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jivecat
3rd-January-2011, 03:50 PM
As part of my New Year's Res to listen to more music I have decided to buy an MP3 player. (Yeah, yeah, I know, about a quarter of a century after everyone else, but better late than never.) Although bewitched by the sleek beauty of the iPod I thought i'd try to get some info on alternatives, especially cheaper alternatives.

I've got lots of stuff saved on my PC in my itunes playlists that I've bought from itunes or loaded from CDs - would I be able to transfer them to any MP3 player or would I have to buy an iPod? Put it another way, if i bought an alternative MP3 player would i have to use different software? And would i then find all my existing music is unavailable to me?

Also, how do I check if I'd be able to play it in the car and through other sound systems that don't have a special dock?

Sorry if these queries are bit basic - technology is not really my strong suit, but then you probably already know that. :blush:

Eagerly awaiting replies from the ForumGeeks - you've never let me down yet! :grin:

Andy Razzle
3rd-January-2011, 03:55 PM
why not just use you mobile phone instead, most modern mobiles are decent mp3 players provided you have enough phone memory

Andy McGregor
3rd-January-2011, 04:11 PM
Eagerly awaiting replies from the ForumGeeks - you've never let me down yet! :grin:I'm not a geek at all. We use Napster to Go and have done for over 5 years. It's a subsription service where you get almost every track download within your £14.95 a month subscription. This lets you download to 3 PCs and 3 MP3 players.

However, you need a Napster to Go compatible MP3 player. Have a look at Napster for the list. My 3 daughters use diverse models of Creative Zen players and they work just fine and are often on ebay for about £20.

jivecat
3rd-January-2011, 04:16 PM
I'm not a geek at all. Oops. Muchissimo apologies.



We use Napster to Go and have done for over 5 years. It's a subsription service where you get almost every track download within your £14.95 a month subscription. This lets you download to 3 PCs and 3 MP3 players.

However, you need a Napster to Go compatible MP3 player. Have a look at Napster for the list. My 3 daughters use divers models Creative Zen players and they work just fine and are often on ebay for about £20.

Yes, i was looking at the Creative Zen players. Not sure if I'd get one on Ebay, though. There seem to be enough lifespan probs with new ones!

With Napster, do you still own the tracks after you end the subscription, or is it one of the sites where you need to continue paying?

jivecat
3rd-January-2011, 04:18 PM
why not just use you mobile phone instead, most modern mobiles are decent mp3 players provided you have enough phone memory

I have a £25 basic model 3 yr old Samsung phone - it never occurred to me it could be used like that, not sure if I ever read the instructions once I discovered how to phone/text on it.

Goose
3rd-January-2011, 05:38 PM
iPod touch with Spotify app (£10 a month for all the music you can eat).

The best thing is all the other useful things it can do - well worth a little extra.

Otherwise if you want simple, go for the nano or shuffle... :)

Andy McGregor
3rd-January-2011, 06:05 PM
Yes, i was looking at the Creative Zen players. Not sure if I'd get one on Ebay, though. There seem to be enough lifespan probs with new ones!I think they're variable. One of my daughters has had the same one for 5 years. The other two daughers seem to think they can survive being immersed in fizzy water, trapped in doors or sat on ...

I did fix one of them recently as it had a problem with the headphone socket. I found the fix instructions on the net and was quite proud of myself when fixed it with a soldering iron - maybe I have become a geek!

I think there's some other Napster to go compatible players. Also, I saw something about getting Napster to Go on your phone - but that might be USA only.


With Napster, do you still own the tracks after you end the subscription, or is it one of the sites where you need to continue paying?You own all the tracks you buy and they will continue to play even if you don't keep up your subscription. But you lose the ability to play all the tracks you downloaded as part of your subscription as they are DRM protected.

You need to pay for the tracks if you want to burn them on to a CD. Also, there are some tracks that are only available for purchase - nine times out of ten there's another version of the same track that can be downloaded.

I think you can have a week's free trial of Napster so you can see what you think.

Chef
4th-January-2011, 02:30 PM
I've got lots of stuff saved on my PC in my itunes playlists that I've bought from itunes or loaded from CDs - would I be able to transfer them to any MP3 player or would I have to buy an iPod? Put it another way, if i bought an alternative MP3 player would i have to use different software? And would i then find all my existing music is unavailable to me?

