IPOD USB 2.0 Interface Questions & More!

[bman46]

Hi all, Im considering getting the 40gb Ipod at COSTCO. It says that it interfaces with USB 2.0 but my computer which I built a few years ago only has USB 1 (I could always put a 2.0 card in) but will the IPOD interface with the USB1 port?

Also how does the IPOD hook up to the computer, does it work like a digital camera where the computer just basically opens a virtual drive or do you have to use that ITUNES software?

Any other comments, suggestion?

Thanks in advance?

 

[Anubis]

you can use it with USB 1.1 it will just be slower then USB 2, if you install a USB2 card that woudl work fine

in windows XP it shows up as "iPod" but is different then your typical removable device, because you need to use some software to connect to it, itunes, ephpod, MMJB...

 

[Gurck]

You need software to put music onto it in a way in which it will play; either the supported iTunes which is buggy and bloaty or unsupported third-party software - however you can transfer other files (and music too, though the iPod won't play it if transferred this way) just like a normal hard drive, as it's plug & play. You need no software to do this, and can do it on any platform - Mac, Windows, Linux, etc. USB 1.1 should work, but it would be excruciatingly slow. I'd recommend searching this forum and perhaps Off Topic as well before wast.. er, spending that much money. iPods cost a lot because they have a massive ad campaign to fuel. Other players either cost a lot because they're higher quality and have far more features, or they cost far less... either way, you win.

 

[bman46]

Can you suggest a 40GB player which is higher qualty?

 

[loic2003]

Noo!! Don't try and use it with USB 1, it'll be increadibly slow. USB 2.0 is *40* times faster. Firewire is apparenlty faster still in real-world applications.

Lets put it this way: say you're wanting to fill you're entire iPod with music/data, with a USB 2 port you'll looking at something like about an hour to transfer 40 gigs. USB 1 would take.... over 40 hours. Not worth it. You can pick up firewire or USB 2 cards for less than £15 ($30), and you'd save yourself a significant amount of time and frustration if you did this. Plus you can always plug other devices into the card.

As for how the iPod works, imagine the hard drive is divided in two sections, but the sections are dynamic. One of these sections is for music, which you transfer to it via iTunes, and the other section is for data that you can put on it through 'my computer' in windows (it appears as a drive). Any space not taken up by music can be filled with data (movies, pictures, programs). One thing iTunes doesn't let you do is move music from the ipod into the music library (but you can access the music in a hidden folder). If you want to transfer music to another computer easily, you can put it in the section of the drive for data (you won't be able to listen to it).

Hope this helps. My life has been better since I bought an iPod, simply for tranferring things between computers.

 

[Gurck]

Firewire is roughly equal to usb2.0 in terms of speed; its advantage is the ability to carry more current.

In that price range the iRivers are your best bet. They're also plug & play hard drives, but with none of the restrictions - you can drag & drop music with your favorite file manager and you're ready to go. They have an FM tuner, line in, recording capability, higher sound quality, support for more file formats, and longer battery life, to name a few things. Disadvantages are a less intuitive UI and larger size (due to the bigger battery).

 

[bman46]

The Iriver is only 20Gb, I asked for a suggestion of a higher quality 40gb mp3 player.

 

[Gurck]

Link, Link...

 

[bman46]

Thank You, I went to the IRiver site but they didnt seem to have larger then 20gb, guess i was wrong.

 

[ponyo]

Just get the iPod. iTunes is great and works very well with the iPod. User interface on the iPod and iTunes is second to none. Apple couldn't have sold that many iPods if the product wasn't great no matter what how great the marketing. Great marketing helps but you still need to have great product in order to achieve mass market appeal.

 

[Gurck]

Originally posted by: Naustica
Just get the iPod. iTunes is great and works very well with the iPod. User interface on the iPod and iTunes is second to none.

As I mentioned, it's buggy and bloaty. Even if you do like it, you should have a choice.

Apple couldn't have sold that many iPods if the product wasn't great no matter what how great the marketing. Great marketing helps but you still need to have great product in order to achieve mass market appeal.

"AOL" mean anything to you? Advertising is everything.

 

[ponyo]

As I mentioned, it's buggy and bloaty. Even if you do like it, you should have a choice.

Which bugs effect you? iTunes is leagues better than any other similar programs like Musicmatch. People like things simple and easy to use. iTunes makes using iPod very simple.

"AOL" mean anything to you? Advertising is everything.

AOL was brilliant for its time. It introduced Internet to millions of non-techie Americans who would have otherwise not known anything about the Internet and would have probably never used it. It was so simple to use that any mom, dad, any person with virtually zero computer skills could surf the Internet and email. Bash all you want about the AOL but it served its purpose. AOL introduced mass America to the Internet and email lot quicker than it would have otherwise.

