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December 2001
Posts: 7237
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | The XM vs Sirius radio conversation went so well, I thought I would get some input for an upcoming purchase of an MP3 player.
These gizmos seem to be coming out newer, bigger, better, every day. I have been leaning toward iPod because of all of the aftermarket support of add-ons. I really only am interested in mp3's as I believe the iPOD does not support .wav in its native form and other do. I'm not terribly concerned about size, but the pocket sized iPOD would work on my bike also.
Basically I have most of my CD's ripped already. I will probably do many of my albums next. I had thought of just dedicating a PC or old laptop to the task, but when I can do what I want for a few hundred bucks and have it the size of a paperback, it just seemed silly not to go portable.
So, what are the recommendations, pros, cons and other input.
Thanks |
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Joined:
June 2006
Posts: 29
Location: Port Angeles, WA | Originally posted by Mr. Ovation:
The XM vs Sirius radio conversation went so well, I thought I would get some input for an upcoming purchase of an MP3 player.
So, what are the recommendations, pros, cons and other input.
Thanks iPod...don't even consider anything else. I must admit to a brand loyalty here because I'm also a Mac user. I use mine instead of a CD player in my car. Advantage is I don't have to carry around a bunch of CDs in the car. |
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December 2004
Posts: 370
Location: Isle of Man, UK | Have a look at the iRiver range also. Have had one for two years and it's fantastic. Depending on how anti-Microsfot you are, though - the older iRivers used to function just like an external drive, but the newer ones need Windows Media Player to function.
If you can find an H320 or H340 around, snap it up I'd say!
www.misticriver.net knows all about iRivers (if you can ignore the odd muppet who just bashes the iPod and everything else for the heck of it), and I'm sure there's a similar one for the iPods (if you can ignore the odd muppet who bashes the iRiver and everything else just for the heck of it!)
You'll love an mp3 you can fit everything on. Enjoy!
JB |
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March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | I bought Jeanette an iPodVideo last Christmas, and she absolutely LOVES it!!!
She doesn't use the "video" aspect of it, but it stores/displays photos, she's got it LOADED w/TONS of music and several books, lots of PodCasts, and she's STILL got lot's o'room on it . . . |
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Posts: 4903
Location: Phoenix AZ | iPod. Don't even consider anything else. Period. Dave |
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February 2005
Posts: 11840
Location: closely held secret | I looked at a bunch of them before buying my wife an iPod. They're just too easy to use, and after putting everything she wanted on it (including the ENTIRE NT!) it was only 10% full.
Not to mention all the addons you can get for it. Now there's even an accessory to use it for a digital recorder! |
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May 2003
Posts: 4389
Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | My teenage nephews and nieces in Australia and China refuse to use Ipod. Teenage neices and nephews in America love the Ipod. What that means, I don't know, I think it has something to do with the formats, but I'm not sure. Maybe it's easier to get free music with an MP3, or Ipod just got such a late start over there they can't catch up.
In brooklyn I see people wearing the Ipod all the time, it's like a fashion accessory, they're allways touching it, like it's a rosary or a fetish. It cuts them off from interacting with others.
Just don't turn into an Ipod Zombie.
I don't even use my casette walkman anymore. I just listen to the music in my head! |
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March 2005
Posts: 12759
Location: Boise, Idaho | We got our daughter an ipod last birthday or Christmas. The AC adapter broke after a few uses. The adapter for the car also broke after a few uses, but it is held together with a rubber band. After the warranty ran out the ipod quit. Customer service was poor. Apple says it is a programing malfunction and she needs to send it back. The repair will cost as much as a new unit, so she is going without. Although I hate to do recommend it, if you buy an ipod, get the extended warranty. |
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March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | Not a "recommendation", but I found this on AOL this morning:
Creative
What's the deal with iPod "batteries"??
I've heard that once the rechargeable battery "dies", the unit is pretty much "f@cked".
I'd also heard (was it MasterWitko?) that a new battery CAN be gotten & re-installed (albeit, it needs to be "soldered" in(??)
Supposedly "LifeExpectancy" is about 18 months?? . . . |
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Posts: 11840
Location: closely held secret | The battery issue is one downside to iPods. I was told it can be replaced at an Apple dealer. |
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February 2005
Posts: 1132
Location: Parrish, FL | My son got an iPod last Christmas and it has worked well. We bought the extended warrenty because we had heard about the 'short' battery life. The thought was that when it died (within warrenty) we would get the replacement.
The extended Apple warrenty is just shy of $60 once they hit you for handling fees. Once you go through the hassle and expense of sending it back in I'm not sure how much further ahead you really are. It sucks that a $200 piece of equipment is disposable in under 2 years.
