I for one welcome my new iPod overlord.

[picker]

/ Mods, I assume this is the correct forum because ultimately it's about music. If needed, please move. Thanks! /

Well, Althea and I came into a little of extra money unexpectedly, and so we went out and splurged on a pair of 40 GB iPods. I gotta say that this might be the coolest thing I have ever owned. And as both a musician who collects instruments and a technophile gearhead sound engineer that's some pretty high praise.

We spent all weekend dumping our CD collection into iTunes - we're still not completely done as there are still some CD stragglers running around the house - and currently there are approximately 6000 songs in this little thing the size of a deck of cards. I'm impressed. And we haven't yet filled them up!

I've pretty much been living with music going 24-7 now. It's amazing, especially as I really have everything at my fingertips - bluegrass, jazz, classical, metal, you name it.

It's kind of like having your very own soundtrack.

So I've started this thread mostly to talk about the coolness all things iPod and to hear how others use their iPods.

/ Mods, I assume this is the correct forum because ultimately it's about music. If needed, please move. Thanks! /

[Jayrot]

I have a question:
Why do some people insist on calling every single mp3 Jukebox an iPod?

And if you aren't one of those people:
Can I still participate even if my mp3 player doen't cost as much and isn't made by Apple (but has far more features) ?

:dubious:

[SolGrundy]

So I've started this thread mostly to talk about the coolness all things iPod and to hear how others use their iPods.
I was completely obsessed with mine for the first month or so. Just at the novelty of having every song I owned (at the time) on one device. Eventually I got tired of it and stopped using it.

(For the record: note that the thing still draws a small amount of power even when you're not using it. So if you go for a while without listening to it and find that the battery's dead, don't immediately panic and assume you got one of the defective ones.)

Then, somebody posted a thread on here challenging everyone to use the "shuffle" feature and list the first 9 songs it came up with. All of a sudden, I was hooked again; it was like getting a new toy and a new music collection. Now I put the thing on shuffle and let it play on the morning and evening commute. Sometimes the choices don't work at all, but sometimes they're eerily appropriate. And I'm hearing songs I haven't heard in years.

[Jervoise]

I like my iPod well enough (immensely overrated, but it's functional enough), but I can't stand using iTunes to play my music. It's ugly and I can't control it using my keyboard as easily as Winamp5.

As a result, I have a ridiculous system of importing music into two players--frustrating since iTunes doesn't appear to automatically import music from designated folders--using one to update my iPod and another to play music at home.

[Podkayne]

Thusfar, I have only thought of one really clever thing to do with my iPod (other than, you know, listening to it lots and lots.)

I have a "15-Minute Mix" set up in iTunes. It's a Smart Playlist that randomly selects songs, excluding those with only 1 or 2 stars, for a total of 17 minutes. The time-limiting algorithm, I think, keeps picking songs until one of them causes the total to go over 17 minutes, then discards that song. So in practice, the playlist it comes out to about 15 minutes.

I do flylady.net, which has a policy of working on household tasks for 15 minutes, so I can put on my iPod and listen to 15 minutes of music as I work. When the music is done, so am I.

I refresh the playlist in iTunes by deleting all the songs on the list and letting it refill. I do this fairly frequently, because I also use it at work, like, when I don't really want to do something, so I promise myself that I only have to work on it for 15 minutes, and then finish it later if it isn't done. And I plug in my iPod pretty often, too, so the list gets refreshed. But it'd be even cooler if you could change playlists on the iPod on the fly.

Aside from that, it is really great to have it at the gym. I have a Workout playlist that has fast-paced songs with a good beat, but sometimes I'd rather just listen to Vivaldi or whatever. It's also keen for working in somewhat noisy public spaces.

If you haven't already, I highly recommend that you get a case to protect your unit. I didn't, and the chrome and screen got pretty scratched up, just from bouncing around in the cd-player pocket of my backpack.

[Nonsuch]

I have a question:
Why do some people insist on calling every single mp3 Jukebox an iPod?

For the same reason people called all brands of portable cassettes players "Walkmans," all brands of disposable tissues "Kleenex," all brands of adhesive bandages "Band-Aids," etc.: it's easier.

Can I still participate even if my mp3 player doen't cost as much and isn't made by Apple (but has far more features) ?

Do share; I'm curious to know what people don't like about iPods.

[Tentacle Monster]

I kinda wanted an iPod, but it's really just a glorified mp3 player. I want my gadgets to be versatile, damn it! *looks at his memory stick/digital camera*.

