# All right. \*sigh\* Tell me about these crazy iPod thingies. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 18, 2006, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-right-sigh-tell-me-about-these-crazy-ipod-thingies/376869 "2006-10-18T01:11:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![slaphead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@slaphead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slaphead)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-right-sigh-tell-me-about-these-crazy-ipod-thingies/376869/41 "2006-10-19T16:19:45Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog] IS there something about their technology that precludes the use of headphones lie we used with our Walkmen in the 80s, or are the kids just rude little shits?[/curmudgeon] [/QUOTE] The latter. I use in-ear headphones that not only prevent the tish-tish-tish-tish noise leaking out to annoy my fellow commuters, but also provide 20db of sound isolation to block out all those tossers who think I prefer to hear their music over my own. Annoying fuckers have made themselves prematurely deaf, so they need to turn the volume up EVEN LOUDER. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-right-sigh-tell-me-about-these-crazy-ipod-thingies/376869/42 "2006-10-19T16:46:13Z")
Do the in-the-ear headphones stay in? I’ve had trouble with ones I’ve used with my portable CD player…they simply don’t fit in my ear and fall out. Are the iPod earbuds different somehow, or am I going to have to get some bajillion dollar custom jobs? (I’m also considering making the leap) ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-right-sigh-tell-me-about-these-crazy-ipod-thingies/376869/43 "2006-10-19T17:05:00Z")
[QUOTE=Stonebow] 1. if I have a large library in mp3 format, will the iPod brand player play them all? [/QUOTE] Isn’t this like asking whether a DVD player can play DVDs? ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-right-sigh-tell-me-about-these-crazy-ipod-thingies/376869/44 "2006-10-19T17:16:01Z")
[QUOTE=An Arky] Do the in-the-ear headphones stay in? I’ve had trouble with ones I’ve used with my portable CD player…they simply don’t fit in my ear and fall out. Are the iPod earbuds different somehow, or am I going to have to get some bajillion dollar custom jobs? (I’m also considering making the leap) [/QUOTE] They don’t stay in my ears. (I’m glad someone else has this problem. I thought perhaps I had deformed ear canals.) ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-right-sigh-tell-me-about-these-crazy-ipod-thingies/376869/45 "2006-10-19T17:20:42Z")
We might just in be the Deformed Ear Canal Society, methinks. ---
**Author:** ![RumMunkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@RumMunkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RumMunkey)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-right-sigh-tell-me-about-these-crazy-ipod-thingies/376869/46 "2006-10-19T17:26:20Z")
> [@](#): > > 1. if I have a large library in mp3 format, will the iPod brand player play them all? > 2. what video formats do the newer video iPods support? I have a lot of clips in mpg, avi, and wmv format. would any of these work? 1. Yes. 2. iTunes will play most anything I think (save for maybe WMV). The iPod will only play MP4s. The good news is all you have to do is right-click (or optn-click) on the file in iTunes and choose “convert for iPod” and away it goes. The converter is built into iTunes. ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-right-sigh-tell-me-about-these-crazy-ipod-thingies/376869/47 "2006-10-19T17:26:45Z")
Beware ITunes. This software is really invasive and problematic. Simply playing a soundfile that somebody emails to you automatically plays in ITunes, rather than Winamp or whatever music you used to use. Then it’s automatically added to your IPod. Apple simply assumes that it’s the center of the universe when it comes to music on your PC, and acts accordingly. Songs you buy from Apple will play in Itunes but not anywhere else. Because Apple has so much of the marketplace, they got greedy and are not being compatible with the rest of the world. In addition to being annoying this is always a mistake (Remember Beta?). ITunes only seems to sync the music on the PC with the music on the Ipod. They probably do this to prevent filesharing, but this really hobbles the usability of the IPod. I’ve been using Palm OS devices for a while, and they have it right. Sync means anything on the device not on the machine goes over to the machine, while at the same time anything on the machine not on the device goes on the device. It should always be a two way street, not one way. I think there might be a way to change settings to make the Ipod work as an external drive, as it should, but it’s definitely not the default. There are also other software programs available for the IPod besides ITunes, but I don’t know anything about them. I’d save some money and buy an MP3 player that’s not from Apple. There’s plenty of good ones out there. ---
