ScottC

Start here:

http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/mess...d1=crutchfield

PTravel

The whole idea behind MP3 players is to take the uncompressed digital audio on a CD and compress it further for easy storage. Consequently, you'll always need special software to "rip" the music from a CD and compress it as MP3 for the player. iTunes will do it, but I'd recommend using something else for a variety of reasons. First, iTunes offers very limited control over the MP3 settings. If you want 128k compression at a constant bit rate, iTunes is okay but if, as I do, you want 192k compression, or a variable bit-rate, it's either impossible in iTunes or so buried that I can't find it. Next, iTunes requires that you first add the ripped music to a "library," and then from the library to the iPod. iTunes deliberately makes it impossible to add additional tracks from another iTunes installation on another computer -- yet another instance of ridciulous and onerous "digital rights management" (DRM).

I use MusicMatch for ripping because it offers a lot of control over the compression process (while being pretty easy to use). I use Red Chair's Anapod Explorer for transferring the ripped music to my iPod. It doesn't restrict my iPod to one computer, it's lightening fast at transferring, and, best of all, it can go the other direction, i.e. copying MP3s from the iPod back to a computer -- something that iTunes will not do (again, in the name of DRM).

Finally, note that none of the DRM restrictions imposed by iTunes are required by law -- they are strictly business policies by Apple that unnecessarily interfere with legal use of the iPod.

You don't have to go through all this, however. Microsoft's Media Player, which comes with XP, will rip MP3s (though, again, with less control over the process than MusicMatch, though more than iTunes) and, if I recall correctly, will transfer the music to the iPod as well. If it doesn't do the transfers, you can always rip with MediaPlayer and then transfer with iTunes -- all of these programs are easy "drag and drop" for transfers.

PTravel

To be clear, you can use an iPod without ever needing iTunes. XP will automatically recognize an iPod when it's plugged into the USB port -- no driver installation is necessary. Lots of programs can rip CDs to mp3s (including MediaPlayer, which comes with XP). I use Anapod Explorer for transferring music, video and data to and from my iPod.

The only time I use iTunes is when I want to download free audio and video Podcasts (I like Ricky Gervais' podcast -- funny stuff!).

I used to have a Rio player that played audio and mp3 CDs. It was okay, as far as it went. My next player was from Creative -- a 40 gig Jukebox 3. It was my constant flying companion for years. My only complaint was that it was too big (about the size of a portable CD player) and I needed a headphone amplifier to drive my Bose QC2s to a comfortable level. It had great sound, was very reliable, and ran for 24-hours on a charge. I considered Creative's 40 gig Zen which was, essentially, the Jukebox 3 in a form factor about the size of a pack of cigarettes. However, it, too, would have needed a headphone amp. When I saw the Video iPod 60gig, which is the same height and width as the Zen, but is incredibly think -- about 1/4", runs for up to 20 hours on a charge and, best of all, doesn't need a headphone amp to drive my QC2s, it was an easy choice. The ability to play videos is icing on the cake -- with a 60 gig drive, I can have my entire music collection (at 192k rate -- better sound than the standard 128k), a dozen or so feature-length movies, a bunch of podcasts and still have 25 gig free for storing data. Did I mention that the iPod works as a USB drive? And can sync my contacts and calendar with Outlook? And can work as an FM radio with the optional teeny-tiny remote control? And can download jpegs directly from my Canon 10d camera?

Tennisbum

Thanks for taking the time to post all that interesting and useful information.

Starwood Lurker

Some of this info is dated, but this is where I found the closest Apple Store to me: http://www.ifoapplestore.com/stores/chronology.html

Looks like the first entry is a mall in Jacksonville, FL.

ScottC is right about iPods, but I understand the need to touch, feel, and operate. Buying online for me, for something with this kind of price tag, is just too much of a gamble for me. If you feel the same, go to the Apple Store closest to you, handle one or several. Talk to the techies about which one fits your needs. Buy, and never look back.

Also, I've never seen anything to beat iTunes for managing what goes into one. Talk about idiot proof. If I can operate it, anyone can.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

[email protected]

Tennisbum

Thanks so much for finding that address. Our local BestBuy does have an iPod (the 30GB, I think) and a Nano, so I've been able to handle them a bit, and it does seem as though their controls are a bit simpler than most of the other MP3 models I've seen (I hate the Creative Zen touchpads, for example).

I'm thinking about buying the 60GB through Crutchfield as they seem to offer some tech support and have a 30-day return policy. I guess I won't really know if I like it until I actually try to use it with my computer.

jwalkabout

Dude if u get an Ipod get rid of their crappy restrictive software and install ROCKBOX.

I wish they had Rockbox for the Sony NW HD1 or HD3. That would be really sweet!!

