I see now why Itunes is so popular!

[UncleAge]

Gotta say that I have stayed away from the Apple camp for most of my computing history. I'm not anti-Apple I just didn't think I needed what they offered. However, last week I took a little gig driving NFL players around for the Superbowl and one of them (a real nice guy and a class-act) gave me an Ipod-touch 8gb as a gift. It was a promo deal from somebody I guess and he told me to hang onto it along with a few other things. I thought long and hard about installing itunes on my pc. You have to do it to use the unit though as it comes with no software I guess.

Long story, short, I installed it but haven't downloaded anything from the itunes store but I think the little unit is outstanding. Really a nice job on this from Apple. I loaded a bunch of my own tunes onto it as well as a movie and some photographs. Hooked it up to my email account as well. Killer part is that it was ridiculously simple to setup. Kudos to Apple for getting that part right.

Hey, Ive always been one of those people that believed that Apple sprinkled crack or something else on all of their products and that's why a lot of people sang their praises. After getting this nice gift I suspect I was right all along because I can't put it down

[debra1rlo]

Wow! All this Apple love at KVR! Oh yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111111!!!!!!!


I think I need a cigarette!

[djsubject]

My question is this: instead of iTunes charging me $10 an album or Amazon doing the same, why not offer the album at $15+shipping, give me the MP3s immediately, and mail me a disc? I would go for that every time.

cause then you won't have to buy the mp3s again if you lose them!

[AllenPOPO]

f**k iTUnes. someone had to say it. i have a macbook and i HATE HATE HATE itunes. wish i could use foobar2000 or amaroK, but there is mp3 playback monopoly on mac. why is it if i dont sign up for itunes credit card and all i cant get album art in itunes? thats bull-shit since every other mp3 playback software isnt that stalin-ish.


you can burn an audio cd, but you better not burn a data disc



also, ipods like the 60 gig and 80 gig really shine..not when in use with itunes but when you switch out the firmware for ROCKBOX, which amongst many things can change the theme, play flac and ogg and other "free" formats, and doesnt need a specific app to add/remove music. it becomes drag n drop.


edit: sorry, i know most people who love this itunes store arent technically inclined so they dont know better and/or are old farts, but someone in their mid 20's had to speak up....we dont like that shit


edit 2: ...but here are a lot of ppl my age who blindly follow mac and love the itunes store too.



im sad

[DuX]

Nice info AllenPOPO.

I always thought iPods can only be used with itunes, and that they can't play FLAC or any other files but MP3 and WMA.

Rockbox, eh? Cool.

Off to find somebody who will give me one iPod as a gift, as this seems to be the current trend .

Cheers!

[Beardedone]

I went over to iTunes after getting lulled into buying 160 G iPod Classic. iTunes hasn't done any damage to my computer (yet) and it has made mangaement of my large CD collection quite a treat. The iPod itself is brilliant I must say. So far it has surpassed my earlier horrible experiences with Macs. Not enough to make me switch, though.

[AllenPOPO]

yeah, im thinking of getting the 80 gig'er and rockboxing it...you can play video files and the whole nine with rockbox of the later generations (not touch yet)


i have an old "iRiver" mp3 player model the (h10) it was designed to compete with the old ipod minis. but it has built in mic and fm tuner with 5 gig capacity. "ROCKBOXED". its practically my own little digitial recorder because with its regular firmware it only recorded 128 kb/sec mp3s; with rockbox it records any bitrate mp3 i like, flac, ogg and even wav. pretty sweet so im gonna turn that into a field recorder, and perhaps get an 80 gig ipod when they cheapen out....



edit: also i'd like to say i think the ipod is a well made device, most of my beef here is with itunes being an mp3 playback monopoly and the itunes store being tied in so closely....so closely, that since i choose not be an itunes store member my functionality suffers.

[blatanville]

edit: also i'd like to say i think the ipod is a well made device, most of my beef here is with itunes being an mp3 playback monopoly and the itunes store being tied in so closely....so closely, that since i choose not be an itunes store member my functionality suffers.

How is the iPod a monopoly? How is iTunes a monopoly? How is the iTunes Music Store a monopoly?

If they've monopolized the attention of the wider public, perhaps they're doing something right?

(I didn't account for the lack of technical savvy among the wider user base out there until my company had a CD music exchange last year. Many of my fellow co-workers discovered the hard way that iTunes (the software) will only let you burn 7 copies of a playlist before it (paternalistically) decides that you're making too many copies and cuts you off. My co-workers were stumped: How do I make more copies? they wondered. I was stunned: had they never heard of EZ CD Creator? or Toast? or any of several dozen other CD copier programs? No, for them iTunes was how you put music on a CD, and the only way, at that...It was bizarre!)

an alternative firmware for the iPod is appealing, however, and I'll certainly look into that!

[WilliamK]

I don't own an iPod, but I still use iTunes for all my music needs.

Wk

[UncleAge]

edit: sorry, i know most people who love this itunes store arent technically inclined so they dont know better and/or are old farts, but someone in their mid 20's had to speak up....we dont like that shit


edit 2: ...but here are a lot of ppl my age who blindly follow mac and love the itunes store too.



im sad

Well, I don't know about all that old fart stuff (as I think I fall into your demographic of old) but I do appreciate the info. I'm not waving an itunes flag here. However, I do like the little ipod-touch and your rant provided some useful info. I look forward to hacking this thing so I can do whatever I want with it.

Thanks

[CypherOne]

I'm a big fan of itunes, it's saved me a fortune - allowing me to preview lots of stuff that I would have bought on CD only to discover it's shit...

[Lagrange]

I guess what I meant was its like f**king Disney Land for media players.. You kinda hate the premise of it but when your there and you hear that happy happy music you start skipping around like a daft tit!
..

L

[farlukar]

wish i could use (...) amaroK, but there is mp3 playback monopoly on mac.

patience...

[phraggle]

I only have a little iPod Shuffle (2nd gen), but it's enough for my needs. I don't use iTunes - hate it - but I did buy a little utility for it called Anapod Explorer that basically allows you to drag and drop files onto (and off of) your iPod with no limitations on file formats or anything. Way better than iTunes (shudder).

http://www.redchairsoftware.com/anapod/

[lotus2035]

...are old farts, but someone in their mid 20's had to speak up....we dont like that shit

Hey I'm 35, does that mean I'm an old fart??
If so youll be an "old fart" pretty soon yourself and will stay that way for the rest of your life...
Enjoy your remaining 5-10 years of "youth"..