Posted on 12/11/2014 7:31:40 AM PST by C19fan
Recently I had a fairly pedestrian thought, a thought I've been having on and off for 10 years: "I want to put some music onto my portable music listening device." This used to be a relative cinch: I'd put the music on iTunes, plug in my iPod, and drag the songs over. Now, anytime I dare hook my iPhone up to a computer, there's software that needs updating, apps and photos I need to clear away for extra room, and esoteric rules regarding what is allowed to "sync." After finally getting an album onto my phone, another software update a week later reverted my music library to its previous state, putting me back at square one and making me long for my iPod, the last device I owned that was just for music.
Apple discontinued the "iPod Classic" (the click-wheeled hard drive that changed the way much of the world listened to music) two months ago. Last weekend, The Guardian found absence was making hearts grow fonder. "With a storage capacity double the size of any current iPods still being made, versions of the 160GB Classic—which can hold around 40,000 songs—are being sold as new via Amazon for up to £670," or more than $1,000, Paul Gallagher wrote.
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
There are plenty of generic MP3 players that are not I-Things.
They work just like a thumb drive that plays music. Browse and drag and drop the MP3 files you want and enjoy.
I never bought a thing,, just the syncing and transferring of music made it painful,,, but then again, I don’t have the patience I used to..
I don’t own an “I” anything. I still listen to CD’s and my radio.
I don’t have any of those gadgets either. Never got into all this high tech gizmo craze.
I still have a record player and listen to old records sometimes. And I have a CD player and CDs.
I’ve been listening more to satellite radio for music too. It’s commercial free and has more variety than “terrestrial” radio stations nowadays. Terrestrial radio seems to have more commercials than they used to. And, the playlists of many stations, at least in my area, are very limited. I’ve found that satellite radio has great variety for oldies.
I have tons of CDs. I import them into iTunes if I want to play them on a portable device. I seldom download digital music. I prefer the quality of CD and SACD. Most of my music listening is in the family room with my stereo/surround system. However, I like using iPods for travel.
Google, so you like them anally probing everything you do for data?
Solution to the author’s problem.
DON’T USE AN IPOD.
Guess what, sparky? Apple Computer, Inc. isn’t the only outfit making portable, battery powered mp3 music players.
I've never liked the way iTunes imports music. I listen 99.9% of the time to classical. iTunes thinks every movement of a symphony is a "song". I guess a lot of people these days don't care what order their "songs" are in and play them on shuffle anyway. I usually create a new playlist (which is essentially a folder) while I am importing the music. That way, I can see where iTunes is putting the music tracks (iTunes may file it under composer, orchestra or conductor, or name of work) and can move them to the playlist before I lose track of them.
Rule #1 for an MP3 player for me is that it MUST be able to be accessed as just storage. Windows Explorer is as much file management as I need or want.
Google, so you like them anally probing everything you do for data?
++++
They have nothing to learn so I don’t worry about it. But in fact I doubt seriously if they bother.
Itunes, Ipods, Iphones are a joke.
“Neil Young says the audio quality is abysmal.”
Well, if you are planning to listen to Neil Young, does the sound quality even matter?
It’s true, but only if you know what you’re listening for.
Most people don’t know what “good” audio quality is, can’t discern good vs bad vs abysmal.
Most likely you won’t notice. If you would, you’d already be aware of it.
Thank you very much for your post. I owe you a debt of gratitude. I planned to buy an ipod classic for a gift for someone and had no clue they were discontinued. Just bought one off Amazon while they are still available and the person I’m giving it to will be thrilled. Stupid decision by Apple to discontinue the user-friendly model from their lineup.
Thanks again for the heads up or I might have ordered too late.
“I just wanted to cut and paste the files onto and off the iPod. I still have no clue how to use the supposedly default folders and snyc function. I do not understand why Apple makes what should be a simple process so convulted.”
The quantity of files involved, and the technical process of juggling them, has grown to the point where most users shouldn’t be allowed to have file-level access thereto. Apple is actively trying to prevent such access, lest the user _easily_ screw something up and blame Apple for it.
It’s kinda like someone lamenting the inability to start a car with a crank. The technology has advanced to the point you don’t want people doing that.
#5 I use my 8-track tapes. Best format ever.
Just remember that ordering is not the same as receiving. Let’s hope Amazon takes care of that part.
Well, that’s the good thing about having 160 gigs. I rip my CDs in a lossless format —which takes up a lot of space — and they sound excellent on my iPod.
Lower bitrates, not so much.
Yep. What's more, every time I have ripped any version of Beethoven's Ninth into iTunes, it splits the 4th Movement into two parts. I actually used a third party program to fuse the final movement into one piece because that half second gap was so maddening.
“if you are planning to listen to Neil Young, does the sound quality even matter?”
Never listen to him, not a fan. A friend dropped of Neil’s book, and I read it. He complains a lot about sound quality.
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