iPod.iTunes
...and the music goes on...
4.4.6
Running Song Synchronization
This will copy files (songs, movies, etc.) to, or from the iPod, depending on what you choose to sync in the Settings tab.
Only songs which are not already in the target will be copied, avoiding duplicates.
To start synchronizing click “Sync” in the Synchronize tab.
iPod.iTunes will then...
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•Create a backup of the iTunes Library file.
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Just for the unlikely case something goes wrong, iPod.iTunes will restore the original. Even if a crash/power outage should happen, iPod.iTunes will restore/cleanup things if necessary when you start it the next time.
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•Create some temporary playlists in iTunes to work with.
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These playlists will be removed when synchronization has finalized.
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•Check the iTunes library for disconnected songs.
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•Evaluate the songs in the source to check which ones are not in the target.
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Evaluating songs may take a moment. The more songs are already in the target the faster it will be, so subsequent synchronizations are typically much faster).
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•You can use other applications while iPod.iTunes is working, but you should not use iTunes until you see "Ready." in the Log Display.
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•There will be a date&time-stamped playlist in the target, containing playlist entries of the songs which were copied during the synchronization.
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If you don’t need this playlist you may safely delete it after the synchronization.
Running Playlist Recreation
Playlist recreation is completely independent from song synchronization. It does not copy song files from the source to the target. A playlist entry is not a song file but just a pointer to the actual song in the library (which is itself a pointer to the actual file on disk). Playlist recreation creates in the target new playlists named as the playlists in the source. iPod.iTunes checks which playlist entries are in the source playlist and searches for matching songs in the target. If found, the playlist entry in the target playlist will be created.
Usually you will just choose "Songs & Playlists" in the Settings tab to synchronize songs (files) and recreate playlist entries. But if the songs in the source are already in the target you can choose "Playlists" in the Settings tab to recreate just playlists and their entries.
Playlist Recreation in more detail:
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•Creates the playlists from the source in the target with those source songs which are also in the target.
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•If a source playlist has songs where no song of it is in the target, the playlist is not created at all.
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•If an equal named playlist in the target already exists, it will be expanded by new playlist entries, if there are any. Playlists and their entries are never overwritten or deleted by iPod.iTunes.
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•If you don't want create playlist entries in existing playlists use a playlist prefix to create new independent playlists.
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•Recreation of smart playlists is possible, but they will appear as common playlists in the target (limitation of iTunes).
Quick Start
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•If your iPod syncs automatically with iTunes (“iTunes’ auto sync”) you need to launch iPod.iTunes before connecting the iPod! An “iPod Connection State”-message will appear from where you can disable iTunes’ own iPod sync with one click. More on this...
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•In the Settings tab choose the desired type of synchronization.
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•In the Synchronization tab click the "Sync" button.
iPod.iTunes will add missing songs/videos/playlists/meta data... -
•When the synchronization is done, the Log & Guide Display will show “Ready.”
You can then click the “Eject iPod” button and when “iPod ejected” appears you
can disconnect the iPod cable. More on this...
Details
Viewing the Log & Guide Display
In the Synchronization tab, iPod.iTunes has a Log & Guide Display where you can see what's currently happening (black text) and hints for guiding (blue text). The guiding is especially useful if you use the manual song copying mode the first time.
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