iPod/iTunes Users Thread

[QwertyAccess]

Yeah, probably cause it was 4pm i have a totally different mind set (-_-) (I should get more sleep). Well in any case, whatever, though as for Rhapsopdy you dont have to redownload all the songs, its just a matter of re-activation.

Hmm dont even remember writing last night, Alas my sanity must be dissolved to the lowest form when i wake up for so long.

As for an alternative for Itunes, you could try looking into Alltunes if you havent, they offer multiple types of bitrates through the store, and songs are often priced at 10-20 cents, its an interesting alternative anyway, you could choose from many different bitrates and codecs for certain songs, including lossless ape, flac, mp3, etc

http://us.creative.com/products/prod...Specifications
As far as frequency response is concerned it doesnt pale, but everyone knows specs means shit for sound anyway.

As for my music collection, it comes from many numerous differnt places, I organize it by artists usually, if subscription stopped it wouldn't effect it, (I still have a subscription since i continuously have songs i like, an add it) Its a music collection i've been building for 2-3 years.

Now I just personally hope the closed market that Apple has created opens up for competition, there is nothing worse then having companies provide us products and putting them in a closed market. It costs approximately 75-80$ parts and labor and all to manufacture an ipod. Not to mention revenue from the over a billion plus songs sold on itunes. After you make about 4 million ipods, it makes you wonder.

Now if only people didnt group ipods as a seperate category from mp3 players, *Imagines a world where the word speakers is replaced with Bose*

[Titanium Dome]

(snip)

Now if only people didnt group ipods as a seperate category from mp3 players, *Imagines a world where the word speakers is replaced with Bose*

Thanks for the reply.

As for your last statement, you and I are 180 degrees away from each other.

*Imagine a world in which I had to say "speakers" instead of JBLs.*

JBL is a distinct category within the general topic of speakers.

Zen (or iPod) is a distinct category within the general topic of digital music players.

[Titanium Dome]

I have an old first generation (1G) iPod that bit the dust after several years due to my GF's unfortunate dropping of the unit while the firewire cable was plugged in. This precipitated the dreaded firewire plug broken solder issue. it's basically a design flaw in which the eight or so solder connections to the motherboard break.

Since so many people talk about the iPod being impossible to repair, I put off doing anything until last night, when I decided to open her up and see what was what. Getting the iPod apart was delicate but not difficult. Like so many things electronic, one just has to avoid being a bull in a china shop and things will go well.

The iPod is like an ogre: it has layers.

rear casing (steel)
battery
hard drive
mother board
front casing (plastic)

Of course, the solder connections are on the front of the motherboard, so the entire thing has to be taken apart. After prying, unclipping, detaching, unscrewing, unsticking, and unpeeling things for a few minutes, the broken connectors were in plain sight. Unfortunately, with my aging eyes, I couldn't see them without a magnifying glass.

So began a ballet of holding a magnifying glass, squinting with one eye closed to get the focus, holding the part in place with a thermoplastic pick, holding the solder in place, and wielding the soldering iron all at the same time. The connections are tiny and closely spaced of course, so any error would result in messing up the circuits.

Then I reassembled everything, with a few "what is this?" moments, installed a new battery while I was in there, and gave it a test.

It works!

[QwertyAccess]

My ipod has been through alot of abuse, through the magics of taking it apart and putting it back together is how i kept it going, First it probably dropped atleast 50 times, atleast 2-3 feet each time too, if not a bit more, (once it fell and the case just flew off). And before that it was drenched in water, (screen still has top right corner that looks like its still wet somehow) Alas it hasnt dropped since in recent months (yay finally learned all the ways to possibly drop it)

Offtopic though, I'm stuck with a dead 035Ti tweeter due to lack of welding skills (How the hell do you weld it if the copper wire right next to the coil is where it is cut, T_T my poor tweeter suffers just from a simple solder issue it would seem.)

[Titanium Dome]

My ipod has been through alot of abuse, through the magics of taking it apart and putting it back together is how i kept it going, First it probably dropped atleast 50 times, atleast 2-3 feet each time too, if not a bit more, (once it fell and the case just flew off). And before that it was drenched in water, (screen still has top right corner that looks like its still wet somehow) Alas it hasnt dropped since in recent months (yay finally learned all the ways to possibly drop it)
(snip)

My first generation iPod is still resisting the forces of evil since its resurrection: dropping everywhere including a skid across a tiled bathroom floor into an in-use urinal, a tumble off the roof of the Sorento followed by a passover with the front tire, and immersion via a spill of iced tea. It's the L'il' Bastard of MP3 players.

