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My fucking iPod shuffle went tits up. It last a lot longer (about 18 months) than my wife's did, which lived for about 3 weeks. Their forums are ablaze with people with the same problem, and the tech support folks suggest that people buy new ones, since they are even cheaper now. FUCK THAT. If tech support told me that, I would scream and curse at them until hung up. And then I would call them back and repeat.

I am gonna make an appointment and take both of them to the Apple store for some face time tech support. Will report back how they handle it, but I can't say I am optimistic.

Anyone have suggestions for a portable/wearable player that can play ITunes? Have 4GB+ of crap loaded on there that would just as soon not have to reproduce (not to mention the hundreds of dollars worth of songs I have purchased from the bastards).

Shuffle? or Mini?

Buy a MP3-Player with an actual hard disk, I saw three non-Apple USB-stick players die on friends of mine as well.

I thought the whole point of iTunes was to make sure you couldn't buy anything but apple technology to work it?

Shuffle.


That makes sense, However, I am understandably reticent to spend any more money with Apple judging by their customer service.


Yeah, that is kind of what I was afraid of. Someone has to have cracked it though, right?

Nevermind.  I'm a total idiot and I can't read.   :|

You can moves iTunes Music Store stuff to other players, but I think you need to burn it to cd and rerip it first.  I'm hoping to get an 80GB iPod for xmas, even if I have to buy it for myself :)

Ugh. Can I burn it to DVD?  :-D I have over 4 gigs. That is a shitload of CDs.

You bought 4 GB of music from the music store? I don't know any other players, everyone I know has an iPod. But iTunes rips are compatible with anything, so long as it's in the correct format. I rip to 192kb AAC VBR mostly, which is great for a big ipod. If you're in a format unfriendly to other players, go to options and set import options to another format (mp3 or whatever), then select all your tracks and Convert Selection to whatever format you chose (and get a sandwich or twenty for 4GB :)).

I've got almost 24 GB on my work machine split between mp3s and aacs, and that's about half to 2/3rds my collection and I have yet to rip wholesale into my girl's collection which is almost as big as mine. I lika da music.

Anyway, point is you only have to burn and rerip if you bought it with apple drm. Otherwise it shouldn't even that much of a hassle.

Ah ok. That will be considerably easier, but still a pain in the ass. If I get no joy from the Apple store I will probably buy a non-Apple player. Unfortunately I also have 2 shuffle car adaptors that will be essentially useless. Yay technology.

Actually its about 6 CD's. 

Get a Sansa. The new ones are fucking awesome.

You have to make the songs into an Audio CD via Itunes and then you can rip them back in. It costs you a CD per 20 or so songs, but you get rid of the copy protection. I do this with all the songs I buy on principle (as soon as I get enough to fill an Audio CD), despite only using iTunes and an Ipod. Its my music, I do with it as I please just like I do with the CDs i bought in the store. Fuck that "Authorize this music" anew after each reinstall of my Windows machine.

According Apple Customer service, I had quite some bad experiences there as well. But then I found an Apple store in my city where the people were friendly and helpful (actually the first I met, all other Apple store salesmen were haughty elitist bastards that deserve a punch in the face) and they dealt with Apple for me instead of me having to do it myself. I even bought an Ipod 80GB from them instead of the store and wait a few days more than needed till it arrives, but you can be sure if there is a problem they will sort it out with Apple, and I don't have to be aggravated by telephone supporters.

Edit: 4gigs should be about 20 Audio CDs I fear.

Depends on the bitrate. 128 Kbps is about 1 megabyte per minute. A 700 MB CD holds about 80 minutes of Red Book audio (i.e. a music CD) so 4 GB of 128 Kbps AAC files would be about 4,000 minutes or 50 Red Book audio CDs. At 192 Kbps you are looking about 33 CDs. There is of course an easier solution to the iTunes migration problem which doesn't entail burning music CDs or reencoding from one lossy format to another (losing even more fidelity) if you Google around.

Might have to do that next time I'm bored at work. Thanks for the tip.

I really like the new Zen Vision W from Creative (http://www.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=213&subcategory=214&product=15752).

Widescreen. 30 to 60gb. 13 hours of battery life for music (try that, iPod!).

Their Vision M (http://www.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=213&subcategory=214&product=14331) is pretty nice looking too.

When my video iPod dies, I'll probably get one of these. Screw iTunes.

Gotta be honest. Replacing my 2nd gen ipod with a Zune.

We've had bad luck with the Zen Micro. Lock ups for no reason. Course, this is just one account, but aparently its a common problem on the Creative boards.

The Zune looks pretty cool. Not sure what this has to do with an MP3 player, but this is amuzing:

https://www.comingzune.com/

None of the Zens support AAC.

Yah, I hate AAC though. OGG is my preferred format.

Back to the "Apple can suck my ass" topic...

My iPod Nano's headphones crapped out.  No idea why, and having no desire to play 'fiddling wtih the electronic device' and an OHMs meter, I went to purchase a new set of the nifty white earbuds.

