Back in the ipod camp

[NewJazz4Mike]

Not sure I'm entirely pleased by this, but I'm back as an ipod user. My 120 gig Zune mp3 player's HD finally gave out on me a couple of months ago. It lasted longer than any of the ipods I had before going with the Zune. If I had a decent choice, I'd stick with Zune... I like the scratch-resistant glass face, the metal body thats not smudgy scratchy chrome, and most of all I love the Zune software infinitely better than Itunes. My Zune has skied many days on the best mountains in North America, has hiked dozens of mountain trails, and has even taken a 10,000 mile cross country motorcycle ride with me... I'm gonna miss my old friend, and still will probably replace the HD someday. There just aren't many places to repair a Zune though. I found a place in Manhattan, but I didn't feel like going through the trouble of shipping it back and forth, or of dropping it off and having to return for it a week later. A new Zune costs nearly double the price of a new 160 gig Ipod Classic, so I rode down to Massachusetts to grab a new one at the "local" Best Buy for $228. I've had to spend the past two days or so transferring my music library to Itunes (a lot of files needed reformatting), and building up and pruning my playlists. The device plays well, I like having the extra space to fill, but God how I hate Itunes software. And now that I again have an mp3 player, maybe I'll get back to downloading and listening to more new music.

[jkelman]

Originally Posted by NewJazz4Mike

Not sure I'm entirely pleased by this, but I'm back as an ipod user. My 120 gig Zune mp3 player's HD finally gave out on me a couple of months ago. It lasted longer than any of the ipods I had before going with the Zune. If I had a decent choice, I'd stick with Zune... I like the scratch-resistant glass face, the metal body thats not smudgy scratchy chrome, and most of all I love the Zune software infinitely better than Itunes. My Zune has skied many days on the best mountains in North America, has hiked dozens of mountain trails, and has even taken a 10,000 mile cross country motorcycle ride with me... I'm gonna miss my old friend, and still will probably replace the HD someday. There just aren't many places to repair a Zune though. I found a place in Manhattan, but I didn't feel like going through the trouble of shipping it back and forth, or of dropping it off and having to return for it a week later. A new Zune costs nearly double the price of a new 160 gig Ipod Classic, so I rode down to Massachusetts to grab a new one at the "local" Best Buy for $228. I've had to spend the past two days or so transferring my music library to Itunes (a lot of files needed reformatting), and building up and pruning my playlists. The device plays well, I like having the extra space to fill, but God how I hate Itunes software. And now that I again have an mp3 player, maybe I'll get back to downloading and listening to more new music.

Funny, I love iPods. Have four classics, a couple that are five years old and still goings strong. Also fie with iTunes, mainly 'cause I prefer apple's compression to mp3, and am using the lowest possible compression (320Kbps).

I have good cases (otterbox, use them for my iPad also) and have dropped iPods more times than I can count, and they still look great and perform like they did out of the box.

You can use mp3 format in iTunes, Mike, so not sure what problems you are having switching to iTunes...if you can provide more detail, perhaps I can help you out, though please be patient for reply, as am in ireland at moment with my wife (currently on train from Dublin to Cork), and am not online as often as usual.

But happy to help, if there's anything I can do.
Best!
John

[Jeffrey Wozniak]

You must be quite rough on your mp3 players Mike. Your post suggests you've had several brake on you.

I've been using my nano since I got it in 2007 and it works just fine. Play it everyday at work.

Also still have a little 256mb Samsumg Yepp that I got back in 2004 soon after my son was born. Been on my keychain since then and still works perfectly. It runs on one AAA battery though and goes through batteries like water.

[flyin' brian]

I have an older 120gb classic, a 160gb classic and a shuffle that I use while mowing, snow blowing etc.

I've found them to be very durable and unlike other have had zero problems with the iTunes software running on PCs.

