The iPod Dilemma

[astrosfan90]

Originally posted by: xospec1alk
and watching videos on it? its a gimmick. sure you could watch videos on it, but why would you?

That's what I thought, too, until I got a video iPod from work as a Christmas present. I found myself downloading the first season of Lost on it and watching it (I had never seen it) in the mornings on my way to and from work on the metro. I'm now a) hooked on Lost and b) hooked on watching videos on my iPod.

 

[ThaPerculator]

Originally posted by: skimple

Originally posted by: ScottSwingleComputers

Check my posts....I dont see the need for SOFTWARE when I should be able to drag and drop using windows.

My music is already categorized by folders on the HD by Artist and Album.

Well then, an ipod isn't for you. You are looking for a specific capability that is not supported by this particular player. That's doesn't mean that an ipod is better or worse than any other player, it just means that you want a specific funtion. This limits your choices to a smaller group of players.

Yet, just about EVERY MP3 player on the market that's not made by Apple lets you do this.

That's like saying 'just because this player only runs on DOS 6.22 and not any modern day OS, it doesn't mean it's better or worse than any other player. The ability to run on a modern day OS is a specific capability that you want.'

The ability to use it like any other application on your OS should be standard. Just because Apple is retarded and purposely limiting doesn't mean they are exempt from practicality. It's like Sony and all their proprietary-format crap. This is the reason the Betamax is dead, and hopefully people will stop buying iPods when they get their heads out of their asses.

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: ThaPerculator

Originally posted by: skimple

Originally posted by: ScottSwingleComputers

Check my posts....I dont see the need for SOFTWARE when I should be able to drag and drop using windows.

My music is already categorized by folders on the HD by Artist and Album.

Well then, an ipod isn't for you. You are looking for a specific capability that is not supported by this particular player. That's doesn't mean that an ipod is better or worse than any other player, it just means that you want a specific funtion. This limits your choices to a smaller group of players.

Yet, just about EVERY MP3 player on the market that's not made by Apple lets you do this.

That's like saying 'just because this player only runs on DOS 6.22 and not any modern day OS, it doesn't mean it's better or worse than any other player. The ability to run on a modern day OS is a specific capability that you want.'

The ability to use it like any other application on your OS should be standard. Just because Apple is retarded and purposely limiting doesn't mean they are exempt from practicality. It's like Sony and all their proprietary-format crap. This is the reason the Betamax is dead, and hopefully people will stop buying iPods when they get their heads out of their asses.

damn..some of you are fvking crazy...

it's not drag and DROP..FVKIGN DEAL WITH IT

I for one havea sh!tload of music and don't feel like organizing it. Does that make me lazy? perhaps.

That said, anapod, at like $30 offers on demand transcoding tag editing and a bunch of other crap that woudl take multiple programs to accomplish.


Stop being a baby. jsut because it doesn't support what YOU want does NOT mean that it sucks/


Hell, Irivers an iaudio don't support itunes but I still recognize their excellence and don't hesitate to recommend them to my .wma loving friends

and drag and drop is nice, but some people liek management features.

 

[GeneValgene]

Originally posted by: Goosemaster

Originally posted by: ThaPerculator

Originally posted by: skimple

Originally posted by: ScottSwingleComputers

Check my posts....I dont see the need for SOFTWARE when I should be able to drag and drop using windows.

My music is already categorized by folders on the HD by Artist and Album.

Well then, an ipod isn't for you. You are looking for a specific capability that is not supported by this particular player. That's doesn't mean that an ipod is better or worse than any other player, it just means that you want a specific funtion. This limits your choices to a smaller group of players.

Yet, just about EVERY MP3 player on the market that's not made by Apple lets you do this.

That's like saying 'just because this player only runs on DOS 6.22 and not any modern day OS, it doesn't mean it's better or worse than any other player. The ability to run on a modern day OS is a specific capability that you want.'

The ability to use it like any other application on your OS should be standard. Just because Apple is retarded and purposely limiting doesn't mean they are exempt from practicality. It's like Sony and all their proprietary-format crap. This is the reason the Betamax is dead, and hopefully people will stop buying iPods when they get their heads out of their asses.

damn..some of you are fvking crazy...

it's not drag and DROP..FVKIGN DEAL WITH IT

I for one havea sh!tload of music and don't feel like organizing it. Does that make me lazy? perhaps.