People want things simple and easy to use. People don't want rocket science degrees to use things. Many techies forget this number one rule. Keep it simple.

Plenty of products have failed even with gorilla marketing budget. Remember Nokia Ngage? Nintendo Virtual Boy? Or how about countless high budget crappy movies like Pearl Harbor, Waterworld, etc. If the product totally suck people will let you know.

iPod and iTunes are great products and will satisfy majority of the people. For the few that need specific feature iPod lacks, of course they will be better off with the product that offers that. Think of iPod as the Microsoft Windows of the music world and other players as Linux.

 

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: bman46
Can you suggest a 40GB player which is higher qualty?

Unless you want to store files and things on it, why 40GB?
the iPod mini has more than enough storage for just music enjoyment on a measly 4gig.. I'd probably just buy the 20GB Sony mp3 player and call it quits. my GF has the 20GB iPod, and I can tell you right now, it is NOT worth the price you pay. crappy battery life, crappy software, and a quality feeling player, which really isn't very good quality. it interfaces only half the time with my PC (loose connection between the plug and ipod) and it sometimes won't allow me to disconnect, so i just have to unplug the damn thing to stop it.... I am really not fond of the iPod and would not recommend it to anyone.

 

[BullsOnParade]

Firewire or usb 2.0 is a must as usb 1.1 will be frustratingly slow, especially since your aim is to get a 40gb ipod, its obvious you intend to transfer quite a bit to it. Gurk if you can't tell rabidly hates ipods so you're not really going to get any constructive critiques from him. The iTunes software and iPod transfer have never been a problem for me and I have had Creative's Nomad Jukebox. The jukebox would lock up frequently, something that's very rarely happened with my ipod. there is really no issue regarding the ipod's stability. In any case good luck with your purchase.

 

[0roo0roo]

omg the gurk ipod basher is back lol

itunes has never crashed on me

 

[Gurck]

Originally posted by: Naustica
Which bugs effect you? iTunes is leagues better than any other similar programs like Musicmatch. People like things simple and easy to use. iTunes makes using iPod very simple.

Musicmatch is bloatware too, great. You can find something worse than just about anything out there... Why not compare it to a good system, like a file manager in conjunction with a good player? And, again, whether you like it or not you should have a choice. Here's a thread detailing what some ATOTers think of it.

AOL was brilliant for its time. It introduced Internet to millions of non-techie Americans who would have otherwise not known anything about the Internet and would have probably never used it. It was so simple to use that any mom, dad, any person with virtually zero computer skills could surf the Internet and email. Bash all you want about the AOL but it served its purpose. AOL introduced mass America to the Internet and email lot quicker than it would have otherwise.

People want things simple and easy to use. People don't want rocket science degrees to use things. Many techies forget this number one rule. Keep it simple.

Plenty of products have failed even with gorilla marketing budget. Remember Nokia Ngage? Nintendo Virtual Boy? Or how about countless high budget crappy movies like Pearl Harbor, Waterworld, etc. If the product totally suck people will let you know.

AOL charges people for months after they cancel. They're one of the world's biggest snail-mail spammers (if not the biggest), and probably way up there in production of plastic refuse. Their service sucks and their software is bloaty and ad-laden. All of this attracts less-than-intelligent customers... People who judge products & services solely based on how funny the TV commercial is. :roll: It may be good business sense (provided ethics aren't a concern), but again, it doesn't result in a good product nor is it a behavior I want to encourage with financial support.

iPod and iTunes are great products and will satisfy majority of the people. For the few that need specific feature iPod lacks, of course they will be better off with the product that offers that. Think of iPod as the Microsoft Windows of the music world and other players as Linux.

And those who don't need extra features can save $100 or more buying a different player over the iPod.

 

[HomerSapien]

Get an ipod. Itunes is not as buggy as gurck is making it seem. The biggest plus is that you can use the itunes store. The interface takes getting used to and it will organize your library if you dont pay attention in the setup, but i let it organize mine and i havent had to mess with it since. (with winamp, i was organizing it at least once a month).

My battery is over a year old and i still get 8 hours of use. (update: just realized it is november...it is over a year and a half)

Definitely go with firewire as well. If you get more firewire devices in the future, it still gets the full speed, unlike usb which shares the bandwidth between devices.

If you dont like itunes but still want an ipod, there is still ipodlounge which has quite a few links for other ipod managers and programs.

 

[BullsOnParade]

There's an ipod plugin for winamp5 that will let you write to and play from your ipod, it doesn't have anywhere near the library features that iTunes has but it works well. Ephpod is another app that's been around from the time ipods were mac only. It will allow you to put songs on your ipod as well as pull them off, to my knowledge it is the only app that will let you do this. Gurk is the only one purporting to have problems with iTunes so I wouldn't take it that there is an appreciable population that finds iTunes buggy.

