iPods

LadyKiKi said:
I am looking to finally upgrade my player to an iPod, the most recent one released is the iPod Classic, I'm thinking of buying it to keep me going for a while.

Questions though, I've had some friends tell me not to and now here are my concerns:

1. iTunes. Do you need to keep a copy of your music on your PC? I am aware that you can only delete music in iTunes with the iPod plugged in. I want to put all my music in the iPod and then delete them off my PC.

2. iTunes. If the answer to 1 is No then can you play music off your iPod when it is plugged into your PC (while it's charging). I've recieved mixed feedback from a few sources that you cannot.

3. iTunes. Does it convert your MP3 files to its own format? Meaning, does that mean I cannot share my music with ... say my friend who also has iTunes? I read somewhere back a while ago it converts all the music to the "iPod file format". But then you cannot transfer music back to a PC from an iPod ... or something. I need clarification. Apparently you can only delete ... ?!

4. iTunes. So... I keep hearing bullshit about everything that goes on it (iPod) must be from the iTunes store. Is this true?

So all my problems concerns the functions of iTunes really... hope someone can help! :biggrin:
Click to expand...

Gonna pick your post apart one by one. I use to work at a Apple store so i can be of help,

1.) Yes, the way to do this is to set your iPod to NOT, i repeat NOT synch with your iTunes library. This will let you organize, delete and sort all your music that is on your iPod from iTunes.

2.) Like i said, if you set your iPod to NOT synch to your computer you CAN play music off your iPod, it must be through iTunes though.

3.) As for a iPod to PC transfer, you can't do that, or that i am aware of. BUT!, if you were to keep your music files on your computer, you can share ALL of it with your friends. What you do is, go to iTunes folder > iTunes Library; here there will be a lot of folders (pending on how much music you have) with band names. Just Copy and Paste them onto a Flash Drive or External HD and transfer to your friends computer. I did this hundreds of times. I would send my 160gig Port HD to my friend who lives in Cali, he load up his music and send it back to me. Works fine.

4.) Completely false. You can add music you DL from Limewire, or Music Blogs. You can import your CD's. Though, when you do buy from iTunes you get some cool bonuses. Coverart (Not a real bonus since it is easy as fuck to find with google) a digital Artbook, it is the thing that comes in CDs with lyrics song titles, band info exc... Also, when using iTunes Store, they have A LOT of exclusives from EP's to LP's to Singles. But for a stright answer, completely false.

If you have anymore question just shoot me a PM..


As for the new Classic, i have it and i love it. I do have some complaints with it. The "COver Flow" feature that they added is extreamly glitchy. It goes slow and does not include all my albums that i have. Minus that, i think my iPod is flawless.


PS: Whats your problem with iTunes, i find it one of the best media players, and it's free.
 
Hi Kelyon, thanks for your informative post.

In Regards to #3, say my external hard drive died. and the only music is on the iPod (although this may be rare, but you know, if something fails, but it's not like I move the hard drive all the time). In the event of that, how would I exactly grab the music off my iPod to another device? Or will this be accomplished via 3rd party tools.

I will prefer not to discuss via PM as I would like people to read and give their own info/feedback. :)

As for iTunes, I guess it's the limitations that goes with it, as explained in #3. Otherwise I prefer the simplicity of Winamp Classic. :cool:
 
The only way you would be able to take music, or any file for that matter, off your iPod is to use it has a external. You can do that by just drag and drop items onto your iPod icon. I currently know of no 3rd party tools to rip music off your iPod. I am sure there are mods for WinAmp to allow iPod configuration also. I seen them somewhere, go google go. On iTunes, it is confusing at first, but the capabilitys of it are pretty awesome. To each his/her own. GL! have anymore questions fire away. =)


PS: I am on a Mac so if you have a PC related quesiton i would be less likely to know about it, but still give it a shot.
 
Kelyon said:
The only way you would be able to take music, or any file for that matter, off your iPod is to use it has a external. You can do that by just drag and drop items onto your iPod icon. I currently know of no 3rd party tools to rip music off your iPod. I am sure there are mods for WinAmp to allow iPod configuration also. I seen them somewhere, go google go. On iTunes, it is confusing at first, but the capabilitys of it are pretty awesome. To each his/her own. GL! have anymore questions fire away. =)


PS: I am on a Mac so if you have a PC related quesiton i would be less likely to know about it, but still give it a shot.
Click to expand...

