iPod touch Serious ITouch Question

[Aibynn]

Let me get this out of the way first - I'm a programmer who has over the last programmed on Macintoshs, but not for the last 10 years or so... the jobs simply weren't around for Macs the way they were for Linux and PCs.

I have never, however, liked the iPod. I don't like the iTouch, I don't like the iPhone and I loathe iTunes.

Now, if you're still willing to help...

A friend of mine came around the other day. I had taken a video of an engagement party that we were both at and she wanted to take it home. I had just run out of media, the file was some odd 70 MB large so I asked if she had a flash drive or USB drive or something. She told me she had an iTouch with her, would that work?

I told her of course it would! I'll even convert the file to play on her iTouch so she could watch it on her trip home.

I fire up a program and it converts pretty quickly. First I try to plug the thing into my PC and find out that the iTouch won't act as a hard drive. I'm a bit surprised, but ok, I create a quick Virtual Machine, install iTunes and it recognizes the ITouch.

I then try several ways to get the video across, only to have iTunes tell me that I have to Sync (rather than just copy it across). I say ok, and it tells me it's going to delete everything on the iTouch? Apparrently, it will only sync with one computer at a time?

I did a bit of research and it looks like without doing something ridiculous (like Jailbreaking the iTouch), there is no way to get my perfectly legal and totally unprotected video file onto the iTouch?

Please, tell me I'm missing something. At that point I'd already spent an hour or so trying, she had to go and she obviously took her iTouch with her.

So, is this really how the "just works" apple products function? If this is done by design (and not my inadequate knowledge), I'm amazed. I have several devices that play video/music, and all of them allow me to just copy the files across... whether it be on Mac, Linux or Windows.

Just in case this comes up again, can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong?

 

[Tallest Skil]

It's an iPod touch.

This is done for DRM purposes so that people can't take hundreds of files from multiple sources and just have them.

You're missing nothing. Now try to use a Zune.

 

[mavis]

It's an iPod touch.

And yet you were obviously able to determine which product he was referring to.

 

[NC MacGuy]

The touch is a pain that way. I'd love it to have a disk mode maybe like a shuffle.

You can get files over through a few app.'s. I use Air Sharing. The only downside is both computer and touch you need to be on a wifi network at the same time but it does work nicely.

 

[Ivan P]

Let me get this out of the way first - I'm a programmer who has over the last programmed on Macintoshs, but not for the last 10 years or so... the jobs simply weren't around for Macs the way they were for Linux and PCs.

I have never, however, liked the iPod. I don't like the iTouch, I don't like the iPhone and I loathe iTunes.

Now, if you're still willing to help...

A friend of mine came around the other day. I had taken a video of an engagement party that we were both at and she wanted to take it home. I had just run out of media, the file was some odd 70 MB large so I asked if she had a flash drive or USB drive or something. She told me she had an iTouch with her, would that work?

I told her of course it would! I'll even convert the file to play on her iTouch so she could watch it on her trip home.

I fire up a program and it converts pretty quickly. First I try to plug the thing into my PC and find out that the iTouch won't act as a hard drive. I'm a bit surprised, but ok, I create a quick Virtual Machine, install iTunes and it recognizes the ITouch.

I then try several ways to get the video across, only to have iTunes tell me that I have to Sync (rather than just copy it across). I say ok, and it tells me it's going to delete everything on the iTouch? Apparrently, it will only sync with one computer at a time?

I did a bit of research and it looks like without doing something ridiculous (like Jailbreaking the iTouch), there is no way to get my perfectly legal and totally unprotected video file onto the iTouch?

Please, tell me I'm missing something. At that point I'd already spent an hour or so trying, she had to go and she obviously took her iTouch with her.

So, is this really how the "just works" apple products function? If this is done by design (and not my inadequate knowledge), I'm amazed. I have several devices that play video/music, and all of them allow me to just copy the files across... whether it be on Mac, Linux or Windows.

Just in case this comes up again, can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong?

If you had selected "no" when it asked to erase and replace everything, you could have enabled "manually manage music and videos". This would have retained the stuff already on the iPod, but would have let you drag-and-drop the video file onto it also.
And it's incorrect that you have to jailbreak to put your own videos on. It just has to be the correct format (the ones listed on Apple's iPod touch tech specs page). I have many ripped DVDs (hundreds, in fact), and several home-made videos on my iPod touch. It's never, ever been jailbroken and I use iTunes exactly the way it's intended.

 

[Aibynn]

Ok...

If you had selected "no" when it asked to erase and replace everything, you could have enabled "manually manage music and videos". This would have retained the stuff already on the iPod, but would have let you drag-and-drop the video file onto it also.
And it's incorrect that you have to jailbreak to put your own videos on. It just has to be the correct format (the ones listed on Apple's iPod touch tech specs page). I have many ripped DVDs (hundreds, in fact), and several home-made videos on my iPod touch. It's never, ever been jailbroken and I use iTunes exactly the way it's intended.

