iPod Shuffle syncing issue. Send help! (Solved my own problem - never mind.)

[Cliff Face]

Okay, so I got an iPod Shuffle for Christmas. I've just spent about 2 hours playing around with iTunes.

First it tried syncing my entire library, which was altogether too many GB for my poor little Shuffle. It said it was syncing 800 songs - but I cancelled it when I noticed how many GB it was going to take up.

So then it gave me a message about deleting podcasts (whatever those are) which was supposed to take me down to a low GB level... I clicked OK and it said it was syncing 400-odd songs. But I have more than that in my library, and I hadn't specified which songs, so I cancelled that too.

Then I went through my library and unticked all the songs I didn't care about having on the Shuffle. I pressed sync, and it said something about 200-odd songs. But I have more than that on my mp3 player, and it was basically the same playlist.

So I must assume at this point that what it was doing was syncing the songs that hadn't yet been synced. Am I right?

Okay, so eventually I found the option "Only sync ticked files." I clicked that, and noticed a "Revert" button. I was at about 1.81GB (of 1.88GB apparently) and upon reverting, it went down to about 1.67GB.

Okay.

So I then pressed sync again, and it went up to about 1.71GB. This should've been problem solved, right?

Except I noticed that in my Music folder under the Shuffle's username heading in iTunes is missing the last 2 albums that were still ticked!

And try as I might, I can't get iTunes to sync these 2 albums onto my Shuffle! Argh!

Please help! I've never used iTunes nor Apple before, and I don't know WTF I'm doing.

I think I'm doing things how I should right now, but there's still those 2 albums that I can't get on there! And I have space for them, too!

*frustrated*

I've tried closing the program then syncing again, and that doesn't work. I've tried unticking the files, seeing if revert is there (it isn't) and then reticking and syncing, and THAT doesn't work.

Please help!

[Cliff Face]

OMG problem solved!

I went back into iTunes for one last crack at it, and decided to drag and drop the album into the device... And it worked! Click on album art, drag, drop, automatically syncs, now those 2 albums are on there.

Sorry folks - maybe a mod could delete this thread?

I'm just happy to have figured this out. Of course, I could've saved myself a lot of unticking if I'd figured this out sooner... Unticking 400 songs is a bit much when I could've just dragged and dropped the albums I actually wanted...

*headdesk*

Going to change the title of this thread now.

[Medievalist]

Right-click a ticky box and you'll have an option to tick or untick all of them.

The iTunes help is nifty. There are videos up at Apple too.

http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/

[Cliff Face]

Oh, okay... Thanks Medi. :)

Y'know, I reopened iTunes after solving my problem, with the Shuffle still plugged in, and it said at the top "Syncing" and it synced 11 songs. Only when I checked what had changed, it had taken off my favourite album! I had to drag and drop that album back in.

I'll check out the Apple help pages to see if they have any answers for this.

[Cliff Face]

Just plugged the Shuffle in again, and I didn't have this second problem.

I'm confused, but happy. :)

[Fenika]

Maybe it doesnt like the heat ;) :)

[Cliff Face]

It wouldn't be the first piece of technology I've had to not like the South Australian summer. :tongue

Hell, not even summer! I remember in November of 2009 (one month before summer officially began) I took my old laptop out into the city for a NaNo write-in, and it carked it. Dead.

:tongue

[Cliff Face]

Meanwhile, I'm loving the simplicity of the iPod itself (5 buttons for control of song choices and volume, 1 3-way button for Off, Play and Shuffle, and a voice-over button to find out what track it is - very much simpler than my mp3 player, which required going through 3 menus just to turn on shuffle...) and the sound quality is great. :)

One thing I have noticed is that it doesn't have the port to dock it in a stereo or car or whatever... Is this just a Shuffle thing? The main reason I chose an iPod for Christmas was for docking in a stereo in the future...

[Medievalist]

One thing I have noticed is that it doesn't have the port to dock it in a stereo or car or whatever... Is this just a Shuffle thing? The main reason I chose an iPod for Christmas was for docking in a stereo in the future...

