Best MP3 Player? Advice?

You have been misinformed.

 

I just reread your blog again and am confused on something. Yes I agree you and your husband can download music into two separate ipods from two separate computers. BUT can you download your music from both computers into one IPOD? The copy infringement was I could download the music and then give it someone else thru my ipod and that would be the infringement part....I don't know maybe someone is full of bull ka ka but I use a goverment computer overseas and I can't get crossways with anyone on it. Safety first so I don't have to fight uncle sugar and the artist....again thanks for your help. I didn't even know there was an ipod forum..

 

That is absolutely true about not being able to give someone else your music through your ipod.

Our music collection is located on an external hard drive. Each computer/itunes accesses the same external hard drive where the music is.

Now - our computers are setup as a network where we can access both computers. I would think, having a network setup is a MUST. My husband is the computer wizz and does all that.

You have to change your itunes preferences - under the ADVANCED tab -

Where it says Itunes Music folder location (very top) -
Ours is directed to our external hard drive

UNCheck the boxes that say:
keep itunes music folder organized
copy files to itunes music folder when adding to library

Under the SHARING tab - we have the boxes checked
*look for shared libraries
*share my library on my local network
*share entire library

We both use itunes separately on each computer with our own libraries, playlists, can sync on our own separately etc. But the music is not kept on each computer. It's kept on the external hard drive and both itunes (on each computer) access the music there.

Believe me, when we first got into ipods - it took us a while to understand how itunes works & how it *sees* the music and accesses it and all that stuff. There are still some weird things that occur - but atleast now, we have our network & music setup to how we both need it.

 

You can easily copy your entire music library between your ipod and PC, or your PC and ipod, or anyone else's ipod for that matter, without using iTunes. All you need is 3rd party software like ipod explorer.

 

LMAO....Damm I hate smart people and your husband must be a nerd to have figured all this out...(wish I was smart enough to be a nerd!--that's a compliment) But to sort of put this in perspective the cost of a hard drive for my pocket book was cost prohibitive but I do understand what your saying....just not smart enough to execute on it.


By the way I did try some third party software and I couldn't get it to work and no one else could either. For me the MP3 did everything I wanted it to much easier...as you can see I'm only smart enough to drive a Taco.....(YOU GUYS ARE GREAT!)

 

Huh? You can connect any mp3 player(ipod, zune, sansa) to any stereo that has aux in.

This is the reason why I don't want one and I agree with rme. I do not like the control that itunes takes over my LEGALLY owned music. You should not have to download third party software to manage YOUR music. But I recently bought a new Pioneer HU that has the cable for full control over the ipod, and after using it with my wifes, I am in love! I may be retiring my Zen Micro for an Ipod soon, it is great to stash the Ipod away and be able to control it from your HU.

 

X400000

You can download any CD into itunes. As of January 09 Apple also started releasing all music free of DRM. Digital Rights Management. If you download the new Dave Matthew's CD burn it to a disc, you can then give it to me to put on m itunes. Itunes is a little restrictive to sharing libraries between two separate ipods, but most if not all OS systems allow you to log in as multiple users, you could then share the same library under different user accounts. Read press release below from Apple...

SAN FRANCISCO—January 6, 2009—Apple® today announced several changes to the iTunes® Store (www.itunes.com). Beginning today, all four major music labels—Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group and EMI, along with thousands of independent labels, are now offering their music in iTunes Plus, Apple’s DRM-free format with higher-quality 256 kbps AAC encoding for audio quality virtually indistinguishable from the original recordings.

 

Hmmmm do you think iTunes reads this forum? (LOL)

 

now do a quick search and find total units sold for each....

 

[quote="OldManTan";841559]Huh? You can connect any mp3 player(ipod, zune, sansa) to any stereo that has aux in.



[/quote]

by connect, i mean, controlling the ipod with the stereo.

 

I have a 16gb Touch. It's a little more for what I need it to do but it is a nice toy. Plus, I can hit a coffee shop when I'm out of town and surf the web.

The biggest plus with the ipod is aftermarket support. There is so much that caters to the ipod.

The biggest negative for me is the itunes software. What a terribly executed program. I have used many other programs that are way more intuitive than itunes.

The Microsoft Zune is a very nice unit as well. It's just too bad that Apple owns the market in portable players. The ipod is the PC of the portable player world and the Zune is the Mac. Weird how that works.

 

Now the issue is price. 145 at walmart for a Nano 8 gb. My Zen 5 years ago was 200 and it is a 20 gb when the technology was just starting to take off. I can get a Sony 8 gig for 60 a panasonic 8 gig for 70 a RCA 8 gig for 40 and something off ebay with pictures of an Ipod for 30. Do you really get what you pay for in these instances?

 

i still have my creative zen xtra, its still going, had it for about 4-5 years now? when it came out, it uses a laptop battery lol, dropped it plenty of times and its still going. WAY more reliable than ipod, the only thing is, its like carrying around a brick! but its worth it

 

Creative Zen. I did a lot of research before buying it. It had better ratings than the iPod or Zune and was less expensive. It's about the size of a credit card. I've had it 3 years now - no trouble, great sound! I would definitely buy another one.

 

I had a Creative Zen Micro for I think about 4 years or so until it got lost in a tornado 2 and a half years ago(im not kidding) which I absolutely loved. They don't make anymore but I remember back when the micro model first came out that it was a ton better than the apple equivalent which I think was the 1st gen ipod mini(thy used to call the ipod nano the ipod mini for those who may not know) Examples: a lot more feature, easier to use, more compatible, accepted more types of music, and not to mention I think that it was a bit cheaper in price too.

So anyway the point is that in my opinion I think that there are other good options BESIDES Apple. I am not saying that Ipods are not good products... because they are. But there are things that certain people may prefer about other brands (like creative) over Apple. It all really comes down to personal preference in the end and how much you want to pay.

I am not really sure what creative has available for mp3 players now but the Zen that i owned was a fantastic product. It was always reliable and the customer/product support was really good. I used it all the time and in many different environments including the outdoors and camping. Although I did have a tendency to baby it considering it was my first mp3 and I was younger and 200 dollars was a fortune to me. Also I enjoy listening to the radio as well and downloaded music so having a radio built in was something that I found important. There were plenty accessories that were made for them too and it is nice because you dont have to use apple's special plug to connect it to the computer or anything else, you could just use usb.


Well thats my 2 cents on the subject, I probably spent way to much time on it but oh well. I saw that airsoft warrior said that he had a Creative zen so I had to chime in

 

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I have a 40 gig mp3 player I bought in 2003, still have it and it still works with the original battery. Sits in my workshop plugged into some cheap computer speakers. Got tired of making play lists and updating the music on it. It was more of a hassle to use than it was worth; get in the car, get the cable out, plug it in, turn it on, scroll through the index, pick music. play music. Stop the car unplug it, turn it off, hide it and cable or put it in my pocket. Repeat process with every stop on long trips. Since the car players have mp3/wma capability I just burn mp3 cd's and stick one in the car player for 10 hrs. of music. Good for a weeks worth of commutes. Keep 30 cd's or so in the car with a variety of music in paper sleeves, never write on the sleeves just the disk, so I don't have to worry about sleeves getting mismatched with disk. No more batteries to go dead, no cables, no expensive device to maintain. My brother's on his 3rd ipod. What's that like, $500?

I just wish the car had a usb plug (factory players are always 5 years behind the aftermarket) then I would just plug in my 16gig thumb drive and get rid if the cd's.
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