# I pit misleading news story re the ipod. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 23, 2006, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-misleading-news-story-re-the-ipod/357859 "2006-05-23T03:21:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SpaceDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spacedog/32/9932_2.png) [@SpaceDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpaceDog)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-misleading-news-story-re-the-ipod/357859/21 "2006-05-23T20:21:37Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > 1. Petition the Beatles’ estate(s) to stop being dipsticks and license the Beatles music for sale on one of the online music services, then buy and use a player that works with that service. True, but **tdn** said ‘play back as intended’, I think **Mikahw** and others are suggesting that this isn’t possible with many of the current standards/services due to compression rates, gaps, whatever. Depends how bothered you are about those things, but it’s important to note that you might not be getting the same as what you’d get with the CD. And ‘not the same’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘worse’. And there’s a further issue with ‘as intended’ depending how many different things you want to play it on, how restricted your copy of the music might be. That’s wandering off topic a bit. > [@](#): > > 1. Buy a CD with Abbey Road, rip it to your computer, and then install it on the MP3 player of your choice. For the moment. Copy protection, DMCA, and the polar bears may make that difficult, illegal and dangerous in the future. SD ---
**Author:** ![SpaceDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spacedog/32/9932_2.png) [@SpaceDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpaceDog)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-misleading-news-story-re-the-ipod/357859/22 "2006-05-23T20:49:23Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Really? No Beatles online? Hardly worth it. I suppose they don’t have much in the way of Brahms, either. I’d search, but iTunes is locked up while it updates stuff. Did I mentioned that I think it sucks ? > [@](#): > > I could do that, but there’s still the whole gapless deal. The deal with CDs and ripping things is that you have, more or less, complete control over how you store the songs and what you play them on. To be fair, you might still not be able to get your perfect gapless playback without picking up the right equipment and software. Oooo, iTunes is back. Tons of hits for Brahms, but I’d think there’s a good chance you could pick up free performances of classical stuff if you knew where to look. ---
**Author:** ![rayh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@rayh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayh)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-misleading-news-story-re-the-ipod/357859/23 "2006-05-23T21:10:45Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Really? No Beatles online? I think we can safely say the Beatles stuff is not going to be appearing on iTunes for a long time, if ever. ---
**Author:** ![Mikahw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Mikahw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikahw)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-misleading-news-story-re-the-ipod/357859/24 "2006-05-23T21:34:10Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > So let’s say I want to put, say, Abbey Road on my mp3 player. I don’t own the CD. I want it to play back as intended. What do I do? Assuming gaps are what’s keeping you from listening to it as intended, unfortunately it’s a bit complicated. If you have the CD: 1. The easiest way which should work with just about any player: Rip all the tracks as one file. I’m sure other programs will do this as well, but the only program that I know how to do it in is iTunes. When you put the CD in your computer, select the tracks you want to join, then select Advanced | join tracks, then rip the CD. The downside to that is you can’t select any track you want if you just want to listen to one, and you either have to listen to all your CDs to find out which ones are gapless, or just rip them all as a single file and forget about listening to single songs. 1. Either get another player (I know) or load Rockbox on the player you already have. I hear the Rio Karma supports gapless playback out of the box. As for Rockbox, The players that I know support gapless with Rockbox **iRiver:** H100, H110, H115, H120, H140, H320, H340 and **iPod** 4G (greyscale), Color/Photo, Nano, iPod with video (5G), and iPod Mini 1G and 2G. I know for a fact that Rockbox plays the following formats gaplessly, but there may be others: **Ogg Vorbis** **FLAC** (of course, FLAC files are pretty big and probably not a good idea for a portable player with a small hard drive and battery) **MP3s encoded with the LAME encoder** (Note: iTunes doesn’t encode with LAME. About a year ago, the LAME gapless support was a little flakey, but I just checked and it seems to work fine now) AAC support doesn’t seem to be good right now. If you’re using an iPod (or one of the supported iRiver players that’ll download from Napster), you can’t use those downloaded