Take me from A-Z on I-pods

[Marilyn]

Explain to me what it is
Tell me the advantages/disadvantages
Tell me who makes the best one
Tell me how you download the music
Tell me what that costs
Tell me what technology your computer needs to work with this

Just tell me how the darn thing works!!!!

I am a runner and a walker and a weight lifter, and from the little bit I know it looks like a small compact way to get a lot of the music I LIKE in a format that won't skip because of jostling, and I right?
Don't wait until I get one to then tell me you got you for $200.00 less on ebay etc.
Don't wait until I buy one to then tell me I needed a such and such before it would do this and that .

Draw me a Mickey Mouse picture because I understand technology not at all!!!!!!!!!!

[halfwaytree]

Re: Take me from A-Z on I-pods

OK!

I'll give it a shot.

I-Pods are like mp3 players with huge amounts of memory. They are able to store the average humans entire music collection. They are able to work on both Apple and PC based computers. You can get your music from a variety of sources I believe, but hooking your I-Pod up to your computer and downloading the music files are the most common.

The I-Pod will come with the cable you need to attach to your computer and it will also come with the software needed to allow it to work with your computer (Apple computers come with the software already loaded).

You can download your music from a variety of sources. You can capture internet music from your favorite internet radio stations onto your I-Pod or you can take your chances and download your favorite tunes for free from a file swapping community based service like Kazaa. (Just type in Kazaa in your search engine and you will find it right away). You can download the free version (not legal in the States but everyone is doing it) or the paid version (legal in the US) which gives you a few more options. I use the free version (legal here in Canada) and have no problems finding the songs I want. Once you download Kazaa just follow the instructions and what it all comes down to is just typing in the name of the song or artist you want and your music is just a mouse click away, it's really that easy! once you find it just click on the download button and Kazaa will download the song to a folder on your computer. I have the folder on my desktop. Kazaa works best if you have a high speed internet connection because it will only take two or three minutes to download each song. Dial up internet service could cause each song to take about fifteen to twenty minutes to download.

Worried about the legalities or morality of downloading music from the internet? Then visit a site like puretracks.com or the I-Tunes site where you pay about a dollar per song and everything is legit.

Alternatives to a I-Pod.

-MP3 Players. My Nephew just bought a nice one from Dell and it sounds terrific. Same sort of thing as the I-Pod. Some are much smaller in size thus better for taking to the gym. Most are also cheaper in price. You may want to compare how much memory they have and how much music they can hold compared to the I-Pod.

-Sony Mini Disc Player (what I use). It holds little interchangeable disc cartridges. Each cartridge holds approx. six hours of music and the cartridges are cheap and re-writable. You can also hook up a microphone to the Mini Disc Player and use it as a voice/tape recorder (not yet available on the I-Pod). With the "lock" setting activated (push of a button) it becomes just as stable as the Ipod or MP3 player in terms of continueous, uninterupted play while running, jumping etc. I have had mine for three years now and use it daily. Never had a problem with it. The biggest advantage to the Mini Disc player is if you happen to forget it at the gym or wherever or it is stolen you still have your music collection recorded on the disc cartridges. If you should ever lose your I-Pod or MP3 Player your entire collection is lost for good, not to mention the many hours of work it took to compile your collection. If you go the I-Pod or MP3 Player route I would advise you to back up your music files.

All of the above come with rechargeable batteries. And all as far as I know can output their music via a traditional stereo or computer speaker system as well as headphones.

As far a price goes I think the I-Pod is the highest. (Not positive though).

Hope this could help to make things a little clearer for you.

P.S. If you start getting music from a music swapping service I would listen to the entire song first before downloading it to an I-Pod or whatever you choose to buy. The reason being some of these songs are defective (they may skip or have a little static in them etc...) You may have to do another search for the same song and download another version which is perfect. It's no big deal really.

Enjoy!!!

[j-kid]

Re: Take me from A-Z on I-pods

Marilyn, yuh sure yuh neva lef out nutten?! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] Bway, das wan long list ah questions! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img]

*********************************************

Ipod used a proprietary file format called AAC. You must convert all your music files (wav, mp3, wma....etc) to that format in order to play the music on the Ipod

If you already have a music collection built up in other programs. The computer program (iTunes) can import music from Windows Media Player, MusicMatch and any other app that uses MP3, AAC or WMA (unprotected). iTunes 4.5 will now convert files digitized by Windows Media Player in unprotected format to AAC, so you can use them in iTunes or on iPod. When you import your MusicMatch library or other MP3 collection, you can choose to let iTunes make a copy of the library, or point to the old files. If you want to gather up all your music later, iTunes lets you consolidate your library anytime.

The problem comes in, if you want to go from AAC back to MP3 or wav. It is very difficult in most case to do that, if at all, without losing sound quality. There are ways around the limitations, but it is a lot of hassle.

[Marilyn]

Re: Take me from A-Z on I-pods

Thank you both and I am still clueless. Yall lost me after the second sentence. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img]

[j-kid]

Re: Take me from A-Z on I-pods

Sound like yuh still deh ah "A"! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img]

Buy the Ipod or an MP3 player then come back, and we will explain anything you are still confused about.

