[chasg]

Hi All,

For specific reasons, I've got iTunes set to "copy files to iTunes music folder when adding to Library". It's been a good system, when all I was doing was listening to music on my Mac.

I've recently acquired a video iPod, and now when I put a video into iTunes so that I can add it to my iPod, I get a copy of that video made to the iTunes Library. This hasn't been a problem with itty-bitty song files, but huge video files are going to clog up my boot drive (I keep all my video files on an external drive so that I can keep my boot drive free for VM duties).

What I'd like to do is copy videos to the iPod _without_ using iTunes (and so without making extra copies of my videos to the iTunes Library). I've looked at the invisible files on the iPod, and I've found where music and video files are kept, but I've found that they get renamed when put on the iPod (a 4.3 naming scheme, how DOS-esque!). So, manually putting a file on the iPod when it's mounted as a drive isn't an option, as I wouldn't know what name to give it.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance for any help,

Chas

[mrgaskell]

I think iTunes has to do it to convert the video files into h.264 for it to play on your 5G iPod.

[analogika]

Originally Posted by mrgaskell

I think iTunes has to do it to convert the video files into h.264 for it to play on your 5G iPod.

iTunes doesn't convert videos.




If you want to keep your videos external, why don't you just turn off the "copy stuff to iTunes Music folder when adding it to the Library" option OFF, add the videos to the Library, and then turn it back on?

The videos will show up in your Library and stay there, you can copy them to the iPod from iTunes, and if the external drive isn't connected, they simply won't play, that's all.

[crooner]

Originally Posted by analogika

iTunes doesn't convert videos.




If you want to keep your videos external, why don't you just turn off the "copy stuff to iTunes Music folder when adding it to the Library" option OFF, add the videos to the Library, and then turn it back on?

The videos will show up in your Library and stay there, you can copy them to the iPod from iTunes, and if the external drive isn't connected, they simply won't play, that's all.

analogika is right. However, there’s one wrong point. (I'm actually a bit shocked that I know something you don't )

The latest version of iTunes does have a command that will convert a selected movie to the correct format for the 5G iPod. The only catch is that the file must be at least in a format that iTunes can read and accept. It takes a bit of time but it's still great they put it in there some people don't have to shell out $30 for QuickTime Pro or other software.

I'm actually partial to Podner. It’s cheap and does a great job of producing movies that look good even on TVs. Having Mac the Ripper, Handbrake and Podner and you're all set to fill the 'Pod with porn. Err, I mean educational films. Yeah, that’s it.

[analogika]

Egads, you're correct! There's a "convert for iPod" option in the Advanced menu! This is new...


iSquint works excellently, by the way, and is free.

[hickey]

isquint has made some crappy conversion of some avi files I had. Most were movies that I downloaded as torrents.

[chasg]

Thanks for the extra info, very helpful.

analogika, it took me a while to figure out what you meant in your first post. If I understand correctly, if I turn off automatic updating, I can copy things manually to the iPod, and then I can turn it back on and those things I automatically added won't be deleted? (_and_ they won't be automatically copied to the iTunes Library?).

Excellent!

Chas

[bub rubb]

If you are comfortable with command line, try using ffmpeg, which you can find athttp://ffmpeg.sourceforge.net/index.php

There is another online tool at http://www.video4ipod.org that accepts uploads, then automatically converts the file. After roughly ten minutes, you get the file loaded on the site. It is still in Beta and not advertised, so we will see if any trouble arises, but has worked flawlessly for me.

[kellybelly]

I believe you may have misunderstood what analogika posted. If you set our iPod to manually update, add videos onto it, then start automatically updating again, you WILL lose anything that you manually put on your iPod unless it's currently in your iTunes library.

What he was talking about it going into iTunes Advanced preferences and turning off the "Copy files to iTunes Library...." option, then turning that option back on once you've added the videos from your external to iTunes. This makes it so that the files are in the iTunes Library but won't be duplicated in the iTunes folder.

That's really the only option you have, unless you manually update your iPod.

If you use manual update, you can connect your iPod and drag files directly from Finder onto your mounted iPod in the iTunes sidebar. This bypasses the Library entirely, so the file won't be added and duplicated in your iTunes music folder. But again, if you turn on automatic update after doing that, you'll lose anything that isn't currently in iTunes.

[TheSpaz]

Originally Posted by kellybelly

If you use manual update, you can connect your iPod and drag files directly from Finder onto your mounted iPod in the iTunes sidebar. This bypasses the Library entirely, so the file won't be added and duplicated in your iTunes music folder. But again, if you turn on automatic update after doing that, you'll lose anything that isn't currently in iTunes.

I use this method all the time. I like manually updating my iPod so that I know exactly what's going on it. I have some videos on iTunes but, I really prefer organizing them on my hard drive because I think video should be separate from music. When you oraganize videos with iTunes, the videos just go into your iTunes Music folder, which I think is stupid. I'd rather see a new folder called "iTunes Videos". That would work better I think.