files while you’re running Rockbox. You can reboot to the default firmware at any time which would probably play those files. Unfortunately, installing Rockbox is a bit complicated, but [here’s the instructions](http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/ManualRockboxInstall) ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-misleading-news-story-re-the-ipod/357859/25 "2006-05-23T21:56:05Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I’m new to all this, so please fight my ignorance hear. > > So let’s say I want to put, say, Abbey Road on my mp3 player. I don’t own the CD. I want it to play back as intended. What do I do? When the Apple trademark was in dispute, there was good reason for the Beatles not to legitimize iTunes use of “Apple” in a music store. Now that they’ve lost their suit against Apple Computers, is there any reason for them to hold out further? ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-misleading-news-story-re-the-ipod/357859/26 "2006-05-23T22:04:45Z")
> [@iamthewalrus(:3=](#): > > When the Apple trademark was in dispute, there was good reason for the Beatles not to legitimize iTunes use of “Apple” in a music store. Now that they’ve lost their suit against Apple Computers, is there any reason for them to hold out further? Oops. The quote in that post was supposed to be this one > [@rayh](#): > > I think we can safely say the Beatles stuff is not going to be appearing on iTunes for a long time, if ever. ---
**Author:** ![rayh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@rayh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayh)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-misleading-news-story-re-the-ipod/357859/27 "2006-05-23T22:14:00Z")
> [@iamthewalrus(:3=](#): > > When the Apple trademark was in dispute, there was good reason for the Beatles not to legitimize iTunes use of “Apple” in a music store. Now that they’ve lost their suit against Apple Computers, is there any reason for them to hold out further? This time they won the trademark dispute. I think the Beatles don’t wish to legitimize anything to do with Apple Computers, it would limit them in any further disputes. There are other music stores and using one of them they would not be seen to be legitimizing Apple’s forays into the music business. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-misleading-news-story-re-the-ipod/357859/28 "2006-05-23T22:21:05Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > Totally. I wasn’t aware that CDs were dead - should I stop buying them? I want to be cool! > > I’m sticking with CDs for the near future. None of the downloaded options have the same sound quality; even though I listen to my music in MP3 form, it would bother me to know that I was purchasing it with reduced sound quality. Besides, I don’t want my hard disk to fail and leave me without my entire music collection. I said the modeal was dying, not that it was dead. The Internet is killing the traditional music store slowly but surely. There isn’t even a music store within 20 miles of my house that I’m aware of, and there used to be 2 in the local mall alone. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-misleading-news-story-re-the-ipod/357859/29 "2006-05-23T23:43:26Z")
> [@SpaceDog](#): > > True, but **tdn** said ‘play back as intended’, I think **Mikahw** and others are suggesting that this isn’t possible with many of the current standards/services due to compression rates, gaps, whatever. If we’re gonna start splitting hairs like this, then we better break out the wax cylinders first. (Don’t look at me, I’m a “160K MP3 is good enough” kinda guy) ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2006, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-misleading-news-story-re-the-ipod/357859/30 "2006-05-24T02:15:21Z")
> [@](#): > > I said the modeal was dying, not that it was dead. The Internet is killing the traditional music store slowly but surely. Sortof-kindof-maybe but we are not there yet. The issue is one of quality vs. convinenece. We will need far faster connections to surplant CD’s, but it will come. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-misleading-news-story-re-the-ipod/357859/31 "2006-05-25T20:50:29Z")
I’ve really gotten tired of this meme. There are many places to get music legally that work just fine in iTunes and load just fine on the iPod. I’ve been doing so for three years. And as long as we’re killing rumors, yes, you can use an iPod without iTunes. Sheesh. You’d think CNN would do just the tiniest bit of research before making blanket proclamations that are out-and-out wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-misleading-news-story-re-the-ipod/357859/32 "2006-05-26T08:43:55Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I’m new to all this, so please fight my ignorance hear. > > So let’s say I want to put, say, Abbey Road on my mp3 player. I don’t own the CD. I want it to play back as intended. What do I do? I think the point tdn is trying to make is that Abbey Road has two instances of three tracks making up a suite that plays as one song: Mean Mr. Mustard/Polythene Pam/She Came In Through The Bathroom Window and Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End. I have both of