Moving MP3 tracks from SD card to an iPod?

[E55BOF]

As the title. The SD card reader in the Chinese COMAND lookalike head unit in the E500 is playing up, but the iPod reader works perfectly. There's plenty on Google on how to go the other way, but I've found nothing useful for what I would like to do. Is it possible to transfer MP3 tracks (ripped from CDs) from the SD card to the iPod?

 

[John]

Yup.

SD Card reader to take the tracks off, assuming they are MP3 files, copy them to a folder and place on the desktop of a computer running iTunes, in iTunes go to FILE > ADD FOLDER TO LIBRARY and point it to the folder on your desktop.

Job done.

 

[E55BOF]

Thank you. Now, how do I get iTunes?

 

[markmifsud]

Thank you. Now, how do I get iTunes?

iTunes - Download iTunes Now

 

[E55BOF]

Thanks gentlemen. You may feel I seem to know pretty much feck-all about iPods and how they work, and you are entirely correct; all my IT skills (such as they are) are Windows-based. I'm using an old iPod that was my wife's, and it works perfectly in the car. I won't use it for anything else, so I don't need to know very much about it other than how to put my music on it.

There's one thing I have found, though, and that is that the tracks on it now come up in alphabetical order in the menu. Is it possible to set it up so that they are indexed in folders, as they are on the SD card, so that I can select a particular folder and it will then play all the tracks in that folder before moving on to the next?

 

[st13phil]

There's one thing I have found, though, and that is that the tracks on it now come up in alphabetical order in the menu. Is it possible to set it up so that they are indexed in folders, as they are on the SD card, so that I can select a particular folder and it will then play all the tracks in that folder before moving on to the next?

If the MP3 files have their ID3 tags correctly populated, the iPod, and thus the car, will be able to select by album, artist, etc.

 

[Alex225]

Once iTunes is installed you can drag and drop the tracks into the app. It should fill everything out assuming all the info is in the MP3s as Phil says above.

I’ve used iPods and now an iPhone for music albeit by ripping my CDs. I still find iTunes an utter ballache!

 

[E55BOF]

My wife's old iTunes account is still active, and I can use that.

Some of the tracks are off old CDs, or CD compilations of music that predates CDs. I usually play an entire CD off the SD card in one go before moving on to the next folder. Once my tracks are on the iPod, is it possible to arrange them in a particular order - a playlist, say - or does the iPod make up its own mind in what order they are presented?

 

[st13phil]

Once my tracks are on the iPod, is it possible to arrange them in a particular order - a playlist, say - or does the iPod make up its own mind in what order they are presented?

In short, yes. The longer answer is that older versions of iOS (the iPod's operating system) didn't allow you to create or modify playlists on the device, but newer versions do. All versions support playlists created in iTunes though, and it's probably easier to drag and drop content on a PC screen than on an iPod anyway.

BTW, you don't actually need an iTunes account if you have the MP3's; All you need to do is import them into iTunes and then they'll be available to sync (together with any playlists you create that order them) to your iPod.

 

[st13phil]

I’ve used iPods and now an iPhone for music albeit by ripping my CDs. I still find iTunes an utter ballache!

I've found by experience that with iTunes it's safest if you don't select the option for iTunes to manage your library. Even then you sometimes have to be careful that iTunes doesn't trample all over your carefully set ID3 tags

FWIW, I use dBpoweramp to rip my CD's to FLAC and MP3 files simultaneously, and then take a copy of the MP3's to another drive that I let iTunes access. That way I can always return to an unadulterated copy of the ripped files if and when iTunes has a fit and "improves" the tags on the ones it has access too

 

[E55BOF]

Thanks Phil. I think I now have pretty much all the information I need; until I start actually doing it...

One last question: I suppose it's not possible to transfer folders to the iPod, rather than individual tracks, and let it open them from the list in the menu?

 

[John]

No, you have to go through an iTunesy thing.

 

[E55BOF]

What I meant was, can folders be transferred as is into iTunes and thence to the iPod?

 

[John]

Well as per my first post, you are adding in the folders but in reality, iTunes will take the media underneath and sort it out based on the ID3 tags beneath (which stores things like Artist, Album, Track Number etc.).

So it doesn't copy the folders in as such but copies from them.

 

[E55BOF]

Bugger... But I suspected that might be the case. The object of the exercise would be to have each CD's tracks in one place, with a header to tell me which CD it was, but if that's not possible I think it could be very time-consuming to get everything in the order I want it in on the iPod, and not easy to find a particular CD's tracks even then.

I think I'll try putting it all on a memory stick, and see if it will play that through the USB port; there's always the iPod, inconvenient though it will be to use, as a fallback if needed.

 

[John]

You can edit the ID3 tags to ensure they will do what you want.

If you want them to be in separate album collections, you need to ensure the ones you want in the same collection have the same details.

Otherwise you could do what I did and have a "Miscellaneous" type folder and strip out all the ID3 stuff and just add in a track number (for as many songs as you have).

It will then order them how you want.

The following what ID3 tags look like in Windows from one of my tracks and they can be edited from here but there are also a plethora of ways of editing them.

The "Album" is what will tie the tracks together on the same album if you want albums.

# is the track number if you want one big list.

 

[gIzzE]

Bugger... But I suspected that might be the case. The object of the exercise would be to have each CD's tracks in one place, with a header to tell me which CD it was, but if that's not possible I think it could be very time-consuming to get everything in the order I want it in on the iPod, and not easy to find a particular CD's tracks even then.

I think I'll try putting it all on a memory stick, and see if it will play that through the USB port; there's always the iPod, inconvenient though it will be to use, as a fallback if needed.

Best thing to do is set up iTunes on your computer, a separate one to your wife's.
If not you can have multiple iTunes on the same computer, you hold down option while starting iTunes and it will ask you which user you want to load.

But run itunes with nothing other than your SD card music imported.
Then search for CD info and cover art, it will find it all and put them into albums.

When you browse your iPod you can search by artist, album or any playlists you have created.
This is far, far better than having them just in folders as you have now.

I actually let iTunes organise all my music now, it took me a few years to 'let go' and let it do it, but it does it very well.
Also, it makes backing up or moving it all to a new hard drive so easy.

 

[E55BOF]

If I had to, I think I'd create lots of playlists, each one with all the tracks from a particular folder. It all sounds like a lot of work, though.

Happily, at the moment I don't have to . The USB input works perfectly, so all my music will go on a flash drive and I can play it, folder by folder, from there. indeed!