Topic: The iTunes / iPod help thread.

[nidgemo]

I'm very tempted by the new 80gig Ipod classic. So tempted I may actually get one. However the thing which puts me off Ipods are the daft restrictions which seem to come with them. Not having had one I don't know how much truth there is in all the gripes and moans, so can anyone tell me:

Do I have to use Itunes?

Will Itunes always have to run and be a big stupid resource hog?

Will Itunes unilaterally wipe stuff off my hard drive/ipod without my telling it too?

Will the ipod play WMA, FLAC, OGG etc or am I limited to mp3?

I've answered this one myself via  this review:
http://www.trustedreviews.com/apple/review/2007/10/03/Apple-iPod-Classic-80GB/p3

Ta for any help offered.

1. Yes. But, as it's by a considerable distance the best software of it's kind out there, it shouldn't be too much of a chore

2. No, doesn't need to run all the time unless you're playing music on your computer. And it's not a resource hog anyway in this day and age - any decent cmputer will have more than enough oomph to handle it.

3. Absoloutely not

Do the tunes have to be in one place? At the moment my music is stored on an external drive, can I tell Itunes that's where my music is and that's the end of it or will Itunes demand I move it into it's own folder.

4. It will play it from where you tell it, but I've always though people who do this are just being ackward for the sake of it. Why not just keep your music on your computer?

It looks like a very good buy for music, less so for video because of the limited formats.

Couple of free bits of software will sort out the format stuff very easily - in fact most will be sorted simply by pressing the below bit in itunes itself (to convert other video formats to suit ipod. Also, a lesser known feature, but one I love, is the ability to plug the ipod directly into the TV and watch excellent quality video, so it's essentially a big travel DVD ith the capacity for over 100 movies at perfect quality.

[hooded claw]

Ta.

It looks like a very good buy for music, less so for video because of the limited formats. The annoying lack of a radio is a bummer, creative has one but their hard disk based zen's seem to have all but disappeared and the ipod undoubtedly looks smoother.

I had the 30 Gb til recently when I dropped it from all of 9 inches (that's my estimate anyway, the missus reckons it was more like 6) and it died. Hardly ever used the video, but the big screen is nice for all your album artwork if you're as nerdy as I am. 

[Armin]

I like keeping the music on the external as it leaves my faster sata drive for capturing video or running software. What I don't like is changing the very sensible choices I've made because some software doesn't like them, hence my worries about itunes given the horror stories of people syncing with their computer and losing loads of music.

However it seems many of my fears are without basis. Now if only they'd stuck a radio on the damn thing...

[nidgemo]

I like keeping the music on the external as it leaves my faster sata drive for capturing video or running software. What I don't like is changing the very sensible choices I've made because some software doesn't like them, hence my worries about itunes given the horror stories of people syncing with their computer and losing loads of music.

However it seems many of my fears are without basis. Now if only they'd stuck a radio on the damn thing...

I just use the radio on my phone, if I must.

Added to my answer above about video, as well.

[kmo1969]

Also, a lesser known feature, but one I love, is the ability to plug the ipod directly into the TV and watch excellent quality video, so it's essentially a big travel DVD ith the capacity for over 100 movies at perfect quality.

Really??    I've never known about this feature. What's needed and where's it plugged into?   

[Craig S]

1. NO - newer versions of winamp have ipod support. I think you can also get plug ins for other media players. But you cant just drag a song on using explorer like you can with an external drive.

Saying that, I still use itunes, even though I cant stand it, to sync my ipod.

[Joshytoohotty]

Do the tunes have to be in one place? At the moment my music is stored on an external drive, can I tell Itunes that's where my music is and that's the end of it or will Itunes demand I move it into it's own folder.

Itunes will ask you whether you want to make it your default player.

If you say yes, whenever you click on one of your tunes it will convert it into Itunes format and add it to the libary.

[Craig S]

I like keeping the music on the external as it leaves my faster sata drive for capturing video or running software. What I don't like is changing the very sensible choices I've made because some software doesn't like them, hence my worries about itunes given the horror stories of people syncing with their computer and losing loads of music.

Mine are all on an exteranal and I use itunes, you just need to change your preferences. Set the folder location as the drive (or whatever subfolder within it you have) and make sure
"keep itunes music folder organized" is unchecked, otherwise it "explodes" your music folders. If you have something like a compliation, itunes thinks it would be better sorted by having each track in its own folder for each artist.

