New iPod

[superfletch]

Hi all,

 

This is a bit of a simplistic question, but I'd like peoples views and perhaps some "top tips" here.

 

I'm getting my wife an iPod touch for her birthday in a couple of weeks, I've never used an iPod before myself, although I've had loads of MP3 players and I'm more than happy with looking after a large collection of Music through Windows Media player. Since I've never used an iPod as such my questions are as follows:

 

1. When moving music on and off the device do you have to install and use iTunes to manage this?
    
   
2. Since we have a lot of music on MP3 stored on the home PC (WinXP) she will want to be able to stick a lot of that on the iPod from day 1. Will it be easy / possible to import existing MP3's into iTunes (or point iTunes at it) and just get started fairly quickly?
    
   
3. Is iTunes freely (and legally) downloadable on the web that I could install it now and get the music imported prior to even getting the iPod - or do I have to wait until we have the iPod and install iTunes from a DVD?
    
   
4. Using the AppStore - there are paid for and free apps. Are the free ones any good and roughly how much does a half decent paid for app retail at?
    
   
5. What video file formats does an iPod touch support?
    
   
6. What top tips do people have for managing their iPod touch devices?
   

 

She is so exited about getting it I just don't want to be saying things like "it'll take a little while to sort that out", or "no you can't do that" etc etc.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Mcshammer_dj]

When moving music on and off the device do you have to install and use iTunes to manage this?

 

Since we have a lot of music on MP3 stored on the home PC (WinXP) she will want to be able to stick a lot of that on the iPod from day 1. Will it be easy / possible to import existing MP3's into iTunes (or point iTunes at it) and just get started fairly quickly?

 

Yes Itunes will convert MP3's and then copy them straight to the iod

 

Is iTunes freely (and legally) downloadable on the web that I could install it now and get the music imported prior to even getting the iPod - or do I have to wait until we have the iPod and install iTunes from a DVD?

 

Yes it is free and you can get the system installed and running and convert the MP3's without the need to have the ipod connected

 

Using the AppStore - there are paid for and free apps. Are the free ones any good and roughly how much does a half decent paid for app retail at?

 

What video file formats does an iPod touch support?

 

What top tips do people have for managing their iPod touch devices?

 

get a good case for it,

[elsiegee40]

Hi all,

 

This is a bit of a simplistic question, but I'd like peoples views and perhaps some "top tips" here.

 

I'm getting my wife an iPod touch for her birthday in a couple of weeks, I've never used an iPod before myself, although I've had loads of MP3 players and I'm more than happy with looking after a large collection of Music through Windows Media player. Since I've never used an iPod as such my questions are as follows:

 

1. When moving music on and off the device do you have to install and use iTunes to manage this?Yes
    
   
2. Since we have a lot of music on MP3 stored on the home PC (WinXP) she will want to be able to stick a lot of that on the iPod from day 1. Will it be easy / possible to import existing MP3's into iTunes (or point iTunes at it) and just get started fairly quickly?Yes
    
   
3. Is iTunes freely (and legally) downloadable on the web that I could install it now and get the music imported prior to even getting the iPod - or do I have to wait until we have the iPod and install iTunes from a DVD?Download from Internet, get converting and setup your playlists in advance if you want
    
   
4. Using the AppStore - there are paid for and free apps. Are the free ones any good and roughly how much does a half decent paid for app retail at?depends on the app - my kids specialise in free ones and the most spent is about £7. They vary in quality but you'll find plenty of places where users have commented on how good a particular app is.
    
   
5. What video file formats does an iPod touch support? mp4 - there are number of free programs you can use to rip DVDs for iPod
    
   
6. What top tips do people have for managing their iPod touch devices?Load music etc using playlists rather than just copying them straight onto the iPod- that way it's easy to get all your music back on if you have a disaster and have to reformat the iPod
   

 

 

 

She is so exited about getting it I just don't want to be saying things like "it'll take a little while to sort that out", or "no you can't do that" etc etc.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

I have answered in red above

[computer_expert]

I just don't want to be saying things like "it'll take a little while to sort that out", or "no you can't do that" etc etc.

 

Sometimes the sync process will take ages due to the ipod being backed up. I use ios 3.1.2 (soon to be 3.1.3) with itunes 9 and the backups can take 5-10mins+ depending on how much has changed since the last backup. I don't know if itunes 10 & ios4 have improved the speed of backups or not as I'm still running older builds of ios/itunes

[flyinghaggis]

Worth mentioning that you can only use iTunes to pair/sync the ipod with one computer. So if you own multple PC's/etc choose which one carefully as changing it means deleting all of the movies/music from the ipod. Also you have to effectively duplicate your entire MP3 collection so that you then have a copy of it in encrypted itunes format. So make sure you have plenty of free disk space !

 

I quite like my iphone but utterly loathe and despise the fact that I need to use iTunes to sync it with my PC for the above reasons!

Edited September 14, 2010 by flyinghaggis

[sidewinder]

^ You can only sync a library with one, but as long as you're careful about not clicking pair with this computer or whatever when you plug it into a different machine, you still should be able to manually add music onto it.

 

Also why do you have to duplicate your MP3 collection? I have iTunes pointed at my music folders, have iTunes set NOT to manage it, and as far as I know (I'm assuming I'd notice as I have 40GB of music) no duplication takes place?