[jkelman]

Just thought I,d add, since I started what now appears to be an apple love-fest (!) ... Congrats, Mike, for getting back in the portable player game. Whatever brand you use, whatever software you like, I just couldn't imagine NOT having th volume of music accessible to me that I do, thanks to those little beauties. Today is e 2/3 mark on our trip to Norway and Ireland, and my iPad and iPods ( two 160s and a 120) have been absolutely essential to my having a grand time. Aside from having music available for work, the fact that I have everything from Coltrane to Coleman (take your pick which one), from Field Music to Sweet Billy Pilgrim, from Van der Graaf Generator to King Crimson, from Leonard Cohen to Randy Newman, from Ry Coodee to Little Feat, from Planxty to Moving Hearts (hey, I AM in Ireland now!) and from Arve Henriksen to Eivind Aarset and Stian Westerhus has made this a better trip, especially since there has been plenty of travel involved, by plane, train and automobile.

Hope you do get to listen to more new music, Mike; it's what keeps me sane...or, at least, whatever version of sane I manage to somewhat resemble...

Cheers!
John

[NewJazz4Mike]

Originally Posted by jkelman

Just thought I,d add, since I started what now appears to be an apple love-fest (!) ... Congrats, Mike, for getting back in the portable player game. Whatever brand you use, whatever software you like, I just couldn't imagine NOT having th volume of music accessible to me that I do, thanks to those little beauties. Today is e 2/3 mark on our trip to Norway and Ireland, and my iPad and iPods ( two 160s and a 120) have been absolutely essential to my having a grand time. Aside from having music available for work, the fact that I have everything from Coltrane to Coleman (take your pick which one), from Field Music to Sweet Billy Pilgrim, from Van der Graaf Generator to King Crimson, from Leonard Cohen to Randy Newman, from Ry Coodee to Little Feat, from Planxty to Moving Hearts (hey, I AM in Ireland now!) and from Arve Henriksen to Eivind Aarset and Stian Westerhus has made this a better trip, especially since there has been plenty of travel involved, by plane, train and automobile.

Hope you do get to listen to more new music, Mike; it's what keeps me sane...or, at least, whatever version of sane I manage to somewhat resemble...

Cheers!
John

I always like combining a couple of forms of the "therapy" that keep me sane. Long motorcycle rides help a lot, for example. I've copped a motto from a Harley Davidson website that says "Sometimes it takes a full tank of gas before I can even think straight". And obviously music. Without any music, hours alone on a bike can cause me to start burrowing into myself maybe a bit too deeply, lol.... I start having conversations with myself... out loud! I don't always listen to music while riding, but sometimes combining music with the motion and the passing scenery makes for a really invigorating experience. To that effect, I've been listening - lol, wait til you hear this - to a lot of Nils Pettar Molvaer. I've got to watch myself though, cruising along, passing other vehicles, swaying back and forth changing lanes, all to his electronic /mechanical grunge... well, I won't tell you how fast I've found myself going.

I've always wanted to visit Ireland, My wife and I may try to get over there for our 40th wedding anniversary nest summer. Hope you enjoy the music over there, and have a great trip.

[NewJazz4Mike]

I've realized another benefit to getting back to an ipod. I've been confined all spring and summer to doing my listening indoors - no decent sounding portable music source while I was without an mp3 player. Now I can get back to using my ipod stereo - this one:



For its size, this thing has GREAT sound. I believe Apple discontinued making these, but I've had mine for years now. I used to be able to plug my Zune into it through an audio jack, but it's much more integral with the ipod docked - it has a remote works with the ipod. Great for bringing my music out on the back deck to relax, or while I'm doing some work in the yard or out in the garage, great to put a nice long playlist on shuffle and dig the serendipitous segues that come up.

[NewJazz4Mike]

I still hate Itunes, but maybe I'm just not well enough versed in it's features.

