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[roosters93]

You can't. Your iPhone is associated with a single iTunes library. Plug it into another machine and it will not back up music etc.

You can sync contacts/calendars/etc. across multiple machines by checking the desired content.

I use Mac iTunes at home, Windows iTunes at work, and never have any content syncing issues. You have to quit thinking of iTunes as complicated, and then it all starts making sense.

Really? That sucks.
Does anyone know why?

What do you do when you switch computers?

 

[lucius]

My main problem with these apps is after playing with one for a while it will be the cause of a crash on the next app you run so if your using one for a like half an hour then put it in standby then resume much later your phone is sometimes unstable until you shutdown and restart which is a big pain imo because you can never tell sometimes if you have to shutdown and restart. So I just end up doing it everyday now, while before 2.0 I hardly ever had to shutdown and restart my iPhone maybe once a month at most.

I mean it's real fun playing with all these excellent apps but this whole thing feels like it's in beta stage more than any other update.

 

[Worm_Buffet]

I used Spinblox as an example, but there's a number of completely simple apps that are missing this feature, too, ones that don't even HAVE sound.
Once again, I use the not-so-high standard of Trism to back my claims. Trism runs its sound effects over-top of your playing audio tracks. It does everything an App Store app SHOULD do.
And yeah, I'm also aware that iPod functions are native to the OS, but that still requires code for proper function and integration while another app is running.

Do you know this for a fact? It doesn't make much sense to me.
Maybe it does impose performance requirements for the developer however.

 

[Terrell]

Do you know this for a fact? It doesn't make much sense to me.
Maybe it does impose performance requirements for the developer however.

Turning off default functions of the OS would constitute circumvention of Apple's OS code, which is actually against the rules of the iPhone SDK, from what I read. So if Apple allows the function to not be present, it is therefore not a part of the OS, but another application that runs over-top of it, which means that you are integrating one app (3rd-party) with another (the iPod app), which requires coding to function right.
We can have this discussion all day, if you'd like.

Really? That sucks.
Does anyone know why?

What do you do when you switch computers?

Because it'd end up being a syncing nightmare?! Having to get the iPod/iPhone to compare and contrast what's already in the device to what's in this second library to ensure it's not syncing duplicate entries of the same track would cause syncing to take significantly longer than it already does, and there's still a large margin of error. The reason it works so well now is that the computer you sync to actually keeps records of the data it syncs and makes note of changes or additions to the library after the last sync is performed so it only makes those alterations the next time the device is plugged in.
This, and I think it's part of the DRM agreement Apple was forced to make with record labels.
Why you would need to sync with other machines is beyond me. Having one media hub is good enough for me, how anyone can stand having their multimedia spread across multiple computers is boggling to me.

But, if you MUST, set it to manually manage music, which will prevent "syncing" but allow for manipulation of the internal iPod's media library to have files to be added from multiple computers (once you tell it to not erase & sync, of course). Huge pain in the ass, if you ask me.

 

[cubanb]

Is there a mobile gaf for iphone? A 49ers forum I go to has an awesome setup for Iphone and was wondering why they couldn't do it here. Everything loads real quick on it.

Check it out here: http://www.49erswebzone.com/forum/mobile/

 

[hirokazu]

I use Mac iTunes at home, Windows iTunes at work, and never have any content syncing issues. You have to quit thinking of iTunes as complicated, and then it all starts making sense.

Oh, it makes perfect sense. And it's often great when it works, too. But giving users no freedom sucks.

 

[metsallica]

Turning off default functions of the OS would constitute circumvention of Apple's OS code, which is actually against the rules of the iPhone SDK, from what I read. So if Apple allows the function to not be present, it is therefore not a part of the OS, but another application that runs over-top of it, which means that you are integrating one app (3rd-party) with another (the iPod app), which requires coding to function right.
We can have this discussion all day, if you'd like.


Because it'd end up being a syncing nightmare?! Having to get the iPod/iPhone to compare and contrast what's already in the device to what's in this second library to ensure it's not syncing duplicate entries of the same track would cause syncing to take significantly longer than it already does, and there's still a large margin of error. The reason it works so well now is that the computer you sync to actually keeps records of the data it syncs and makes note of changes or additions to the library after the last sync is performed so it only makes those alterations the next time the device is plugged in.
This, and I think it's part of the DRM agreement Apple was forced to make with record labels.
Why you would need to sync with other machines is beyond me. Having one media hub is good enough for me, how anyone can stand having their multimedia spread across multiple computers is boggling to me.

