[iPod] Wats da Story?

StewieGriffin07

Hey

Im gonna buy an Ipod 80GB Video and all that.... But Im a bit concerned about the whole Itunes thing... Do I have to pay for each song I put on my Ipod..Or can I do the normal thing and just drag my own mp3 files on to it.
With Ipod will I be out any money whatsoever after buying it? I hear alot about people buying songs off Itunes....Please explain.

mathias

You need itunes to get music on to the ipod , you cant drag and drop.

Itunes does not come with the ipod , you need to download it , and its about 40-50 MB so if you only have dial up your in trouble. It would take hours to download.

You can put your own mp3's on there ( and of course you dont have to pay to do that ! ), just open itunes , click on file , then click on add folder , and point it to your mp3's , it will then copy them all over to your ipod.

Itunes is ok once you get used to it. Its not a big deal.

The itunes store is just an online shop where you can buy music , you dont have to , and you can turn off the shop in itunes if you want.

Bard

mathias wrote:

You need itunes to get music on to the ipod

No, you don't.

There are plenty of alternatives to iTunes - as mentioned in the Portable Media Players FAQ. I suggest the OP (StewieGriffin07) read that page.

you cant drag and drop.

Actually, you can if you put Rockbox on your iPod as far as I know.

mathias

Rockbox invalidates your warranty , as it replaces the firmware on the ipod , so if thats important to you , dont do it till your warranty runs out.

philologos

Songbird works for it on windows, and Amarok for Linux.

BostonB

StewieGriffin07 wrote:

Hey

Im gonna buy an Ipod 80GB Video and all that.... But Im a bit concerned about the whole Itunes thing... Do I have to pay for each song I put on my Ipod..Or can I do the normal thing and just drag my own mp3 files on to it.
With Ipod will I be out any money whatsoever after buying it? I hear alot about people buying songs off Itunes....Please explain.

You need to use an application to get your MP3's on the iPod. Theres iTunes, and alternatives like Media Monkey. Most of them Free.

But you can use your MP3's you don't have to buy them form the iTunes Store.

People buy them from iTunes because its easier, but its poor value for money if you are buying albums. If you are buying singles it makes more sense. There are some DRM issues with some downloads.

art

StewieGriffin07 wrote:

Hey

Im gonna buy an Ipod 80GB Video and all that.... But Im a bit concerned about the whole Itunes thing... Do I have to pay for each song I put on my Ipod..Or can I do the normal thing and just drag my own mp3 files on to it.
With Ipod will I be out any money whatsoever after buying it? I hear alot about people buying songs off Itunes....Please explain.

Why not go ahead and download iTunes now and have a look at it: it's just another media player software thing that lets you organise your song collection into playlists and so on, but it also has an option to go to the iTunes store and download tracks from there. You don't have to ever go to the iTunes store at all -ever! But obviously it's a bonus that you can if you want to get tracks downloaded or check out PodCasts (which are free to download - all the Today FM "gift grub" stuff is there for example).

So, you could use iTunes for a while before getting the iPod and then decide whether you like it enough to stick with it when using the iPod or go check out the other options mentioned in the FAQ for transferring songs to iPods if you don't like iTunes.

http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/

faceman

mathias wrote:

Itunes does not come with the ipod , you need to download it ,

incorrect, it comes on with the ipod on a software cd. However you generally need to download the latest version online

OP, to avoid confusion you can drag and drop to your ipod within itunes.

StewieGriffin07

Thats Great... Thanks Everyone for the Info... So there is programs out there that let you drag and drop...but Stay away from them until the warranty is up.... I might just use itunes and safe software to stop ruining it.... Thanks again everyone.... now what can I get engraved on the back..... lol

BostonB

I though they'd stopped shipping the CD with them? Maybe thats just the smaller ones.

iTunes is drag and drop in the sense it allows you do to things using a mouse and dragging and dropping them. Bit like outlook or word. But some people incorrectly use the term drag and drop to refer to the devices that don't need any software, and you can move music files to and from the device just using file manager or similar. That functionality is not drag and drop, thats more correctly called filetree, and UMS for music files. The iPod only supports UMS for data files, and doesn't support filetree.

Some devices like Sony, Creative, work like the iPod.

Other like iRiver, Cowon, Samsung etc don't need need software and thus support UMS for music files.

Theres pros and cons for both approachs. Its not normally an issue though, it more a matter of convience. Some people just like prefer one method over the other.

Creamy Goodness

when i bought my 80 gig one in the states, it had a little leaflet saying to get itunes please go here and gave a link to apple's site.

mathias

incorrect, it comes on with the ipod on a software cd. However you generally need to download the latest version online

Not with mine it didnt , there was no CD in the box at all , the box isnt even the size of a CD case !!

All thats in the box for the 80GB is the player , a velvety type case , a manual , a little white docking cradle and the headphones , thats it !

No SW at all , to be fair it says on the box you need an internet connection , preferably broadband.

Bard

faceman wrote:

incorrect, it comes on with the ipod on a software cd.

It did with the first models of the current family of iPods, but it doesn't any more.

faceman

sorry im mistaken, must be recent thing

Bard

It is... if you'd call 10 months ago recent, that is.

BostonB

Does it really matter. A friend or a web cafe would download it for you if you were stuck. The version they shipped with was always out of date.

faceman

Bard wrote:

It is... if you'd call 10 months ago recent, that is.

well we dont all buy ipods every 10 months tho do we?

BostonB

faceman wrote:

well we dont all buy ipods every 10 months tho do we?

Maybe you should have considered that before posting about the CD

Bard

faceman wrote:

well we dont all buy ipods every 10 months tho do we?

10 months ago is long enough ago for someone who appears to be 'in the know' about iPods and is giving 'advice' on them to know that they DON'T come with a software CD any more.

lynchtp

StewieGriffin07 wrote:

Thats Great... Thanks Everyone for the Info... So there is programs out there that let you drag and drop...but Stay away from them until the warranty is up.... I might just use itunes and safe software to stop ruining it.... Thanks again everyone.... now what can I get engraved on the back..... lol

If you get an ipod engraved and there are subsequent problems with it and it needs to be replaced, apple will not send you a replacement without the same engraving on it.
This was about 4 years ago, so it may be different now, but at the time it would have been replaced within days without engraving, but it took a month due to the engraving.