When iPod is the DJ, watch out

C/NET News ^ | 8/26/04 | Rachel Dodes

[SamAdams76]

I am about to get an iPOD (or a Microsoft equivalent).

I have, according to my Excel spreadsheet, 14,432 songs in my CD music library. I've burned about 3,000 of them to my computer already. It is my fantasy to have my entire CD collection in my shirt pocket.

Now hitting shuffle on that collection would be interesting. Imagine Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir" followed up by America's "Sister Golden Hair." Then "Floy Joy" by the Supremes (sans Diana Ross) followed up by Deep Purple's "Smoke On The Water." Then something by Lobo.

Welcome to my musical world.

[watchout]

I love my iPod

[My2Cents]

Guess I should purge my "Carpenters" songs before I get embarrassed.

[Hermann the Cherusker]

Revere Greist, a doctoral student and amateur bicycle racer in Los Angeles, has concluded that his iPod's Shuffle command favors the rapper 50 Cent--and perhaps more important, that it knows exactly the right time to play 50 Cent's biggest hit, "In Da Club." He finds the dramatic beat, coupled with the lyrics "Go Shorty, it's your birthday," inspirational.

Hey! I went to High School with this guy!

[flashbunny]

for pete's sake, there's a writer so desperate for material that they're writting about the shuffle feature on an ipod?

[supercat]

Isn't there a function to shuffle only within a list supplied in a .m3u (or Mac equivalent) file?

[Pukin Dog]

Oh, that is nothing. You should see old Pukin in the wee hours still boppin to Rock Lobster and Planet Claire.

[FightinFederalist]

I'm waiting until you can "blend" songs on the iPod before using it "live". I love it as a personal device, but the gap between songs is less than optimal in a DJ situation.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Don't make the mistake of getting an "equivalent" -- they are all very inferior.

The article missed the greatest advantage of iTunes, the Smart Playlist. I rate all my music with 1 to 5 stars. Then I set up a Smart Playlist to play only songs with, say 4 - 5 stars, produced, say 1995 - 2000, and that I've only listened to, say, once before. This is where the real power is.

I bought a Slim Devices Squeezebox to play my music over my home stereo (through the home network). Many years ago, I used to make custom playlists on my reel-to-reel tape deck. Of course, you couldn't shuffle the songs and it took forever to make the tapes. iTunes and Squeezebox are an absolute dream!

[FightinFederalist]

Yes, "on the go" playlist.

[SaveTheChief]

The iPod is a wonderful thing. It sounds great, especially if you use a good set of headphones.

[Petronski]

I've burned about 3,000 of them to my computer already.

I think you mean 'ripped' not 'burned.'

[armyboy]

interesting mix.
hitting shuffle on my computer could sound like this:
Ray Charles's "Mess Around", then Emenem's "Cleaning Out My Closet" followed by Sonicflood's "Lord, I lift your name on high", then Beethoven'd "5'th symphony might play.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Forgot to mention that the Wall Street Journal had an article this week saying that kids in college dorms are all turning on "Share My Music" on iTunes. Everybody in the entire dorm can reach out and play music from anybody's computer! You often have your choice of music from 40 or more computers. And the recording industry isn't upset about this because it's sharing within a building with your "extended family". Is that cool?

[Question_Assumptions]

That's why I've got a few broad genre playlists (e.g., a generic "pop" playlist with 200 songs). You can also use an iPod to generate automatic playlists by music genre so you would at least only be shuffling the tracks in a particular genre so a Rock song won't be followed by a a soundtrack track.

[SamAdams76]

My only reservation about getting an iPod is that I will be limited to buying songs only on iTunes. I don't like that restriction. Other than that, I must say that iTunes has the others beat.

[Terpfen]

"I am about to get an iPOD (or a Microsoft equivalent)."

Microsoft's in many industries, but they aren't in the portable mp3 player business. Apple's competition in this area comes from Creative and iRiver. IMO, the Creative Zen is a better purchase. If you compare an iPod to a similarly-featured Zen, the Zen winds up costing less, and usually does more. The only problem is that the software sucks, but there's a program called Notmad which solves this.

[SamAdams76]

I have three B-52 albums to put on my iPod. "Rock Lobster" sounds dated but "Dance This Mess Around" and "Planet Claire" still sound fresh.

[lawgirl]

I love my IPod, but had to take my 350 Cary Grant film clips off of it for this exact reason. Great music and then a quick 10 second clip of Cary talking LOL!

[FightinFederalist]

You can also buy songs on real.com. They cracked the AAC format developed by Apple. Anyways, you can get so much on iTunes anyway...