Yardbird Posted December 1, 2004 Share Posted December 1, 2004 George, I see your point but most are not using em at your level I'd say. I was just trying to keep it simple for folks. Didn't mean to get you dander up over nothing. Sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Posted December 1, 2004 Share Posted December 1, 2004 Hey YDBD, No dander whatsoever, just hoping to post as much actual info about these little beasties as possible. I learn a lot the hard way and it needs to be passed on a different way ;-) But seriously, there are a million tweaks in anything once you really get down to it. Apologies if I seemed ruffled, amigo. Information may be money, but IMHO it should be free, with the only price the willingness to carry it forward for free. I am probably more of an anarchist than a capitalist, but I do recognize the need to earn. -- Regards, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detlef Posted December 1, 2004 Author Share Posted December 1, 2004 This thread reveals just way too much information, I am tempted to lock it.... Just kidding.... Thanks for all your great input! 300lb, SP4 has known incompatibilities with some of the things I am using, and it's not an option for me right now (because who knows how well the *uninstall* would work...). No big deal, I 'll just buy another computer.... --D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shooter Grrl Posted December 23, 2004 Share Posted December 23, 2004 For those of budgetarily challenged - does anyone have good things to say about the flash type mp3 players? I'm also drawn to them because they state they are absolutely skip free, where the hard drive types might skip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Posted December 23, 2004 Share Posted December 23, 2004 (edited) does anyone have good things to say about the flash type mp3 players? The 2gb and (much) less storage of these babies is not a lot of music compared to a 20-40gb HD system. As with any technology, there are levels and you get what you are willing to pay for. The software that handles the library on your PC is a significant part of an MP3 music system. Make sure the player is iTunes compatible, or has good software for ripping and playlisting. -- Happy Holidays, Edited December 23, 2004 by George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shooter Grrl Posted December 23, 2004 Share Posted December 23, 2004 I can't afford even 1 gig! I'm looking at 512mb! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Posted December 23, 2004 Share Posted December 23, 2004 Then you are looking at maybe 100-125 song max. A 20GB iPod will hold 10,000+ If you are willing to rotate the library extensively, you might be happy, but it will require a lot of IT time to keep a fresh music scene going. -- Happy Holidays, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shooter Grrl Posted December 23, 2004 Share Posted December 23, 2004 Yeah, I get that. Is there a quality tradeoff though? Is storage the only thing that improves in the $300 range? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shred Posted December 23, 2004 Share Posted December 23, 2004 Basically you can set the audio quality however you want-- but better is bigger, as always. Device quality varies (and, btw, almost anything 2GB and up is a hard-drive. They just use really tiny ones for 2-5 GB) I have a 512 MB card in my phone which I use as a MP3 player. I usually put about 10 albums worth of tunes on there and it works pretty well. I also have a 20GB Dell DJ I use on longer trips. Those are almost as good as the ipod and less $. No way I can listen to hundreds of albums, but it's really nice to have the variety available. The hard part is ripping all those CDs.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shooter Grrl Posted December 23, 2004 Share Posted December 23, 2004 Yeah, but you work for Dell dammit and I'm pretty sure you didn't pay retail for that puppy I have a Sony Clie PDA that will play MP3's, but I can't get it to talk to XP. I may just buy a 512 stick for it, IF I can get it working again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shred Posted December 23, 2004 Share Posted December 23, 2004 Yeah, but you work for Dell dammit and I'm pretty sure you didn't pay retail for that puppy I have a Sony Clie PDA that will play MP3's, but I can't get it to talk to XP. I may just buy a 512 stick for it, IF I can get it working again! Sadly we don't get much discount on those (or much of anything else), but we do get to play with the latest toys a lot. The new 5GB Pocket DJ is very cool, but if you order one today, it won't ship until late January. Try ActiveSync 3.7.1 for the PDA. It might help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detlef Posted December 23, 2004 Author Share Posted December 23, 2004 of course, once you're hooked you can't stop. I am very happy with the iPod (tempted to keep it myself now, or faced with the obligation to buy 2 more, one for each child...), but what about external speakers. There's the Bose idock (to the tune of $ 300, I was not so impressed by the sound as the raving reviews suggested me to be...), or the odd Harman Karman 2 (sp?) system (much better sound, no less expensive). And of course, the question poses itself of how i can interface my PC and the iTunes library to my home stereo system (a linked B&O array of speakers and stereos....)