[mikek1984]

i hve all my music on an exteneral hd

and all my videos actually

and i have a program that converts them all to itunes format

[griffic]

I like keeping the music on the external as it leaves my faster sata drive for capturing video or running software. What I don't like is changing the very sensible choices I've made because some software doesn't like them, hence my worries about itunes given the horror stories of people syncing with their computer and losing loads of music.

However it seems many of my fears are without basis. Now if only they'd stuck a radio on the damn thing...

you can get a thing that plugs into the headphone socket that includes a radio, and bluetooth to connect your phone and use as a hsndsfree kit.  Don't know how good they are like, just seen them in HMV the other day.

[nidgemo]

you can get a thing that plugs into the headphone socket that includes a radio, and bluetooth to connect your phone and use as a hsndsfree kit.  Don't know how good they are like, just seen them in HMV the other day.

Yep, newer versions of iTrip have radio, and an itrip is an essential device if you have an ipod and drive anyway.

Really??    I've never known about this feature. What's needed and where's it plugged into?   

The playing them through the TV at full res is superb though (for hotels, upstairs TV etc)

All I need is this

http://handbrake.m0k.org/?article=details  (works on windows and mac)

this

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AV-CABLE-iPod-Nano-Video-Photo-2-99-Post-Free-CHEAP_W0QQitemZ350003959979QQihZ022QQcategoryZ48680QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

and that's it (assuming you have a TV with VGA input - if not, the AV to scart adaptor from an XBox or similar will make it work through the scart)

Little tweak on ipod settings, and roberts your mothers brother. Plug the ipod into the scart / AV on any TV, switch to AV channel, press play. Lovely.

[Garstonite]

You can use floola instead of iTunes.

[Degs]

Get a Creative, well better.

[nidgemo]

Get a Creative, well better.

any particular reason apart from a radio that can't get MW and a complete lack of compatible accesories, needing to use the turd that is WMP and the hardly used Ogg support?

[Degs]

any particular reason apart from a radio that can't get MW and a complete lack of compatible accesories, needing to use the turd that is WMP and the hardly used Ogg support?

It doesn't die after a year.

[Marcus6]

I just bought one myself. Never had an iPod before, and I've found iTunes and the pod very easy to set up, and use

[mikek1984]

thats great news mate

[Marcus6]

thats great news mate

um, thanks?

[BazC]

any particular reason apart from a radio that can't get MW and a complete lack of compatible accesories, needing to use the turd that is WMP and the hardly used Ogg support?

Most people have WMP anyway, so you can use what you have; no need to install more software in the shape of itunes. Greater range of file support. Sounds better (by all accounts I've read).

I'm about to get the Zen instead of a nano- it has an FM radio (which I'd definitely use a lot), sounds better (will get a pair of decent earphones with it as well), is expandable, supports way more files, and syncs with WMP easily.

[Matt S]

It doesn't die after a year.

my ipod mini is still going strong after about 3 years.

[leighton]

havent got one, but anapod explorer is supposedly better than itunes

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

and, if you really know where to look......

[nidgemo]

It doesn't die after a year.

Nor do iPods, and I have 5 of them since 2002 (joke! - mine is about 2 years old now and still works perfect)

Most people have WMP anyway, so you can use what you have; no need to install more software in the shape of itunes.

Most people have MS paint as well, doesn't mean they shouldn't install something much better to do the job!

[Darren_LFC]

I'm on my second ipod now, had a 4gig nano which was superb and even survived a go in the washing machine and then my missus bought me the new 8gig mini and its fantastic!  No problems with itunes, at first I thought the screen would be too small to enjoy watching anything on but its suprisingly easy.  Cant wait to try it out on my TV when I get home too.

[potatomato33]

The thing that irks me most about iPods is the inability for drag and drop, and the fact that you NEED to have iTunes. I had a Shuffle once, while my Samsung was out for 2 weeks, and iTunes was a horrible experience. It wouldn't install on my PC (I had XP-64bit) so I had to use my 4 year old laptop which ran like ass to put songs onto the Shuffle. The biggest problem I have with iTunes is the library. The same goes for WMP as well I guess. I don't want a library. Which is why I like Winamp...

[Armin]

Most people have WMP anyway, so you can use what you have; no need to install more software in the shape of itunes. Greater range of file support. Sounds better (by all accounts I've read).

I'm about to get the Zen instead of a nano- it has an FM radio (which I'd definitely use a lot), sounds bet

ter (will get a pair of decent earphones with it as well), is expandable, supports way more files, and syncs with WMP easily.

