IPod Help

[Chuck Jackson]

Merry Christmas!!!!

I am considering joining the 21st Century and getting one of these. Here is the help I need:

1. What is the best size to get, memory wise, if I want to put on an entire Beetoven cycle of symphonies and concertos, the same with Brahms, Bruckner, and so on.

2. What does a gig translate into time wise?

3. Are there better platforms that the IPod to meet my needs.

4. Do they alphabetize for you and what is the download time?

5. Is 160 gigs overkill for my needs? Will an 80 gig serve my purposes?

I would like to put as much of my standard listeningcollection on one, including rock, bluegrass, and jazz. Is this too much to ask? TIA and a very Merry Christmas to all to you in TubeNet land.

Chuck

[jbaylies]

I'm assuming you have iTunes, because if you're going to have an iPod then you need iTunes. If you don't have it, then you can download it for free off of the apple site.

Here's a simple way to estimate the size of the iPod you should get.

Navigate to the Library section of iTunes.

Look at the bottom of the iTunes window.

It should look something like this:



The number to the left of "GB" is the size, in gigabytes, of your collection of songs. Choose an iPod that has a hard drive large enough to hold that much information! Also, the iPod automatically alphabetizes all of the songs.

Hope this helped!

[The Jackson]

I have never known of someone who filled up their 30 gb iPod with just music. People put full-length films there, too.

If you really want an iPod, I'd suggest you look around for an older one with maybe a 15 or 20 gb hard drive. Then again, I don't know how much music you have, so you neever to see what will fit.

If you want something new, though, I'd reccomend a Microsoft Zune. I just got a 30 gb one and it is spectacular. A new, black 30 gb is $150 from Amazon.

[Chuck Jackson]

Thanks for the info up to this point. I wanted to put a further disclaimer to this question:

I only plan on listening to music, I have no interest in anything video from this product.

TIA and Thanks for the info so far.

Chuck

[KevinMadden]

whatever the smaller of the 'video' ipods is should suit your needs (its what i have..like 30 gig or something) the only problem with the smaller ones that are music only is that you could fill 4-6 gg with ease.. with music. I may only have about 17 gig on mine, and about 12 of that is music, but thats still more than the nanos.

[The Jackson]

Allow me put things into perspective here:

1 gigabyte = 1 000 000 000 bytes = 8 000 megabytes

1 standard 3-4 minute song ≈ 4 megabytes

So, 1 gigabyte of hard drive space, under the unifrom circumstances above, would hold 2000 songs.

So, a 30 gigabyte iPod would probably hold about 60 000 songs if used for nothing else.

[KevinMadden]

Allow me put things into perspective here:

1 gigabyte = 1 000 000 000 bytes = 8 000 megabytes

1 standard 3-4 minute song ≈ 4 megabytes

So, 1 gigabyte of hard drive space, under the unifrom circumstances above, would hold 2000 songs.

So, a 30 gigabyte iPod would probably hold about 60 000 songs if used for nothing else.

not quite.....
Quote apple store: 160Gb: 40,000 songs...

but I see that the new Nanos are 8 gig and the smallest classics are 80.....
so..... one may be a bit small, and the other is overkill

[The Jackson]

Ah, I messed up in the units

But yeah, Apple calculates their song capacity under pretty common circumstances. That should be helpful for you, because you don't want to use it for videos.

[Doug@GT]

I have never known of someone who filled up their 30 gb iPod with just music..

If I had one, I would be able to. But this leads to my warning...

If you use an iPod and iTunes--DO NOT sync the two. You'll be able to go between more than one computer if you don't.

If you do, deleting a song from the iPod/computer will delete it from the other. Very bad....

[jbeish]

Just wait... Apple is developing a one TERABYTE ipod. It's going to be the same size as a classic and under $500. That's a bit much. That's about 400,000 songs or 2,000 hours of video.

Wow...

[sungfw]

If you use an iPod and iTunes--DO NOT sync the two. You'll be able to go between more than one computer if you don't.

If you do, deleting a song from the iPod/computer will delete it from the other. Very bad....

Uh ... No.

That will only happen if you have either "Replace all items when autofilling" checked (shuffle) or "Manually manage music" unchecked (everything else) in iTunes.