That said, anapod, at like $30 offers on demand transcoding tag editing and a bunch of other crap that woudl take multiple programs to accomplish.


Stop being a baby. jsut because it doesn't support what YOU want does NOT mean that it sucks/


Hell, Irivers an iaudio don't support itunes but I still recognize their excellence and don't hesitate to recommend them to my .wma loving friends

and drag and drop is nice, but some people liek management features.

:thumbsup:

 

[torpid]

Originally posted by: ThaPerculator

Originally posted by: skimple

Originally posted by: ScottSwingleComputers

Check my posts....I dont see the need for SOFTWARE when I should be able to drag and drop using windows.

My music is already categorized by folders on the HD by Artist and Album.

Well then, an ipod isn't for you. You are looking for a specific capability that is not supported by this particular player. That's doesn't mean that an ipod is better or worse than any other player, it just means that you want a specific funtion. This limits your choices to a smaller group of players.

Yet, just about EVERY MP3 player on the market that's not made by Apple lets you do this.

That's like saying 'just because this player only runs on DOS 6.22 and not any modern day OS, it doesn't mean it's better or worse than any other player. The ability to run on a modern day OS is a specific capability that you want.'

The ability to use it like any other application on your OS should be standard. Just because Apple is retarded and purposely limiting doesn't mean they are exempt from practicality. It's like Sony and all their proprietary-format crap. This is the reason the Betamax is dead, and hopefully people will stop buying iPods when they get their heads out of their asses.

Hardly. Rio products generally don't support this, nor do creative products. At least none of the ones I have tried.

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: torpid

Originally posted by: ThaPerculator

Originally posted by: skimple

Originally posted by: ScottSwingleComputers

Check my posts....I dont see the need for SOFTWARE when I should be able to drag and drop using windows.

My music is already categorized by folders on the HD by Artist and Album.

Well then, an ipod isn't for you. You are looking for a specific capability that is not supported by this particular player. That's doesn't mean that an ipod is better or worse than any other player, it just means that you want a specific funtion. This limits your choices to a smaller group of players.

Yet, just about EVERY MP3 player on the market that's not made by Apple lets you do this.

That's like saying 'just because this player only runs on DOS 6.22 and not any modern day OS, it doesn't mean it's better or worse than any other player. The ability to run on a modern day OS is a specific capability that you want.'

The ability to use it like any other application on your OS should be standard. Just because Apple is retarded and purposely limiting doesn't mean they are exempt from practicality. It's like Sony and all their proprietary-format crap. This is the reason the Betamax is dead, and hopefully people will stop buying iPods when they get their heads out of their asses.

Hardly. Rio products generally don't support this, nor do creative products. At least none of the ones I have tried.

and even then tag issues abound....


honestly, if I weren;t so tied to itunes, I would use anapod exclusively...it is just fvking fantastic...

 

[ThaPerculator]

I have a Rio Forge that is a couple years old that I run with that does this... I don't see what you mean... Not to mention you see 2 drives that pop up, one for the internal flash memory and one for the SD card.

 

[Ameesh]

creative zen vision:m for the win, all the same feature as new iPod video but more and its $300

 

[BullsOnParade]

I don't understand how the ipod is not drag and drop.
Plug in ipod
itunes launches with ipod icon in sources list
drag windows folders to icon and songs are put on ipod

 

[Schwan]

I love my Iaudio X5

 

[torpid]

Try some of the HDD rios. I had to use some proprietary rio software for my Karma and similar for one other unit I researched at the time. At least with creative products I was using musicmatch.

 

[ThaPerculator]

Originally posted by: Goosemaster

Originally posted by: ThaPerculator

Originally posted by: skimple

Originally posted by: ScottSwingleComputers

Check my posts....I dont see the need for SOFTWARE when I should be able to drag and drop using windows.

My music is already categorized by folders on the HD by Artist and Album.

Well then, an ipod isn't for you. You are looking for a specific capability that is not supported by this particular player. That's doesn't mean that an ipod is better or worse than any other player, it just means that you want a specific funtion. This limits your choices to a smaller group of players.

Yet, just about EVERY MP3 player on the market that's not made by Apple lets you do this.

That's like saying 'just because this player only runs on DOS 6.22 and not any modern day OS, it doesn't mean it's better or worse than any other player. The ability to run on a modern day OS is a specific capability that you want.'