Now, I really want one of these. (http://www.neurosaudio.com) It plays MP3s, Ogg Vorbis, FM radio, it records, it transmits to FM (no need for a car adapter!), and the firmware is Open Source. I like that last part best; maybe someone will add a player for the native Super Nintendo sound format (.smc).

Oh great, now I'm all sticky.

[davenportavenger]

Do share; I'm curious to know what people don't like about iPods.

For starters, they are far more expensive than other brands of mp3 players. My player (a 30gb Nomad Zen Xtra, by Creative Labs) was only a little over two hundred dollars. It was less expensive than the 4gb Ipod minis that had just come out, and about the same price as a used 15gb iPod. Even though I haven't filled out even a tenth of my mp3 player's capacity, I couldn't see spending the same amount of money (or more) to get something that had less file space.

Also, I'm a PC user. I know iPods work with PCs, but they're pretty cranky about it, and besides, all my music is already stored on Windows Media Player. It will only transfer songs from iTunes. So I would have had to input all my CDs into my computer again, and recopy them, and that would have been a pain.

The only real advantage of iPods is that they're smaller and lighter than other players, which I guess would be good if you use it for running or something. But I don't get why so many people prefer iPods over other brands, when you get more for your money with other players. I guess it's all that slick advertising.

Also, my player lasts for twelve hours on a battery charge, iPods usually only last for eight hours. And when the lithium battery runs out, I can buy a new one at the store and replace it myself, I don't have to order one from Apple and send back the player so they can install it for me.

Really, I'd like to know why people think iPods are better!

[ultrafilter]

Really, I'd like to know why people think iPods are better!

I've seen reports that the sound quality is slightly better, but not enough that anyone but a dedicated audiophile would notice, and those folks aren't going to be listening to mp3s anyway.

For the most part, it's just the result of a very slick marketing campaign by Apple. That's one thing that they're very good at.

As for me, I've got a 60 GB Zen that does me just fine, and ran me about $350.

[Nonsuch]

Also, I'm a PC user. I know iPods work with PCs, but they're pretty cranky about it, and besides, all my music is already stored on Windows Media Player. It will only transfer songs from iTunes. So I would have had to input all my CDs into my computer again, and recopy them, and that would have been a pain.

I've you encoded your tracks in mp3, you wouldn't need to do this; you could just point iTunes to your root music folder and let it import all your tracks. If you encoded in .wma, OTOH, you're pretty screwed.

[davenportavenger]

Oh crap! Creative Labs just came out with a mini player. link (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00067TTYK/ref=wl_it_dp/102-1007122-9043322?%5Fencoding=UTF8&coliid=I3CDY28VPCZCVN&v=glance&colid=TOCQRX5ALIO3). And it comes in neon green, my favorite color! I'm going to have to restrict myself from asking for this for Xmas. I mean, I already have an mp3 player, I can't very well justify getting another. It's damn awesome looking, though.

[Miller]

I've you encoded your tracks in mp3, you wouldn't need to do this; you could just point iTunes to your root music folder and let it import all your tracks. If you encoded in .wma, OTOH, you're pretty screwed.

Not really. There're plenty of third-party converters that you can get free off the 'net. When I converted my music from .wma to AAC, I used db Power Amp (http://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm), and did the whole thing (~4000 songs) in an evening.

[slu]

For starters, they are far more expensive than other brands of mp3 players. My player (a 30gb Nomad Zen Xtra, by Creative Labs) was only a little over two hundred dollars. It was less expensive than the 4gb Ipod minis that had just come out, and about the same price as a used 15gb iPod. Even though I haven't filled out even a tenth of my mp3 player's capacity, I couldn't see spending the same amount of money (or more) to get something that had less file space.

Also, I'm a PC user. I know iPods work with PCs, but they're pretty cranky about it, and besides, all my music is already stored on Windows Media Player. It will only transfer songs from iTunes. So I would have had to input all my CDs into my computer again, and recopy them, and that would have been a pain.


Really, I'd like to know why people think iPods are better!

I'd like to know why people who have obviously never used an iPod or iTunes can say they are not better?

First, iTunes will import and convert Windows Media files to AAC and add them to your iPod. As well as any mp3. So it is not true that you would need to re-rip all your stuff

Second, your 30GB Zen cost you a bit over $200. Yes, it was cheaper then the iPod, but you admit that it is smaller and thus more useable to certain people that want a smaller player. And if you only use a tenth of the space why did you need a 30GB? You could have spent less money on a smaller mp3 player from any number of manufactures. Some would say that you "overpaid" by buying something much larger than you need. Maybe you don't feel that way, but maybe iPod owners (like myself) also don't feel like we overpaid because we have most useable digital music player and music store on the planet?

