I bought an iPod (I'm such a fool).

[songrytr]

I think iTunes is by far the best music management tool I've ever had. Over 10,000 songs in my music folder and I can listen to them in any config or convert them to any standard file type (save for Windows Media - which I've never had any use for).

 

Of course, when I got my 40G I spent some time with the documentation (on and offline) so I didn't screw it up.

 

Come to think of it, that's what I do with every tech device I purchase. Saves on frustration big time.

 

[MorePaul]

Sadly, iTunes did (and some some system appears to continue to) have services related problems in windows based enviroments

 

SteadyB tried to get me in contact with the appropriate QA team to no avail, and the problem seemed to be quite common -- apple QA was unresponsive and, for a time, actively discouraged installs of older versions

 

So just using itunes "as designed" can, sometimes not work

[and while these bugs happen, ESP IN PORTS -- I do find that support dropped the ball, post emergence -- again, that's not an "anti-apple" opinion -- simply an opinion on the handle of A product by A company]

 

there is alternative softwre, but Apple does play it really close with DRM content etc (note how they implemented the Audible system for instance) - and in so, can limit options (even whe up, itunes is - as the name implies - a directed use model experience and doesn't seem to be particularly well suited to mixed content type such as longform spoken word & music)

 

it's also important to remember (ugh, and I've had to do my share of ports over the years) that itunes *is* a port and, as such, follows a different UI style - and as such it will always seem "oh it's easy" to those more familiar with that style...just as an Apple user might go "Oh, this just doesn't make sense/navigate well" of something following another scheme

 

 

I have my personal prefs (just as everyone else does) but one thing to keep in mind is that USE MODELS VARY

-- much as nat was pointing out "I feel I'm being herded down a marketing chute when all I want is to run my computer and control what it does myself." -- that workflow, howver, can vary

 

 

 

on the plus side, the Jog wheel on the iPod product DOES scale itself VERY nicely to the conent length

[Egz]

 

Originally posted by Angelo Clematide Mr. IT out of 198 models of MP3 player, why you chosed a Apple, who needs iTune? Where with all other models you just drag & drop you files to. You can't blame apple for that --> do you?

 

 

All 198 models (?) 12 are Apple iPods ( they don't sell 12! ) All the "Other" players use WM DRM "Plays anywhere" so you can make MS $$ on their Music sales... Yes, they are all the same, MS makes the software, a web store Dell, Wallmart, Real, Yahoo, + 1400 others type their names in & call it their Store.

 

MS wont even let you rip MP3's from a CD! They want you buying lo-fi WM encrypted crap. You NEED standard drive access from MS software...

So, that no one gives away free MP3/AAC/ rip/mix/burn - with DB to organize - and automatically updates their players when you plug in.....

 

No wonder only iPods sell!!!

iTunes is cool software, free, anyway... That it also incorporates lots of cool stuff if you have an iPod ( including USE AS DISC options ) Find out why iPods make up over 80% - and the other 180 fight over scraps....

[Jeff da Weasel]

Everyone is welcome to their opinion.

 

My experience has been that iTunes and iPod are terrific, but I'm a Mac user, and my experience is different than that of Windows folks.

 

It's been completely problem free, easy to use, and I enjoy the hell out of both the app and the HW. I'm also a big fan of Podcasts.

 

FYI, I have a 20GB iPod v2.

 

- Jeff

[Rudolf von Hagenwil]

 

Originally posted by Egz All 198 models (?) 12 are Apple iPods ( they don't sell 12! ) All the "Other" players use WM DRM "Plays anywhere" so you can make MS $$ on their Music sales... Yes, they are all the same, MS makes the software, a web store Dell, Wallmart, Real, Yahoo, + 1400 others type their names in & call it their Store.

 

 

your'e probably right that most is crap, i don't know! The numbers in bracket are the total mp3 related products by those companies.

 

I have one who behaves just like a normal USB harddisk, and i darg & drop the mp3. It even plays videos on the mini LCD, was only 60 bucks in China, and is three years old. The default software i erased.

 

.

[Kiwiburger]

Normally I despise MP3s. I work with Wave files and audio CDs, and convert to MP3 if a client really wants it.

