iPod-iTunes question

[landry_p2000]

I gave my mp3 player to my daughter, and was thinking about getting an iPod Nano this weekend. Can anyone tell me if I can convert my cds to iTunes for free, or will I have to pay for this service as well? I know the music on iTunes cost $.99 per file. If the service itself is going to cost me then I will stick with wma files which I have already.

Thanks,

Landry

[brettw22]

Wont' cost you anything. You already own the CD's.

The cost per file is if you're downloading new music, not converting what you have. Just rip it in media player or winamp because if you rip in itunes, it won't play anywhere else (i believe).

[landry_p2000]

Okay. Thanks

[Demiurge]

You don't even need iTunes to load your iPod.

[landry_p2000]

I have not dealt with any Apple products since college. What programs can I use to load it?

[Holydoc]

Wont' cost you anything. You already own the CD's.

The cost per file is if you're downloading new music, not converting what you have. Just rip it in media player or winamp because if you rip in itunes, it won't play anywhere else (i believe).

I would recommend using ITUNEs to rip the music. It is very intuitive and gives you lots of options for organizing music. If you select MP3 as the conversion option which is what I would do with a Nano since the compression is greater and thus you can fit more songs on the Nano, then you can share your songs with any other MP3 player as well.

I own an IPOD Video 60gb and convert my songs using a Lossless option. Problem with that is that the songs are very large but they are indiscernable from the original (very little compression).

Congrats on your new purchase!

BTW...here is a good site to ask questions concerning IPODS:

http://forums.ipodlounge.com/index.php?s=

or

http://discussions.apple.com/categor...categoryID=146

[landry_p2000]

Thanks Holy doc. I am going to take that route. I love the features that iPod has to offer, and I would love to get that 60g model but I am staying under $200 if possible. I already have alot of my music on my cpu and it shouldn't take too long to rip a few dozen albums through iTunes this weekend.

[Holydoc]

You don't even need iTunes to load your iPod.

It is true that you do not need ITUNES, but I cannot see any reason that someone with ITUNES would use anything else.

ITUNES gives you the ability to organize songs in just about anyway you can imagine. I have a playlist just for work that automatically creates exactly 8 hours worth of songs a day that ensures:
1) I haven't heard any of the songs in at least a week (that way I never hear the same song during a week of work)
2) That 40% of the songs are my most loved (i.e., highest ranked)
3) that 35% of the songs are on my nice to hear list
4) that 10% of the additions are news casts (i.e., podcasts so I stay up with the world events)
5) that 10% of the songs are songs I have not heard in a while and did not particularly care for (most of these songs I have not heard in several months and I place them in my list so that I can see if my tastes have changed)
6) And finally 5% of the songs are songs I just added recently to ITUNES either through CDs that I imported or bought off of ITUNES store.

This playlist is updated everyday or every time I listen to it on my IPOD without me having to do anything. It is all a function of ITUNES and using the commands inside of it to automate these playlists.

This is just one of my many (39 different Playlists in all) that I created in ITUNES. Each playlist was established for a certain mood or event. I would highly recommend using ITUNES for an IPOD first before experimenting with other less powerful medias.

[Holydoc]

Landry,

Just a follow-up on those links. I frequent those forums a lot and try to help people as much as possible with any problems they encounter. My username on those forums is the same (I am not very original) as here and you are welcome to PM me either here or there with any questions that you may have.

[landry_p2000]

Thanks a million Holydoc. If I have any questions, I will pm you for sure.

[Willow]

One thing to keep in mind when your nano freezes up which I'm sure it will mine has my wife's has a coworker has had freeze up don't freak out and get pissed and return it. There is an easy restore which can be found anywhere on the net just google nano freezing up....

I love my nano and I have pumped 172 songs into it and have not paid a darn thing.
Couple things though....your battery may not last super long, you can make it last longer by not having your backlight on for a long time. Don't Skip your songs too often it uses more juice as the "cache" must refresh itself more often.

Landry, if you have other questions shoot me a PM

Take care buddy and enjoy the Nano.....and since when did you get an SVS.....

[landry_p2000]

Willow...whats up dude?

