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26 Mar 05 - 01:59 PM (#1444224) Subject: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: podman I invested in what was once the biggest baddest iPOD on the market. A 30 Gigabyte white beauty. But I have used it very little in the past two years and I want to know if it is my problem or not (well the $ was my problem that's for sure). My partial list of complaints is: 1) No radio. I like to be able to switch between current news and recordings. I can do this on my $50 walkman. Why not the iMAC? 2) Earbuds. How do you keep them things in your ears when you are running, scrambling, or just walking even. Most of the time I've used headphones from my walkman. When you see those advertized silhouettes dancing on those really good television commercials, I can only imagine their earbuds are crazy-glued in there. 3) iTUNES. I have imported my entire collection of CDs onto my desktop computer's hard drive. This is a lot of classical music, a lot of folk music, classic R&B and Rock and Roll. When I imported it I was online, so iTunes did a CD Database look up and labeled the tracks for me. I keep the music organized in my own set of files and folders by genre and artist, but in the case of Comedy albums I have a Comedy folder, and in the case of some ancient recordings I have a special sector for them, too. In order to load this into iTUNES, I have to give iTUNES the power to reorganize this, then load it into the iPOD. What I did in fact was to leave my hard disk music sacrosanct, but duplicate it onto another hard drive, and let iTUNEs organize that. iTUNES organizes by looking at the mp3 tag, then organizes by what the mp3 tag considers to be the artist and album. Trouble is, the data base that converted all my music is not set to some huge master file, but to many different settings. So one copy of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 may be listed with the Composer's name, or the Conductor's name, or the Orchestra's name. iTUNES cobbles this all up together with umpteen folders that I don't want. (I can go into more detail if this doesn't make sense). 4) Connectivity. iPOD of course was first made for Macintoshes. But they released iTUNES for PC some time ago, and that's what I've got. But I think Apple's iTUNES is very finicky when it comes to talking with the iPOD. Maybe it's better on a Mac computer. I'm not going to change computers just for my mp3 player. 5) Battery. The battery is dedicated, i.e., I can't just pop in 4 AA's when charge runs low. I find this to be a major inconvenence. I have to have a dedicated charger and i don't know how to charge this off my car battery either. When I complain about this to my sister, who helped me choose it out, she says I'm becoming a fogy. She uses a different word for it, but it's basically the verb form of fogy. I don't want to believe her because i'm still single. I also don't want to become so mad I end up throwing this elegant little device into the street. Any aide or encouragement will be mostly appreciated. |
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26 Mar 05 - 02:26 PM (#1444237) Subject: RE: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: Big Mick When I took my current job in New Jersey I bought the same IPOD. I did this so I wouldn't have to transport my CD's. I downloaded all of my CD's to the harddrive of my computer in Michigan, then onto the IPOD. There are over 4000 songs on the IPOD. I purchased several accessories. I bought the monster cable Y cord that allows me to plug it into the stereo in my apartment. I also bought the FM transmitter accessory that allows me to plug my IPOD into the auto and play it through an unused station frequency. I also could not stand the stock earbuds and upgraded to the SONY earphones. I absolutely love these earphones. My original set of them cost about $30.00 US at Best Buy. I stepped on them, and replaced them with the $130.00 noise cancelling set, due to my extensive air travel. These fit the ear much better than the IPOD buds and I am extremely happy with them. All of the accessories I have listed above work as advertised and I am pleased with their performance. The IPOD seems to perform as advertised and over all I am pleased with it. I Tunes is another matter. I find that it does not always load to the IPOD all the songs. I will look up an album, or an artist, and find that only one or two songs from the CD are on the IPOD, despite being listed in the CDDB (Compact Disk Data Base) I then have to go back and redo the download. It isn't a bad program, but it has bugs. Overall I would say I am happy with it. As an old fogey, I find that I have to commit myself to the technology, but with perserverance it works pretty well. All the best, Mick |
