Tuesday, 14 December 2010

Copying Music from an old iPod.

Wrote this guide ages ago. My cousin Amber, say hi Amb, asked me about it today.

So I said I'd post it for her.

Oh an thanks to Paul for being the first person to purchase an product through my A m a z o n adds.

Anyhoo on with the guide. This guide is for windows so may need a few changes/may not work for mac (see bottom of post.). It will work for old iPods (Pre-iTouch), not sure about the classic but will know soon after Santa has been.


Adding Music from your IPod to Itunes.

1.Open Itunes.


2.Goto Edit -> Preferences


3.Open the Devices tab


4.Ensure that “prevent ipods, iPhones and iPads from syncing automatically” Is checked. This will prevent the loss of all the music on your ipod.

Guide 1
Prevent syncing

5.Attach the ipod to your computer.

6.When its loaded click on the ipod in itunes. You will be presented with the ipod summary screen. Find the options section, ensure that “Manually Manage music….” And “Enable disk use” are checked as below.

Guide 2
Use as hard drive.

7.Click Apply if necessary.

8.Your ipod is now set up. For manual access.

9.Now for the tricky part. Open “My Computer”. You’ll now see the ipod listed as a device with removable storage. Double click the ipod. You’ll a similair list of folders as below.

Guide 3
Find ipod_control.

a.Notice the ipod_control folder is “Ghosted” this means it is currently hidden. If you can’t see it you need to goto to Tools -> folder options when the dialogue opens. Click the view tab. In the box below you will see a folder (yellow icon) hidden files and folders change the option below it to “show hidden files and folders.


10.right click on ipod_control and select properties.


11.Uncheck the “hidden” option and click apply.


12.Press ok on the next box. You have now unhidden your music on your ipod. Congratulations.


13.Go back to itunes.


14.Go File-> add folder to library


15.Navigate to your ipod than ipod_control -> Music click ok


16.This will add all the music from your ipod to your itunes library.


17.One last thing even though your music is in the library it resides on you ipod. We must move it to you computer. To do this goto File -> Library -> Organise Library....

Guide 4
Organise library.

18.Click consolidate library. And ok.

Guide 5
Consolidate library.

19.this may take some time. Once its finished you now have a copy of all your music on your computer. You may wish to select all (ctrl + A) and do Advanced -> Get Album Track Details and Advanced -> Get Album Art Work.


20.You are now free to add and remove files from your ipod manually by dragging and dropping from your itunes library to your iPod.



On first glance this may not work on a mac so here is a free trail of a product that will do it.

http://www.fadingred.com/senuti/
http://www.headlightsoft.com/expod/

Wednesday, 8 December 2010

Shameless Plug.

I have just made a new post on the Spree4 Eye on Technology Blog.

Check it out here.

Its about the Sonos multi room music distrubution system which i will shamlessly plug now.

Saturday, 4 December 2010

2011 Book List - Draft 1

Here is a short draft List of the Books I'm looking forward to next year.




Alastair Reynolds' new Series starts next year. I love Reynolds' work i read his last book (well at least some of it.) Terminal World on a flight from Las Vegas to New York and 5 hours has never gone so fast. This new book comes as part of a new "Mega-Bucks" deal that Reynolds has recently signed, and quire right to. I know a few people are worried that his writing may suffer due to the commitments demanded of him, but he's pretty damn prolific. I Imagine he'll eat up any demands with room to spare. I for one can't wait!



Hmmm that really is a draft! One! One book is all i can find that i'm looking forward to reading next year!.


So to bump out the List here are some books and audiobooks i'm looking forward to owning but haven't bought yet.

Books



I got into Iain Banks' non 'M' work quite recently because i'd run out of his excellent 'M' books (sci-fi). I was not disappointed my personal favourites so far are The Wasp Factory and Complicity (Abacus Paperback). I have read that transitions is a move to bring together his non-m and m works as their are sci-fi elements to this work. Sounds good bring it on.


Audiobooks

I love an audiobook not because I'm lazy (I normally get audiobooks of books I've already read ,) but because they are great distractions/background while at the gym or working.


Pandora's Star (Commonwealth Saga 1) and it sequel Judas Unchained (Commonwealth Saga 2) are fantastic books(whatever Paul says,) but being Hamilton's usual epic tomes are not really books you can quickly reread. Great if you have a month to spare, not so good for filling an empty lunch hour with. Thats the great thing about audiobooks it doesn't matter its sat on your iPod waiting for you to escape into. I'll definatly be adding this to my brand spanking new Apple iPod classic 160GB - Black.




As I said above I love Reynolds' work and were better to start with the audiobooks than at the beginning of his epic Revelation Space saga. No where that's where!

Friday, 3 December 2010

Nasa to hold conference on Alien Life. Part 3 - Details

So Nasa announcement happened. It wasn't what i and others expected.

A little over hyped I think though it is very interesting news. The hype seemed to be heading more towards definite proof rather than just a increase to one of the coefficients of the Drake equation.

Scientists have found a bacterium thriving in a heavily poisonous lake. This lake has a high concentration of arsenic, which would normally be deadly to bacteria. This clever little bacterium actually uses arsenic as a building block, it uses arsenic in several of its cell structures where normal life (me, you, that tree and that fish.) would use phosphorus. Most interestingly the bacterium uses the arsenic in its “DNA”.

The scientists have been asked weather this is evidence of life’s adaptability or of a 2nd genesis (not the Phil Collins Band.) Is this a bacterium that has adapted to a high arsenic low phosphorus environment by using arsenic instead in place of phosphorus, or is this bacterium part of a shadow Biosphere? I.e. is the bacterium a completely separate unrelated form of life that has grown alongside ours?

The scientist are reluctant to commit, as usual. All they say the finding means is that life can exist without one of the elements we previously thought essential for it. Which is pretty huge.

If life now needs Carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, (phosphorus or arsenic) and sulphur, what else can it swap-out. Carbon for silicon? Sulphur for Selenium? It means the chance of life existing and thriving elsewhere in the universe just got a hell of a lot more likely.


Wednesday, 1 December 2010

Nasa to hold conference on Alien Life. Part 2

Yesterday I blogged about NASA's press conference tomorrow. Having done some googling it seems likely that the announcement will be something to do with Saturns Moon Rhea.

The cassini probe has sent details that Rhea has an atmosphere and that atmosphere contains oxygen and carbon dioxide. This is very suggestive of the presence of Life. The actual content of the press conference is yet to be seen. Will it just be the above or has detailed analysis of the data proven life to exist their?

We'll just have to wait and see til tomorrow.