iPod shuffle - loading without iTunes

[Michelle Steiner]

I have an iPod and iTunes, but I don't have a wife. So consequently,
as you might imagine, I feel a bit left out by all this. Is there
some way I can enjoy easy digital music file transfers without having
a wife?

Do you have a husband? If so, just engage in role reversal. If not,
get a husband or a wife.

 

[Michelle Steiner]

I'm perfectly happy with my old copy of Girlfren (the 1993 version,
which I have used exclusively since then) and works perfectly well
and does everything I want. Except - er, ah, yeah... Anyway, I don't
want to replace it - I'm used to the package, it's pretty reliable
and I know my way round most of its minor flaws.

I can't believe I'm supposed to get a wife just because of iTunes.

No, it's because of the lack of iTunes. If you have iTunes, you don't
need a wife.

 

[Michelle Steiner]

You can listen to music purchased from the iTunes store on any
device.

If you want to go through hoops you probably can but it is a lot
harder than if you had an unprotected MP3.
True.

I could play it on my car stereo but I would have to burn it to CD,
then rip it to mp3 and then play that,[/QUOTE]

I play it on my car stereo by burning it to a CD, and play that.

by which time it would have lost a lot of quality.

Just converting it to MP3 loses a lot of quality.

Thing is that you don't have to use the iTunes music store to get music
for the iPod. You can download it from anywhere and load it into the
iPod.

If a track on a CD costs me about £1, then a track with restrictions
like from the iTunes store is worth (to me) about 35p, so they are
currently too expensive.

But if you want only one or two tracks from the CD, why pay for the
entire CD?

I'm originally from New York City. About a year ago, I was feeling very
nostalgic, so I searched the iTunes music store for songs about New
York, and downloaded about 35 of them. It cost me about $35 to do so,
but if I had to buy the CDs that those songs were on, it would have cost
me hundreds of dollars.

 

[Bonge Boo!]

And a bit overpriced, at that.

Don't be silly.

Play very carefully, like you would with any badly behaved little poodle.

Why? And if you're that obsessive about your data you'd have a backup. So
who gives a toss if it messes your file structure. Just rewind.

Then after you dump it, if you naively allowed it to do any of the things
it wanted to do while you were "playing" with it, you can spend the next
few days redoing the entire music filing system it has mucked up on your
computer.

Or just tick the boxes that says "don't move my files when adding them to
iTunes" As I said, he's a bright boy, he'll be in the Preferences like a
shot.

That is, if you don't get convinced that "thinking outside the box"
whilst following along with the rest of the McSheeple and doing whatever
the mcfuck they are told is best for them is the way to go.

Sigh. Making simple things difficult just for the sake of it isn't big or
clever. Its a big waste of time. Now if he was a Linux user who had no
choice I'd have understood.

As you sound like you are "obviously bright" and do some of your own
thinking, I'm doubting this last part will happen but stranger things
have indeed happened...like when a whole slew of seemingly intelligent
people bought into a bunch of overhyped and overpriced crap from an
arrogant little company whose entire success is based on form and design
rather than function and whose market is gained by huge advertising
blitzes aimed at impressionable youth selling a "lifestyle" rather than a
product and protected and maintained by proprietary practices rather than
any sort of product superiority.

<shrug> Having played with various MP3 over the years its blindingly obvious
the reason the iPod is popular is because they themselves work better than
anything else yet invented, and iTunes enables people to quickly and simply
organize their music and transer to their music player. Sony's latest
aberration is a case in point. Utterly pathetic.</shrug>

Apple are a greedy, arrogant company. But they got iPod/iTunes right when no
one else has. So bully for them. The whole point is the combination of iPod
and iTunes makes them a pleasure to use. Having an iPod but not using iTunes
defeats the purpose. There are plenty of similar or better specification
music players at lower cost. If you're not gonna use iTunes, save a few quid
and buy one of them. Paying top whack for the ease of use then making it
difficult to use is... Perverse.