Anyway - Every year around this time, I create a "Holiday" playlist on whatever mp3 device I'm using... last year it was the Zune, but since June I'm back on the Ipod. So in my computer's "Music" folders I have a folder called "Holiday Music" that contains several sub-folders... "Eric Reed", "Wynton Marsalis", "Marian McPartland", etc etc... there's even a sub-folder called "Various", that has compilation albums of holiday music by various artists such as MaxJazz Holiday, or Blue Note's "Jazz to the World".

So I imported the entire "Holiday" folder into itunes, but nearly all of it shows up in the itunes music library as separate tracks... because of the variousness of the artists. For example, there are 59 tracks on the three Marian McPartland NPR Christmas CDs that are in the folder, and they're all showing up as all separate entries in the itunes music library, because each lists a different artist... Marian McPartland/Bob James, Marian McPartland/Joe Locke, Marian McPartland/Jon Faddis, etc etc etc...

With all the "Various artists" and compilations, I now have literally hundreds of new entries in my itunes library, most of only one track, none with any album art to identify them - all making it impossible to navigate or to sort out all the individual tracks that I wanted to put in the ipods "Holiday" playlist.

Did I do this wrong somehow? Is there an easier way to import and keep the coherence of distinct albums? I never had this problem with the Zune software. Maybe someone better acquainted with the ipod could tell me a way that I might now quickly and easily sort the mess out... and it is a mess.

Thanks, I'll appreciate any advice.

[flyin' brian]

Originally Posted by NewJazz4Mike

I still hate Itunes, but maybe I'm just not well enough versed in it's features.

Anyway - Every year around this time, I create a "Holiday" playlist on whatever mp3 device I'm using... last year it was the Zune, but since June I'm back on the Ipod. So in my computer's "Music" folders I have a folder called "Holiday Music" that contains several sub-folders... "Eric Reed", "Wynton Marsalis", "Marian McPartland", etc etc... there's even a sub-folder called "Various", that has compilation albums of holiday music by various artists such as MaxJazz Holiday, or Blue Note's "Jazz to the World".

So I imported the entire "Holiday" folder into itunes, but nearly all of it shows up in the itunes music library as separate tracks... because of the variousness of the artists. For example, there are 59 tracks on the three Marian McPartland NPR Christmas CDs that are in the folder, and they're all showing up as all separate entries in the itunes music library, because each lists a different artist... Marian McPartland/Bob James, Marian McPartland/Joe Locke, Marian McPartland/Jon Faddis, etc etc etc...

With all the "Various artists" and compilations, I now have literally hundreds of new entries in my itunes library, most of only one track, none with any album art to identify them - all making it impossible to navigate or to sort out all the individual tracks that I wanted to put in the ipods "Holiday" playlist.

Did I do this wrong somehow? Is there an easier way to import and keep the coherence of distinct albums? I never had this problem with the Zune software. Maybe someone better acquainted with the ipod could tell me a way that I might now quickly and easily sort the mess out... and it is a mess.

Thanks, I'll appreciate any advice.

Try this:

Highlight all of your holiday music in iTunes, this may take a while if you've listed songs/albums under different genres.
Right click for the pull down menu and select Get Info
When the Multiple Item Information tab come up, click on the options tab
Make sure that "Part of a Compilation" says "No"
Make sure that the genre is "Holiday" or whatever you're calling your holiday music.
No you can go back and they'll all be much more accessible. You won't even have to make a playlist, just play the "Holiday" genre.

[Kevin Murray]

My two cents:
The new iTunes is terrible. The only way I could see it working well for someone is if the new version was their first time with iTunes. However, making the switch is tough, painful, and not really worth it. I'd stick with the old version until Apple realizes the new iTunes sucks and does something about it. I think that Apple went 100% for visual appeal, which they have succeeded with in the past. This time, however, visual appeal sacrifices basic functionality -- adding songs to a playlist takes forever (why not keep the old sidebar?!?!), and everything is just too flashy.

