Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with music and ipod

My New iPod Needs a Name

Krazor — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 16:24:22 -0800

After years of loyal service, my constant companion, the iPod, gave up the ghost. I just received my replacement today, and before I can use it, I have to give it an appropriate name. Bizarrely specific guidelines inside. My last iPod was named Hierophant, (noun - a person who brings religious congregants into the presence of that which is deemed holy.
1. (in ancient Greece) an official high priest of religious mysteries
2. a person who interprets and explains esoteric mysteries), and I would like the new name to be along those lines, but I'm coming up short. Please help!

When I think of what I want the name to be, these words come to mind: mystic, ancient, vaguely dark, possibly religious, obscure, mythological, Greek, Latin, Egyptian, archive, profane, secret, powerful.

Feel free to pick and choose any combination of those, or don't if you can come up with something more fitting. I would really appreciate it! Thank you!

P.S. If it's a cool word in another language, that works too!

what music to put in background when working/incrs. concentration/studyg

earthwalker7 — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 12:52:17 -0800

what music to put in background when working / to increase concentration / while studying I get bored a lot when working and get also distracted easily by outside noises. I'm looking for non-distracting music to put in the background. I'm familiar with iMusic. And there's some classical. Any further suggestions?

Pick music for my 10 year-old son's iPod!

unSane — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 16:15:19 -0800

Please name one song, or album, that I should put on my 10 year-old son's iPod. My 10 year old son has a new iPod. Right now it has exactly one song on it (Hello, Goodbye, which he loves). He's asked me to put some music on it for him, but I thought instead of inflicting my own taste (which I'll do anyway) I'd throw it open to the hive mind.

Name one song or album I should put on it. I'll compile a list, and report back his reactions at some point.

Data points: he's got no particular taste in music (except he learned to sing Southern Man when he was four, which was odd) but he does really like things he can sing along to and/or dance crazily to. He does like the Beatles, and some Neil Young/Buffalo Springield, and I think he had Bulls on Parade as an earworm at some point. But I really want to introduce him to stuff that will be the beginning of a journey somewhere.

He does love things that are a bit abstruse or that aren't things you'd expect kids of his age to 'get'. He also likes to know stuff about the music, why it's important or interesting, for example.

How should we listen to music at home?

The corpse in the library — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 14:18:19 -0800

The last time I bought a stereo, Reagan was president. I don't know if they're even called stereos any more. Please help me figure out what I want and how to set it up. Right now we have music on a MacBook Air and on CDs. We have an AirPort Extreme (not Express). We have an original iPad and assorted iPods and iPhones of various ages and capabilities.

We don't have any stereo equipment other a crappy portable CD player, a Samsung "sound bar" hooked up to the TV, and a dying iHome dock/radio/speaker thing.

I want to be able to play CDs without copying them to the computer first.

I want an FM radio (broadcast, not over the Internet).

I listen to a lot of podcasts, using iTunes and on my iPhone.

Some of our MP3 are from Apple, some from Amazon, some from who-knows-where. They're all on the MacBook.

I want people to be able to play music without involving the MacBook, so I can read Metafilter uninterrupted.

We want speakers in at least two rooms. It needs to be possible to turn them on and off in each room.

I want it to be simple to use.

ITunes alternative to get music onto an iPhone?

gottabefunky — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 13:18:51 -0800

Is there a clean and simple alternative to iTunes for getting music from my Macbook Air onto my iPhone 4S? Unless I'm missing something, most of the programs suggested in previous similar questions (iExplorer, etc) seemed designed to get music from your iPhone/iPod back onto your computer, not vice versa.

Basically I'd like something that operates like iTunes' "manage files manually" option should, clean and simple drag-and-drop, without all the your-phone-is-not-linked-to-this-library, sure-you-can-do-that-but-only-if-you-erase-your-phone-first bullshit inherent in that bloated monstrosity.

Budget iPad audio solutions

craniac — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 13:46:06 -0800

I have an iPad 2, a Sandisk mp3 player and about three ipods floating around my house. I also have a Sony ICF-m1000 table radio. When I plug my iPad into the AUX input on the table radio, it's not nearly loud enough. How can I cheaply amplify the audio from my I-devices so they sound good on the Sony radio? Or maybe connecting the i-devices to the radio is just a dumb idea. I'm looking for small solutions, as my wife is very protective of counter spaces. I ask because I'm sick of skipping CDs. Thanks.