The music that you have can be broken down into two groups.

1. The music that you bought from Itunes will most commonly be in a format called AAC which is basically a copyright protected MP3 format. It used to be the case that this format was only playable on an Ipod and no other player would play it. This may no longer be the case but if you are buying something other than an Ipod it would definately be a question to ask before buying. Some tracks bought on Itunes (at this time 99p instead of the ususal 79p) are not copyright protected but I am not sure if these are plain MP3 files that can be played on any player.

2. Music that you have loaded from your own CDs. These tracks are read into your computer and encoded according to your preferances in Itunes. The default setting for encoding on my Itunes was AAC format and files encoded were only playable on Ipods. You can change the default encoder in Itunes to the MP3 format by altering your setting in your preferences for importing music. If all of your CDs were imported using the MP3 encoder then those tracks will be playable on all players.

If you find that you have imported all your CDs using the AAC encoder then all is not lost. You can delete those tracks then reimport them once you have changed the encoder to MP3. Time consuming but possible if you want to go the non Ipod route.



Also, how do I check if I'd be able to play it in the car and through other sound systems that don't have a special dock?


You don't always have to have a special dock. Some newer car radios have an AUX 3.5mm jack socket and Maplin electronics sell a 3.5mm jack plug to 3.5mm jack plug cable which will connect from your headphone socket to the radios AUX input.

If your car has a cassette player you can get cassette adaptors to link from your MP3 player to the cassette slot.

You can also get devices that connect to your MP3 player and transmit that signal as a low powered FM transmission that you can tune your radio into. I have tried a couple of these and they have be only just usuable in rural areas but totoally useless anywhere near London or major towns where there are took many radio stations (both legal and illegal) to get any clear wavelength.

That is the best that I can tell you. If anyone knows that my information is out of date please correct me.

jivecat
4th-January-2011, 02:49 PM
iPod touch with Spotify app (£10 a month for all the music you can eat).

The best thing is all the other useful things it can do - well worth a little extra.

Otherwise if you want simple, go for the nano or shuffle... :)

I think i'm going to get a secondhand one - Not willing to shell out the £200+ necessary for an iPod touch even if every teenager in the universe has one. So it will probably be a 4th generation-ish one - any thoughts on those? A shiny red one, hopefully.

I'm quite intrigued by the idea of paying to access unlimited music but probably couldn't eat a whole £10 worth per month. I think some might be cheaper - iMesh, for example?

jivecat
4th-January-2011, 02:54 PM
The music that you have can be broken down into two groups.

1. The music that you bought from Itunes will most commonly be in a format called AAC which is basically a copyright protected MP3 format. It used to be the case that this format was only playable on an Ipod and no other player would play it. This may no longer be the case but if you are buying something other than an Ipod it would definately be a question to ask before buying. Some tracks bought on Itunes (at this time 99p instead of the ususal 79p) are not copyright protected but I am not sure if these are plain MP3 files that can be played on any player.

2. Music that you have loaded from your own CDs. These tracks are read into your computer and encoded according to your preferances in Itunes. The default setting for encoding on my Itunes was AAC format and files encoded were only playable on Ipods. You can change the default encoder in Itunes to the MP3 format by altering your setting in your preferences for importing music. If all of your CDs were imported using the MP3 encoder then those tracks will be playable on all players.

If you find that you have imported all your CDs using the AAC encoder then all is not lost. You can delete those tracks then reimport them once you have changed the encoder to MP3. Time consuming but possible if you want to go the non Ipod route.


Thanks, Chef. All my music is on my creaky, ancient PC which I only really use as a storage device now. So, I'll have to wait the required 10 mins or so to power it up and investigate. Presumably, it'll be under "properties" or some such label?

I don't mind reloading stuff that was on CDs but I really would like to play stuff I've had to pay for, so maybe it will have to be an iPod.



You don't always have to have a special dock. Some newer car radios have an AUX 3.5mm jack socket and Maplin electronics sell a 3.5mm jack plug to 3.5mm jack plug cable which will connect from your headphone socket to the radios AUX input.

If your car has a cassette player you can get cassette adaptors to link from your MP3 player to the cassette slot.

That is the best that I can tell you. If anyone knows that my information is out of date please correct me.

The car only has a CD player.

