Hi all, On Saturday, October 06, 2007, at 07:03PM, "Dan Keys" wrote: >Hi, >The other thing you might do, at least to keep from loosing titles. >Burn them to CD after you get enough to make it worth it. This still >wouldn't help your Podcasts any, but at least it would keep from >loosing your music that you already paid for. >Dan
Everyone should know that there is a "Backup to Disc" feature in iTunes that can back up the content of your iTunes Library including iTunes store purchases, podcast subscriptions, movies, tv shows, pdf files, playlists, etc. Here's how to use it in iTunes Creating a backup disc in iTunes 1.VO-keys+m to the menu bar, right arrow to the File menu, then arrow down to "Backup to Disc" and return. A popup menu will appear. 2.VO-keys right-arrow or down-arrow through the options for "Back up your iTunes library to CDs or DVDs" and select one of two radio buttons with VO-keys space a. "Back up entire iTunes library and playlists" or b. "Back up only iTunes Store purchases" 3. Next decide whether you want to check the box for incremental backups: "Only back up items added or changed since last backup" Again, toggle this checked or unchecked with VO-keys space 4. Press (VO-keys space) either the Cancel or Back Up button to exit the menu. You'll be prompted to insert a disc (blank CD or DVD is an option if you have a superdrive) and there will be a pause while iTunes checks the media. If more than one disc is needed you'll be informed of this, with an option to proceed or cancel the backup. You'll be prompted to insert another CD or DVD once the first has finished burning. Don't manually eject a disc in the middle of a backup. I think that iTunes also checks your library for problem entries and tells you how many anomalies there are before trying to back up. These might occur if you moved or deleted files outside of iTunes -- for example, if you ripped CDs in iTunes and then later renamed the tracks with finder or moved them to the trash (without deleting the entries under iTunes). Again, you have the option to cancel the backup or proceed with everything else. The "Backup to Disc" option seems to be a specific variant on iTunes' ability to write data discs from playlists. You don't have to select the "data disc" format in the iTunes preferences menu for burning before running this task. nor do you have to create any playlists. The CD or DVD is named "Backup" along with the date and time of your backup. In addition, when you back up your entire library and playlists (either incrementally or in toto) the two database files that iTunes uses to store information on playlists, tag keywords, play counts, ratings, and other metadata. Audible.com files are not included under "Backup to Disc". iTunes Store purchases are backed up in the same format that you've downloaded (e.g., you might have room for a hundred purchased songs on a data CD). Restoring from a backup disc 1. Open iTunes. 2. Insert your backup disc. 3. iTunes will ask whether you want to restore from this disc. Click Restore. Although Apple states that "Discs you create using the iTunes backup feature can be used only to restore; they can't be played in a CD or DVD player." the fact that these are data discs means that you can play them in iTunes on your computer (after you've said "No" to the restore function) by navigating to a selected track in the songs outline for the disc. Just remember it's somewhat risky to use backup discs this way, because of the possibility of writing over your existing iTunes database files with an old version. You should also make sure that any backup discs you're using to restore are for your iTunes library. It's possible for iTunes to read data CDs and DVDs created by other iTunes libraries (even Windows iTunes data discs and backup CDs/DVDs can be read in iTunes on your Mac), but obviously having the database point to non-existent directories or locations on another computer is not going to work. Here are the URLs for Apple Documents about backing up iTunes and the iTunes library files: How to back up your media in iTunes: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302392 What are the iTunes library files: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93732 >On Oct 6, 2007, at 9:40 PM, Jude DaShiell wrote: > >> Earlier before I bought this mac I had heard of cases where ITunes >> did the deletions of files itself after certain amounts of time had >> passed based on d.r.m. requirements set for that particular >> download when that download was first uploaded onto ITunes by the >> artist/publisher in question. If that is happening, it comes with >> the ITunes territory. Maybe the only way to prevent such things >> from happening is to have a mix of podcasts and music in >> libraries. That way the music will disappear as per schedule but >> hopefully the podcasts will serve as a library anchor for you. If >> you had podcasts not intended to be protected by D.R.M. in your >> library along with music then this is rightly alarming. I've never heard of instances where iTunes auto-deletes files with DRM after a certain time.has passed. And if purchased files have been backed up it should be possible to restore them. Hope the above instructions help. Cheers, Esther