I have different libraries on my two home (Mac) and work (XP) computers and synch my three iPods (60Gb 4G Photo, 2G shuffle, 80Gb 6G Classic) between them all the time.

Also, synching is a one-way street. Changing the contents of the iPod library doesn't affect the contents of the iTunes library, but assuming Autosynch is on, deleting a song from the iTunes library will delete it from the iPod the next time the iPod is synched.

[eupher61]

For purposes such as not having to worry about deleting, and using only iTunes, etc...you might consider getting something other than a branded iPod.

Consumers Reports rated the Samsung T9 second best of the non-iPod mp3 players, it was rated higher than any of the iPods. The only one rated better was a Sony, and only because of video quality.

The biggest T9 is 4 gigs, I think, so that may be a problem. I have about 7 hours of music on mine, it's within about 20 mb of full. Still...the battery doesn't last a LOT longer than that!

Do be aware, also, that anything over 32 gig or so is, by default a hard disk unit, but under 32 MIGHT be a flash unit. The hard disk units are more susceptible to problems from being dropped, shaken, or even exposed to temperature extremes. The flash memory units aren't indestructable, but hold up better to rough treatment.

It's like a horn...try it out in the store before you buy it. you might take your own headphones, if you have some you like. The stock phones aren't particularly good, in my experience.

And, lastly, check the USB connector. With the iPods, that's not much of a problem, because there are plenty of dealers of accessories (like cables). Samsung units use a proprietary connector at the player end, and few places carry them.

[Doug@GT]

If you use an iPod and iTunes--DO NOT sync the two. You'll be able to go between more than one computer if you don't.

If you do, deleting a song from the iPod/computer will delete it from the other. Very bad....

Uh ... No.

That will only happen if you have either "Replace all items when autofilling" checked (shuffle) or "Manually manage music" unchecked (everything else) in iTunes.

I have different libraries on my two home (Mac) and work (XP) computers and synch my three iPods (60Gb 4G Photo, 2G shuffle, 80Gb 6G Classic) between them all the time.

Also, synching is a one-way street. Changing the contents of the iPod library doesn't affect the contents of the iTunes library, but assuming Autosynch is on, deleting a song from the iTunes library will delete it from the iPod the next time the iPod is synched.

Thanks for the details. Too confusing.

Doug "sticking with a 2GB nano for now"

[Todd S. Malicoate]

Check this out:

http://www.kennettnet.co.uk/musicrescue/

Music Rescue is AWESOME! It can run independently or dependently of iTunes. It saved me some really bad headaches.

From the link:

"If you're not allowed to install iTunes (school and corporate networks tend to not like this), simply install Music Rescue onto your iPod at home and it'll be available wherever you go - Mac or PC."

Right. Don't install iTunes because your boss won't like it, but go ahead and put our handy little program on there and your entire music library as well.

Where do these people work? That's a great way to get fired, especially in a company with an IT policy against such things. Are there really jobs where you can sit at your work computer, on the clock, and shuffle around music from your iPod to listen to at work? Don't people realize that a work computer is for work?

Nothing against this utility or Besson983 - didn't mean to slam on you at all - I'm sure it's a nice resource.

[brianf]

FYI - I have all Beethoven Symphonies plus overtures loaded on a computer, it takes 648 meg - less than 1 gig! All the Mahler symphonies take 1.37 gig.

As far as a player, I have a Dell 15 gig. The main thing I like about it is that when I plug it into my big computer, it shows as an additional hard drive and I transfer music over in Windows Explorer as an ordinary data file. Since I own a ton of CDs, I rip them into mp3's with the Windows Media Player, organize them in folders by genre-artist(or composer)- album(or symphony) then load them on the MP3 player. My 15 gigs are full and I change things every now and then. My MP3 player is not my only source of music, it is only used when I travel - I have other sound systems that I plug my man computer in.

There are many who will disagree with this but I would not own an IPod even if someone gave it to me! Why?

Their software sucks. I have loaded ITunes for a lot of clients and hate it.

Apple is in the business of selling music, while they have provisions in all but the earliest versions to rip from a CD, they want you to buy from them.

They use their own format, not an MP3 or 4 which is standard - yes, Microsoft does the same with WMA's so you have to change the preferences in Media Player to save in MP3.

