iTunes Question

[colchar]

Here is another iTunes question.

I prefer my music to be organized alphabetically by artist, then song. So, when I use Winamp to play music, the left column in the playlist has the artist name and the next column has the song title (the last one is the loenthg of the song but that one doesn't really matter to me).

I've often been told that Apple software is so intuitive and that you can customize almost anything to appear the way you, the user, wants it. But I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get iTunes to display my playlists the same way Winamp does.

Does anyone know how I can do this?

[billybreen]

Here is another iTunes question.

I prefer my music to be organized alphabetically by artist, then song. So, when I use Winamp to play music, the left column in the playlist has the artist name and the next column has the song title (the last one is the loenthg of the song but that one doesn't really matter to me).

I've often been told that Apple software is so intuitive and that you can customize almost anything to appear the way you, the user, wants it. But I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get iTunes to display my playlists the same way Winamp does.

Does anyone know how I can do this?

I think people have been misquoting the Apple mantra to you. The design principle is to make things simple by casting off the layers of configuration that only huge nerds or the hyper-anal need. Sadly, that means that multi-level sorting in iTunes isn't there.

Get yourself a Linux box, hippie.

[colchar]

I think people have been misquoting the Apple mantra to you. The design principle is to make things simple by casting off the layers of configuration that only huge nerds or the hyper-anal need. Sadly, that means that multi-level sorting in iTunes isn't there.

Get yourself a Linux box, hippie.

Fair enough...I wasn't really all that interested in using iTunes anyway as I am quite happy with Winamp. I just figured I might as well have it so that I could use it to add music to my iPod (and no, I didn't join the cult by buying an iPod, I won it so figured I might as well use it). But I have other software on my machines that allow me to add songs to my iPod without using iTunes so I can just use them.

And, in all honesty, Vista really isn't that bad (in reference to your Linux crack). I have it on both my desktop and my new laptop and I've gotten used to it. I had planned to downgrade my laptop to XP but the friend who was going to do it for me was a little concerned about having to trouble-shoot drivers for ages afterwards so I told her not to bother.

While there are still some things about Vista that irritate me, I've learned to live with them. It performs fine on my desktop which was bought from a discount manufacturer and most of the problems I have on that machine I attribute to being forced, as a grad student, to buy a cheaper machine.

My new laptop is of far better quality and I find Vista works absolutely fine on that. Again, there are some small issues that I have with Vista that I can't seem to change but none of them affect performance (they are all configuration-type issues that are more personal preferences than anything else). In fact, Vista seems to perform very well on that machine.

ETA: DevilAlumna will probably be happy to read this post.

[A-Tex Devil]

So here's a question... are there sites/services that will take your iTunes catalog and make playlists for you (send them your catalog, what types of playlists you are looking for and they pump a few out)? I know iTunes has the "smart playlist" function, but I'm forever disappointed by what it produces. I am too lazy, not inspired enough, to make a great playlist other than my 300 song list that I keep on constant shuffle.

There's probably some young entrepreneur somewhere right now with ads out that he'll take your catalog and make you the best playlists ever. I have this discussion all the time with people here that if such a person existed, I'd actually see what his prices were. When we talked about how much we would each pay for such a service... well... let's just say we were embarassed. Damn I'm lazy.

[BlueDevilJay]

Yeah I have to agree with Billy too in that I would no longer use a P2P site, and took a huge gamble using it the first time but I dodged the bullet and it works fine now. Ill try to locate the name of the software I use and post that at least so maybe you can find some shareware version of it on the net as well. (Like they said, possibly at download.com )

[Ben63]

Handbrake is the way to go.

Handbrake is ok, but Magic DVD Ripper is the way to go. The free trial lets you use it 5 times, but after you put in a DVD and rip it, dont shut down the program, just put in another DVD. You can rip your whole library with one use out of 5.

Link

Very user friendly, easy to use, it gets my highest recommendation.

[DevilAlumna]

ETA: DevilAlumna will probably be happy to read this post.

I am.

I know you had some very valid reasons why you wanted to stick with XP, even after trying Vista, so good to hear it's working out okay.

But this ipod/itunes thing, I know not of which you speak.

http://social.zune.net/member/TruBluDevil

[DevilAlumna]

I've downloaded videos I've taken with my camera to my computer. Can you download those to an ipod too?

I think it depends on the camera. If the files are in .mov you should be fine. If they are .avis, it may be trickier.

I don't know. They are on my home computer so won't get a chance until later to look, but will.

If they are in .avis, any way to convert to .mov?

Windows Movie Maker is a free tool in Vista (downloadable for XP), that is pretty drag&drop simple for converting movies. I believe it can even help with importing movies from a video cam into a better default digital format.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...r/default.mspx

BB, does iPod read .wmv videos? (I'm pretty sure WMM can convert to .avi, but still curious.)

[Ben63]

Windows Movie Maker is a free tool in Vista (downloadable for XP), that is pretty drag&drop simple for converting movies. I believe it can even help with importing movies from a video cam into a better default digital format.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...r/default.mspx

BB, does iPod read .wmv videos? (I'm pretty sure WMM can convert to .avi, but still curious.)

All you need to know is Apple wants to take over the world so it has its own army of formats and its products dont understand anything else. And I'm pretty sure anything you make with WMM is not Ipod compatible. It has to be in Quicktime format. There are plenty of free converters out there so it shouldnt be a big deal.

[billybreen]

Windows Movie Maker is a free tool in Vista (downloadable for XP), that is pretty drag&drop simple for converting movies. I believe it can even help with importing movies from a video cam into a better default digital format.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...r/default.mspx

BB, does iPod read .wmv videos? (I'm pretty sure WMM can convert to .avi, but still curious.)

No, I think it support MPEG2 and MOV (particularly the H264 standard). Anything else will require conversion.

[billybreen]

All you need to know is Apple wants to take over the world so it has its own army of formats and its products dont understand anything else. And I'm pretty sure anything you make with WMM is not Ipod compatible. It has to be in Quicktime format. There are plenty of free converters out there so it shouldnt be a big deal.

Actually, all of Apple's formats are based on open standards. Sadly, DRM is added on top of those for items purchased from the iTunes store. Otherwise, the media companies wouldn't let them be sold (at least, that was the case when ITMS was created -- some have relented and are selling un-DRMed content on Amazon, but movies are still DRMed wherever you purchase them).

[billybreen]

But this ipod/itunes thing, I know not of which you speak.

http://social.zune.net/member/TruBluDevil

And I'm the one who's accused of being a fanperson. At least I know the Microsoft products when I prefer alternatives.

[DevilAlumna]

And I'm the one who's accused of being a fanperson. At least I know the Microsoft products when I prefer alternatives.

I'm surprised you didn't counter with this:

http://gizmodo.com/387966/colbert-sa...of-youre-crazy

[billybreen]

I'm surprised you didn't counter with this:

http://gizmodo.com/387966/colbert-sa...of-youre-crazy

Oh wow, I hadn't seen that. I'm almost a month behind on my Daily Show/Colbert viewing.