Might be in the market for my first iPod. Got some noob questions...

lordrobs

lordrobs

lordrobs

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Right firstly appologies, I've been quite happy with my Zen Micro for the past 3 1/2 years and have had my head in a cave for all that time :o

Basically I'm fed up of my media pc in the living room. The only thing I really need it for at the moment is my music collection. However having to boot it up, then select my music, then having to leave my TV on incase I want to skip track etc. means that most of the time I get a case of CBA and stick the radio on :o

Basically I'm looking for an mp3 player with a large capacity- 30GB would be overkill at present but I'd like to leave myself some growing room. I could then hook this up to my amp, take it in my car, plug it into the radio in the kitchen, plug it into my x360. Basically have my music anywhere I want it but I won't be using it as a "personal" mp3 player when I'm walking about if that makes sense as I'll still have my Zen micro for that.

What I want to know is this-

1) I think an iPod classic will fit the bill perfectly or one of the older (5.5G?) models if I can pick one up. Do you think I'm right in this or is there something else that would be better? I know I'm in mac hardware but I'm not set on an ipod if there is something more suitable.

2) My main question really. Will all my music which is in mp3 of various quality's and bit rates that I've ripped over the years work on an ipod via itunes or is it going to have a paddy and render my music collection incompatible?

Many thanks for any help :)
 
iPods will quite happily play back MP3 files, just be sure that you set iTunes to rip in MP3 as by default it will use protected AAC files, and also set the library options before you import anything else it will have a tendency to copy files all over the place :)

Not sure whether it will work as a USB device on your Xbox 360 though.
 
wij said:
iPods will quite happily play back MP3 files, just be sure that you set iTunes to rip in MP3 as by default it will use protected AAC files, and also set the library options before you import anything else it will have a tendency to copy files all over the place :)

Not sure whether it will work as a USB device on your Xbox 360 though.
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That was my main concern so thats cool :)

If it works on the 360 that would be ace but if not I'll just use one of my many sets of PC speakers or something for it so that wouldn't be a deal breaker.
 
It will 100% work with the Xbox, but you need to download the iPod enabler from the Live Marketplace (it's free).

Hope that helps :)
 
EVH said:
It will 100% work with the Xbox, but you need to download the iPod enabler from the Live Marketplace (it's free).

Hope that helps :)
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Even better :cool:

I see a lot of negativity with regards to itunes as a piece of software. Any reason for this or is it just people complaining for the sake of it? :p
 
wij said:
just be sure that you set iTunes to rip in MP3 as by default it will use protected AAC files
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What? where did you get that from :confused:

If you download stuff from iTunes it will be protected, you can't rip to protected AAC in iTunes

lordrobs said:
I see a lot of negativity with regards to itunes as a piece of software. Any reason for this or is it just people complaining for the sake of it? :p
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I usually go with the cool to hate theory, or people trying to run it on rubbish computers.
 
iTunes is good, it just takes some getting in to.

Most of the people that hate it, hate it because it's a one-stop-shop, and they feel they have no control and often want to use their own CODECs (without realising you can use your own!).

Also, WiJ, You've got your wires crossed.. all music on the iTunes Music Store (apart from premium 256kbps music) is DRM-ified, but when you rip to AAC it doesn't contain DRM. It just happens to be the Apple default format.

I'd say AAC > MP3 for quality, so unless you're paranoid (or need room) then go with AAC.
 
EVH said:
I'd say AAC > MP3 for quality, so unless you're paranoid (or need room) then go with AAC.
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Would it be worth converting from MP3 to AAC? Re-ripping from cd would be an absolute nightmare from both a time point of view and the fact that all my cd's are packed up in storage at my parents place :p
 
lordrobs said:
Would it be worth converting from MP3 to AAC? Re-ripping from cd would be an absolute nightmare from both a time point of view and the fact that all my cd's are packed up in storage at my parents place :p
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Nah, it baffles me how people tell the difference between AAC/MP3/128kbps/256kbps. All sounds the bloody same to me and I'm a) not hard of hearing by a long shot and b) have a decent set of headphones.

