Posted on 12/19/2004 11:51:15 AM PST by SamAdams76
I just de-liced my daughter's XP-based PC. The worst offender of all the mal-ware was a P2P file sharing program. It was hogging most of the machine's bandwidth.
Better wait til they have millions of spanking songs to download. If RIAA stopped its stupid lawsuits and saw the cash cow its sitting on, it would tell Apple to please hurry up and c'mon. They're never going to legally put the P2P networks out of business through legal bullying and extortion.
Ipods are also great for listening to recorded books. I listen to them when I'm in the car, working out, working in the house, etc. That things going all the time.
BTW, Sam...
Don't you think Handel's Messiah beats the Brady Bunch and the Chipmonk Christmas CD's?
The free programs are all malware ridden. As the old saying has it, nothing is truly free. The funny thing is, the paid versions of the same programs seem to actually give you what you paid for. Caveat emptor!
I bought a collection of short stories by Ray Bradbury from iTunes. Haven't listened to it yet, but am looking forward to it.
I actually don't mind paying for music if I get the quality I want, and don't download malware with it. I've been pretty happy with iTunes, and am ripping my favorite CD's and addint them to my iPod.
You can get a 4GB (soon to be 5, maybe 6 GB) iPod mini for $250. Rumors say a sub $200 flash player is coming soon.
I think Apple won't ever break the $150 barrier with anything they sell. They do a good job of staying out of low profit margin commodities. (Airport Express - a wireless basestation that hooks into your stereo, may be the sole exception, at $129.)
Thank you - that answered one of my questions about the technology. I don't have an Apple computer and don't plan on getting one any time soon, but was going to look into this Ipod thing.
I must say that the docking station attached to my home stereo is awesome. Definitely CD quality and I can blast it throughout the whole downstairs with no distortion. I rip at 128 AAC and 160 MP3.
The portable speakers at work to have distortion at high volume but in the workplace, I always have the volume low so the problem never materializes.
The FM transmitter is marginal. Lots of static and interference. I find that 87.9MHz is the best frequency to use but when I get close to a major city, there is usually a college station at that frequency and I have to switch to something else. I have a Sirius receiver in my car and only use the iPod occasionally for that purpose. But it's only about $20 to get an iTrip (FM transmitter) so for that price, I can't complain too much. There may be more expensive devices on the market that perform better.
Yes, they are pricey. I paid $399 for my 40GB model. But I listen to music so much that it is worth it over time now that I don't have to contantly get up to "swap out" CDs and lug them all over the place. It's worth it just to have your entire music library at your fingertips at all times.
You don't have to connect your iPod to a CD player to rip a song. You just download iTunes (for free) and rip your CD's on your computer. Next time you connect your iPod, all the songs you ripped will automatically get to your iPod (in a matter of a few minutes at most).
Your 200gig desktop will hold enough music for a lifetime. My entire collection of 7200 songs only occupies some 25.3 gigs. My advice is to start ripping your CDs now as it is quite time consuming. I spent most of the past year ripping my CDs in preparation for the iPod.
I reckon that the 40gig model will be down to $299 by April. By then, the 60gig model (with photos) should be $399 with an 80gig model probably getting released around that time at the $499 pricepoint. That seems to be the modus operandi anyhow. You might be able to get the 20gig model for under $200 at that time.
Battery life hasn't been a problem at all. I get about 10 hours off a single charge. I put it on the dock at night so that each morning, it is fully charged for the day.
How sad that public schools "don't do Christmas" anymore. We used to setup a tree in class and everything. We had lots of Jewish kids and they didn't seem to mind at all. After all, we included Chanukah as well. People weren't so uptight back then.
Advice noted and to be taken...
Supposedly a lot of people have had problems with the batteries and there is no easy way to replace them (they are I guess propritary).
I have a lot of CD's so I'll get the iTune app and start ripping them...
20 gig notebook hard drives ae getting real cheap.
I am very happy with the songs I purchased off iTunes. They sound phenomenal. And the licensing restrictions aren't as restrictive as the critics make them out to be. First thing I do is back them up to CD just in case my hard drive crashes. Though even in that situation, there are ways to recover the songs from your iPod by downloading some "unauthorized" software that Apple winks at.
I am 100% Windows with my computers and I haven't had so much of a hiccup with my iPod and iTunes.
Tell me about it. I paid $100 for a 20 GB HD for my IBM 600E laptop. I had to reinstall Windows XP Pro and everything but I've got plenty of room. My old 5.6 GB HD seemed pitiful by comparison.
I dropped my iPod on my driveway one morning (totally my fault) and the thing stopped working. After panicking, I took a deep breath and went to the Web for some advice. I found out that if I plugged my iPod into my dock, it would work, so that the problem was that my battery became dislodged (because of the fall). So I pried open the case with a small screwdriver and reseated the battery and all was good again. So when I do have to replace the battery, I know that it is no big deal - I can do it myself.
On the Web, battery replacement kits are being sold from many sources. Most kits even include the screwdriver. So don't let that deter you. Replacing the battery is a piece of cake.
OK, well that's that then.
My thing is that I know I won't be able to figure it out until I actually buy one.
And at almost 400 a pop, that will have to be some time in the not so near future.
At least I can get started for free right now...
With iTunes and CD's.
"Before getting the iPod, I checked out the other MP3 devices. They aren't even in the same ballpark.
I think that depends on what you are looking for. I don't think IPods will work for me until they can offer a better alternative to a 8-hr lithium battery. Who wants to baby sit their power supply all of the time. If your in your car or at an office all the time, that may be fine but I prefer something that only needs an occasional battery change. Seriously, I'd love a 20-40Gb digital player for all of my music, but not at the cost of constantly monitoring the power supply.
Also, I will never pay to download music where I have to give up my privacy to do so (like at WWW.music.msn.com). In terms of a basic credit card transaction, I'm o.k. with that. But I don't want to be forced to download software so some entity can have access to my computer to approve and monitor my usage . I will pay for downloads when like a CD I can purchase the music and then have the freedom to do what I want with it. I don't want to infringe upon anybody's copyright, but I do want privacy and fair use.
I'm not an expert here so if anybody knows differently please let me know.
And the cool settings to use are 128 AAC and 160 MP3.
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