iPod owners, please advise :)

[severum mama]

Ok, so I've never owned an iPod, and have only used one very briefly, but I think I may have to get one. I got my mp3 player (Creative Labs Nomad Zen) at BestBuy with the 2 year replacement plan and now I think I may be having some issues with it. If I take it back and get it replaced I will have to choose another player because mine is no longer sold. The problem is, they don't have a Creative Labs player with a big enough hard drive to satisfy me. I want at least 40 GB, which is what I currently have. The only choice I am left with is the 60 GB iPod- even the other brands only go up to 30 GB. I've been really resistant to the iPod up until now, but I'm thinking it may be the only choice for me in terms of hard drive space.

Anyway, I think my main problem would be the iTunes software. I absolutely have to be able to use the iPod on more than one computer. My own computer is old and only has a 30 GB hard drive. There's simply no way I could even back up my files on my own computer- the player I have now has 20 GB full already. Is it true that if I put music on the ipod with someone else's computer (my files are all backed up on my friend's computer), and then took it home to put different music on there with my own computer, that it would erase the new music off the ipod because it wouldn't already be on my own computer? I've read tons of reviews trying to figure this out, but since I've never really used it I'm not sure if I understand that right.
Also, I know that the ipod doesn't work with most subscription services and that's fine because I don't ever use any. But I listen to a lot of jam bands like the Dead and Phish, that allow free downloads of audience recordings, so I do download a lot (yes, it is totally legal). Would I still be able to do that with an ipod? I absolutely refuse to pay $1 per song through Itunes when my favorite bands offer their music for free, and so if I can't listen to what I want because of Itunes, then there is no way I can get an iPod.

Sorry this is so long, but it is really important to me to find out exactly how it works because I use my mp3 player as my entire music library. Any help or links or anything to explain this to me would be so greatly appreciated!!! TIA.

 

[DeFeKt]

yes, when i plug my ipod shuffle into the work pc (all my mp3's are at home)
it ask me if I want to update the ipod to the current itunes library, although it doesn't actually put the songs at work on there it just clears the ipod.
I haven't figured a way to align the two yet, besides bringing in cd's of all my music.

hth

Matt.

 

[severum mama]

Thanks for the reply Matt. I think I might have found the answer to my question on the Apple site. I did look there before I posted here, but apparently in the wrong place.

From what I understand (and this may be wrong because I've never actually used iTunes), when you get that prompt you can click "no" or whatever option chooses not to update to the current library. Then you can choose to manage the files manually instead of doing auto sync. If you try it will you let me know if it works? I don't even have backup cd's of most of my music, just the mp3 files backed up on my friend's computer. We had to erase all my music files when we noticed our hard drive only had 9.5 MB free space.

I'll probably go ahead and get one, just for the enormous hard drive. I could really care less if I ever watch videos or tv shows on there- IMO most of them stink anyway.

 

[DeFeKt]

will try that, haven't gone to far into it, but wonder if i can update the library FROM the shuffle. otherwise we have an ftp site with our dslam2 connection so i might just pop them on there.

 

[severum mama]

After reading iPod reviews and the Apple help topics, I don't think you can do that. I'm pretty sure you can only transfer files from iTunes to iPod and not the other way around. I mean, I think you can get the files off the iPod, but Apple made sure they would not come off of there in a playable format. Maybe there's some software out there that would change that though.

 

[Jobu]

I'm not sure if this is exactly what you're looking for, but if you're looking for an alternative to iTunes, and you are familiar with Winamp, then you might want to look into this plugin for Winamp:

http://www.mlipod.com/index.php

I've been using this instead of iTunes for the past 7-8 months now since I hated the lack of flexibility iTunes gave you over what gets copied to your iPod. With the Winamp plugin, it doesn't just try to copy your whole music library, but rather allows you to drag-and-drop just the artists/albums you're interested in.

I'm not sure if it'll solve your "multiple computer" issue but it might be worth a shot. I believe it will also let you copy files from the iPod to your hard drive (don't hold me to that tho, I never tried it myself).

 

[Devilishturtles]

I don't know how much money you are willing to spend, but here is how I solved my 'multiple computer' iPod problem.

Keep an eye out in the Circuit City and Best Buy newspaper ads (usually come out on Sunday). They often times have external hard drives for waaaaay cheap. I just got an external 120 gb hard drive, for $70 at Best Buy a few weeks ago. This way, you can plug it right into your computer via a USB connection, and take the music where ever you want. Upload it to all the computers you use, and then you can update the iPod whenever you want.

Also, no, you cannot update music from the iPod, to your computer, that I know of.

I have the old 20 gb iPod, this method works good for me. If you try and update on another computer, it WILL knock all the music out that is currently on your iPod. Update music to the hard drive, and then to the iPod.

HTH and answers your question...

 

[crazycat]

you can actually transfer music from an ipod to a computer. there is a bunch of 3rd party software that let's you do that. not that apple is happy about it, but aas far as i know it'snot illegal. but then again, i really don't know. pm me if you want to know the name of a mac one that does that. or you can probably search for it online. i know there are tons.

 

[severum mama]

Yeah, I actually had the external hard drive idea last night and I was surprised at how cheap they are. I'll just tell my friend to hang on to all my files until I can buy one. But even if I get an external hard drive, I can't upload the files to my own computer because there is nowhere near enough space. I'm almost positive the Apple site gave directions on how to manage your music manually so it shouldn't wipe out the hard drive at every different computer.

Sounds like it will be a week or 2 before I can actually get an iPod because I have to send it back to Best Buy and wait for a voucher to come in the mail. I was surprised that they couldn't just do it in the store (it was even the same store at which I bought the first player).

Jobu- I'm not familiar with Winamp but iTunes kinda sounds like a pain in the butt for someone who's used to Creative Media Source, so I might check it out. Thanks for the link. 8)

 

[Devilishturtles]

Severum, the hard drive plugs in as an extra drive in your computer. It will not even touch your existing drive, and operates independently. You can then take all the files you want (even pictures or video if you have any) and free up tons and tons of space on your primary hard drive. Your computer will love you for it too.

When you plug the drive into another computer, it doesn't wipe out the drive, nor will it wipe out your ipod music. You will just have to install itunes and configure it to your iipod at all those computers.

Personally, I like iTunes. Its easy to use, and easy to update with. You can very easily make the update manually just by changing your options in the preferences menu.

My friend and I exchange music with each other occasionally, and all we do is swap hard drives for a day.

My 2 pennies.