Help! trying to decide about IPod... (1 Viewer)

[McPaul]

What do I need to send my music from either my iPod or iTunes (preferably iTunes) to my receiver? There's no optical out on the iPod, nor is there one on my computer. (I don't have a Mac - although definitely considering getting one). I understand there is an "AirTunes", but does this work completely digitally? and does it connect to the optical or coax audio on my receiver? and what is the quality like? (considering buying the shuffle as well, so if anyone's interested in buying a 40GB 4G that's only 3 weeks old and comes with a Marware sportsuit, let me know! - I think Apple.ca has only a 14 day return policy?)

 

[Ted Lee]

you can use the ipod dock. it has a line-level output that you can connect to your receiver via the rca connections. alternately, you could simply use the ipod's earphone jack, but the line-level connection will sound better.

in either case, you connect the ipod to the receiver via a mini-jack to rca cable.

 

[Graham Perks]

From your iPod, a dock will do the trick.

From iTunes, use an Airport Express (which uses Airtunes). It sends your music over a wireless network from your Mac/PC to the Airport Express. The Airport Express has both optical and line out, which you simply connect to your receiver.

It sounds as good as... your music. It doesn't lose any quality going wirelessly.

I love my Airport Express, it works great. Eventually I bought a second one to connect my printer to my wireless network. That works great too

 

[Mark Dubbelboer]

I just jumped to the end of the thread here and haven't really been following it.

I use an itrip to beam an FM signal to my radio. The signal is definitely strong enough (after extending my radio antenna with some speaker wire) and sounds better than any radio signal. The signal definitely isn't "high-end" but it's more than sufficient for a little music during dinner or to have a conversation over.

 

[McPaul]

Thanks guys. I guess an optical cable wont get me any better sound than regular stereo out?

Another question: I've maxed my hard drive space with ripping all my cd's and need to get a new HD. Will iTunes be able to add files from two hard drives to the library, and randomize between both of them? ie. take the first song from C: , the second song from F: , the next song from C: , etc? or will I have to just get a super big hard drive and have it just for aac 256 files?

Thanks!

 

[ThomasC]

You can use multiple hard drives on iTunes, but it probably won't go back and forth one song after another. It may do two songs on C:, then three songs on F:, then one song on C:, then five songs on F:.

 

[Joseph S]

It can, but you obviously won't be able to use the consolidation or copy to iTunes library options as you can't fit all your songs on the old drive.

 

[Ted Lee]

how does itunes read from multiple hd's? when i check my preferences/advanced tab - it only shows one possible location to browse to???

 

[Chris Farmer]

Ted, that only tells iTunes where to save whatever music you rip within the program. The music files themselves can be anywhere you want on any drive, just drag and drop them to the Library window in iTunes and they'll show up.

 

[Ted Lee]

ahh..i get what you mean....true that then!

 

[Ted Lee]

calling all ipod fans.

it appears my mini may have just bit the dust. it won't power-up...period. i've tried various cables (firewire) and various power sources (pc, wall-outlet, car adaptor) -- no luck.

i was wondering if anybody knew of any issues? i'm not too worried cuz i bought the extended warranty...but you know how that goes.

thx!

 

[Scott L]

Sounds like the battery. All your music should be intact. How old is it?

 

[Ted Lee]

thx scott. i guess it was my battery, but i had to do some sort of reset by holding down the menu + play button for about 10 seconds. that seems to have fixed the issue. weird...

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61705

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Ted, there is also a bug in the latest version of the iPod software (I think it's 3.2, or something like that -- it was the 11/15/04 update). I was having a few problems with my 40GB iPod -- I would get a "corrupt file, run chkdsk" error message sometimes when plugging the iPod into my PC, and the player also would have problems powering up at times. See this thread for more information.

I restored my iPod to the software version that came with it, dated 8/6/04. So far, so good. The only drawback to performing the restore is that it erases the music from the iPod. In my case, this was not a big deal, since all the music also was still on my PC. It took about 1.5 hours to re-install the 30GB worth of music.

 

[McPaul]

Glad you got things fixed, Ted.

My space problems have been solved! I've purchased a 200GB WD hdd for $140 and shouldn't have any issues for a long, long time.

Another question, what headphones are you guys using? I'm still using an old pair of Sony fold em street style headphones from years back. I've been reading lots of good stuff about the Etymolics and Shure but I'm not sure I'm willing to spend the $200.

 

[Ted Lee]

thx paul. i actually use the stock ear-buds. to me, they have the best bass response. but i (apparantly) have pretty big ear canals, so i have a hard time with third-party headphones.

my wife has the shure e3c's, which she really likes. in terms of build quality, they're excellent. they come with a bunch of different ear buds, a little tool to clean out ear-wax (nice touch), a nice carrying case, etc.

unfortunately, they just sounded too hollow for me...even with the foam earbuds which should have (in theory) provided an ear-tight seal.

we also tried the etymonics (sp?), but thought they sounded really bad, which surprised me considering all the good things i've read about them.

 

[McPaul]

I wish I could bear the stock phones, since you say you've had such good experience with them, but they are just not comfortable in my ears.

I'm very close to ordering the Shure E3c set from ecost, which after border costs and tax will be very close to $200 iirc. There are a couple of cheap Sony's that get some good praise on ipodlounge, but from what I hear they are very much hit and miss.

Any good or bad experiences from ecost here?

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I've purchased a couple of things from ecost, Paul. They do not package things real well -- no double boxing on large items. Their prices are usually quite good, though.

I'm currently using Sony EX71 headphones, but am considering upgrading to either the Shure E3c or Etymotic ER-6i phones, since I have a gift certificate from Buy.com that's burning a hole in my pocket.

Ted, I read that the Shure E3c's do not isolate sound real well using the softer clear plastic buds, and that the harder black rubber buds isolate sound well but are uncomfortable. Is that your experience? I am not a fan of foam earbuds, even though I read those worked well with the Shures.

My Sony EX71's are very comfortable and sound much better than the earbuds that came with the iPod. However, my wife needs new earbuds for our next trip, so I was planning on handing down the Sony's to her and upgrading (I use the phones a lot more than she does, and she's not concerned about audio quality).

 

[Ted Todorov]

I find the stock earbuds extremely comfortable. I bought some Senheisers and couldn't stand them for more than a few minutes.

My wild guess is that the earbuds were tested on Steve Jobs -- those of us who have ears shaped like his love them, those who don't, hate them... I do have rather big ears FWIW.

Ted

 

[Ted Lee]

scott, in my case, none of the earbuds isolated the sound very well - which really surprised me since they come in such a variety of sizes. i don't recall the comfort level though as i never wore any of them for very long. again, excellent build quality and product...but they just didn't work for me. definitely give them a try...but make sure you can return it without hassle.