iTunes

Harold can't get his old iPhone to work with his SIM. Leo says that Verizon used GSM back then, and the iPhone would probably not work anyway because it used G2 towers that were turned off long ago. And they're turning onf 3G as we speak, so older 3G phones are about to go offline. But you could use it as an iPod. How can I get the data off it? Leo says to get iTunes for Windows on your computer, connect that old iPhone, and then it'll copy everything off onto your hardware. Leo also recommends uploading the photos to Google Photos. That way it doesn't matter what phone you have. 

Jerry listens to podcasts on his cellphone, and sometimes they stop working. Leo says that RSS feeds are what makes a podcast distributable. And sometimes, they change. That's why Leo recommends subscribing or following podcasts through a favorite podcast player. Like iTunes. Then, when there is a change in the RSS feed, it'll be automatically adjusted in the app itself. Manually following a podcast is really not practical anymore. 

Bob wants to know where Windows Media Player stores his music files on his old computer. He has no idea. Leo says you can use the manage file memory command. Ideally, it'll be in the music folder. Then, to start using iTunes, you can add the folder into the iTunes Library. But make sure you check the "let me manage my music" option in iTunes settings. Once that's done, you can connect your phone via USB and then sync. You may also have to convert them to mp3 because your phone won't play WMA files. What's a lot easier is to use iMazing.

Steve wants to know how to make a ring tone. Leo says there are two ways he does it - first use Garage Band to make it and then export it out as an m4r file. You may need to save it as an m4a file and then just rename it. It has to be no more than 40 seconds. The second thing is to use iTunes. Import it into iTunes or Music if you're using a current Mac. In Windows, though, it's still iTunes. Import your clip and select the 40-second clip. Then save it as an m4r file and move it into the TONES folder. Then sync it to your phone via USB. Not iCloud.

Kevin is starting a new podcast and wants to know how to post updates on his website and then have that go to all the podcast aggregators. Leo says that there's a plugin for WordPress called PodPress that can help. But you can also put it up on iTunes and let it handle it through the RSS feed. There's another one called Seriously Simple Podcasting, amongst others. There's a list here - https://www.podcastinsights.com/best-wordpress-plugins/

Trip has a huge collection of CDs that were gifted to him. He wants to digitize them. Is iTunes the best way to do it? Leo says that yes, iTunes has a good digitizer and converts it to AAC. Apple Lossless is even better. It'll take more disk space, but hard drives are cheap. Don't skim with MP3. Go with Apple Lossless. He also may want to use a FLAC Ripper. It's more standard. 

Beverly says that after the last iOS 13.4.1 update on her iPhone, she has to reboot her phone to run any app. Leo suspects that the update was corrupted when downloaded. He recommends backing up your phone and then wipe it and reset your phone. Connect the phone to your PC via USB and then use iTunes to run the encrypted backup and wipe it. Erase all the content and everything. See if that solves the problem. If it does, then you can restore that backup.