davegtt

OK after losing my MP3 player on new years eve Im really missing it and want to replace it with something. Im not flush so wasnt looking at spending a fortune but ipods are catching my attention because I like the idea of a docking station in the front room since the ex nicked my stereo

So, can someone clarify a few things regarding ipods that Im unsure about.

Lets say I have 10gig worth of music that I downloaded in the past of various sites... Are these uploadable to the ipod or is music only downloaded via the itunes store useable? Whats all this about copywrited stuff, is that itunes or the ipod thats copywrited... Im confused

Is Itunes the only way of uploading music to the ipod? will it not connect to the PC via a USB port and show up as a removable drive so I can drag and drop music?

Thanks for any replies, hoping to buy something tonight in town if I see anything worthy.

fitzscoob

Itunes is about the best way to upload your ipod.

I hated it at first but after a while of using it, its great.

You can transer all of your music to your library on itunes and consequently get that onto the ipod.

davegtt

OK thats fine then, So I have 10 music albums on the ipod and want to delete one and replace it with another thats easy is it? My old MP3 player just looked like a HDD so Id right click and delete the old album and copy and paste the new ablum, is itunes easier than that? Whats all this rubbish about sync'ing etc... ?

DCI Gene Hunt

You can set your ipod to automatically sync (update itself) the next time you connect it to your music library aka itunes (say if you've just burnt a new album to it) or switch it off and do this manually....

fitzscoob

Yeah its a doddle.

When you attach your ipod, itunes loads up.

From there you can access what songs are on the ipod and what songs are stored on the pc (library).

For arguements sake you wanted rid of an album - Take That's Greatest Hits -

You would find that album on your ipod, left click, then hold shift and scroll down until you highlight all the songs. Then you just hit delete or it might be shift and delete, and that will remove it from your ipod, but it will still be in your library if thats where you installed it from.

KiwiGTI

The people that generally don't like iTunes are the people that don't understand it or are not very computer savvy.

An iPod will appear as a device under iTunes and you can just drag and drop whatever you want onto it or vice versa. You can also set it up so that it copies your entire iTunes library across and always keeps the iPod exactly the same, that's what they mean by syncing.

Milamber

iTrader: (2)

I've just got an ipod shuffle and am still getting to grips with itunes. All I can say is that it uploaded all of my non-itunes obtained mp3's to my shuffle with no problem.

I think its only if you rip a cd in aac format or download from itunes that it is copy protected. Just remove the potection and bobs your uncle you can play it on any hardware you like.

fitzscoob

Or this way, sorry totally forgot about that.

I have this turned off because I share my library with the gf who has different tastes in music.

Autosync will put all music in your library on your ipod.

davegtt

Right Kiwis post makes a bit of sence, so you can turn the sync thing off and just basically use itunes as an explorer type page to do the dragging and dropping? say I only buy a 2gb ipod and have 40gb of music loaded into itunes I dont want an headache trying to load particular songs onto the ipod

Im pretty clued up and useful enough on a PC so not to worried about getting the hang of it just dont want no faffing about for something Ive learnt to be easy with my previous MP3 player.

As I say the ipod only appeals because I want the docking station

davegtt

Do Ipod nanos fit in the docking station? I presume the nano is smaller than the normal ipod....

fitzscoob

This is where you need to be careful. The starting price for any ipod accessory seems to be £20.

My nano (first gen) I have a docking station for that connected to our hi-fi, so my ipod plays through that.

The gfs nano (new style) doesnt fit in it.

If you only have one ipod using it, you should be fine. But you will find that certain docking stations fit certain ipods.

Markus

When you get a dock you get "shims" which you pop into it which will allow the Nano to fit perfectly in the dock. These shims will only fit into the latest docks. I have a dock I got with my 4th Gen iPod (well purhcased separately) and the shims won't work in it, but any new dock will be fine.

davegtt

Contrasting opinions Why cant they just make simple stuff eh Sounds like there is ways around everything that most people have a problem with then.

Thanks.

KiwiGTI

Apple released 2 docks for the Nano, the older Nano is too thick to fit into the new Nano dock. It doesn't accept the shims

Coffin Dodger

Baaaaaaaaaaaa!

davegtt

Show me another MP3 player with a docking station and you'll have my interest, until then STFU

hail-hail

You can also automatically sync your Ipod to a Playlist, you don't have to sync your entire library.
I have a playlist, i.e. 'Alan's Music', I can drag and drop to and from it and the ipod is auto updated.
I discover this feature when I had more music on my PC than space on my Ipod.

mart360

Dont like itunes, its not intuitive, despite what they say, it always wants to sync, despite clicking the box to say NO.

