iPod owners: question
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Posted on Feb 02, 2007 08:04 pm
fortymile
Member Since: Jan 18, 2003
i dont know how many of you own ipods. but for those who do, have you ever had one completely die on you?
i have an old one i want to use as an external hard drive, but i feel uncomfortable in just having the one copy of the data around (the entire purpose of my scheme is to clean out my computer hard drive). if the ipod dies, that data would be lost. so i feel like i should only use the ipod as a backup drive, which sucks.
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TadpuiI am not a crook's headMember
Since: Mar 14, 2003
Feb 02, 2007 08:20 pm I've only had mine just over a month so I can't answer to any durability issues.
I was googling one day about how to get out of using the world's worst media player and sync tool (iTunes) to manage my iPod. In my searches, I ran across more than one forum post asking a similar question. The general consensus seemed to be that it wasn't such a good idea to use an iPod as a backup/storage device. Although I can't cite any particular reasoning from memory.
I dunno, I'm not sure if its any more or less reliable than a good old fashioned external hard drive. For a short-term solution, I wouldn't see a problem. But for long-term storage, I wouldn't want to trust a portable MP3 player as my backup device.
Feb 02, 2007 08:25 pm it's essentially a hard disk, though. and a pretty high tech one at that. i just havent heard yet whether they tend to simply die at some point or not. i know the batteries gradually go bad, you know, but that wouldn't be a problem because you can just keep 'em plugged in.
i like itunes. why dont you? oh and i wouldn't sync your music. i set mine to manual. but if you really dont like itunes for some reason, sharepod will let you manage your ipod. you can then play the mp3s with some other media player.
TadpuiI am not a crook's headMember
Since: Mar 14, 2003
Feb 02, 2007 11:20 pm Hahaha, I sat here for 30 minutes and typed a big rant enumerating everything that I hate about iTunes. I've had a very stressful year so far and I guess I needed to rant. But I kept it to myself instead, in the interest of boring everybody and hijacking your thread.
Suffice it to say I don't care for it one bit, nor Media Player now that it turned into iTunes2.
But I will definitely check out sharepod. I also hear that WinAmp has added the ability to interface with an iPod, which is cool since I'm now without a "home" media player since WMP abandoned the Windows Explorer lovers of the world and went to the iPod-clone interface.
Sorry I feel another rant coming on...I"d better shut up and go play video games until I sleep it off ;)
Feb 02, 2007 11:37 pm i would mind actually seeing your reasons for not liking itunes...maybe i just havent thought about it enough...
Feb 03, 2007 12:35 am *wouldnt
Feb 03, 2007 12:35 am My old 1st generation iPod shat out last year. Pitty, I loved that thing. The new ones sound like poop on a stick.
Feb 03, 2007 06:09 pm sound as in audio quality?
the new ones sound a thousand times better than gen 4/5. the difference in audio quality is extremely obvious. i find it hard to believe gen one coulda been all that! but i wouldn't know.
Feb 03, 2007 09:24 pm NZ's behind the tims lol, I think mines a generation 4? And thats newish here. They sound very seperated and lacking bass. If you add the bass with the EQ, it clips the preamp of the iPod and makes fart sounds :-(
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Feb 03, 2007 10:38 pm TAdpui, I feel your pain. On the main studio box I made the mistake of updating to the newest WMP and I absolutely hate it. I want my old interface back. They should have at least offered that in it. But thankfully I still have version 10 on the surf box and wont update it at all. I use an old iPod for a quick storage or tranffer device sometimes as it will not play any more but it does still fucntion essentially as another USB memory stick. An as long as it is plugged in via the USB port it will power up. The battery is still good in this one but I know a couple of peeps that transfer music the same way using it as a simple memory stick.
As for sync interfaces, Sony has them all kicked in the pants. Simple and quick and just like most of the windows explorer type things. WinAmp is now pretty good as are Nero and several others. I also agree that iTunes is the big stink of all the sync interfaces I have.
Feb 03, 2007 10:57 pm sanders, aye. we're at generation 5.5 here. i noticed the improvement over gen 4 right away. i always thought there was something muffled and weird about my old ipod but i couldnt be sure. now i know for a fact that there was something screwy there!
Feb 03, 2007 11:19 pm Again, I must argue in the defense of the users of software, and against the programmers.
Time and time again, I open up a perfectly good program, only to be confronted with a dialog box asking the inevitable question -
"Would you like to upgrade to [product name] version 14.776.324? It offers more more more features that you think you must have, with less functionality than our current product. But you know you must have it. Please click NEXT." Windows Media Player is the ultimate example of this type of horse feces.
In the first dialog box the user should have the option of checking:
* I am an intelligent adult. Install the basic player.
* I am a clueless adult, or a tween. Install the player with the fancy visual thingy. And while you're at it, heap some adware onto my disk. I'll never notice.
* Use Winamp 5.0 lite.
www.oldversion.com/
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Feb 05, 2007 04:17 pm Upgrades can and are good for the most part. Although indeed as Herb puts it some like MS tend to go way overboard. I do agree they should have offered it with the old school set up from 10 since there are many like myself who don't want or like that friggin iTunes interface at all. I even missed the Q when installing it for some Urge music thing and now its there permanently. Nope, don't like it one bit. Sounds good and all but it is a pain in the butt to try and figure the interface out.