FM transmitter/iPod touch woes

anthom — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 16:41:42 -0800

Can I use an iPod dock extender cable to get audio from my 4th generation iPod touch to an FM transmitter with a male dock connection meant for the iPod mini? If not, what are my options for inexpensive FM transmission from my Touch? My most recent car FM transmitter, a cheapo $10 Big Lots special (this thing), just crapped out on me after 3 months and I'm looking for a reliable, cheap way to play music and podcasts from my Touch. Can it be done?

My car has an aftermarket stereo that's new enough to not have a cassette player, but old enough to have no line-in or other iPod gadgetry. I still have a working Sonnet Podfreq Mini FM transmitter, which I had used with my dearly departed iPod mini. Despite its oddball looks, it's been a remarkably reliable transmitter with a strong signal. Is there a way I can use it with my Touch? Is the audio out on an old dock connector compatible with a newer device? I don't care about charging. I'm guessing due to power incompatibility between the mini and newer iDevices, the Touch wouldn't charge from the Podfreq anyway. If so, could I simply pick up a dock extension cable to plug the Touch into the Podfreq and get my music back?

If this isn't an option, are there any amazing transmitters (yes, I know "amazing transmitters" may seem like an oxymoron...) out there worth the money these days?

Fuck iTunes

Lobster Garden — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 15:18:51 -0800

Can't figure out how to transfer music from old iPod Classic to new iPod Touch on PC. I have a bunch of music on my iPod Classic that is not in iTunes. I also have all of this music stored locally on my PC. I am trying to figure out how to transfer this music to my new iPod Touch. iTunes won't let me click and drag the music from one iPod to another, and clicking "Add New Folder to Library" doesn't do anything at all. I haven't been able to import the music I have stored locally to iTunes (nothing happens when I try this). Googling hasn't been any help because the instructions are either for Mac only, or they say that this doesn't work for iPod Touch (?). I'm running Windows 7. Help?

Help me discover how accurate iTunes Top 25 is and/or how to make it more on point

jitterbug perfume — Wed, 23 May 2012 04:38:26 -0800

How accurate is iTunes Top 25 most played and can I make it any moreso? I'm not going to lie and pretend this is for a science experience, I'm just very curious about my own listening habits and whether or not they are being documented accurately. I assume iTunes takes what is listened to on the iPod into consideration as well? And does the iPod's list take both devices' listening into account (as opposed to simply making a playlist that's a copy of the computer'smost played songs)? If not, this entire thing is fairly irrelevant. If so, how come usually when I sync my iPod, the Top 25 don't change? When DO they change, in other words update to the most current relevant information? Do I have to restart the computer? Is it biweekly? Is it while I sleep :)? If I've been listening to the iPod nonstop for a week, you'd think the numbers would change some and update, right? Or wrong?

The other thing I think is that it might mess with the numbers and make them inaccurate if it only counts the song as "listened to" if you listen all the way through to the next track, as many people, myself included, will skip around to other tracks in the final fading seconds of their current song.

I guess those are my two main issues - are they correct? And if so, is there anything I can do about it to make it more accurate or to make it update itself? I would try my best not to skip any tracks as the last 3 or 4 seconds fade out but I don't want to alter my behavior for the purposes of data collection, even if it does make it more accurate, it feels wrong.

Bonus question: Why do I have one Top 25 Most Played playlist with 25 tracks in it and another one with the same Top 25 but 25 more in addition, so Top 50 but still called Top 25?

Ambient Wedding Playlist Help.

arha — Sun, 06 May 2012 00:42:49 -0800

Looking for suggestions for folksy, acoustic love songs for our wedding reception. We would like suggestions for appropriate recent music to play during cocktail hour and dinner at our wedding reception. Slightly cheesy is fine . Examples of songs already on the list:

Busby Marou "Biding My Time"
Regina Spektor "Real Love"
Eels "The Look You Give That Guy"( Not 100% appropriate but we just love that song)

A friend is covering the dance floor section of the night, but any failsafe dance music is also welcome.

