Got a couple of weeks to sit on my butt while recovering and considering getting an Ipod to join the 21st Century.

Looking at the 32GB Ipod touch.

32GB – how many tunes does that hold?

I’ve heard of people having HDD problems and losing everything – is there a way to avoid this?

Are they really worth it? I love my wife’s Iphone but she only lets me occasionally use it but she doesn’t know how to use it and I really want to add loads of stuff to it but she won’t let me.

Anyone use one? if so, would you say they live up to the hype? what’s so good about them? sell it to me!

anyone who hasnt already got an ipod has lived in a cave for the last 15 years, of course they are worth it

Just for god sake buy some decent headphones not the crap u get with them (shure are good)

32gb would be like 4000 songs realistically, or if you remove all apps, all your songs are like exactly 3 minutes and not super high quality, as many as 6000-7000.

They are very good. Only go for the touch if you want to use it to surf the web using wifi and for the apps, otherwise just a nano should be fine.

Based on a quick check at some of my songs – they seem to average about 6Mb, so allowing for artwork etc around 5000 songs on 32Gb.

They’re ok, if you’re going to spend that much money I’d either get an iPhone or any other smart phone (personally I like Android, ymmv) – then you get the games and a new phone, too.

Edit: if you’re going to spend that much money I’d spend a bit more and either …

I bought a Classic about 2 and a half years ago and I have it connected into my car stereo and I can use the stereo controls to access the Ipod itself, which sits in the boot of the car, and it’s great.

The best thing for me is that it I have started to listen to my old CDs again as it is so easy to access them now.

mine is fecked……….but i am glad.
i had started wearing it for riding, which is a very silly and dangerous thing to do.

Yeah – I’ve been in a cave – still working off vinyl and C90s!

Got a work black berry so don’t need the phone. Plus I want it to be separate anyway. Will use it to surf internet at home and at wifi hotspots.

C90

C30, C60, C90 GO!

Any downsides to using iTunes / Ipods?? (Can you tell I really am new to this?)

I downloaded an album yesterday off Amazon for £4.99 – the same album is £6.99 on iTunes – don’t know if this is a common theme though.

You don’t have to use iTunes to put music on an iPod though.

You don’t have to use the iTunes store to put music in iTunes either

I thought you had to use iTunes to transfer tunes to the device.

Any downsides to using iTunes / Ipods?? (Can you tell I really am new to this?)

Yes, you suddenly realise you did buy that Roxette CD all those years ago when you go through the album collection ripping them to computer.

Only downside I can think of is that copying music from vinyl and tape is going to take a frightening long time.

HDD problems? Well, there is a risk all those expensive tunes you’ve downloaded from iTunes would be lost, though I’m not sure if you can actually redownload them again.

if you’re just after ripping all your old CDs onto iPod via the PC then you’ll still have the originals so less of an issue.

Yeah, vinyl is going to be a killer! but saying that a lot of the tunes I own are on the internet already, its just the white labels and dub plates etc that I’ll have to spend some time on.

No way of backing them up somehow?

Here’s what I did – ripped all my CDs to MP3, then used Floola to transfer them to my iPod. No iTunes library to worry about, just back up your MP3 files to an external drive and Bob’s your Uncle.

No HD in an Touch if that’s what you meant BTW, it’s flash

Sure, you can copy the tunes across to whatever backup device you want. It’s not a royal pain to drop them back onto the computer and reindex.

That’s ripped CDs mind, never purchased off iTunes – always prefer to buy the CD and rip it myself, same price really, and I get a CD and better quality if I want than downloads.

Go for it. A little dock into the home music system is useful too.

Real advantage of Apple stuff is that everyone makes a wide range of docks etc.

I was never interested in Apple products but I work away and was getting really bored. I got the new 32GB ipod touch and it’s one of the best things I have ever bought! It is simply fantastic!

I’ve got thousands of songs on it, the menu system is excellent. Sounds much better than I thought it would too.

Apps are great fun, I’ve downloaded loads. I’ve downloaded a few albums. If you were to lose everything then you just download again for nowt. I had an issue because I first loaded it with my home PC then used my laptop and it wiped it. Or rather I couldn’t access everything I had loaded on at home. When I got home I plugged it in and it sorted itself out in no time.