 

AnaPod looks like the way to go for simply transfering MP3's to an iPod without resorting to the ungainly workaround method in iTunes.

 

I have enough problems registering all DAWs and plugins and staying current.

 

This was meant to be a simple gift - I should of researched it better, but hell - everyone's buying iPods, it shouldn't be so hard.

 

I can't understand the mentality of - on one hand, giving people a freeware app that can rip CD's (encouraging piracy), and on the other hand not allowing people to simply transfer existing MP3 files into an iPod. Looks like you need to buy AnaPod for simple drag-n-drop functionality that Windows users take for granted.

 

I suppose the "marketing" concept is to make it difficult for Windows users, to "encourage" them to switch to Apple. I'm sorry - this just doesn't work. I'm now extra pissed at Apple (still haven't gotten over the Emagic swindle).

[gearmike]

 

Originally posted by Kiwiburger Looks like you need to buy AnaPod for simple drag-n-drop functionality that Windows users take for granted.

 

 

You can do this in iTunes!!

[amplayer]

As I said before, I understand your anger.

However, I think if you give the iTunes app a chance, you'll find it more than meets your needs in terms of getting the stuff onto the iPod. I would suggest waiting on purchasing extra software just for drag and drop until after you give iTunes a real try.

[Rudolf von Hagenwil]

don't you do this...

 

mp3 player

2 megapixel camera 5x zoom incl. flash

65

[songrytr]

Originally posted by Kiwiburger I can't understand the mentality of - on one hand, giving people a freeware app that can rip CD's (encouraging piracy)...

 

 

Do you mean the Record button on my first portable AM/FM/Cassette box encouraged piracy???

 

[MorePaul]

Originally posted by songrytr Do you mean the Record button on my first portable AM/FM/Cassette box encouraged piracy???

 

Well the tune

 

C30-C60-C90 GO!!!

 

 

was an anthem to that

[pjc]

Get an i-river. Not the easiest to use, but they have a great feature set on most of their players, especially the H300 series.

[GroovepusherSly]

Originally posted by Kiwiburger My contempt for Apple is now solidified. OK - I know you all are going to laugh at me ... but i'm so pissed I don't care anymore. I - mistakenly - thought I was doing a nice thing by buying my wife an iPod Shuffle for her birthday. I thought it would be a cheap fun disposable device for playing MP3s on the run. A friend at work uses my PC to charge up the battery on her iPod shuffle - so I thought I knew what I was buying. When you plug an iPod into an ordinary XP PC with no Apple software installed, you see it appear as a USB drive in Windows Explorer. You can see the files, and playback is as simple as a cassette walkman.

 

Before you got so upset, you should've taken your own advice and NOT purchased an Apple product under ANY circumstances.

The key phrase from the above is,A friend at work uses my PC to charge up the battery on her iPod shuffle - so I thought I knew what I was buying.

All she was doing was charging the battery. You should have asked your friend at work how she used her iPod, and how it worked for her.

You assumed that because the iPod appeared on an "ordinary XP PC....." as a USB drive, that it was one. It is if you want to use it that way. But it's actually an iPod which uses iTunes, and your friend at work probably knew that.

If you had simply asked for a demonstration, she wouldn't have been able to show you any of the features the iPod is known for, because you DIDN'T have iTunes on you work computer.

Also, I think you may have been making a BIG mistake by buying your wife a CHEAP ANYTHING. Cheap gifts for wives and girlfriends, usually find some kind of way to bite you in the ass in the long run. (As soon as she shows it to a girlfriend who has a 20gig iPod, and says with pride, "Look what MY husband got me, isn't it cute?"). :eek:

 

So here's my advice. Get your favorite firearm, (or sports implement, bat, golf club, hockey stick, etc.), go through the house and hunt that evil iPod down. Chase it out into the back yard and fill it full of holes, or beat the crap out of it. Do this as soon as you can, before the iPod from hell can wreak any more mental or physical havoc in your house.

 

Then go buy the largest capacity, most feature laden, XP friendly, mp3 player you can find.

 

Maybe even ask the folks on this board, as you've already done, for more suggestions, or advice.

 

You'll be a much happier person, and I guarantee you'll have HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

 

Sly

[offramp]

Originally posted by Kiwiburger ...for simple drag-n-drop functionality that Windows users take for granted.