these on my iPod and the only thing to do is blend them into one track. I can’t listen to, say, Carry That Weight on it’s own, but who would want to? I’ve noticed that mp3s, even ones ripped off a CD still contain gaps, so I rip them as AIF’s, edit out the gaps with SoundEdit (I’m on a Mac), join tracks if I have to, and then convert the AIFs to mp3. You can put AIFs onto an iPod if you want, but they are ten times the size of mp3s. > [@](#): > > Buy a CD with Abbey Road, rip it to your computer, and then install it on the MP3 player of your choice. > [@](#): > > For the moment. Copy protection, DMCA, and the polar bears may make that difficult, illegal and dangerous in the future. How paranoid can you get? Are cops going to start checking iPods and demanding iTunes Music Store receipts? ---
**Author:** ![SpaceDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spacedog/32/9932_2.png) [@SpaceDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpaceDog)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-misleading-news-story-re-the-ipod/357859/33 "2006-05-26T10:12:56Z")
> [@Harvey The Heavy](#): > > How paranoid can you get? Are cops going to start checking iPods and demanding iTunes Music Store receipts? Oh I can get pretty fucking paranoid, but I wasn’t being 100% serious there. I don’t think people are ever going to seize your iPod and demand proof of ownership. But if the RIAA and others had their way (and it was technically possible) they’d prevent you from ripping music off CDs without it being digitally tagged. Then they’d insist that players didn’t play untagged music. Then you’d be stuffed. I don’t, for a second, think they’d actually get away with that and it’d be broken inside a day, but that’s what the big media companies want to do. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-misleading-news-story-re-the-ipod/357859/34 "2006-05-26T15:43:03Z")
> [@SpaceDog](#): > > But if the RIAA and others had their way (and it was technically possible) they’d prevent you from ripping music off CDs without it being digitally tagged. And if my aunt had balls, she’d be my uncle. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-misleading-news-story-re-the-ipod/357859/35 "2006-05-26T16:40:48Z")
> [@Harvey The Heavy](#): > > I think the point tdn is trying to make is that Abbey Road has two instances of three tracks making up a suite that plays as one song That was half of my point. The thing is, I don’t think the ripping software I have can blend songs. You mean I might actually have to **pay** for software? Say it ain’t so! ---
**Author:** ![biqu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@biqu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/biqu)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-misleading-news-story-re-the-ipod/357859/36 "2006-05-26T17:21:49Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > The thing is, I don’t think the ripping software I have can blend songs. > > You mean I might actually have to **pay** for software? Say it ain’t so! According to the [user manual](http://www.xiph.org/paranoia/manual.html) for the free software [cdparanoia](http://www.xiph.org/paranoia/index.html), you can rip an arbitrary span of music into a single file. You don’t have to pay for the program either, except with your time (getting it installed and talking to your hardware can be a non-trivial task). ---
**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:** [May 26, 2006, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-misleading-news-story-re-the-ipod/357859/37 "2006-05-26T19:36:25Z")
> [@Harvey The Heavy](#): > > I think the point tdn is trying to make is that Abbey Road has two instances of three tracks making up a suite that plays as one song: Mean Mr. Mustard/Polythene Pam/She Came In Through The Bathroom Window and Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End. I have both of these on my iPod and the only thing to do is blend them into one track. I can’t listen to, say, Carry That Weight on it’s own, but who would want to? I’ve noticed that mp3s, even ones ripped off a CD still contain gaps, so I rip them as AIF’s, edit out the gaps with SoundEdit (I’m on a Mac), join tracks if I have to, and then convert the AIFs to mp3. You can put AIFs onto an iPod if you want, but they are ten times the size of mp3s. Why don’t you join them before ripping them as MP3s? There’s no gaps when you do that. And there are ways to listen to individual tracks in “joined” tracks. It’s possible to add chapters to AAC files. I have a bunch of DJ mix CDs and I use a Mac program called ChapterToolMe to add chapters. Then you can jump to individual tracks via a popup menu in iTunes. It’s a pain in the ass, but doable. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2006, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-misleading-news-story-re-the-ipod/357859/38 "2006-05-28T23:57:19Z")
[QUOTE=Mikahw] **FLAC** (of course, FLAC files are pretty big and probably not a good idea for a portable player with a small hard drive and battery) [/QUOTE] This is because FLAC is the Free _Lossless_ Audio Codec. Great for archives, not so good for the ol’ iPod. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-misleading-news-story-re-the-ipod/357859.md?page=1)