About iTunes being crap, I find the OS X version much more stable than the Windows version. I'd hazard as guess that all the FUD about iTunes is from Windows users.

Enjoy your iPod. It may not be the most fully featured player out there but its by far the coolest. :p
 
I suppose my audiophile background and the fact I've done degrees in sound has something to do with it :p:)

Some people can hear a 128kbps MP3 a mile off, I guess I'm just one of those.

Not sure how much of a difference you'd gain going from MP3->AAC, so i'm not sure it's worth the bother (you could always try it on a song you know well.. if you hear a difference then do a batch convert).

If you ever get the chance to re-rip those CDs lord-robs then go with a nice 256 AAC, or higher :)
 
EVH said:
If you ever get the chance to re-rip those CDs lord-robs then go with a nice 256 AAC, or higher :)
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Will do chief.

I might do one day. Some of those files hark back to the days when you had to save up to buy a 30GB hard drive so space was at a premium :p having said that I checked today and my music collection weighs in at just 11.8GB :p
 
One more thing :o :o

OK I'm deffo going for an 80GB classic :cool:

...but coverflow. Now as I say some of my stuff is ooooold rips and some of it is unreleased stuff and some by unknown artists. How will coverflow work with the tracks where the covers aren't picked up? I'm guessing if the cover doesn't apper when it plays in media player that means its a no no for coverflow too?
 
lordrobs said:
...but coverflow.
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Let me show you...

Coverflow.PNG


As you can see, Albums/Tracks with no artwork are given a placeholder. Yes, I could have done that without a picture, but I needed to express my love for Pendulum.

Of course, if you wish to take pictures of the covers or scan them in and then add that to the tracks in iTunes they'll be added to the songs on your iPod the next time you sync.

Or, you'll just get bored of the gimmick that is Coverflow.
 
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WotDa said:
Let me show you...

http://www.jtgfx.com/files/Images/Coverflow.PNG[img]

As you can see, Albums/Tracks with no artwork are given a placeholder. Yes, I could have done that without a picture, but I needed to express my love for Pendulum.

Of course, if you wish to take pictures of the covers or scan them in and then add that to the tracks in iTunes they'll be added to the songs on your iPod the next time you sync.

Or, you'll just get bored of the gimmick that is Coverflow.[/QUOTE]

I got ya, and a pic speaks a thousand words so they say :p

Hmmm... Obviously the music will go on via iTunes so I wonder if it will gain any covers? Probably wishful thinking but time will tell :p

Now the only problem is I want it NOW but part of the deal with 'er in drawers is that I need to raise [I]at least[/I] £100 of the cost from selling some old junk on ebay first :(
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lordrobs said:
Now the only problem is I want it NOW but part of the deal with 'er in drawers is that I need to raise at least £100 of the cost from selling some old junk on ebay first :(
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Hehe. :)

There is artwork from the store, the only badside to this is you need an account. If you happen to have one though, just right click the tracks and select "Get album artwork"

Good luck with the fund raising. :p

Edit: Having an ITMS account gets you great things... No really... It does...

Why the hell would you want to show someone what you buy on Itunes? Silly Apple!


Edit 8 billion and 28.

www.allcdcovers.com is awesome for artwork. :)
 
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Ooh so I can add album covers later if they don't automatically appear? Sounds like something to keep me busy when the soaps are on :o
 
Most of my albums are found.

The only ones that are missing/incorrect are my Led Zep and Pink Floyd ones.

If you search for my "160GB Classic...ARRIVED!" thread, there's loads of pictures of the iPod and interface for you to browse:D
 
Just wanted to bump this to say thanks to all those that gave me advice :)

Bought a black 80GB last Saturday and I'm very pleased with it :D

iTunes seems fine for what it does, music went across without hassle. Missing a lot of covers but I'll get round to sorting that at some point. I really don't like the coverflow thing as it seems a bit of a gimmick and takes forever to find the music I want so the lack of covers isn't a huge issue.

I've got it plugged into my AV receiver via a dock that I picked up for a tenner so I can sit back on the sofa and control it all via remote :p I didn't realise just how rubbish the sound card in my media pc was as everything sounds excellent.

Anyway enough of my rambling and thanks again :)
 
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