The ability to use it like any other application on your OS should be standard. Just because Apple is retarded and purposely limiting doesn't mean they are exempt from practicality. It's like Sony and all their proprietary-format crap. This is the reason the Betamax is dead, and hopefully people will stop buying iPods when they get their heads out of their asses.

damn..some of you are fvking crazy...

it's not drag and DROP..FVKIGN DEAL WITH IT

I for one havea sh!tload of music and don't feel like organizing it. Does that make me lazy? perhaps.

That said, anapod, at like $30 offers on demand transcoding tag editing and a bunch of other crap that woudl take multiple programs to accomplish.


Stop being a baby. jsut because it doesn't support what YOU want does NOT mean that it sucks/


Hell, Irivers an iaudio don't support itunes but I still recognize their excellence and don't hesitate to recommend them to my .wma loving friends

and drag and drop is nice, but some people liek management features.

My iriver supports itunes in the fact that you can drag files from within itunes onto the drive... like ANY player should. It just doesn't support their proprietary copyrighted format.

 

[sswingle]

Originally posted by: BullsOnParade
I don't understand how the ipod is not drag and drop.
Plug in ipod
itunes launches with ipod icon in sources list
drag windows folders to icon and songs are put on ipod

It stopped being drag and drop when you said "itunes launches"

 

[mwmorph]

Originally posted by: freedomsbeat212

Originally posted by: mwmorph
if you're not confortabel with a ipod, check this out.
http://www.compuplus.com/i-Archos-GMini...nter-500708-1004865~refer-froogle.html
5 hour video playback battery life(2.5x longer than 30 gig ipod)
10 hour music battery life(same as 30 gig)
20 gig(less)
2.2" screen(slightly less)
archos has great id3 databasing too.

I had the gmini 400 - basically the same player without drm protected wma support. A) I was pissed that they didn't make the 402 features a firmware update away, b) battery life sucked (did they really fix that or are the specs lies?), c) built quality was shoddy - i hate exposed screws on small electronics and the player started to split in the seems . also, the tactile buttons lost sensitivity and d) 30 gigs is better than 20 gigs.
though the price is right - i'd get it if the build quality improved.

really? cause i just ordered 1 to replace the not so reliable karma.
battery lifre is not a concern, i mean how many people watch 5 hours of video or 10 hours of music before charhging, my hkarma had 16 hours and it would take about 4 days for me to wear it down.

20/30 all same to me, my music is 6 gigs and my movies are about 10 gigs. not really all that much media.

the shoddy build quality is a big problem for me since i love the engineering that went to the karma and the features, but now i have a bad taste in my mouth as far as build quality goes. Is it really that bad?

 

[intogamer]

iPODs are great. They are nicely designed.

The click wheel makes finding songs easy.

The replacement service is good. Even better if you have an iPOD store near you.

 

[SampSon]

All thoes goods you use are mass marketed. You're so anti-hipster hipster it hurts. 😉

I think the new creative zen vision is nice. Check it out.

 

[ngvepforever2]

I can only tell you this:

I am a poor college student (with 0 debt nonetheless) and even I fell in love with the ipod video (a 400 bucks purchase) I saved enough to buy it and now I am a happy ipod owner. The player is great, nothing even comes close to it. I just bought an adapter for my pionner car deck so I can use it with the ipod. It works great. I can charge the ipod on my car while I listen to my music (using the controls from my radio deck). The video is crisp and it's not that hard to convert it into mp4. iTunes is great...I don't understand why so many people bitch about not being able to drag and drop when they know that they are buying an mp3 player (not an external hard drive) and iTunes is easily the best interface for your music library and it works beautifully with the ipod.

Regards

ng

 

[slackerinabox]

Originally posted by: mwmorph

Originally posted by: freedomsbeat212

Originally posted by: mwmorph
if you're not confortabel with a ipod, check this out.
http://www.compuplus.com/i-Archos-GMini...nter-500708-1004865~refer-froogle.html
5 hour video playback battery life(2.5x longer than 30 gig ipod)
10 hour music battery life(same as 30 gig)
20 gig(less)
2.2" screen(slightly less)
archos has great id3 databasing too.