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26 Mar 05 - 04:25 PM (#1444323) Subject: RE: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: Amos 1. You knew it had no radio when you bought it. If it was a senior criterion for you, why'd you buy an iPod? 2. As far as I know you can dictate to iTunes how it will or will not load things onto your iPod. I make iPod playlists for any folder of songs I want to bring over and drag them to it. The iPod ends up organizing just the way the source materials are organized. 3. There are iPod preferences in iTunes which only appear when the iPod is connected to the computer, so look those over and set it to manual updates. 4. Many people do not like the earbuds -- it depends on the shape of your ears. There are plenty of 3rd party earphone makers for a lightweight over-the-ear alternative. A |
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26 Mar 05 - 05:25 PM (#1444374) Subject: RE: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: Clinton Hammond Two words Sony Mini-Disk :-) |
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26 Mar 05 - 06:06 PM (#1444391) Subject: RE: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: Bill Hahn//\\ 2 finer words were never spoken. Minidisc. A format that works well and has great features. I add, that I made the mistake of buying and Ipod (or my daughter did) as a birthday gift for the other daughter. I had wanted to go w/ a simple MP3 player/radio combo---a fraction of the price. The result---recipient has not used it due to--she says--complexity. The dedicated battery and such are truly an annoyance (and nice gimmick for Apple for more $$$ in replacements) not counted on Bill Hahn |
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26 Mar 05 - 06:18 PM (#1444399) Subject: RE: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: Clinton Hammond 3 words... Sony Hi-Density Minidisc :=P~~~~ |
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26 Mar 05 - 09:54 PM (#1444525) Subject: RE: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: Auggie Touch my i-pod and die. Complexity? My tech level is such that I can't get the alarm to stop going off every day on my Seilko wrist watch, but I figured out my i-Pod in about an hour (with a little help from a 16 year old).I love mine for jogging and bike riding. Never a skip nor flutter, no matter how rough the pavement nor how uneven the terrain. I do agree with the earbud criticisms tho. Koss makes a nice set of earbuds than don't fall out even when bouncing up and down on a motorcycle,for under $15.00. |
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26 Mar 05 - 09:58 PM (#1444529) Subject: RE: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: Amos I love mine. It's about as complex as one of those early transistor radios. Ya never heard such sweet music out of a Walkman. I don't know why but it is thunderous good. A |
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26 Mar 05 - 10:05 PM (#1444533) Subject: RE: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: Big Mick Yep, all things considered, I am pretty happy with mine. I also have a Sony mini disk. I love it for collecting, and for recording practice arrangements. Just call me tech boy..... Mick |
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26 Mar 05 - 10:15 PM (#1444536) Subject: RE: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: GUEST In the long-run....this is a stock to short.
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26 Mar 05 - 10:45 PM (#1444545) Subject: RE: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: Linda Mattson Could it be that those who are Mac users love iPOD and those who are PC users hate it? I'm planning to get one, but first I need a new iBook or iMac with system 10. |
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26 Mar 05 - 10:53 PM (#1444549) Subject: RE: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: Big Mick I operate on a PC. When you buy the maintenance policy, it covers battery replacement, which basically pays for the maintenance policy. |
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26 Mar 05 - 11:00 PM (#1444553) Subject: RE: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: Auggie Mine works off my Dell PC just fine. |
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26 Mar 05 - 11:02 PM (#1444557) Subject: RE: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: wysiwyg Send me that damn IPod then. Donate it to me via my church, so I can use it to store spirituals I'm researching for use there. ~S~ |
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26 Mar 05 - 11:17 PM (#1444569) Subject: RE: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: Amos There ya go!! The world will be twice served thereby!! You will no longer have grounds to complain, and WYSI will be happy listening to an iPod loaded up with them spiry-chools. A |