The head phone jack supports a standard 3.5-mm stereo mini plug; just get a cable that's mini-to-stereo mini or stereo RCA. I confess that I actually travel with one, as well using on with my Airport express.

[Cliff Face]

Okay, thanks. :)

*wonders if the 15-year-old stereo mum has will support this cable* :tongue

Right at this point, I don't own my own stereo at all. But I do recognise that nearly every stereo on the market at the moment has an iPod dock, but not an mp3 player dock, hence wanting an iPod.

Okay, I'll add that cable to my list of things to do tomorrow when the shops reopen (and I thankfully am not working).

[Fenika]

Those cables are handy. I keep a cable attached to my stereo in the living room and whenever I want I can plug in the iphone and hit the right button and blast music or car talk or whatever.

[Medievalist]

Okay, thanks. :)

*wonders if the 15-year-old stereo mum has will support this cable* :tongue

She may need an adaptor, though I doubt it.

Some older stereos have aux input that is mini-to-mini.

This isn't an unusual or expensive cable.

[Cliff Face]

Reviving a long-dead thread to say a few things.

1. I got that cable. It works fine, even on the old stereo. Woo!

2. I actually got around to trying to right-click a ticky box, to unselect an entire album. I couldn't see the option anywhere.

3. I've just spent 20 minutes on the iTunes support site linked earlier in this thread, and couldn't figure out the next problem.

4. How in blazes do you take files OFF your iPod?

I'm at capacity for my Shuffle, but wanted to remove 1 album to add a different album. For the life of me, I can't figure out how to do it!

I've unticked the album I want off, pressed sync, and that doesn't work. I've tried drag-dropping the unticked album onto my Device header, which worked for putting albums on, but that doesn't do anything.

I've tried unticking the "Only sync ticked files" option, which gives me the option to Revert. I click Revert, and it doesn't do anything except retick that option.

And in my Music header within Device, I can't delete any files at all.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks in advance.

[Medievalist]

The Shuffle works a little differently than other iPods, especially if you have the Automatically Fill option checked.

Did you see this FAQ:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1719

And to check/uncheck ALL the selected tracks, you need to select the tracks you want to affect, then right-click in the ticky-box, then respond appropriately to the Dialog that double-checks to make sure you want to check/uncheck.

For a Shuffle, I usually either use the Fill Automatically from a playlist, or I create playlist for syncing, watching the total amount of data in the playlist.

To remove the files, untick them. Revert means "undo that thing I just did" which if you've unticked, will simply re-tick.

There's a thing that may confuse Windows users. Typically, windows wants a verb first (what do you want to do?) followed by a noun (what do you want to do it to?)

The iPod/iTunes stuff in general has to select or choose the thing you want to do something to/with, then you tell it what you want to do (subject/noun then verb).

[Cliff Face]

Hmm. I didn't see that FAQ page until now, actually.

And unticking to remove files wasn't working for me last time I tried. I couldn't untick in Music under Device, and when I unticked in Music Library, it didn't get that album off my Shuffle...

Currently my iPod is away from my computer, so I can't test it again...

Thanks though. I'll look at it again later. :)

[Cliff Face]

Okay, so I couldn't find any way to get to the Autofill settings. There was no Settings button for me to click that I could see. And I was confused as to which is the "Main iTunes Browser Window" as referenced in the FAQ.

However! In my blind fumbling, I clicked on Music in the main Device window, NOT in the list on the left like I normally do. Lo and behold, I found a way of customising what was on the Shuffle!

So I did make a playlist before then, which should've been in range for fitting on the Shuffle. The GB was less than maximum.

So in this new section I found, I tried syncing in that playlist, and it told me there wasn't enough space. ?

In the end, I went through and unticked a few albums in the Albums section, and it went down to 0.01GB free. So I clicked Apply, and it told me there wasn't enough space? It tried to sync anyway, so I let it, and lo and behold it fit everything on there.

So... I'm left wondering what's up with iTunes, but at least I can get the results I want, even if the method is baffling sometimes.

*shrug* It worked. That's all that really matters.