Baz where are you getting your zen from? The large capacity ones seem in short supply and are daft prices on Amazon. The only ones I could see were the flash based ones.

Anyway I decided to go for it. Have ordered the black 80g classic along with a speaker dock from play.com. Happy Xmas to me

[Bob Loblaw]

i hve all my music on an exteneral hd

and all my videos actually

and i have a program that converts them all to itunes format

What's the name of that program if you don't mind?

Still prefer WMP, but it's just easier to use itunes with my ipod. But there's a program called dopisp that let's you use your ipod with wmp. Must give it a try myself.

[Armin]

havent got one, but anapod explorer is supposedly better than itunes

That looks ace, exactly the kind of no hassle functionality I'm looking for.

[Degs]

Nor do iPods, and I have 5 of them since 2002 (joke! - mine is about 2 years old now and still works perfect)

I had one, used it everyday for a year then it died.
Had a Creative for a while now and no problems, my mate has an iRiver and uses his as much as I use mine and no problem there.

Most people have MS paint as well, doesn't mean they shouldn't install something much better to do the job!

iTunes is by no means better, WMP takes about 2 seconds to transfer files accross to the music player, and if you want it to (like I do) it automatically synchs up to your player.


Hopefully they've sorted it since I've had my one, but the fact that they released a shoddy product onto the market leaves me with no confidence in the iPod brand, it's a common complaint.

[nidgemo]

iTunes is by no means better

[MichaelA]

It's horses for courses Nidge. I fucking hate iTunes, it's caused me endless grief because it always attempts to default to shitty mac friendly settings instead of something more neutral. LIKE MP FUCKING 3. 

[BazC]

Baz where are you getting your zen from? The large capacity ones seem in short supply and are daft prices on Amazon. The only ones I could see were the flash based ones.

Anyway I decided to go for it. Have ordered the black 80g classic along with a speaker dock from play.com. Happy Xmas to me

I'm going for the Creative Zen, but it would seem it would be too small a capacity for your needs (£100 on amazon for 8GB, which is what I'm thinking of getting). If I was in the market for a larger one, I'd probably go for the ipod classic.

[Bob Loblaw]

What does Itunes do that WMP can't? 

[MichaelA]

What does Itunes do that WMP can't? 

Blow chunks.

[Craig S]

What does Itunes do that WMP can't? 

iTunes asks you to upgrade every fucking 2 weeks.

pisses me off theres no current playlist or now playing window. so start playing an album then go looking round your library for what to play next, then it just stops after the current track. thats annoying

[Armin]

I'm going for the Creative Zen, but it would seem it would be too small a capacity for your needs (£100 on amazon for 8GB, which is what I'm thinking of getting). If I was in the market for a larger one, I'd probably go for the ipod classic.

Ah got you. Yes the flash based 8gig does look good and the mp3 player I'd previously had my eyes on was the 60gig Zen vision, which incorporates a radio and got excellent reviews. However it looks as if Apple have taken a stride forward with the new classic and with a discount code I got it for £135 which seems pretty reasonable compared to what else is out there.

I've got stacks of music covering a broad range and as I'd like this to take on holiday etc can't see myself being satisfied with 8 gigs, even though years ago that would've seemed an amazing amount of music to carry around!

[kumbriankopite]

My Creative Zen Touch looks to be giving up the ghost after 4 years of loyal service. Was thinking about an iPod, but all my music's saved as WMA's, how easy woud it be to convet about 12gigs in to a usable format?

[Garstonite]

My Creative Zen Touch looks to be giving up the ghost after 4 years of loyal service. Was thinking about an iPod, but all my music's saved as WMA's, how easy woud it be to convet about 12gigs in to a usable format?

iPods play WAV files, but they take up more space.

[WorldChampions]

My Creative Zen Touch looks to be giving up the ghost after 4 years of loyal service. Was thinking about an iPod, but all my music's saved as WMA's, how easy woud it be to convet about 12gigs in to a usable format?

*snigger*

[nidgemo]

What does Itunes do that WMP can't? 

full podcast support
proper audiobook support
proper id3 tag editing
store for buying music / getting free podcasts
easy to use
customisable
isn't crap
and so on



Really - WMP is horrific. There are lots of good ones out there, not just iunes, but WMP is muck.

[nidgemo]

It's horses for courses Nidge. I fucking hate iTunes, it's caused me endless grief because it always attempts to default to shitty mac friendly settings instead of something more neutral. LIKE MP FUCKING 3. 

itunes > preferences > advanced > importing > import using > mp3



all you had to do was ask.