Syncing to iTunes – Difference Between Syncing and Syncing

October 28th, 2011 | Posted by i.nconspicuo.us in iPhone Tips & Tricks - (0 Comments)


So I’m not sure why this is, but I had previously updated my iTunes libraries to “match” so that I could sync my iPhone to 3 of my computers – my laptop, my home office and my office computer. It worked fine, but with the release of iTunes 10, Apple has apparently nixed this and I haven’t wanted to test (waiting for some other poor sap to try), so I’ve just been plugging my phone into each computer seperately as always, there are some things that puzzle me though.

My home desktop computer is now new, doesn’t have a matching iTunes library ID #, however when I plug my iPhone in to it, I am still able to manage pictures, music, movies, etc. I can copy anything that I want to/from the phone. When I click the “Sync” button on the bottom right from the iPhone Summary page in iTunes, the phone runs through its normal syncing process. No problems at all. Same thing when I plug it into my laptop of office computer. Weird, right?

Update on Syncing to multiple computers

So I found out what is happening. You ARE able to sync/copy content form multiple computers (it seems), however you cannot change settings on your phone on a computer other than the main computer that your phone is synced to. When I try to change the setting “Manually manage music and videos” from unchecked to checked, I get the following message:

Does this make any sense? I don’t know why Apple doesn’t just remove their restrictions.

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Best iOS 5 Shortcuts – Opening to Proper App from Lock Screen

October 27th, 2011 | Posted by i.nconspicuo.us in Random Stuff - (0 Comments)


This is one of my favorite new features of iOS 5 (I’m easily amused). But all joking aside, this feature is very handy, especially when you leave your phone for a couple hours and it gets bombarded with texts, twitter updates, calendar notifications, etc. Regardless of what is on the lock screen, you can simply swipe the icon of the notification that you want to see and iOS 5 will take you directly into the proper app, and if necessary, the proper page. Try it out next time you get a notification!

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iPhoto ’11 Large Triangle with Exclamation Point

October 27th, 2011 | Posted by i.nconspicuo.us in Apple / Macintosh - (0 Comments)


I recently updgraded my Hackintosh due to a hard drive failure and decided I’d start using Apple software to manage and maintain all of my digital files (pictures/music/videos). My main reason for this was the ease of use, simplicity yet powerful features that iMovie offered. So naturally, iMovie was the first program that I began to use frequently. Next was iTunes. I had always stayed away from managing my music in iTunes, but now that I’ve owned every iPhone, I figure, I may as well convert and start using iTunes. Plus, with the addition of the Remote app, I have become a huge fan of iTunes and the ability to control the music played in my house from any room. Now, onto the last bit of personal media that I needed to maintain. Pictures.

I had always been a fan of just organizing my photos using good folder structure and naming a heirarchy (which I still adhere to), but I figure that takes a lot of time, and I don’t necessarily need full control. Apple develops software to take the work and worry out of tedious tasks like that, so I decided… I’m going to start managing my pictures in iPhoto. Whoops!

First of all, I didn’t setup my iPhoto database in the “traditional” sense. By default, iPhoto wants to copy all photos to the iPhoto database. I did not enable this option. I instead, left all of my pictures on my secondary hard drive (around 75,000 images) and let iPhoto run its scan. It took nearly 2 hours to complete on my absolute beast of a machine – more to come on that – but once it completed, there were problems. Upon trying to browse the pictures, nearly every picture i tried to enlarge, I was presented with a large gray triangle with an exclamation point in it. All the thumbnail images were displayed in iPhoto, but upon trying to view the large version of any thumbnail, iPhoto gave me the gray exclamation point.

I am currently in the process of rebuilding/repairing my iPhoto database as per some user suggestions in various forums, but it has been stuck at 99% for the last 30 minutes. I’m losing confidence and starting to consider switching to Aperture, or maybe back to Picasa3. Picasa has always done a good job and never had a problem with the amount of images that I’ve thrown at it. The fact that iPhoto creates and maintains an entire database seems a little stupid to me – especially considering the fact that I didn’t import any photos and the iPhoto database is currently at 6.4 gigabytes. Seems like too much. I’m going to let this thing run, but I’m curious to hear if anyone out there prefers Aperture over iPhoto, or if there is another strong photo management application.

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iTunes Keeps Opening Automatically in Windows 7

October 21st, 2011 | Posted by i.nconspicuo.us in Tech/Web - (4 Comments)


I recently updated to iTunes 10.5 here at my office and for some reason, iTunes has decided that it ALWAYS needs to be open. iTunes now opens when I boot up my computer. Upon closing it, iTunes will re-open itself within 1-5 minutes. Seems to be very random. This will happen continuously. As many times I close it, it will always open again. So far, the only way I’ve found to stop this annoyance is just to leave iTunes open, which really isn’t an option for me. I don’t need iTunes consuming any memory while I’m trying to complete other tasks.

Has anyone else had the problem of iTunes opening automatically, continuously and repeatedly? It is really frustrating because each time it opens, it comes to the foreground.

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Notification System for New Albums and Concert Performances from Artists You Like

October 18th, 2011 | Posted by Brian in Entertainment - (6 Comments)

I have so many apps, programs, websites, tools, etc etc that I use related to music (I listed them out below).

But I’m still missing a functionality I really want… and that is: a notification system when an artist I follow is about to release new material, or is about to perform in my area! If anyone knows of something reliable that provides this data, I’d love to hear about it.

Muspy is supposed to tell when artists release new material, but its unreliable. It misses a lot of data, or sends it late, and duplicates data (for other country releases).

Last.fm has listings on artist performances, but its incomplete and hard to get at the data. It relies on artists/users to upload the information regarding tour dates. Also, it doesn’t have a notifcation system for when artists you like are coming to your area. You’re left with hoping you visit the artist’s page at the right time.

Here’s the things I’ve used related to music:

  • Last.fm (web, desktop, mobile)
  • Pandora (web, mobile, desktop “OpenPandora”)
  • Grooveshark (web, desktop, mobile)
  • Spotify (desktop, mobile)
  • iPod (mobile)
  • iTunes (desktop)
  • Windows Media Player (desktop)
  • Youtube (web, mobile)
  • iHeartRadio (mobile, web)
  • iLike (mobile, web)
  • mySpace (web)
  • Muspy (web)
  • 8tracks (web)
  • AllMusic (web)
  • Playlistify (web)
  • Shazam (mobile)
  • Soundhound (mobile)
  • BingMusic (mobile)

Then there is of course, the more traditional avenues: FM radio, Satelite radio, Television, Concerts, and Coffee Shops.

It’s crazy how often and in how many different ways we have access to music! In another article, I’ll attempt to summarize everything that these tools are trying to accomplish, and every functionality one could possibly want related to music.

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