IPod Question.......

[Nalapombu]

Hey all,

I got an IPod for XMAS and I am excited to start using it, but first I have to TAG all of my songs. In the meantime I thought of a question that I didn't know the answer to and thought that I better find out.

When you open up ITunes and see all of your song library I am guessing that you select what songs you want on the IPod and then transfer them over. What I want to know is whether the music files are actually COPIED over on to the IPod or MOVED over to the IPod. Example: Once you select the songs you want and have ITunes put them on the IPod, do those songs remain on your hard drive anymore or do they now reside in the IPod?

Thanks.

Nala

[Furant]

They're copied over. Your hard drive is always the master.

[Creeper1313]

Another thing I've heard that you may want to confirm/be aware of is that Itunes files have a counter embedded in them that limits you to something like 3 copies after which they cannot be copied anymore. I.e. If you take Song X, copy it to your ipod. Delete it from the ipod when you are bored of it, copy it to your Ipod again when you are in the mood for it again, delete, copy, delete. You will be left with a song on your computer that cannot be copied anywhere else. Therefore, you should probably just leave any songs you buy from Itunes on your Ipod permanantly and only delete mp3's you get elsewhere. I think burning an Itunes file to a CD for backup also counts against this number.

I have not used Itunes firshand (largely for this reason) so my advice may be off. Perhaps others can confirm this screwy system of theirs.

[VXShooter]

iTunes will only let you burn an exact playlist 5 times. So if you make a playlist with your 10 favorite songs, you can make 5 cds of it and then no more. You can always use those songs as part of other playlists however.

Next, when you buy a song on iTunes, the computer you used to buy it is an "authorized" computer. If you want to use the file on both your work computer and home computer, you need to "authorize" the additional computer with the same user name/password etc. You can have a total of 5 authorized computers.

There is some work-around software out there, and if you burn your music to a cd, then re-capture it to your computer, all the security is gone.

Of course, the songs are only a buck...