The screen is brilliant too. I get around 6-7 hours battery life if using the screen all the time (Angry Birds, iMobsters etc) and I think it’s something like 30 hours if listening to music.

All in all, I think it’s great. Very glad I got it.

Only thing is that as I travel abroad for work I wish I had remembered to buy it in duty free as I would have saved a few quid…

Re. backup, if your tunes are on the PC and iPOD surely that’s by definition a backup? In any case I have a cheap external hard drive that I use to back-up my PC, if you have something like that just make a copy of your itunes library and you’re good to go. Would be lost without mine – have it in the car so I have all my music with me at all times, plus when you travel it’s great not to have to select just a few CDs to take…

If you have a Blackberry put some songs on that and see how you like it ?

Can’t get on with the blackberry interface 🙁 Plus i hate the phone interupting my music

If I transfer the MP3s do I get the funky cataloguing or not?

Timeous thread! Nice.

An acquaintance told me that I can use an iPod on my PC with MediaMonkey, and fill it through that. I’d still need to download iTunes, but I’m not obliged to ‘use’ it. Great news.
Got my eye (and ear, I suppose) on a black iPod Classic – preferred for the large storage capacity. Could be the weekend’s big spend!

Mike – I’m not sure about Mediamonkey, I’d check that if i were you. Pretty sure I tried and it’s not possible or at the very least difficult. Floola is easy to use:

http://www.floola.com/home/

Cheers Mastiles! A whole lot better than the crubbish Kerrang are playing tonight. Think I’ll spend the evening on youtube.

iTunes works fine, see no reason to phaff around with other apps when iTunes does exactly what I want it to do. If you buy any tunes via the Touch, when you sync it those purchased tracks are installed in your iTunes library. Anything you rip from cd or whatever is automatically a backup, although it never hurts to have a separate backup on another HDD. Get a pair of quality ‘phones like Denon AH-C260R’s:
http://www.iheadphones.co.uk/denon-headphones.html?gclid=CIX_-ofd3aYCFQZO4Qodhj2i0w
as they have a remote that’ll work with the Touch, and a microphone that you can make Skype calls with, and use Shazam, which is a wonderful thing. Rip CDs to 320Kb, and make sure you set iTunes to ‘manually sync music and video’, then all you need to do is just drag’n’drop new additions into the ‘pod. AAC, MP3, WAV and Lossless will all play, and there’s an app that’ll allow you to play FLAC files as well. Enjoy! ?

Wouldn’t be without my iPod. One of my most treasured possesions.

Heard the sound quality ain’t up to much – is this true?

Is there a good alternative?

There is a setting on itunes that allows you to record a CD in high quality (obviously you can therefore fit in fewer tunes). I am no teccie, and it was my mate who told me so don’t remember what the setting is. I never did this the first time around but wish I had as although this is modern technology, ipods have set sound quality back by maybe 30 years!

And yeah, get some decent headphones.

Oh, and I have one of these which is still going strong after lots of travels:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/XMI-X-mini-II-Mini-Speaker/dp/B001UEBN42/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1296259382&sr=8-1

Amazingly good sound for the cost of £13.

Got some nice sennheisers ready for it 🙂 Bit of a Sennheiser fan since my DJing days

Sound quality is good, but the standard headphones aren’t fantastic. Depends what you’re used to though, if you’re used to brilliance, be worth getting a new set of headphones.

I have an IPhone at the minute and have had the 32gb touch. IMO I think the sound quality is nowhere near as good compared to Cowon & Samsung players but that depends on how much of an audiophile you are!

The major bugbear of IPods is the lack of customisable EQ.

Also here’s a one for you regarding headphones, Soundmagic.

They are an OEM manufacturer that have received praise with their pl-30 & pl-50 in ear ‘phones.
Very affordable!

So there’s no App which is an EQ?

Any ideas where is the best place to buy one?

I much prefer my Sony MP3 player to my IPOD. sounds better, simpler interface for transferring songs over, via windows media player, just drag and drop. They have a reputation for sounding better. Ipods are lovely tactile things though.

Don’t underestimate how crap ipod headphones are. Budget at least £50 on some decent ones.

Sennheiser PX100’s or Shure in ear things. Currently I’m using Sennheiser HD238’s and they sound AMAZING.

Yeah, I’ve got the Sen CX300’s and love them.