Goose
4th-January-2011, 04:44 PM
I think i'm going to get a secondhand one - Not willing to shell out the £200+ necessary for an iPod touch even if every teenager in the universe has one. So it will probably be a 4th generation-ish one - any thoughts on those? A shiny red one, hopefully.

I'm quite intrigued by the idea of paying to access unlimited music but probably couldn't eat a whole £10 worth per month. I think some might be cheaper - iMesh, for example?

Just to clarify, only the iPod touch can run 'apps' and therefore Spotify. However even the first gen touch will run pretty much all apps, so I'm sure you can pick up one on eBay for under £100.

Also, it's only available in black and silver - but you can get a funky case. :waycool:

There are a bunch of apps for music if Spotify isn't your thing...

Lee Bartholomew
4th-January-2011, 09:21 PM
Personally I would never touch an iPod, Pda Phone or anything else Apple claims to have invented. They all tend to be cheaply made yet expensive versions of what is already out there.

My recommendation would be to ditch itunes and get a decent download service like 7digital or emusic and have a look at either using your phone or getting a generic MP player (most will be as good if not better than an iPod)

PS my brother is on his 7th Ipod in 2 years after they have all broken. (oh and his 3rd iPhone in 8 months) :wink:

jivecat
5th-January-2011, 12:55 AM
Personally I would never touch an iPod, Pda Phone or anything else Apple claims to have invented. They all tend to be cheaply made yet expensive versions of what is already out there.

My recommendation would be to ditch itunes and get a decent download service like 7digital or emusic and have a look at either using your phone or getting a generic MP player (most will be as good if not better than an iPod)

PS my brother is on his 7th Ipod in 2 years after they have all broken. (oh and his 3rd iPhone in 8 months) :wink:

Oh, right. What should i do with all the music i've already bought from itunes, then? What generic MP3 player would you recommend?

pmjd
5th-January-2011, 02:03 AM
PS my brother is on his 7th Ipod in 2 years after they have all broken. (oh and his 3rd iPhone in 8 months) :wink:
What's he been doing to them??? One five year old ipod and one 18 month old iphone, both working fine.


Oh, right. What should i do with all the music i've already bought from itunes, then? What generic MP3 player would you recommend?
Jivecat don't worry too much. If you don't want/need an Apple device you can still get your music out from itunes. You need to have a look in itunes to see what type of file it is. This can be done in itunes by right clicking up in the "headers" bit where Artist, Song Title etc. are. There is an option to have a "Kind" column, this column will give you an idea of which tracks are protected and which aren't as only some older ACC files are protected, one's bought in the last year or two from itunes will not be protected and can be transferred/converted to whatever format your new player will handle.

"AAC Protected" means just that, it will only play on an authorised computer/apple device BUT most older protected tracks can be converted to an unprotected version for ~20p a track direct from itunes.
"AAC Purchased" means that you have bought them and they aren't protected and you can play them wherever you like.

Some MP3 players will also play AAC format, others will require conversion to MP3 from AAC but it's fairly easy to do, even using itunes.

straycat
5th-January-2011, 11:57 AM
PS my brother is on his 7th Ipod in 2 years after they have all broken. (oh and his 3rd iPhone in 8 months) :wink:

Well - if he will keep buying them from China for $10 apiece, I'm not entirely surprised... ;)

straycat
5th-January-2011, 12:14 PM
Oh, right. What should i do with all the music i've already bought from itunes, then? What generic MP3 player would you recommend?

I wouldn't worry about certain - ahem - statistical anomalies. I've been using Apple kit for around fifteen years, and while I certainly have had very occasional equipment failures, they have been extremely rare, and Apple have always provided exceptional customer support on the very rare occasions when I've had to go to them. I have a number of friends and relatives who have had similar experiences to myself.

In terms of iPods, I've owned one 80gb iPod for the last four years which is still going strong, and two iPhones - the 3G (two and a half years old, no problems at all) and the iPhone 4 - also hassle-free, but it's still a youngster, so there's no conclusions to be drawn from that.

The latest customer support experience I've had was when the battery died on a three-year old MacBook - it as two years out of warranty, but Apple decided that it was a manufacturing fault, so replaced the battery free of charge.

There's plenty of valid reasons not to go Apple, but rest assured that reliability concerns are not among them.

