Portable HD MP3 Player

It's all about the equipment

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LindyChef
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#31 Post by LindyChef » Sun Jan 16, 2005 7:19 pm

GemZombie wrote:So i'm told that you can't use an iPod as an external hard drive on a PC. In that you can't use it to play from while using a laptop because it doesn't store in mp3, and has a unique file structure in order to support it's playlist feature.

To me this is a deal breaker, so how much of that is true?
None of it

1) It is a portable hard drive and that's how Windows mounts it.
2) It can playback files in AAC and MP3 format, but since it is a hard drive, it can store any data you put on it.
3) The file structure for storing the music is setup and managed by the ipod and itunes, not something you want to mess with and you will want to use itunes to sync with your PC.


My fave thing to do now is, if I am just at a loss for what to play next, put the specific genre I am looking for on random on my ipod and just keep searching until I hear something in my collection that I hadn't thought of playing ... nice stuff always comes up.

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Shanabanana
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#32 Post by Shanabanana » Sun Jan 16, 2005 7:34 pm

LindyChef wrote:
GemZombie wrote:So i'm told that you can't use an iPod as an external hard drive on a PC. In that you can't use it to play from while using a laptop because it doesn't store in mp3, and has a unique file structure in order to support it's playlist feature.

To me this is a deal breaker, so how much of that is true?
None of it

1) It is a portable hard drive and that's how Windows mounts it.
2) It can playback files in AAC and MP3 format, but since it is a hard drive, it can store any data you put on it.
3) The file structure for storing the music is setup and managed by the ipod and itunes, not something you want to mess with and you will want to use itunes to sync with your PC.


My fave thing to do now is, if I am just at a loss for what to play next, put the specific genre I am looking for on random on my ipod and just keep searching until I hear something in my collection that I hadn't thought of playing ... nice stuff always comes up.
Well, the file structure part is sort of true. If you enable hard disk use on your ipod and look at the file structure of the songs synced from itunes, it is kind of funky. But I wouldn't use it to pull songs off of as I would an external hard drive. I would use itunes to play from the ipod. You may be able to drag and drop from itunes to winamp like this, but I'm not sure. If you wanted to drag and drop straight, just put the files straight on the ipod as if you were using a regular hard drive. You won't be able to see those files for regular play from the ipod, though. But to be honest, itunes is such a good search tool that I don't know why you would want to leave it out of the game.

Mainly, I use my ipod as a shuffle/discovery tool (as others have mentioned before and as a backup if my computer bombs out. I've had several emergency gigs where it has saved the day, and the on the go playlists make it relatively simple to DJ from, but I wouldn't want to do it on a regular basis.

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GemZombie
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#33 Post by GemZombie » Sun Jan 16, 2005 10:13 pm

I'm at 41 gigs of music on my external drive right now (that's around 12,000 songs), so an ipod won't even hold my entire collection. But the point for me is that I use an external hard drive to store all that (and it's usb powered which is a huge bonus)... and I prefer DJing from my laptop. I don't want to have to store my mp3's on two different devices in order to play from my laptop efficiently... (are you sure it doesn't do a conversion when you copy the files to the iPod, this was what I was told?).

I'm sure it's a wonderful portable device, but i'm still looking for the "everything" device that i can use as a portable drive, and an mp3 player, yet has some of the advanced playlist features that I hear are so great about the iPod... also, not a fan of iTunes on the PC.

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lindyholic
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#34 Post by lindyholic » Sun Jan 16, 2005 10:23 pm

Yeah, actually, iTunes can be a bit of a pain on the PC, like if your computer suddenly has to use a lot of resources, it then doesn't play the music file properly. But for transferring stuff onto the iPod, it's great.

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Bob the Builder
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#35 Post by Bob the Builder » Sun Jan 16, 2005 11:03 pm

Campus Five wrote:You could always make your genre descriptions much much more specific.
I have created some - Big Band, Small Band, Groove, Dixieland + Bop. But must artist may have differnt songs that span over 2 or 3 of these different Genre's.
Image

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Mr Awesomer
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#36 Post by Mr Awesomer » Mon Jan 17, 2005 11:15 am

Jesse,
I got Audra and iPod for Christmas and have played with it a bunch since. Knowing you, it isn't the device you're looking for.

And yes, iTunes sucks period, PC or on a Mac.
Reuben Brown
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GemZombie
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#37 Post by GemZombie » Mon Jan 17, 2005 11:59 am

Thanks, that's the answer I was looking for. I have a tiny mp3 player i use when i travel that was given to me free (128meg), works ok. Those mini-ipods actually look pretty nifty.

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Shanabanana
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#38 Post by Shanabanana » Mon Jan 17, 2005 12:20 pm

GemZombie wrote:I'm at 41 gigs of music on my external drive right now (that's around 12,000 songs), so an ipod won't even hold my entire collection. But the point for me is that I use an external hard drive to store all that (and it's usb powered which is a huge bonus)... and I prefer DJing from my laptop. I don't want to have to store my mp3's on two different devices in order to play from my laptop efficiently... (are you sure it doesn't do a conversion when you copy the files to the iPod, this was what I was told?).

I'm sure it's a wonderful portable device, but i'm still looking for the "everything" device that i can use as a portable drive, and an mp3 player, yet has some of the advanced playlist features that I hear are so great about the iPod... also, not a fan of iTunes on the PC.
Well, a 60GB ipod would hold it all. And yes, I'm 99% sure that it stores as an mp3 (or AAC etc) on the ipod, but I can't confirm it right now.