I had the gmini 400 - basically the same player without drm protected wma support. A) I was pissed that they didn't make the 402 features a firmware update away, b) battery life sucked (did they really fix that or are the specs lies?), c) built quality was shoddy - i hate exposed screws on small electronics and the player started to split in the seems . also, the tactile buttons lost sensitivity and d) 30 gigs is better than 20 gigs.
though the price is right - i'd get it if the build quality improved.

really? cause i just ordered 1 to replace the not so reliable karma.
battery lifre is not a concern, i mean how many people watch 5 hours of video or 10 hours of music before charhging, my hkarma had 16 hours and it would take about 4 days for me to wear it down.

20/30 all same to me, my music is 6 gigs and my movies are about 10 gigs. not really all that much media.

the shoddy build quality is a big problem for me since i love the engineering that went to the karma and the features, but now i have a bad taste in my mouth as far as build quality goes. Is it really that bad?

Don't be alarmed, I don't treat my stuff that well! It had a few tumbles - dropped 3 feet from my desk onto a hard wood floor a few times... One tumble too many and the HD stopped working (HD Initialization Error). Though the buttons DID give due to use and not abuse.. I would say it's average build quality, just not as rugged as my old ipod or my sony MD player. IT's a nice player just I wouldn't buy it again based on my (mis)usage pattern, you'll probably be more gentle than I was.

 

[ultimatebob]

Originally posted by: ScottSwingleComputers

Originally posted by: kyparrish

Originally posted by: ScottSwingleComputers

Originally posted by: kyparrish

Originally posted by: ScottSwingleComputers
Do iPods play MP3s, or do you have to use iTunes?

If so, can you plug it in and have the iPod be its own drive in my computer so you can drag and drop, or do you have to use iTunes?

I am also in the market for an MP3 player and never dreamed I would buy an Apple product...

yup, they play mp3s. I think they play everything except ogg vorbis files and wma files. iTunes is the best way to load songs onto it, but I think there's a program called ephpod that lets you load them some other way.

About the fact that it's an apple product, I was the same way. But, this thing is incredible.

I dont like the loading files concept. I have gigs of mp3s on my drive, and I dont want to use some software program to get them from point A to point B. I wanna just drag and drop from my Drive C, to mp3 player(F). How hard is that, all the other mp3 players do it.

It's not hard with itunes. It just automatically synchs everything up, and sorts them on the ipod with the id3 tags (hopefully your tags are in order).

If you don't want some files on your ipod, just uncheck them in your itunes library, and click the setting that says "load only checked songs."

I doubted it at first, but I really like the system now. Everytime my library is updated now, it's just a quick update to the ipod, to either take songs off, or put new songs on.

You are missing the point. Why should I have to use a software program like iTunes when I SHOULD be able to plug it in and have it appear as a drive in my computer. Then I can drag my entire MP3 folder over and be done. Thats easier than installing yet another program.

I'm afraid that you're missing the point, unfortunately. I used to organize my MP3's with artist folders as well before I got my iPod, but now I just use iTunes. Why? Because iTunes does a better job than you ever could manually! It automatically organizes all my music by artist,genre,song title, or star rating, AND automatically adds new songs, photos, and podcasts automatically when I plug in my iPod. That is a hell of a lot easier than having to drag and drop new files every time I want to add new music.

I know that doing it your way sounds easier initially. Trust us... it isn't in the long run.

 

[slackerinabox]

Originally posted by: ultimatebob

Originally posted by: ScottSwingleComputers

Originally posted by: kyparrish

Originally posted by: ScottSwingleComputers

Originally posted by: kyparrish

Originally posted by: ScottSwingleComputers
Do iPods play MP3s, or do you have to use iTunes?

If so, can you plug it in and have the iPod be its own drive in my computer so you can drag and drop, or do you have to use iTunes?

I am also in the market for an MP3 player and never dreamed I would buy an Apple product...

yup, they play mp3s. I think they play everything except ogg vorbis files and wma files. iTunes is the best way to load songs onto it, but I think there's a program called ephpod that lets you load them some other way.

About the fact that it's an apple product, I was the same way. But, this thing is incredible.

I dont like the loading files concept. I have gigs of mp3s on my drive, and I dont want to use some software program to get them from point A to point B. I wanna just drag and drop from my Drive C, to mp3 player(F). How hard is that, all the other mp3 players do it.

It's not hard with itunes. It just automatically synchs everything up, and sorts them on the ipod with the id3 tags (hopefully your tags are in order).

If you don't want some files on your ipod, just uncheck them in your itunes library, and click the setting that says "load only checked songs."