(I have seen these previous questions, however they are mostly older music and more lounge than we are looking for)

What kind of speakers do I need for my wedding?

ohsnapdragon — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 17:31:55 -0800

Help me find the best speaker solution for my upcoming wedding? I'm getting married in June. Yay! It's a small, relaxed, daytime event, and we want to go the iPod route. We will be having around 30-40 guests. The ceremony will be outside, on a dock, and the reception inside one fairly small rectangular room.

We want the speakers to be loud enough so that our guests can hear the entrance and exit music during our outdoor ceremony, but portable enough that there's not a lot of setup involved and that they can be moved into the (nearby) building for the reception. We do have electrical outlets at both locations. A mic might be nice but I'm not sure if we need it or not.

We can spend a couple hundred or so on either renting or buying some sort of speaker setup. So should we:

- buy a portable iPod speaker
- rent some speaker equipment from a company, and if so what are we looking for
- buy some computer speakers and set it up with a laptop
- something else?

Thanks everyone for you input, and if you are going to tell me specifics please explain it to me like I am a five year old/95 year old because I am pretty clueless. : )

Total itunes/airtunes setup from scratch, please.

nevercalm — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 08:49:22 -0800

I have 300gb of music, a house, several Mac laptops, a Mac G5, a router, two iphones, an ipad, and several external HDs where the music is stored. I would like to be able to play music anywhere in my house, control it wirelessly without the laptops and update libraries as well as all my devices with whatever I like anywhere in the house, without having to drag out the external USB HD to plug into various laptops like I do now. I'm willing to buy equipment to let this happen. Bonus if it lets me move movies onto a USB stick to plug into my nifty new tv. Details under the fold. My current setup is to haul out the external HDs, plug them into whatever laptop is synced with whatever device, add new music/movies, then plug in my iphones/ipad, move things around. Then I take my iphone and plug it into a stereo.

My ideal solution would be to have a USB 2 TB drive that hooks into a router directly, which is then accessible from every laptop to which a device is synced. I'm fairly sure I need some Airtunes, but my knowledge of this is extremely nebulous. I would like to be able to add new music to this drive, play music from it, update my various iphones/ipad from it, and to be able to use whatever laptops in the house without having to constantly monitor and update their libraries manually.

I'd prefer to not have to leave a computer running constantly, if I can help it.

Extra credit if I can use this system to backup as well as move movies to a USB stick to watch on a tv.

What are my options? I'd really like to not have to repurpose an old Mac as a server.

Do I need to buy a router that accepts USB drives?
Do I need to somehow make an old laptop a server?
Do I need an Airtunes device for every room I want to use this in?
Is there an easy way to update libraries on two Mac itunes setups automagically, so that files are available to the various synced devices?

Let's say I have a budget, but it isn't that small to prevent me from buying reasonable stuff I'd need.

IPod Confusion

goalyeehah — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 12:19:57 -0800

How do I select or delete specific songs from my IPod? I am producing a public event this Saturday and would like to use music from my IPod to help set the ambiance. I thought that I could delete the unnecessary stuff, keep stuff for the event and the resync after.

I went online to see how to delete. I found some information that I am unable to apply. Is there an easier way to do this.

Or....

Can I separate what I would like to play from that I do not without having to delete anything?

Need a musical solution for kitchen-hanging.

Buffaload — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 17:07:35 -0800

Kitchen stereo/new music filter: Do I still want satellite radio? I had satellite radio five years ago (Sirius) and loved it. One thing led to another and I dropped my subscription. It seems like re-upping with Sirius-XM might solve my music dilemma (more on that in a moment), but is it any good these days? Worth the price?

Here's what I need:

Something to play music on good speakers (not my PC speakers)...

Something that will effortlessly introduce me to new music (so sick of my music library).

I currently listen to my ipod (big fat, old-timey one) on a Bose dock with pretty decent sound.

What's your experience? Am I overlooking an option? Thanks.

Broken buds ain't my buddies

inturnaround — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 04:54:53 -0800

I need a pair of sturdy earbuds. Can you help me find a pair that will survive my pocket? Can anyone recommend a pair or sturdy earbuds for me? I'm super harsh on them and have broken many pairs recently. Two have had their jack snapped off (not sure anyone can help me with that) and others have lost the sound in one or both ears within months. I'm looking for earbuds (ideally with iPhone controls and a mic) that won't be easily broken in my pocket when I'm carrying them around.

