Pinoy in Singapore

One of the limitations I find frustrating with the iPod and the iTunes is that it’s not very straightforward – especially when it comes to tinkering with your podcasts.  The iPod is very dependent on the iTunes that it syncs to.  For me, the primary use of my iPod is really to listen to podcasts more than listening to music.

The problem I keep encountering is that you can’t just move your podcasts directory around since iTunes wouldn’t be able to track where you put them.  When you do this, you need to double click on each file and locate the new path for that file which is tedious.  (Tedious would be an understatement if you’re talking about hundreds of files!)

Another problem I had was how to move my podcasts to a new laptop.  Currently, I’ve been syncing my iPod with the iTunes that’s on my desktop computer.  But since I’ll be away for about 6 months, I decided to transfer my podcasts to a portable computer (Macbook) so I can sync anytime.

I’ve googled intensively trying to find a way how to go about this and I’ve even encountered some sites that seem to be helpful but didn’t really work for me.  Anyway, I’ve listed them down just in case someone else is having the same problem and these sites might be able to help them:

• HOWTO: Move your iTunes music while preserving library data (when you don’t let iTunes manage your music library)
• Transfer Your iTunes Library from One Computer to Another

Here’s how I got mine working:

1. Since podcasts take ever increasing hard drive space, I have mine on a separate external hard drive.  So on my iTunes in the Edit > Preferences > Advanced Tab,  I keep the “Keep iTunes Music Folder Organized” unchecked.
2. I plugged in my external hard drive to my Macbook (make sure your Mac can read NTFS drives – you can find plenty or resources on Google).
3. On the iTunes of my Macbook, I set the “iTunes Music folder” to point to the music folder that’s on my external HD.  (From the Menu bar go to iTunes > Preferences > Advanced Tab then click Change)
4. Since I want my podcasts to remain in that location, I make sure that the “Keep iTunes Music Folder Organized” and the “Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library” unchecked.
5. I then went to Menu bar > Store > Authorize computer and put in my appleID account.   Now, I’m not exactly sure why I needed to do this.  I can’t remember if one needs an appleID to subscribe to a podcast.  But this is the step that I didn’t see in any of the sites I’ve googled and prior to this, I’ve already tried doing this same procedure without this step and it didn’t work.
6. Then I went to Menu bar > File > Add to Library, selected all my folders under …iTunes Music/podcasts then clicked the Open button.
7. Voila.  All my podcasts have been transferred to the podcasts section of my iTunes in the Macbook.   All previously downloaded broadcasts were recognized and ready to play!  All you need to do is just resubscribe to the podcasts.

Note:  Play count will be reset.  (Which to me doesn’t matter as long as they’re all in there!)

If anyone has a better procedure please feel free to share them through the comments section.