Thinking about getting my first ever Ipod....

Caporegime
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I have had my Iriver H120 for about 3 years now. Originally bought it to record lecture as it is much clearer than any tape recorder. Then it is also my MP3 player and portable HD sometimes.

At the time it was about the same size as the old Ipod but lately i am finding it a bit big and want to replace it with an Ipod. With a new 80G Classic now at around £150 it's actually cheaper than what i paid for the Iriver it is seriously tempting. I do have a few reservations.

1 - Can the Ipod Classic be used as a portable HD?
2 - Does the videos need to be in Quick Time or can it play WMV and Divx?
3 - What connection does it have? Can you connect it via any mini-usb cable or does it have a a unique connector?

I am leaning on the side of the 80G really as my music collection is about 30G, so a Nano is way too small.
 
1) Yes.
2) Mp4 / H.264 encoded
3) It has a normal USB > proprietary plug, you have to use theirs.
 
So could you use an iPod as a back up drive? Not for Time Machine, more just the odd few files I want to move around.

EDIT:
If I had one...
1) Could I plug my iPod into a USB Hub which is in turn plugged into my apple AirPort and sync with iTunes as well as use it as a storage device that my macbook could access wirelessly?

and then...
2) Could I then unplug my iPod and plug it into my compatible head unit in my car?!

and then...
3) Could I pull it out of the car and plug it into a pc and/or Mac at Uni for example and access any files on it?!?

I may end up gettin an iPod classic insead of a portable hard drive.
 
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With the airport it won't appear as a Ipod so you can't sync over wireless.

It will appear as a networked drive.

but i'll test this later with mine and confirm :)
 
FYI: You have to enable "disk mode" in iTunes, it won't be on by default.

It's only 1 checkbox, but just incase you get one and plug it straight in.
 
What format is the HDD in the iPod?

If i'm using a mac at home and a pc elsewhere will that cause a problem?

Yes, if you try syncing on a Mac then switch to a Windows machine it'll inform you that you need to format the iPod.

How it is formatted depends on the OS..
 
What if I sync on my mac but put a few powerpoint (or whatever) files on there. Will the pc read them ok?

Or is it a case of the 3 different format options will dictate this?

Sorry for all the questions, I'm thinking about taking a trip to my local apple store (150 miles away :S) to harass the guys there.
 
Well, if it's formatted as HFS+ (as it would be if you used it on the Mac) then the PC won't read the files, regardless of what they are I'm afraid.

I suppose you could format it as FAT32 and do the opposite, but I'm not 100% if that's the filesystem it uses in Windows, I suspect it's NTFS now I've said that! haha
 
:D Just wondering what accessories do I need for it and what does the box come with ? Dock, charger, remote ?

You get a USB cable with them, oh and headphones :o

the charger, dock, and remote are all sold seperate!
 
:D Just wondering what accessories do I need for it and what does the box come with ? Dock, charger, remote ?
as EVH said it comes with cable and phones, but most people (including me) would recommend you upgrade the earphones they are kinda the weak link (which is often why people say that the iPod sound quality is not as good as some competitors...) - when in fact the quality is equally as excellent if you plug some decent phones :) (~£30 Sennheisers should do the job nicely, unless you want to stretch to all the Sure E2C stuff or whatever its called)

oh, and for christ's sake get a case, they scratch like they're made of butter! - i highly recommend the iSkin ;)
 
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