? Any suggestions? Cheers & Merry Christmas, Detlef Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Posted December 23, 2004 Share Posted December 23, 2004 And of course, the question poses itself of how I can interface my PC and the iTunes library to my home stereo system It’s called SlimP3 and Squeezebox. Made by a company called Slim Devices, these products sit at your stereo and feed anything in your MP3 collection on your PC to the stereo at full fidelity over Ethernet (wired), or WiFi wireless. http://www.slimdevices.com/pi_overview.html Ripping is easy with iTunes which is free for all platforms and will work with most players, not just iPods, just not as seamlessly. BTW, I don’t travel with, or own an iPod, but have setup a couple dozen clients and friends with iPods and iTunes software on W2K, WXP and Mac OSX. I prefer my PowerBook with 10k+ songs and the ability to play DVD and games even while I edit video pieces and tweak spreadsheets. I have to have the PC with me, so why have anything that duplicates effort, even if it is smaller, it’s just another parasite when travelling for me -- Happy Holidays, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shred Posted December 23, 2004 Share Posted December 23, 2004 There are getting to be a lot of network-attached audio devices that pull tunes from your networked PC (usually over wireless) and play them on either internal or attached speakers. The best we've found by far (and we've looked at all of 'em) is the Roku, but they're not super-cheap. At the low-end, SMC and Linksys brand some ok wireless devices for Windows PCs that are under $100 today. There is an organization called DLNA that is busy working on specs to make sure these things are all interoperable. It's a huge pain today getting more than one different brand going at once, although UPnP-AV helps. DLNA has just now started certifying devices, so look for the logo in a few months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
outerlimits Posted December 23, 2004 Share Posted December 23, 2004 And of course, the question poses itself of how I can interface my PC and the iTunes library to my home stereo system It’s called SlimP3 and Squeezebox. Made by a company called Slim Devices, these products sit at your stereo and feed anything in your MP3 collection on your PC to the stereo at full fidelity over Ethernet (wired), or WiFi wireless. http://www.slimdevices.com/pi_overview.html Ripping is easy with iTunes which is free for all platforms and will work with most players, not just iPods, just not as seamlessly. BTW, I don’t travel with, or own an iPod, but have setup a couple dozen clients and friends with iPods and iTunes software on W2K, WXP and Mac OSX. I prefer my PowerBook with 10k+ songs and the ability to play DVD and games even while I edit video pieces and tweak spreadsheets. I have to have the PC with me, so why have anything that duplicates effort, even if it is smaller, it’s just another parasite when travelling for me -- Happy Holidays, it's been out for 6 months...called apple airport express with airtunes. wirelessly play your mp3 stuff from your mac (or even a pc) to your home stereo...cheap, but very cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Posted December 23, 2004 Share Posted December 23, 2004 (edited) I have the SlimP3 at home and it pulls music from my 25k+ song collection on my server. It is then fed to the SlimP3 on a piece of Cat-5 and direct audio outs patch into a Bose system in my front room. It gives me IR navigation of unlimited playlists and all 25k+ songs on my server with true random access. The music is streamed to the SlimP3 as it is played and the control head only contains display, audio out and processing for playlists, no HD like some older systems had to have. The background software that runs on your PC (Wintel & Mac) does not hinder performance at all. It requires your stereo for amplification and does not have any speaker, or headphone driver capability built-in. The SlimP3 runs $299, but is worth it for the freedom it has brought to accessing my music library. I have hooked up several clients with these and along with