[Irie Dawta]

Re: Take me from A-Z on I-pods

yikes. I am thinking of getting an iPod and yet I have this fear of owning one and not be able to figure out how to use it. Maybe I'll read this a few more times and thensome. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

[kia027]

Re: Take me from A-Z on I-pods

ok mi finally open de box and mi see where mi can put mi contacts in de ipod and xfr mi calendar info from outlook de instructions tell mi fi isync and of course mi cyan find no sittin whe have isync [img]/forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]

i checked, searched through the manual again.. made sure I had the latest hardware butnoooo cyan find it.

a which pawt dat de sittin a hide

[Soul Hunter]

Re: Take me from A-Z on I-pods

Marilyn, Jkid and others have given you a far better technical explanation than I can, but I'll try and break it down into layman's terms having recently bought an iPod myself.

The iPod itself is marketed as a mp3 player, but it's really more of a storage device used to hold music. There are, to my knowledge, two primary types of mp3 players: hard drive based devices, and flash devices. The iPod is a hard drive device because the entire unit is essentially a hard drive - not unlike the hard drive in your computer.

They come in different capacities, depending on the amount you are willing to spend, and the amount of storage space you think you'll need. I have a 20gb ipod, which I believe holds 5,000 or more songs. There are/were 30gb, 40gb and 60gb versions, with prices running from the mid $200's for the lower end 20gb, to over $500 for the 60gb.

Apple also sells at least two versions that allow you to store photographs on the device and display them, and then there's the mini-ipod which is a 5gb miniature version and sells for about $200. Again, your preference depends on your price point and storage needs. I'm at a point now where I could easily fill the 60gb version and may have to move up from my 20gb.

Flash based devices store the memory in a manner that is less susceptible to jarring/shock. While I have seen people use regular ipods while jogging, etc, it's not the most ideal device for working out and jogging because hard drives, in general, don't handle impacts that well. Flash devices are generally smaller, and can often be found for well under $100. Apple recently entered this market with its ishuffle. These are the preferred devices for runners because they won't skip while jogging and can handle shock/impact better than hard drive based devices.

There are numerous ways to get the music on to the device, but the preferred method for ipods is itunes. I'm not a big fan of itunes (i personally like musicmatch jukebox) a lot better, but itunes mates well with the ipod. itunes is a free software program that allows you to collect all of your music on your computer (whether you converted your own cd's to mp3 files, or purchased the music online at itunes and other music services) and add or subtract them from your ipod.

if you have an apple computer, then the ipod is a safe choice. if you have a windows pc, then you could do the hp version of the ipod. it's the same device, but is built with the windows platform in mind on license from apple by hp. this is the one i have and i've had no problems.

getting the music on to your pc is the easiest part of the process. in musicmatch i simply put the cd in my computer, and click on a button to burn a copy of the cd onto my pc as an mp3 file. from there i can load the album into itunes and transfer it to the ipod. you can do the entire process (ripping to pc and transferring to ipod) with itunes as well.

did i muddy the waters further, or is this starting to make sense now?

[j-kid]

Re: Take me from A-Z on I-pods

Mek sure wen unnu setting up unnu iPod software, unnu no tell it fi "protect from other people copying unnu music". If yuh duh dat, yuh not only lock-out other people, yuh will also lock out yuself.

[loops]

Re: Take me from A-Z on I-pods

ok...more advantages....you can take your mp3 player (mine is a 40GB Nomad made by Creative), and plug a cassette into your car...and have allllll your tunes with you...whereever you go. The thing is great in the tanning booth...i just shut off their country western radio crap and groove with my headphones. Great on the plane too. Walking...i'm surprised actually, how much enjoyment i'm getting out of it.

I would go with a lower storage device though...40GB is a lot of songs!! Like 11000...craziness. I've got 80 cd's on mine now...and thats only 1100 or so tunes. Fathom it.

Soul Hunter pretty much summed up the process for getting your cd's on the mp3 player. Not hard at all. I think you can master this M.

[j-kid]

Re: Take me from A-Z on I-pods

http://www.themodgods.com/2005/03/podshanking-physical-pod-on-pod.htm

http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/italk/

http://www.ipodlinux.org/index.php/Main_Page

Ipod Hack

[BND1999]

Re: Take me from A-Z on I-pods

I love the ipod .. have had one since last year .. my son too..

i upload my music to the computer.. on itunes..
put the ipod on its stand.. and it uploads from computer to the ipod.

no rocketscientry needed....

besides when you buy the ipod.. you can call apple and they will walk you through anything...

you can use the ipod as a harddrive.. i havent had a need for that.. its strictly for music.. mostly to take it away with me..

got a great little speaker set up that folds flat.. and i have an instant stereo... really love it.. best invesment

[damask]

Re: Take me from A-Z on I-pods

Originally posted by BND1999:
[qb] I love the ipod .. have had one since last year .. my son too..

i upload my music to the computer.. on itunes..
put the ipod on its stand.. and it uploads from computer to the ipod.

no rocketscientry needed....

besides when you buy the ipod.. you can call apple and they will walk you through anything...

you can use the ipod as a harddrive.. i havent had a need for that.. its strictly for music.. mostly to take it away with me..

got a great little speaker set up that folds flat.. and i have an instant stereo... really love it.. best invesment [/qb]

thats what i do too, but looking for some other free music sites [img]/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]