Third, I use my iPod with my PC and I don't know what you mean by cranky. It works fine. Or are you just saying that all hardware with WinXP can be cranky at times depending on your machine? If so, then I agree with you. Why can't your Creative Player be cranky for other people?

It is not all about storage space. It is about usability and the iPod and iTunes are the most usable hardware/software combination out there. I like the fact that I put the CD in that came with the iPod, installed iTunes, plugged in the iPod and I was ready to go, either via iTunes Music Store or with 1 click ripping and synching with the iPod.

[slu]

Oh crap! Creative Labs just came out with a mini player. link (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00067TTYK/ref=wl_it_dp/102-1007122-9043322?%5Fencoding=UTF8&coliid=I3CDY28VPCZCVN&v=glance&colid=TOCQRX5ALIO3). And it comes in neon green, my favorite color! I'm going to have to restrict myself from asking for this for Xmas. I mean, I already have an mp3 player, I can't very well justify getting another. It's damn awesome looking, though.

I noticed that this is the same price as an iPod mini, only has 1GB of more space, is thicker (but shorter), doesn't look nearly as useable with one hand, and is ugly as sin.

iPod mini's will be at 5GB or better come Christmas.

[Raygun99]

iPods have the slick design going for them, that's for sure, but I find them feature poor. I ended up going with the iRiver, which is about the same size and cost as an iPod although it has only 20GB compared to the 40GB. Why? Well, it's got an FM tuner, voice recorder (extremely handly for interviews, YMMV), can record from FM, and plays more formats. Also, I'm a little gunshy about the battery issues I've heard the iPods can have.

[rjung]

I'd like to know why people who have obviously never used an iPod or iTunes can say they are not better?
Sour grapes? ;)

It's worth noting that the iPod now seems to have 92% of the market (http://news.com.com/Its%2Ball%2Babout%2Bthe%2BiPod/2100-1041_3-5406519.html) for hard-drive-based digital music players. Apple's fourth-quarter results today noted that they sold over2 million (http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2004/oct/13results.html) iPods in the last three months, a 500% increase in sales.

They're obviously doing something right...

[ultrafilter]

They're obviously doing something right...

Marketing. Say whatever you want about the folks at Apple, but they know how to market stuff.

[davenportavenger]

I'd like to know why people who have obviously never used an iPod or iTunes can say they are not better?


I've used an iPod before, my boyfriend (who uses Macs) has one. I tried his out before buying mine, just to make sure I didn't want an iPod instead. When I plugged it into my computer, it said I could only take songs from iTunes. I didn't know it could take regular mp3 files, but most of my music is stored in .wma anyway, so that wouldn't have worked. So I installed iTunes on my computer to try that out. iTunes is a horrible mp3 system! (IMO, of course.) It was so much harder to locate files; maybe I just didn't like it because I'm used to Windows Media Player, but I didn't like it. I also found the wheel used for navigation to be tricky; I much prefer button controls. So considering that I didn't like the feel of the iPod, the look of the iPod, the handling of the iPod, the software it runs on, or the fact that you have to send it back to the company to change the batteries (a major minus for Apple), I think I did well to choose another player. The lower price was just an added bonus.

And I'm not seriously going to get a Zen mini, I just think they look neat.

[voguevixen]

Do share; I'm curious to know what people don't like about iPods.

I'd be curious to know why people feel they have to have 25,000 songs (or whatever) at their fingertips at any given time. I have a Palm with an MP3 function and while the sound is awesome and the ease of use is stellar, I find I never use it because I'm already bombarded by music everywhere I go: the store, the radio, at work, etc. When I finally have a few minutes to myself I cherish the silence. Plus, 90% of the people who listen to walkmen/iPods are doing so wearing headphones. Where I live (and most places these days) it's a BAD IDEA to be out in public and give someone the chance to sneak up on you unawares; if you're in your house, why not just play a CD as loud as you want?

In a nutshell, iPods cost like $300 for something I hate and don't need OR want. When someone mentions their iPod I have to really, really restrain myself from busting a gut.

[ultrafilter]

if you're in your house, why not just play a CD as loud as you want?

That doesn't work so well if you live in a townhouse or condo.

[voguevixen]

That doesn't work so well if you live in a townhouse or condo.

I live in a townhouse...are your speakers pointed towards the shared wall? :confused: (Actually, "as loud as I want" is not all that loud, heh.)

Also, iPods are uuuuuuuugly. They look "ever-so-discreet" and clinical, like a package of birth-control pills, or maybe a tampon case. BRRRR!

