I’m a recent Ipod user and I really like the equipment.
I do have 2 major complaints about the ITunes software though.
There are a million different podcasts and I want to try some out but there is really no info on any of them other than their name and general genres. I don’t see how people who put these things up can possibly be getting many new listeners with this horrible setup
Also, it’s really a pain to find albums to download. It seems that there are alot of tunes that aren’t sold in album bundles. And you still pay a buck a song to download an entire album. That makes these things pretty damn pricey considering there is virtually no overhead, manufacturing or advertising costs.
How do you deal with podcasts? I want to check some out but the interface is too damn unruly.
You may have better luck just searching the internets. Podcasts aren’t something that iTunes invented - they were well established before Apple jumped on board. Just do a Google search for (whatever interest) podcast and see what you find. For example, I searched for “Liberal Radio Podcast” and found this. If you see one you like, you can grab their “subscribe” link and put it into iTunes directly under the “Advanced” menu without going through their podcast interface in the Music Store.
As far as the album complaint goes, I’m not sure I’ve seen what you’re describing. Most of the artists I listen to are available in album form. The few that I’ve seen that are exceptions are due to the publisher. The Dandy Warhols Welcome to the Monkey House was one of those; apparently whoever controlled the rights to You Were The Last High objected to online distribution so the album was only available by individual track. I picked it up at the local CD joint (which I very rarely visit these days).
Otherwise albums are ten bucks each. The only other oddity I can think of are songs that are longer than a certain limit (10 minutes I think). They’re labeled “Album Only” and are not available for individual purchase.
He’s an iPod user though, so iTunes is the way to go.
Yahoo! is only cheaper if you’re buying the right albums. It seems to depend on how many tracks are on the album. I looked up a few albums I bought in recent times. They were $9.26 (Dandys), $8.60 (Aimee Mann), and $12.70 (Tori Amos). All were $9.99 on iTunes.
Regular tracks are the same 99 cents (unless you pay for their subscription plan).
And their music player is somehow even bulkier than iTunes (that’s an Apple accomplishment I assumed would be hard to top).
Well, there’s bandwidth, and that’s certinaly not free. Plus, you have licensing fees from the labels, which account for 90%+ of the track’s cost. In fact, when you combine bandwidth + hosting + license fees, iTunes is making a couple of pennies per track. But that’s not really Apple’s concern. Steev Jobs has repeatedly said that iTunes is just a way to spur sales of iPods.
Since you asked, I get them in Outlook via NewsGator… so I get them as email attachments. But the advice to skip the iTunes interface (at first) and search podcastalley.com or Google for some podcasts before adding them via iTunes is quite sound. I too find the iTunes podcast bits disappointing.
I don’t know about downloading music, but you can’t use anything with Yahoo’s DRM (in other words - anything purchased from Yahoo) with an iPod, only music you rip off CDs.
For the record, only iTunes downloaded music is supposed to work on the iPod. However, RealPlayer apparently found a way around it and advertises that their service is fully functional with the Apple device. Last I heard Apple was trying to put a stop to it though, so who knows if that’ll be permanent.
It works the other way too, IIRC - songs downloaded from iTunes will only work on the iPod - not any of the other portable MP3 players.
The iPod[sup]1[/sup] will play WAV, AIFF, Apple Lossless, AAC (non-DRM), MP3, Audible, and
AAC+Fairplay DRM (the ITMS songs). Actually that’s more formats than just about any other music player, not that it matters much.
Officially, music is only supposed to be loaded on an iPod using iTunes[sup]2[/sup]. Only music that is loaded to the iPod through iTunes will be available for playback on the iPod. Recent versions of iTunes will ‘disable’ any music loaded via other software, making it unavailable for playback. This measure is primarily a response to Real’s efforts. Songs loaded from one computer may not be uploaded to another computer by using iTunes.
Songs can be purchased from the ITMS[sup]3[/sup] and played back on any authorized computer or iPod. Songs can also be burned to CD, effectively ‘stripping’ the Fairplay DRM (if you were to re-rip, but this is fairly tedious ). Videos/TV shows may not be burned to another format, but can be played back on a TV from an iPod.
Podcasts are nothing more than audio programs used in conjunction with RSS to provide an easy distribution method. Once you ‘subscribe’ to the podcast you can get new ones as soon as they’re available. Podcasts existed before iTunes supported them, and it is not necessary to own an iPod or use iTunes to enjoy them. That said, the iPod does have a ‘Podcast’ menu now and iTunes has provided hooks for podcasts, and the ITMS can be used to search for them.
Importantly, Apple does not have a license for WMA and so cannot play WMA+DRM, which is what just about every other legal music download/subscription service uses. WMA files would have to be burned/re-ripped into a supported format to be played on an iPod.
[sup]1[/sup] That’s the portable player.
[sup]2[/sup] That’s the software you need on a computer.
[sup]3[/sup] That’s the iTunes Music (Media?) Store, accessible via the iTunes software.
Technically what you said was correct - only ‘iTunes downloaded’ music will play on an iPod. But with the earlier discussion on purchasing music, you seemed to conflate iTunes with the ITMS, suggesting that you have to purchase the music you play on your iPod (or even only play the music you purchase on the iPod).
It’s a common misunderstanding (given the integration with the program) and probably not one Apple’s going to be overtly clear about, but many people have the mistaken impression that you need to have one to go with the other. They are designed to work together, but not necessary.
Technically what you said was correct - only ‘iTunes downloaded’ music will play on an iPod. But with the earlier discussion on purchasing music, you seemed to conflate iTunes with the ITMS, suggesting that you have to purchase the music you play on your iPod (or even only play the music you purchase on the iPod).
It’s a common misunderstanding (given the integration with the program) and probably not one Apple’s going to be overtly clear about, but many people have the mistaken impression that you need to have one to go with the other. They are designed to work together, but not necessary.
Anyway, although I quoted you, it was meant for anyone else’s edification as well.
www.allofmp3.com sells mainstream albums for less than a dollar. Perhaps Apple is paying 10 dollars per album for the rights to sell those but I seriously doubt it.
I hadn’t noticed it being related to the length of the song - I thought it was based on the number of tracks on an album. For instance, Pink Floyd’s Animals only has five tracks on it (5 x 0.99 = $4.95) so the three long tracks are album only and to get them you have to pay $9.99. I guess it makes sense that those longer than 10 minutes are album only because any album with a lot of really long songs is likely to have fewer than the 10 or so tracks needed to add up to $9.99… although I noticed that Coldplay’s Parachutes (a 10 track album) has a 7 minute track that’s Album Only, presumably to stop people buying the tracks individually to save 5 cents.
Sorry, that’s not been my experience. One example, I plan on buying iTune’s John Fogerty album, which offers about 25 songs for $12. Basically, a 2-for-1 deal. On the other hand, I also plan on buying a John Coltrane album that basically has four cuts, albeit ones that last upward of 20 minutes each, and the cost is $20.
All-in-all, I find iTunes to offer pretty decent value.
