This could be a really stupid question with a simple solution, so please bear with me. I’m really not current with mp3 devices.
Currently I use a 2-year-old Creative mp3 player, but I’m hoping that by getting an iPod I can overcome a problem I’m having. The recordings I listen to are a mix of podcasts (downloaded free from various websites via Juice) and music (ripped from cds). I don’t use iTunes. The problem is: I haven’t found a way to listen to shuffled music without my podcasts popping into the shuffle. iPod users: does this work on an iPod?
I’ve looked at the newest version of iTunes and see that podcasts are separated from music, but only if the podcasts are downloaded from iTunes - not if they previously exist as mp3 files imported to the iPod.
I don’t want to have to have separate devices for podcasts and music. How have you solved this?
Yes, it works, but you might have to use iTunes. The latest version of iTunes allows you to check a box on each track (or multiple tracks) to leave it out when shuffling songs. It’s the one improvement that finally allowed me to use the shuffle feature, which has made me fall in love with my iPod all over again. I have a lot of books on tapes, and long classical pieces, and non-shuffle-friendly stuff (Karen Finley, Diamanda Galas) that made the shuffle mode not fun. Now I have all those things–and podcasts–checked off the list, and I can shuffle. Which is amazing with 5,000 songs, all of my own choosing: Ella Fitzgerald to Marilyn Manson to David Bowie to Fats Waller to XTC to Chopin to Kate Bush to L7 to Tom Jones to Super Furry Animals to Sigur Ros to Jeff Buckley to Scott Walker to M.I.A. to Lee Morse to LCD Soundsytem to . . . it’s the best radio station in the world!
Here’s the easiest thing I’ve found with my Creative Nomad 40 GB. Use your PC to name all your Podcasts to a specific genre, like “Pod” or something similar. Then sort your songs by genre. Add your genres to Play except for the “pod” genre. Then save that list as your shuffle list.
I got the playlist solution to work on my Creative just now, but of course am still craving the iPod. I understand what you’re saying, lissener, but am wondering why the “checkmark” improvement finally allows you to use the shuffle feature, when you could have made a playlist to shuffle instead, even before the improvement (just making sure I understand).
Because I thought it was retarded to have a “playlist” of 5,000 out of 5,100 tracks. I wanted a more elegant solution, which iTunes7 has provided. YMMV.
I’m not sure I understand the problem. By default, the shuffle feature on my my iTunes/ipod does not play podcasts, and all tracks have the ability to be “non-shuffle” tracks. I do this for audiobooks, for instance. Not sure how this would work without Itunes, but then, why not just get iTunes?
