Ricky Says

Question: My iPod has totally stopped working. It won't charge when plugged into the computer and won't turn on at all. Could it be a battery issue? As far as iTunes goes, how can I transfer my entire library over from our old computer to our new computer? I've tried copying and pasting and I installed the iTunes from the disk but my library is still empty? Thanks - Jean

Answer: Jean, you're not alone with the whole iPod freezing situation. I just bought my wife an iPod nano for Valentine's Day, and two days later it completely froze up. The kids had been playing with it, and I think they just got a little crazy with all the buttons.

Resetting a Frozen iPod

The trick for resetting a frozen iPod is to press the Menu and center button at the same time and hold them for about 6 seconds. You should see the Apple icon and your iPod should restart. Give that a try and let me know if it does the trick. If it doesn't work, then I recommend taking your iPod into an Apple store where they can check if the battery is fried.

Copying Music from an Old Computer to a New Computer

As for copying your music from your old computer to your new computer, look in your My Documents folder and you'll see a My Music subfolder. iTunes stores it's music under My Music --> iTunes --> iTunes Music. That's the folder you'll need to copy to your new computer, and for Windows Vista you'll paste it into your C:\Users\Jean\Documents\My Music\iTunes\ folder (assuming you have a user account created named Jean).

iTunes should recognize the music automatically, but if it doesn't then you can use the File --> Add Folder to Library menu in iTunes to load the new folder into iTunes.

You can create ringtones for free with iTunes using the steps outlined below, and can upload them to your cell phone with a USB data cable or a Bluetooth connection.

I'm assuming you already have your song loaded in iTunes, and you can refer to other articles in the iPods and MP3 Players forum if you need instructions for loading songs into iTunes from your iPod or a music CD.

Set the song length to about 30 seconds

Right-click on the song in iTunes and select "Get Info" from the pop-up menu. Choose the Options tab and change the Stop Time to 0:30 for 30 seconds of play time.

This won't change or damage the actual file; it just tells iTunes to only play the first 30 seconds of the song (plenty of time for you to answer your phone). You can change this setting back to full length after you create your ring tone.

Configure the iTunes MP3 Encoder

Configure the MP3 Encoder built into iTunes to use 22khz and mono encoding (the format used by cell phone ring tones).

Click the Preferences menu and then choose the Advanced tab. Click "Importing" and then choose "MP3 Encoder" from the Import Using drop down. Choose "Custom..." from the Settings dropdown, which will display an "MP3 Encoder" dialog like the one shown below.