$50 or $40, depending on the model.  For headphones.  Did I miss something here?  Are these earbuds REALLY that much better than your typical $10-15 pair of headphones?  I sure as hell didn't notice a difference, but that may just be the 17 years of metal doing hearing damage.

Fuck Apple.

Nope, in fact they're worse than a lot of cheapo off the shelf models.  I try to buy only third party accessories for my iPod because of Apple's price gouging.  Their remote (the cord extension that provides an additional pause/play/fast forward/rewind set of buttons and also adds radio reception) is shitty and died a month after buying it.  I bought Griffin's version of it for a replacement and it's cheaper, more logically laid out, and has lasted me 5 months so far.

Go to your local Apple store and ask for a pair of replacement earbuds at the genius bar.

They're free.

The Zune looks cool, but it's only 30GB to start and I have to imagine that screen is going to suck up a lot of juice. In fact, that's a driving reason behind me getting an iPod soon, I'm guessing they'll be putting out a bigger screen version soon because of all their Disney/network tv nonsense. Really, I just want a music player.

Me too, for the most part. But it *is* nice to be able to rip an anime DVD and put it on my video iPod to watch on a flight.

I bet the Zune has a longer battery life with that screen than the regular iPod does.

If Microsoft will buy out your iTunes collection to get you to switch, that would be really tempting.

I can't believe they would do that though.

I got an iRiver H340 last year just before I started my year of 2hr each-way commute. Used it a lot and have had no problems. With the firmware upgrades you can watch video on it as well.

Wait, I thought the Zune could play video. Hell, it comes with videos on it!

Does anyone even use these things to view videos?  I have a 60GB video iPod, and I haven't viewed a single video on the damned thing since I bought it.  The only reason I purchased this model was for it's HD capacity.  As video appliances these things pretty much suck...  The backlight eats up battery time like no one's business, and the picture really isn't anything that great.  I certainly don't get any great joy from viewing videos in a 300X300 (or whatever pathetic resolution it is) format.

I don't. I can see why people making long commutes on public transport might though.

I thought the same thing. 

I got a Creative Zen Vision M a month or so ago just for music but I spend a lot of time on airplanes and have found watching videos to be a godsend.  This is especially true on those coast-to-coast flights.  Watching videos eats the battery but I have found there is plenty of juice for two movies and music.  I’ve been pretty happy with the thing so far and Rhapsody has worked well with it.  I just wish there was a decent video service similar to Rhapsody that I could use.

vex

It's nice to be able to download episodes of Lost that I missed and watch them while on the bus.

I just watched the new episode of Lost.  I'm convinced they drop acid and write them the night before they air.

funny story

I washed my iPod Nano the other night.  It still works.  Battery is shot, so I need another, but damn thing keeps on ticketing.  Just need to keep it plugged in.  Yes, I'm stupid.  Film @ 11.

I must be one of the few people on earth that does not own an MP3 player, does not care to own an MP3 player, and will probably NEVER own an MP3 player.

Why do you hate freedom?

LOL! Hating freedom? Ooooookay.  Not sure I see how having to constantly be entertained as a measure of freedom, but whatever floats your boat.  I suppose it's that I am one of the few remaining people that doesnt suffer from some sort of attention deficit disorder.  I *can* walk (or ride, whatever) from point a to point b without having to have some sort of distraction.  In fact, I prefer walking / running without having to be 'entertained'. 

I wouldn't own a cel phone if it weren't necessary for my job.  Or a pager. 

Even if you don't need to be 'entertained' while walking, you don't see the need for a cell phone if your car breaks down? For an "mp3" player so you don't need to lug around a thousand cds?

Must be everyone else's ADD. You hate freedom.

Weren't you fine before without a cel phone?

People have been conditioned to thinking they *need* cel phones.  That they *need* mp3 players.  Why do I or you *need* to lug around thousands of CDs? 

Guess what?  You don't.

What did you do before mp3 players?  How did you ever survive?  Could you walk from point a to point b without HAVING to listen to music or be entertained?  Could you not quietly sit still for 5 minutes? An hour? 

You're a demokrat, aren't you?

That's a silly argument.  You also don't *need* music at all but once you've decided that you *want* it anyways why not choose the most convenient method?

I'm a musician. I like to have music with me. I listened to a crappy tape deck when I walked as a kid, it's not like mp3 players created something new. They drastically improved it, is all. I like to have all my cds in one place so I can throw on some headphones and click on a track to play with. When I go to play drums, I need music to play along with. When I travel I like to have thousands of cds along, just in case I get in the mood for Old Blue Eyes or something I didn't think of.

As for the bit about being fine before cell phones...yeah, I love walking a few miles in the rain or bitter cold to ask someone for a fucking jump. I don't see how being able to dial AAA while sitting in my car is any sort of improvement.

I'm a libertarian, thanks for asking. I do have ADHD, thanks for being a dick about it.