 

That has got to be one of the funnier things I've read.

[amplayer]

Originally posted by GroovepusherSly So here's my advice. Get your favorite firearm, (or sports implement, bat, golf club, hockey stick, etc.), go through the house and hunt that evil iPod down. Chase it out into the back yard and fill it full of holes, or beat the crap out of it. Do this as soon as you can, before the iPod from hell can wreak any more mental or physical havoc in your house.

 

If anyone here is stupid enough to ruin an iPod, please let me know. I'll be happy to provide something else for you to ruin in exchange for the iPod.

[GroovepusherSly]

I just felt it would be such a cathartic exercise for Kiwiburger since the mean ol' iPod and it's dad Steve had bothered him so;)

 

Sly

 

In a soft wispering voice: Go ahead Kiwiburger, do it, do it, do it, post pictures of the mutilated Ipod, do it........go ahead, you'll feel sooo much better........ find it, it's somewhere in your house,.... mocking you........ find it,....it's eating at you,.... like a worm in an Apple ..... eating at you.... from the inside....... get it..... give it what it deserves........

[veracohr]

 

Originally posted by Kiwiburger I don't want sodding iTunes. They aren't available in my country, and I never want to pay Apple another dollar.

 

 

I've never used any iPod or any other MP3 player, but...

 

You know, don't you, that you don't have to buy music as the iTunes store in order to use the iTunes program? iTunes was a jukebox before there was ever an iTunes store where suckers actually pay money for MP3s.

 

If you're forced to use iTunes in order to load songs onto your iPod, well, just figure it out. I never found it to be a difficult program to use. Easier than most I've used, actually, though that's not saying much.

[phaeton]

Originally posted by GroovepusherSly In a soft wispering voice: Go ahead Kiwiburger, do it, do it, do it, post pictures of the mutilated Ipod, do it........go ahead, you'll feel sooo much better........ find it, it's somewhere in your house,.... mocking you........ find it,....it's eating at you,.... like a worm in an Apple ..... eating at you.... from the inside....... get it..... give it what it deserves........

 

That's how Powerbooks tend to have "accidents"...

 

[Kiwiburger]

So tempting ... nah - it's back to the shop with this sucker. I'm fairly certain it's a hardware failure. Can't get any fcking sound at all - even though I can play the files off the device using iTunes.

 

These things are obviously made for peanuts in a Chinese sweat shop. A few failures are to be expected. But if Apple cared at all they could do things a whole lot better.

 

Like shipping the correct manual pdf (not the Nano one).

Like printing the serial number a little bigger - or just having an electronic serial number. This thing is basically a dongle - wtf do we need to pss around with fkn numbers?

 

Anyone contemplating buying one of these and using Windows - don't do it.

[Rudolf von Hagenwil]

 

Originally posted by Kiwiburger These things are obviously made for peanuts in a Chinese sweat shop. wtf do we need to pss around with fkn numbers?

 

 

Nothing wrong with chinese girlies who work 80 hour a week, and are chained to the table so they dont flee. Have your head checked, you probably have a satellite readable barcode on it! Don't hurt the iPod, or you will be evaporated with a original apple lazer from a mac satellite in orbit. By the way, it is also illegal to use Logic Audio Platinum on a wintel PC.

 

.

[Base]

Said it before: iRiver

 

What do you want, a fashion accessory or an mp3 player...?

[logicprofiles]

 

Originally posted by deanmass I am sorry, but you guys are just wrong. I have owned a ton of these (mp3 players, creative/Olympus/memorex/archos), and you cannot get an iPod to work, go back to cassettes.

 

 

I couldn't agree more

[blue2blue]

Thanks for the heads up.

 

I had seriously considered several iPods -- but ultimately, I decided there was no way I would buy something that didn't play WMAs -- which I think overall marginally sound better than other formats (at least at 160K, which I've centered on).

 

I ended up getting a little 1GB Sandisk memplayer. It wasn't any cheaper than a 1 GB Shuffle -- but it has a screen, you can pick what you want to hear, it's got an FM and a lo-fi mic recording option. I do have to say that the shuffle/random mode seems quirky -- I would only recmmend it with that qualification. But otherwise, it's been pretty decent. I didn't have to install any proprietary software. BUT -- I DID find that it doesn't like one folder with a whole bunch of files -- for whatever reason, it seems to work better with the tracks in individual artist (or other) folders.

