MP3 Insider

The Microsoft Zune HD is a beautiful device and truly one of the best alternatives to the iPod we've had the pleasure to use. But if you're really thinking about hanging up your iPod and going Zune, you'll need to think about how to take your iTunes library with you.

I'm not going to lie to you: some stuff just isn't coming with you. Your DRM-ed AAC audio files, iTunes movies and TV shows, and even those iTunes audiobooks, just can't survive outside of the iTunes/iPod universe. So quell those fantasies of uninstalling iTunes, because you'll still need it to play your protected iTunes purchases.

The good news is, most everything else from iTunes is fair game, including your unprotected AAC and MP3 files, podcasts, unprotected videos, and playlists. Even your iTunes Smart Playlists can be reconstructed with a decent resemblance.

To see how it all works, check out the video guide and slideshow I created to ease the transition.

If you're a Zune veteran with more tips to share, please feel free to add them in the comments section.

Make the switch from iTunes to Zune (screenshots)

In spite of its unassuming size, the Apple iPod Shuffle is a surprisingly sophisticated MP3 player. With voice feedback, headphone control, playlist management, and podcast support, the iPod Shuffle is in many ways more advanced than the original brick-size iPod.

You don't need a PhD to get started with your first iPod Shuffle, but even seasoned iPod veterans could use a few pointers on this buttonless beauty. Just as we did with the iPod Touch and the iPod Nano, we've put together a video and a slideshow tutorial on setting up the iPod Shuffle.

If you have any additional tips to share, feel free to plug them into the comments section.

How to set up an iPod Shuffle--photos

This week, Donald and Jasmine talk up the new iAudio players from Cowon and how they're going to have Apple shaking in its boots (not), and also take an inordinate amount of time to espouse upon something that has very little to do with digital music: a possible monthly subscription plan for online video from iTunes. Plus, some very unsubtle earbuds from Stonedcandy--er, Skullcandy--and some listener feedback on iPod usage.

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Lately, I've been hearing a lot of fanfare about an application called DoubleTwist that is at its core a free music jukebox that offers content syncing to a variety of portable devices, including the BlackBerry, the PSP, and the iPod, as well as pretty much anything that can mount in Universal Mass Storage mode. One of the main draws of the program is that it can take your iTunes library and sync it to a variety of non-iPod players, an important feature for anyone who has ditched the ubiquitous device in favor of a music phone or other MP3 player. And soon, the Windows version of the jukebox will offer built-in support for Amazon MP3 store purchases as well (note: the Mac version already supports Amazon MP3 purchases), a move in line with the company's goal to offer consumers choice when it comes to digital music management.

The DoubleTwist video view.

Certainly, DoubleTwist is a useful solution for a lot of people, especially since it incorporates automatic video transcoding for a lot of the supported devices, which is the feature that drew me to the software. However, the program is not without its pitfalls, and some of them are sure to cause no small amount of frustration. For example, the video transcoding--done during the syncing process--takes forever. Conversion speed was roughly two times normal speed, so a 90-minute movie took 50 minutes or so to encode and transfer. Still, considering DoubleTwist offers this feature for free and integrates it so simply, I'm willing to forgive the sluggishness.

Much more annoying is how slow the video library loads in thumbnail mode, and while it is loading, you can't actually browse the selections. ... Read More

As much as I like the way iTunes neatly organizes my computer's music and video library, I don't often use the integrated iTunes download store for grabbing new content. Maybe I'm just cheap, but most of my weekly music downloads come from combing through freebies from Last.fm, Hype Machine, and other music blogs. (Last.fm is a part of CBS Interactive, which also publishes CNET Reviews. )

Unfortunately, adding Web downloads into iTunes has always been a hassle. Up until iTunes 9, the best way to ensure that your Web downloads get added to iTunes was to launch iTunes and drag the specific song or video directly into the iTunes window.

Personally, because iTunes runs slowly on my old computer, I would put off updating my library until it was absolutely necessary or I really wanted to hear a new song on my iPod. The result was a disjointed library of music where new songs languished in my download folder where I would never hear them.

