iPod/MP3 Players

[Lum]

Why stop there? Get a shortwave transmitter. That way when you travel to Europe you can leave your iPod at home and still hear it.

[Hanzii]

A blog post I made earlier about MP3 player woes.

I remember that. Then I snickered... then the first serious store, MSN Music, opened here and I got my first ever taste of legal downloads. No snickering, just cursing.
For some reason it will allow me to burn only 1/3 of the tunes on the new Depeche Mode remix album to cd - so I can't do the burn and rip shuffle and listen to the stuff I bought anywhere else than on my home pc.
Good thing I have a magazine with 500.000+ readers to vent in...

[Tebonas]

Just one thing to consider. I use my Ipod daily for my bicyle tours (around 2 hours playtime, 3 hours counting going to and from work), the Ipod just killed the second pair of akkus in under two years.

If you use the thing often, refrain from the iPod. The batteries are not really built for that. And you can only get them replaced by Apple or by breaking open the case.

[personman]

Akkus?  Babelfish was no help but does that translate to batteries?

[Big Gulp]

J
If you use the thing often, refrain from the iPod.

From everything I've seen, I like Archos and iRiver quite a bit.  Seems like a lot of bang for the buck compared to the iPod, plus battery replacement isn't as much of a hellish nightmare.

[Ralence]

As for the car adaptor that's been talked about, I know there's a few companies that allow you to hook up your ipod to any head-unit with cd-changer controls (Pretty much anything made in the last 5ish years)

  The issue with most of these is that you need to use the ipod to select the tracks/playlists, and the FM transmitter is terrible in large cities, not to mention the fact that the best sound quality you can get is, well FM radio.

  There's also some other nifty ways of doing it.  I chose to go the Alpine route, since I already had a compatible head unit when they introduced
this .  It controls the ipod through my head unit, a bit clumsily for 40g ipods with thousands of artists, but it also powers/charges the ipod battery, and lets me keep my ipod in my locked glove compartment.  The funny story is that I believe BMW was the first to introduce the Ipod controls via HU, but the BMW radio's don't display text, making it a complete piece of shit.

  Clarion is also coming out with a headunit this spring that has a flip up touchpad, with the clickwheel on it, supposedly making navigation from the HU the exact same as on the ipod itself.

  I honestly used to be one of those people that thought "what the hell do I need 40g of space for?"  But since I got it for my birthday this summer, I'm NEVER without out.  I've actually considered buying another 20g just to leave in my car permanently.

[Tebonas]

Yes it means rechargable battery, Personman. Sorry for that.

[Train Wreck]

I started using my new iPod last night.  I couldn't find a cable to connect it to my stereo system, so I got an FM radio transmitter called an Si Link.  It looks exactly the same as the one Big Gulp posted, even the same color scheme, but I doubt it was created equal because the range is only about a foot, if that.  Its effective range for my car's radio is even worse -- it has to be pointing straight at it, which is impossible to do without holding it there with one hand while I drive.  I tried all four frequencies.  Is it because I'm in southern California, or did I just waste $20 on a shit product?

Can anybody recommend a good product for plugging the iPod into a stereo system?  My Si Link works ok for that, but why waste the AAA's?

[Furiously]

I'd vote for the mini as well - have about 900 songs on mine. (Granted some are not that big). I had a 20 meg'er but sold it, before the mini's came out because I didn't care for how quick it got scratched. The mini is the perfect size.

[Train Wreck]

My iPod already has 6 Gigs on it  and I'm still not done importing my CD library.  Plus, I'm always getting more.  I am up to 500 songs, and import at 320/44000, which makes for very high quality at around 10-13 MB per song.  Granted, I don't *need* to have my whole collection on the iPod at any given time, but I can just by having an iPod that's a little bit larger in size.  It's so small as it is that I find myself constantly patting my pocket to make sure it's still in there.

Got a Monster stereo cable last night.  It's about $10 more than the competition, but it really is top of the line.  It doesn't even get tangled, and it uses twisted-pair wiring to block electronic interference.  My iPod is actually louder than playing from CDs, now.  I would have been pleased with equal performance -- but actually having better performance just makes me giddy.

Having no luck with my Si Link FM transmitter -- going to try to return it to Target for a cassette adaptor at the same price, which an employee at CompUSA recommended I use.

I was suffering from a little bit of buyer's remorse, but that's because the Si Link sucked so badly and I didn't know if I could expect better.  Now with the Monster Stereo cable, the iPod is everything I hoped it would be, and much more.