Can someone tell me how to go about copying the all music off an ipod and then putting some of the files onto another one?
Gtkpod is not intuitive for me anyway ...
Bob Goodwin
On Tue, 2008-03-18 at 19:05 -0400, Bob Goodwin wrote:
Can someone tell me how to go about copying the all music off an ipod and then putting some of the files onto another one?
I think you can just drag-and-drop from the ipod to the local repository, then reverse the process after mounting the other ipod.
Gtkpod is not intuitive for me anyway ...
Agreed. The documentation is terrible and actions such as Synchronize don't mean what you would expect.
Of course I also think iTunes is poorly documented and obscure in many ways.
poc
Bob Goodwin wrote:
Can someone tell me how to go about copying the all music off an ipod and then putting some of the files onto another one?
Sure. If you have gtkpod started and the ipod is showing up in the left pane, you right click and select "Copy Tracks to Filesystem."
In the dialog that opens, you browse to the directory to which you want to export the music. You can specify a format for the exported files in the filename format box. There is an unfortunate bug that affects gtkpod on F8 which makes the tooltip that explains the available formats disappear nearly instantly[1]. The tooltip reads:
"Determines the filename of tracks you copy from the iPod, e.g '%a/%A/%T - %t.mp3' or '%o'. You can separate several patterns by semicolons -- gtkpod will determine which one to use by the filename extension given. Artist: %a, album: %A, composer: %c, title: %t, genre: %G, track nr: %T, CD nr: %C, year: %Y, original filename (requires extended information file): %o, current playlist: %p, the character '%': %%."
If you have mp3 and aac (mp4, m4a) tracks on the ipod, you could use something like this to organize them by artist/album/tracknum-title:
%a/%A/%T-%t.mp3;%a/%A/%T-%t.m4a;%a/%A/%T-%t.mp4
After you've saved the contents of one ipod, you can then add those files to another ipod. Perhaps it's best to ensure that this part works well first, then move on to adding files to the other ipod?
Is the ipod you will be copying to is a newer ipod (classic, video nano, touch, or iphone)?
[1] I think this might be a gtk bug, but I've not had much luck tracking it down. If anyone has ideas or has seen similar problems in other gtk apps on F8, I'd love to hear about it.
Todd Zullinger wrote:
Bob Goodwin wrote:
Can someone tell me how to go about copying the all music off an ipod and then putting some of the files onto another one?
Sure. If you have gtkpod started and the ipod is showing up in the left pane, you right click and select "Copy Tracks to Filesystem."
In the dialog that opens, you browse to the directory to which you want to export the music. You can specify a format for the exported files in the filename format box. There is an unfortunate bug that affects gtkpod on F8 which makes the tooltip that explains the available formats disappear nearly instantly[1]. The tooltip reads:
"Determines the filename of tracks you copy from the iPod, e.g '%a/%A/%T - %t.mp3' or '%o'. You can separate several patterns by semicolons -- gtkpod will determine which one to use by the filename extension given. Artist: %a, album: %A, composer: %c, title: %t, genre: %G, track nr: %T, CD nr: %C, year: %Y, original filename (requires extended information file): %o, current playlist: %p, the character '%': %%."
If you have mp3 and aac (mp4, m4a) tracks on the ipod, you could use something like this to organize them by artist/album/tracknum-title:
%a/%A/%T-%t.mp3;%a/%A/%T-%t.m4a;%a/%A/%T-%t.mp4
After you've saved the contents of one ipod, you can then add those files to another ipod. Perhaps it's best to ensure that this part works well first, then move on to adding files to the other ipod?
Is the ipod you will be copying to is a newer ipod (classic, video nano, touch, or iphone)?
[1] I think this might be a gtk bug, but I've not had much luck tracking it down. If anyone has ideas or has seen similar problems in other gtk apps on F8, I'd love to hear about it.
Ok, that seems to permit me to save files from the iPods using gtkpod.
Playing back the files I saved seems simplest using Amarok. Unfortunately the iPod I have to experiment with this morning belongs to a teen aged grandson and contains nothing but whining adolescents singing, a horror to work with!
The files on the iPod are grouped such as "Top Rated," etc. and I have only been able to copy those groups into newly created directories. I would prefer to be able to copy the entire contents of the iPod in on fell swoop. I'm still looking at that.
Thanks to all for your help.
Bob Goodwin
On Wed, 2008-03-19 at 10:22 -0400, Bob Goodwin wrote:
Todd Zullinger wrote:
Bob Goodwin wrote:
Can someone tell me how to go about copying the all music off an ipod and then putting some of the files onto another one?
Sure. If you have gtkpod started and the ipod is showing up in the left pane, you right click and select "Copy Tracks to Filesystem."