Thankfully, iTunes 9 now offers a shortcut for adding media to your library without launching the program. To see how it works, I've made a short How To video and slideshow to get you started.

How to quickly add media to iTunes

Hallelujah!

Ever wish iTunes would automatically import your non-iTunes music downloads? Well, like just about every other jukebox program ever made, iTunes 9 now includes the ability to automatically pull in any music that gets dropped into its new "Automatically Add to iTunes" folder.

Why, after years of complaints, Apple finally decided to relent on this feature is beyond me. Maybe the same genius who decided to put an FM radio in the iPod Nano thought of this one too. Whoever this guy (or gal) is, someone please buy them a beer for me.

To find this magical new auto-add folder, dive into your computer's iTunes music folder and scroll down the list of artists until you come to a folder named "Automatically Add to iTunes." If you're smart, make a shortcut for the folder and add it to your desktop. I'd also tell you to point your BitTorrent client's download folder here, but I'm sure you don't do that sort of thing. Forget I mentioned it, OK?

(via Lifehacker)

If you were hoping for Apple to announce a subscription-based music service for the iPhone and the iPod Touch on Wednesday like I was, suppress your disappointment: early this morning, Apple approved Rhapsody for iPhone, and it's available in the iTunes Store.

It's the second such service Apple has approved, but the first, Spotify, is not available in the United States. (The Rhapsody application is not showing up in search results quite yet, but it is showing up within iTunes.)

(Credit: Rhapsody)

Rhapsody was a pioneer in subscription-based music, and I'm a big fan of the service; in 2005, it was the first one to turn me on to the thrill of chasing your whims and surfing randomly among genres, which you can't do with per-download services like iTunes.

In my most recent trial late last year (in conjunction with the Sonos multiroom audio system), I wasn't able to find any significant gaps--if anything, there was too much music, including more versions of the novelty song "Kung Fu Fighting" than I ever imagined--and there is some excellent curation and editorial work, particularly for indie rock artists.

The iPhone app is pretty straightforward: you can search for songs, surf genres and chart-toppers, and create queues and playlists. If you're a fan of Pandora, you'll also appreciate the Rhapsody Radio feature, which creates tailor-made stations built around particular artists or genres. As long as you have an active Wi-Fi or 3G connection, the music should keep playing without interruption.

It's a free download, but to use it, you'll need a Rhapsody to Go subscription, which costs $14.99 a month. That's not quite as good a deal as Microsoft's Zune Pass, which costs the same and gives you 10 permanent MP3 downloads a month, but of course that service requires a Zune, which means that it applies only to about 1.1 percent of the MP3 player market (according to a statistic that Apple snarkily included in its presentation Wednesday) and exactly zero mobile phones.

Apple appears to have seen the light, as it is now allowing subscription-based music to come to the iPhone. It makes my phone's 8GB storage size seem a lot less limiting.

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Today is the last day we will ever see the triple single-digit date repetition--and Apple sure is making a big deal about it. As I'm sure you've already heard, the company has announced a noticeably refreshed Apple iTunes along with updates to all of the iPods in its line. We have a cadre of editors and photographers at the show who will be bringing you a feast of photos, videos, and info throughout the day. In the meantime, you can see some up-close-and-personal shots of the new hardware and software below.

2009 Apple iPods--photos

iTunes 9 photos

Most people are pretty familiar with making music playlists in iTunes (if you're not, we can help). Video playlists are a less common sight. iTunes already does a pretty good job grouping your TV shows and video podcasts together in their correct order. But for all you video junkies out there who want to create playlists that scan your vast library of "Family Guy" episodes with "Stewie" in the title, playlists can be a lot of fun.

If the ultimate goal is to get these video playlists onto your iPod or iPhone, there are a few hurdles worth knowing about. For all the ins and outs of making video playlists for iTunes, the iPod, or the iPhone, check out our CNET How to video or check the step-by-step slideshow.

How to make video playlists for iTunes, iPod, and iPhone--screenshots