Does anyone have similar experiences with the other MP3 equipment available? |
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January 2005
Posts: 4903
Location: Phoenix AZ | Battery life is about 1.5 years. Buy the extended warranty and just before the warranty is up break the ipod. Just plug 110V power straight into it the headphone jack or something. They'll send you a brand new one (with another 1.5 years of battery life).
Yes, there is this whole grey market for batteries. I'm not sure the details but yes it is possible to change the battery if you are a little but handy in those kinds of things.
Dave |
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November 2002
Posts: 1300
Location: Madison, Wisconsin | Battery life is one of the downfalls. Another is you have to convert all of your music to the iPod format via the supplied software. Many of the kids I work with have them and a few of the ones I've seen seem to skip when they are bounced a bit. They are actually mini drives. It also seems to take them a long time to find the tunes they want to play, lots of fumbling around with the dial. |
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May 2005
Posts: 120
Location: Gardnerville, NV | My Ipod is the single best piece of electronics I've ever bought. 3000 songs on random makes any road trip a pleasure, I've got all my music digitized so it's available from the home computer fed into my home stereo, at the office via a cool aftermarket piece of software that lets you copy it on to another computer, and for working out I've got one of the shuffles. Ipods are easy to use and do exactly what they are advertised to do, not many things you can say that about. Aftermarket kits are available to change batteries, but I use my old one exclusively in the car hooked up to the cigarette lighter so it's not an issue. |
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December 2001
Posts: 7237
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | I had not heard about the battery life thing.
The "Format" issue, as I'm not a downloader or trader doesn't bother me. iPod as I understand doesn't do .wav format.
I am intrigued to find out what they DO use in Austrailia and China. I'm guessing it's just flat out bigger and better. As example, the cell phones they are releasing this year, are finally "almost" up to the technology I saw every school kid had hanging around their neck in Korea almost 7 years ago. |
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December 2003
Posts: 1889
Location: Central Massachusetts | If you've ripped to MP3, you are fine, iTunes and the iPod work perfectly with MP3. In fact, I convert my iTunes purchases to MP3 as well so I can play them on my Linux box.
I ripped my entire CD library, and now the CDs themselves fill something like 9 bankers boxes in my storage unit. No more missing CD's, no more having to figure out how to shelve all those jewel cases!
There may be more technical or advanced players out there, but the iPod is simple to use and, like you said, universal in terms of adapters and accessories.
So where'd you move in the PNW? |
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Posts: 11840
Location: closely held secret | Miles, iPods don't store in the wav format, but they will convert them to the protected AAC format iPods use. |
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December 2001
Posts: 7237
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | I'm thinking the 60gb iPod will do me for awhile. No real interest in iTunes and the like.
My biggest issue over the past couple of years is knowing a I have song on CD that I want to listen to, or learn to play, and not being able to find it, so I either find it online or whatever... or more likely because I'm an "instant gratification" person, I just move on without it. It would be nice to just "call it up" whenever I want.
I assume I can use some software in XP Pro to transfer the files to the iPOD? |
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Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | You need t'use iTunes.
You don't HAVE to "buy" tunes on it (but you can)
You pretty much just:
Install iTunes onto your machine.
Import CD tracks and/or audio files into iTunes.
In iTunes, you can create "folders" of different genres, "mixes" . . . whatever.
Once you've got everything "how you want it", plug your iPod into your computer and the iPod gets "formatted" in accordance with what's on your computer. You don't have to fumble around with the iPod to get things on/off of it. Just make the necessary changes in iTunes, plug in the iPod, and it re-writes all of the changes . . . |
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December 2001
Posts: 7237
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | Cliff, will iTunes import stuff already existing in Media Player? I already have about 20gb all imported. Win XP automatically rips and annotates catalogs so before our trip and spent a couple of days just feeding the laptop CD's. Would be a bummer to have to re-invent the wheel. |
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Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | I BELIEVE it will (but someone a bit more "iAstute" than I may have to answer that).
Like I said before, it's Jeanette's unit, and she pretty much does all the "programming" on it . . .
. . . I just use it at the Pool ;-) |
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Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | btw:
WHY is this in the "ForSale" section?? :-) |
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December 2003
Posts: 1889
Location: Central Massachusetts | Yes, it should work fine. In fact, I think when you first install iTunes, it offers to search your disk for music. When you rip a CD to MP3, the artist and album info, etc., get logged into the MP3 file in what are called ID3 tags. This pretty much happens regardless of what program ripped the music. ID3 tags are pretty standard, so as long as Media Player created ID3 tags, iTunes will be fine importing them.
