ipod mini/shuffle

[craig]

Okay, so this piece of shit is the current MP3 player I have and it doesn't really store as much music as I'd like. I'd debating scrapping it and getting an ipod based player, but there are a few worries I have and I'd appreciate it if someone could answer them:

1. With my current MP3 player XP recognises it as a removable storage drive and all I have to do is drag my Mp3s over onto it ala dragging stuff from one drive to the next and it'll play them as is with no re-encoding nessecary. Now I like this way of doing this and if I can I'd like to not bother with I-Tunes, which seems to be a nessecary piece of kit with an ipod.. so can I just do what I've been doing for ages with my current player, or do I have to transfer music with itunes?

2. can I use any of the spare storage space on an IPOD for storing other things to be downloaded at university for example at a later date?

 

[duffers20]

Well for starters, iPods can be used as an external hard disc and they appear as a disc in XP, but you can't just drag and drop your music onto them. You have to use iTunes for all teh music transferring, but don't see that as a bad thing though, iTunes is a fantastic piece of software, i have never had any problems with it while i have used it with my 3rd gen 20gig ipod and my sisters ipod mini's. Also with the ipod, the music is simply transfered, not reconverted to another format, so the transfer speed is still very fast, where you are looking at 1 to 2 songs per second. Also with the most modern ipods, you can now charge with either the usb or the firewire connection while you transfer so it doesn't drain the battery when you are writting to teh disc.

 

[Reginald]

I reccomend getting a Creative MP3 player instead. You won't be branded by me as someone who only bought it for the sake of a fashion accesory. And you can drag and drop.

 

[craig]

Well for starters, iPods can be used as an external hard disc and they appear as a disc in XP, but you can't just drag and drop your music onto them. You have to use iTunes for all teh music transferring, but don't see that as a bad thing though, iTunes is a fantastic piece of software, i have never had any problems with it while i have used it with my 3rd gen 20gig ipod and my sisters ipod mini's. Also with the ipod, the music is simply transfered, not reconverted to another format, so the transfer speed is still very fast, where you are looking at 1 to 2 songs per second. Also with the most modern ipods, you can now charge with either the usb or the firewire connection while you transfer so it doesn't drain the battery when you are writting to teh disc.

Please explain why I 'have' to use itunes. It just makes no sense to me. Specially if stuff can be dragged straight across to the IPOD. I mean if I just drag mp3's across does the pod not recognise it or something?

 

[TrippyG]

I prefer Creative, I have 512Mb Creative Muvo n200 FM. Drag & Drop. Anyway iPod is a HD player and we all know that HD's wont last forever... like memory

 

[Asus]

It's just how the Ipod puts the music onto the unit and renames them. The actual files are just all in a few folders. They are organized and identified by ID tags. You can use iTunes or musicmatch to put the songs on the Ipod. There are other programs that will do it too.

I like iTunes too. I don't have a working Ipod right now but I use iTunes over the other players just for how it lets me play exactly what song I want, which is also the draw for the Ipod. Creative stuff is nice. I hear their install/program use is actually worse though for their Harddrive based units (at least the Zen).

 

[Revisedsoul]

ipod shuffle is flashed based and cheap compaired to other mp3 flash players. but at the scarifice of a display screen and fm tuning.

Creative is a bit cheaper than ipod and has a few more features. but after 90 days you have to pay for shipping and all serivce work. with the ipod its 1 year service but 90 days shipping.

also anything does happen to your ipod usually it can be fixed within 2 weeks. On the other hand with creative ive sent off a soudn blaster and a jukebox to them and it took over 6 months for them to fix it. i also work at a reseller of creative products and the quickest ive seen them come back is 1 month and somehow they even lost mp3 player 3 seperate times and deny ever reciving it.

if price is your concern go creative, but if you want relable quick service if anything happens to go wrong go apple

also aac > mp3

 

[hneaz]

I got my ipod for free because my dad racked up enough reward points for his credit card company. i didn want it at first because everyone has it and the battery life is not gd. i really hate my ipod!!!

u should get the Creative mp3 player.

 

[IonizeMyAtoms]

I got my ipod for free because my dad racked up enough reward points for his credit card company. i didn want it at first because everyone has it and the battery life is not gd. i really hate my ipod!!!

u should get the Creative mp3 player.

Who cares if everyone has it? Who cares if it's a "fashion accessory"? It's a damn good mp3 player and I wish I had one

 

[Revisedsoul]

I got my ipod for free because my dad racked up enough reward points for his credit card company. i didn want it at first because everyone has it and the battery life is not gd. i really hate my ipod!!!

u should get the Creative mp3 player.

battery life is only crap if you have the backlight on all the time and the EQ. i can go usually 20 hours on mine before recharging it.

 

[Asus]

The new mini's (4gb and 6gb) are rated for 18hrs anyway. Plus they dropped the price of that 4GB from 250 to 199$.

 

[duffers20]

I don't see why all these people are crying about battery life, I use mine for ages without charging it, only use the back light when i need it and I don't use the EQ either because i think it makes it sound worse. I used my iPod on holiday in america for weeks without charging, on long journeys around national parks where there isnt' anywhere to charge it up and it was fine. When people say that they get one just because it is a fashion acessory, i say thats fair enough, but it is a damn good mp3 player and I choose it because of that and not because i will 'look good' with it.

 

[IonizeMyAtoms]

I choose it because of that and not because i will 'look good' with it.

For serious. I don't really see how it's a fashion accessory anyway. I'd keep it in my pocket all the time, and ever switch head phones (something I never understand when I see people walking around with them; are the headphones that come with it really good or something? Why doesn't ANYONE use better ones?)

 

[Reginald]

I just bought this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos...8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/202-6794214-9268640

Not fro that price though. I know some people who know some people :sniper: :afro:

 

[duffers20]

I like the look of those creative zen micro jukeboxes, they look really cool! Id probably get one of these instead of an ipod mini

 

[PvtRyan]

For serious. I don't really see how it's a fashion accessory anyway. I'd keep it in my pocket all the time, and ever switch head phones (something I never understand when I see people walking around with them; are the headphones that come with it really good or something? Why doesn't ANYONE use better ones?)

I bought better ones with my previous player, but they're really shit compared to the ipod's headphones. And I'm not spending more money on headphones than on the player itself.

I've got a mini, and really pleased about it, the control system is brilliant, and no player is able to remotely touch that.

iTunes works fine for me, except that somehow I get a message from Windows that a high speed device is on a slow speed port, but I do have USB2.0 ports. It can take a while before I've got all the songs on there.

 

[sinkoman]

You don't have to use iTunes for your music. You can still drag and drop music to it like an external drive. It's just initialy, windows has the folder on the ipod that stores your music hidden. Just make windows "Show all files" and voila!

 

[Some_God]

I bought a shuffle because I had a crap CD player that broke ( ). The shuffle (so far) is taking names and kicking ass. I usually didn't look at the screen of my CD player so I thought buying a $400 ipod to be a waste. I also dont have that many song that I listen to (less than 50). The shuffle is cool in that it is so small and light, but not light enough that it feels cheap. You will kind of be saddened by no screen on occasion when you want to show a friend a cool song or something but if you're like me you know what arrngement your songs are in (contrary to the the ipod shuffle's goal).