Itunes to Sansa. Will it work?

[pappy1]

I am a complete and total dummy when it comes to Ipods, Sansa and other mp3 music stuff.
I need help ie trying to fix a problem.
My daughter has a ipod. She belongs to the Apple site and downloads music for her ipod.
There are a few problems she asked me to help her with.
First problem is my grand daughter received a Sansa for her 7th birthday this past January. The person who gave it to her loaded a few songs on the Sansa player. All Alvin and the Chipmunk songs. Grand daughter is getting tired of Alvin and wants more kids music. My daughter tried to download kids songs from Apple and install them on the Sansa. Can you do it? Apple songs on a Sansa, will it work?
Now for the hard problem. Daughter has many songs stored on her laptop that she downloaded from Apple. When she tries to play them or move them to the ipod she gets a error message. The message says cannot play, etc file because the file cannot be found. What can cause this??? .
Just being curious, can the apple/ipod music be accessed and played using Windows media player? Daughters laptop is 2 plus years old and I am not sure what version is running on it.
Whatever advice you can give I need!!
Thanks

 

[TheStu]

To keep things simple, and in order to prevent anyone from coming along and saying 'well if you just use this, you can do that'...

iPods work with iTunes, Period.
iTunes works with iPods, Period.

Music from iTunes works with iTunes and iPods. Some of them will work with other things like Windows Media Player or Sansas, but for the most part, stick to thinking that they only work with iPods and iTunes.

If your daughter's iPod is not syncing correctly, when she next connects it, have her tell iTunes to restore it. Any song purchased from iTunes should work on any iPod.

 

[pappy1]

The Stu,,, thanks for the info.

Again, bieng curious. When a song is downloaded from Itunes, shouldn't it be able to be played on the computer that it is stored on???
Thanks

 

[TheStu]

Absolutely, so there may be a larger problem here, I must have missed the part where you mentioned that the computer won't play the files either.

The files might be corrupted, or something might be wrong with iTunes. You might want to make sure that system and iTunes are both fully up to date.

 

[pappy1]

TheStu Thanks
When I talked to my daughter 3 hours ago she brought her laptop here and it was rapid fire questions and comments from her. At my age I need to go slow! LOLOL
I just e-malied her asking if playing the songs on her laptop ever worked. Should get the answer tomorrow.
I might visit her and the grand kids on Wednesday and will check the version of itunes on the laptop. She has been downloading since this past Xmas so the software can't be very old.
Laptop is a 2 year old Toshiba running Vista with 2 gig of ram. I hope the auto updates is turned on or I am going to have a lot of work to do on that laptop.
Thanks

 

[TheStu]

Apple installs updating software when you install iTunes, so unless she ignores those (wouldn't surprise me) she should be up to date.

 

[pappy1]

HI
Finally heard from my daughter. Her ipod will sync on with itunes. She said she never tried to play any songs on the laptop!
I downloaded itunes to my laptop and "borrowed" her logon and password and used it to download and play a song on my laptop. I told her she can pay for my downloads! LOL
Supposed to visit the grand kids Wednesday and will "Play" with my daughters laptop and itunes to make sure it can play the songs on her laptop.
Daughters laptop is a mess. It's 2 years old and still has all the junk freeware icons and other stuff on the desktop. I'd love to do a full recovery back to day one and start over to clean out 2 years of junk!! LOL
Thanks

 

[pappy1]

HI
I am at my daughters house now.
Itunes still fails.
We checked the Itunes version and it is the latest.
She did a repair of the itunes software and it said it was repaired and ok.
Now, when she tries to open a file to play, the following message comes up.
“The song cannot be found. Would yoou like to try the original file?”
When we let it search for a file it cannot be found.
I do not want to delete and reinstall until I know that the songs she has already downloaded will NOT be lost.
Thanks
Pappy1

 

[TheStu]

Make sure the files are located where they are supposed to be, usually My Documents/My Music/iTunes. Back up those files and re-install iTunes. Back up everything in there since it contains the playlists, ratings, all that stuff.

So, you back it all up.
Uninstall iTunes
Install iTunes
Launch iTunes
Make sure that iTunes is pointing to where the iTunes library used to be.
Exit iTunes
Copy all the data back
Re-open iTunes and everything should be there.

 

[pappy1]

HI
TheStu,,,,, Thank You for all of the help.
I deleted itunes and then reinstalled. But, since I skimmed over your directions when I reinstalled I didn’t reinstall the copied files. Result,, itunes still failed. I had the grand kids wanting me to play with them and they wanted other things and I was distracted.
I brought the laptop home and started over. What I found when I looked at the settings was 2 boxes checked that allowed duplicates, etc. There were 2, 3, 4 or more copies of many songs. Rather then play with deleting individual songs I uninstalled the software and deleted the folders for itunes. I reinstalled itunes and when itunes opened up I went to files/Add folder to library and then selected the backup folder I made. It looks like all the songs reinstalled. I remember seeing some in the old install (children’s songs) that didn’t copy over.
I closed itunes and then restarted itunes and was able to select and play various songs on my daughters laptop.
Next I created a playlist and burned that playlist to a cd. When I tried to play the cd on the laptop I got some weird message about choosing something or other. (some wording looked like it was in Chinese) I ejected the cd and put it in my home theater dvd/cd player and the cd played and sounded ok.
I’ll play around with that cd message later cause it is 1:40 am and the ole eyes need a rest! LOL
Thanks for all your help!!!
Pappy1

 

[0roo0roo]

itunes has a built in backup feature
use that next time, it burns a series of dvds or such.

backup the songs anyways.

trusting all the purchases to the single drive is madness.

rarely is a series of songs corrupt,one i'd believe, a bunch..never.

