new ipod (1 Viewer)

is anyone tempted to get this?

http://www.apple.com/ipod/ipod.html

my ipod is a 3rd gen (and a shuffle), so it's tempting. i wonder how the video encoding is. in terms of media players, there might be better ones on the market, but this is ipod!

meh!

Sure it is slim, but my Dell Axim X50v has the same sound chip, a great screen, and supports SD and CF cards plus has the benefit of being a pocket pc. With my bluetooth headset I never actually have to touch the pocket pc when playing music, so size is not an issue.

I do not need to use itunes to put music on it, just drag and drop. I love everything about the ipod (especially the black nano) except having to use itunes.

Now if I can just get a pocket pc with a phone (I know they are available) I will be happy, convergence is good.

Still no customizable EQ.

Sorry, I'm an iPod newbie, but if I want to put raw WAV files and play them back, can I do that on an iPod? Not sure what iTunes is. Music quality is of utmost importance to me so I don't want to have to use some compression on my songs. I want to rip WAVs from CD to my PC, then onto a portable device (and I'm currently interested in the new 30GB iPod). Can this be done fairly easily?

Thanks!

Carlo, You can put WAV files on an iPod (as well as many other formats). iTunes is the player that let's you transfer files back and forth between your computer and iPod:
http://www.apple.com/itunes/overview/

Obviously you won't be purchasing any music from the iTunes store (because they are compressed music), but the main reason I got the iPod is because Apple uses the MP4 technology which is much better (at the same data rates) as MP3's (which the other internet sites sell).

If you're going to use .WAVs, get the 60GB iPod. 30GB is only enough to store about 40 full-length (74-minute) CDs' worth of music in .WAV or .AIFF format.

Thanks guys.

Thomas good point about the size...if I can scare up another $100 when I'm ready to buy (probably around XMas) I'll definitely go for the 60GB version.

If iTunes is simply the gateway program for me to get WAVs onto the iPod, then I'm not going to sweat it too much (though I can understand why others may not like it).

Carlo, I don't mind it, but others complain that iTunes can be rather 'bloating' on a PC. The Mac generally is great, but there are a lot of processes that get thrown into the startup on a PC.

Also, the one thing that always bugged me about iTunes is, it automatically updates your QuickTime. I had a QT pro key for my Mac and when I updated iTunes, it updated my QT to the newest version and my key no longer worked.

Oh that sucks, Mark. You'd think they'd write a program that is smart enough not to do something like that automatically, especially when you've purchased the Pro version.

Sucks about iTunes being such a bloated program. Luckily my work PC (where all my WAVs are stored so I don't have to bring CDs to work) is pretty robust, hopefully it can handle it. I may have to get into the startup settings and manually disable whatever iTunes programs try to start themselves up at boot-up.

for these kind of programs (the ones that try to take over your PC)

and vice-freaking-versa. i wanted to install qt on one of my pc's, but i couldn't do it without also installing itunes. stupid that the install forces you to do two programs.

as for the new ipod, gimme a break. i just barely bought my nano ... how much upgrading can they expect from their customers. those bastages!

I wonder if the stand alone QT installer has iTunes attached to it?:
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/standalone.html Yeah, that's why I don't mind it (i.e. my pc is pretty up to date), but I hear a lot of other complaining about it.

Also, check into the exact details of the sharing policy. I know I can only connect my iPod to the computer that I registered it to (i.e. my PC). I can connect it to my Mac, but it won't allow me to upload or download songs.

Obviously I can share the tunes (on 5 systems) that I download from iTunes, but I've never been able to use the iPod on more than one system.

It really doesn't bother me too much though, but it may for others.

There are several third-party solution for getting music onto an iPod for those who don't like iTunes. One of the most widely used (and loved by drag'n'droppers) is Anapod Explorer.

Note that you can turn off the auto-sync and populate your iPod with drag'n'drop using iTunes as well.

I've gotta say I have grown to love iTunes after an initial period of distaste. I had to give up my natural tendency to micro-manage everything. Once I turned my music collection over to iTunes, I just don't worry about it any more. Pop in a CD, rip it, repeat. At the end of a ripping session, pop in my iPod and it automatically copies all the new stuff down while I go grab another beer.

Manual drag'n'dropping seems pretty archaic once you get used to the iLife...

No, it is truly stand-alone. That's the one we use at work.

It should allow you to download songs from the Mac ... if you don't mind blowing away all the songs currently on the iPod, and making the Mac the new "master", that is.

If you have a Mac and a PC in different locations, and you were hoping to use the iPod to synchronize the Mac and the PC, you're out of luck. You'll have to choose whether the iPod belongs to the Light Side or the Dark Side.

Nuts. My wife already has an iPod and we have an iMac at home, and she's getting me a Nano for my birthday. I was thinking of using my office PC as the main machine for using my Nano, but once in a while might use the home machine to upload something. Guess that's out of the question.

with real ipods (non shuffle) i think you can plug them into any machine and grab songs. you just cant sync them an have it do it automatically. But drag and drop will still work from itunes

I know the whole 'synch' issue can only be used with one computer (i.e. it asks me to erase the contents when I plug it into another computer), but can you REALLY hook up a non-synched iPod into 2 computers and download/upload songs??

Again, my iPod's "Master" is my PC (at home) - I have a Mac at work and I think I've even tried turning off the 'synching' and I still can't access the songs on the Mac...is that because of the platform difference?

I don't think I've ever tried to connect the iPod to another PC to see if I can pull songs that way.Interesting. If no one has an answer, I'll have to try hooking my iPod up to my PC at work. Unfortunately I don't have the firewire adapter here at work to try it, and plus, it's still set to 'synch', so I'll have to turn that off at home and try to hook it up next Monday.

Yup. I do it all the time between my PC and my daughters PC. Can't do it with a Shuffle, but I have done it with my 3g 40g and my wife's Mini.

I never liked the auto-sync feature. Step one with every iPod is Turn Off Auto Sync!

Now, when you say upload/download though, I am not so sure. What I mean is that I can transfer songs from either PC to any of our iPods.

I don't think you can go the other way w/o a 3rd party solution.

Brian

There is a sync setting on the iPod itself. As long as you are synced to any computer, you will have issues when trying to connect to another. I have about 21 GB of music and a 20 GB iPod so I had to disable the sync function awhile ago. I use both a Mac and PC at work and have a PC at home and I connect to the three frequently. The problem I run into is when I want to move music from the iPod to another computer, since it doesn't have drag-drop functionality. But there are third party apps to do that.

Gentlemen, the iPod, being a music (and, now, video) source, is best discussed here in A/V Sources. The Music area is for discussion of the music itself. Thank you. Carry on.