iTouch Video Viewing Help

In the iTouch forums, it is said that TV episodes are bunched together into the same location and this is correct. This does not make it easy to choose an episode by season and then view it. You see only the title of the TV show, then when opened, a list of all the episodes, but not in viewing order, but name order. Therefore, Episode 1 of Season 2 appears immediately after Episode 1 of Season 1.

It is disappointing that with the Apple "i" products, so much has to be done by the user to help make the viewing and listening more enjoyable. It seems obvious to sort episodes of TV shows into seasons, then date aired. Viewing video is not always a singular activity; watching one episode and quitting. Searching for the next episode should be logical and orderly.

After an automatic sync and download of TV episodes and viewing the result on the iTouch, it was difficult to figure out how the iTunes software sorted these seasons and synced them to the device. In reading the support documentation, the prognosis was that there was no solution for this. It seemed that the device did not have a sort option and users were just waiting for an upgrade to possibly change this. Support documentation indicated that the filenames controlled the resulting download to the device.

As it turns out, iTunes send files to the devices by Name. If the names are the same, all the files go together. Changing the names in the Windows folder do not resolve the issue. Itunes lists the files on screen just as they will be sent to the device. This gives the user a visual preview of what is to come. In the TV show folder in iTunes all of the episodes were listed under one title and therefore would be downloaded together. The goal then became, change the way iTunes lists the episodes.

In looking at the iTunes list, it appeared that the detail that kept these episodes together was the "show" title. Defining the show title, changed the way iTunes saw the downloads and then changed the way it synced them to the iTouch.

In summary, iTunes must be manipulated to produce the result that is appealing to the user. In the case of TV episodes, the show title must be unique. Adding season "X" after the title allows for separation of the episodes.