Anyone have an iPod?

Mods, please leave this here in the short-term, as I'd like to get as many answers to my questions in the short term.

I have a very good touch-phone, so I don't need (or want) an iPhone.
I also have a pretty decent MP3 player, but I'm looking at buying an iPod and a really good docking station to go with it.

I've done a fair amount of research on which docking station I want, so that's ok, but I have some questions about the iPod itself.

My MP3 collection is made up of mostly MP3s ripped from my own CD collection, with a few sourced from other places (ahem).
What I want to know is, how easy is it to put MP3s onto the iPod.
I know Apple are control freaks, and like to have almost total control over you , so I'm wondering whether I have to install any "invasionware" to get my MP3s onto an iPod, and are there any problems with MP3s that have no digital rights (I stripped that off my MP3s when I ripped my CDs).

Am I right to be cautious?
I don't want to spend a few hundred pound only to find I have to rip all my CDs again.
I wouldn't be responsible for my actions.

Also, how decent are the features on the iPod?

Any info from anyone that has one, or links to relevant info that I've somehow missed would be much appreciated.

Again, if the Mods could please leave this here for a day or two so I can get some feedback.

Thanks guys,
Krush.

[linkman2004]

Moved to "Open topic"

I'm sorry, but posting a thread in a board you know it doesn't belong in isn't allowed. A shadow thread has been left in place so people can still find your thread through "Construct discussion", but please refrain from doing this again.

On a less strict note, the average "Construct Discussion" thread has only 15% more posts than the average "Open Topic" thread.

Sheesh.
How come common sense doesn't figure in anything these days?
This thread could have been moved in a couple of days, or even destroyed if need be.
In a forum where the Devs rarely turn up these days, and the traffic here seems a fraction of what it was, does it really matter?

There are forums that I've been a member of for years that I wouldn't have posted this type of request on, simply because they're too anal in their approach to rules, and I only posted here because it's always been a relaxed atmosphere for most things.
I won't make that mistake again.

I know you're a new mod, and maybe feel you have something to prove, but really.

Krush.

Apple$ sucks, always have, and probably always will.

Also, sorry Krush, but common sense says this should have been in open topic.

[quote="newt":yllmq3hd]Also, sorry Krush, but common sense says this should have been in open topic.[/quote:yllmq3hd]
I agree Newt.
I was just trying to get as big an audience for the thread as possible, and a bit of leeway could have been given for a day or two at least.

Sometimes, even on-topic posts don't get a response for many days, so I feared that my thread wouldn't even get seen in another section of the site.

And I also agree about Apple.
The iPod is the ONLY thing I want of theirs (you can keep your Mac, MacBook, Ipad, etc), but if my fears are founded where adding MP3s to it are concerned, then I won't be buying one anyway.

Krush.

As much as people dislike apple and what not, when I first started using my itouch, it was loads of fun using the touch screen flicking lists up and down and just seeing them whiz by! Not everything is perfect but macbooks definitely have certain superior design qualities compared to other companies.
Having said that, I am not an Aapple fanboy but I do see their merits.

About managing the itouch, I use foobar and there is a plug in that makes it really easy to manage the music aspect of your itouch: foo_dop not only that, it's also a lot faster than using itunes and takes up much less resources which is especially good considering how old my system is.

There aren't any problems with drm free files and I would recommend jailbreaking the device asap.

Sidenote: I am going to take the android route in the near future.

I had the same thoughts as you before I bought mine.I have the nano 5g and it's really a great mp3 player/video camera. The camera is pinhead small but takes very decent quality video, and the sound is really clear too. I was surprised at how good it was. As for songs, 8 gigs is perfect for me and the only thing you have to install to put songs on the ipod is itunes. Don't worry, Apple wouldn't make the mistake to make it a hassle to put "generic" .mp3's onto their players; all you have to do is drag any old file into the itunes window and it goes on. All .mp3's work fine. Videos only pose a minor hassle as they have to be converted to .mp4(or something like that) with another program to be playable. All in all I say the nano is a great deal. The video recording quality is great and the player is tiny but solid as a rock, with a decent screen size. it's around 169$ CAN for the 8 gig one. Theres a lot of other little features too which you'll probably never use. The only annoying thing about itunes is that it tries to install safari and something else every time it updates. You have to remember to uncheck the boxes so that it doesn't.

[quote:2mpjezy0]The iPod is the ONLY thing I want of theirs (you can keep your Mac, MacBook, Ipad, etc)[/quote:2mpjezy0]

Same here. .

While iPods are the in thing after doing my research I steered away from it.

At the time (and still may be true) the sandisk sansa had an FM player the ipod did not, it was cheaper, and I wanted chip memory versus a hard drive for running. it also had an additions memory slot.

The real bonus was the rechargeable battery. The sandisk had a consumer replace rechargeable battery for like $8. While the ipod had to be send away for weeks and it was like $40?

This is old news but you way want see if ipod caught up. Also ipod has many more extras hands down that I didn't want. I needed a very good running MP3 player and the sandisk sansa was perfect for me.

Thanks for the input guys.

I finally decided to go with the iPod Touch 32gb.



It does everything I want from a media player, and more, so I'm very happy with it.

I was right about the "invasionware" that might have to be installed with it, but anyone who's ever installed Quicktime will know how much Apple are desperate for your money, and want to know about everything you do with their software/hardware.

iTunes installed after 3 attempts (poor programming from Apple, take a look at the amount of complaints about installing iTunes), and I now have it working fine, although I never let it or any of it's sister programs connect to the Internet.

I even have some processes killed with my firewall the instant they try to start, like the infamous "Bonjour" for instance.

In fact, none of the Apple processes or services that start on Windows boot-up are required when you're not connecting your iPod to the computer, and any that are required when you do connect it will start then.

It just proves how much "bloatware" there is in the package, and it's the reason Apple haven't had my custom for an iMac, iPad, etc, over the years.

I like to be in control of what my computer is doing, and what connects to the Internet.
I guess there is a big market out there for people who want it all done for them, regardless of how much information they're giving away.

Anyway, iPod and Sound System are both doing well, hehe.
I also wanted to get a new sound system with an iPod dock, so I could play the music off my iPod through it, as well as having it charge through it.

I got this one from Asda for just under £130, it's a Sony, and it's got an unbelievable sound.


Now I've just got to sort hundreds of albums out, making sure that everything has correct tags and album covers, etc.
I'm using the freeware program MP3tag for this, which allows you to download correct track names and album covers etc, so there really is very little need for iTunes, other than for actually moving them to the iPod.

Thanks again for the info guys.

Cheers,
Krush.