Changing from iPod Touch to iPhone - help!

booksherpa — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 13:59:42 -0800

Just got a new iPhone; already had an iPod Touch. What apps do I want now? What do I need to know? I've had an iPod Touch for a few years, and loved it. After a while, the main things I missed were accessing the internet from anywhere and a camera. So, when it came time to get a new cell phone, I decided to go with an iPhone (Verizon, white, 32GB). What apps will I want now that I wouldn't have needed/been able to use with an iPod Touch? I already have a slew of games, so I'm mainly looking for apps that take advantage of my new features: the camera, the microphone, and internet (almost) everywhere. To give you some more specific ideas of what I'm looking for, I'm interested in photography, I'm trying to decide between Shazam and SoundHound, I'm a foodie, and I used my Touch to help keep me more organized and track my HealthMonth goals.

Not app related, if you converted from a Touch to an iPhone, what took the most getting used to? What surprised you? What tricks do you use now that you wish you'd known when you first got an iPhone? Also, this is my first smart phone - any tips/tricks/suggestions for taking full advantage of it would be much appreciated.

What's the best on the market today?

ruelle — Sun, 22 May 2011 04:36:58 -0800

Recommendations for a great portable music player that supports wma lossless files (ie: not an Ipod)? I'm basically looking for a player with a fantastic memory, support for lossless, and great sound.

Apparently back in 2008, only 4 players supported lossless (Cowon A3, D2, Q5W; Gigabeat T-Series; iriver clix 2G and Zune).
Since then, has anything better popped up? What do you recommend?

Thank you in advance

Help me identify this mystery song that played on my iPhone so I don't think I'm crazy.

xtine — Thu, 19 May 2011 22:58:14 -0800

Help me identify this mystery song that played on my iPhone so I don't think I'm crazy. When I ride my scooter to and from work I listen to music on my iPhone, on shuffle. Today as I was riding back from work, an unexpected song came on. But because I was riding, I wasn't able take my iPhone out to check the song until I got back to my apartment.

It's a song I think I've heard before. Sung by a young woman in a innocent girlish voice. Goes like:
"I'm your peanut butter, and you are jelly...I remember the first time that I saw you
Sitting 'cross the cupboard with your other jelly friends

And you're so sweet, and I am crunchy
You're low fat-well I'm working on that..."

I know the lyrics only because I tried Googling for "you're my peanut butter, you are jelly song" and I found out that it was made popular by a Mormon a capella group. But I couldn't find mention of what exactly the song name is, or the version sung by the girl.

More importantly, I tried to go look through the shuffle playlist and it listed the song that was played before this peanut butter song, and the song after. But not the song itself! Moreover, I would not normally have this type of song in my iTunes. So maybe I imported it as part of a compilation or something. I look through the song list on my iPhone, scanned each song and I did not find anything that could be this song. I mostly just put my favorite ska, punk, indie rock, and electronic artists on my iPhone and this was something different, which what surprised me so much.

Then, a friend mentioned the possibility of it being a "ghost song" that it could be either a hidden or easter egg song. I did try to find any hidden tracks of albums that were on my iPhone but I did not find those either.

Any help of figuring out what particular song this is so I don't think I'm just going effing crazy would be totally insightful and helpful. :)

Can my child manage his own music collection?

largecorp — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 06:19:53 -0800

What's the best technology for a little kid listening to music? My five-year-old loves music. We only have song on iTunes and iPods. He can't read the song titles, and it's too easy for him to mess things up. I'm wishing for a stack of records ("like we had when I was a kid") that he could manage himself. Any advice on creating a self-operable music listening system for kids in this age of digital music? Thanks!

Separating complete albums from singles on my iPhone/iPod

m@f — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 23:34:30 -0800

iPhone/iPod music conundrum. How can I easily see my full albums - and only my full albums - when I also have loaded playlists with multiple single tracks? I enjoy listening to both full albums and eclectic, custom playlists on my iPhone. But they don't don't play nice when I have a bunch of each loaded at the same time.

It's easy to listen to specific playlists - I open the iPod app, select the Playlists tab, and pick a playlist. However, when I want to listen to a full album I select the Album tab.... and all my full albums are intermingled with the single songs from my playlists since they are listed under their respective album name. Out of a list of 60 "albums" only 10 may be complete. And there is no indication of which ones are singles and which are complete.

The only alternative that comes to mind is creating individual playlists for each album - but that is a poor workaround at best. Is it possible to move - or remove - the singles in the Albums tab?