To be fair, when I was a kid the radio and radio/cassette walkmen were just starting to become affordable. My mother claims they were a godsend on long car trips, proving to be the one thing that shut us up once and for all. I'm talking "less than $50" affordable, though. Adjusted for inflation it might actually be cheaper with the iPod.

Meh, it seems at the ripe old age of 33 I'm already ancient and hopelessly out-of-touch with "where it's at" as you kids say! ::slaps knee and smokes pipe while adjusting cardigan.::

[Miller]

I'd be curious to know why people feel they have to have 25,000 songs (or whatever) at their fingertips at any given time.

For me, the best thing about the iPod is the size. I used to keep all my CDs in two big binders. This was a pain in the ass: the binder were unwieldly, it was hard to find the CD I wanted, the CDs kept getting scratched from regular use. Plus, the binders took up a lot of space, and space is at a premium in my house: especially bookshelf space. Of course, the binders were a huge step up from the cabinet I used back when I still kepy my CDs in their original cases.

But now? Now my entire music collection takes up slightly more space than a pack of cigarettes. My CD binders are safely buried in the back of my closet, where I only need to access them to add newly purchased CDs that I've already copied to my iPod, and therefore never need to look at again. Plus, I can find any album, or any song, with the touch of a button. No more flipping back and forth through one (or both: I'm not a good filer) binders trying to find the one CD I want to listen to (not to mention the wallet binder I used when I was listening to music at work or in the car, or having to check through all the various CD players I own in case I listened to it recently and forgot to put it back: "not in my discman, not in the CD changer on the stereo, not in either of the game consoles on the TV, not in any one of the four CD drives installed in my two computers, etc." Whenever I'm listening to music, it's on my iPod. Period.). No more trying to remember which of the avant-garde CD designs with no text on them is the CD I'm looking for. No more forgetting which track is the song I want, or what album it was on. It's all clearly labeled and easily accesible on my iPod.

I have a Palm with an MP3 function and while the sound is awesome and the ease of use is stellar, I find I never use it because I'm already bombarded by music everywhere I go: the store, the radio, at work, etc.

True enough. And the problem there is that most of the music I hear in those places really sucks. If I'm going to the store, I can bring my iPod: no more muzak! If I'm driving, I can hook my iPod up to my car stereo: no more commercials! No more DJs! No more scanning for a station that's playing something remotely tolerable! I bring it with me to work every day and plug it into the stereo there. Kinda hard to hear of the machines, but much more convenient than bringing a handful of CDs with me every day and having to stop work and clean myself up every forty minutes to swap discs.

When I finally have a few minutes to myself I cherish the silence.

I'll have plenty of time to enjoy the silence once I'm dead.

Plus, 90% of the people who listen to walkmen/iPods are doing so wearing headphones. Where I live (and most places these days) it's a BAD IDEA to be out in public and give someone the chance to sneak up on you unawares;

Eh. I don't buy into the whole "culture of terror" we got going on in this country. I wear my headphones most always when I'm out walking; have been since I was a teenager. I've never been the victim of any crime that would have been preventable if I hadn't been wearing headphones. But that's really a whole seperate debate.

...if you're in your house, why not just play a CD as loud as you want?

Because I can play my iPod as loud as I want through my stereo. It's like I've got a 300-disc changer attached to the thing. I just set it to shuffle, hit play, and I don't have to touch the thing again until I'm ready to turn it off. No swapping discs, no skipping over the one or two songs I don't like on the album to get to the songs I do like (songs I don't like get deleted). Plus, I'm listening to music I'd almost totally forgotten about. I was big into Iron Maiden in highschool, then got all "sophisticated" in college and stopped listening to them. But I kept the CDs, and on a whim ripped them with the rest of my collection, and I'm just now remembering why I liked them so much ten years ago.

In a nutshell, iPods cost like $300 for something I hate and don't need OR want.

Well, then you should probably not buy one. Me, I spent close to $600 on mine, counting periphreals and the extended warranty, and I don't regret a single cent of it. Best purchase I've made since I bought my very first PC.

When someone mentions their iPod I have to really, really restrain myself from busting a gut.

Well, I hope you got a good chuckle out of this post, then.

Oh, and for the record, I think iPods look pretty slick. Sort of retro-modern. I like!

[ultrafilter]

I live in a townhouse...are your speakers pointed towards the shared wall? :confused: (Actually, "as loud as I want" is not all that loud, heh.)

I live in a second-story condo. Doesn't matter where I point the speakers, the folks downstairs are right there. And I work in a cube farm, near a bunch of loud people, so having decent music and headphones is very important.

