So it begins...

[ivyfic]

My iPod now has all my music on it, but I've run into rather a perplexing problem. On my Dell DJ, I could tell it to play just a song (not the whole album), and then after that play another song, or an album, etc. Essentially I could build a playlist on the fly. Is there any way to do this on an iPod? Can I tell it to play disc 2 of Sweeney Todd after disc 1 or do I just have to fiddle around with it when disc 1 ends? This seems incredibly aggravating to me. There are times (especially when driving) that I can't fiddle with the iPod. On the Dell DJ, I'd just pick six albums to play in a row and let it go. Help!

(Yes, I did watch iPod tutorials on-line and download the instructions this morning. I learned how to do many things, but not that.)

ETA: Apparently there is some function called "On-the-go"? On the iPod help center, I can find articles on how to save my on-the-go playlist, but not how to make the thing in the first place. Grrrrrargh!

ETA2: OK, found it. Why could it not have been simpler to figure out this function? Yes, I'm going to realize that click holding the button does what I want. You know, sometimes more buttons help. It's hard to get it to do what I want just by randomly pressing things.

This is bringing up my basic problem with Macs: they are very good at doing what they're designed for and not really good at doing anything else. I am a heavy user of the right-click button on the mouse. I need those other options!

I have, however, figured out how to display fanfic on it, though not how to make the font larger than this.

Oh, and it is named George.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_abulafia/]

Control-click brings up the contextual menu on the Mac. It becomes completely intuitive, at least if you're using a laptop.

But otherwise I agree with you! Wholeheartedly! Volume adjustment and track switching should not be activated through the same physical control! I mean, I find the touch thing really aggravating to begin with, and prefer a physical wheel that I can feel click from track to track while it's in my pocket, but the task-assignment conflict is just stupid because it's so fixable and yet will never ever be fixed because to do so would be to compromise the so-called simplicity of the hardware interface. Every time a too-loud track starts up while I'm stuck in menu mode I have to flip off my slightly cumbersome headphones, pull the thing out of my pocket, and click my way back to "Now Playing," which is always a problem, but can really become a serious issue if I'm, e.g., in a crowded subway car, reading a book.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

Yes! Exactly! One of the things I liked best about the Dell DJ was that it had volume controls. On the top of the thing, no less. So I could just put my hand in my pocket and adjust the volume without looking. (Very important on the subway, I agree.) I could also turn it off in my pocket without looking, because it had an off button.

Having read a book on the iPod, which had a whole chapter on design, I know Steve Jobs was obsessed with "simplicity." But, I ask you, is it easier to have one button for everything that does something entirely different depending on what screen you're on or to have two little volume buttons on the top?

This reminds me of the old days, pre-MS Word, when I used wordperfect. In order to switch to italics or bold, you had to click through a bunch of menus using the function keys. On the iPod, if I wanted to fast forward in the track, first I have to get to the now playing screen, then click the center button till it's on the right control, then I can adjust.

I am sure I will get used to it, but for right now, argh! And I even went through the "beyond the basics" tutorials on the website, and it doesn't even hint at most of the functions I want to use. Clearly I need to just read the online manual.

I will say, though, that there are many many things iTunes does better than what I was previously using. Syncing using Musicmatch was a nightmare that often led to corrupting or randomly reordering songs on preexisting playlists.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

Of course, iTunes also has the option of setting a volume level on a specific track, so that the few MP3s whose gain is off can be matched to everything else. This is really cool...if I ever remember to use it.

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

So why did George win?

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

When I was setting it up, and it asked me to type in a name, I just typed George. I don't know why.

...Maybe because I can't picture Max in a hoodie?

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I discovered the on-the-go thing randomly too, but I'm simpler than the iPod so I wasn't even caring that I did. I make most playlists at home and at work I just set it on shuffle and skip through any tracks I don't want.

The not being able to turn on/off is only annoying in winter when I can't always get good purchase on the thing in my pocket with gloves on. Ditto the volume control, since that's touch-sensitive and doesn't register through with gloves all the time.

Still, it's good enough I haven't sought out anything else, so that's something, right? And Musicmatch is an EVIL program and I've uninstalled it every time.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

I think I was only looking for it cause I was so used to it. On the Dell DJ, when you click on a song or album, it pops up selections: play now, add to selected, etc. And there are many albums that I like to listen to all of on some days and some of on other days, I don't want to have to clutter up my playlists by having to have playlists for all of those preferences. So, now that I've figured it out, I'm happy.

I don't use shuffle that often because I have far too many songs. In order to use it and be happy, I'd have to go through and group songs not only by genre, but also by how much I like them. And there are some songs that I like to hear in pairs, and some that should only be heard as part of the album as a whole. I think you can do all this on iTunes, but I'm working on making sure all the artist and album tags are correct before I tackle that.

I've spent lunch reading the features manual. It says you can put any videos that play in Quicktime on an iPod. When I get home, I'm definitely testing that theory. :)

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I probably don't have as many songs as you, but I still skip half the things that come up on shuffle. It's still not such a hassle that I make on-the-go playlists all that often. Because then I just have to delete those later (I hate clutter on the playlist page).

I've spent lunch reading the features manual. It says you can put any videos that play in Quicktime on an iPod. When I get home, I'm definitely testing that theory. :)

iPod video, eh? I suppose there's not any of the non-video things left any more. The video thing can be finicky, I hear, so good luck to you.