I’m considering the purchase of an iPod. I think it’ll meet my needs, but considering I’ll spend the better part of 500 bucks getting the thing up and running, the prospect of spending that much for something that sucks has me unnerved.
I’ve done a lot of research, and Apple (of course) assures me that the thing will work on my WIN XP machine.
Right or wrong?
Help.
Right.
I bought one a few weeks ago. Some things I learned:
[ul][li]You must have the right ports on the PC. There’s not much point getting an iPod if you don’t have a Firewire port, since that allows it a fast data transfer speed. It also works with USB2 (not plain old USB) but slower.[/li][li]The battery life isn’t great. About 8 hours. Also, because it never truly shuts off, you have to periodically recharge even if it’s not been used (the iPod sleeps rather than switches off).[/li][li]It recharges through the Firewire/USB connector. If you want a normal mains charger, prepare to pay extra (or not; I’m not sure if it comes with that in the standard package).[/li][li]Apple supply two types of iPod software for Windows. Neither are great, but MusicMatch is the better of the two. Be very, very careful never to select the option that allows it to delete any music present on the iPod that’s not present on the PC. I made that mistake - synchronising a full iPod with an empty PC, resulting in an empty iPod and three days’ loading CDs into the PC.[/ul][/li]
Lest I make it sound like a nightmare, it’s not. It took some time to get used to these things, and it doesn’t appear to be the most error-tolerant device, but it’s nicely designed and I’ve been using it without problems for a while now. Having 1,400-odd songs to choose from on the way to work is rather nice.
iPodlounge.com is the online forum for iPod users of all platforms. You can view others experiences and all sorts of tools and tricks there.
Ephpod is a shareware app for Windows iPods that is superior to the included MusicMatch which facilitates song transfer. Apple is releasing iTunes for Windows fairly soon, maybe even late next month. iTunes on the Mac is outstanding and I assume that the Windows version will be very similar.
I have owned a 15 gig gen 3 iPod for two months now and enjoy it immensely. But I am a Mac user so the integration with the computer is a little better. That said, the device is a true marvel of design and quality. I also just started subscribing to Audible.com audio books. Very nice–it automatically bookmarks your place and holds it even after the iPod’s been sleeping or if you later listen to music.
Be sure to procure better headphones/earphones than the mediocre buds Apple includes. They will suffice, but better phones make the iPod experience much better.
Crusoe is very right about having a Firewire port–transferring 10 gigs took a few minutes and the device gets charged too. I also recommend encoding your songs into AAC rather than MP3–the sound is better at smaller bitrates, so you can fit more stuff onto the iPod.
So what I gather is…
Since my machine is not blessed with firewire, I should look for a PCMCIA usb 2.0 card.
The audible music manager is the superior software. Music match is difficult to use, and takes up more space on the machine.
Plus, you can add audio books. This will come in handy whilst on my New England driving vacation next month.
geoduck, thanks for the site. I’ll check it out.
Yes, it does come with a wall socket adaptor.
I’m still pissed off that not two weeks after I received my 15 Gb iPod–which I’d been debating getting for ages–Apple came out with the 20 Gb model at the same price. Why didn’t somebody warn me? :smack:
If you’re going to have to get a new card anyway, why not get a Firewire card?
Wait a second…lets say you want a freshly recharged iPod for the morning. So you have to keep it plugged into a computer all night long? 
If you just left it “off” the battery would be long dead by the time you woke up, correct?
Am I missing something here?
Yes you are, but due to the multiple ways of charging the iPod’s battery, your confusion is understandable.
The iPod comes with a separate dock–like a PDA. That dock carries a charge from your computer’s Firewire port while simultaneously allowing you to transfer music. If the computer is on, the iPod will charge. It takes about an hour to charge the thing about 80 percent and a total of 3 hours for a full charge that should get you about 8 hours use.