Anyway - don't just take it from me - have a look at the various reliability surveys that are available out there.
Example here (http://www.squaretrade.com/pages/cell-phone-comparison-study-nov-10), and another here (http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/11/pcworld-reliability-survey/).

Lee Bartholomew
5th-January-2011, 02:14 PM
What's he been doing to them??? One five year old ipod and one 18 month old iphone, both working fine.



Just using them alot.

My other brother is on his third iPod in 2 years and Claire is having no end of trouble with her 6 month old iPhone (not ringing, shutting itself off, crashing etc)

Goose
5th-January-2011, 08:42 PM
Just using them alot.

My other brother is on his third iPod in 2 years and Claire is having no end of trouble with her 6 month old iPhone (not ringing, shutting itself off, crashing etc)

Then she should take it back - the great thing about Apple is their customer service. Usually they give you a brand new phone without quibble.

jivecat
5th-January-2011, 09:49 PM
Well - if he will keep buying them from China for $10 apiece, I'm not entirely surprised... ;)

So, are there fake ipods about? How can I avoid buying one on ebay?

Apart from not buying one on ebay, of course. No need to state the totally bleedin' obvious. I am prepared to take a punt with a modest amount of cash.

Lee Bartholomew
6th-January-2011, 10:33 AM
Oh, right. What should i do with all the music i've already bought from itunes, then? What generic MP3 player would you recommend?

Whare you out jogging with it? do you need a screen or to DJ off it etc or are you just after something that plays music now and then?


So, are there fake ipods about? How can I avoid buying one on ebay?



He is refering to these .........
http://www.chinavasion.com/product_info.php/pName/thunder-quadband-dual-sim-wifi-touchscreen-worldphone/

You can tell the difference from the iphone by looking so dont worry too much about fakes.

I have had one of these phones (use an omnia as my main phone atm) and it is an amazing little phone. The interface is not as clean as an iphone (just) but it's performance and features are way above what a iphone 4 has to offer.

Also shows the massive markup Apple make in there products (comapre the prices and tech involved in the 2) what you are paying for is a brand

straycat
6th-January-2011, 10:48 AM
He is refering to these .........

Not really.

Again - I would urge anyone that is considering Apple (or any other brand), and is concerned about reliability, to do their own research to be absolutely sure, and not pay too much attention to hearsay (either positive or negative)

Lee Bartholomew
6th-January-2011, 11:07 AM
I don't doubt that many work for years without problem, others suffer things like bad software (alarms being the latest one), early death of batterys and cracked screen.

And of course, all phones etc have their problems. There is no perfect phone or mp3 player out there and I doubt there ever will be

Many people will buy Apple stuff as long as they sell products without problem. Many would never touch one again.

Agreed though, do your own research in to it (and dont just read the first 2 links in google or watch the very very biased Gadget show :wink: )

marcusj
7th-January-2011, 01:33 PM
Depends what you're after.

I've not an older Nano which I love because of the click wheel and it's size, but for serious listening I have a 32GB Creative Zen X-Fi 2 which sounds amazing with my ultra expensive Sennheiser IE8 earbuds.The Zen is also touch screen but no where as easy to use as a Touch. It can be bought direct for around £140.

I've not tried their players but Cowon are reputed to provide the best sound quality.

whitetiger1518
7th-January-2011, 02:27 PM
Got a Creative Zen 2 years ago. Still working fine. I don't download a lot of music, (too many tracks uploaded from CDs) but got recomended Amazon's downloads as some of the best value for money that work with any make of MP3 player.

Cheers WT

geoff332
7th-January-2011, 03:23 PM
A few random comments...

The purpose really matters. If you are going to use them for anything other than walking around (or sitting down), make sure you get a solid-state drive. These are actually more common these days, so it shouldn't be a big problem (all the iPods, except the classic, are solid-state).

If you don't already have them, buy new headphones. If you want to keep it relatively cheap, I'd get the Sennheiser CX300 for around £20; but you can spend a lot more. This is the biggest upgrade you can make to any portable player.

For sound quality, the iPod and Creative are generally the best rated - some of the Samsung's are up there too; but all of them come with sub-standard headphones (you really need good headphones to notice the difference in the source quality). In terms of usability, the iPod is generally considered the best, but not everyone likes the Apple interface.