Feb 05, 2007 04:59 pm i've got several things i really don't like about my ipod(30GB)/itunes.....first off (and im sure this is the biggest reason) is i'm more or less mac illiterate, so if you throw me infront of a mac, even the most simplest of tasks take me an hour to figure out (i once asked one verbaly to "eject disk" out loud in comp usa!) so yeah i prefer folders and files and trees.
which leads me to my first gripe, i have spent hours upon hours sorting out my 22 gigs of mp3's namin' them just the way i like and neetly tucking them away in different 'psudo-genra/mood' folders...only to load them into my ipod and all it reads is the GD ied (or is it id3) tags!! all of my work is wasted (and i'm slowly realizing i'm just gonna hafta go and redo it all in the tags) why can't i just read them as the filename that they are! and not hafta go through the Artist, or Album, or Genra lists! ugggg gimme my damn folder! ok point made
so i get i tunes up and running (btw i have yet to find a media player app that i like, winamp is the closest thing to what i would call 'simple' as i can find) so all these fancy schmancy playlist organizers and album art go getters and what generaly adds up to a bunch of features i will never use, starts AUTOMATICALY updating itself every stinkin' time i plug the damn thing in to charge the battery.....ahhh then it begins to sync and the lovely "do not disconnect" screne....hehehehe this one is my favorite because i don't give a rats patoot what the hell it's dooin', i'll yank that sucker out when i damn well please, $300+ says my ipod is MY ***** and i can treat it how i want....but i digress...where was i...oh yeah, itunes...ok ok my old mp3 player (samsung 128MB) i could drag and drop folders, files, or anything really and it would work fine....not mister pod! i hate the fackt i gotta do everything through i tunes!!! i can't even figure out how to get songs OFF my ipod now! granted i know there is a way, but i've only had mine for about 3 months now.....
so yeah to recap, i hate all forms of sync, let me drag n' drop, and let me organize my files how i want. and i have no idea how to keep finger prints off it.
end rant
on the good side, i's sooooo pretty!
Feb 05, 2007 05:19 pm you are just doing everything wrong, that's all!
id3 tags are the way the ipod understands what things are. use them and you gain the ability to search for your music in multiple ways--by artist, genre, song, etc. i made the same mistake you did at first too, just tried renaming the files. didn't work, but i tested it first, so i didnt waste all my time!
second, you have the ability to set itunes to manual management, and you should. maybe some people like their ipods to sync to their music folder. i don't, at all. my ipod does nothing when i plug it in, except for summon itunes (another option you can shut off)
you can shut off album art go-getters too, and all that stuff.
you can also drag files and folders onto ipod if you have it set to disk mode. it will then act as a hard drive, and any kind of file is fair game. though moving files this way onto the ipod will not let you play them if they happen to be music files, i believe. but im not sure about that; might be wrong.
there are many ways to get your music back off your ipod--independent peeps have developed the software and release it for free online, but you can't fault apple for failing to include this ability. they can't do it. their hands are tied.
to keep finger prints off your ipod, get a case for it. i like the pacific design flip top cases, and another brand i think is called DLO or something.
Feb 05, 2007 05:58 pm yeah i figured as much, i'm just not used to apple logic...and i named all my mp3's years ago, and never messed with the tags.....i know it's a peach of a toy, but i'm just havin' a hard time adjusting.....i can't believe taking songs off the ipod requires third party software! that's just nutz....one thing i'm gettin' into now is podcasts though! cool beans!
also, on a different note these 'all-in-one' media players trick less informed people into thinking their music is actually inside that player.....this is a really wierd phenom i'm seeing....i'll get some guy tellin' me he he needs to import an audio cd into a project in sonar or whatever, and the FIRST thing i say is 'where is the file' and (i kid you not) 7 times out of 10 now the answer is "it's in windows media player"....this is a very basic concept in windows, know where the hell your files are! but like i said, these people arn't exactly the most computer savvy folks in town....remember i am in tennessee after all.
CptTrippsCzar of Turd PolishMember
Since: Jun 20, 2006
Feb 05, 2007 06:11 pm Media player, unless specified should rip to My Music on an XP machine by default. I use media player 11 but don't do anything but rip and play cd's. And really, once done ripping I use the MCE interface for listening.
What are all the issues ya'll have with MP11, like I said I didn't dive to deep into it and am curious why 10 was better.
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Feb 06, 2007 10:22 pm WYD, now you know why I don't do iPOD. It's SONY all the way. It works well with folders and all that jazz. It wont re-assign per the id3 tag either unless of course I tell the interface to go ahead and do that. Sonys interface is one of the smoothest I have ever used.
But enough said. I love my head unit in the car as well. It does both mp3 and wma and will work with any file system I prefer, folders, genre, album and so on. I just need to get the remote now so I don't have to fiddle with the knobs.
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Feb 06, 2007 10:52 pm Tripps, sorry I missed your post.
MP 11 is just a completely lame interface. It is nothing more now then iTunes wrapped in a shiney new windows type look. And it really doesn't look like windows anymore either. I miss my quick drop down menus and easy interface switches right on the front. They are all gone now. And opening or saving new files and folders used to be a couple simple clicks and you were in, now its hidden beyond recognition somewhere over the iTunes rainbow.
Aside from that it now defaults to this friggin enormous and hideous looking monster that takes up more then half of even my wide screen monitor's.
Lastly it is not even close to being intuitive at all, everything is buried so deep I feel like I'm grave robbing trying to dig it all out.
OK, maybe I exaggerated a little bit on that one. But it is crap and I know I'm not the only one that missed the MP 10 interface.