iTunes it provides a real good music solution for many consumer and professional applications. The audio fidelity is actually better than the audio out from my PC analog audio out because the processing in the control head is first rate and as long as you rip your CD’s at a good data rate and have a decent stereo system, the audio is impeccable. The SlimP3 is a fantastic product if you are big into MP3 and like to play it your way. I have looked at cheaper systems but refused to specify them for clients, or myself. BTW, Apples AirTunes setup works OK, but has some serious drawbacks if you are picky about THD. The gain stages in the eentsy weentsy audio output amplifiers overload real fast, especially if you use heavy EQ boosts from iTunes (like I do). You also do not get player control at the stereo, you have to go back to the PC to change the playlist, or next song, or pause. Ya get’s what ya’ pays for once again. -- Happy Holidays, Edited December 23, 2004 by George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoseMech Posted January 7, 2005 Share Posted January 7, 2005 I have a Dell Digital Jukebox that is cheaper with the same interface and works just as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewRacer Posted January 7, 2005 Share Posted January 7, 2005 LimeWire does not have any music on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Posted January 7, 2005 Share Posted January 7, 2005 LimeWire does not have any music on it Nobody specifically said that Limewire had MP3/music on it. It was mentioned, but only as one of a list of various services that can be searched for “various“ things. -- Regards, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynn jones Posted January 7, 2005 Share Posted January 7, 2005 I have a Sony Clie PDA that will play MP3's, but I can't get it to talk to XP. I may just buy a 512 stick for it, IF I can get it working again! sg, get a multicard memory card reader for about $20 then put the songs on the memory card. place the card in the clie. lynn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdj Posted January 7, 2005 Share Posted January 7, 2005 I got a 40Gig iPod for Xmas ... and have filled 10Gig so far! These things are really cool. The addition of an extra dock and a line-out means I am now driving a very high end audio system at home with a low quality but really convenient few hundred $$ source ... and enjoying it This experience has prompted me to think seriously about adding a real digital media source to my system (except I can't face the idea of having to plug in more cables and configure things again ) iPods get the "Thumbs way up" from me, possibly in the same ball park as TiVo! Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shooter Grrl Posted January 7, 2005 Share Posted January 7, 2005 A couple of updates - I got my Clie talking to my puter, but the biggest card I can put in it is 128mb. The larger ones don't interface with my version of Palm OS, and my Clie can't upgrade to a newer version. (Anybody wanna buy a paperweight, I mean PDA I bought the Dell Jukebox. At $249 for 20gb's, the price was right. I don't have it yet... my ship date is 1/21 (ARGH!) Will let y'all know how I like it, ONCE it gets here. (Did I say ARGH?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caspian_45 Posted January 11, 2006 Share Posted January 11, 2006 Can somene tell me how to download a DVD to my neices Apple Ipod? She just got it for Christmas and can't figure it out. Her dad only has 98 SE on his computers. So, I am just trying to help her out. I have high speed internet and can download pretty much whatever i need to get this going for her. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sturmruger Posted January 11, 2006 Share Posted January 11, 2006 I was really happy with Napsters $0.99 per song until I found my new favorite website www.allofmp3.com They charge anywhere from $1.99 to $2.35 per CD. They allow you to download CDs in MP3 or in .wav format. Best bang for your buck that you can find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritinUSA Posted January 12, 2006 Share Posted January 12, 2006 Can somene tell me how to download a DVD to my neices Apple Ipod? She just got it for Christmas and can't figure it out. Her dad only has 98 SE on his computers. So, I am just trying to help her out.I have high speed internet and can download pretty much whatever i need to get this going for her. Thanks. Go to the Apple site and download iTunes for Windows. Put your CD in the drive and import the songs from the CD into iTunes. Plug in your ipod and iTunes will see it and download the songs to the ipod. This is how it works on my PowerBook. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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