[MrFantsyPants]

I like my iPod.

I have it sitting in its dock on a shelf with a set of creature speakers. Great sound, easy to use. Everything is right there and it looks slick (thanks to the dock).

We throw it into the car for long trips, and it makes plane trips and dentist appointments much more bearable.

I've got no beef with anyone who doesn't like iPods for any reason, but if you tell me I bought it because of slick marketing, I'm likely to get a little offended.

[Nonsuch]

So I installed iTunes on my computer to try that out. iTunes is a horrible mp3 system! (IMO, of course.) It was so much harder to locate files; maybe I just didn't like it because I'm used to Windows Media Player, but I didn't like it.

In iTunes, you don't have to "locate" files; you tell iTunes where your music lives, and it puts the files away for you. You shouldn't have to be combing your hard drive keeping track of thousands of music files; there's simply no benefit to it.

And let's put to bed this notion that you have to send your iPod back to Apple for a new battery. PDASmart (http://www.pdasmart.com/ipodpartscenter.htm) makes a home-battery-replacement kit that includes simple instructions, custom tools, and a new battery.

[Misnomer]

Now, I really want one of these. (http://www.neurosaudio.com) It plays MP3s, Ogg Vorbis, FM radio, it records, it transmits to FM (no need for a car adapter!), and the firmware is Open Source. I like that last part best; maybe someone will add a player for the native Super Nintendo sound format (.smc).
Holy crap, I think I'm in love. :eek: The Neuros looks awesome!

[rjung]

Marketing. Say whatever you want about the folks at Apple, but they know how to market stuff.
Odd how it's never worked for them before... :dubious:

[Cat Fight]

I love my iPod. I want to have its sleek white babies. But sometimes when I'm walking down the street and I see others with those anti-headphones (aka non-black) I don't want to nod politely like we're members in a cool new club, I just feel obnoxious.
I've also started using the iPod as a general unit of value/currency e.g. 'How many iPods did it cost you?' 'Yeah, I'm making about 3 iPods a week now. 40GBs, natch.' That's not obnoxious at all, though.
Also, I think having access to all those songs at once is giving me ADD.

[Askance]

While I have your attention: are there any MP3/iPod style thingies available which have an FM and an AM radio built in? I know, I know, but that's what I want.

[Tentacle Monster]

AndrewT:PoGo! (http://www.pogoproducts.com/radio_yourway.html) does it. I had to scroll down quite a bit to find that you can, in fact, use it as a bog-standard MP3 player as well. Unfortunately, the most memory you can get on this thing is 128 MB.

Ooh, and both the Pogo and the Neuros can record from a line-in! That's it, I'm'a gonna save up and get me a Neuros. You people have no idea how many cassette tapes I have cluttering up my car, constantly getting lost and re-found amidst all the other crap that's cluttering up my car. If I can just hook up my portable cassette player and rip the tapes directly, that's going to save a lot of ass-pain. It gets annoying, wanting to listen to Cypress Hill but only finding Oingo Boingo, a few George Carlin tapes and National Lampoon's The White House Tapes.

And this has changed my opinion on the iPod a bit. You wanna spend more and get less, that's your prerogative.

[Tentacle Monster]

Oh, forgot to mention one thing. While the Pogo's onboard memory is limited to 128 megs, tops; there's nothing keeping you from moving the radio bits from the Pogo to your computer, then recording more.

[Askance]

AndrewT:PoGo! (http://www.pogoproducts.com/radio_yourway.html) does it. I had to scroll down quite a bit to find that you can, in fact, use it as a bog-standard MP3 player as well. Unfortunately, the most memory you can get on this thing is 128 MB.


Thanks for finding that for me. So it's basically a radio recorder that also does MP3. I wonder if it has as nice a PC download interface as the iPod, and features like shuffle etc. I imagine I would mostly use it as an MP3 player but listen to (not record) radio occasionally.

How many nominal "tunes" will 128mb hold?

BTW it does says that it has a "SD (up to 256MB) / MMC (up to 128MB) expansion slot for adding additional memory".

[JohnBckWLD]

...I put the thing on shuffle and let it play on the morning and evening commute. Sometimes the choices don't work at all...Case In Point (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=5098254&postcount=5): Rainbow Man - The Pogues => Popcorn :eek: - Hot Butter => Accidents will Happen - Elvis Costello & The Attractions
Re: "When I finally have a few minutes to myself I cherish the silence."I'll have plenty of time to enjoy the silence once I'm dead.Dry, to the point, funny and oh-so-true.