For software, I avoid iTunes (the DRM, the fact it doesn't properly support high quality audio like FLAC, and the bloat makes it a no-go for me). I use a pay version of media monkey, which will rip CDs into FLAC and automatically convert all the (non-DRM) formats to appropriate files for use in an MP3 player when synching. There are plenty of options for music library software out there.

Goose
8th-January-2011, 01:26 AM
For software, I avoid iTunes (the DRM, the fact it doesn't properly support high quality audio like FLAC, and the bloat makes it a no-go for me). I use a pay version of media monkey, which will rip CDs into FLAC and automatically convert all the (non-DRM) formats to appropriate files for use in an MP3 player when synching. There are plenty of options for music library software out there.

ITunes no longer does DRM - most tracks are vanilla mp3. Also, you can rip to Apple lossless if you feel you can hear the difference in quality...

geoff332
8th-January-2011, 11:17 AM
ITunes no longer does DRM - most tracks are vanilla mp3.It wasn't when I made that decision.

Also, you can rip to Apple lossless if you feel you can hear the difference in quality...Why would I convert to a far more restricted format that's closed and proprietary? Have a search for non-iPod media players that support ALAC vs FLAC. Support for ALAC depends on Apple licensing the codec - and Apple have a long, proud history of making arbitrary decisions to withdraw support for things. As for hearing the difference, that's one issue (and on decent equipment and tracks with a reasonable dynamic range, it's quite easy to hear what MP3 takes out of music). The other is if I archive a CD, I want to be able to restore the music, bit-perfect.

Oh, and I forgot... ALAC ripping doesn't include error checking. So any source read errors get archived. Using something more robust like EAC means you can ensure you have a bit-perfect rip every time.

Goose
8th-January-2011, 01:21 PM
iTunes does include error checking - just make sure the box is checked:

http://flic.kr/p/98vbj3

I don't really understand the fuss about iTunes - I mean you can use other programs to load music to your ipod, but it's not that bad (at least on a Mac) :wink:

Also, I've always ripped music from CD so avoided DRM entirely. I mean God help you if you ever bought 'Plays for sure' music... If you buy from Amazon mp3 for instance, you can of course import to iTunes.

Oh, and on codecs if you can tell the difference between a CD and an mp3 ripped at 192kbs you must have dog like hearing. :waycool:

geoff332
8th-January-2011, 02:03 PM
Oh, and on codecs if you can tell the difference between a CD and an mp3 ripped at 192kbs you must have dog like hearing. No, just decent hearing, decent equipment, decent recordings and familiarity with what music should sound like. Every component in the system effects the sound quality and if your source is less than ideal, you simply can't do anything about it.

As for the Apple error checking, it's pretty rubbish. It does error correction (which is a different thing; even that, it doesn't do this as well as EAC). Again, I'm looking to properly archive music when I rip it, so making sure it's a perfect rip.

iTunes is really a music library and it ties you into the Mac/iOS eco-system. Outside of that system, it's adequate if you accept the limitations, but that's as far as I'd go with it. I don't accept the limitations.

jivecat
8th-January-2011, 07:05 PM
bloat......codecs......flac......monkey......vanil la.........lossless.......alac.........bit-perfect.........eco-system.

I was keeping up fairly well until about Post #24 but now I'm lost! :tears:

Lee Bartholomew
8th-January-2011, 08:16 PM
not had a go on one of these but they have been getting good reviews in the magazines etc. http://www.philips.co.uk/c/mp3-and-mp4-players/gogear-muse-32-gb-sa2mus32s_02/prd/

jivecat
9th-January-2011, 05:58 PM
Jivecat don't worry too much. If you don't want/need an Apple device you can still get your music out from itunes. You need to have a look in itunes to see what type of file it is. This can be done in itunes by right clicking up in the "headers" bit where Artist, Song Title etc. are. There is an option to have a "Kind" column, this column will give you an idea of which tracks are protected and which aren't as only some older ACC files are protected, one's bought in the last year or two from itunes will not be protected and can be transferred/converted to whatever format your new player will handle.
"AAC Protected" means just that, it will only play on an authorised computer/apple device BUT most older protected tracks can be converted to an unprotected version for ~20p a track direct from itunes.
"AAC Purchased" means that you have bought them and they aren't protected and you can play them wherever you like.

