# I for one welcome my new iPod overlord. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 13, 2004, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-for-one-welcome-my-new-ipod-overlord/269038 "2004-10-13T17:27:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-for-one-welcome-my-new-ipod-overlord/269038/41 "2004-10-14T17:42:19Z")
> [@AudioBottle](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-for-one-welcome-my-new-ipod-overlord/269038/42 "2004-10-14T22:38:42Z")
> [@YoudNeverGuess](#): > > 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._😉 ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-for-one-welcome-my-new-ipod-overlord/269038/43 "2004-10-14T23:36:04Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Crescent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e99b99/32.png) [@Crescent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crescent)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-for-one-welcome-my-new-ipod-overlord/269038/44 "2004-10-15T03:12:19Z")
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). ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-for-one-welcome-my-new-ipod-overlord/269038/45 "2004-10-15T06:13:39Z")
> [@Podkayne](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-for-one-welcome-my-new-ipod-overlord/269038/46 "2004-10-15T06:22:49Z")
> [@voguevixen](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-for-one-welcome-my-new-ipod-overlord/269038/47 "2004-10-15T14:04:30Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![fusoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@fusoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fusoya)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-for-one-welcome-my-new-ipod-overlord/269038/48 "2004-10-15T17:02:37Z")
> [@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. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-for-one-welcome-my-new-ipod-overlord/269038/49 "2004-10-15T20:41:10Z")
> [@fusoya](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Anachronism](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@Anachronism](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anachronism)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-for-one-welcome-my-new-ipod-overlord/269038/50 "2004-10-15T21:04:39Z")
> [@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. 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. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-for-one-welcome-my-new-ipod-overlord/269038.md?page=2)