With enough memory, itunes is a great piece of software for PC. Without, it's a dog. The smart playlists are one of the best things I've ever seen. I have smart playlists for tempo ranges, and about 10 other subgroups that automatically update based on text in the comments or BPM fields. And the on-the-go playlist feature is about the best thing you could hope for as a DJ on a simple interface like ipod. It's not nearly as good as laptop DJing, but it's great in a pinch.

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Mr Awesomer
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#39 Post by Mr Awesomer » Mon Jan 17, 2005 12:33 pm

I've never run iTunes on a less then capable system so my view of it sucking is on how it functions. Irregardless, tons of memory shouldn't be required for something as simple as ripping, organizing and playing music. But I agree, the iPod is great in a pinch for DJing, and down right awesome for it's primary purpose as a portable personal music player.
Reuben Brown
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Zot
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#40 Post by Zot » Mon Jan 17, 2005 10:30 pm

I find iTunes by far the best CD ripping & music management software I've tried on the Mac. I can't say I've experienced Reuben's problems with memory running iTunes on OSX (even on fairly meagre systems). (Psst, Reuben, there's no such word as "irregardless").

I have definitely heard complaints about iTunes for the PC from people I trust, but I don't feel qualified to make the call myself not being a Windows user.

My only issue with iTunes relates to DRM on music purchased through the iTunes Music Store (although even there I haven't had a major amount of inconvenience, yet). I see this as a separate issue from ripping disks and manageing tunes, though -- after all I can choose not to use ITMS any time. It's just a shame that it's not cooler.
"Take the worst of neo-swing and put it together with Glen Miller. The man thinks the Count is someone from a horror flick. Take pity on him and let him play two or three tunes. But be sure you have some errands to run." -- Bill Borgida

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Zot
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#41 Post by Zot » Mon Jan 17, 2005 10:45 pm

GemZombie wrote:I'm at 41 gigs of music on my external drive right now (that's around 12,000 songs), so an ipod won't even hold my entire collection.
Two comments:
1. You may not necessarily need all your tunes on the iPod all the time. YMMV.

2. There's a 60Gig configuration available, although it's a bit pricier. See:
http://www.apple.com/ipod/specs.html
But the point for me is that I use an external hard drive to store all that (and it's usb powered which is a huge bonus)... and I prefer DJing from my laptop. I don't want to have to store my mp3's on two different devices in order to play from my laptop efficiently... (are you sure it doesn't do a conversion when you copy the files to the iPod, this was what I was told?).
There's no conversion of the files -- they're just MP3s (or whatever format you decide to store tham as.) Including header information, etc. They're not visible when you mount the device as a disk, however. That may be what you've been told? In any case you can easily move, synch, or copy the MP3s. There's definitely no conversion involved.
I'm sure it's a wonderful portable device, but i'm still looking for the "everything" device that i can use as a portable drive, and an mp3 player, yet has some of the advanced playlist features that I hear are so great about the iPod... also, not a fan of iTunes on the PC.
A couple of things here. First, you don't have to use iTunes to use an iPod. You can use anything that can see an iPod (Apple used to distribute MusicMatch for the PC, I believe). There are several options from what I hear. Second, you really do need to decide whether you are going to use this device to actually DJ from. My own experience was that I DJd for a couple of years using only the iPod, and found it very useful and simple, but when I got myself a light enough laptop (12 inch Powerbook) I never looked back. The number one advantage of the Laptop is fast searching. Number two advantage is being able to preview tracks.
"Take the worst of neo-swing and put it together with Glen Miller. The man thinks the Count is someone from a horror flick. Take pity on him and let him play two or three tunes. But be sure you have some errands to run." -- Bill Borgida

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Mr Awesomer
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#42 Post by Mr Awesomer » Tue Jan 18, 2005 2:30 am

Zot wrote:(Psst, Reuben, there's no such word as "irregardless").
There is in America:
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?b ... &x=16&y=16
Reuben Brown
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#43 Post by LindyChef » Fri Jan 21, 2005 1:02 pm

For those who would say that an iPod won't hold your entire collection, just stop to consider ... do you really need your whole collection? How much of it is stuff that you wouldn't actually play? ;)

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#44 Post by GemZombie » Fri Jan 21, 2005 11:04 pm

LindyChef wrote:For those who would say that an iPod won't hold your entire collection, just stop to consider ... do you really need your whole collection? How much of it is stuff that you wouldn't actually play? ;)
It's not a need, it's a want. And if I'm going to shell out more money, than why shouldn't i get what i want :)

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#45 Post by CafeSavoy » Sat Jan 22, 2005 10:36 am

GemZombie wrote:
LindyChef wrote:For those who would say that an iPod won't hold your entire collection, just stop to consider ... do you really need your whole collection? How much of it is stuff that you wouldn't actually play? ;)
It's not a need, it's a want. And if I'm going to shell out more money, than why shouldn't i get what i want :)
in that case, get the 60 gb ipod. or one of the mini-computers--either the mac, a cappucino pc, or something similar (i think the Vulcan will be too small and also the Sony VGN)-- or you can get a top end laptop like a Sony Vaio T91, Panasonic R3, JVC 741, or Fujitsu T70K/T. Image [At only 2.0lbs, the sleek and elegant JVC XP741 comes with a Pentium M 1.1GHz, 60GB HDD and up to 768mb RAM.]

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