I got that SVS from Zach (okiepolkie) months ago. I drove down to Arkansas and picked it up, and have been in bass heaven ever since. I am loving it too, it is a big change from the Polkaudio sub. That booger gets LOW, and its just the baby of the family.
I have not made the purchase yet on the player, but I will today; as I am torn between the 4g Apple Nano iPod ($250) and the 4g Sandisk m260 flash player($150). I am very familiar with the Sandisk brand, because I have purchased two within the past 8 months and have plenty of music files already on my cpus hard drive. I have had no problems with them at all, Pams daughters just took them both. :o I also wanted to get some thing with more storage capacity. The prior two were only 512mb, one with the expansion slot. Since they use them at school every day I just let them have them. I want to be able to store at least 1000 songs, and 4g is the lowest capacity to get me there. I am very reluctant to pay almost $300 duckets for something that will possibly freeze up and not hold a charge like it should. The only thing I like more is the photo storage. This player will be used mainly on my evening job at DHL. I work on the dock in the evening after I leave my main job. What do you think? (sorry about being so Damn long winded :D )

[tryrrthg]

I don't know anyone who has one but Creative has their 20gb model on sale right now for $180. Sounds like a good bang for the buck to me.

link

[polkatese]

Just to add my .02, I was debating about getting the Nano 4gb a couple of months ago, and ended up with iPod Video 30gb. Why? for and extra 26gb, the premium is an extra $35 (on Amazon, the 30gb was $285 vs. a Nano 4gb at $249), and you get video to boot.

As far as battery, it lasted through round-trip LAX-ORD (O'hare) last Friday, a total of about 7+ hours. Not bad.

[Willow]

FWIW, I bought my wife a sandisk when she used my Nano for 2 mins she wanted one. I just bought the 1g as I use it on the bus and our ride is only 15-20 mins and I'm having a hard time filling up the 1g as is let alone a 4g.

Sweet on the SVS bud....I'm thinkin about doing it as it has a smaller ft print over my energy sub, wich is WAF plus I'm sure it could beat my s10.2.

enjoy which ever you get

[landry_p2000]

Thanks a lot guys I will see today once I get to Circuit City. They are the cheapest in Memphis as far as mp3 player prices go. The 1g Nano is on sale for $139.99. The Sandisk 2g with photo capabilities is only $149.99.
By the way how do you charge the nano? Does it come with a wall plug or something of the sort?

[cfrizz]

In the same vein, I have no intention of buying an ipod. however, I would like access to a music library that is a lot bigger than all the places that I go to download music & pay per song now so that I can copy them to cd's.

What other music download places do you use & how does it work/cost?

I see ads for Mymusicinc.com & a host of others. Anyone use these?

[Willow]

Thanks a lot guys I will see today once I get to Circuit City. They are the cheapest in Memphis as far as mp3 player prices go. The 1g Nano is on sale for $139.99. The Sandisk 2g with photo capabilities is only $149.99.
By the way how do you charge the nano? Does it come with a wall plug or something of the sort?

I can store pics in the nano. you charge the Nano with a USB plug to your Puter. I went out and bought a wall plug as well. It can take a couple hrs to charge.

[Willow]

In the same vein, I have no intention of buying an ipod. however, I would like access to a music library that is a lot bigger than all the places that I go to download music & pay per song now so that I can copy them to cd's.

What other music download places do you use & how does it work/cost?

I see ads for Mymusicinc.com & a host of others. Anyone use these?

It's tough to say, we can get away with a lot more in Canada. There are many torrent sites you can use of which you don't have to pay anything for the song/album.

[landry_p2000]

In the same vein, I have no intention of buying an ipod. however, I would like access to a music library that is a lot bigger than all the places that I go to download music & pay per song now so that I can copy them to cd's.

What other music download places do you use & how does it work/cost?

I see ads for Mymusicinc.com & a host of others. Anyone use these?

Shareza was one free music download site I had used in the past, but I am not sure if it is still as good as it was.

[michael_w]

It's tough to say, we can get away with a lot more in Canada. There are many torrent sites you can use of which you don't have to pay anything for the song/album.

Very true. I belive p2p is legal here? I usually use Aradi Tracker for torrents, but it's not that great for music. They sometimes post an occasional discography of an artist but if you're looking for individual songs or albums it's maybe not the best choice.

If I were you I'd shell out the extra couple bucks and go for the 30gb video instead of a nano, asuming you want to stick with an ipod. The nano is quite small but the video is still fairly compact and looking at pictures on a 1.5" nano screen can be brutal at times. Nano's are also very prone to scratching. Everybody I know that has one has managed to scrape it up with ease within the first couple weeks of owning it. (even using that little sleeve thing it comes with)

[cfrizz]

I didn't realize it was a Canadian site. I have no idea what a torrent site is. Gotta link?:D

It's tough to say, we can get away with a lot more in Canada. There are many torrent sites you can use of which you don't have to pay anything for the song/album.

[bobman1235]

I have no idea what a torrent site is.

Torrents are just a P2P way of distributing content without a central server. Basically, one person puts up a torrent. Everyone who opens that torrent downloads from whoever else ALSO downloaded that torrent. So while you're downloading you're also uploading to everyone else who's downloading, and you can continue to seed (upload) after you've completed your download.

A torrent site is a site that lists links to various torrents.

[cfrizz]

That sounds like something I want no part of.

I think I will be joining My Music Inc. It gets a very high review rating from most reveiw sites that keep track of these things.