Its bloody slow, even on usb 2.0. it always loads i tunes whenever i connect the pod, which again takes f*ckn ages to load, it always wants to do auto updates, which i cant turn off. and where is the p*ss easy method to eject?, and deleting stuff is a pain in the ars*


i,m using yamipod at the mo, small easy and drag and drop

(and its free)


Mart

Markus

I'd say your iTunes prefs could well be corrupted as most of the problems you state would related to the prefs.

As for it being slow on USB 2.0, how is it slow? when it mounts, or when you are trying to copy data to it? If you copy data via windows explorer is it any quicker?

As for deleting items, unless I'm mistaken you select the item and use the delete option and it'll be removed from the iPod. If it's in a Library then you may well be prompted if you wish to remove the files from the disk, rather than just removing the entry from the iTunes database.

bioforger

iTrader: (1)

Forget itunes n its copywriting crap, and buy yourself a copy of Anapod. How iPods were supposed to be managed from the start.

mart360

Its slow to run as a package, and why it needs two associated background proggys to run as well is beyond me.

Its slow when it copys data, it copys two or three tracks, then thinks about it, and then off it goes again... it took over an hour to recopy 7 gigs of music. Yami did it in half that..

Whenever ITunes syncs, it keeps saying it cant copy a certain track. FFS i know that, but it still keeps trying, it dosent learn that the track is a differing format.

Whenever i ask it to remove duplicates, it gets its knickers in a twist, and remove either both duplicates, or not at all.

You have to make sure you sync everything before you disconect.

Playlist titles dont like being edited once you hit return, so you have to delete the whole title and start again

The whole package comes accross as wanting to control everything, and if you want to control elements of it yourself, its almost like a petulant child, who does things begrudgingly.

Why does it insist on starting everytime the pod is plugged in? I dont want it to, i only want to charge it sometimes.

Why does it insist on wanting to do auto updates. despite me identifying i dont want the update or the automatic feature?

And why is editing titles, artist data a pita too?? it wont let you tab down, you have to click in each box before you can change data.

It may seem like trifling things, but its the little things that p*ss you off

Mart

bioforger

iTrader: (1)

Yamipod is also ****e! if ure going that route get freeola! It's basically the same, but isn't full of bugs and has some useful features.

mart360

Free web hosting and unlimited free web space at Freeola. Cheap UK web site hosting with PHP, CGI and MySQL

whats that got to do with ipods?


mart

///\oo/\\\

Mart - I have none of those problems

If I was you I would download the latest version of itunes which is free anyway

CrisPDuk

The latest version is worth having just for the fact that it actually asks you if you want to autosync before it wipes your ipod.

The version that came with my 60GB didn't ask, it just went ahead Even with the latest version you can't access the toolbar to disable autosync without connecting an ipod to it first, poor product design IMO.

Once you're used to them they are good, but they aren't the holy grail applephiles say they are. For instance, name one other electronics manufacturer who fits their products with a bespoke battery and expects you to purchase the means to recharge it separately

The pod itself is good though, I too like the docking station feature, I've got one at home, one over here, and one in the car

This is a new one on me, and one I'll be checking out. MrsD has no discernible musical taste whatsoever So I can keep her **** and my music separate

DJ140

We have 4 ipods, 4 separate Windows logins and different music on each ipod, easy......

itunes rocks, never had a problem, I suggest those that have have not set their prefs correctly.

Dracoro

I would say the opposite really. The success of the ipod/itunes is that anyone, even with limited computer knowledge, can easily use it. my g/f is hardly computer savvy but she can use itunes without a problem with her ipod and without needing my help, not much other software I know that does this.

The people that generally don't like it tend to be computer savvy but want to do it exactly in their pre-determined way. i.e. they don't like plain simple and easy design, they want lots of buttons, *****, 'features', gadgets etc.

Hey, there will always be people who genuinely don't get on with it and the solution is simple, don't use it. There do, however, seem to be quite a few hell-bent on trying to convince people not to use it because THEY don't get on with it, get a life. Individually, try it, like it use it, don't like it don't use it, it's really that simple.

davegtt

But Id have to buy an ipod to try it wouldnt I? then if I dont like it Im stuffed as Ive already forked out for the product.... ?

Dracoro

as in try it in store or at a mates house who has an ipod (you must know someone with an ipod? )

Also you don't have to use iTunes with an iPod. there are some 3rd party apps that work with your ipod.

Apparition

We've just bought a simple docking device for £15 and linking cable around £12 to connect our ipod to the surround sound system,, wow its amazing.

Only thing we can't do is change tracks remotely. But volume is remote.
The only thing I would suggest is that you take along your own ipod to the store and try it in the appliances you're interested in. As said before, so many different fittings.
Yve