 

[Gurck]

Originally posted by: Gurck
Here's a thread detailing what some ATOTers think of it.

Originally posted by: BullsOnParade
Gurk is the only one purporting to have problems with iTunes

... Try actually reading before spewing a reply, you'll appear a good deal brighter

Originally posted by: HomerSapien
Itunes is not as buggy as gurck is making it seem. The biggest plus is that you can use the itunes store.

So you admit it's buggy, thanks. Also wouldn't catch me paying full price for lossy-encoded music, but then as an iPod proponent, sound quality isn't important to you in the first place...

Don't be a slave to advertising or do what all the "l33t k1dz" are doing... do your homework before buying a player.

 

[Dman877]

Itunes has been running on my comp for about 4 months straight now without a problem. I don't even listen to my mp3's anymore though, I'm hooked to the internet radio stations included in itunes, first hassle-free and add-less internet radio I've found.

As to the iPod, mine worked great for about 2 years, then the battery crapped out. I have mine at work and I'm always near an outlet so it's not a problem. Still, it kinda sucks, even when it was new my iPod never lasted more then about 7 hours (and I worked a 10 hour shift).

 

[Eug]

iTunes for Windows is great. I'd invest in a $20 Firewire/USB2 card. This combo with an iPod (or mini) is by far the best combo out there on Windows IMO.

In real life Firewire is faster than USB 2 with fast drives, but the iPod is the limiting factor here. Speeds should be very similar between the two with an iPod.

USB 1.1 sucks for anything like this (even though it will technically work). USB 1.1 even sucks just for 256 MB flash media cards, and you're wanting a 40 GB iPod.

 

[HomerSapien]

Originally posted by: Gurck
Don't be a slave to advertising or do what all the "l33t k1dz" are doing... do your homework before buying a player.

Isnt that what the original poster is doing? Hmm...someone needs to think before they post.

Anyways, Im not going to get sucked into a pissing contest. I have not had a problem with itunes since it came out for windows. I had a problem with it way back in version 2, but it has since been fixed. Others have had problems. I cannot speak for everyone. Helping people out at apple's forums, most problems are caused by users or computers that do no run anything right. Basically, you have a very, very good chance that nothing will go wrong. Just read the setup instructions and pay attention to when it asks you if you wan itunes to keep your music library organized. If you choose yes, it will organize it by artist then by album.

Your using headphones that probably cost about <$5 to make. Lossless is overkill for that. If you have a couple grand hifi system, then you will want lossless or if you shell out $150+ for hi quality earbuds.

Itunes store : It comes down to do you want to buy a song for $1 or the album for $9-$15 at record stores, not to mention not having to buy new hard drives to store lossless encoding. (yes, i am aware of other online music stores, but i just dont find the music i like through them)

 

[Gurck]

Originally posted by: HomerSapien

Originally posted by: Gurck
Don't be a slave to advertising or do what all the "l33t k1dz" are doing... do your homework before buying a player.

Isnt that what the original poster is doing? Hmm...someone needs to think before they post.

Yep, and it's not me. AT is far from "l33t k1dz", as most of us are in our 20s and what few teens there are aren't the MTV-watching zombie trend-slave type. Unfortunately the few are quite vocal.

Anyways, Im not going to get sucked into a pissing contest.

You're posting... why, then?

You're using headphones that probably cost about <$5 to make. Lossless is overkill for that. If you have a couple grand hifi system, then you will want lossless or if you shell out $150+ for hi quality earbuds.

Itunes store : It comes down to do you want to buy a song for $1 or the album for $9-$15 at record stores, not to mention not having to buy new hard drives to store lossless encoding. (yes, i am aware of other online music stores, but i just dont find the music i like through them)

You do realize that headphone jacks follow a standard, and that digital players will work with phones other than the ones they ship with? That headphones are actually a popular and growing industry? The problems, of course, are that aac < ogg and especially lossless, and that the iPod's headphone jack has terrible sound quality, with attenuated bass (adds a bit to the pathetic battery life) and 0.42% THD. You may argue that sound quality isn't important to you, and my reply is that that's fine, however there's no reason not to save $100+ by getting a non-Apple player which also lacks good sound quality.

 

[FishTankX]

I'd wait for the iAudio M5. Color screen, video playback (limited), direct download from camera etc.. about as big as the iPod with a nice remote.

 

[bman46]

"Isnt that what the original poster is doing? Hmm...someone needs to think before they post. "

No the original poster is asking a simple question. Maybe you should think before posting or attacking someone on a message board. I didnt put anyone down, simply asked for advice so Im not so sure whats up your a$$?