 

[Michelle Steiner]

You are just making a CD though with up to 20 (short) tracks - I am
talking about an mp3 cd with 100 or so.

Oh. Well, my car's CD player doesn't handle MP3 (although the 2006
model of the car does), but it does have a six-disk CD changer, so I
don't need to put a hundred tracks on one disk.

 

[Michelle Steiner]

Bloody practical, though.

Yes, I would really prefer to lug a CD player and boxes containing a
thousand CD's rather than carry my 60GB iPod around, the thing is
just too light and small to possibly be practical.[/QUOTE]

We're talking about an automobile player here, so there's no need to
carry a CD player. Nor is there a need to carry thousands of CDs, just
the few one would listen to on a given trip.

 

[Michelle Steiner]

You can listen to music purchased from the iTunes store on any
device.

Rubbish.[/QUOTE]

Please explain why it's rubbish.

 

[Michelle Steiner]

Quite. I tried it on my toaster and fridge.

Oh, point taken. My bad.

 

[Michelle Steiner]

No. Look the software is free.

And a bit overpriced, at that.

Just download a copy of it and play.

Play very carefully, like you would with any badly behaved little
poodle.

You're obviously bright. Itunes will take you all of 30 seconds to
work out. Then if you don't like it, dump it.

Then after you dump it, if you naively allowed it to do any of the
things it wanted to do while you were "playing" with it, you can
spend the next few days redoing the entire music filing system it has
mucked up on your computer.

That is, if you don't get convinced that "thinking outside the box"
whilst following along with the rest of the McSheeple and doing
whatever the mcfuck they are told is best for them is the way to go.

As you sound like you are "obviously bright" and do some of your own
thinking, I'm doubting this last part will happen but stranger things
have indeed happened...like when a whole slew of seemingly
intelligent people bought into a bunch of overhyped and overpriced
crap from an arrogant little company whose entire success is based on
form and design rather than function and whose market is gained by
huge advertising blitzes aimed at impressionable youth selling a
"lifestyle" rather than a product and protected and maintained by
proprietary practices rather than any sort of product superiority.[/QUOTE]

OK, so you don't know what the **** you're talking about. Move along;
those of us who do know what we're talking about have things to talk
about.

 

[Jim]

Rubbish.

Please explain why it's rubbish.[/QUOTE]

Because it isn't true. Most devices can't play iTMS protected AAC files.
If you've transcoded them into some other format (say by stripping the
DRM or burning/re-encoding) then they're no longer 'music purchased from
the iTunes store'.

Jim

 

[Michelle Steiner]

Please explain why it's rubbish.

Because it isn't true. Most devices can't play iTMS protected AAC
files. If you've transcoded them into some other format (say by
stripping the DRM or burning/re-encoding) then they're no longer
'music purchased from the iTunes store'.[/QUOTE]

It it isn't music purchased from the iTunes store, where did it come
from?

If I buy a house from American Home Builders, remove the wall between
two bedrooms to make a larger room, convert the garage to a den, add on
another room, and replace all the appliances, lift it off its
foundation, and move it 100 miles to a new site, I still bought it from
American Home builders.

 

[Jim]

Because it isn't true. Most devices can't play iTMS protected AAC
files. If you've transcoded them into some other format (say by
stripping the DRM or burning/re-encoding) then they're no longer
'music purchased from the iTunes store'.

It it isn't music purchased from the iTunes store, where did it come
from?

If I buy a house from American Home Builders, remove the wall between
two bedrooms to make a larger room, convert the garage to a den, add on
another room, and replace all the appliances, lift it off its
foundation, and move it 100 miles to a new site, I still bought it from
American Home builders.[/QUOTE]

You're moving the goalposts. As I said, most devices can't play the
files you get from the iTMS _directly_. Yes, you can transcode them or
whatever but you'd be better off just buying the CD from $LOCAL_SHOP and
encoding it yourself.

