iPod & iTunes: The Missing Manual, Second Edition

Variations on the Auto-Transfer Theme

The beauty of the iTunes/iPod system is that whatever music you add to your Mac or PC gets added to the iPod automatically, effortlessly, quickly. You’ve always got your entire music collection with you. Just plugging in the iPod inspires iTunes (or MusicMatch) to open up and begin syncing.

It’s conceivable, however, that you won’t always want complete and automatic syncing to take place whenever you connect the ‘Pod. Maybe you use the iPod primarily as an external hard drive (Chapter 11), so you don’t especially care to have iTunes jumping up like a West Highland terrier every time you plug in the iPod. Maybe you want to synchronize only some of your music, not all of it.

Fortunately, you’re in complete control of the situation.

Stop Auto-Opening iTunes (or MusicMatch)

If you like, you can command your jukebox software to open only when you want it to, rather than every time the iPod is plugged in.

• iTunes. When the iPod plugged in, click its icon in the Source list. Then click the iPod-shaped icon in the bottom right part of the iTunes window (identified in Figure 2-9). The iPod’s Preferences box appears, where you can turn off the “Open iTunes when attached” checkbox.

• MusicMatch. Look for your iPod in the Portables Plus box, right-click it, and choose Options from the shortcut menu. Click the iPod tab in the box, and turn off “Automatically launch MusicMatch Jukebox on device connection.” Click OK.

Tip

With MusicMatch Jukebox and 2003-and-later ...