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Topic: thinking of buying an ipod ... (Read 5169 times) previous topic - next topic
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thinking of buying an ipod ...

okay, say what you will about apple and there pods ... i personally don't like how commercialized they are, but i need a mp3 player for work or i'll go insane.  i was looking at the zen micro's originally cause they can use napster to go. but i need a speaker dock that is rechargeable or runs on the player's battery (i can't fuss or fumble w/ power cords and don't want to throw my money away on alkaline batteries). so i found this speaker dock that has a rechargeable battery pack, but it only works with an ipod.  so i guess i'm doomed to own an ipod.
oh well, i guess there are worse things to be doomed to ...
anyways, i want to educate myself on what i have to commit to by buying an ipod, namely do i have to use itunes to transfer songs to my ipod or are there alternatives?  i'd really like it if there was a driver that would make my ipod appear as a hard drive in "my computer" and that i could just drag and drop files.  i use foobar for playback and don't feel like adding another media player to my computer (that would be 3).  is there any standalone apps that can edit calendar entries?  any seperate apps that can add album art/photos to my pod?  i'll be getting an ipod photo ... if that helps.

thanx for any feedback folks ... luv ya all (specially the ladies) ...

-dr.zick

thinking of buying an ipod ...

Reply #1
I don't own a DAP but I've heard Audion is a better alternative to iTunes.

http://www.panic.com/audion/

But then again, I'm sure there are better alternatives to Audion.

thinking of buying an ipod ...

Reply #2
Quote
I don't own a DAP but I've heard Audion is a better alternative to iTunes.

http://www.panic.com/audion/

But then again, I'm sure there are better alternatives to Audion.
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Audion is better than iTunes if you're looking for something that behaves more like Winamp.  If you want an actual database, however, you're better off with iTunes.  Audion is also no longer in development, and hasn't been updated in a while.  It worked with the iPod for a while when it was still being developed, but I would be surprised if it still does, since there have been several iPod revisions in the meantime.

It's also Mac-only.  I don't know what system the OP is running.

thinking of buying an ipod ...

Reply #3
I own a iPod and am a resident helper over at a iPod website (ilounge).  You don't really have to make any commitments with the iPod other than it is best to use iTunes.  iTunes is extremely easy to use and is the best software to sync songs to your iPod.  You can setup an iPod to be used as a external hard drive but you can't just drag-and-drop songs to an iPod via the Windows Explorer.  There are software apps out there that will allow you to drag-and-drop but they cost money (Anapod Explorer) and you really shouldn't have to pay for software to use your iPod when iTunes is free.

An iPod is really a smart investment because there are so many accessories for them.  Other players may offer many more features but the average user will never utilize them.  Personally, I could care less about line-in recording, an FM radio, or 36 hour battery life.  There are portable speaker systems out there that can play audio from a line-in source but most are specifically made for a iPod.  If you don't want a iPod, the Creative Zen Microphoto, Zen Sleek, and Zen Touch are all worth competitors to the iPod.  The only problem with these players is that there limited accessories for these players and/or the accessories available are not as good as the ones for the iPod.  I did find a portable charging dock and speaker system for the Zen Micro/Microphoto line of DAP's.

Still.  The Creative line are pretty good but the iTunes and iPod package cannot be beat.  I highly recomend going to your local electronics store to look at these before deciding.  You may decide that the features of these other DAP's make them better contendors than the iPod.  No one can make this decition other than yourself.

thinking of buying an ipod ...

Reply #4
i'm on windows with foobar, i don't use wmp and don't want itunes.  i read something about foo_pod ... but that doesn't really do everything i wanted it to do.  not sure if there's anything else i can use

thinking of buying an ipod ...

Reply #5
Quote
i'm on windows with foobar, i don't use wmp and don't want itunes.  i read something about foo_pod ... but that doesn't really do everything i wanted it to do.  not sure if there's anything else i can use
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I searched and it seems that foo_pod is really the best foobar app out there for the iPod.  Limiting yourself to foobar will really limit your DAP choice.  I think it would be easier to bite the bullet and deal with another media player.  You don't use WMP and you can uninstall it.  For the iPod, iTunes is really the best.

thinking of buying an ipod ...

