iFieldGuides™: News Releases

April 1, 2007: Simple iTunes Import of Stokes CDs

If you own the Stokes Field Guide to Bird Songs (Eastern or Western), you can use iTunes to import the tracks from the CDs. iTunes will name the tracks based on the birds that appear on each track. Once you have the tracks in iTunes you can synch them to your iPod the same way you synch music. The disadvantage with this approach is the naming is a little inconsistent, and there are quite a few tracks with 2 species on them (Eastern CDs: 76 double species tracks & 220 single species tracks; WesternCDs: 190 double species tracks & 170 single species tracks).

Simple Import Directions

Follow these steps to import the Stokes Field Guide to Bird Songs CDs into iTunes:

1. If you do not have iTunes on your computer, download it for free from Apple. We recommend that you upgrade to iTunes 7.0 if you are running an earlier version. The directions that follow assume iTunes 7.0, the details of some steps may vary slightly for earlier versions.
2. Insert "Disk 1/Disc 1" of the audio CDs from Stokes Field Guide to Bird Songs (Eastern/Western).
3. Click the "Import CD" button that appears at the lower right corner of the iTunes window.
4. Repeat Step 2 & 3 for the other 2/3 disks of the Stokes Eastern/Western set.
5. You're done with the import.

Directions to Synchronize Your iPod

Follow these steps to copy the imported Stokes tracks to your iPod:

1. Connect your iPod using the USB connector or an iPod dock.
2. Follow iTunes directions if this is the first time you've connected your iPod to iTunes.
3. Click the "Music" tab and select "Synch Music", check "All songs and playlists", and then click "Apply"
4. Wait for iTunes to tell you that the synchronization is complete.
5. Eject your iPod.

Benefits of iBirdSongs

iBirdSongs provides a number of benefits over a simple import of the Stokes CDs. Read about them in iBirdSongs Features.