new ipod (1 Viewer)

[EricW]

ditto.

though i still use outside programs to rip and encode (cua they're way better), i use iTunes to manage what goes on and off the ipod, as well as playlists. gotta love the ease of playlists.

 

[MarkHastings]

So you can move songs to the iPod from any PC?

Obviously my main issue is pulling the songs off the iPod. I have all my songs at home, but every now and then I want to pull off a few songs and put them on my PC at work. Are you saying this can only be done with 3rd party software?

p.s. I too love the organizational method of iTunes. Every change you make in the library gets updated on the computer.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

It can be done. I think you enable disk usage on the iPod and turn off auto-sync and manually manage your music.

 

[Jason Adams]

Would you or anyone else know of Mac CD rippers that use the LAME encoder? My old PC used to be slow, but damn it made some good MP3's with my old ripper...

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Carlo, you would be surprised at the quality of MP3 music files if they are done properly. I use a program called Exact Audio Copy, which uses an external LAME MP3 encoder, to rip all my MP3's. I am listening exclusively on an iPod with upgraded Shure E3C headphones, and I ripped everything at 192Kbps VBR. The resulting music sounds just like the original CD's with my portable setup. With a higher bitrate (224 or 320), I doubt you would be able to tell the difference on virtually any portable setup.

You can certainly play WAV or Apple Lossless Compression files on an iPod, but the tradeoff is much larger files and shorter battery life. Personally, I think well-encoded MP3 files at a reasonably high bitrate is a good compromise when trying to balance storage space vs. sound quality.

I do not mind iTunes, but I only use it to manage our music library and manually move music files to my 40G iPod and my wife's 6GB mini. The MP3 encoder in iTunes is not very good, and I did not want to use Apple's AAC format, which is not supported by many other devices outside the iPod family.

 

[MarkHastings]

But if you have an iPod, then I definitely recomend the AAC format. To put it into prespective...MP3 is MPEG-1 technology (which was developed YEARS ago) and AAC is MPEG-4 technology (which is pretty much brand new).

That's why the AAC sounds MUCH better than MP3 (at the same bitrates) - Going higher on the data rates will produce even better quality.

EricW, Definitely try the AAC and MP3's at higher data rates...it couldn't hurt.

Like I always said, WAV files are great, but they aren't very "portable", an iPod's (as well as other MP3 players) main purpose is "portability"...if you can't live with the compression, then you're probably better off sticking with a CD player. Not that you can't put WAV files on an iPod, but it's not really the best way to be using the device. (IMHO)

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Mark, I did some comparisons when I was trying to settle on a compression format. Personally, using EAC with its external LAME MP3 encoder, I couldn't notice any difference between 192K VBR MP3 and 192K AAC formats. Also, file sizes were about the same. So, I went with the more compatible MP3 encoding.

My comparisons were done on a 4th gen iPod using Shure E3C earbuds. My comparisons may have been different on a better setup (or my home system), but I did not plan on playing the compressed files on anything other than my portable player. I stick with CD's and SACD's on my home setup.

 

[MarkHastings]

Yeah, I think you'd start to hear a differnce on a large stereo system. I do know that at 128k, the AAC's are much better. Probably at 192k, there's no noticeable difference when listening through ear buds.

 

[Citizen87645]

There is a LAME plugin for iTunes on the Mac:

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/13048

 

[NikkiJo]

So I was checking the boards to see if anyone else had heard about this...and I came across this old thread-- And here we are, not even a couple months later and now I am glad that I didn't actualy buy the "new" video ipod over christmas.

Has anyone heard anything about the newest video IPOD? They just posted it today (2.10.06) on engaget's website. What do you think?

 

[Brian L]

I think they announced a 1g Nano....and a price reduction on the Shuffle, but I did not see anything else.

I still have my 3g 40g, but would love to get a new 60g iPod.

Brian

 

[MarkHastings]

I wonder how many songs I could fit onto THAT!?!?!?

 

[Scott_lb]

NikkiJo - Can you please provide a link to the new video iPod? I just picked one up last weekend but haven't opened it up yet. If there were some significant advances made, I'm going to return it and buy the new one.

 

[NikkiJo]

Hey Scott...yes, I wish I could but I'm new to this forum and they won't let me post yet.:b From everything that I have been reading, it sounds like they plan to debut this on April 1st!
Check out Thinksecret's website-- It's posted on their homepage now. The new ipod will have a 3.5-inch display with a touch-screen click wheel.

If you have a little bit more to spend and can hold out until April... I would wait!

 

[Buzz Foster]

Wondering if anyone has heard new news about the 6g video iPod? I am seriously ready to ditch my HiMD becasue of the utter hell that is SonicStage software.