Reply #6
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Limiting yourself to foobar will really limit your DAP choice. 
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  Right... Why would you need to install a media player to use a DAP? That's just absurd.
The object of mankind lies in its highest individuals.
One must have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.

thinking of buying an ipod ...

Reply #7
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Limiting yourself to foobar will really limit your DAP choice. 
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Right... Why would you need to install a media player to use a DAP? That's just absurd.
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That is not what I was trying to get at.  With the iPod, utilizing iTunes is the easiest and best solution.  You get so many option with iTunes that you don't get with other DAP's.  Besides, just looking at the DAP market, most of them require you use some media player to use them.  A lot of the commercial DAP's require Windows Media Player to organize the music on them.  A while back (pre-2003), using a media player app to manage a DAP was absurd.  I wanted to just drag-and-dorp everything.  Now, you get so many features using a media player app.

thinking of buying an ipod ...

Reply #8
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i'm on windows with foobar, i don't use wmp and don't want itunes.  i read something about foo_pod ... but that doesn't really do everything i wanted it to do.  not sure if there's anything else i can use
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MediaMonkey can synchronize with the iPod, that might work for you.

[a href="http://www.mediamonkey.com/]MediaMonkey[/url]

thinking of buying an ipod ...

Reply #9
XPlay is another software who work quite well for ipod on windows machines.  It even allow you tu use WMP with your ipod.  Now, if i could figure how to manage/build playlist correcly....

Soren

thinking of buying an ipod ...

Reply #10
what about Ephpod?
"You can fight without ever winning, but never win without a fight."  Neil Peart  'Resist'

thinking of buying an ipod ...

Reply #11
Quote
namely do i have to use itunes to transfer songs to my ipod or are there alternatives?  i'd really like it if there was a driver that would make my ipod appear as a hard drive in "my computer" and that i could just drag and drop files.  i use foobar for playback and don't feel like adding another media player to my computer (that would be 3).  is there any standalone apps that can edit calendar entries?  any seperate apps that can add album art/photos to my pod?  i'll be getting an ipod photo ... if that helps.

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As somebody who has tried his best to fight itunes, I can tell you that what it boils down to is this: If you like to play around with settings and upgrade software hoping that it'll fix things or improve them, there certainly are alternatives. If you just want an efficient and easy way to listen to your music while enjoying all the advertised features of your DAP, just use itunes.
The reason is simple: whatever you choose that is not itunes, there is always _something_ that does not work. eg dynamic smart playlists on your ipod, album art and synced playcounts and playdates between your pc and your ipod are the 3 most important.
I do have to say that foobar's pod plugin was among the better alternatives I tried...But, as I said, all alternatives basically copy songs to and from the ipod but feature-wise they are all lacking...
As mentioned before, the ipod is visible in windows as an external drive without any software. And I believe starting from itunes 5 you can sync your calendar and so on between ipod and outlook.

I have tried a lot of media players (one of the prerequisites being that ipod syncing had to be supported) and decided (a year after getting an ipod!) to just give itunes a go. And I have to say, once you stop fighting it, the experience is actually quite good...(of course, if you have a hard drive full of mpc files, apes or flacs it won't play them...luckily I settled on flac and ape for archiving and aac and mp3 for playback    )

 

thinking of buying an ipod ...

Reply #12
Has anyone had a chance to confirm this? Anyone tried it yet?
From http://playlistmag.com/news/2005/10/17/ipodfaq/index.php

Does the iPod finally support CD-quality audio recording?

Indeed it does. In the past, the iPod’s operating system limited audio recording to 8KHz, 16-bit mono via an external device such as Griffin’s iTalk. According to Apple’s published specifications, the new iPod supports two audio recording modes: a “low-quality” mono mode at 22.05KHz, and a CD-quality 44.1 KHz stereo mode.

What’s as yet unclear is if you can simply attach a microphone to the iPod and begin voice recording or if you’ll need a yet-to-be-released third-party audio-input accessory.