What To Do If iTunes Won't Let You Change a File Type (Music, iTunes U etc.)

If you have just imported a file into your iTunes library, and are having trouble changing the file type of any other properties under "Get Info," this brief guide is for you.

The problem is easily fixed. Go to the folder or original destination where the file you imported is. It is likely that the file has been marked "Read Only," which is preventing you from making changes. To fix this, follow these instructions from the Microsoft Help page (in Windows):

1. Find the file you want to edit. Right-click the file, and then click Properties.
2. Click the General tab, clear the Read-only check box, and then click OK.
3. Edit and save your file as needed.

Now that you have done that, delete the files that you already imported into iTunes, and do so from within iTunes. This will get rid of the unchanging files. iTunes may ask if you want to get rid of your original files, but say no; you will re-import these shortly.

After deleting the troublesome files from iTunes, just re-import the files after you changed them to not be read-only. Now you can change them freely!

How To Find Bookmarks.plist in Windows 8 and 7

Here is how to find bookmarks.plist on Windows 8, 7, and possibly Vista. Apple and Windows really hide this from users, so this guide will save you quite a bit of time.

1. Access the "Run" command from the start menu. On Windows 8, put the mouse cursor in the lower-left hand corner of the screen, then double-click; select "Run."
2. Type the following in the Run command line: %appdata%
3. Hit enter.
4. Find the "Apple Computer" file in the folder that pops up for you, courtesy of the Run command.
5. Open "Apple Computer," then open "Safari"
6. You will see "Bookmarks.plist" here. 

Bookmarks.plist contains your reading list and bookmarks info for Safari. Safari unfortunately does not allow easy moving around and management of the "reading list" feature. Possibly, you could just switch a new Safari installation's file with the old bookmarks.plist file you have, thus importing it like that.

How to Fix Errors Related to ImageMagick When Using Paperclip

While following along with a Team Treehouse tutorial on Installing Paperclip, I was getting a Paperclip::Errors::NotIdentifiedByImageMagickError. This would happen whenever trying to upload an avatar or change an image album.

What went wrong first: On the ImageMagick page, under Binary Windows Installations, I first used ImageMagick-6.8.6-9-Q16-x86-dll.exe. However, after much difficulty I could not get that to work in Treebook. The program "IMDisplay" would run normally on my PC, once I clicked the desktop file, but it was not working at all for my online purposes.

In the end, I deleted that installation (Windows Uninstall.) Going back to the IM download page (binary, windows, same page as before) I instead elected to go for ImageMagick-6.8.6-9-Q16-x64-dll.exe. I am running Windows 8 x64, so that seemed more suitable (the descriptions on the same page say which are Win32 and which are Win64.)

 An interesting note: I did not shut down any other running apps during my first installation of IM. It did "recommend" this, but I did not elect to do it. However, on the second approach, with a different installation, I closed all other apps, being extra cautious.

Once I began installing IM for the second time, I carefully read all notes. I ran the following in a bare (not "rubified") CMD window (In Windows 8, Run>CMD). (These are per the instructions that can be found in the IM install wizard, once it is successful.)

First type: C:\Users\MyAdminUsername>convert wizard: wizard.jpg
Hit enter, then type: C:\Users\MyAdminUsername>convert wizard.jpg win:

After "convert wizard: wizard.jpg" it won't really say anything, and will just give the "C:\ ..." prompt again. However keep going with the second "convert..." command as mentioned above. Then it will open the converted file, showing a successful installation.