Sorting classical music for easy browsing in iTunes

Homo economicus — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 11:58:12 -0800

Classical music + itunes + video (classic) iPod. Help me figure out the essential (minimum) amount of metadata needed for happy music listening. Similar questions have been asked, but my variation on the theme is that I don't care if I have all the metadata slots filled out and I refuse to give up iTunes. I would just like a consistent set of tags that will allow for easy browsing, and I'm fine if I have to hand edit some metadata to make that happen. I don't need artwork either.

I've looked at Taming iTunes for Classical Music, but I think it might be overkill for my needs. Could I get recommendations for a Lite version of this organization system? Recommendations on how to browse on a classic iPod and itunes (i.e. which tags to show and which to sort by) with said system would also be great.

Thanks!

What was that music webapp I had on my iPod?

Deor — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 19:26:53 -0800

What was that music webapp I had on my iPod? Help me remember the site I had saved to my homescreen a while ago. I'm fairly sure it was a webapp and not a proper app. I seem to remember the name for the icon was shortened to a two-letter acronym; I thought it was DI for digitalinspiration.com but googling that shows I was wrong. I'll try to describe it anyway: the app had a series of square, colourful icons down the left-hand side, not unlike the style to the iTunes gift card drawings. Each icon represented a category; I definately remember 'lounge', and the others were mostly dance/electronic music related genres like house, groove etc. probably hip-hop stuff too. Definately a cool and groovy site.

What is the best audio compression for ipod quality earphones?

Fluffy654 — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 15:15:48 -0800

What is the best audio compression for ipod quality earphones? I don't want to buy expensive earphones and I will listen to music mostly through ipod earphones or earphones of a similar quality. I want to get the best possible listening experience but have heard it said that lossless formats are wasted on low quality equipment. I would like the smallest possible file size without impacting on music quality.

Will I notice much difference if I use lossless over lossy compression? Either way, what would be an appropriate compression format, given the equipment restriction?

How to transfer music from my iPod to my PC?

never.was.and.never.will.be. — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 11:12:33 -0800

How can I transfer my music collection from my iPod to my computer and keep it all organized? I have an iPod (5th generation, I think?) that I think will die pretty soon, and all my music is organized beautifully on that iPod. These are the types of files I have on there:

- music imported from CD's (some had correct info when imported into iTunes, some I had to rename from "Track 1" to "Actual Song Name")
- mp3 files copied from friend's computers (again, I had to rename a lot of the files in order to organize them)
- music downloaded from iTunes

It took me hours and hours to label all the songs on my iPod in iTunes. I still have most of the music scattered throughout a couple of external hard drives and tons of CD's, but it's not on my computer now.

I would like to save all the music from my iPod onto my computer, and leave it organized and named correctly, so I can easily transfer it in one shot to my next mp3 player, or maybe an iPhone if I get one. I would hate to have to import all the CDs again, and have to go through several external hard drives where my music is scattered, just to get them on my next mp3 player, and to have to re-name all those files!

Is there free or very cheap software that will let me do that on a PC? I saw the lifehacker link from another question, but I would like the music organized on my PC without having to put it back into iTunes first. Is there a way to do that? I also tried iRip, and it seemed to skip a lot of the artists (maybe it only chose to copy the songs that were downloaded legally?) What other options do I have?

Best portable music player for a finnicky music collector?

regicide is good for you — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 15:24:20 -0800

I can't really be looking for the Holy Grail of MP3 players, can I? Big drive, SSD, straightforward file management and control over my music collection - too much to ask? Which one do I pick, or how do I make a current one in to what I want? I need something that

Holds at least 50GB

Uses SSD

Doesn't require syncing, and lets me just drag and drop files from my computer to its drive and vice-versa with minimal complaints

I'm a bit of an audiophile so I'd really prefer something with true lineout, and FLAC support would be great.

I'm totally willing to jailbreak (or whatever) an existing SSD player and/or use 3rd party software if that's what it takes. Apple's philosophy kind of bugs me so if I can avoid buying an iPod Touch I'd be much happier, especially since a Touch has far too many bells and whistles for my needs, but if it's the best option, it's what I'll get.

FM radio would be pretty damn sweet, but not a deal-breaker.

Price isn't an issue.

Thanks!