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27 Mar 05 - 02:08 AM (#1444617) Subject: RE: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: Terry K I had iPod thrust upon me at Christmas. First I found that iTunes only works with XP so I had to upgrade from ME (not a bad thing in itself). Then I found how brilliant the thing is - I now have all of my CDs loaded on the computer, which means I can access my music all the time, therefore I do. (As with my digital photos - I've now discovered the concept of actually looking at my photos!). The CD collection has been consigned to the loft so is now out of the way. I'm not sure I have the courage to sell them just yet. I bought the cassette converter and power unit so I can use (and charge) the iPod in the car, so again don't have CDs cluttering up the car. Belkin do a battery unit for 4 AAs as a standby, quite cheap - haven't got one yet but probably will. Bose do a wonderful dock/speaker system which I have had demonstrated and which will replace the hi-fi, so I suppose I'll have to have one. Yes, the earphones are stupid and can't possibly work on anyone with normal ears, so I see a pair of Bose noise reducing jobbies heading my way. And I now have the problem that I've run out of hard drive on my 3 year old 20 gig laptop. I have an external hard disk with plenty of capacity but it's not connected all the time as I need the PCI slot for Broadband, so guess what - I need a new computer. You just have to know that the initial purchase price is only the start. Incidentally, I also have a Sony minidisc which I hate with a passion. It is fiddly, non-intuitive and lacks volume, so doesn't get used at all. I guess if you used it all the time you would get used to it, but for me life's too short. And one of the great things about iPod/iTunes is the speed with which it all happens. cheers, Terry |
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27 Mar 05 - 07:05 AM (#1444688) Subject: RE: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: wysiwyg And any of you folks who have gospel CDs you are willing to donate to the Gospel Tape Lending Library-- PM me! (Just MudSearch that if you don't know about it.) ~Susan |
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27 Mar 05 - 11:27 AM (#1444837) Subject: RE: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: podman I want to thank you all for your comments, which were all worth reading. A bit more, I actually was talked into buying the unit, I was aware it didn't have a radio, and it was always an issue. But yeah I bought it. And I discovered how much a radio means to me! The immediacy of hearing a living human voice has a quality to me that belies the trivia of most radio broadcasts. And of course, listening to NPR! I bought a very lightweight mp3 /radio unit at Costco. It was just what I could use. It was about $90 with 256 Meg of memory and not only FM radio but a nifty carrier strap, very light in weight and removable disposable/recharageable battery. Two comments on this: 1) Per unit of memory, the iPOD was a better deal! 2) It broke down within a week and I returned it. Mick mentioned precisely some of the problems I've had with iTunes, partial loading of the library and Amos alerted me to keep trying to work with the program that ultimately I will grow happier with it. So a powerful word of thanks to you folks. I won't be giving it away and I'll try not to throw it into the street as far as I can. |
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27 Mar 05 - 12:35 PM (#1444888) Subject: RE: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: open mike i recently "won" (from a soda bottle cap) a "free" download of a song from itunes. it looks like i have download the program in order to use the tunes.. any one have advice as to whether it is worth it? is it possible to use this program without havnig an i pod? |
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27 Mar 05 - 12:45 PM (#1444893) Subject: RE: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: podman Open Mike: I haven't won bottle top music so I can't help you 100% but I can say that iTunes is downloadable for either PC or MAC, and can play music off your CDs, or rip your CDs, or rip and convert your CDs to mp3s or other formats. While I have not found it 'perfect', I have found it quite good, and I do use it to rip my personal CD's into mp3's. If you already have such software such as mediajukebox, which also plays and rips, have it turned off when you load and use iTUNES. if you have no such software, iTUNES should be easy to load and use. |
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27 Mar 05 - 01:00 PM (#1444900) Subject: RE: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: Clinton Hammond "those who are PC users hate it" Oh I never said I hated it... I just think the Sony HD MD player is a MUCH better piece of kit... An IPod would do in a pinch... I'd like 'em better if they didn't look so fo-fo |
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27 Mar 05 - 01:11 PM (#1444907) Subject: RE: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: Amos iTunes is a good all around MP3 and other tunes manager. You don't need an iPod to use it. A |
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28 Mar 05 - 12:35 AM (#1445311) Subject: RE: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: Terry K .......but beware, it's addictive. And when you go to the iTunes shop to select your free track, let's just say there are lots of others which may attract your attention. Having said which, the shop seems like a great idea, enabling you to select an album and only buy the track(s) you actually want. I haven't yet succombed but I know it's only a matter of time. cheers, Terry |