**Author:** ![wasson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/4da419/32.png) [@wasson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wasson)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-right-sigh-tell-me-about-these-crazy-ipod-thingies/376869/48 "2006-10-19T18:05:10Z")
> [@](#): > > Beware ITunes. This software is really invasive and problematic. Simply playing a soundfile that somebody emails to you automatically plays in ITunes, rather than Winamp or whatever music you used to use. Then it’s automatically added to your IPod. Apple simply assumes that it’s the center of the universe when it comes to music on your PC, and acts accordingly. Almost any software you install on your computer takes over the opening duties of whatever file it can. This is a Windows setting, and can be changed. > [@](#): > > Songs you buy from Apple will play in Itunes but not anywhere else. Because Apple has so much of the marketplace, they got greedy and are not being compatible with the rest of the world. In addition to being annoying this is always a mistake (Remember Beta?). Songs you buy with DRM are usually device specific. For example, Windows PlaysForSure won’t play on Macs or iPods at all. That’s how DRM works. Apple’s DRM works within iTunes and the iPod. > [@](#): > > ITunes only seems to sync the music on the PC with the music on the Ipod. They probably do this to prevent filesharing, but this really hobbles the usability of the IPod. Exactly… 1 copy of iTunes is “tied” with your iPod, so if you connect that iPod to another computer, it’ll try to sync that library to your iPod. How else should it work? Just load the iPod up with everything on both computers? Yeah, this is for piracy, but also people like me who would go totally insane if that iPod synced like that. Then how would you delete a song? You’d have to delete it twice. Or 3 times if you’re synching between computers. > [@](#): > > I think there might be a way to change settings to make the Ipod work as an external drive, as it should, but it’s definitely not the default. This is just a setting in preferences. It’s easy to make the iPod act as a disk. > [@](#): > > I’d save some money and buy an MP3 player that’s not from Apple. I thought we already established that the iPod was pretty competitively priced, and cheaper in a lot of cases? ---
**Author:** ![RumMunkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@RumMunkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RumMunkey)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-right-sigh-tell-me-about-these-crazy-ipod-thingies/376869/49 "2006-10-19T18:08:17Z")
> [@](#): > > Simply playing a soundfile that somebody emails to you automatically plays in ITunes, rather than Winamp or whatever music you used to use. If your iTunes does that, its because _you_ told it to when you installed it. It’s a preference and you get the chance to turn it on or off when you install, and can change it anytime once installed. Some people want this. Just because you don’t is no reason to get pissy. Turn it off. > [@](#): > > Songs you buy from Apple will play in Itunes but not anywhere else. So don’t buy them. There’s no rule that you have to buy your music from the iTunes music store to play on your iPod. Import your own CDs in MP3 if that’s all you want to do. Or, if you absolutely must buy from Apple but can’t bear to have an AAC instead of an MP3, just burn it and import it back in as an MP3. > [@](#): > > ITunes only seems to sync the music on the PC with the music on the Ipod. They probably do this to prevent filesharing, but this really hobbles the usability of the IPod. It’s absolutely to prevent file sharing. I don’t understand personally why you’d \*need \*to copy music off your iPod if you weren’t up to something illegal, but if you \*had \*to there are ways it can be done. Jeebus, I saw a software package in Best Buy that does this if you have to restore from a HD crash and you don’t have backups (again, that would be the user’s fault. Apple is responsible for your backup strategy now too?). > [@](#): > > I think there might be a way to change settings to make the Ipod work as an external drive, as it should, but it’s definitely not the default. You didn’t even \*read \*the screens during install & set up did you? It’s right there in the install part, and again, that can be turned off and on at the click of a button. Personally, _I_ want my iPod for music & movies since I have a thumb drive for my files. You may want files on your iPod. Both options are available. Different folks, different strokes and all that. You’re pissy because the \*default \*option isn’t the one \*you \*want? Oh, the **horror**! Not everybody wants what **Debaser** wants! Ring an alarm.. or something. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-right-sigh-tell-me-about-these-crazy-ipod-thingies/376869/50 "2006-10-19T18:13:54Z")
