wait, I'm lost. You just got a laptop, right? Where are you actually PLAYING the music from? A cd player? The laptop? Your ipod?

jerseykrs said:

Nah, I've had a laptop for a while but that's not in this equation...

I play music out of my pc, IPod & cd's...

CalhounSq said:

So, basically, all you need is a good set of computer speakers. MP3's from the PC, CD's from the PC, and ipod when connected to the PC. Right? Problem solved!

If you're willing to spend a little you can do what you're talking about with a few components. Depends on how much you want to spend.


For simplicity's sake, you could go with two items

1) a decent home theater in a box (onkyo makes some nice ones for a good price), and

2) something that can get the music from your laptop to your home theater speakers. something like this: (http://reviews.cnet.com/L...31888.html).

That gets your music off your computer and played through at least 5 speakers (stereo is so 1982) without spending too much. If you're an audiophile, you could do alot better (and spend alot more) than the home theater in a box, but since we're talking ipods I'm gonna guess that's not the case. Personally I'd get a separate DVD player, I'm not sold on the all in one systems, but they are out there if you want to spend a little more and think a little less.

p.s. I've got the sonic software solution for the Tivo to dvd thing, but honestly it gets used maybe once a year. "acquiring" tv shows through other means is so easy now that it's usually more practical to just find what I want and download it .


.
[Edited 9/4/06 9:07am]

Does anyone else play mp3's through their Tivo? I can't get the ITunes songs to show up

CalhounSq said:

You got series 1 or series 2 Tivo? Makes a difference.
http://reviews.cnet.com/4...476-3.html

ElCapitan said:

Series 2, but I figured it out - apparently you have to have mp3 files instead of AAC files in order for Tivo to recognize them. So I have to change the format of my library... all 6500+ songs

CalhounSq said:

That just sucks . Reason #1 why I don't convert my music. Too many compatability issues unless you stay with Apple.

"Components," huh?

right. It's always about the "parts," with you, CSq...

ElCapitan said:

But I love love LOVE my ITunes!! Another fix would be to get some better speakers for my computer but that's kinda what I'm trying to avoid - buying one set for the comp & having another set for the home theater just across the room

CalhounSq said:

Don't misunderstand me, I'm Itunes' bitch also. I'm just not a fan of the AAC format. 99% of my colleciton is mp3 cause it works with everything, including itunes.

Have you actually bought that much material off Itunes that converting AAC's to mp3 would be difficult?

ElCapitan said:

From what I read I'm supposed to be able to just right click it & change the format but it's not working so far - the only quick-change option is AAC, which is the format I've imported everything as. I'd say 98% of the stuff is ripped from my own cd's That shit took forever, I won't re-rip these things. There's gotta be a way to select & change the format, otherwise I'll just get some speakers for the computer. I don't wanna invest in ITunes all over again, you know?

CalhounSq said:

You're supposed to be able to convert unprotected AAC's without much problem. Protected AAC's bought from Itunes is trickier.

"Unprotected AAC to MP3 To make a copy of an AAC file that you can play on a third-party MP3 player, open iTunes’ Importing preference pane, and select MP3 Encoder from the Import Using drop-down menu. Because you’re converting from one lossy format to another, use the Higher Quality option to minimize further loss in quality.

Next, select the tracks you want to convert and, from iTunes’ Advanced menu, choose Convert Selection To MP3. iTunes creates MP3 versions of the tracks and adds them to your music library.

This process leaves your original AAC files unchanged, so you’ll have two versions of each song you convert. To deal with the duplicates, corral them into a smart playlist with the criterion Kind Is MPEG Audio File (see “Find Those Files”). "

AHHH! I have to change the import setting first, THEN I can change what's already imported - figured it out

CalhounSq said:

cool

of course there are ways around burning your purchased songs

Can't vouch for it myself, but some people seem to be happy with this approach.
http://www.lifehacker.com...198522.php

ElCapitan said:

DUDE, I've been gone for about 2 hours & this shit is only on "B"!!! It does a song about every 15 seconds - this is gonna take about 27 hours to complete

CalhounSq said:

see why I didn't vouch for it!

ElCapitan said:

It's on "P" now... how many hours later???

I really shouldn't be surfing, I think it fucks w/ the conversion

CalhounSq said:

Damn! Well I guess it beats burning and ripping a bunch of cds.


I think you've inadvertently been my guinea pig on this program. I've got a few Itunes Store purchases that I've thought about subjecting to this program. From your experience it seems like a weekend when I'm doing other things kinda project.