Hi i just bought the missus an ipod nano for her birthday.

Do i need to join itunes and pay for music?

I have read some people who downloaded tunes cant get them to show up in there ipod.

Is there a way round this?

Sorry for the stupid questions but this ipod thingy is all new to us.

Thanks Madge

iPods use their own special proprietary file format to store data like MP3s etc. on their storage drives. iTunes is (obviously ) the canonical application to transfer files on and off them, but there are quite a few other free and Open Source programs that will do the same thing (Floola, Yamipod etc.).

You don't have to buy MP3s from iTunes to use them on an iPod - you can transfer any generic MP3s from your PC to the player using iTunes or any other program like I mentioned above.

Thanks Scribble. Im going to have a search around today for her.

its a smart looking device 8mb i think!

is that around 12000 tunes?

I really dunno!

But i will post up my findings thanks for the tips.

Have you used any of those other programs? Can you recommend one in particular?

iTunes is fucking terrible. And doesn't work on *nix.

Decent quality MP3s run at around 1MB/minute - and I think you meant 8GB, not 8MB (at least I hope you did ).

8GB = 8192MB = approx. 136 hours of CD-quality MP3


Banshee and Amarok can deal with iPods, and they are both Linux apps.


e²a: I've also found GTKPod to be useful for transferring files from PC to iPod.

ha, I didn't know Amarok could handle them, that's great, thanks

It is 8 MB!

Its going to be a long day!

Thanks again.

Can linux operating systems work with M$ Windows?

Banshee and Amarok will they work in windows?

I guess i have a lot of reading and catching up to do.

I sincerely doubt that, Major - 8MB is only around 8 minutes of CD-quality MP3 music.


No - they are Linux apps - you need Linux to run them.

For Win iTunes alternatives, there are a few including Floola and Yamipod like I mentioned in my 1st post.

8GB 8GB 8GB 8GB 8GB Ok i got it!

Bring back the ZX81! Oh and how i miss my Commodore PET.

Winamp

If it is 8mb take it back

EDIT: sorry i think i smoked too much llol

@ Scribble.

1st off the iPod and other Apple devices file format is called ACC. It's not mp3 (another file format).

2nd, mp3 and acc are NOT CD quality. They are heavily compressed files. I believe that there is a way to get CD quality audio files onto an iPod but I have not bothered to figure it out.

A muscian once described the audio quality of the iPod as being like popcorn. However most folks don't notice this as most folks don't listen so carefully.

As an audio tech I will use my iPhone audio output to check an audio system (since I carry my phone everywhere). However if I am tuning an audio system or playing music I always try to have a cd player on hand.

I like the iPod as it holds a lot of music in a small space. Makes for a good jukebox.

Yeah , I've got to question all this CD quality MP3 thing as well , I am by no means an audiophile but there is a big difference in quality between MP3 files I have heard and listening to CD's

iPods and the like are great for listening to music on the move but CD quality ?

you sure about that?

It's all to do with the 'bitrate' of the compressed audio files - MP3 @ 320Kbps is considered to be near 'CD quality' by most people - lower bitrates (obviously) have lower sound quality, but the filesizes are smaller.

FLAC is the type of 'lossless' compressed audio that is most used - it's compressed, but suffers from no quality loss on conversion - it's quite a lot larger than equivalent MP3 files though (at the most common MP3 bitrates).

For the iPod Shuffle:

thanks for the help yesterday. We got it set up.

all her tunes transfered no problem.

thanks for the tips scribble

ahh yep.

However Scribble is spot on when he does his homework.

That's just one of the formats that the iPods support, Rand - like I posted above for example:



There's also a petition to Apple to release an update to the firmwares to support FLAC.

¿So how'd you get it working then, Major - what'd you use for the transfers etc.?

The missus did it! But the files we had from BT torrent transfered no problem. She used itunes i think.

But shes happy with it so nice 1

not AAC then?

e2a: A pedant isn't just something a dyslexic wears on his jacket

what evah!

First thing to do with iTunes is change the default format from AAC to MP3, so when you do rip CDs you're not stuck with AAC. If you ever change to a device that doesn't support AAC you won't have to re-do it all again. I use MP3 320 VBR instead.

If you buy off iTunes there will be some (weak) DRM in the files too. Personally I like CDs but I think I'm a dying breed They serve as a nice physical backup.

Awesome avatar you have there eri