 

I used to detest iTunes as well, but it became harder and harder not to use it so I eventually gave in...I've grown to like it a bit now, though its not perfect, and I hate it on PC's

[timzim]

Yes you can manually sync but then that means you can't ever automatically sync again without losing the lot and starting afresh. If you are going to be constantly adding new music this is seriously frustrating as you have to drag & drop every new album/song onto the iPod (useful if you want to, ahem, borrow albums from other people's iTunes). You can't add music to iTunes FROM your iPod - only the other way (unless you bought the music on iTunes) so if you autosync you'll lose all your 'borrows'.

 

However, if you're not going to be constantly updating your music collection but just want to reularly update say Podcasts you can choose to manually sync Music but Autosync Podcasts.

 

P.S. every now and then iTunes will go belly up and corrupt its library folders (especially if there's a version upgrade, e.g.v10 last week grrr). Be prepared to cry a lot as you then have to re-import everything again, which takes forever.

[sidewinder]

But surely manually synching on someone elses iTunes wouldnt ruin the auto sync from your own machine would it? Not something I've ever tried though really, if I want music from elsewhere I'll just copy the folders and import into my own library.

 

I wish I'd set mine to autosync when I first set it up, at the minute I am copying things manually and its annoying. And I know if I change to autosync it will have to copy it all again and take aggggggges

[CHR1S]

Top Tip - If you don't like scratching your head for 30 mins wondering why mp3's/photos/videos that were there yesterday have now gone keep it all in manual mode!

 

Top Tip - Don't switch it to auto sync once you have picked manual mode as it will wipe you manual synced files

 

Top Tip - Treat it as drag and drop from one folder of songs in explorer to itunes' ipod music folder and you will make your life a lot easier, if your up for organisation and cataloguing only then use the itunes own library.

[timzim]

Top Tip - If you don't like scratching your head for 30 mins wondering why mp3's/photos/videos that were there yesterday have now gone keep it all in manual mode!

 

Top Tip - Don't switch it to auto sync once you have picked manual mode as it will wipe you manual synced files

 

Top Tip - Treat it as drag and drop from one folder of songs in explorer to itunes' ipod music folder and you will make your life a lot easier, if your up for organisation and cataloguing only then use the itunes own library.

 

But you have THREE tips - surely one must be the TOP tip, one the MIDDLE tip and one the BOTTOM tip??

[CHR1S]

But you have THREE tips - surely one must be the TOP tip, one the MIDDLE tip and one the BOTTOM tip??

 

lol, this isn't Strike It Lucky you know! Who do you think you are Michael Barrymore??

[timzim]

lol, this isn't Strike It Lucky you know! Who do you think you are Michael Barrymore??

 

Fancy a swim...?

[penfold]

elsiegee40 has pretty much answered everthing you wanted to know, but I would add it might be worth you taking a look at itunes now so you can get familiar with it and create some playlists now before syncing music over to your ipod.

 

Also you can sync with multiple computers but whether you need to is another matter. I have it connected for home and work(where i sync'ed my email and calendar) but since then i've setup a gmail account and now sync through that so I only ever connect it to my work machine to charge it really. Just remember to stop it auto syncing with any other computer than your own.

 

As for apps, some free ones can be good, but in all honesty the best ones need wifi and without a constant connection you may find that you use them less than you think. Although saying that, I find myself checking my mail more as it is easier to use the ipod rather than turn the computer on at home.

[CHR1S]

Fancy a swim...?

 

Whatever do you mean.... *sniggers*

[superfletch]

Thanks for all your replies.

 

I've installed iTunes 10 on the PC I'll be syncing the device to and so far I quite like it. Pretty sure I pointed it at my My Music folder and told it to manage stuff.

 

Don't like the sound of all this re-importing malarky, guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

[Superade]

Garrr Superfletch, Why buy her an Ipod when a sensible man would buy her a new Hoover or Apron or something useful like that. However if one must buy her the iPod it supports these formats:

 

File Format File Type Associated With Compatible with iPod?

 

MP3,AAC,WMA,AIFF**,WAV**,M4A,M4P,Ogg**,FLAC,RA/RAM,H.264,MP4,WMV,MOV,JPEG,GIF

 

* Though not 100% open (in the legal or technical sense) in all cases, these file formats are widely used and, in many cases, not controlled by just one company.

** Can be converted using third-party software to mp3, aac, etc.

[Flakes]

hmm a few things...

 

you can copy the music directly off the ipod to PC, you just have to show hidden files, find the folder(believe its under media, itunes) then copy the music off. The issue with this is that itunes renames all the folders and music so you have folder "001", "002" etc, this can be sorted with free programs of the net that sort your music into folders using the ID3 Tags, ive done this several times.

 

as others have said DO NOT USE Auto sync, its easy to just to drag and drop in Itunes, just sort by date.

 

DO NOT allow Itunes to convert your music, just point it to your current folder which holds your music it will play MP3's fine, and copy them to your ipod fine.

 

my 80GB classic Ipod took almost a full day to copy too, so be prepared if you have a lot of music(i had filled the ipod completly)

 

also be warned that i found itunes to be horrible, it constantly trying to update, and do things to my music library in the background, whether this was down to itunes or the amount of music i had i dont know, but it would pretty much kill my machine. and it didnt happen in winamp (tip if you dont have itunes installed somewhere you can use windows media player to play your music directly off the ipod, just point it to the hidden music folder)