But, if you MUST, set it to manually manage music, which will prevent "syncing" but allow for manipulation of the internal iPod's media library to have files to be added from multiple computers (once you tell it to not erase & sync, of course). Huge pain in the ass, if you ask me.

I set my iPhone to manual mode on my home computer (as it was where I did my first sync) and would like to drop music / podcasts on it from a work computer. I was told manual mode would let me do that. However, all of the music is grayed-out on my work computer, and if I try to enable manual mode on that PC it gives me the scary "erase everything" message. What am I doing wrong? I've never been an iTunes user and in my week with a 3G it is really turning out to be an achilles heel for the device. Every MP3 player I've had in the past just mounted as a drive and was drag-and-drop. It has been quite jarring to now live in DRM-land.

 

[Worm_Buffet]

Turning off default functions of the OS would constitute circumvention of Apple's OS code, which is actually against the rules of the iPhone SDK, from what I read. So if Apple allows the function to not be present, it is therefore not a part of the OS, but another application that runs over-top of it, which means that you are integrating one app (3rd-party) with another (the iPod app), which requires coding to function right.
We can have this discussion all day, if you'd like.

The iPod app is obviously not part of the kernel no. But do you really think developers have to compile the iPod app together with their own to make it work?
That would be a nightmare of anti-modularity, not to mention that Apple would have to give out the source code for it.

 

[dallow_bg]

Question.
How do you guys get pictures off your phone?

I used to use iFlickr to get 768 x 1024 copies of the pic uploaded from anywhere. Sadly that app hasn't made it to jailbroken 2.0 yet.

If I'm at home, and have a lot of stuff I need to copy, I'll used the buggy Windows Picture something or other. I hate that it always changes the picture names so they're all out of order though.

 

[Terrell]

I set my iPhone to manual mode on my home computer (as it was where I did my first sync) and would like to drop music / podcasts on it from a work computer. I was told manual mode would let me do that. However, all of the music is grayed-out on my work computer, and if I try to enable manual mode on that PC it gives me the scary "erase everything" message. What am I doing wrong? I've never been an iTunes user and in my week with a 3G it is really turning out to be an achilles heel for the device. Every MP3 player I've had in the past just mounted as a drive and was drag-and-drop. It has been quite jarring to now live in DRM-land.

You need it set to manual on BOTH machines, because the other PC needs a sync record showing "oh, I remember this hardware ID, he doesn't want me to fuck with his tunes but I can sync everything he has specified to sync from this PC, OK, carry on." You'll have to flush it at least once, and it should work fine afterwards. But like I said, never saw the need for that so I never tested it. But this is what others have told me.

The iPod app is obviously not part of the kernel no. But do you really think developers have to compile the iPod app together with their own to make it work?
That would be a nightmare of anti-modularity, not to mention that Apple would have to give out the source code for it.

Did I say it had to re-compile the app? No. Are you new to the basics of programming or something? An application are a yes/no beast. Unless you TELL IT that it can do something, it won't know it can. All it takes is a bit of code (which Apple has undoubtedly given instructions for) to say, "hey, there's this app running in the background that's also using similar sound libraries, it's not your enemy, DON'T KILL IT."
I almost want to buy Spinblox (the source of this discussion in the first place) to see if it kills other sounds like notifications. But that requires money and testing that I'm not willing to put into this discussion.

 

[metsallica]

Got it, thanks. I'll give it a shot and report back.

 

[Worm_Buffet]

Did I say it had to re-compile the app? No. Are you new to the basics of programming or something? An application are a yes/no beast. Unless you TELL IT that it can do something, it won't know it can. All it takes is a bit of code (which Apple has undoubtedly given instructions for) to say, "hey, there's this app running in the background that's also using similar sound libraries, it's not your enemy, DON'T KILL IT."

This is confusing, but let me summarize some assumptions I've made. We both agree that the iPhone OS multitasks and that the iPod is its own process, that runs concurrently with some third party apps, safari and pretty much any other native app, right?

So you're speculating that the iPhone API provides code for not killing the iPod process? And if that call isn't explicitly made by the third party app, it is killed by default? That is the nonsensical negation of what I suggested earlier, without the part that killing the iPod process perhaps grants you more system resources.

And we both also agree that allowing the iPod to run with the app is as trivial as setting a boolean, and practically requires no work at all. Unless your definition of "lazy dev" is someone who can't even be bothered to do that, there has to be some other reason, no?

 

[Terrell]

This is confusing, but let me summarize some assumptions I've made. We both agree that the iPhone OS multitasks and that the iPod is its own process, that runs concurrently with some third party apps, safari and pretty much any other native app, right?

