Copying songs/videos to iPod
From Winamp iPod plugin ml_iPod
Contents |
Copying from the Media Library
- Click on "Local Media" or one of the smart views under Local Media, e.g. "Audio"
- Select which artist(s), album(s), or song(s) will be transferred (Ctrl and Shift can be held down to select multiple items)
SendTo method
- Right click on a highlighted item
- Open the "Send to:" submenu
- Click on the iPod (actual name may vary depending on how the iPod itself is named) to transfer to
Drag and Drop
As an alternative, you can simply drag artist(s), album(s), or song(s) from the ML view onto the iPod in the left hand pane. You can even drop onto a specific iPod playlist, songs are copied to the iPod and added to this playlist in one step.
Shortly after the completion of the steps to transfer items, a small window will open to show the progress of the transfer.
Copying from Playlist Editor
- Select which items will be transferred (Ctrl and Shift can be held down to select multiple items)
- Right click on a highlighted item
- Expand the "Send to:" menu
- Click on the iPod (actual name may vary depending on how the iPod itself is named) to transfer to
- Shortly after that, a small window will open to show the progress of the transfer.
Copying from Windows Explorer
Before using Windows Explorer to transfer items, make sure the Media Library is open to the main iPod view (not one of the playlists).
- In Explorer, open the folder which contains the files to be transferred
- Select which files and/or folders you want to transfer
- Drag and drop them into the iPod view of the Media Library. It is not possible to drop them on the left hand side (the tree) of the ML, you must drop them on the main iPod viewing area.
- Shortly after that, a small window will open to show the progress of the transfer.
Note 1: When a folder is dragged into the iPod view, a playlist will be created with the name of the folder. To prevent the playlist creation, hold CTRL while dragging the folder into the iPod view. If more than one folder is dragged at a time, no playlist is created, even without the CTRL key.
Note 2: If you don't have the main iPod view open, but one of the iPod playlists, the files are simply added to that playlist. No new playlist is created.
Transcoding incompatible files
If an incompatible file is found during transfer, ml_iPod will do its best to convert the file(s) to the format chosen in the Transcoding preferences (see Configuration->Transcoding)
Make sure that you configure the transcoding engine to your personal needs.
It is also possible to transcode all files above a certain bitrate.
Transferring encrypted iTunes Music Store songs
In order to transfer songs purchased through the iTunes Music store, ml_iPod uses Hymn to decrypt the file(s) before transferring it. Hymn will only work if your computer is authorized to play those files (authorization is done through iTunes) or if a decrypted key can be found on your iPod. Using Hymn will not result in a loss of quality in the M4P file.
To transfer an encrypted M4P file, the "use hymn" must be enabled and its location must be entered in the Transcoding preferences.
Transferring can be done the same as other files. Please use the tranferring steps above.
Caution: Using iTunes v6 will prevent using Hymn, see this forum article. You must use iTunes v4 or v5 (and never v6!) Hymn is still not compatible with Music Store accounts with which purchases have been made using iTunes 6. If you download only a single song using iTunes 6, Apple will convert all your keys and no more iTunes5 or 4 is possible!!!
After v2.04, ml_ipod stops to support Hymn, because it doesn't work with newer iTunes purchases anyway.
Handling of video files
The video handling stuff is currently changing a lot. As of v2.04, I got a video iPod, so now things can be done. If anything doesn't work as described here, try the latest development build (at least 2.04p25)
If you are the lucky owner of a video iPod, you can transfer your MP4 embedded videos with ml_iPod, too.
Caution: Only *.mp4 and *.m4v is handled, no other video formats (no QuickTime *.mov files!).
Prerequisites
First thing you must make sure is that the mp4 input plugin for Winamp is installed (that is part of a full installation). Although this is an audio input plugin, it is needed for video support, because it gives Winamp the capability to read the MP4 metadata. Check this in the Winamp preferences, an entry for in_mp4.dll must be present:
Next, you have to tell this MP4 plugin to handle *.m4v files, which it does not by default. Click on the "Configure" button and add M4V to the list, like this:
That's all, now Winamp is able to open *.mp4 and *.m4v files (but it will play only the audio, if you try it inside Winamp)
Specifying the kind of video
The iPod classifies all videos to be either Music Video, Movie, TV Show or Video Podcast. Depending on that classification, the video shows up in different menus on the iPod.
Podcasts are a special thing, they are described on the podcast page and will not be taken into consideration here.
By default, your videos will be classified as "Music Videos", which means they show upon the "Music Videos" menu on the iPod as well as in the "Music" menus (marked with a small video screen image on the right).
Winamp provides no builtin method to specify a different classification for a file, so we use two special ways to circumvent this limitation.
Special folders
In the preferences, you can designate some folder as being the top folder for all your movies, or all your TV shows. Then, whenever ml_iPod transfers a video from one of these special locations to the iPod, it will automatically be assigned the right video category. This is by far the easiest way to handle it. But it requires that you put all your videos into a special area on your HD. Well, you are an organized person anyway, aren't you?
Special tags in the comment field
The other way to have your file in one of the other video categories is to edit the comment of the video before you transfer it. It must be added to the Winamp Media Library to make this possible. Then you can select it in Winamp and press Ctrl-E. Edit the comment and close the editing window wit "Ok" (It is not necessary to select "update tags"). The comment must contain these special markers:
- [M] = movie
- [MV] = music video
- [TV] = TV show
- [MTV] = music TV show
E.g. for a movie, the comment could be something like "[M] my worst movie ever". The square brackets a required!
TV shows have an additional function: Everything following the [TV] or [MTV] is taken as the show name. If nothing is given, the artist field from the file metadata is taken as show name. If that is also empty, a default ("-no show name-") is used.
If you have such a special comment tag, it always takes precedence over the folder (the video kind specified in the tag is used, regardless of the loaction of the file)
So, where do my videos show up on the iPod?
This is kind of confusing. I try to summarize what I saw. This all depends on the iPod firmware, so maybe Apple changes it from time to time? The different kind of videos can show up in multiple menus on the iPod.
- Movies
- in Videos->Movies
- in any personal playlists where they are included, under Video->Video Playlists
- in any personal playlists where they are included, under Music->Playlists. If you play it from there, the video does not show, only the music is played
- Music Videos
- in Videos->Music Videos
- in any personal playlists where they are included, under Video->Video Playlists
- in all submenus of Music (Music->Artists, Music->Songs...). If you play it from there, the video does not show, only the music is played
- in any personal playlists where they are included, under Music->Playlists. If you play it from there, the video does not show, only the music is played
- TV show
- in Videos->TV Shows, sorted under the show name (taken from the comment, see above)
- in any personal playlists where they are included, under Video->Video Playlists
- in any personal playlists where they are included, under Music->Playlists. If you play it from there, the video does not show, only the music is played
- Music TV show
- in Videos->TV Shows, sorted under the show name (taken from the comment, see above)
- in Videos->Music Videos
- in any personal playlists where they are included, under Video->Video Playlists
- in all submenus of Music (Music->Artists, Music->Songs...). If you play it from there, the video does not show, only the music is played
- in any personal playlists where they are included, under Music->Playlists. If you play it from there, the video does not show, only the music is played
- Video Podcasts
- in Videos->Video Podcasts
- in Music->Podcasts. If you play it from there, the video does not show, only the audio is played
You can include videos in all regular playlists. The iPod scans all your playlists whether there is at least one video included. If so, the playlists is listed under Video->Video Playlists. The playlist may contain non-video tracks, too.
Transfer to the iPod
Transfer is exactly as with audio tracks: With Sync, Drag & Drop, SendTo menu or whatever suits you best.