[QUOTE=Debaser] Beware ITunes. This software is really invasive and problematic. Simply playing a soundfile that somebody emails to you automatically plays in ITunes, rather than Winamp or whatever music you used to use. Then it’s automatically added to your IPod. Apple simply assumes that it’s the center of the universe when it comes to music on your PC, and acts accordingly. [/QUOTE] So it’s sort of like the old Realplayer? (which, BTW, isn’t like that anymore as long as you deselect it from being the default player while installing it). I’m guessing that the non-iPod players are more friendly in this respect. I can load files onto my Zen Micro using the Creative software that came with the player, the Yahoo Music service, the Rhapsody service, or WMP 10. [QUOTE=Debaser] Sync means anything on the device not on the machine goes over to the machine, while at the same time anything on the machine not on the device goes on the device. [/QUOTE] I’ve never quite understood this. I have a 6 GB mp3 player, and about 90 GB of music on my computer. I’ve never tried using the automatic Sync function simply because it didn’t make sense. I’m guessing that it would start loading the files in whatever order they were filed under in my music folders until the player was full. I’l have to try it next time I want to change out all my music and see what happens. I’m guessing it wil be alphabetical so I’ll have everything from Abba (don’t laugh, it was free) to Billy Bragg. Weezer will never make it. Ok, go ahead and laugh. I deserve it. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-right-sigh-tell-me-about-these-crazy-ipod-thingies/376869/51 "2006-10-19T18:15:56Z")
[QUOTE=Debaser] Then it’s automatically added to your IPod. [/QUOTE] Only if you set the option for it to do this automatically, you can pretty easily change this so it only adds to your I-Pod what you tell it to, and only when you direct it to. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-right-sigh-tell-me-about-these-crazy-ipod-thingies/376869/52 "2006-10-19T21:24:56Z")
Yep, when you first hook up your ipod with itunes on, it asks you to automatically sync the ipod or manually sync it. If you manually do it, it will only copy over tracks that you choose to copy. ---
**Author:** ![mduser63](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c37758/32.png) [@mduser63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mduser63)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-right-sigh-tell-me-about-these-crazy-ipod-thingies/376869/53 "2006-10-19T21:25:51Z")
[QUOTE=RumMunkey] Just a nitpick If you import your music in AAC format, those files are not under any sort of DRM, but I do believe that only Apple products will play them at the moment (iPod, iTunes, Quicktime, and it’s probably supported in the iLife suite but I’m only 95% sure on that). [MP4](http://www.apple.com/quicktime/technologies/aac/) is iPod’s video container. [/QUOTE] Not true. AAC is a standard, and while iTunes certainly is the main application that uses it, it is gaining more support every day on non-iPod music players. There are quite a few cell phones out there that will play AAC, the Sony PSP and upcoming Microsoft Zune will play AAC, etc. AAC is _not_ an Apple format, they have just popularized it. Wikipedia has a good article on AAC, and they include an (incomplete) list of devices that will play AAC. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-right-sigh-tell-me-about-these-crazy-ipod-thingies/376869/54 "2006-10-19T21:46:56Z")
[QUOTE=Jonathan Chance] Thanks for all the info, folks. Two follow ups, related to the transition: 1. I ask about DRM because I got a new Dell recently. It came with an updated version of MusicMatch and I have a lifetime subscription to MM. [/QUOTE] Since you’ve already paid for the songs, I assume it is perfectly legal to make a different format file to listen to them on a different player (Home Recording Act, I think). The free program _Audacity_ can convert any audio output directly to a .wav format, and then to DRM-free .mp3 format. I used this to convert a bunch of old (public domain, but annoyingly DRM-ed) Real Audio format radio programs (Orson Welles shows, The Shadow, Falsh Gordon, etc) to .mp3 format so I could listen to them on my iPod. I also had some Musicmatch files that I also could convert. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-right-sigh-tell-me-about-these-crazy-ipod-thingies/376869/55 "2006-10-19T21:50:40Z")
