offer any insurance when they're making a killing.

this is the first time it's been dropped, everytime i've gotten out of my car, or gone anywhere i've kept a very close grip on it. after the 'will it blend' i figured it was a half decent device, but i guess it's just another chinese piece of garbage.
Posted by: adavidw

Re: iPhone iPod Question - 03/11/2007 07:52

I dropped mine from my hand onto a hard tile floor. Since I was walking briskly at the time, it slid away from me on the floor at quite a high rate of speed. It somehow managed to slide on the exact trajectory to hit a 3 inch by 8 inch opening in the floor that it then slid through, falling 12 feet straight down to another hard tile floor below. I shat myself and ran downstairs to find the phone still working perfectly, but with the tiniest quarter-inch scratch in one part of the chrome. I'm not at all worried about babying my iPhone anymore.

So, I think your problem is pure unlucky coincidence, or else you had something loose already and the short fall just finally made the problem manifest.