In the dialog that opens, you browse to the directory to which you want to export the music. You can specify a format for the exported files in the filename format box. There is an unfortunate bug that affects gtkpod on F8 which makes the tooltip that explains the available formats disappear nearly instantly[1]. The tooltip reads:
"Determines the filename of tracks you copy from the iPod, e.g '%a/%A/%T - %t.mp3' or '%o'. You can separate several patterns by semicolons -- gtkpod will determine which one to use by the filename extension given. Artist: %a, album: %A, composer: %c, title: %t, genre: %G, track nr: %T, CD nr: %C, year: %Y, original filename (requires extended information file): %o, current playlist: %p, the character '%': %%."
If you have mp3 and aac (mp4, m4a) tracks on the ipod, you could use something like this to organize them by artist/album/tracknum-title:
%a/%A/%T-%t.mp3;%a/%A/%T-%t.m4a;%a/%A/%T-%t.mp4
After you've saved the contents of one ipod, you can then add those files to another ipod. Perhaps it's best to ensure that this part works well first, then move on to adding files to the other ipod?
Is the ipod you will be copying to is a newer ipod (classic, video nano, touch, or iphone)?
[1] I think this might be a gtk bug, but I've not had much luck tracking it down. If anyone has ideas or has seen similar problems in other gtk apps on F8, I'd love to hear about it.
Ok, that seems to permit me to save files from the iPods using gtkpod. Playing back the files I saved seems simplest using Amarok. Unfortunately the iPod I have to experiment with this morning belongs to a teen aged grandson and contains nothing but whining adolescents singing, a horror to work with! The files on the iPod are grouped such as "Top Rated," etc. and I have only been able to copy those groups into newly created directories. I would prefer to be able to copy the entire contents of the iPod in on fell swoop. I'm still looking at that. Thanks to all for your help. Bob Goodwin
To extract all songs from an ipod, create a playlist that contains all songs or select all songs on the ipod in gtkpod. Then in gtkpod select "file" > "Export Tracks From Database" and then select either "Selected Playlist" or "Selected Tracks" depending one what you did earlier.
Bob Goodwin wrote:
Ok, that seems to permit me to save files from the iPods using gtkpod. Playing back the files I saved seems simplest using Amarok. Unfortunately the iPod I have to experiment with this morning belongs to a teen aged grandson and contains nothing but whining adolescents singing, a horror to work with!
;-)
The files on the iPod are grouped such as "Top Rated," etc. and I have only been able to copy those groups into newly created directories. I would prefer to be able to copy the entire contents of the iPod in on fell swoop. I'm still looking at that.
Ahh, if you want to copy the playlists as well as the music, then I think Patrick's suggestion may be simplest. You should even be able to connect both ipods at once, and then drag the playlists from one ipod to the other.
I'd guess that some of those playlists are what are known as "Smart Playlists." You won't get what you want if you simply copy the files currently in them. A smart playlist is really a query. The playlist is updated dynamically. Top rated might be "all tracks that are rated 4 or better." When you rate new tracks or change the ratings of existing tracks, the playlist contents are updated automatically.
Using the drag and drop method should preserve the smart playlists properly.
On Wed, 2008-03-19 at 10:22 -0400, Bob Goodwin wrote:
Unfortunately the iPod I have to experiment with this morning belongs to a teen aged grandson and contains nothing but whining adolescents singing, a horror to work with!
Now's your chance to put some proper music on it... ;-)
Tim wrote:
On Wed, 2008-03-19 at 10:22 -0400, Bob Goodwin wrote:
Unfortunately the iPod I have to experiment with this morning belongs to a teen aged grandson and contains nothing but whining adolescents singing, a horror to work with!
Now's your chance to put some proper music on it... ;-)
I never did succeed in saving to the iPod! I changed a .wmv to an .mp3 and put it in the gtkpod list without much trouble but apparently I would have to load the entire list back into the device and I didn't have the courage to try that.
The kid took his iPod back as soon as he came in from school, he's really worried about it, it's a new one and right off he left it in his pants pocket and it went through the washer and dryer. The display went black, my comment was throw it away. His mother let it dry for a few days and viola, it works again!
There are two more iPods around so I'll get another chance at one before long. The mother has one with a better selection on it.
Bob Goodwin wrote:
There are two more iPods around so I'll get another chance at one before long. The mother has one with a better selection on it.
You can use a tool like rsync to backup the contents of the ipod before you do anything to it, just in case some tinkering leaves it in a strange state. I'd do that if I was worried about breaking someone's music player. :)
On Wed, 2008-03-19 at 21:17 -0400, Bob Goodwin wrote:
Tim wrote:
On Wed, 2008-03-19 at 10:22 -0400, Bob Goodwin wrote:
Unfortunately the iPod I have to experiment with this morning belongs to a teen aged grandson and contains nothing but whining adolescents singing, a horror to work with!
