How do I use an MP3 player?

[Guest Deebo]

I'm not exactly what you'd call very "Schooled" when it comes to electronics so help a brotha out.. how do I go about using an MP3 player?

 

By that I mean.. how do you actually get the MP3 off the computer and onto the player? I always kind of figured you just download the song, and then plug the MP3 player into your computer and play the song in Winamp or something and pretty much record it onto the MP3 player or something. However, after reading up some FAQ's on MP3 players it seems way confusing, so can someone attempt to give my a walkthrough of how one does that.

 

Also... how are iPod's different from a regular MP3 player in terms of getting songs onto it?

 

YES this is a really stupid question. But I need some help.

[Guest Shutterspeed]

I don't own one, but from what I've heard and seen, you just plug the cord into the mp3 player and USB port at the back of your PC. Perhaps you'll be prompted then to write the songs onto the player?

 

If you really want to do it, buy one. No doubt you'll be looked after.

[Guest Deebo]

Yeah that's kind of what I figured, but I'm reading all this stuff about converting files, this that and the other thing. Seems very confusing.

[Guest Shutterspeed]

I've seen the dumbest of the dumb using them at school, so it can't be that hard.

 

Buy one.

[Guest Deebo]

yeah, i just want to make sure I know what I'm getting into before I get it is all. I'm not very good with that kind of stuff.

[Guest Shutterspeed]

If you've got a computer with mp3s on it and want to transfer them to an easily portable medium, I'm sure you'll be fine.

[The Electrifyer 0]

I have one. Its pretty simple, the MP3 player usually comes with a CD that includes a program you use to transfer MP3s. Its a quick installation and pretty easy to use program. Just click on the MP3 and then "Download to Player" or something.

[Guest DubWiser]

If you can "drag and drop", then you should be able to use an MP3 Player without incident.

[Guest Deebo]

So those things like iTunes or MusicMatch or whatever comes with it, you don't have to only use the songs you buy from there right? Like I can download a song of Kazaa or Ares and still put it in the MP3 player right? Because reading up on iPods they make it sound like you can't use any songs you dont buy from iTunes.

 

Also... I'm trying to decide between an iPod and the Dell Digital Jukebox... which one do you guys think is better?

[The Electrifyer 0]

I can put any MP3 I download off Kazaa or Shareaza or where-ever on my player. There is no restriction that says I can only put purchased MP3s. I don't know about iPods, but I'd imagine that you should be able to put any MP3 you have on your computer onto it.

[Guest Deebo]

Ok, so what do you guys suggest I get?

 

Right now I'm deciding between iPod, iRiver, Nomad Zen Touch or Dell Digital Jukebox

[Jobber of the Week 0]

Out of those, iPod. iRivers are good or bad depending on the model, and Nomad/Dell both suck.

 

Apple has the manuals for the iPods online if you want to look at them. Basically, when you hook it up it will appear with your playlists in iTunes, and then you can drag files in your library (which can also be downloaded/ripped MP3s, don't worry, you just say Import Folder/Files To Library) to the iPod and it copies over. If you highlight the iPod you can see the music that's on it, a disk space gauge, and the ability to create playlists for the iPod (seperate from the playlists for your PC.)

 

Keep in mind you want to have USB 2.0 or FireWire (another hookup that moves at about the same speed as USB 2.0) on your computer. USB 1.0 does work, but moving files over it is a bitch of a wait.

[Guest Deebo]

The reviews on Amazon for the Nomad one all seem to be great and the price is good.

 

What's the deal with iPod's battery? Half the people I talk to about it say he dies after a year, and the other half say thats a myth. I'm really deciding between that, the iRiver and the Nomad. After reading more on the Dell one I'm just not interested in it.

[Guest DR PHIL]

I bought an IPOD yesterday and I have encountered a problem.

 

I have two computers with mp3 files I want to get off them but after getting them off one of them I can't get the other mp3's without replacing the existing mp3's.

 

Is there any way around this and did what I just say make any sense to anyone?