Some MP3 players will also play AAC format, others will require conversion to MP3 from AAC but it's fairly easy to do, even using itunes.


Thanks greatly for these very clear instructions, it appears that I have a mix of both these types of files. It doesn't show how how to convert them into MP3files, though. I suppose it would be easiest to buy a player that will play AAC files, whatever brand that might be. All my stuff off CDs is also stored as AAC files.

Goose
11th-January-2011, 10:07 AM
Thanks greatly for these very clear instructions, it appears that I have a mix of both these types of files. It doesn't show how how to convert them into MP3files, though. I suppose it would be easiest to buy a player that will play AAC files, whatever brand that might be. All my stuff off CDs is also stored as AAC files.

iTunes has the facility to re-encode all your music en-mass to mp3 and vice versa, so you don't worry too much. So long as you don't have and 'protected' or DRM'd music you should be fine. (I'll find the procedure for you, if you get stuck)

I'd go for the player that sounds best to you and has the features you need. Stores like HMV let you listen to them...

Of course you can't beat playing Angry Birds while listening to your favourite tracks. :wink:

Dottie
11th-January-2011, 10:36 AM
Of course you can't beat playing Angry Birds while listening to your favourite tracks. :wink:

:yeah:

Goose
11th-January-2011, 10:56 AM
'Cut the Rope' also rocks - I let one of my dancing girlfriends play it for a bit and she couldn't stop giggling every time she fed the little alien candy. Great fun for 59p!

Tiggerbabe
11th-January-2011, 12:21 PM
'Cut the Rope' also rocks - I let one of my dancing girlfriends play it for a bit and she couldn't stop giggling every time she fed the little alien candy. Great fun for 59p!
Ooh, I played this for the first time on Saturday, I love it :lol:

jivecat
12th-January-2011, 02:16 PM
By happy coincidence I have recently murdered my mobile phone by drowning it in soup.

So, mindful of your recommendations I have made a hasty purchase of a mobile phone which will also play AAC files, I believe. A SAMSUNG GT-S3100, no idea what it will be like, didn't really think about it too deeply; as I already had a Samsung I thought it would be easy to learn how to use it with minimal reading of instructions and all that tedious stuff. I'm sure it will be OK as a phone.

So I will use it to play about with iTunes and AAC files but am quite happy to buy an additional item if it doesn't work out.

Back to the car stereo bit -
Some newer car radios have an AUX 3.5mm jack socket.... Is a 3 year old Fiesta new enough? What do I look for?

frodo
12th-January-2011, 11:45 PM
Back to the car stereo bit - Is a 3 year old Fiesta new enough? What do I look for?
I suspect not if the old shape and not a premium model. Might be worth a look in the glove box though.

Unfortunately it appears the only mp3 player you can get an FM modulator for which automatically retunes itself and displays track information via RDS is the ipod/iphone.

philsmove
13th-January-2011, 07:59 AM
Back to the car stereo bit - Is a 3 year old Fiesta new enough? What do I look for?

this (http://www.incar-emporium.com/index.php?cPath=273_278) looks like it might do the trick
you will need to remove the radio to fit it

Lee Bartholomew
13th-January-2011, 09:50 AM
I suspect not if the old shape and not a premium model. Might be worth a look in the glove box though.

Unfortunately it appears the only mp3 player you can get an FM modulator for which automatically retunes itself and displays track information via RDS is the ipod/iphone.

You can get bluetooth MP3 player that do that. There are alot of FM transmitters out there (from £1 on ebay) that work on all players, but they dont display the track listings etc.

jivecat
2nd-February-2011, 10:28 AM
OK, so I bought a dinky little iPod on ebay which is so small I have to read the screen with a magnifying glass. Why don't they modify them for OAPs?

Next problem is, I can't get it to work. (I'm assuming for the moment the seller was honest when she said it worked for her - she has offered an immediate refund.) I have left it charging overnight and reformatted it to factory settings.