However, Apple's hardware I like. I have a Nano (the one with the video camera), and its lasted me two years and counting. I think getting a case is a very, very good idea too. I got a case plus a charger for $4.00 on Amazon, with shipping.....

Long post over.

[jkelman]

Originally Posted by Kevin Murray

My two cents:
The new iTunes is terrible. The only way I could see it working well for someone is if the new version was their first time with iTunes. However, making the switch is tough, painful, and not really worth it. I'd stick with the old version until Apple realizes the new iTunes sucks and does something about it. I think that Apple went 100% for visual appeal, which they have succeeded with in the past. This time, however, visual appeal sacrifices basic functionality -- adding songs to a playlist takes forever (why not keep the old sidebar?!?!), and everything is just too flashy.

You can put that sidebar back. Just go to View and choose Show Sidebar (or use <control>S to toggle back and forth.

I'm fine with the new itunes except for one thing: if you go from one playlist, where you've selected a bunch of tunes for possible adding to your iPad/iPod, go to a different one and then return, it puts you back to the top of the list and also you lose the selection. That makes things a little more time consuming, but there are easy ways to deal with it, so I'm ok with the new version even if I'm not exactly thrilled with it

Originally Posted by Kevin Murray

However, Apple's hardware I like. I have a Nano (the one with the video camera), and its lasted me two years and counting. I think getting a case is a very, very good idea too. I got a case plus a charger for $4.00 on Amazon, with shipping.....

Long post over.

After 4 iPod classics and one nano for my wife, I made the leap to iPads at the beginning of 2011, and am hooked. My laptop died mid-trip last fall, and because I had my iPad and external bluetooth keyboard, I was able to continue. IN fact, I decided not to replace the laptop (I have a high powered/high capacity desktop Windows PC at home) and so now\, rather than lugging the extra weight, I bring the Ipad and keyboard. The only thing I cannot do is handle images, so I have to wait til I get home to do that, but otherwise, I'm losing none of the essential functionality.

My back loves it And now that I've given my wife my 3rd gen and picked up the 4th, I'm getting much better speed (*both apps and internet browsing/email), we can skype each other when I'm traveling and see each other as well as hear each other, and with a shared calendar we can plan and see what each other is up to. Perfect!

Add to that being able to carry a ton of books, music and movies, I sure love my iPad!

[xybert]

I've always been an iPod person. First MP3 player was an iPod and i've just stuck with them ever since. I like iTunes as a media player and i like Apple Lossless as an audio codec. I don't really have an opinion on the iTunes store but you could go your whole life using iTunes without ever having to go anywhere near the 'Store' side of things.

HOWEVER, i can finally join the Apple bashers with my first really negative experience!

I use a Macbook that's about 5 years old, runs OSX Leopard. My wife recently purchased an iPhone 5 (not that i need to apologise but she's had the same old phone for almost 10 years and she doesn't really spend anything on herself etc etc). Anyway, i went to sync it with my iTunes to put some music on it for her and was informed that i needed to upgrade my iTunes first. But before i could update my iTunes i needed to update my OSX. So i went to purchase a download for the latest OSX (Lion) but was informed that i needed to purchase OSX Snow Leopard first. Unfortunately you can't purchase a download of Snow Leopard though, they need to physically ship you the disc.

So for the sake of updating my iTunes i needed to first purchase a physical disc, wait for it to arrive, install it, then go online and purchase a download for the latest OSX. Lame!

UPDATE: Installed Snow Leopard today and was able to find a download for iTunes 10.7 so didn't need to download Lion/iTunes 11.0.2 after all. Whew!

[Kevin Murray]

Originally Posted by jkelman

You can put that sidebar back. Just go to View and choose Show Sidebar (or use <control>S to toggle back and forth.

Wow, thanks!! I'll have to put that back in my iTunes.

[Doghouse Riley]

I use an iPod occasionally.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMplaLWADBo

[Vaughan]

Apple are evil. iTunes is a way to control your music.