My Adventures with iTunes. What Went Wrong?

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

My adventures with iTunes began when I tried to download some audios when I was just an affiliate blogger. I wanted to start listening when I didn’t have my computer with me but it wasn’t working for me. My budget was a bit thin so I was looking for an inexpensive solution. I first tried downloading onto a CD and I could see the files were there but no sound came out. Was I using the wrong file format? Not sure.

I trot down to Radio Shack and tell them what I’m trying to do and they sell me an MP3 player – the audio files are .mp3 so I’m sure it will work. But I can’t get my audios to download from my computer. So I take the computer and the MP3 player back to Radio Shack. It’s a busy day and when I finally get to speak to someone I get, “Oh, sorry, our MP3 guy won’t be in until tomorrow.” I go back the next day; again lugging my somewhat ancient laptop with its brick (the battery is iffy) and a mouse (the thumb pad is iffy, too). The MP3 guy is there and he can’t get the files to download either. I return the MP3 player, pack up all my stuff and go home.

I have a good friend who manages computer systems for small businesses so I give him a call and he suggests I should download the file to my iPhone3 which I like very much but have never used the iTunes app except to sync and backup (truth here – I was never absolutely sure just syncing was really doing a backup and I was too embarrassed and lazy to ask). OK, I ask, how do I do that? My friend is perfectly capable of doing it for me but he’s a smart guy. So he says, “Go to Apple and they’ll help you. You’ll have fun and learn how to do it for yourself”. So I call Apple and they suggest I make an appointment. This is a quantum leap over Radio Shack and my hopes rise. Here comes myadventures with iTunes and I’m going to conquer my problem!

I’m off to Apple the next day, again with my laptop, the brick and mouse and also with my iPhone and its USB cable. My first computer was an Apple 2E and I remember how proud I was to have a computer with 48MB memory! The store where I got it, however, was not memorable. After a year or two, I switched to a PC and stayed there except for investing in an iPhone. I’ve been to lots of electronic and telephone stores, etc. but this was my first 21st Century visit to an Apple store.

Apple occupies a double wide store in the Burlington Mall and it is impressively elegant. There are lots of folk in blue T shirts assisting customers and I’m greeted by a smiling fellow who seems to have the sole purpose of directing traffic. I tell him I have an appointment and he checks his iPad to confirm and directs me to a bench where I can get set up while I wait for my help to arrive. Soon after, a young man who looks barely out of his teens very competently helps me download a file from the net to my computer and onto my phone. It’s pretty complicated but I take detailed notes and remind myself that I’m dealing with three different platforms so it takes skill and I need to pay careful attention. I go home, sure that I’ll remember everything and sure that my adventures with iTunes were going to solve my problem.

That weekend I visit my son’s family in New Hampshire and I talk to my granddaughter about my visit to Apple. She borrows my phone and asks if I have an audio file on my computer. She thumbs around my iPhone and downloads a file in seconds. I used to joke to my friends that if you got locked out of your car, you should look for the nearest teenager for help. Now, it seems the same philosophy applies to computers! The problem for me, however, is that it happens so fast that I can’t see how she does it.

Now at home, I start to download a bunch of files from the net to my computer. All the files turn up in the right place. But as I try to do the next step, despite my notes, the get info and rename commands elude me. I try moving files around so I can drag and drop to the phone but it’s messed up. Then I make a crucial mistake. I decide to remove all the files from my laptop and start again. Before long my iPhone is frozen with an ominous picture of a USB cable pointing toward a Apple icon. OMG What went wrong?  Obviously I’m what went wrong.

I make another appointment at Apple and this time they’re much busier. It’s about 3:30 on a Friday afternoon. I wait for about half hour for my appointment and listen to all the people around me discussing their computer issues. My help arrives and he’s about ten years older than the last guy. He takes one look at my iPhone and says it’s frozen and will have to be reformatted. OMG, there go my files! My life is on that phone. I moan and tear my hair but my helper says he will look on my laptop to see what he can do. While my phone is getting stripped of my life, he noses around my antique laptop and smiles. “Oh good,” he says, “you synced only 2 days ago!” “I did?” I ask. He smiles again and does his magic and my phone has my life on it again and he teaches me a simple 2 step method (no renaming or getting info). Just put it in a file and sync. I’m saved.  What an adventure!

He’s not wearing a cape and a big red Apple logo in the middle of his blue T shirt but he is my hero. I thank him profusely and he just smiles and heads off to rescue the next client.

Nancyp

P.S.  Now that I’ve got the downloading right, the <get info> and rename work perfectly.