A message came up saying it had to be reformatted to work with Windows, not sure if this actually happened. Any suggestions as to what to try next? The screen has a flashing "no entry" sign and it says "do not disconnect"

t0mt0m
2nd-February-2011, 12:05 PM
Model, brand would help jivecat - these things can be model specific. I've can't remember a working iPod to need formatting to be Windows compatible. (iPod as in from Apple? - some use iPod interchangeably with mp3 player which can be confusing).

jivecat
2nd-February-2011, 12:15 PM
Model, brand would help jivecat - these things can be model specific. I've can't remember a working iPod to need formatting to be Windows compatible. (iPod as in from Apple? - some use iPod interchangeably with mp3 player which can be confusing).

It's an Apple iPod nano 1st Generation.

t0mt0m
2nd-February-2011, 12:44 PM
manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/iPod_nano_Features_Guide.pdf
(p45 onwards - p46 sounds a bit similar to the issue you're having?)

If you don't mind wiping the contents off the nano, and starting fresh, plug it in, see if it shows up when you open iTunes.
If so, you should be able to right click the icon/description for it on the left hand side of itunes, and have an option to restore it.

straycat
2nd-February-2011, 01:51 PM
A message came up saying it had to be reformatted to work with Windows, not sure if this actually happened. Any suggestions as to what to try next? The screen has a flashing "no entry" sign and it says "do not disconnect"

Do you have iTunes installed?

jivecat
2nd-February-2011, 06:06 PM
Do you have iTunes installed?

Yes, and updated.

Lee Bartholomew
2nd-February-2011, 10:20 PM
Yes, and updated.

Throw it and get a real MP3 player. Quicker, Easier and will be less expensive in the long run. :wink:

Is it not something to do with the fact that once you change PC's you can no longer keep the songs on there? I know of people who have brought a new PC then lost £100's worth of songs.

Goose
2nd-February-2011, 11:30 PM
Throw it and get a real MP3 player. Quicker, Easier and will be less expensive in the long run. :wink:

Is it not something to do with the fact that once you change PC's you can no longer keep the songs on there? I know of people who have brought a new PC then lost £100's worth of songs.


*** it is a real MP3 player, in as it plays MP3s! It just needs reformatting for windows.

You can transfer all your music if you change PCs, as it's all authorised from your iTunes ID. All music is non-DRM from last year so this is even less of a problem.

Can you check your facts before spreading crap? Or maybe you'd like to recommend the Zune? :wink:

Lee Bartholomew
2nd-February-2011, 11:49 PM
*** it is a real MP3 player, in as it plays MP3s! It just needs reformatting for windows.

You can transfer all your music if you change PCs, as it's all authorised from your iTunes ID. All music is non-DRM from last year so this is even less of a problem.

Can you check your facts before spreading crap? Or maybe you'd like to recommend the Zune? :wink:


As I said I know a few people who have lost all their music. No I wouldn't recommend a Zune simply because I have not played with one or know enough about them.

I have played with ipods and have fixed enough PC's with problems due to Itunes slowing them down (along with the dreadful Quicktime) to know they are a problem :wink:

jivecat
3rd-February-2011, 08:39 PM
No bickering please!

As you may have gathered all I care about is getting some sort of working option so the situation is as it is. There's no point in debating rival systems cos it ain't gonna happen! I am not about to bin this item on Lee's say-so but I would sincerely like some practical pointers.

Zune???

DRM??

I have managed to loadsome music onto it from my PC (very, very old) but it was incomplete. I can't work out how to send selected tracks only to it. I have to agree with Lee than itunes is a bit rubbish and non-intuitive but ohter people manage to use it and so will I.

t0mt0m
4th-February-2011, 12:12 AM
Click on the iPod in the devices section on left hand side.
Should then have tabs up the top for the central section of iTunes (Summary, Infor, Music etc).
Click on Music. Should then have option to sync music - entire library, or selected playlists, artists, albums and genres.
Or you can go to Summary, and just sync only checked songs and videos (if you've ticked or unticked them that way).
Playlists can be easier - depends what you like doing.

EricD
15th-February-2011, 04:13 PM
Less pocketable, but does anyone have experience of the DJ-Decks style of dual MP3 players ?

KAM KHD2000 (http://cpc.farnell.com/kam/khd2000/mp3-player-dual-usb-19-rack/dp/DP31282)
DJ-Tech U-1 (http://www.djtechpro.com/product_detail.asp?category_id=67&sub_id=115&product_id=377)

I have one of the latter, and am learning to drive it !
2 memory card slots and usb memory
looping
variable speed without changing pitch ...