So you're speculating that the iPhone API provides code for not killing the iPod process? And if that call isn't explicitly made by the third party app, it is killed by default? That is the nonsensical negation of what I suggested earlier, without the part that killing the iPod process perhaps grants you more system resources.

And we both also agree that allowing the iPod to run with the app is as trivial as setting a boolean, and practically requires no work at all. Unless your definition of "lazy dev" is someone who can't even be bothered to do that, there has to be some other reason, no?

Nope, that's pretty much what I was suggesting all along, that devs were either in too much of a rush or too bothered to add that tiny bit of code, not realizing that every single user of their app would want that ability. It's just a matter of whether ALL apps kill the iPod background process by default, or only apps that access the device's audio libraries, which is the only thing I can't test to confirm, because all the apps that I have that use sound don't impede the iPod background app.
Unless I'm completely wrong and you actually have to write code to impede use of the iPod app in the background, which makes developers who do so utterly retarded for not giving users of the app the means with which to mute the app's audio in favor of something they actually want to hear. It makes more sense for it to be a coding issue than a deliberate feature cut.

So one way or another, a shitty developer is to blame. It's all a matter of how, I just decided on the more logical explanation of people being lazy and/or in a hurry, not being stupid egotistical "my way or the highway" twat-bags.

 

[so1337]

Help. A friend of mine changed the language on my iPhone to Russian and I don't seem to be able to switch it back to normal.

 

[dallow_bg]

Help. A friend of mine changed the language on my iPhone to Russian and I don't seem to be able to switch it back to normal.

Settings icon > General (the one with the same settings pic) > 2nd from the bottom option (international) > first option (language)

 

[so1337]

Settings icon > General (the one with the same settings pic) > 2nd from the bottom option (international) > first option (language)

Thanks so much. That almost drove me nuts let me tell you.

 

[blackaroni]

After having a blackberry for the last couple of years, i decided to get the new iphone 3G because it seemed like the cool thing to do. I have never been fond of iTunes and the iPhone is not making the process any better.

I thought that if you download an application and sync it with your phone, the applications that you download to the phone will automatically be sent the phone. This was not the case for me, I am able to sync the applications to my pc by going into the file menu, but there doesn't seem to be a way to send it to your phone. also, is there any way to just put files on the phone, i don't really want to import all of my music into itunes and then wait 3 days for it to convert it all.

 

[Terrell]

After having a blackberry for the last couple of years, i decided to get the new iphone 3G because it seemed like the cool thing to do. I have never been fond of iTunes and the iPhone is not making the process any better.

I thought that if you download an application and sync it with your phone, the applications that you download to the phone will automatically be sent the phone. This was not the case for me, I am able to sync the applications to my pc by going into the file menu, but there doesn't seem to be a way to send it to your phone. also, is there any way to just put files on the phone, i don't really want to import all of my music into itunes and then wait 3 days for it to convert it all.

If your music is in MP3 format, it shouldn't be converting anything... unless you're one of those people who imports discs using proprietary Windows Media format, in which case, it's all your own doing and there's no sense blaming iTunes for it.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

After having a blackberry for the last couple of years, i decided to get the new iphone 3G because it seemed like the cool thing to do. I have never been fond of iTunes and the iPhone is not making the process any better.

I thought that if you download an application and sync it with your phone, the applications that you download to the phone will automatically be sent the phone. This was not the case for me, I am able to sync the applications to my pc by going into the file menu, but there doesn't seem to be a way to send it to your phone. also, is there any way to just put files on the phone, i don't really want to import all of my music into itunes and then wait 3 days for it to convert it all.

If iTunes has to convert, it's actually quite fast at it, but as Terrell has already said, if you're not using .mp3 files, it's not iTunes fault. I use open standards media files like this when ever possible to avoid this very issue.

As for syncing apps, mine syncs them just fine, although I did have to go to the Apps tab in iTunes and tell it to sync all my apps, it wasn't on by default. Once I clicked it on though, everything was good, it synced in both directions, and even asked if I wanted to replace on with a newer version.

I honestly don't know why some people are having issues with iTunes. It's super easy to use and once configured with what you want to sync, which consists of a few check boxes, you can pretty much forget about it.

 

[Undeux]

So, I've stayed away from looking at my friends' iPhones since they came out, and today I accidentally played with one for about fifteen minutes. So now I want to cancel my service with T Mobile and go buy one. I saw a site a long time ago that detailed how you can cancel out of cell phone contracts without termination fees - does anyone know what I'm talking about, or just have any advice?