Something I've thought, but probably never posted: I, for one, look forward to the day when people on this message board have more discussions about their iPods than they do about their cats or their favorite Star Wars (or Star Trek) moments.

picker, I recommend the Lansing travel speakers (for the beach), a Belkin iPod RCA cable and if you drive alot (and can deal with a small amout of interference); the car radio convertor cradle.

Hmmm, 30 some-odd posts to your thread and no mention of the iPodlounge (http://ipodlounge.com/)? In case you havent stumbled across it yet, it's a valuable resource.

[Podkayne]

AndrewT:PoGo! (http://www.pogoproducts.com/radio_yourway.html) does it. I had to scroll down quite a bit to find that you can, in fact, use it as a bog-standard MP3 player as well. Unfortunately, the most memory you can get on this thing is 128 MB.
...

And this has changed my opinion on the iPod a bit. You wanna spend more and get less, that's your prerogative.

I looked into the PoGo RadioYourWay. It sounded like a really awesome idea, since I listen to a lot of programs on Public Radio and would love to be above to record programs to listen to at my leisure. Unfortunately its average rating on Amazon is currently three and a half stars (which, to their credit, is up from the two and a half they had when I was shopping for an mp3 player.) If I'm going to drop serious money on a hunk of electronics, I need to be pretty confident in the product.

It's highly debatable whether I "got less" in purchasing an iPod. I have an mp3 player that will also play the many songs I've downloaded from the iTunes store.

In the past, I've fallen for doohickies that claim that they'll do everything under the sun, all in one convenient, easy-to-use package, and typically I've found that, while they can do lots of stuff, usually don't do any one thing particularly well. The only exception is my Swiss Army Knife, paragon of multitaskers. :) So when someone says that Product X is better than Product Y, because Product X has "more features" so you "get more for your money," I am always skeptical. YMMV, naturally.

[YoudNeverGuess]

I've got a question. I've been thinking about getting an iPod and the idea of the 'shuffle' function really makes me want to get one. However, I have a lot of classical music (ex- music student talking) that I'd like to have access to now and again on the iPod, but when I'm walking home from work (when I would love the shuffle feature) I generally prefer to listen to rock/pop etc. There's no point trying to listen to classical music over traffic noise. The dynamic range is too great, you either can't hear the quiet sections or else turn it up and then get your eardrums blasted to smithereens by the sudden loud bits.

Anyway my question is - can you sort the music into sections/ folders so that it will only shuffle through a specified genre??? And if it doesn't when they do add this feature do I get any royalties? ;)

[ultrafilter]

Anyway my question is - can you sort the music into sections/ folders so that it will only shuffle through a specified genre??? And if it doesn't when they do add this feature do I get any royalties? ;)

No royalties for you cause it's already there in both the iPod and Creative.

[YoudNeverGuess]

Wow that was quick. Thanks ultrafilter. Man I have got to get one now - but I've already asked for skiboots for christmas :( - oh decisions, decisions. So much to consume, so little time...

[Nonsuch]

In the past, I've fallen for doohickies that claim that they'll do everything under the sun, all in one convenient, easy-to-use package, and typically I've found that, while they can do lots of stuff, usually don't do any one thing particularly well. The only exception is my Swiss Army Knife, paragon of multitaskers. :) So when someone says that Product X is better than Product Y, because Product X has "more features" so you "get more for your money," I am always skeptical. YMMV, naturally.

To an extent, I think this summarizes the differences in design philosophy between Apple and most other software/PC makers. Apple concentrates on building devices and software that do a few things really well, while others stuff in as many features as they can, which can adversely affect a product's usability.

[Slacker]

iPod fanboy checking in. I grabbed a 15GB in March, then decided I had to have the dock and the carrying case, so I returned it for a 20GB (third generation) model. It was love at first sight. :swoon: I copied my CD collection and other MP3s to it, which amounts to aroun 3,000 songs. I listen to it at least six to eight hours every day. On the way to and from work, through most of the work day, while doing work around the house, etc.

When the new ones came out with the mini-style click wheel I dumped mine on eBay and bought a 20 GB one of those. :D Easily the best purchase I've ever made. ;)

Oh, and I like iTunes. I actually got hooked using that before I was even considering getting an MP3 player. I like the way it organizes everything with normal and smart playlists. I use the comments field to specify things further from there. So I have playlists that only play stuff I know how to play on guitar, only clean stuff when the niece is around, only play Morrissey and the Smiths, and so on and so on. Love it! :D

I picked up a "podsleeve" for it lately too to protect it. It hides some of the natural beauty of the iPod, but it's great for sticking it in my pocket while I'm working out or mowing the lawn.