[Titanium Dome]

For those who feel that the musical quality of iPod hosted music is inadequate or even worthy of stern disapproval, wait until I get one of these:

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

"I'll teach you the meaning of respect."

[Titanium Dome]

Here's a review of the JBL Radial High Performance unit. Aside from the remote, it gets very high marks, and it puts a JBL brand in front of a whole generation of users.

http://www.ipodobserver.com/story/29500

[Audiobeer]

I recieved a Zune for Christmas. I was dissapointed initialy because I wanted an Ipod. I honestly can't say I am missing anything. It's a great player!

[hjames]

I recieved a Zune for Christmas. I was dissapointed initialy because I wanted an Ipod. I honestly can't say I am missing anything. It's a great player!

So - you have no first hand experience with an iPod or the iTunes software?
I've no experience with the Zune so I guess we are even there!

Can you set the encoding rate when "ripping" music from your CDs to load your player? I know the songs purchased from Apple have a default rate of 128kbps (small files = faster downloads from the web) - but I increased the rate for songs from my own CDs to 192kbps initially, then 256 and I'm currently using 320kbps. The files are larger so I can't store as many songs in the player (my pod is only 30gig), but I think the fidelity is greatly improved with the higher bitrate.

[Audiobeer]

My daughters have the Ipod and the Dell version. I bought the Dell Version for the one Daughter 2 years ago and she dumped it for an Ipod. I wanted an Ipod and had always seen the girls by the Itunes. They had to convert thier CDs to a type of File format then they could get in on thier I pod. With my Zune, I like how easy iy is ripping right from a Cd to the Zune via the Windows software. I have never determined the file size or was asked by the software, but a typical song is measured in megs so I'm assuming there isn't any trimming of the tunes. I only mention the Zune to see if anyone else had purchased on. In my limited experience I wouldn't know which is the best.

[Titanium Dome]

The one that's best is usually the one that fits your budget and does what you want it to do.

...at least until you see someone else's doing it better.

[Titanium Dome]

My daughters have the Ipod and the Dell version. I bought the Dell Version for the one Daughter 2 years ago and she dumped it for an Ipod. I wanted an Ipod and had always seen the girls by the Itunes. They had to convert thier CDs to a type of File format then they could get in on thier I pod. With my Zune, I like how easy iy is ripping right from a Cd to the Zune via the Windows software. I have never determined the file size or was asked by the software, but a typical song is measured in megs so I'm assuming there isn't any trimming of the tunes. I only mention the Zune to see if anyone else had purchased on. In my limited experience I wouldn't know which is the best.

The default Zune ripping rate is 128 Kbps in Windows Media Audio. If you buy from the Zune Marketplace, this DRMed format can only be played on the Zune, not on any other player, including Microsoft's "Plays For Sure" partners and the iPod.

Microsoft recently lowered the price of the Zune in light of virtually nonexistent sales and the new, lower-priced iPod line up. Someone could get a deal on the 30 GB Zune if they didn't mind a now three-year-old design (or was the original Toshiba unit out more than three years ago?).

[Fred Sanford]

I'm still doing my best to kill a Rio Nitrus that my wife bought years ago, but has never used. 1.5 GB, tiny display, but I really can't complain, 'cause it's also a tiny player and it always works. $300 in 2003 or so.

je

[Titanium Dome]

Poor RIO really was the tip of the spear on this MP3 thing, putting out the first real player and getting hit with a lawsuit from the RIAA. Then the dot.com crash, bankruptcy, acquisition, the hard drive malfunction disaster...whew!

But some of the earlier models were nearly bullet proof, as you've discovered.

[Audiobeer]

So - you have no first hand experience with an iPod or the iTunes software?
I've no experience with the Zune so I guess we are even there!

Can you set the encoding rate when "ripping" music from your CDs to load your player? I know the songs purchased from Apple have a default rate of 128kbps (small files = faster downloads from the web) - but I increased the rate for songs from my own CDs to 192kbps initially, then 256 and I'm currently using 320kbps. The files are larger so I can't store as many songs in the player (my pod is only 30gig), but I think the fidelity is greatly improved with the higher bitrate.

I've had experience with all 3. I like the Zune but the battery time is way to low, even with the screen set to shortest time. I have found that the library through Zune is as not large as I would like it to be but burning from the laptop is a lot easier. If I had it all to do over if the Zune Radio had good reception I would have been happy.....It sucks however, and I would have gone with the Ipod.