 

[LCfiner]

I honestly don't know why some people are having issues with iTunes. It's super easy to use and once configured with what you want to sync, which consists of a few check boxes, you can pretty much forget about it.

I get the impression that a lot of techy people just want iTunes to be a skin on Windows Explorer so they can manipulate their media the exact same way they do now...

 

[blackaroni]

If your music is in MP3 format, it shouldn't be converting anything... unless you're one of those people who imports discs using proprietary Windows Media format, in which case, it's all your own doing and there's no sense blaming iTunes for it.

I don't think I was "blaming" iTunes for there lackluster media player, but yes, I have a Zune and I rip CDs using the Zune/Microsoft format. I just thought that Apple would miraculously import them without a problem knowing that WMP comes as a default on Windows based systems. I will change my settings from now on. Do you guys use iTunes to rip music or another program? or are there certain settings that I should rip with?

If iTunes has to convert, it's actually quite fast at it, but as Terrell has already said, if you're not using .mp3 files, it's not iTunes fault. I use open standards media files like this when ever possible to avoid this very issue.

As for syncing apps, mine syncs them just fine, although I did have to go to the Apps tab in iTunes and tell it to sync all my apps, it wasn't on by default. Once I clicked it on though, everything was good, it synced in both directions, and even asked if I wanted to replace on with a newer version.

I honestly don't know why some people are having issues with iTunes. It's super easy to use and once configured with what you want to sync, which consists of a few check boxes, you can pretty much forget about it.

I set up my iTunes to sync the apps as well once I downloaded the software. It would say "syncing," but nothing was ever put on the phone. When i went to download the app via the phone, it did recognize that I "purchased" it before.

I'm not sure how many songs that you need for it to run fast, but that was not the case for me.....it was going to take a while.

Also, when I previously used iTunes, my music folders were never auto updated.....can my music be auto added with the new version of iTunes?

 

[Terrell]

I don't think I was "blaming" iTunes for there lackluster media player, but yes, I have a Zune and I rip CDs using the Zune/Microsoft format. I just thought that Apple would miraculously import them without a problem knowing that WMP comes as a default on Windows based systems. I will change my settings from now on. Do you guys use iTunes to rip music or another program? or are there certain settings that I should rip with?

It's the default because it's a proprietary Microsoft format on a Windows-based computer. Windows machines are the ONLY ones that can play those files, and because iTunes is a multi-OS piece of software, it is intended to only standardized non-proprietary file formats with free use documentation. MS does not provide documentation on the Windows Media Player formats for use outside of Microsoft products, and thus Apple can not use the format and did not incorporate support for it on the iPod or iPhone. If you want to claim iTunes is lackluster, blame Microsoft for nerfing it by not opening up its software and media formats so Apple could construct a good app that wasn't a resource hog with a wider range of supported formats.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

I set up my iTunes to sync the apps as well once I downloaded the software. It would say "syncing," but nothing was ever put on the phone. When i went to download the app via the phone, it did recognize that I "purchased" it before.

I'm not sure how many songs that you need for it to run fast, but that was not the case for me.....it was going to take a while.

Also, when I previously used iTunes, my music folders were never auto updated.....can my music be auto added with the new version of iTunes?

It's really odd that it's not syncing the Apps. Have you tried a restart after checking the box to sync? Mine works completely fine and, as I said before, sends apps in both directions. So if I download them on the phone, it backs them up on my computers too.

How large is your library? I suppose if you have an 80 GB Zune completely full, it'll take awhile, but when ever I've needed to convert something, it's actually been quite speedy. Pure volume could slow down the process I suppose.

And what do you mean by your folders were never auto updated? Do you mean can music on the iPhone be updated automatically when you make a change? For me, iTunes automatically updates any changes in the library, whether it be new music, changing tags, names, new podcasts, etc. You simply have to tell it to sync automatically and it'll do it. When it comes to my iPhone though, I keep an "iPhone" playlist that contains the music I want on the phone. I only keep a few hundred songs on it so I have room for other stuff, like videos and apps. I have a 160 GB iPod Classic, and an 8 GB Nano for more robust music options.

 

[Gamer @ Heart]

I asked this on the last page, but is there an upgrade program where users pay a certain fee to exchange phones without the hassle of a new reactivation/bill? I know it sounds stupid, but i can hope to dream.

Also, the 16GB is $299 right?

 

[Tobor]

I get the impression that a lot of techy people just want iTunes to be a skin on Windows Explorer so they can manipulate their media the exact same way they do now...