Now's your chance to put some proper music on it... ;-)
I never did succeed in saving to the iPod! I changed a .wmv to an .mp3 and put it in the gtkpod list without much trouble but apparently I would have to load the entire list back into the device and I didn't have the courage to try that.
Unless I'm completely misunderstanding your situation, there's no need to do that. You can just drag a single song (or album, or selected group etc.) to the ipod. Then hit the "Save Changes" button and you're set.
In fact this is the standard way of uploading to the ipod from gtkpod. There is no function equivalent to "synchronize my ipod with my computer", which is why it took me a while to understand it. The various places in the interface that mention "synchronize" are talking about synchronizing the internal gtkpod database with the various data sources, such as your music folders on the computer. Totally non-obvious IMHO but it works once you get used to it.
poc
Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
Unless I'm completely misunderstanding your situation, there's no need to do that. You can just drag a single song (or album, or selected group etc.) to the ipod. Then hit the "Save Changes" button and you're set.
In fact this is the standard way of uploading to the ipod from gtkpod. There is no function equivalent to "synchronize my ipod with my computer", which is why it took me a while to understand it. The various places in the interface that mention "synchronize" are talking about synchronizing the internal gtkpod database with the various data sources, such as your music folders on the computer. Totally non-obvious IMHO but it works once you get used to it.
poc
Ok, thanks for the tip, I will try that when next I get my hands on an iPod. I believe there is a fourth one with bad display or something that I may be able to locate when the kids come in from school this afternoon. I should be able to mess with that without worry!
Bear in mind that I have never used one of the devices and am not familiar with their operation, they are mainly an annoyance since it's hard to communicate with a kid with those things in his ears. It's mainly an interesting thing to examine and experiment with ... And I would like to demonstrate that I can manipulate it without Windows!
The next logical step would be to transfer the iPod files from my Linux computers to their XP box. Yet another project appears ...
BobG
Bob Goodwin wrote:
Bear in mind that I have never used one of the devices and am not familiar with their operation, they are mainly an annoyance since it's hard to communicate with a kid with those things in his ears.
I sometimes use that feature to my advantage. I'd often rather have music in my ears than listen to various people that want my attention.
It's mainly an interesting thing to examine and experiment with ... And I would like to demonstrate that I can manipulate it without Windows!
Definitely a nice thing. My ipod would be worthless if it required windows. In fact, I feel bad for the folks stuck using itunes or windows to manage their ipods. I have much greater control over the device from linux than they do from windows.
The next logical step would be to transfer the iPod files from my Linux computers to their XP box. Yet another project appears ...
As an idea for that, you could setup a music share (probably via SMB, if you have a bunch of Windows systems) on your network so they could browse and listen to the music located on your computer from any of the other computers on the network.
You could also share the music via the DAAP protocol, which allows other DAAP clients (like iTunes) to see your music and play it. There are tools in Fedora to do DAAP easily either via a daemon or using a number of music programs (banshee and rhythmbox both can do this IIRC, as I'm sure a number of others can).
Todd Zullinger wrote:
Bob Goodwin wrote:
Bear in mind that I have never used one of the devices and am not familiar with their operation, they are mainly an annoyance since it's hard to communicate with a kid with those things in his ears.
I sometimes use that feature to my advantage. I'd often rather have music in my ears than listen to various people that want my attention.
It's mainly an interesting thing to examine and experiment with ... And I would like to demonstrate that I can manipulate it without Windows!
Definitely a nice thing. My ipod would be worthless if it required windows. In fact, I feel bad for the folks stuck using itunes or windows to manage their ipods. I have much greater control over the device from linux than they do from windows.
The next logical step would be to transfer the iPod files from my Linux computers to their XP box. Yet another project appears ...
As an idea for that, you could setup a music share (probably via SMB, if you have a bunch of Windows systems) on your network so they could browse and listen to the music located on your computer from any of the other computers on the network.
You could also share the music via the DAAP protocol, which allows other DAAP clients (like iTunes) to see your music and play it. There are tools in Fedora to do DAAP easily either via a daemon or using a number of music programs (banshee and rhythmbox both can do this IIRC, as I'm sure a number of others can).
This opens a new field of interest for me! I installed Samba on this box this afternoon. Next I need to do whatever is necessary to the Windows XP box I will target. Windows is always a science project for me but I will muddle through somehow. I have an Reilly's/Samba which seems clear enough.
Since the twins came in from school I obtained an old iPod, it looks like someone stepped on the display but other than that it appears to function once I put some juice in the battery. The battery is one I installed in it a year ago so that much is mine anyway! Now I have an iPod to play with, a quantum step forward.
I will wait 'til tomorrow to mess with their computer. We have two XP computers and a Mac PowerPro or some such plus a PowerBook G4 on our lan in addition to my Linux boxes. They would all benefit from music files available from one point.
Thanks.
BobG