Nah I don't have any specific PC related detail I want to know. Thank you.

But moving on now, how are albums arranged on the iPod?

One thing I've taken interest is (for some reason), album art. However, my current setup is that I have "an album" for each disk of an album, so if an album I have has 3 disks, it will actually come up as 3 albums on the iPod?

Or is it possible to set a "folder" (with 1 art) and then further arrange it by disks? I'd hate to see it all get merged together into one big jumble, I like my albums arranged by disk.

About album art, I don't know ... maybe it's just because I see a picture or something and it brings by memories ... should make music more enjoyable to listen to ...

Can you have more than 1 album art per album? Or is one the limit, for that gimmicky CD scroll feature ...
 
Foobar plugin foo_ipod is able to index all the songs on your ipod and sort them based on the ID3 codes on your songs. You're then free to play any songs directly from your iPod.

You can also do a similar trick to get all music songs backed up off your ipod by doing a windows search on your ipod drive letter, including media files and searching hidden folders. You can either copy all the files the search comes up with or sift through and only copy any mp3/aac/whatever files.
 
Blabj said:
You can also do a similar trick to get all music songs backed up off your ipod by doing a windows search on your ipod drive letter, including media files and searching hidden folders. You can either copy all the files the search comes up with or sift through and only copy any mp3/aac/whatever files.
Click to expand...

See, I tried this, but it says "The parameter is incorrect" or a CRC error. I got a new (larger) iPod, since my old 3rd gen barely has battery life. This is the only location of most of this music. I tried a few older programs that didn't seem to work (iPod Agent and it's derivitives). I need some help here.

Hmm..... Nevermind. Seems it's some of my music that's corrupted. At least I just need to redownload/re-rip a few albums instead of everything.
 
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LadyKiKi said:
I am looking to finally upgrade my player to an iPod, the most recent one released is the iPod Classic, I'm thinking of buying it to keep me going for a while.

Questions though, I've had some friends tell me not to and now here are my concerns:

1. iTunes. Do you need to keep a copy of your music on your PC? I am aware that you can only delete music in iTunes with the iPod plugged in. I want to put all my music in the iPod and then delete them off my PC.

You do not, but if you need to wipe your iPod for some reason, you wont have the music on it still.

2. iTunes. If the answer to 1 is No then can you play music off your iPod when it is plugged into your PC (while it's charging). I've recieved mixed feedback from a few sources that you cannot.

You can play music off your iPod, your iPod is authorized for your own computer and I think 3 others to play on. Once you get those 3, you cannot use it on any other computer I think. You may be able to deny the rights on one you already had them on, to play on another but that is extremely not likely.

3. iTunes. Does it convert your MP3 files to its own format? Meaning, does that mean I cannot share my music with ... say my friend who also has iTunes? I read somewhere back a while ago it converts all the music to the "iPod file format". But then you cannot transfer music back to a PC from an iPod ... or something. I need clarification. Apparently you can only delete ... ?!

Yes, music moved to an iPod is reformatted to prevent sharing. I have no tested a direct transfer, via "My Computer" and using the drag and drop method.

4. iTunes. So... I keep hearing bullshit about everything that goes on it (iPod) must be from the iTunes store. Is this true?

Nothing on your iPod has to be through the store, I take music from my friends computer and put it on mine, and mine to his. Plus CDs and all that. There are certain things obtained via the iTunes store that you can only get from there to put on your iPod, like games and videos.

So all my problems concerns the functions of iTunes really... hope someone can help! :biggrin:
Click to expand...

I didn't fully read every post, so I hope this helps.
 
Thanks for your reply Helius. I missed it for a week or so because I didn't know the topic had been replied to.

UPDATE for everyone else: an iPod store of some sort will open in the city over the next 2 odd weeks. I intend to make a trip down there and fiddle with one before ultimately purchasing.

All at the same time I am holding out for Creative to unleash their "rival" to this 160gb iPod too.
 
I'm completely against Creative brand MP3 players. My sister and I both had one(before we bought ipods) and had no end of problems with it. They weren't small annoyances either, and they weren't limited to just us; apparently the entire line had faulty manufacturing.