If you simply charge the iPod for an hour, remove it from the dock, and shut down the computer and turn off the iPod (really put it to sleep)–in the morning upon awakening the iPod will still be 80 percent charged and ready to rock.
The iPod also comes with a separate AC adaptor that also uses the Firewire cable, but you just use it like any AC adaptor. You don’t need the dock as the cable plugs directly into the iPod. Same charging performance applies. A good travel solution.
Finally you can also purchase a third party automotive charger that uses a standard lighter socket and attaches directly into the iPod’s Firewire port. They work great and is what I favor. Belkin makes an ingenous charging device that contains a little amp that boosts the iPod’s volume while providing the cleaner output of the digital port instead of the headphone jack. This helps in a noisy car environment.
I hope this helps–iPod charging has never been an issue with me–as with all audio and computing electronics you just gotta keep throwing money at it.
Alternately, there are combo cards that’ll give you both USB2.0 ports and Firewire ports. That will make your gadget-fu strong indeed.
USB 2.0 is backwards-compatible with plain old vanilla USB, however. It simply transfers much much more slowly–when I initially synced up my Archos, I simply started the copy and left to do something else the rest of the afternoon. But it’s tolerable if you really don’t need your player fully loaded Right Now Comma Dammit. 
I’ve been fighting the urge, now that my cards are all zeroed, to splurge on the new 40-gig iPod model. I do like the Archos, but it’s heavy enough to serve as a blunt weapon.
How much of a pain is using MusicMatch to sync up? I would definitely miss the Archos bonus of simply being able to drag and drop the file tree over, as the player’s treated simply as a usb hard-drive.
I found MusicMatch OK. It’s also a drag-and-drop interface, between a file library window and a device window. The danger is in the little checkboxes that, in a certain combination, will synchronise your full iPod with an empty PC file library - I learned that one the hard way!
I didn’t realise the 20Gb was out now. I haven’t been impressed with Apple at all; the instructions were unclear on their UK shop and I ended up paying an extra £30 or £40 for a wall adaptor when it turned out to come with one (and the customer service rep didn’t even think to question why I was buying one when one was included). Delivery wasn’t confirmed by phone as they told me it would be, although fortunately I was in at the time.
Good device, poor customer service.
Geoduck: OH, I didn’t realise the iPod had 2 shutdown modes. Now I know what you mean!
I’m very unimpressed with Apple when the new iPods came out. NOT because they suck or anything, its just that: If I went to buy an older model a day before the new model came out, I wouldn’t of been told of the new one. I was watching Tech TV one day and boom, there it was. No warning from apple.ca that I could see.
I don’t want to hijack the thread if you’ve already made up your mind on the iPod, but I recently got a 20 gig Creative Nomad Zen that I’ve been quite happy with. The software isn’t great, but it does work and the Zen itself is very nice. Not quite as stylish as the iPod but much much cheaper.
Apple is also rumored to have iTunes out for Windows before the end of the year… I am sure that will work much better with an ipod…
btw,
I still have my Original 5GB ipod… I love it, and use it everyday(in my car)
I have never needed more space on the thing… I can’t imagine needing more than 5GB’s of music at one time…
I guess using it as an external Hard drive is a nice option though…
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Apple is being sued by The Beatles (again!) for producing the iPod and its iTunes site.
Apple lost their first suit to Apple Corps (The Beatles record label) for using the corporate name. In addition to monetary damages, Apple was allowed to keep its name, providing it was only used for computers and never get involved in music. It didn’t help that Jobs had named Apple after The Beatles as a tribute.
Apple lost its second suit to The Beatles when they violated their agreement from the first lawsuit by using its apple logo on music-synthesizing products. The case was settled out of court for cash and another agreement Apple would never get involved in music or the music industry.
This time around, Apple is again being sued for violating the agreements of the previous suits, thanks to the iPod and iTunes. Insiders say Apple doesn’t have a prayer of coming out of the suit unscathed, “It’s OK with us if they want to go this route. It’s just more money for us.”
Source: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,97142,00.html
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