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21 Feb 08 - 07:00 PM (#2269026) Subject: RE: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: GUEST,Dani Refreshing! Thanks for the tips, but I need an update. My daughter's ipod has become my new best running friend, but it won't hold a charge, and I hate HATE the earbuds, and, well... it's not mine. She said it's REALLY old : ) Don't want to spend a ton of money, and I DO like to see the playlists. Suggestions on current v. used old models? Dani |
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21 Feb 08 - 07:14 PM (#2269036) Subject: RE: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: Amos For that sort of use, the little Nano is light and shows the playlists. You can get ear-pones instead of the bids. You might be able t get a deal on having the battery replaced, and if you save enough you could cover the earphones. Take it into an Apple store and find out. A |
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22 Feb 08 - 03:08 AM (#2269291) Subject: RE: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: Ruth Archer I adore my first generation 4 gig Nano. I bought my boyfriend his first iPod for Christmas (new 3rd gen 8 gig), and it's even lovelier than mine. The covetousness I feel whenever I see it is rather worrying. I have never had a single problem with my Nano, and had it sussed in about 5 minutes. The earbuds are a pain in the arse, though. I have a car charger, and an iTrip for playing it wirelessly through my car radio. I'm a PC user, and I've also had no trouble with iTunes. Re missing the radio: have you thought about downloading some podcasts? They make a nice change, and are often far more interesting than a lot of the stuff you hear on the radio. |
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22 Feb 08 - 05:55 AM (#2269348) Subject: RE: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: Suegorgeous Still puzzling over what the verb form of fogy is...fogle? fogerize? do tell! Also puzzling - how is a MD comparable to an Ipod? you can't download to a MD! (can you??) |
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22 Feb 08 - 06:37 AM (#2269365) Subject: RE: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: robomatic I use an 8 Gig Sansa which cost $40 less than the Nano of the same size and HAS a radio. It charges right off the USB port of a computer and can last a couple of days of constant use. The iPOD is a bit cuter and has a slightly better interface. Bought one for my niece. One thing I don't know if was an issue for the original folks on this thread: when you download to an iPOD, you typically can't get the music back, the SANSA regards the music as just something in portable memory, so you can recover it and move it onto something else if you desire. |
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22 Feb 08 - 11:14 AM (#2269614) Subject: RE: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: Gervase I'm completely hooked on mine. It holds music and loads of podcasts as well, and helps me keep my sanity through the day. It's also a great way of learning new material. The earbuds supplied are lousy, just like every other manufacturer's earbuds, so I splashed out on a pair of Shure sound-isolating earphones which are superb. Wearing them I can use an angle-grinder or demolition drill and still hear what's playing, and they never fall out. |
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22 Feb 08 - 12:57 PM (#2269674) Subject: RE: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: Amos That sound sexcellent. I should use mine more than I do, and one reason I don't is the earbuids. But the first time I wore the iPod, I was dancing down the aisles just like the ads -- embarassed all my friends at the restaurant. A |
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22 Feb 08 - 03:36 PM (#2269793) Subject: RE: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: GUEST,Dani Yeah, I'm finding that I can only run after dark now. With my playlist, anything could happen: I can't help it! :P Dani |
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22 Feb 08 - 03:59 PM (#2269809) Subject: RE: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: Amos That sounds like a really fun jog.... A |
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22 Feb 08 - 04:04 PM (#2269819) Subject: RE: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: SINSULL Bitten by a vampire, Dani? Why can you run only at night? |
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22 Feb 08 - 04:13 PM (#2269825) Subject: RE: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: Alice This generation will never enjoy the circle of friends passing around the album covers, seeing the artwork, reading all the liner notes and lyrics and band members, etc. When albums gave way to CD's, I lamented the small images and lack of space to read about the performers and their work. Music used to be a shared group experience and now it is listened to in isolation for the most part, and now without the information and artwork records had. I still do not own an ipod. |