> [@](#): > > I’ve never quite understood this. I have a 6 GB mp3 player, and about 90 GB of music on my computer. I’ve never tried using the automatic Sync function simply because it didn’t make sense. I’m guessing that it would start loading the files in whatever order they were filed under in my music folders until the player was full. I’l have to try it next time I want to change out all my music and see what happens. I’m guessing it wil be alphabetical so I’ll have everything from Abba (don’t laugh, it was free) to Billy Bragg. Weezer will never make it. You’re correct, but you can also set iTunes to only synchronise selected playlists if you only want specific subsets copied to the iPod. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-right-sigh-tell-me-about-these-crazy-ipod-thingies/376869/56 "2006-10-19T23:53:52Z")
So I’m going to download this wacky iTunes thing tonight and point it at my music files. Anyone know if that has any chance of screwing up my MM set up? ---
**Author:** ![Oswald\_Bastable](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oswald_bastable/32/214_2.png) [@Oswald\_Bastable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oswald_Bastable)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2006, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-right-sigh-tell-me-about-these-crazy-ipod-thingies/376869/57 "2006-10-20T09:18:09Z")
[QUOTE=Jonathan Chance] So I’m going to download this wacky iTunes thing tonight and point it at my music files. Anyone know if that has any chance of screwing up my MM set up? [/QUOTE] Well, iTunes works best if you let it organise your files (which basically means it will copy them all into it’s own directory and organise them by Artist-Album-Song), however, there is a preference you can change so as it just uses your current file structure and doesn’t copy your files to its own directory. If you’re the kind of person who likes manually arranging your music files in your own unique way, iTunes might not be for you - before the iPod was even thought about, iTunes was not only an MP3 playing app, but an MP3 organisation app, and works best when you use it as your main music management tool, forgoing organising files in the Finder or Explorer. OB ---
**Author:** ![RumMunkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@RumMunkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RumMunkey)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2006, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-right-sigh-tell-me-about-these-crazy-ipod-thingies/376869/58 "2006-10-20T12:08:13Z")
> [@](#): > > AAC is not an Apple format, they have just popularized it. I never said it was -but thanks for updating me on more and more players starting to recognize the AAC standard. That’s certainly great news! ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2006, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-right-sigh-tell-me-about-these-crazy-ipod-thingies/376869/59 "2006-10-20T12:23:03Z")
[QUOTE=Oswald Bastable] Well, iTunes works best if you let it organise your files (which basically means it will copy them all into it’s own directory and organise them by Artist-Album-Song), however, there is a preference you can change so as it just uses your current file structure and doesn’t copy your files to its own directory. If you’re the kind of person who likes manually arranging your music files in your own unique way, iTunes might not be for you - before the iPod was even thought about, iTunes was not only an MP3 playing app, but an MP3 organisation app, and works best when you use it as your main music management tool, forgoing organising files in the Finder or Explorer. OB [/QUOTE] I haven’t done anything wonky with my file arrangements. I let the default rule. I just wanted to make certain that if I had both on my system at once it wouldn’t wig out on me. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2006, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-right-sigh-tell-me-about-these-crazy-ipod-thingies/376869/60 "2006-10-20T12:43:26Z")
Is it worth it to upgrade to the newer iPod if you don’t plan to use the video function? The battery just died in my 4G ipod, and it’s a little less than two years old. Do the newer generations provide increased battery power, or any other features other than the video capability and a color screen? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-right-sigh-tell-me-about-these-crazy-ipod-thingies/376869.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-right-sigh-tell-me-about-these-crazy-ipod-thingies/376869.md?page=4)