booyah said:

Are you adding songs to the iPod from both machines? I'm unclear on exactly what you're doing but I've owned several iPods and never had trouble keeping the info sync'd up from computer to iPod.

I'm glad to help but could you spell out exactly what you are doing and where the issue occurs?

superspaceboy said:

Wait, doesn't the CZN ONLY play mp3 and wma files?

The iPod can play MP3, WAV, M4A, Protected AAC, AIFF, Audible audiobook, and ALAC Lossless audio file formats. The 5th generation iPod can also play .m4v and .mp4 MPEG-4/H.264 video file formats. iTunes itself can convert wma to any of the above audio formats so that is covered, as well.

Big difference there and I'm not sure how the CZN is any less proprietary here. Given that it plays far fewer formats, it's certainly a more restrictive device.

On top of that, if you're brave and use the Rockbox open source firmware, iPods after the 4th generation are capable of playing Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, Musepack, Wavpack, Shorten, Midi, WAV, AIFF, M4A/AAC, and MP3.

All the iPods, also, can be used as portable hard drives the last time I checked.




The latest ipods have Line In, as well... but they may be beyond your budget if you can only afford 1GB sized devices.



You can use the iPod just as well without syncing, though I've never had a problem with any of my ipods in the last 3 years.

superspaceboy said:

Latest model iPods, do have this. I beleive 3rd party hacks since 2004 or so have allowed older models to record via special firmware.



Again, you don't have to use the autosync.




See my previous post, this is not true. In fact, I think even the very first iPod from way back in 2001 handled more formats than your current CZN.

Contrary to popular belief, you can also find 3rd party software to sync between your computer and iPod so you aren't tied into that, either. There are at least 6 or 7 different pieces of Windows software that allow you to copy files from the ipod back to a different PC and probably around that many for Linux, with a few more for Mac.



How exactly is it that the older models are no longer supported? iTunes has no restrictions on which iPod generation you have to have, as far as I know. Apple, also, offers extended Applecare warranties for iPods that extend the support period quite a bit if you are talking about warranty issues.




..an iPod nano starts at $149 for a 1GB model, and supports the same audio formats the normal iPod supports. Surely, you didn't expect a 30GB iPod to be on sale for the same price as your CZN, did you?

jerseykrs said:

Well, the fact is the iPod has captured around 80% of the market (90% among hard drive based players). Even if only a TINY fraction of units have an issue, it's still probably more total units than any single model from another manufacturer.
[Edited 6/26/06 20:33pm]

jtfolden said:

jt, thanks for the offer of help. Here's my situation:

First, the background info:
My home laptop is old (2001), and EXTREMELY slow, although I do have some music on there unique to that computer (at this stage mainly iTunes downloads and those from other music stores - including NPGMC). It also seems to have stopped ripping CDs - 90% of the time it doesn't recognize them as CDs, or starts to rip them, then freezes and ejects the CD.
My work computer has a ton of memory and works very quickly - plus my time in the office means I can just rip CDs in the background while doing work.

The main points:
*I have way more time at home to edit track info, make playlists etc., but the manual disconnect (which I have to use since I have very little music on my home computer) has turned my evening computer-shutdown into a 15-minute routine. I'd also like the track info (genre, tags etc.) to update onto the same files on my work computer, which it doesn't do, and if I edit them on my work computer, it also doesn't update them on my iPod (even when I press 'update') since the tracks themselves are there.
*I'd like to be able to drag-and-drop files onto the DAP (in this case iPod) in way that they are playable, and yet also movable to any computer it's connected to. On the iPod, I seem to be able to store files on the iPod hard drive and move them between computers, but they're not playable while they're there. Or I can have playable files, but I then need to purchase third-party software to copy the files back onto my computer.

Maybe these kinds of 'problems' are going to happen with all digital audio players, and some people suggest buying an external hard-drive, but when I'm buying a $300 piece of equipment, it seems silly to then spend however much additional cash to buy an external hard-drive so I can use it effectively.

jt, or anyone else, I'd love to hear your thoughts on all of this. I have spent time reading all the iPod manuals and spent a lot of time on iLounge.com this week, and all the 'solutions' to my thoughts above involve spending money on third-party products. It seems to me that the Creative Zen solves at least the second problem (and maybe the first), and at Circuit City it's cheaper than I paid for the iPod.

can you update your home computer?

butterfli25 said:

Part of the reason for me buying a portable player is that my computer has very limited space, and this seemed a much cheaper (and more portable) option than buying a new computer.

I don't know it seems to me that the limitation is with the home computer, that's all. I feel ya on the whole I don't have the money or inclination to buy a new computer. I have a cheapo computer at home and I had some problems with my ipod and turns out it was the computer not the ipod. Like yours it works just fine with my hubby's laptop that has infinite power and space. I added a new power supply and some memory to my cheapo and haven't had any issues lately. I am still going to get an external hard drive for my music and pictures though just in case el cheapo decides to die on me.

i heard the Creatives are Nicer and easier to use

The external hard drive is the way to go, have an iPod or any other brand.
Your mp3 library keeps growing and you can't be deleting an album everytime you want to put a new one on your portable.
You delete it from the portable but stays in the disk drive for next time.

booyah said:

The portable can't have bigger disk space than the computer. Since you have to synch them it must be at least the same size. I would say twice at least.
Once you accept the fact that you have to have the songs both on the computer (or external drive) and on the iPod you'll see how all the problems disappear

PANDURITO said:

So I need them on CD (originals), my computer (ripped) and my iPod (synched)? What a waste...

not really, I have stuff only in one format, it just depends on how you listen to it. I know some people have went totally cd-less, I don't think I could do that.

booyah said:

It sounds to me like you need SharePod 2.0:
http://www.sturm.net.nz/w...e=HomePage

This is a small, free app that lives ON your iPod. It copies songs/playlists to and from the iPod. It will, also, add songs copied to the PC into the iTunes database.

Ideally, you really should have a "main" machine capable of storing the original files, for editing, etc... but many, many people keep their libraries JUST on the iPod.



I really don't see the need for the external drive.



Overall, it's a less capable player too.

jt, I just downloaded SharePod and I'm using it now... I think this may have solved the problems I was having (other than my laptop being deathly-slow...)

booyah said:

Great, glad to hear it. Good luck!

jt, just as a follow up, I've been using SharePod for the last 24-hours or so now, and I've decided not to get rid of my iPod after all - this was a great piece of advice. That's why I love the org! Thanks again!

booyah said:

No problem... It's nice to hear it worked out so well for you.