And that's a huge mistake on their part.

Like I said over in the App Store thread, iTunes is database software. This is what people don't seem to grasp. You are building a database for your music, and the resulting metadata is extremely powerful. You can do things in iTunes that are simply impossible with a basic drag and drop explorer or finder window.

There are multiple ways to sync music to the iPhone.

1. drag and drop (I don't recommend this, you're losing all the benefits of the software and metadata)

2. Checked music(this works ok, and anything you buy or add to iTunes is checked by default, and will auto-sync as a result.)

3. playlists(Tell iTunes you only want to sync certain playlists, and add the ones you want. build some smart playlists and you are using the data you're accumulating to the fullest.)

Build a good smart playlist, and then you will LOVE iTunes.

 

[Liu Kang Baking A Pie]

Smart Playlists is where it shines. Anything I rate as 4 or 5 stars gets automatically put into that playlist, and I play it on random whenever I can't decide what album to listen to. I'll always have awesome music ready without ever having to think about keeping it current.

Or "oh shit, I just imported these MP3s and they have no metadata and they're mixed up with everything else that has no metadata." Make a Smart Playlist of things with no Artist name that were added today, and you have a playlist of the tracks so you can add the data to them.

Nerds always want to have insane control over everything, and that's understandable, but I can't be bothered to dick around with my music organization all the time.

 

[Mar]

I get the impression that a lot of techy people just want iTunes to be a skin on Windows Explorer so they can manipulate their media the exact same way they do now...

Not 'want'. It's just what we've grown up with and expect. You can't even entertain the idea that given an entirely different way to do things, a person can get thrown for a loop? It did to me. And I'm a unix admin for a large university.

Apple does things differently. I've learned that now, and have come to like it too. It just took a while to get used to.

 

[Juice]

Smart Playlists is where it shines. Anything I rate as 4 or 5 stars gets automatically put into that playlist, and I play it on random whenever I can't decide what album to listen to. I'll always have awesome music ready without ever having to think about keeping it current.

Or "oh shit, I just imported these MP3s and they have no metadata and they're mixed up with everything else that has no metadata." Make a Smart Playlist of things with no Artist name that were added today, and you have a playlist of the tracks so you can add the data to them.

Nerds always want to have insane control over everything, and that's understandable, but I can't be bothered to dick around with my music organization all the time.

Yeah, I sync the following to my 8GB iPhone:

2GB most recently added
2GB random played in the last year
500MB 0 play count
500MB >4* played in the last two years
750MB Highest play count

The only time I don't have a song I want is when I deliberately think of an entire random album that I don't commonly listen to.

Not 'want'. It's just what we've grown up with and expect. You can't even entertain the idea that given an entirely different way to do things, a person can get thrown for a loop? It did to me. And I'm a unix admin for a large university.

Apple does things differently. I've learned that now, and have come to like it too. It just took a while to get used to.

Very true. I think I started a thread about 2 years after joining MacLand about how the value of using a Mac skyrockets only if you drink the iLife Kool-Aid and just do things Apple's way.

 

[Tobor]

Smart Playlists is where it shines. Anything I rate as 4 or 5 stars gets automatically put into that playlist, and I play it on random whenever I can't decide what album to listen to. I'll always have awesome music ready without ever having to think about keeping it current.

Or "oh shit, I just imported these MP3s and they have no metadata and they're mixed up with everything else that has no metadata." Make a Smart Playlist of things with no Artist name that were added today, and you have a playlist of the tracks so you can add the data to them.

Nerds always want to have insane control over everything, and that's understandable, but I can't be bothered to dick around with my music organization all the time.

My favorite smart playlist: The Dusty Shelf.

Pick 100 songs, 4 stars or higher, that I haven't listened to in the past 3 months.

 

[LCfiner]

My favorite smart playlist: The Dusty Shelf.

Pick 100 songs, 4 stars or higher, that I haven't listened to in the past 3 months.

I got the same playlist "Forgotten Favourites".

I like messing around with the "last time played" "date added to library" and "number of times played" to keep the mix of music going strong.

working out the proper genre tags on my 30+ GB of music this past Winter also helped smart playlist creation... that was a hell of a job. (so much old Napster stuff...)

 

[Vox-Pop]

Question, what kind of taxes do you pay for your monthly iphone bill?
I live in California btw.

 

[Tobor]

I got the same playlist "Forgotten Favourites".

