OT: MP3 players that work with iTunes

[William]

I'm in the market, I have two Macs, one with ITunes. Are there any MP3 players out there that work with iTunes. I already have a ton of music in iT but it's all music loaded from CD's, not purchased from Apple/iT. I don't plan on buying from them either, just loading from friends and our own collection.

I don't have a problem with the iPod product, but I like to shop around. If there is something out there that works just as well and it's a better deal, I'll consider it.


Thanks,

William

[Grant McLean]

The music management program iTunes only works with an iPod.

Which compression did you use to import all your music from the cd's?
If you used the default 128 AAC, then unfortunately, you'd have files
that won't play on an mp3 player, since they're actually not mp3's.

I tell people to encode as MP3's at a higher bit rate. But in the future,
there should be a deal where apple allows others to use AAC. 2 billion
downloads from iTunes and counting...

iTunes is the best music softwear i've seen, maybe others will differ.

g

[William]

The music management program iTunes only works with an iPod.

Which compression did you use to import all your music from the cd's?
If you used the default 128 AAC, then unfortunately, you'd have files
that won't play on an mp3 player, since they're actually not mp3's.

I tell people to encode as MP3's at a higher bit rate. But in the future,
there should be a deal where apple allows others to use AAC. 2 billion
downloads from iTunes and counting...

iTunes is the best music softwear i've seen, maybe others will differ.

g

Probably just the default so I've likely screwed myself in that respect.

Ok,

Shuffle or Nano? I like the sleek minimalist design of the Shuffle. Don't need a bazillion tunes at my finger tips...but, building playlists on the fly ain't a bad feature to have.


William

[Ti Designs]

Slow down there for a second. Which OS are you running? You said you have two Macs, one without Itunes, which probably means it's before OS-X. The new Nano is for OS 10.3.9 or later with all the other upgrades. Below that and it's pointless. I got a new Nano for christmas, it's too small for a door stop...

The old Nano was basicly a generic flash drive memory, which could be used with OS9 or Windows98 forward, plus the MP3 player and connection to Itunes. The new one is smaller, has more memory, lots of extra features, and if anyone wants to buy a red one with my name etched on the back...

[Xyzzy]

The wife bought me a Shuffle for Christmas. I love it. It is simple, small and the battery lasts forever. But I'm not picky about what I hear or what order I hear it. The default random mix is fine with me.

BTW, I rip all my CDs with FLAC encoding.

http://flac.sourceforge.net/

That way you only have to rip them once. You can then encode them however you want, whenever you want. I haven't seen my physical CDs in years.

[William]

Slow down there for a second. Which OS are you running? You said you have two Macs, one without Itunes, which probably means it's before OS-X. The new Nano is for OS 10.3.9 or later with all the other upgrades. Below that and it's pointless. I got a new Nano for christmas, it's too small for a door stop...

The old Nano was basicly a generic flash drive memory, which could be used with OS9 or Windows98 forward, plus the MP3 player and connection to Itunes. The new one is smaller, has more memory, lots of extra features, and if anyone wants to buy a red one with my name etched on the back...

The one without I use just for photoshop & Illustrator. The one with is running OS-X 10 something. Sitting in front a PC at the moment and won't be able to check until later.



William

[Serotta PETE]

I like I-tunes LOTS> It is seamless, no learning, and does everything I could want it to. AS to shuffle and nano..I got the new shuffle for Christmas and have the older nano....THEY both work and it really depends on space you need for music (1 gig vs up to 8 for nano) and whether you want to see ad manage music you or playing (nano) or use auto play or shuffle with music on shuffle - no selection process.

For me the IPOD product line is the only one out there for it does it all for me and as of yet, other makers and still trying to catch up.

Probably just the default so I've likely screwed myself in that respect.

Ok,

Shuffle or Nano? I like the sleek minimalist design of the Shuffle. Don't need a bazillion tunes at my finger tips...but, building playlists on the fly ain't a bad feature to have.


William

[OldDog]

I just bought the regular ipod, 30mb, with 2.5" display. I like the fact I can load my photos on it and plug it into other family/friends tv's and show my pics.

ipods can only be "sync'd" to one computer at a time. You can hook it up to another with itunes, but you will erase all you have on your ipod when sync'ing from the 2nd computer. I'm still studying ways around this.

Can music on the ipod be uploaded to itunes software on your hard drive?

