GGG said:
I am using XP SP2 and have used the iTunes Photo Sync feature to load up my 6500+ photos successfully. I find that if you make a change to the root folder that you specify in iTunes, then as you sync the iPod and iTunes, any photo changes will cause a complete "Optimizing Photos for iPod" sequence which takes a long time. The time taken is a pain because you can't use the iPod until it completes. There are times when I just want to sync the iPod with a new song yet not re-Optimize the photo library.
This should only happen if you
change the main photo folder specified in iTunes, since at that point iTunes assumes that it's using a new photo library. I'm not sure why you would need to change this on a regular basis, as iTunes will scan this folder (and folders below it) for changes during the next sync, and add/remove photos as appropriate.
If you're simply syncing a new song (or even a new photo) and haven't changed this setting, iTunes should just very quickly sync the changes. It will, of course, optimize any new photos that you've added to your folders, but should not re-optimize the whole collection unless you've moved the folder (or changed the path in iTunes).
Is there any way to do this offline, i.e. when the iPod is not connected and then just updare the few modified or new photos? Or is there a way to disable the photo syncing yet keep the photos on the iPod? I find that the iPod is so good for looking at photos that every time I browse my photos on the iPod I see photos that need editing, regrouping, moving, etc. Yet if I edit 1 photo the whole long photo Optimizing takes place.
Unfortunately, there is no way to perform the photo optimization stage offline. Further, the optimization done will depend on which iPod model is connected, since the photos need to be optimized (resized) differently for the 5G than they do for the colour 4G models.
You
can disable the photo syncing completely and iTunes will ask if you want to leave the existing collection on your iPod. You can answer "Yes" to this question and any photos that were already on your iPod will remain there. Of course, you'll have to re-enable photo syncing if you ever want to add anything to your iPod.
Secondly, I see that the iPod will only display the first level of Photo directory as a directory, and then the contents of any subdirectories are in the displayed first level. Is there any way around this? Can you keep the full directory level. I.e. What I would like to have is a structure such a directory for each year, then a subdirectory for each month and then a subdirectory for events within that month. Any way to do this?
Unfortunately, for album display this is not the case. The full-resolution photos stored on your iPod (if this option is selected) will be placed in a YEAR\MONTH\DAY folder structure (which you can't change either), but iTunes treats each folder as it's own "album" and I have never been able to find a way to nest anything deeper than that.
Finaly, I have Photoshop Elements3 and can see this in the Photo iPod Syn drop down box. Is there any advantage over the simple browse to your folder to sync method gained with Elements? I find Elements to be slow and cumbersome at best. Even though I have been using Photoshop for many years I find Picasa a breath of fresh air after using Elements. I really wish that Picasa could be used to sync with the iPod.
Other than the features of Photoshop Elements itself, I don't really see many advantages. If using Photoshop Elements, you can organize your photos into "collections" which will synchronize with the iPod as albums. The sort order and album order, however, doesn't really change, so there's not much advantage there over simply using straight folders.
I did use Photoshop Elements myself when I was using Windows (I now use iPhoto on Mac), but that was largely because I was looking for a tool to manage my photo collection and decided I might as well use the iPod compatible solution. I agree that Elements tends to be quite a bit slower, but it does have a lot or photo management and organizational features that tools like Picasa have traditionally been missing. Of course, whether one would need or use these extra features is another story entirely.....