 

[pappy1]

I found the backup feature after I reinstalled and got things working. Most times when the kids call me with a problem or I go there they hit me with a problem it is rapid fire gotta get it fixed yesterday with the grandkids jumping on me and the dog jumping on me! LOL ( I ain't complaining!) I have been telling them to buy one or two of drives that connect to the usb to backup files, etc. I noticed that in itunes it limits yoou to backups on cd's or dvd's.
That works too.
What about the possibility of using dvd-rw to back up???
Thanks
Pappy1

 

[TheStu]

I found the backup feature after I reinstalled and got things working. Most times when the kids call me with a problem or I go there they hit me with a problem it is rapid fire gotta get it fixed yesterday with the grandkids jumping on me and the dog jumping on me! LOL ( I ain't complaining!) I have been telling them to buy one or two of drives that connect to the usb to backup files, etc. I noticed that in itunes it limits yoou to backups on cd's or dvd's.
That works too.
What about the possibility of using dvd-rw to back up???
Thanks
Pappy1

I think that it knows what DVD-RWs are, but I mean, I just bought a 100 stack of DVD+Rs for $15...

 

[0roo0roo]

hm possible, but i don't know if its necessary, sale dvdr is so cheap that you might as well use them. esp since they burn faster.

it seems to do incremental backups.

"I've done a bunch of testing on the whole process, and it does allow you to selectively restore from specific discs, and even selectively restore specific tracks.

When you perform any kind of multi-disc backup, regardless of what kind (ie, full library, changes only, purchased items only), iTunes places a copy of the relevant iTunes library information on the first disc. This database is used primarily to preserve your playlists, although it also serves as a complete backup of your iTunes database for disaster-recovery purposes. Obviously, in the case of a single-disc backup, the database is going to be placed on the first and only disc.

The remaining discs in a multi-disc set will contain only the iTunes media tracks themselves. iTunes also writes a hidden "ContentsDB.xml" file to each disc, containing the external metadata (ratings and play counts) for the tracks on that particular disc. This allows that information to be restored along with those tracks.

When you insert any backup CD/DVD, iTunes will ask you if you want to restore from that disc. If you simply click "OK", iTunes will copy back all files that are on the current disc that don't already exist in your iTunes library. Alternatively, you can select "Overwrite" if you want do restore ALL of the files on that disc, regardless of whether they're already in your library or not. Rating and play count information will also be restored in this process for any tracks that are actually restored (as opposed to those that are skipped because they already exist).

When iTunes finishes restoring the current disc, it will ask you to insert the next one. Discs do not have to be inserted in any particular sequence, as iTunes will just grab whatever data it finds on the next backup disc you insert, and follow the same rules.

When doing a full restore using all of the discs in a multi-disc set, iTunes will also restore your playlists as part of the process. Restored playlists will be put into a sub-folder in iTunes, labelled with the date and time that the playlists were restored. They will not overwrite your existing playlists.

Presumably, iTunes only restores playlists as part of a full restore since it can't otherwise guarantee that all of the tracks that were in those playlists will be restored. Of course, if you're just looking to get back your playlist entries manually, you can always insert the first CD and poke through the "iTunes Library.xml" file yourself.

Incremental backups work in much the same way as full backups, but merely use fewer discs and only backup those tracks that have changed since the last backup. This will include new tracks and any tracks that have had their primary metadata changed (track name, album name, etc). It will not, however, backup tracks that have merely had their ratings or play counts updated. The entire iTunes database, however, is backed up to the first disc with every backup, regardless of the type of backup.

Restoring playlists from an incremental backup creates a different issue as well. Although the restore process works in much the same way, it is entirely possible that the incremental backup may not include all of the tracks that were in the playlists. If this is the case, iTunes will actually notify you that some of the playlist tracks were missing and may be on other discs in other backup sets.

Lastly, note that you can also restore individual files from a backup disc manually. Simply insert the disc, and when iTunes asks you if you want to restore it, select "Cancel." The backup disc will show up in your source list as a CD with a label of BACKUP follow by a data and time stamp. Select it, and you will see a listing of tracks that are on that backup disc, complete with rating and playcount information. Just drag-and-drop any tracks that you want to restore right back to your iTunes library. "http://forums.ilounge.com/showthread.php?t=193932

 

[pappy1]

It has been years since I have bought blank cd's or dvd's and I remember the price of the dvd as being expensive. When I built my last pc I had 3 hard drives in it. The c drive and F anf G. I would back up everything to the F and G drive. I also bought two 500 gig external usb drives to back up everything. The reason for so many drives is my daughter uses a Nikon D-40 that I bught her a while ago for pictures. She does not back up files so that is the task I inherited. 7 years of pictures of the grand kids and family are backed up on those drives. Looks like I will inherit the music too. LOL I'll go pick up a batch of dvd's and put it on my daughters tab.
Thanks so much for all the help!
Pappy1

 

[0roo0roo]

ah they are very cheap now, look for sales, pretty much every week theres a 100 pack going for under 20 dollars, at frys it tends to be closer to 13-15 dollars for a 100 pack.
search hotdeals forums etc
pretty much the constant sale is ~20 dollars for 100, ~10-12 bucks 50pack
theres basically no reason to use rw's anymore, too expensive, and too slow.