Apple's philosophy has always been to tell you how to do things and not let you have options. While some people like that concept, I want the ability to change things such as sampling rates.

I have had a few clients blow out their drives when switching to a different computer. Maybe this is the sync thing someone mentioned, maybe it is the "their way or the highway" thing I mentioned. Music is data and data should be backed up. WQhat good is software that only works on one machine?

Finally, although from a hardware prespective, the IPOD is grat, Apple's software sucks!

[The Jackson]

If there's one thing that could make my Zune better, it'd be the ability to use any other software (like Winamp) to sync items. I hate using the Zune software. It eats through my RAM lik Pac-Man eats dots.

[sungfw]

FYI - I have all Beethoven Symphonies plus overtures loaded on a computer, it takes 648 meg - less than 1 gig! All the Mahler symphonies take 1.37 gig.

The London Classical recording of Beethoven's Ninth is 629.7 Mb in AIFF format. At less than 1 gb for all 9 symphonies, I guaran-dam-tee you're using a low bitrate and a lossy format.

They use their own format, not an MP3 or 4 which is standard

Dude, if you want to parade your ignorance in public, that's your privilege, but you seriously DO NOT know what you're talking about.

The ONLY proprietary audio format in iTunes is Apple Lossless Encoder.

EVERY version of iTunes, beginning with the 0.9a, has had the capability of reding, writing, and converting to MP3. AAC—which is the audio format of the MPEG-4 standard—has been available since v. 4.1.

iTunes 7 reads, writes, and converts between MP3, AIFF, WAV, MPEG-4, AAC, and Apple Lossless, and the FREE iTunes plugin Flip4Mac adds the ability to read, write, and convert WMA within iTunes.

And the MP3, AAC, AIFF, and WAV encoders allow you to specify the bitrate, sampling rate, and channels.

[brianf]

The London Classical recording of Beethoven's Ninth is 629.7 Mb in AIFF format. At less than 1 gb for all 9 symphonies, I guaran-dam-tee you're using a low bitrate and a lossy format. "

The Beethoven's I have are all MP3 recorded at 255 bps, a little lower than the 320 bps that is the max for Windows Media player.

Dude, if you want to parade your ignorance in public, that's your privilege, but you seriously DO NOT know what you're talking about. "

I worked my way through grad school working in a stereo shop then got into the installation business of big buck houses that have had photo spreads in magazies such as Archetectural Digest, Good Housekeeping, Audio Video Interiors and newspapers such as the Chicago Tribune. While I do not do as much work in this area, I get many a call to come out and correct other's mistakes. I have been in this business for over 30 years.

I get a laugh out of those who think the only audio system these days is an MP3 player. Yes, they are nice - easy to transport and hold a lot but they do not and will never not give you the sound of a good high end audio system. There is comprimise with different formats - I have heard an LP blow away a CD, my inwall speakers sound different than my main speakers even though I use Class A amplifiers on both. Sorry, an MP3 or any other format is not high end audio - it was never ment to be and never will be. We are musicians, we are paid big bucks to produce high quality sound, what is our concept? It is not an MP3 player!quote]

[tubafatness]

I have never known of someone who filled up their 30 gb iPod with just music. People put full-length films there, too.

Well, now you do! I filled up my old 30 gig Ipod when I had it; now I'm on to a newer 80 gig which I have also filled up, (yes, with all music!)

80 gigs should be plenty for several symphony cycles. I have many similar things on mine; Barshai/WDR complete Shostakovich, the entire studio discography of Tom Waits, around 200 tracks split between John Cage and Morton Feldman, about 3 gigs devoted solely to Stockhausen, etc.etc.... It depends a lot on what type of file you use; I'm kind of an audiophile, but I still use the mp3 format, (granted, it's about the biggest, most uncompressed mp3 format you can make, but it's still an mp3.) If you went completely uncompressed, as in a .wav file, then you might spring for the 160 gig, but there's really no need to have such large files.

[Chuck Jackson]

Just use a portable reel-to-reel, Chuck. Much more retro looking. Chicks dig that.

Finally, an answer that makes sense. It's all about the chicks.

Chuck"happier now than I was 2 minutes ago"Jackson