I'm sure you're right, but unfortunately that's not what happened. When I connected the touch, and told it to sync, it didn't ask me if I wanted to erase everything, it simply told me that if I continued, it *would* erase everything. And, of course, given the option to continue, I chose No. I wasn't given any other choices, so I'm assuming that's what you're talking about.

Choosing No here did not in anyway enable me to copy the files across though.

If I get a chance, I'll try it again.

Thanks.

 

[cmichaelb]

I'm sure you're right, but unfortunately that's not what happened. When I connected the touch, and told it to sync, it didn't ask me if I wanted to erase everything, it simply told me that if I continued, it *would* erase everything. And, of course, given the option to continue, I chose No. I wasn't given any other choices, so I'm assuming that's what you're talking about.

Choosing No here did not in anyway enable me to copy the files across though.

If I get a chance, I'll try it again.

Thanks.

You might have her authorize your copy of iTunes with her account info. I did that at a friends house and it never erased anything from my iPod Touch.

 

[AKmike]

I'm pretty sure that if you just drag the movie file into the ipod touch in itunes it will transfer it over without changing anything else. The only thing I use the sync function for is calender and contacts. Never for music and movies.

 

[flyfish29]

So the iPod touch is designed to work (and sync) with one computer and one iTunes- why would you use another computer to do something to it other than charge it? THe Syncing part is the tough part- if it did work with multiple computers it would be much more difficult to sync the data, apps, movies, etc.

I agree it would be nice to use it as a flash drive, but it is not the purpose of it- that is why they sell dirt cheap flash drives- to move data.

I think it is a pain sometimes to not be able to just drop a movie, etc. onto the Touch, but it is nice that the iPod Touch/iTunes interface "just works" and works well (for the most part)-we just got my wife a Touch and love it.

I just wish I could get an iPhone to work in SW New Hampshire...then I would be set.

 

[Ivan P]

I'm sure you're right, but unfortunately that's not what happened. When I connected the touch, and told it to sync, it didn't ask me if I wanted to erase everything, it simply told me that if I continued, it *would* erase everything. And, of course, given the option to continue, I chose No. I wasn't given any other choices, so I'm assuming that's what you're talking about.

Choosing No here did not in anyway enable me to copy the files across though.

If I get a chance, I'll try it again.

Thanks.

After you selected No it would've had a screen in iTunes that, at the top, showed an image of the iPod and, at the bottom, had a coloured bar that showed how much content was on the device. Between the two, there are a number of check boxes that say things like "automatically sync" and "manually manage". It's "automatic sync" that you want to uncheck, and "manually manage" that you want to check.

 

[Aibynn]

I wish...

I'm pretty sure that if you just drag the movie file into the ipod touch in itunes it will transfer it over without changing anything else. The only thing I use the sync function for is calender and contacts. Never for music and movies.

Unfortunately no. I tried that, many, many times.

 

[Aibynn]

So the iPod touch is designed to work (and sync) with one computer and one iTunes- why would you use another computer to do something to it other than charge it? THe Syncing part is the tough part- if it did work with multiple computers it would be much more difficult to sync the data, apps, movies, etc.

I agree it would be nice to use it as a flash drive, but it is not the purpose of it- that is why they sell dirt cheap flash drives- to move data.

I think it is a pain sometimes to not be able to just drop a movie, etc. onto the Touch, but it is nice that the iPod Touch/iTunes interface "just works" and works well (for the most part)-we just got my wife a Touch and love it.

I just wish I could get an iPhone to work in SW New Hampshire...then I would be set.

Why would I want to use it on another computer? Well... for the many, many obvious reasons that anyone can think of.

When I was living in London, I was friends with a large group of musicians who used to record their own music and pass it around frequently. Bringing over our MP3 players and getting their latest music was commonplace, and since the tube ride home was 45 minutes, listening to it was common practice.

Obviously in this case I wanted to put the video the engagement party on her iTouch... I shouldn't have to put it on a separate usb drive, have her go home and then sync. To my mind that just seems ridiculous.

As for the whole "just works", what just works better than being able to drag and drop a file I want onto the device itself?

I'm not trying to be inflammatory, I'm just so perplexed by this devices behavior that I'm assuming I'm not seeing the big picture here somehow.

 

[RKO]

Do a search for "HandBrake" on the forums might help you or to answer some of your questions

 

[Night Spring]

As for the whole "just works", what just works better than being able to drag and drop a file I want onto the device itself?

I'm not trying to be inflammatory, I'm just so perplexed by this devices behavior that I'm assuming I'm not seeing the big picture here somehow.

It's just a totally different mindset, I suppose. I'm not saying one is right or wrong, but they are different.

What you describe about musicians swapping their own music on media players -- well, it's only a very specific subset of the population that have their own music (or videos) to swap around. A large percentage of the population only have music / media content that they didn't create, and therefore don't have copyrights to. iPod/iTunes is designed to prevent this larger percentage of the population from freely swapping around copyrighted works that they don't legitimately have the right to give to others. Unfortunately, this copy protection scheme prevents the smaller segment of the population that do have their own media to rightfully share with others from doing so easily using the iPod.