So all your tracks should import fine. Worst case, you may have to manually "File -> Add to Library" and point to the top level of your music folder.. go get some lunch and when you return you are good to go. You may have trouble with any custom playlists that you've defined. Those may need to be recreated.
iTunes is what they call the application you install to manage your music. It's also what they call the music store, so it leads to some confusion. They are closely integrated, but you can use iTunes (the app) without purchasing from iTunes Music Store. |
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December 2001
Posts: 7237
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | Thanks guys... looks like I'm good to go. I don't have any playlists setup, or anything like that. They all do already have the ID3 tags, so whew.
Thanks again... now I need to print some money. |
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March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | WELL Then!! Why didn't you SAY so!!!
We've gotta' Canon 1150 ColorLaser jobbie ($40K) here that'll do DANDY $20 bills!! . . .
('course, they'll have Al's face on 'em, but hey . . .) |
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January 2005
Posts: 167
Location: Waxahachie, Tx | I was going to go the Ipod route but decided to get a DELL Axim. It has removable media, I can use it for other than just music, and with a 2 year extended warranty it was about the same as an Ipod. Yeah it's bigger than the Ipods but not by much. and the various player software out their lets me play WAV, MP3, MP4, ACC, overkill but functional. :D |
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December 2001
Posts: 7237
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | One more question...
All the songs I have already ripped are at 256 kb instead of 128kb rates. Other than the space issue, do I need to worry about anything if I get an iPod. |
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January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | What kind of needle do you have to use with an iPod?, Does it take away the scratchieness of the old LPs when you play them?
Analog minds need to know. |
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March 2005
Posts: 1421
Location: Orange County, California | Yeah,
If you're going to rip at high bit-rates, you are going to need better than stock Earphones
Bill, for listening to pure analog, I suggest This page as a good place to start. I think most of this stuff is geared towards digital, but it should work OK with This junk :D |
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January 2005
Posts: 4903
Location: Phoenix AZ | I've got a set of STAX electrostatics that I bought about 20 years ago and I've still yet to hear a better set of earspeakers. Just my opinion. Dave |
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March 2005
Posts: 1421
Location: Orange County, California | Nice!!! :D
See guys, If you buy the best you can afford, you'll probably never replace them. I'd still go with moving coil speakers though for portability, and compatability. |
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Joined:
June 2006
Posts: 29
Location: Port Angeles, WA | Originally posted by Mr. Ovation:
One more question...
All the songs I have already ripped are at 256 kb instead of 128kb rates. Other than the space issue, do I need to worry about anything if I get an iPod. Nothing to worry about, AFAIK. My suggestion, though, would be to have iTunes convert to 128 kb AAC format when you xfer to your iPod. There should be an option for this in iTunes. That way you can keep the larger files on your puter, and the smaller ones on your iPod without losing any noticeable fidelity. |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7237
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | Thanks for the extra input. As far as speakers, it's mainly going to be used on the home stereo or in the studio when that's back up, and even at 256 I only fill about half of it.. but I will make a test of converting them down to 128. The idea is to get the files off of my computer where they are just taking up space. Mainly it's just going to be a repository of recorded material. I rarely listen to my cd's, I'd rather just turn on xm-radio. But sometimes, I want to hear a tune or an album. Currently I have to sift through 400-500 cd's to find it, and half way into the task I forget what I was looking for in the first place.
I think this iPod is going to be great. |
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April 2004
Posts: 13303
Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Space and being able to locate songs is definately an issue. I have over 2000 CD's and lately I keep thinking if I just sold half of them I could buy a couple more guitars. |
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May 2003
Posts: 4389
Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | I suspect the kids in brunei are using something from creative technologies, the guys who are suing ipod for copyright infringement. Creative is from singapore.
I'll have to check with the chinese and the australians. Though one of the chinese today was asking about ipods! She's 10 years-old and wants an ipod. In terms of marketing ipod's won. Will have to check on the australians. |
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May 2003
Posts: 4389
Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | Went to the SOHO Apple store for the Hong Kong kids, looking at Ipods.
What a scene. The place was loaded with fashionistas, kids with rings in their faces, even the sales help. This Ipod is a lifestyle thing. There's all kinds of crap you can buy to go along with it. After looking at dozens of these things, get the one with the most memory you can afford. Every year they come out with a new model so it's planned obsolesence. Whatever is top of the line now will be gone in four years. I wish I owned Apple stock. The people were buying the stuff like it was going to run out. |
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Joined:
January 2005
Posts: 4903
Location: Phoenix AZ | Originally posted by an4340:
I wish I owned Apple stock. You wish you had SOLD Apple stock. It was $85. in January and it's $57. today.
Dave |
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OT - MP3 Players