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22 Feb 08 - 04:20 PM (#2269832) Subject: RE: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: Tootler I bought a 4GB Sony mp3 player. 40 quid less than an iPod of the same memory and no need for iTunes. when you plug the USB lead into the computer the player appears as a removable drive. You can also synchronise from Windows Media Player which I find useful. My elder daughter gave my younger one an iPod for Christmas a couple of years ago and she had endless trouble with iTunes. It seems it is geared up to downloading and she mostly wanted to transfer tracks from her own CD collection to listen to on the move. iTunes kept trying to synchronise tunes she didn't want and wouldn't synchronise those she did want. In the end she gave up and bought a [non-Apple] mp3 player. I was told that you can set iPods to be treated as external drives so you can drag and drop tunes, but this feature is not available on the shuffle which is the one my daughter was given. I found that having to leave the computer on to charge mine a bit of a pain, but I have just found a charger with a USB socket to plug directly into the mains so you can charge independently of the computer. Much better. |
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22 Feb 08 - 05:29 PM (#2269893) Subject: RE: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: Cluin Alice is right about the isolation inherent in music-supplying technology today. But there are also lots more benefits for sharing music as well. We (and especially the industry) just have to adapt to them. New worlds opening up. It IS a good time to be alive. |
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22 Feb 08 - 07:36 PM (#2270013) Subject: RE: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: GUEST,Dani Yup, Alice, I definitely feel like it's EASIER to share music now than when I was (ahem)...... My teenage daughters send me random emails with links to songs that caught their ear and they want to share (and vice-versa), and we all share an itunes account that mushes all our music together and has produced untold crossover discoveries for all of us. SINS, my trouble now is that the ipod pours all this GREAT music right into my head, and that, combined with the mid-run exhilaration, just makes me wave my arms around, play the drums, and want to sing really hard! Obviously, a menace to society, since no one else can hear it, they just see my crazy self heading down the middle of the street. I really have to learn some ipod manners before I can be trusted with one of my own. Mick, your Sligo Musketeers nearly ran me off the road the other night. Dani |
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23 Feb 08 - 02:33 AM (#2270149) Subject: RE: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: KT I LOVE my Ipod! When I workout, I put it on shuffle, which mixes the selections and plays them at random. It's such a delight to be exercising along to some wonderful Quebecois fiddling, then on to a lovely rendition of Turning Toward the Morning by Ed Trickett, only to be surprised and delighted when the next cut is a pub session tune from Getaway 05, then Kendall's Rolling Home, then Amos, and Mick and Bobert, and Janie and Jeri and Barry and etc, etc. I may not run as fast or as long as some when I'm working out, but I'd bet I smile a whole lot more!! KT |
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23 Feb 08 - 09:49 AM (#2270276) Subject: RE: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: GUEST,Dani : ) Just watch out for the whole arm-waving thing when a smile isn't enough. Thanks for the reminder that I could get the Getaway stuff on there, too! It'll be fun to sing with you again. Dani |
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23 Feb 08 - 12:04 PM (#2270373) Subject: RE: Tech: I Hate My iPOD From: astro I have both a iPod shuffle and iPod, I have no problems with iTunes, realizing that I have to have it on manual upload and to check that all tunes are going to be imported. Sometimes not all tunes from a CD is selected by iTunes so I just click the missing ones to get them all. I have never read any manual, I just learned by doing and the doing was pretty easy. The shuffle is a nice tool when not wanting to take a larger unit. It holds 250 songs and I just place it on shuffle to be surprised by what is played. iTunes can place tunes anywhere you want them stored. It is one of your preferences. If you change locations (like getting one of those new terabyte drives), you simply can hit a consolidate button in iTunes and all of your music is moved to that new site. Makes it easy. Don't get rid of your CD library, computers and any technical device can fail. Just hide them away in a dry, nitrogen backed atmosphere and they'll last forever, maybe. Astro in LA....and Tucson... |