We had to open up our Zen Micro's and re-solder some points so that we could actually charge/listen to our players; because the manufacturer did a shitty job soldering the ports onto the board and they came loose all the time. Then, my hard drive just turned off and never came back on(one month out of warranty too), which after a little research was apparently a slightly rarer problem than the ports coming off the board. Maybe they've got their shit together now, but I'm never going to buy a creative again. Two major manufacturing issues that came up with both of our mp3 players completely put me off of the brand, and I hated it's software too.
 
Baj: Sorry to hear that. Then again, my current one has its backlight broken since I got it (off eBay). Not bothered to chase it up, I lived without, although at the rare times I did use it at nights it was slightly difficult.

Regardless, I'll agree with you that the software is a little annoying. I had a high factor of risk too when I brought my one as apparently a good lot of the MP3 players had faulty headphone ports and actually required to be sent back to get it fixed. Thankfully I have not encountered such problem yet.

Every players have their quirks, but I guess it's near the time I sell my soul to the almight Apple ... :|
 
Interestingly, I got an iPod touch last week (gogo awesome employers). I'm not sure if you're looking at this specific model or not, but I have to say, I much prefer the non-touch version. Maybe it's my preference for that clickity-click "analog feel" of buttons.. ;)
 
The touch one only provides 16gb max? Or was it 8gb. I am purely looking at the extreme end of things. 160gb seems to be the cap for now. I want to carry all my music no matter where I go. ;)
 
LadyKiKi said:
The touch one only provides 16gb max? Or was it 8gb. I am purely looking at the extreme end of things. 160gb seems to be the cap for now. I want to carry all my music no matter where I go. ;)
Click to expand...

I thought that too and now I wish I had a small mp3 player. I spend most of my time changing tracks :(
 
LadyKiKi said:
The touch one only provides 16gb max? Or was it 8gb. I am purely looking at the extreme end of things. 160gb seems to be the cap for now. I want to carry all my music no matter where I go. ;)
Click to expand...

Hands down, get the iPod~
 
LadyKiKi said:
Baj: Sorry to hear that. Then again, my current one has its backlight broken since I got it (off eBay). Not bothered to chase it up, I lived without, although at the rare times I did use it at nights it was slightly difficult.

Regardless, I'll agree with you that the software is a little annoying. I had a high factor of risk too when I brought my one as apparently a good lot of the MP3 players had faulty headphone ports and actually required to be sent back to get it fixed. Thankfully I have not encountered such problem yet.

Every players have their quirks, but I guess it's near the time I sell my soul to the almight Apple ... :|
Click to expand...
Yeah, that's exactly what happened to mine and my sister's. They barely soldered the port onto the board, so the connection would break all the time; we just opened ours up since they were out of warranty anyways and re-soldered the connection. I'm sure it's the exact same thing they do to the ones who are sent in.

But then I got my ipod and I haven't had a single complaint about the thing other than I wish I had picked up a case for it a little earlier because it's scratched to hell.
 
Yeah, iPod Touch is 16GB max.

Personally, when it comes to getting a high end MP3 player, I can't see myself getting an iPod. As you get up in storage capacity (and price), the devices start to get very powerful, and features get very interesting. I bought my first MP3 player in 2000ish and it was an ENORMOUS 10GB and was so much more than a MP3 player ( http://www.news.com/2100-1040-270851.html ).

If I had to spend my own money, I'd get something like the Archos 605 or 705. I mean, if you're going to drop a few coins on the player, I want it to be full featured. If you can't immediately fill the 160GB with music, you might as well use it for other things. The Archos device can be upgraded (for a cost) to be a DVR or camcorder.

Archos Players can be found:
http://www.archos.com/products/gen_5/index.html?country=global&lang=en

Uh, oops. I hope I don't derail the thread... ;)
 
Trouble with the Archos lot is the size. I'm not really looking to play videos on the move that much. The capacity is good no doubt.

My first Mp3 player was a 128mb. I spent countless nights/batteries just swapping music. Then I quickly progressed to a 20gb, 40gb and 60gb (current)

I downloaded all those "Final Fantasy, a retrospective" series and the iPod equivlanent of it if I do get an iPod. So that's something to put on there. Otherwise, it'll be roughly 85gb of music to go on there I'd say. And it'll grow fast.
 
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