 

As for the original question of the thread, the ipod is pretty cool and the program they give to install is easy to use so you probably won't have any problems.

[Guest Deebo]

^^From what I gathered on Amazon, other people are having that problem.

 

 

Another question I have is can you only use iTunes to get MP3s onto the iPod? I don't like the thing I've been reading about it converting your files to something different, and i'd rather use Windows Media Player.

[Guest Lawlerm]

I'm not 100% sure on this but i beleive the iPod doesn't play .wma files and so if you use Windows Media Player and create a .wma file it'll have to convert it to .mp3. Personally i have a Creative player and it's brilliant. I think they are probably better pieces of equipment just with less hype and advertising.

 

The one i have is a Creative Jukebox Zen Xtra (60GB). Never had any problems at all with it and the earphones you get with it are great so the sounds perfect. If your thinking of getting one i'd suggest that.

[Guest Deebo]

I'm not 100% sure on this but i beleive the iPod doesn't play .wma files and so if you use Windows Media Player and create a .wma file it'll have to convert it to .mp3. Personally i have a Creative player and it's brilliant. I think they are probably better pieces of equipment just with less hype and advertising.

 

The one i have is a Creative Jukebox Zen Xtra (60GB). Never had any problems at all with it and the earphones you get with it are great so the sounds perfect. If your thinking of getting one i'd suggest that.

is there an iTunes type of thing that comes with the Creative ones? And also can you just use Windows Media Player with it?

[Guest Lawlerm]

It doesn't actually intergrate with Windows Media PLayer but the machine will play .wma files. As far as i've found out it doesnt actually let you play files straight from the mp3 player on the computer, you need to actually add the file to your computer (taking up hard drive space) which is a bit of a pain if you want to actually listen to the music through your computer.

 

I just connect mine to my stereo system with sort of scart/audio leads and play it that way rather than on the computer as my computers speakers are crap.

 

It comes with a Creative Media Player type program which is pretty simple to use. Transferring files is really easy which is the best part of it. I can't compare it to an iPod as i've never used one but my previous player was an Archos one and it's certainly much easier than that. You just drag and drop the files straight into the players folder (which shows up like an external HD in the "My Computer" folder). The Archos i had previously you had to rip the files from CD onto the computer THEN transfer them to the player which is a total pain. I'm not sure if the iPod does this or not.

 

They're also a fair bit cheaper than iPods (in the UK at least anyway) and it gave me the option to get the 60GB version seen as i have a huge CD collection and it was still like £100-150 cheaper than the 40GB iPod at the time.

 

It does what i want it to do great but if you want to actually play files from it on your computer a lot it might not be the best option. Does anyone know if the iPods let you play the music on your computer without actually having to have the file stored on your computer?

[Jobber of the Week 0]

I have two computers with mp3 files I want to get off them but after getting them off one of them I can't get the other mp3's without replacing the existing mp3's.

 

Is there any way around this and did what I just say make any sense to anyone?

When you attatch an iPod, it not only appears in iTunes but connects to your computer as an external hard drive that you can copy files to. Look in My Computer for the drive.

 

Along with the folders already there (Calendar, Notes, playlist data, etc) You can create folders in that drive and move computer files onto that. Note, however, that if you copy MP3s onto the drive in this method you can't actually listen to them on the iPod as a standalone player. But if you want to just move files between computers, you can do this and not run into problems with duplicates, as long as all files with identical names are kept in different folders.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

Another question I have is can you only use iTunes to get MP3s onto the iPod? I don't like the thing I've been reading about it converting your files to something different, and i'd rather use Windows Media Player.

Nope, there's Anapod Explorer and Ephpod.

 

iTunes does not convert your MP3s to anything different at all. You add your MP3s to the program's song database without any conversions. I don't know where you got your information that it changes them.