I like messing around with the "last time played" "date added to library" and "number of times played" to keep the mix of music going strong.

working out the proper genre tags on my 30+ GB of music this past Winter also helped smart playlist creation... that was a hell of a job. (so much old Napster stuff...)

Try this: Change the random setting for the playlist to highest rated. That way you can tweak the frequency a song shows up in the playlist by increasing or decreasing the stars. When I think I'm hearing a song too often, I drop it a star. The best part of this method, is you can adjust the rating on the iPhone/iPod, while you're thinking about it.

 

[bill0527]

Ok Apple fanboys, I've got some questions that I'm sure have been covered, but since this is an 8400+ post thread, I hope someone will take the time to answer them again.

I'm considering purchasing an iPhone and this will be the very first Apple device I've ever purchased.

I've never used iTunes because I've got a Zune. Most of the time, I purchase my digital music from Amazon, but I'm one of those old school music fans who still likes to own a physical copy, so most of my current music library are ripped CD's. I've got 180 CD's on my computer and they're all synced to my Zune. Is this going to be a pain in the ass to sync it to iTunes? Will there be conflicts between my Zune and iPhone? Obviously, I won't be able to put everything on the iPhone so I'll have to pick and choose and I'm ok with that.

I'm also wondering about service plans. Currently, my wife and I have 5 months left on a family plan contract with AT&T. We both have cheapass LG phones. My wife is the primary name on the account and she added me to her AT&T account when my old contract ran out with Verizon. I am the one that will be getting the iPhone because she can't handle the awesome and sucks at technology. For some strange reason right now, when I make a current call on my phone, it shows my wife's name on the recipient's caller ID, instead of my name. I'm guessing its because she's listed as primary on our account. Is anyone here an AT&T employee or service plan guru and can tell me how something like this is handled? Do I have to get a brand new account of my own or does AT&T have a plan that will let my wife keep her current phone and then simply Add me on an iPhone plan and charge us the difference?

 

[Tobor]

Ok Apple fanboys, I've got some questions that I'm sure have been covered, but since this is an 8400+ post thread, I hope someone will take the time to answer them again.

I'm considering purchasing an iPhone and this will be the very first Apple device I've ever purchased.

I've never used iTunes because I've got a Zune. Most of the time, I purchase my digital music from Amazon, but I'm one of those old school music fans who still likes to own a physical copy, so most of my current music library are ripped CD's. I've got 180 CD's on my computer and they're all synced to my Zune. Is this going to be a pain in the ass to sync it to iTunes? Will there be conflicts between my Zune and iPhone? Obviously, I won't be able to put everything on the iPhone so I'll have to pick and choose and I'm ok with that.

I'm also wondering about service plans. Currently, my wife and I have 5 months left on a family plan contract with AT&T. We both have cheapass LG phones. My wife is the primary name on the account and she added me to her AT&T account when my old contract ran out with Verizon. I am the one that will be getting the iPhone because she can't handle the awesome and sucks at technology. For some strange reason right now, when I make a current call on my phone, it shows my wife's name on the recipient's caller ID, instead of my name. I'm guessing its because she's listed as primary on our account. Is anyone here an AT&T employee or service plan guru and can tell me how something like this is handled? Do I have to get a brand new account of my own or does AT&T have a plan that will let my wife keep her current phone and then simply Add me on an iPhone plan and charge us the difference?

Did you think ahead and tell the Zune software to rip into MP3's? If so you're fine.

Did you leave it at the default WMA? If so your transition will not be as...pleasant.

Anything you bought on Amazon is an MP3. These are all good.

 

[bill0527]

Did you think ahead and tell the Zune software to rip into MP3's? If so you're fine.

Did you leave it at the default WMA? If so your transition will not be as...pleasant.

Anything you bought on Amazon is an MP3. These are all good.

Everything is MP3

 

[koam]

I'm upgrading to fw2.0 right now and unlocking with winpwn. Things not to do when unlocking an iphone:

-plug in the iphone to the only usb 1.1 port that you have instead of 2.0

Hope this works, it's almost done.

Edit: Cool itunes is done restoring to the custom firmware, time to wait for the bootloader to flash...

Edit 2: Now doing baseband flash.. (*fingers crossed*)

Edit 3: WTF? bootloader worked.. baseband gave me an error.. oh snap

Edit 4: umm.. it reloaded.. i'm on 2.0 with fido!!!! What's with the error message though?

 

[cubanb]

So my first generation Iphone cracked today.I dropped it getting out of the car and the screen is cracked beginning at the home button and branches off a bit into the main screen (not too bad). Besides deal with it, what are my options?