Ah don't like dem dere telerphones. Whah people alwahs talkin'? I don't need ta talk! And dem autermobeels, whah everone in such a hurrah? Git off mah lawn!  :roll:

Let me just explain something to you. I was dead before the Internet and Tivo. I was an unliving soul, coasting through life. Those two inventions have single-handedly saved my very soul, opened my eyes to the beauty of the world, and made me a whole man. There was no history before the Internet and Tivo.

I could live without an MP3 player or a cell phone, but you'll pry my Tivo from my cold dead hands.

Having a cell phone would have helped me tremendously that time I ran out of gas in West Virginia in the middle of the night.  It was below freezing, too, and for a while we were looking for an abandoned building to sleep in so that we might not die.

I am not making this up.  I know it's hard to tell with me.

You ran out of gas ?

There is this little arrow on the drivers' board (or whatever that is called in english) that indicates the amount of gas you have left in the tank. This helps tremendously with that problem.

Cell phones are necessary because people don't stop anymore when they see people waving on the side of the road.
:(

Helps only if it works.  Mine was perpetually stuck at 1/4 all the time.  Considering that, I think I was doing a great job to drive that car from Alabama to Pittsburgh to Manhattan to Pittsburgh again, and only run out of gas once.  I have lots of funny stories from that trip, mostly involving Killjoy or us almost dying.

Edit to say, perhaps you have never been to West Virginia.  Imagine a state which has no flat land and three gas stations.  A miscalculation on my part, yes.  By that time, I knew approximately how many miles I could drive before I needed gas, using the odometer as a fuel gauge.  Still, sometimes you roll snake-eyes.

West Virginia? lol...are you still in too much pain to sit down? :evil:

I'm with Snake on the Cell phone bit.  I have one for my wife, and it has prepaid minutes because it is ONLY for emergenices.  I'll own one when the company I work for buys it and tells me to use it.

On the MP3 player, tho, I have one because I hate the radio.  Despise it, and I like having music while I work.  It keeps me more focused to be in 'my own little world' and drown out the usual office white noise - chatter, clacking keyboards, phones, etc.  Nothing to do with ADD, everything to do with making the working environment a bit more pleasant.

What do you do, Snake? Sit around listening to the office around you all day? That'd drive me batty.

No more scars, that was eleven years ago.  I did go to WV last year, but I went directly to the ski resort.

Re: Merusk, my company does require me to have a phone-- nay, a Blackberry, and they do pay for it.  But even so, my wife needs some method of yelling at me remotely.  I could do without it.

One thing to improve the workplace is to unscrew the fluorescent lights above you; use an incandescent lamp instead.  Try it.

The fuck?

Cheaper and closer than Colorado.  Besides, I know someone who works there.

You and me both. I have no time to listen to music other than riding in the car. I have CDs and the radio for that. Can't listen to an MP3 player at work and I'm usually working on computers or watching TV at home. And if I'm on the comp, I have music there (though I'm usually on WoW or CoH so no time for music there either). I have an HP iPaq that I could load mp3'w on but I've never really done it. Just don't have the time or inclination.

I ride my bike for two hours every day. my MP3-Player is absolutely needed, lest I fall asleep during my tour. There are only so many roads you can bike through in an one hour radius around your home, and after years each and every one of them is boring to look at.

/agree 100%.

I also was dead before TiVo. Now I am alive.

As to cell phones, I think they are kind of like TiVo in that you dont know what your missing until you have one. I got lost one time looking for an off campus class, and drove around for 45 mminutes, and ended up being way late. During the time driving around I swore I would go out the next day and buy a cell. I did.

Now I dont even bother having a land line phone.

No offense personally but based on this post i can only conclude that you're an idiot. And possibly a luddite. Do people need cars? After all for thousands of years we did without them. Refridgeration? Overated. Central heating? For the lazy.

Are you Amish?

EDIT: And for the record - i don't even have a land line anymore. Between my cell and Skype i don't see a need for traditional copper wire phones. Guess I'm just a victim of corporate conditioning  :roll:. BTW I posted this from my Treo while killing time while I wait to pick someone up at the airport.

Precisely the reason I don't own one.  I talk to about 4 people on the phone in total.  They understand the "don't call me at work unless it's an emergency." nature of a business line.  However, from observing everyone else in the office, (and other offices) no cell phone user's friends/ family seem to understand, "Don't call me at work" means on the cell either.   There's someone about to be fired for this exact problem.


Love to, but a cubicle environment means you suffer at the prejudices of upper management.  In a private business, "upper management" is the owner's wife.  She goes around making certain things are on and screwed-in.  At least we got them to put pericubes (the little silver grids) in the lights so there's no screen glare, and they're using warm bulbs vs cool.

Sucks about the lights.  Massive corporations do have their plusses.  Our facilities guys, if you tell them that you purposely unscrewed the lights the first thing that pops into their heads is that they can ignore that fixture.  Not that they usually come out of their holes unless you call.

I only need to talk to two non-corporate people: my wife and Killjoy.  Normally Killjoy is just calling because he can't boot up WoW, or he hurt himself in an amusing way again.  I'm not really a Luddite, I just don't want to hear the jibba-jabba.  I'd force all conversations into a text client if I could.