Jim

 

[Michelle Steiner]

You're moving the goalposts. As I said, most devices can't play the
files you get from the iTMS _directly_.

You didn't say "directly."

Yes, you can transcode them or whatever but you'd be better off just
buying the CD from $LOCAL_SHOP and encoding it yourself.

Not necessarily. Quite often, buying the CD costs more than downloading
the CD. And if it's a trip just to buy the CD, there's the cost of
transportation as well as the time taken for transportation. (And
there's the chance that the store may not have it in stock.) And what
if you don't want the entire CD, but only a few tracks?

Of course, if you download it, there's the time involved for the
downloading and disk burning, as well as the cost of the blank media.
Also, the iTunes Music Store may not have it available.

But overall, downloading seems to me to be cheaper and easier.

 

[Woody]

Oh. Well, my car's CD player doesn't handle MP3 (although the 2006
model of the car does), but it does have a six-disk CD changer, so I
don't need to put a hundred tracks on one disk.

No, so you don't need it, but I do.

 

[G.T.]

If you want to go through hoops you probably can but it is a lot
harder than if you had an unprotected MP3.

True.


I could play it on my car stereo but I would have to burn it to CD,
then rip it to mp3 and then play that,

I play it on my car stereo by burning it to a CD, and play that.

by which time it would have lost a lot of quality.

Just converting it to MP3 loses a lot of quality.

Thing is that you don't have to use the iTunes music store to get music
for the iPod. You can download it from anywhere and load it into the
iPod.
[/QUOTE]

eMusic! eMusic! eMusic! Cool music, no DRM. 25 cents or less a
track. Play anywhere, anytime.

Greg

 

[G.T.]

Oh, point taken. My bad.

And to qualify the above you can't listen to music purchased from the
iTunes store in it's native format on just any digital music device.
It's funny how Mac users always complain about proprietary formats from
Microsoft but when Apple does the same it's nothing but excuses and
support from these very same people. I have an iPod because it works
great but I'll never buy from the iTunes store. Having to jump through
hoops to play the songs on other devices is bullshit.

Greg

 

[Jon B]

Oh. Well, my car's CD player doesn't handle MP3 (although the 2006
model of the car does), but it does have a six-disk CD changer, so I
don't need to put a hundred tracks on one disk.

I thought that till someone pinched £200 worth of CD changer and £100
worth of CDs out the boot. Course this was 3-4 yrs ago so at the time I
still hadn't got into the habit of loading all my music onto the
computer and burning copy discs, or mp3 discs. I have now and the only
time an original CD is in the car is in its box on the way back from the
shop.

 

[Neill Massello]

You need to wait a couple of weeks - Jobs is expected to announce iWife
'06 at the Expo.

No way. The support costs would bankrupt Microsoft, let alone Apple.

 

[Jim]

You didn't say "directly."

I'd have thought it was obvious from the context but never mind.

Not necessarily. Quite often, buying the CD costs more than downloading
the CD. And if it's a trip just to buy the CD, there's the cost of
transportation as well as the time taken for transportation. (And
there's the chance that the store may not have it in stock.) And what
if you don't want the entire CD, but only a few tracks?

Of course, if you download it, there's the time involved for the
downloading and disk burning, as well as the cost of the blank media.
Also, the iTunes Music Store may not have it available.

But overall, downloading seems to me to be cheaper and easier.

Ok. What was the original question again?

Jim

 

[Michelle Steiner]

Oh. Well, my car's CD player doesn't handle MP3 (although the 2006
model of the car does), but it does have a six-disk CD changer, so
I don't need to put a hundred tracks on one disk.

I thought that till someone pinched £200 worth of CD changer and £100
worth of CDs out the boot.[/QUOTE]

The changer is part of the dashboard radio-unit of the car, and ceases
to function if power is removed from it until a code is entered to
reactivate it. I keep the CDs hidden so no one can see them from
outside the car. They would have to have another reason to break into
the car and then find the CDs.