Does apple fix cracked screens? I know they are not covered under warranty, but I thought I heard they will swap them out for a price. I called the apple store and was not given any info besides bring it in a tech can work on it. If it is too expensive, I might as well get a 3G. Does anyone know the standard price for this?

If I do decide to try the 3G route, will I be able to buy one since I got this one back in November? I can deal with signing a new contract, I dont know if they will let me. Also, are 3G Iphones readily available yet? Or will I have to wait a bit?

 

[blackaroni]

It's really odd that it's not syncing the Apps. Have you tried a restart after checking the box to sync? Mine works completely fine and, as I said before, sends apps in both directions. So if I download them on the phone, it backs them up on my computers too.

How large is your library? I suppose if you have an 80 GB Zune completely full, it'll take awhile, but when ever I've needed to convert something, it's actually been quite speedy. Pure volume could slow down the process I suppose.

And what do you mean by your folders were never auto updated? Do you mean can music on the iPhone be updated automatically when you make a change? For me, iTunes automatically updates any changes in the library, whether it be new music, changing tags, names, new podcasts, etc. You simply have to tell it to sync automatically and it'll do it. When it comes to my iPhone though, I keep an "iPhone" playlist that contains the music I want on the phone. I only keep a few hundred songs on it so I have room for other stuff, like videos and apps. I have a 160 GB iPod Classic, and an 8 GB Nano for more robust music options.

I've checked and unchecked everything that I could and still nothing. Some people have told me the same thing that their app sync works and others say theirs does not. Maybe it is a bug or something that will eventually get fixed.

I'm only about 40 GB of music, but it seemed to be moving slow. I think that instead of bringing all of my music over to iTunes, I will try to find what I want. I was actually talking about if I download new music or place music in my music folder, will it be automatically put in iTunes for me to play.....or would I have to manually update the folder. Thanks for the help and any other help you can provide.

It's the default because it's a proprietary Microsoft format on a Windows-based computer. Windows machines are the ONLY ones that can play those files, and because iTunes is a multi-OS piece of software, it is intended to only standardized non-proprietary file formats with free use documentation. MS does not provide documentation on the Windows Media Player formats for use outside of Microsoft products, and thus Apple can not use the format and did not incorporate support for it on the iPod or iPhone. If you want to claim iTunes is lackluster, blame Microsoft for nerfing it by not opening up its software and media formats so Apple could construct a good app that wasn't a resource hog with a wider range of supported formats.

Thanks for enlightening me Terrell, I really didnt know that. I agree about the resource hogging, but the Zune software is pretty good in my opinion.

 

[infiniteloop]

I'm also wondering about service plans. Currently, my wife and I have 5 months left on a family plan contract with AT&T. We both have cheapass LG phones. My wife is the primary name on the account and she added me to her AT&T account when my old contract ran out with Verizon. I am the one that will be getting the iPhone because she can't handle the awesome and sucks at technology. For some strange reason right now, when I make a current call on my phone, it shows my wife's name on the recipient's caller ID, instead of my name. I'm guessing its because she's listed as primary on our account. Is anyone here an AT&T employee or service plan guru and can tell me how something like this is handled? Do I have to get a brand new account of my own or does AT&T have a plan that will let my wife keep her current phone and then simply Add me on an iPhone plan and charge us the difference?

I did pretty much the same thing with my wife. If you can get the upgrade price, you'll just have your current plan + $30 data. So it would be $99.99 + all those taxes + one off activation fee (if you're on the lowest voice plan).

 

[dallow_bg]

Thanks for enlightening me Terrell, I really didnt know that. I agree about the resource hogging, but the Zune software is pretty good in my opinion.

You can have the Zune software rip your CDs in mp3 format. That's what I do.

 

[Darko]

So my first generation Iphone cracked today.I dropped it getting out of the car and the screen is cracked beginning at the home button and branches off a bit into the main screen (not too bad). Besides deal with it, what are my options?


Does apple fix cracked screens? I know they are not covered under warranty, but I thought I heard they will swap them out for a price. I called the apple store and was not given any info besides bring it in a tech can work on it. If it is too expensive, I might as well get a 3G. Does anyone know the standard price for this?

If I do decide to try the 3G route, will I be able to buy one since I got this one back in November? I can deal with signing a new contract, I dont know if they will let me. Also, are 3G Iphones readily available yet? Or will I have to wait a bit?

Dont bother with apple, buy a replacement kit off ebay (20bucks) and do it yourself (search- iphone front)

 

[blackaroni]

You can have the Zune software rip your CDs in mp3 format. That's what I do.