And word to whoever mentioned AM radio would be a good idea. The "feature rich" models never interested me because (a) I don't need to record anything and (b) I can't stand any FM stations in Dallas. I can't really stand AM either, but at least the rabid right-wing talk shows are worth a laugh. ^__^

Rumor has it that we'll be seeing an iPod with some kind of video functionality soon. Oh yes, it will be mine. :D

[audiobottle]

So far it seems like the biggest advantage the iPod has is size. The Neuros thing that TentacleMonster has some sweet features, and the Zen Touch apparently has amazing sound plus an advertised 24 hour battery life, but neither seems to be able to compete with the size of the iPod. The Zen Touch review page it said that the company specificially doesn't recommend using the Zen Touch for jogging because the touch pad is really sensitive. Does the iPod have the same problem with their touch pad?

[picker]

oes the iPod have the same problem with their touch pad?

Nope, not at all - there's a nifty little hold button that prevents the click wheel from being accidentally futzed with.

[rjung]

Anyway my question is - can you sort the music into sections/ folders so that it will only shuffle through a specified genre?
With the iPod/iTunes, you can create a "Smart Playlist"; it's a list of songs that are dynamically updated as your criteria changes. You could, for instance, have a "Classical" smart playlist that has all your songs tagged with "Genre" = "Classical," then select that and shuffle through it.

Or you can get really wild, and create a list like:
...genre is "Rock"...
...rating is "3 stars" or better...
...last played is one week ago or later...
...artist is not "Billy Joel"...
...limit list to 10 songs...

You then end up with a list of 10 Billy Joel-free Rock songs, all of whom you've rated 3 stars or better, and you haven't heard in a week or more.

Let's see the Creative do that. ;)

[Podkayne]

With the iPod/iTunes, you can create a "Smart Playlist"; it's a list of songs that are dynamically updated as your criteria changes. You could, for instance, have a "Classical" smart playlist that has all your songs tagged with "Genre" = "Classical," then select that and shuffle through it.

But why would you do that when you can simply do: Browse > Genres > Classical ?

The Rock 'n' Roll one is *slightly* more complicated, 'cause I've got the following genres Alternative, Electronica, Pop and Rock. I don't usually change the genres from how they come down from the CDDB--but I could change them so that all of those are just called Rock. Or I could do a Smart Playlist, as rjung suggests.

[Crescent]

I love my Creative Zen Jukebox I got a year ago. I hate ear buds and headphones, so I jack it into either my computer, the car radio (with a modulator) or mostly an old set of Sony speakers that I bought back in '86 when I got my first Discman (at work where I listen to it the most).

[rjung]

But why would you do that when you can simply do: Browse > Genres > Classical ?
Can you shuffle in Genres? Never tried, myself.

Besides, Smart Playlists are too cool for words. Use 'em wherever possible.

[astro]

I'd be curious to know why people feel they have to have 25,000 songs (or whatever) at their fingertips at any given time. I have a Palm with an MP3 function and while the sound is awesome and the ease of use is stellar, I find I never use it because I'm already bombarded by music everywhere I go: the store, the radio, at work, etc. When I finally have a few minutes to myself I cherish the silence. Plus, 90% of the people who listen to walkmen/iPods are doing so wearing headphones. Where I live (and most places these days) it's a BAD IDEA to be out in public and give someone the chance to sneak up on you unawares; if you're in your house, why not just play a CD as loud as you want?

In a nutshell, iPods cost like $300 for something I hate and don't need OR want. When someone mentions their iPod I have to really, really restrain myself from busting a gut.

As much as I love neat gadgets I''ll agree with you here 100%. There are times peace and quit is the most important thing you can have. I love music, but needing or having 10,000 songs at my fingertips 24/7 is a bit much.

[Podkayne]

Can you shuffle in Genres? Never tried, myself.Yup. You can shuffle anything. Just put your iPod (or iTunes, if you're listening on your computer) in shuffle mode and browse to whatever you want (a genre, an artist, or an album) and hit play.

Besides, Smart Playlists are too cool for words. Use 'em wherever possible.Too true. I have an "Orchestral" smart playlist with all the classical stuff, plus a list of soundtrack composers. (I didn't want the whole Soundtrack genre because it contains non-orchestral soundtracks.)

You can also use the search feature in iTunes to do cool stuff. Want to listen to every song in your library with "love" in the title? Just type "love" into the wee search thingie at the upper right hand corner of iTunes, and, badda-bing, instant playlist. Not exactly a smart playlist, but pretty clever anyway. Every artist named David or Dave? Type "Dav". Naturally, you can make Smart Playlists out of all of these too, with just a few more clicks.

