Orange “Other” Bar on iPod
If you use an iPod with your Apple Mac laptops then you know what I am talking about.
That pesky orange “other” bar that shows up when you sync. Still don’t know what I mean?
When you sync your iPod with your computer a bar shows up at the bottom of your iTunes window that tells you how much available space you have on your device. This bar is multi colored. Music takes up some space, movies takes some more, applications is yet another chunk (if you use the iPod Touch), photos have their own color, and then that mysterious “other” piece that is colored orange.
What is this other? I really have no clue. And it was never an issue or problem for me because it didn’t take up much space.
That is – until I really started working with my iPhoto library. Of course these kinds of things are never apparent right away.
I had had a busy week on my Mac, updating to newer versions of iTunes and whatever else. I also started reading iPhoto ‘08: The Missing Manual
So, I started creating new events in iPhoto, splitting up old ones, and rearranging the pictures in my entire library which is about 7,000 photos strong.
At some point after this busy week, I synced up my 16GB iPod Touch – and my orange other bar occupied about 3GB of space.
Now I hate these kind of scratch your head moments. I never really noticed the orange bar before. Did it always take up this much space? No, it couldn’t have – I would have noticed it then, wouldn’t I have? Hmmm. Did the software cause the problem? Is there a problem? Maybe a new app, calendar or contact data? What could it be?
On top of that, the iPod Touch seemed a bit sluggish. Nothing I could put my finger on though. The programs seemed a little slow to launch. How do I call customer service on that one? What do I ask?
Up until this point, I had always synced up my entire iPhoto library onto my iPod Touch using Apple Mac laptops. But everything was split up by album. Before I noticed the large other portion I switched to syncing photos by event. Now that I had added all of these events maybe the organization structure of the events was taking up space.
So, I removed all of my photos from my iPod Touch. And what do you know – most of the orange “other” disappeared. Poof!
Now I know that in my case the other was related to iPhoto.
I have not added pictures back onto my device yet. While it was nice to have the whole library at my fingertips - I rarely used it. Once I finish working with my iPhoto library, I will sync up only the events that I need – maybe the most current ones, and see if that doesn’t solve the other problem.
I will let you know what I find out. Does anyone else out there have a problematic other bar and a solution as well?
Genius, iPod Touch, and Apple Mac Laptops
Wow – Apple Mac laptops and the iPod Touch just keep getting better and better. My iPod Touch has become our family’s favorite device.
And now with Steve Jobs unveiling the new iPods and the new iPod Touch the combination is truly sweet.
The best news, of course is that you don’t need to buy a new iPod Touch to use the enhanced features. The upgrade to version 2.1 of the iPod Touch software is free to first generation Touch users who previously purchased the upgrade to 2.0. And if you didn’t previously purchase this upgrade you can purchase it now. As part of the upgrade to version 2.1 you must update your iTunes software to version 8. All of this upgrading can be done at the same time that you upgrade your device. Apple makes it easy by checking your version for you, and the installer informs you whether you will need to upgrade iTunes or not.
One new feature of the 2.1 software is the ability to create what Apple is referring to as a Genius playlist. This is a playslist that iTunes creates for you using your own Music Library and also suggestions of similar songs that are available in the iTunes store that it determines you may enjoy. Sort of big-brotherish, but I figured – why not? It must be pretty cool if Apple thinks it is a big deal.
Once you have iTunes 8 up and running, you must opt in to turn on the Genius feature. This is because iTunes will need to collect the information about your own music library. Although this info is stored anonymously, Apple still needs your permission to access it.
And I must say, that I was impressed with the playlist that was generated from my music and the suggested songs that I don’t own as well. I can see this feature as being a big money maker for the iTunes store. The list of suggestions included many songs that I love but haven’t heard recently – a walk down memory lane, if you will. And, yes, I was very tempted to purchase some of them.
Everything that I have described so far is done on Apple Mac laptops, desktops, and even Windows computers in iTunes.
On the iPod Touch, the Genius feature was not immediately available to me. Whether this was a glitch because I upgraded both the device and iTunes at the same time, I’m not sure. I searched around a bit and what seemed to work was going into the iTunes store on my computer and in the top menu bar, making sure that Genius was turned on under the “Store” option tab – which it was. And then re-syncing my iPod Touch.
Now when I go to Music on my Touch, I can select a song, tap the screen with the Album Art once to bring up the control progress bar. Immediately under this is the genius symbol. If I tap this, my iPod Touch creates a Genius playlist using my existing music library. All the songs are of a similar genre.
This is especially convenient if you haven’t made a playlist of your own selections ahead of time. Say you are feeling like a bit of jazz. Pick a song and iTunes will pick the rest. If you find yourself at the gym without a premade playlist, pick a work out song and iTunes will pull together a list of upbeat songs that will conjure up a good sweat. So far, the automatic selections have been quite acceptable to me. Definitely a big timesaver.
Just another way that Apple is working technology into our everyday lives.