I do now, as of yesterday.....I think I am a couple years late on doing that though

 

[roosters93]

Because it'd end up being a syncing nightmare?! Having to get the iPod/iPhone to compare and contrast what's already in the device to what's in this second library to ensure it's not syncing duplicate entries of the same track would cause syncing to take significantly longer than it already does, and there's still a large margin of error. The reason it works so well now is that the computer you sync to actually keeps records of the data it syncs and makes note of changes or additions to the library after the last sync is performed so it only makes those alterations the next time the device is plugged in.
This, and I think it's part of the DRM agreement Apple was forced to make with record labels.
Why you would need to sync with other machines is beyond me. Having one media hub is good enough for me, how anyone can stand having their multimedia spread across multiple computers is boggling to me.

But, if you MUST, set it to manually manage music, which will prevent "syncing" but allow for manipulation of the internal iPod's media library to have files to be added from multiple computers (once you tell it to not erase & sync, of course). Huge pain in the ass, if you ask me.

Ohhhh ok.
I thought that for some reason, you couldn't manually sync with the iPhone. (no drag n drop)
That bugged me but no big deal lol.

If I switch from manually sync to auto-sync, will iTunes sync my whole music library to my iPod that already has most of my iTunes library on it?

And that's a huge mistake on their part.

Like I said over in the App Store thread, iTunes is database software. This is what people don't seem to grasp. You are building a database for your music, and the resulting metadata is extremely powerful. You can do things in iTunes that are simply impossible with a basic drag and drop explorer or finder window.

There are multiple ways to sync music to the iPhone.

1. drag and drop (I don't recommend this, you're losing all the benefits of the software and metadata)

2. Checked music(this works ok, and anything you buy or add to iTunes is checked by default, and will auto-sync as a result.)

3. playlists(Tell iTunes you only want to sync certain playlists, and add the ones you want. build some smart playlists and you are using the data you're accumulating to the fullest.)

Build a good smart playlist, and then you will LOVE iTunes.

Awesome. Thanks.
What's metadata? lol
Play count, date added, last played etc?
Can you set iTunes so that music you rip or add is automatically un-checked?
I like drag and drop, so I want to change to auto-sync without fully being automatic.
If I can automatically set it to un-checked, I won't have to do the 3rd option.

 

[Tobor]

Ohhhh ok.
I thought that for some reason, you couldn't manually sync with the iPhone. (no drag n drop)
That bugged me but no big deal lol.

If I switch from manually sync to auto-sync, will iTunes sync my whole music library to my iPod that already has most of my iTunes library on it?



Awesome. Thanks.
What's metadata? lol
Play count, date added, last played etc?
Can you set iTunes so that music you rip or add is automatically un-checked?
I like drag and drop, so I want to change to auto-sync without fully being automatic.
If I can automatically set it to un-checked, I won't have to do the 3rd option.

Metadata is any data added to the MP3 file that isn't the actual music. The cover art, artist name, everything, including the 3 you mentioned.

Music you rip is automatically checked. I'm not aware of any way to disable that. The premise is that if you are syncing checked music only, it will automatically sync the album you just bought or ripped without you having to remember. You can accomplish this through syncing playlists by syncing the recently added or recently purchased playlists.

This is getting seriously off topic, even for GAF off topic. Maybe we need an official iTunes thread?

 

[notjackbauer]

Hi everybody. How can you make custom ringtones for the iphone using windows? What's the best free program for doing this? I'm asking for a friend of mine who is not tech-savvy, so the simpler the better.

 

[dork]

Dude... I work at an Apple service provider... the reason they think you dropped it is that 99% of the time, issues like yours ARE from physical abuse of some form, and most people have no scruples and will lie through their teeth out of a sense of self-entitlement that their products should be able to, for instance, survive the washing machine. (no lie, 10 minutes out of my work day was arguing this fact with a woman once)

Understood, I work retail and get the same shit. They replaced it, when they saw I wasn't lying.


Did anyone else notice iPint was removed from the APP Store?

 

[kaching]

Hi everybody. How can you make custom ringtones for the iphone using windows? What's the best free program for doing this? I'm asking for a friend of mine who is not tech-savvy, so the simpler the better.

This one works pretty well, about as simple as it can be.

http://www.iringer.net/

 

[notjackbauer]

This one works pretty well, about as simple as it can be.

http://www.iringer.net/

thank you much!

 

[TehOh]

This one works pretty well, about as simple as it can be.

http://www.iringer.net/

Bah, no Mac version. Is there a good one for OS X?