I doubted it at first, but I really like the system now. Everytime my library is updated now, it's just a quick update to the ipod, to either take songs off, or put new songs on.

You are missing the point. Why should I have to use a software program like iTunes when I SHOULD be able to plug it in and have it appear as a drive in my computer. Then I can drag my entire MP3 folder over and be done. Thats easier than installing yet another program.

I'm afraid that you're missing the point, unfortunately. I used to organize my MP3's with artist folders as well before I got my iPod, but now I just use iTunes. Why? Because iTunes does a better job than you ever could manually! It automatically organizes all my music by artist,genre,song title, or star rating, AND automatically adds new songs, photos, and podcasts automatically when I plug in my iPod. That is a hell of a lot easier than having to drag and drop new files every time I want to add new music.

I know that doing it your way sounds easier initially. Trust us... it isn't in the long run.

Especially when you have 10 new albums by artists you already have old albums for.. It's annoying to have to go to each directory and drag just the new folders over.

 

[ntdz]

I highly recommend the 5g ipod, its just awesome.

 

[beacon]

I'm glad to see this thread as I was about to make one myself... I have a 30gb Zen Touch, and before that briefly tried out a 5gb Zen Micro. I LOVED the Micro, but it just had too little HD space. That and the fact that every button on the face of it was touch sensitive - I found that often when I just tried to pick it up off my lap I would accidentally change the song or some other function I didn't want to do (yes I know I could have locked it but I only like to lock my players when jogging or it's in my pocket or something like that).

ANYWAY, I returned the Micro and got a Zen Touch. Was OK... not much to complain about besides the huge size of it. But one day I dropped it from about waist height, and now it doesn't work anymore 🙁

SO - what I want to know about the iPod is:

1) does it have the ability to rate songs, and search your song library by most played, least played, new songs, best rating, etc? I believe the Micro had this but I know the Zen Touch didn't. I really want this function.

2) will there be any issues with my 30+ GB collection of mp3's that I have? Does Apple enforce any type of copyright protection through iTunes? Will ripping my CD collection to mp3 result in protected files or any such nonsense?

3) is there any adware or other BS I don't want that will come with me installing iTunes?

Thanks for your time and input guys!

 

[slackerinabox]

Originally posted by: beacon
I'm glad to see this thread as I was about to make one myself... I have a 30gb Zen Touch, and before that briefly tried out a 5gb Zen Micro. I LOVED the Micro, but it just had too little HD space. That and the fact that every button on the face of it was touch sensitive - I found that often when I just tried to pick it up off my lap I would accidentally change the song or some other function I didn't want to do (yes I know I could have locked it but I only like to lock my players when jogging or it's in my pocket or something like that).

ANYWAY, I returned the Micro and got a Zen Touch. Was OK... not much to complain about besides the huge size of it. But one day I dropped it from about waist height, and now it doesn't work anymore 🙁

SO - what I want to know about the iPod is:

1) does it have the ability to rate songs, and search your song library by most played, least played, new songs, best rating, etc? I believe the Micro had this but I know the Zen Touch didn't. I really want this function.

2) will there be any issues with my 30+ GB collection of mp3's that I have? Does Apple enforce any type of copyright protection through iTunes? Will ripping my CD collection to mp3 result in protected files or any such nonsense?

3) is there any adware or other BS I don't want that will come with me installing iTunes?

Thanks for your time and input guys!

I *hated* the interface on the touch and, yes, it broke after what I consider regular use (not before the usb port became picky).

As for your questions:
1) Dunnoo
2) No, apple does not convert MP3s to AAC. It does convert WMAs, I believe. iTUnes allows you to rip cds either to MP3 or AAC, your choice.
3) I Don't believe so, though quicktime comes bundled with itunes.

I'm not as huge of an itunes fan as most, I Like winamp as far as players go, but I don't mind using it to load songs.

 

[ThaPerculator]

There are plenty of programs out there to automatically re-arrange and add ID3 data to your MP3 collection... If that's the main reason you use iTunes, know that there are many other options around.

 

[slackerinabox]

Originally posted by: ThaPerculator
There are plenty of programs out there to automatically re-arrange and add ID3 data to your MP3 collection... If that's the main reason you use iTunes, know that there are many other options around.

You're a dork - because iPOds aren't true "Drag and drop" you instead you 3 or 4 other programs to compensate for the troubles of drag and dropping... Do you see the problem of this logic?