[fusoya]

I love my iPod. I want to have its sleek white babies. But sometimes when I'm walking down the street and I see others with those anti-headphones (aka non-black) I don't want to nod politely like we're members in a cool new club, I just feel obnoxious.


Happy ipod owner here. Best investment I've ever made.

On the subject of the headphones, those things suck. I hate in-ear headphones as it is, but those are horrible. I threw them out after trying them once and stuck to my trusty over-ear headphones that I've been using for a couple of years. I occasionally get asked why I don't use the white headphones with it, and when I ask them why I should, I've gotten the answers of "so that other people know that you have an ipod!" and "because what's the point of having an ipod if everyone thinks that you're listening to a cd player" .... these people I want to punch. I didn't get my ipod to show off my bling bling, I got it to store my entire music collection (well, 40GB of it....I managed to fill it) in my pocket.

I've also been asked at least 3 times by strangers who've seen me holding my ipod how I managed to change the headphones. I can't even dignify that with an answer.

[Miller]

On the subject of the headphones, those things suck. I hate in-ear headphones as it is, but those are horrible. I threw them out after trying them once and stuck to my trusty over-ear headphones that I've been using for a couple of years. I occasionally get asked why I don't use the white headphones with it, and when I ask them why I should, I've gotten the answers of "so that other people know that you have an ipod!" and "because what's the point of having an ipod if everyone thinks that you're listening to a cd player" .... these people I want to punch. I didn't get my ipod to show off my bling bling, I got it to store my entire music collection (well, 40GB of it....I managed to fill it) in my pocket.

I agree with you about the headphones. I used them twice, then ditched 'em and went back to my old pair that I'd used with my DiscMan (before I dropped it and decided to buy an iPod). The kind that hook over your ear like eyeglasses, with the connecting band going around the back of your head, are the most comfortable headphones I've ever worn.

Also, I've never met anyone who thought I should use the headphones it came with so "everyone knows I own an iPod." If I ever meet them, I will beat them to death with their own iPod, then string up the corpse with their crappy ear-bud iPod headphones as a warning to shallow idiots everywhere.

I've also been asked at least 3 times by strangers who've seen me holding my ipod how I managed to change the headphones. I can't even dignify that with an answer.

Those people die, too. For the good of the human species.

[Anachronism]

AndrewT:PoGo! (http://www.pogoproducts.com/radio_yourway.html) does it. I had to scroll down quite a bit to find that you can, in fact, use it as a bog-standard MP3 player as well. Unfortunately, the most memory you can get on this thing is 128 MB.

Ooh, and both the Pogo and the Neuros can record from a line-in! That's it, I'm'a gonna save up and get me a Neuros. You people have no idea how many cassette tapes I have cluttering up my car, constantly getting lost and re-found amidst all the other crap that's cluttering up my car. If I can just hook up my portable cassette player and rip the tapes directly, that's going to save a lot of ass-pain. It gets annoying, wanting to listen to Cypress Hill but only finding Oingo Boingo, a few George Carlin tapes and National Lampoon's The White House Tapes.

And this has changed my opinion on the iPod a bit. You wanna spend more and get less, that's your prerogative.
There is a freeware program called audacity that allows you to record from the line in to your computer and save the files as mp3s. Then you can listen to them any way you want. You can download many radio shows from newsgroups and I am sure you could record them through your computer somehow if you wanted to.

I love iTunes and my iPod, the biggest downside is you have to spend a lot of time rating your music and making sure the tags are the way you want them. Once you get everything rated and tagged it's great, I can find anything in my music collection quickly and easily and I can make up playlists in a few minutes. I could never get windows media player to do anything except play files, anytime I tried to make a playlist it turned into a disaster.

The iPod (and other mp3 players I suppose) are far superior to CDs, I have ~1200 songs on mine which would be about 100 audio CDs. 100 audio cds are far bigger than the iPod and you still need something to play them in. With my iPod if I don't care about the artist but just want to listen to rock I click Genre rock and let the iPod shuffle through all my rock songs. If I want just 80's :o music I click my 80s playlist. Etc., lets see you do that with your CDs.

Of course there is no need to have 1000+ songs with you all the time but with it so easy to carry so much music I find myself listening to stuff I might not otherwise. I also have about 5 audio books in my iPod, I only listen to one at a time but when I am ready to start a new one I have several to choose from.

Personally I love iTunes and my iPod and think I got my moneys worth but if another mp3 player suits you better than I hope you enjoy it.