I've been considering buying an iPod, and I'm wondering if anybody has any comments/suggestions/advice for a potential buyer such as myself.
Notable questions on my mind might be: just how good is linux support for the iPod? I know kernel support exists, and there are applications like gtkpod, but how do these compare to iTunes, for example? Would it be worthwhile keeping a Windows partition aside for dealing with my iPod? 20GB or 60GB? What advantages are there to the newer colour ones? What additional hardware might I consider buying with it? I see all sorts of docks and stereo centres and things (they even sell iPod branded socks!). What's important?
(Yes, I'm aware of cheaper options comparable to the iPod, but I can get a bit of a student discount on the old boy, so price comparisons are moot. I've also heard all about the battery issues. But it's an iPod I want!)
I don't know too much about the ipod, other than you have to buy a bunch of extras to get it to do what some of the other players do default.
I have a neuros DAC (mp3 player) it supports ogg, mp3 and several other formats, it transmits via fm with out any attachments (so I just tune my car stereo to the right freq and I have my mp3s playing in the car) and its opensource.
http://neurosaudio.com
My nephew has the mini iPod and like it... its green.
Sorry stween, iPods lack of OGG support was a showstopper for me.
You might look around and see if you can actually just mount the iPod as a block device on the system, then you should be able to use it like an external HDD. That what I do with my iRiver. Then you don't have to worry about the quality of the tools others have built to interface with it.
Yea, I don't think you can do that with the ipod.Originally Posted by jro
http://maxiez.com/?p=comments/view.pl&id=202
A friend of mine hacked his shuffle.
That would technically only be the case if I were to handcraft my own set of `ls', `cp', `mv', and `rm' tools
I've had the original 5GB model, and now I have the 'click wheel' 40GB model (before they stopped making it
I use mine for audiobooks and just about all my music. Being able to navigate through all that in a matter of seconds is one of the reasons I love this machine. A color screen? I'd say it would just be nicer to look at than the monochrome; though the latter is quite crisp and clear (with, or without the backlight). I'm one of those music player for music, cell phone for phone, PDA for PIM functions type of people, so I can't speak to any other iPod functions (I just don't use them).
Accessories: From what I've been reading over the years... Most folks replace the headphones almost at once. I found the sound quality of the stock headphones to be pretty good, but they're just too painful in my ears for prolonged periods (which seems to be the general agreement of many others as well). After that; it just depends on how you like to listen to your music. If you already have a nice set of speakers, the iPod comes with a jack on the side of the cradle (stereo pin) so you can plug it right in. I use a cassette adaptor for car listening (though my truck stereo had a RCA AUX input jack, which is much nicer).
I have both a PC laptop and an iMac. I haven't used the iPod with Linux at all (tried it a couple of times, but it didn't work)... And if you try to use it between two or more computers, it will wipe its current contents and load whatever music you've got on the second box (gotta love that DRM shit) . I just use the Mac for all iPod transfers, and occasionally burn songs from the PC (also iTunes) to CD. It's cludgy, but it works for me 'cause I don't really swap a lot of music around often.
As usual... I recommend going to specialists sites to gain more info on the thing:
* http://www.ipodlounge.com/
* http://playlistmag.com/
Like PDA's and cell phones, music player usage is a very subjective thing. Your mileage may vary... I enjoy the hell outta mine :mrgreen: !
Steve
I have a shuffle and I still use windows to add songs to it.
I trying gtkpod but it doesn't work right.
I think all models they ship now are colour ones with extra stuff that I likely won't use either. The PDA type functionality or games on the thing will largely be left unused by myself; like you, I'll be using it only for music playback.
Yes, I'd probably be changing the earphones immediately (I like my good quality Sony earphones, not so keen on the stark white "LookAtMeIHaveAnIPod" earphones.Accessories: From what I've been reading over the years... Most folks replace the headphones almost at once. I found the sound quality of the stock headphones to be pretty good, but they're just too painful in my ears for prolonged periods (which seems to be the general agreement of many others as well).
Yeah, I'd likely shift a lot of my music to the iPod, and plug it into speakers at home, or earphones when out. My worry here is the issue of battery life; the easiest would obviously be to keep it plugged in when at home, but this doesn't allow for the full discharge/recharge cycle I believe is better for any rechargable battery. I suppose that minor issue might just be a niggle I'll have to teach myself to live with (ie: not plugging the thing into the mains immediately when I get home).After that; it just depends on how you like to listen to your music. If you already have a nice set of speakers, the iPod comes with a jack on the side of the cradle (stereo pin) so you can plug it right in. I use a cassette adaptor for car listening (though my truck stereo had a RCA AUX input jack, which is much nicer).
Another niggle I just heard about is that transitions between tracks aren't entirely smooth; there's a gap between two tracks. Another minor niggle, but I do like to listen to albums as often as I like to randomise my playlist.
I suspect if I set up my music collection to be accessable via a samba share, I can get at it all through Windows, and use iTunes from there.
Cheers for the links, I'll have a dig around. I've seen lots of iPods, and I've not seen anything to put me off yet.
Stween, I have seen a lot on Engadget and Gizmodo about wireless headphones. There is an adapter for the Ipod that will do this? Well
let us know the final config of your mobil music machine.
Call me lucky, but I haven't had any problems at all with battery life (on either iPod I've owned). I only need to plug mine in every couple of days (this with constant use at work). One annoying thing I've found is that; if I don't plug it in for more than a couple of days, like from a long weekend, it resets itself
Steve
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