Well i finally gave in but i hate Itunes, i need help!!!

[tbigity]

one caveat: use it for music only. I used my 60gig 5g as more of a mobile hard drive. I transferred a 3 gig directory back and forth daily as a back up...it crapped out very quickly. Got the "sick ipod" graphic...now it wont even turn on and my computer wont recognize it as being there so I cant reformat it. I loved it when it worked, but it ended up being a $500 paper weight. To get the problem fixed, you have to swap it out at an apple store...there is no apple store here, I live in freaking oklahoma and the city is nearly 2 hours away.

Long story short, get a different piece of hardware for music, and a mobile hard drive for that purpose

[nfpgasmask]

(in the words of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog)

....FOR ME TO POOP ON!

I don't understand why everyone just automatically buys an iPod, there are several other brands that imho are way better....

The only nice thing about the iPod is that there are assloads of accessories for it, but other than that, I do not think it is the best product, and iTunes is simply horrible. Any computer product that forces me to use a proprietary file type or program to listen to my media, is no good in my book...

But then again, I am not your average MP3 listener....I have nearly 3 GIGs of music and to have to convert all of that to work with an iPod is plain crazy. I just bought my first portable MP3 player myself, an 8 GIG Creative Zen Micro Photo. It totally rocks, hooks right up to my AUX in jack on my JVC car stereo, and basically works via drag-and-drop with Windows Explorer. The only software needed was a driver. I love it.

Maybe I just like to be different...after all, I am driving a VX!

Bart

[JAFO]

I too have a 2GB iPod Nano. I have over 60GB of MP3s loaded on to iTunes. And I haven't purchased anything from iTunes Store yet.

A lot of what I have I picked up of the Internet pre-Napster shut down. I have only have one or two music files that would not load due to the file extension not being compatable with iTunes.

I used Music Match previously but like iTunes better.

Also if you use software to rip MP3s off your CDs then you will want to make sure that it is setup to generate the ID3 tags for you. If you use iTunes to rip your cds, it will get all of the CD information (artist, song title, genre, album, etc) automatically from the Internet and automatically generate the ID3 tag.

When I first installed iTunes I told it to manage my MP3 for me and to copy them to the iTunes music folder. So all of my music is in one central location. When I drag and drop an mp3 to iTunes it automatically copies the file and adds it to the library. Like transio and kobie said if you have an mp3 that does not have the ID3 tag set up then iTunes does not know what to fill in the fields with. I'd say 75 to 80 percent of the songs that I have downloaded had the ID3 tags setup.

This is not something unique to iTunes, any other MP3 players would have the same problem.

Also just a side note since I have way more music than my Nano can hold I kept getting the "can't update iPod, not enough space" error. To correct this you can do one of two things, if you go to the settings menu, iPod, tab you can tell it to only download checked files from the "Library". I tried this but if you also listen to music out of the "Library" while at your PC, iTunes only plays the checked songs. So I did not like that because I wanted to listen to everything not just what was synced to my iPod.

The other option is to create a playlist or lists, then in the settings specify the iPod to only download those playlists. You can check the files in the playlist to designate that the file is to be downloaded to the iPod. Files checked in the playlist are independent of the "Library" therefore it will not interfear when you play songs on the library. This works much better for me.

Also iTunes will sync with other MP3 players not just limited to iPods.

[transio]

Ty, yipes I have much of my work backed up on my ipod with no other backups!!!

I better work on getting another backup!

[Tone]

1. You can drag and drop music on an iPod.

2. There is NO problem with using the iPod as storage for music AND data and has NOTHING to do with your failure. More likely you didn't unmount the iPod drive before you disconnected it from your Windoze box.

3. HOW songs are ripped controls if the tags are included.

4. Sure, you can hook up any other MP3 players with an 1/8" mini jack to many stereo aux inputs but that it analog data most certainly distorted by the simple amp circuits in the player - the iPod provides digital out via it's connector.

5. Finding music on your hard drive has to do with the way it was ripped and stored, NOT the fault of iTunes.

[transio]

Tone, how do you unmount the iPod?

[morgan-tec]

You must eject it from itunes before you disconect it. I went with the ipod becuase i could get a direct digital interface with my car head unit. Thanks for all the info guys, i will get it all fixed.

[tbigity]

Ty, yipes I have much of my work backed up on my ipod with no other backups!!!

I better work on getting another backup!

Yeah, I then got a couple 1GB SD cards. One o fmy crucial files...stored on a bad bit. Gotta love it. All I can say is I learned my lesson and that is why I keep things in triplicate.

2. There is NO problem with using the iPod as storage for music AND data and has NOTHING to do with your failure. More likely you didn't unmount the iPod drive before you disconnected it from your Windoze box.

Actually...it is nothing I did. I work in IT and have for nearly 4 years now and do not EVER unproperly unplug any device. In fact, I am the guy that has to remind others of that at work. (PS - steve, they moved me back into IT/WD, WOOT, no more sales!) Every unplug was preceeded by a click of the eject button.

According to the tech I talked to my problem is usually caused by vibration (in car) while playing. The shielding and shock proofing is *** on those things and considering you are basically spinning a hard drive up while it sits in your cupholder going down the highway at 75 mph...well, yeah, you could see the problem. Why they didnt rugadize the things a bit more I'll never know.

The other thing that could have happened, according to the tech, is I simply got a bad one. It is a piece of hardware, it happens. Loose connection, piece of dust on the harddrive, bad soldering, any number of things coulda caused it.

I don't understand why everyone just automatically buys an iPod, there are several other brands that imho are way better....

...I just bought my first portable MP3 player myself, an 8 GIG Creative Zen Micro Photo.

Prolly because IPods are up to...what, 60gig (is that still the top?) now. And honestly, they have a few problems...but you are getting a 60 gig MP3/mobile HD. While you can put data on other MP3 players, few reach the level of storage of an Ipod and if they do, their price is far greater and the size is going to be larger. Your 8 gig, what did it run you, half the price of a 40 gig ipod?

I looked at most other major players in the MP3 scene but found that most capped out at 8-16 gig and were only $100 less than the iPod. So why not! It is well worth it.

I looked at it like anything else that is tech related. You can buy a 128 meg sd card for nothing, but a gig is just double anymore...and 8 times the capacity, so why stop there with just 128?

my $0.02 x 3

[tbigity]

tobert:

ubuntu = 1337 for gaming.

I love how streamline it is. I loaded it on my mom's compie after the 3rd reformat and she has been sailing smoothly for 2 years nearly now. I dont think she's had a single lockup

[morgan-tec]

I got the nano for its shock resistance. I know three guys that had the normal ones and killed them snowboarding last year.