Ipod mini restrictions

chabsey

Anyone know if the ipod mini is limited in the same way as the normal Ipod is in terms of the types of files you can put on it? As in only AAC (or whatever the Apple format is) files and not generic MP3s?

Also, can it be used as to store data?

Ciaran500

It is limited the same way an iPod. But iPods can play mp3's.

zoro

i didnt know there were limitations on the ipods??

I have a mini ipod and there aren't any restrictions to speak of. It's a pity that you can't just drag and drop mp3's onto it like an iriver, you need itunes to do it all for you.

And yeah you can use it to store data - like an external hard disk

digitalninja

it does mp3s,
it also can store data.
its exactly the same as a big ipod except it's not big, probably why it's called mini:(

chabsey

Ciaran500 wrote:

It is limited the same way an iPod. But iPods can play mp3's.

Sorry, I have very limited experience with Ipods. The only time I've used one properly was when a friend was trying to rip some of my CDs on his Ipod. The CDs ripped no problem, but the ipod would not accept the generic MP3s I had stored on my HDD. Maybe he was using the wrong software, but it looked like Itunes to me. Maybe it was in the wrong mode or something.

That was the reason I thought there was some sort of DRM in place on the Ipod.

Thanks.

colm_c

The whole - you can only use apple's format (AAC) for songs on your iPod - is a complete myth.

You can use pretty much any of the standard formats, AAC really only comes into play when you download from the Apple Music Store, but this can be easily gotten around by burning the CD and re-importing into iTunes as MP3

AAC is also the default import format in iTunes, but this can be changed to MP3 in the preferences.

TheBigLebowski

I was thinking of buying an ipod but just heard that you cannot take songs off an ipod to move to a PC or other mp3 player etc. Surely this must be a pain in the arse? Is this the same with all mp3 players?

I naively thought I would be able to just get a lend of my mates mp3 player and copy all the songs from it to mine...

Fibonacci

TheBigLebowski wrote:

I was thinking of buying an ipod but just heard that you cannot take songs off an ipod to move to a PC or other mp3 player etc. Surely this must be a pain in the arse? Is this the same with all mp3 players?

I naively thought I would be able to just get a lend of my mates mp3 player and copy all the songs from it to mine...

again not true. You can't do it through iTunes, but you can do it through Windows Explorer if you enable 'view hidden folders'

Also there are freeware prgms that let you do it too...

The only think iPods won't let you do is play WMA files

Creamy Goodness

Fibonacci wrote:

again not true. You can't do it through iTunes, but you can do it through Windows Explorer if you enable 'view hidden folders'

Also there are freeware prgms that let you do it too...

The only think iPods won't let you do is play WMA files

this is half true, you can find the mp3's on the ipod with enabling hidden folders alright but the names are all screwed up, so you'll need another program just to rename the files from their id3 tags

TheBigLebowski

Sounds like a lot of messing to me for something I would imagine to be a fairly basic function. Surely one would want to have a backup of their mp3 player, especially after spending a lot of money downloading songs. Ok the songs would need to have been on the PC in the 1st place and are probably still there but if your PC/hard disk dies then you can't back your i-pod up on a new PC?

Fibonacci

TheBigLebowski wrote:

Sounds like a lot of messing to me for something I would imagine to be a fairly basic function. Surely one would want to have a backup of their mp3 player, especially after spending a lot of money downloading songs. Ok the songs would need to have been on the PC in the 1st place and are probably still there but if your PC/hard disk dies then you can't back your i-pod up on a new PC?

i think you're over complicating this....

1) Songs can be taken from an iPod and put on a computer
- not with as pretty an interface as iTunes. but almost as easy as it is to 'drag 'n' drop' with explorer

2) Your music will stay sync'ed on 1 computer and 1 iPod

3) You're right, its probably not that easy to back up on to two computers. But you'll have the tunes on your iPod and you computer. so unless your iPod and Computer HardDrive fail at exactly the same time, you should be fine.

CrimE

One of the disadvantages of Ipods is that they cannot play the microsoft format WMA. This like aac in itunes is the default in WMP, which I use so all of my music was encoded in WMA so I got a Creative Zen.

Almost all mp3 player manufacturers today use both WMA and MP3 as there main formats which limits ipods as apple cant because of microsoft's rivalry with them. Personally I cant stand ipods, particularly minis when there are so much better choices out there, the zen micro in particular.

But whatever you are into..

Fibonacci

CrimE wrote:

One of the disadvantages of Ipods is that they cannot play the microsoft format WMA. This like aac in itunes is the default in WMP, which I use so all of my music was encoded in WMA so I got a Creative Zen.

Almost all mp3 player manufacturers today use both WMA and MP3 as there main formats which limits ipods as apple cant because of microsoft's rivalry with them. Personally I cant stand ipods, particularly minis when there are so much better choices out there, the zen micro in particular.

But whatever you are into..

If you are considering buying an MP3 player, I think it all comes down to two choices:

1) Where is all your existing music from?
- if you rip all you music or file swap or buy from www.allofmp3.com then everything will be MP3 and it doesn't matter which player you use
- if you buy from iTunes, obviously you need iPod
- and if you buy songs from any other Music Site you need Creative Zen, or whatever

2) Are you willing to pay a little bit extra for an iPod?
- Do you prefer the look of it?
- Is the better user interface (scroll whell, etc....) important to you?
- Are you willing to pay on avg. €50 extra for these two?