I do think it rather ridiculous that the Touch doesn't work as a flash drive -- earlier iPods used to show up on computers as external hard drives and could be used for file storage. If your friend had had another model of iPod other than the Touch, you would have at least been able to copy the video file onto her Touch so she could take it with her, even though she would have had to go home and copy it onto her computer before she could actually watch it. There are a few third-party programs available that lets you use the Touch as a flash drive, but you would have needed to install them onto your computer, and then your friend would have had to go home and install the program on *her* computer in order to copy the file off the Touch. So this is very ridiculous, and I'm not sure I understand why Apple decided to leave this functionality off the Touch.

 

[Aibynn]

It's just a totally different mindset, I suppose. I'm not saying one is right or wrong, but they are different.

What you describe about musicians swapping their own music on media players -- well, it's only a very specific subset of the population that have their own music (or videos) to swap around. A large percentage of the population only have music / media content that they didn't create, and therefore don't have copyrights to. iPod/iTunes is designed to prevent this larger percentage of the population from freely swapping around copyrighted works that they don't legitimately have the right to give to others. Unfortunately, this copy protection scheme prevents the smaller segment of the population that do have their own media to rightfully share with others from doing so easily using the iPod.

I do think it rather ridiculous that the Touch doesn't work as a flash drive -- earlier iPods used to show up on computers as external hard drives and could be used for file storage. If your friend had had another model of iPod other than the Touch, you would have at least been able to copy the video file onto her Touch so she could take it with her, even though she would have had to go home and copy it onto her computer before she could actually watch it. There are a few third-party programs available that lets you use the Touch as a flash drive, but you would have needed to install them onto your computer, and then your friend would have had to go home and install the program on *her* computer in order to copy the file off the Touch. So this is very ridiculous, and I'm not sure I understand why Apple decided to leave this functionality off the Touch.

Well... see, to me, this makes even less sense than before.

Not being able to add files from another computer seems ridiculous, if only because it strikes me as a needless inconvenience. Assuming that I was trying to steal movies/music whatever, it would be a trivial matter to circumnavigate this limitation by using any other media to get it onto my computer.

My initial query was more a "it can't really be designed to work this way, can someone please help me stop being thick about it", but if you're telling me that this mechanism was intentional... that just seems kind of stupid and rude.

All it means is next time she comes up, I'll make sure I'm not out of blank CD/DVDs is all. It's just a a pointless inconvenience which will stop no-one.

Anyway, thanks for everyones help.

 

[SLC Flyfishing]

All it means is next time she comes up, I'll make sure I'm not out of blank CD/DVDs is all. It's just a a pointless inconvenience which will stop no-one.

Anyway, thanks for everyones help.

I'm sure that Apple has made media sharing difficult mainly as an effort to avoid being potentially dragged into copyright infringement lawsuits as an enabler. It probably also helps them secure media to sell in their store, what with artists and labels knowing that it's at least somewhat tedious for iPod owners to pass music around illegally.

It's a minor inconvenience at the most. As you said, it's just as easy to copy to DVD or CD ROM, just need to make sure that you've got some around. That's what those sorts of things are designed to do after all. The iPod Touch isn't; it's designed to be the baddest portable media player in existence, something it does quite well I might add!

SLC

 

[fcoy2]

I realize that I'm VERY new to this forum, but I disagree that it is a minor inconvenience. I recently bought a touch, and am not happy with this feature, especially since it functions so differently from all previous iPods I've owned. I have a Mac at home and work and I regularly buy music online and import CDs at both locations. I've never had a problem transferring music (or video) onto any iPod from multiple machines.

By using my Touch on the computer at home, even through I'm manually managing music and videos I can't add anything to the iPod at the office. And I can't use it with any of my applications at work that allow me to publish Notes to the iPod. Want to change a playlist or listen to some new music on the ride home? Sorry. But you can burn it to a disk (or copy it to an iPod video), take it home, import it, and copy it to the Touch at home!

If I had set it up at the office I wouldn't be able to import CDs at home or buy/rent movies for the Touch (for example - before I go on business trips), since I shouldn't be eating up bandwidth at the office for downloading movies or spending time importing multiple CDs during the work day.

I'm honestly very disappointed with this very silly limitation Apple has imposed on owners of a Touch. If it was a $40 MP3 player I wouldn't mind, but on a $250 - $400 device? That's insulting, and might have affected my decision to purchase it originally.

Yes, it's still pretty cool. Yes, I'll still probably love all the other stuff you can do. Yes, I'll probably keep it. But I'm still aggravated.

 

[fcoy2]

BTW - lots of good info on the site. I've lurked for a while, just never really joined and posted.

 

[Matt-Man-Plus]

I love my iPod touch but I have to agree with the OP on this one. There have been many times where I wish I could just use it to transfer data. To me it is the single biggest drawback.