The guy at the apple store tells me it is not uncommon to have to delete and re download itunes software to cure bugs. You will loose all your songs unless you have a mirrored hard disk or an external one you can save to...?

Do some research, the apple advertising data is scarce at best.

[Serotta PETE]

See below for what I have found works with mine

I just bought the regular ipod, 30mb, with 2.5" display. I like the fact I can load my photos on it and plug it into other family/friends tv's and show my pics.

ipods can only be "sync'd" to one computer at a time(CAN BE SYNCED WITH ANY COMPUTER THAT HAS SAME NAME AS THE ONE ASSOCIATED WITH THE IPOD). You can hook it up to another with itunes, but you will erase all you have on your ipod when sync'ing from the 2nd computer. I'm still studying ways around this.

Can music on the ipod be uploaded to itunes software on your hard drive? (YES THE IPOD CAN SYNC ALL ITS MUSIC WITH COMPUTER HARD DRIVE (MUSIC IN ITUNES) and THE HARDDRIVE TO IPOD)

The guy at the apple store tells me it is not uncommon to have to delete and re download itunes software to cure bugs. You will loose all your songs unless you have a mirrored hard disk or an external one you can save to...? (I HAVE NOT HAD ANY PROBLEMS but THIS IS CORRECT FOR YOU WOULD RESET IPOD and that erases everything)

Do some research, the apple advertising data is scarce at best.

[Ti Designs]

Hmmm, I'm getting the idea that I'm just not the intended ipod end user. My Nano can store 1200 songs - that's about 1190 more than I want to listen to at any given time. it's small and uses ear buds - I would lose it in a week and I would never listen with ear buds, I kinda like the real world too much.

This thread got me thinking about what I would use for a portable music device - I even kinda hinted that I wanted an ipod before christmas... I want a portable music source so I can transport music from my studio to other places. It need not be that small, the Nano would have become a cat toy. It would be great to use memory I have - those Compact Flash cards I use for the camera would be ideal. I could move music files from itunes to the card with a card reader, so I wouldn't even have to move the device. Lastly, a good, simple user interface would be nice. I don't get the ipod shuffle, 12 hours of music, no clue what's plaing next??? As a musician, I need to understand the music on my own level (somewhere near second grade). I'll play the same piece over and over, the same segment of the piece, if I could slow it down without chainging the pitch I would do that too.

Like I said, Apple didn't have me in mind when they came out with the ipod. Smart money says I never own the new Apple phone either.

[William]

I'm not really a head phones/ear bud kind of guy. Rather i like the idea of being able to plug into the stereo at home or at the gym and listen to what I like while I'm working out or putzing around the house. As far as traveling, a small set of speakers to plug into would be fine with me. I hate radio commercials/interuptions so this might be a good choice.



William

[bcm119]

I feel like the only person who hasn't jumped into this music on computers thing. It just doesn't interest me... the whole concept of the "album" has been lost. The collection of tunes in a certain order and with a certain theme, with cover art, etc... no longer part of the equation? Each tune in an iPod is its own entity now, with no "album context". I'm reluctant to go that route.

[William]

I feel like the only person who hasn't jumped into this music on computers thing. It just doesn't interest me... the whole concept of the "album" has been lost. The collection of tunes in a certain order and with a certain theme, with cover art, etc... no longer part of the equation? Each tune in an iPod is its own entity now, with no "album context". I'm reluctant to go that route.


Not entirely true. You can load whole albums and keep them together for play keeping the theme and order complete. The Album art is not there, but really, I kind of feel that went out with the advent of CD's. A Roger Dean image just doesn't have the same effect on a CD sleeve as it did on an album cover atmo.

I wasn't into this whole thing myself until a friend came over with his external HD and loaded tons of music. Now I like burning my own CD's with either entire albums or mixed music. The iPod is just a natural progression for me.


William

[Ozz]

I'm not really a head phones/ear bud kind of guy. Rather i like the idea of being able to plug into the stereo at home or at the gym and listen to what I like while I'm working out or putzing around the house. As far as traveling, a small set of speakers to plug into would be fine with me. I hate radio commercials/interuptions so this might be a good choice....
I like the earphones for working out so I don't have to crank the music to hear it over the whine of my trainer...maybe I need a quieter trainer.