 

Since I use MusicMatch anyway (for their On Demand service... the current version is too buggy and bloated to use otherwise) I just let it handle loading the Sandisk for me and it works fine. Except for a random play mode that just doesn't seem all that random... I've notice that with computer based players, too. Some players have weird shuffle or randomizer algorithms and this seems to be no exception. I'd prefer the equivalent of 52-pickup rather than some subtle "shuffler" that moves tracks a little in the playlist but doesn't completely mix it up. Anyhow...

 

No unqualified recommendations here...

 

___________________

 

PS... one of my power-user Mac buddies (a professional photog) was just saying yesterday how much he hates iTunes and iPhoto... Never, ever -- he said -- use iPhoto for "organizing" your images files. Just passin' that along.

 

PPS... You CAN get Quicktime to stop autoloading its "quickloader components." I just can't remember how I did it... probably MSConfig. (I'm NOT a Quicktime fan but for the first time ever I've actually managed to get a stable QT install and even popped for QT "Pro" -- which is none too pro and which has some of the most inscrutable menu layouts EVER)... BTW... if all one needs is to play QT content -- you can get Quicktime Alternative (google it) which is well recommended. I use the similar Real Alternative (to avoid the dreaded RealPlayer) and it's great.

[Mike51]

problem solved, dude. Delete all that crap off your computer and install this:

 

http://www.redchairsoftware.com/anapod/

 

 

The ipod itself is a fine player. The problem is the "gotcha" proprietary software they try and get you with. That would be the piece of crap known as iTunes.

 

Here's a review of Anapod:

 

http://gear.ign.com/articles/499/499441p1.html

 

 

So why even get third-party software when you get a full version of iTunes for free with the iPod? After trying Anapod, I would ask why wouldn't you use it over iTunes. In fact, the only thing I think iTunes has over Anapod is the price. However, if you are serious about your music Anapod has much more to offer. For starters, Anapod allows for drag and drop transfers of music to and from the iPod. You simply connect your iPod and open up Windows Explorer. As you can see in the screenshot, Anapod shows up as if it were a drive. The iPod also shows up, but you cannot drag music directly to that folder, as most of you know. You can open up the Anapod window and then drag tracks/folders to the new window or simply drag directly to the folder icon. This is as simple as transferring music gets.

 

 

 

 

Apple needs to work on their iTunes store. Only offering AAC format is lame, and only offering it at 128kbps is even worse. Just go to a brick and mortar store, buy a cd, rip it, and then give it to someone, lol.

 

I take a good deal of offense at companies that try and trap you in their corner (literally). Proprietary designs for items under 2000$ is ridiculous and IMHO offensive to the consumer. That's why I no longer purchase Sony products, and that's why I wouldn't buy a Mac. the iPod though IMHO is the best mp3 player right now, so you have to kind of deal with the devil.

 

[deanmass]

Getting into rant mode here, but,

 

The iPod is the BEST portable music 'thing' I have ever used.

 

There are some REALLY COOL alternatives, however, on the whole, NOTHING competes with the seamless integration of iTunes and iPod. NOTHING.

 

It has nothing to do with PC vs. Mac, I use both, and it works well on both.

 

The iPod has revitalized music sales.

I repeat....REVITALIZED music sales...

 

It rescued music from the P2P BS, exposed TONS OF people to digital music players that NEVER would have looked at them, and has them BUYING music.

 

To hear someone saying they suck is OK, but I have NEVER had ANY problems with the several iPods I have owned. Nor has my son, who pretty much just plays WOW and iPod. I have an Aunt who traded me her grandsons iPod for a Dell DJ because she thought the the iPod sucks....who the hell knows, but, no matter what, the iPod is important, they work nearly perfectly, and they have helped music AND muscians. Ripping on Apple for this, while everyone's right, I think is {censored}ing retarded. They shoudl be applauded for creating a market that needed to be created, and bring ing new users and markets into the fold.

 

(gets off soap box an bows, somewhat humbly)