 

However, if you choose to use it as a CD ripper and make a copy of a CD you own, by default it makes it in AAC format. You can go into the options and choose between AAC, MP3, FLAC (huge lossless files), and a few crappy formats like WAV and AIFF. AAC is actually superior audio versus MP3 when at the same bitrate. Audiophile magazines have tested both formats against each other and some other formats and found that AAC sounds great. In addition, tracks you rip from your CDs have no copy protection, since you already have the master CD.

 

The only downside to AAC is that some players choke on it because it's not the world-standard that MP3 is.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

I'm not 100% sure on this but i beleive the iPod doesn't play .wma files and so if you use Windows Media Player and create a .wma file it'll have to convert it to .mp3.

That's pretty much correct. Apple is banking on AAC, the iTunes Music Store's copyright protected files are AAC with an encryption lock on them. Everyone else is banking on Microsoft's WMA. WMA is used by every online store that isn't iTunes, doesn't sound as good as AAC at similar bitrate unless you crank the bitrate VERY high, but does have the backing of Microsoft and a bunch of players behind it.

 

Beyond the music stores, this stuff doesn't really matter because both AAC and WMA support is considered secondary to MP3. Most people like to have everything in MP3 as it's infintely more tradable and replayable than AAC or WMA both are.

 

That said, no offense, but the Creative players are not really considered that great when you put it all together (software support, onscreen interface, etc.) The only real contender for the name "iPod killer" at this point are certain iRiver models (not the cheap ones) and the Rio Karma. Neither have the kind of ad blitz or store presence or "chicks will fuck you" factor as the iPod does, but feature for feature they stack up well.

 

Edited: Yes, you can play music off an iPod through your computer without having it on your computer. However, you have to play it through iTunes or one of it's competing programs that I've listed above. Unless, of course, you simply stored the MP3 as a data file on the hard drive partition that shows up in My Computer. Then you can play it with any player, but can't listen to the song when it's unplugged.

[Guest Deebo]

Jobber of the Week, have you had problems with your iPod? I keep reading about people having problems on Amazon.

 

After realizing I don't have as much music as I thought, I'm leaning towards getting either the iPod mini or Creative Zen Micro.

 

Also, my PC came with iTunes, and I put a lot of my songs on there in anticipation of possibly buying the iPod. Could I use that iTunes, or would I have to use the one the iPod comes with?

[Jobber of the Week 0]

iTunes is iTunes. I would reccomend going to their site and getting the latest version if you haven't. Unless the iTunes is in some odd folder other than the default one, it'll install over the old version while still keeping your old settings and stuff.

 

Also, when installing and setting up, you may want to go into settings and tell it not to arrange music you're importing. It arranges all your MP3s into folders for artists and stuff and while a few people like that, most people don't, especially people who keep all their MP3s in one big folder. I do that, so I turn it off.

 

About problems: A video went around the internet of some phone call conversation with some guy calling Apple support about getting his battery replaced and being told he'd have to pay some outrageous sum. This audio was set to a movie of him running around spraypainting "The iPod battery lasts only 18 months" on a bunch of Apple billboards.

 

Shockwaves arose over this and while the video's production is rather suspect (exactly how did they know to record this conversation? Did they call back a second time with the same problem just to get it on tape?) a lot of people still bought it all at face value and misinformation started spreading fast.

 

So, facts:

 

1. If you recharged your battery every single day, it would last an average of 18 months.

2. People who own iPods from the very first batch, over two years ago, are still using their iPods today with no problem.

3. All rechargable batteries, as the years wear on, recharge less and less and eventually refuse to work. This is not exclusive to iPod or Apple. A lot of portable devices, including the latest Game Boys, use the same idea and will eventually suffer the same effect. So do many other MP3 players.

4. You can buy a new battery for about $40 if you want to install it yourself. $100 if you want Apple to do it. Buy the AppleCare warranty program ($60 for warranty coverage over the second year of your unit) and if the battery goes dead in that period somehow then it's covered.

5. Do you really trust a couple anonymous guys that video tape themselves vandalizing ads and then publish it on the internet?

[Guest Deebo]

Have you personally had any problems with yours? Most of the stuff I heard was from Amazon. I never even knew about that video.