I went back and for between a Nano and the 30GB iPod...I went with the bigger one since I liked the bigger screen for viewing pictures. Now I can carry photos of my kids and inflict them on my coworkers.

The Nano is cool if you plan on being very active with the device, as it is a flash drive rather than a "hard drive", and (as I understand it) has no moving parts. It should therefore be more reliable.

I'm still getting the hang of iTunes...I've copied a bunch of CD's...still not sure if I am doing it right or the best way. They end up on my device, and they play, so I guess it is good.

Good luck.

[OldDog]

Thanks Pete, good info.

Album "art", like what comes on a CD, is down loaded from itunes. You need not buy a song, when you sync your ipod, it brings up the itunes store on line automatically and will down load art for tunes you have in your library. Yes, it peeks at your files.

I got mine, not to have portable music but that is nice too. I was looking for a way to take my music and play it in various locations. At home I listen in my den on the pc, in my shop/gym I have a component stereo, cord plugs the ipon into stereo. I have a summer camp, an rv with a 10 x 12 shed/bar, I will use it there, on a Bose wave radio. At work on the pc. I have yet to set up the car(s), will probably go with an fm adaptor which can be moved from between vehicles.

The ipod makes sense to travel with all my music without carrying cases of cd's around. My 30mb was $250, $12 for each assessory cord (one 1/8th to 1/8, one for tv/video and one stereo, I may need more so as not to be carrying them aro9und too.) and about $80 for the car adaptor.

I just got mine Sunday, I'm going through the learning curve.

Anyone have a line on a set of earphone that might sit outside the ear, for riding, allowing traffic to still be heard?

[kestrel]

[Sorry, double post below]

[IFRider]

having researched this thing to death a couple of years back I first picked up a shuffle (first gen) for working out. Then needed a screen and the nano appeared so I got a 4 gb which is great. Then the wife picked up a 80 gb video for xmas for me so I can carry around more music.

As far as which one to use, it rolls into this:

Shuffle - workout only and not for podcasts as it is hard to choose what you want to listen to as there is no UI.

Nano - workout and large enough for a bunch of music and easy support of audiobook and podcast. I made a handle bar mount and use it when riding the roller's extensively. I typically mix up music and podcast.

Video - use for a large part of my collection almost 90gb currently and use around the house for playlist listening. Made a handlebar mount for riding the rollers whcih works well although I am little nervous about too much movement and the hard drive.

The real thing about the IPOD choice is there are so many accessories aftermarket that you can find something if you want a special use case. The other players don't have that kind of support. The downside is that there is not a "cheap" ipod accessory. Cases all seem to be $20-$30 regardless of material for instance.

Warren

[kestrel]

I just bought the regular ipod, 30mb, with 2.5" display. I like the fact I can load my photos on it and plug it into other family/friends tv's and show my pics.

ipods can only be "sync'd" to one computer at a time. You can hook it up to another with itunes, but you will erase all you have on your ipod when sync'ing from the 2nd computer. I'm still studying ways around this.

Can music on the ipod be uploaded to itunes software on your hard drive?

The guy at the apple store tells me it is not uncommon to have to delete and re download itunes software to cure bugs. You will loose all your songs unless you have a mirrored hard disk or an external one you can save to...?

Do some research, the apple advertising data is scarce at best.



OD, I have two ipods, a nano and an 80 gig 3rd generation I believe. Only using sync will cause you to lose tunes going from one computer to another. I use manual and have no problems going to multiple computers without losing an music previously recorded. I travel between PC and Macs all the time, and never have a problem using and sharing the music on each HD.

A helpful hint might be to format your ipod on a windows machine because Macs recognize the format and still loads music from any source, including itunes. If you have already formatted on the Mac, reformat on a Windows machine and reload all your music.
I also have no problems using my itunes collection on my wife's Rio MP3 player just using the drag and drop method once the Rio HD shows in itunes.

[pale scotsman]

We've got 2 ipods. One for the wife and one for the wee pale one and moi. We compile all the songs on itunes into playlists and listen to the nanos in the cars through an adapter, and through the pc with these (http://review.zdnet.com/Logitech_Z_2300/4505-3179_16-30993080.html).

I don't see how an player can be any more intuitive than what the ipods offer. Heck, my KEF speakers in the living room haven't been used in months as it's much more convenient to listen to the music through the pc. The logitech zx 2300's will freakin' rock.