Also look @ the Cowon X5 or any of their other DAP's. Solid hardware and are great because u don't have to use DRM based software. Drag ad drop ur favorite non DRM codec files

PTravel

The iPods reflect the general Apple philosophy of, "we know better than you how you should use our hardware and software." This is most true of iTunes (one of the reasons I don't use it much), but carries over to the iPod as well, e.g. there were things I could do with my Creative Jukebox 3 that I can't on my iPod (or, at least, not without a bit more button pushing). However, at core, an MP3 player is a simple device that doesn't have to do all that much, but what it does it should do well. The iPod should store and play music, and it does it very well. I'm an old "give me DOS and a command line" guy, but I'm very happy with my iPod.

PTravel

To clarify for those who don't usually call people "dude" and spell the second person "you" instead of "u" . . . (Just kidding)

Rockbox is a firmware replacement for iPod (and a number of other MP3 players). It's an Open Source project, and distributed under the GPL. Like many Open Source projects, it's a collaborative effort and still very much a work in progress, particularly with respect to the iPod.

Is there a reason to use Rockbox? It depends. It will allow use of alternate codecs and gives very sophisticated control over ID tagging. Do you need to use alternate codecs? Probably not unless (1) you're an ultimate audio purist and can actually hear the difference between something encoded as MP3 or AAC and something encoded with Ogg Vorbis, or (2) you're trying to cram one hell of a lot of music on to the iPod and need the absolute most efficient possible codec. Do you ultimate control over ID tagging? Well, "ultimate" is a somewhat relative term. ID tags (title, track, genre, et.c) are encoded into each song and are how the iPod sorts and displays your music collection. iTunes offers very limited control over tagging. However, there are plenty of third party programs that can handle manipulation of ID tags in the computer. Speaking only for myself, the only time I need to manipulate tags beyond what iTunes can do is when I have a double-disk album that I want stored as a single album -- I'll use a program like MusicMatch to renumber the tracks on the second album and then change the album name on all tracks, so it looks to the iPod like one big album.

For 99% of iPod owners, the ability to add other codecs and have ultimate tag control within the iPod is simply unnecessary.

Another thing that Rockbox can do is provide a means of getting around Apple's onerous digital rights management (DRM). That's not an unimportant feature, but there are other ways of accomplishing the same result without messing around with the iPod's firmware, e.g. Red Chair's Anapod software lets you move music and video to and from the iPod without restriction.

The other major feature of Rockbox is gapless playback -- this is a pretty good feature, and handles that short delay between tracks. This lets continuously recorded material that has been broken up into tracks, e.g. live concerts and musical theater, to play continuously.

Rockbox will impose a number of penalties, not the least of which is you lose the iPod firmware interface and some functions (though there is a way to switch back and forth between Rockbox and the original firmware). It doesn't currently support USB, it exacts a pretty big performance hit on battery life, and it simply isn't as polished.

If you're one who like to tinker (or likes to hack for the sake of hacking), or you insist on gapless playback, or being the complete, total, all-powerful master of your musical domain, Rockbox will be of interest. For the remaining 99% of us, it's something to keep an eye on as it matures (choice of that word was deliberate), but definitely not a "must have."

jwalkabout

Ipod is sooo much better with Rockbox! Aside from the battery drain of course. The EQ, gapless and crossfader alone makes up for that.


AND YES SOME OF US NEED TO BE THE ALL POWERFUL MASTERS OF OUR MUSICAL DOMAINS!!!!! LOL!

I understand for the traditional unsophisticated Ipodder, having "OPTIONS" is a scary and intimidating thing. Freedom is a responsibility most people cannot handle. After all it is better to have Steve jobs make ur music decisions for u!

PTravel

Though I would prefer a true, programmable multi-band EQ facility in the iPod, I can live quite nicely with what's available in the standard firmware. As I noted, gapless playback is nice for concert albums (and for me, because I listen to a lot of Broadway shows that are intended to be played back without a gap between tracks), but there are other ways to achieve the same result. A crossfader is necessary only if that's how you like to hear your music. Since I listen entirely to jazz, classical, opera and Broadway, I have no use for a crossfader and, I suspect, there are a lot of people like me.

Though I'm not exactly the Great and All Powerful Oz (ignore that man behind the curtain), I want control over my music to this extent: DRM gets in my way, and I don't want it. I legally acquired all of the music in my music collection, and if I want to move it to and from my iPod, I will (and it's perfectly legal to do so). For this reason, I use Anapod for maintaining my music library, rather than iTunes. The point, though, is that Anapod handles the issue nicely -- no need to start tinkering with the firmware.

I'm hardly what you would call a "traditional unsophisticated iPodder." However, like many FTers, I listen to my iPod when I fly. Battery life is critical to me, whereas access to alternate codecs, crossfades, etc. isn't.