rb5037

Can someone please explain the differance between a MP3 and an I-POD


Thanks

negri

i could be pedantic here but im guessing you mean the differences between mp3 players and an i pod ?.
im sure there will be loads of replies giving the pros and cons but basically an ipod is an mp3 player . only difference is its branded by apple .

basically they both play mp3 files that are on your computer . you can download them from internet sites or copy them of exsisting cds you have at home .. like a walkman but it can hold any thing between 1 song and 20k songs

GaryCat

"mp3" is one of several ways of compressing music files so they use less memory etc.

An iPod is portable music player, made by Apple, that can play mp3 files.

JackClark

iTunes can only be used by an iPod. If you like iTunes, and you should, then you'll need an iPod.

Kevin Groat

This might help as well....I went for the Creative Zen Sleek 20gb, £160 from Costco.

http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthread.php?t=474792

rb5037

Thanks people,


Bit like "whats the diff between a hoover and a vacum cleaner"

lightning101

You mean a dyson

Hanslow

LOL, I'll like what I consider to be good thanks Jack

Want to be cool, hip, trendy, a sheep, buy an iPod.
Want to get better value for money, get something else

Kudos to Apple for the branding and getting the MP3 format more widely accepted, I just didn't like the one I trialled, but then I'm a function over form person

Dracoro

Eh??? The iPod has to be the easiest to use mp3 player out there. My mum could use it! Not like all the others with millions of buttons, 'features' and needlessly complicated menu's etc.

It's easy to use, clean design etc. You don't need an mp3 player to do more. Fair enough if you WANT it to do more (radio etc.) then there are others out there. The benefit of the popularity is that there's loads of support and accessories (car chargers, cases etc.)

Yes there's loads of people out there that have bought iPods for the 'image', so what, who cares, that's their decision. Are you gonna let the sheep stop you getting what you want? Would you not buy a car or a TV that was popular or nicely designed just to not be 'one of the crowd'?

Anyway, as with cars, try them all out and see what fits your requirements. I ended up with a 60GB iPod as there was only one other mp3 player at the time that had that capacity but it was lame in comparison.

Hanslow

I tried it and didn't like the interface, simple as that.

I'm happy for people to buy what they want, but as Apple have marketed it so well, many people aren't even aware of other MP3 players and refer to them all as iPods, similar to how people referred to personal cassette players as walkmans (the Sony brand).

I personally think there are better value for money players out there, just that people aren't aware of them.

I'll say again, I tried one, I didn't like it. If I had, I would have considered being a sheep and bought one, but I didn't like it so I never bought one. My own objective opinion brought me to that conclusion.

Did I touch a nerve with my comments or something?

Frosty The Snowman

As it happens I like the iPod interface but a couple of things really sold it for me;

1) iTunes - you can buy songs legally from here, no need to get CDs anymore.

2) Accessories - main reason I got it was so I could plug it into the car stereo. Ipods have, by far, much better support in car stereos and the accessories range is huge.

Hanslow

Hi Frosty

Genuine question as I don't know the answer.....

If you get your iPod stolen, it breaks, etc. can you still download the track from iTunes again for free, or do you have to pay again? I honestly don't know as I don't use it, but it's something that always concerned me as many users may not have backups and so will have to pay twice for their music.

I'm still a bit old school and like to have the CD then I can rip it if I want to at whatever bit rate I want. Also if a new format comes along, I can do it again in the new format without having extra lossy compression in converting one format to another.

SiPie

... possibly, but having tried most, there is always one serious glitch with others..

I nearly went Creative Zen as it ticked all boxes.... BUT the menu navigation was SO sensitive that it was almost impossible to select tracks....

In the end I picked up a 20gb IPOD in Hong Kong for very little and it's done the business nicely

Baaaaaahhhhhh

Frosty The Snowman

Yes you can. One of my downloads failed and theres a tool in there to download stuff again

Just to add, everything is held on your computer and you put whatever you want onto the iPod so if that gets nicked you should still have the original copy on your home PC. If your PC gets nicked there are tools to copy everything from the iPod back to the computer again.

Dracoro

Surely it downloads the file to your computer, it'll be on there.

Hanslow

LOL @ SiPie, I'm all for a free market and individual choice Now where did I put my shepherd's crook....

I think Apple have a good product, it just doesn't do it for me as I don't like the interface

S'funny the other day talking to some friends and I mentioned looking at new MP3 players, and their response was 'You mean an iPod?'. See, excellent market branding from Apple, but it clarifies my point that people don't realise there are others out there that they should at least try.

Hanslow

Provided you haven't had to reinstall after all these virus infections or the kids have accidentally deleted it

Good to see there is at least some contingency in that it lets you download it again Always been a concern of mine for moving towards paying for content as and when you want it.

Still, everyone does backups of their important data so everything should be safe

Dracoro

This I do agree with. Many people don't know about other players. However, that's their problem if they don't investigate the market before spending out their money. How many people use IE for example that have never heard of Firefox etc. Also, people 'trust' certain brands. Think how many people always only buy Fords, Subarus, Hondas etc.

Hanslow

Completely agree with you Dracoro People who dismiss other products without least trying them are only fooling themselves. OK, I haven't tried iTunes, but I've not tried any others either as I'm still in the old school world of buying CDs LOL

My missus likes Marmite, I don't....but I try it once every year or so just in case my tastes have changed.....but it still tastes like poo (apparantly)

StickyMicky

bought a 1gb q-be for the G/F for christmas

tbh i am amazed that it is so small
not sure how it fares in the grand scheme of mp3 players etc etc
but it was all that my local shops seamed to have in stock (could not find a ipod nano in any of them)

n one

iTrader: (5)

Can you only use itunes or is it possible to download tracks from other sites onto your ipod?

Dracoro

I'd guess you could download from another site no probs if it ends up on your computer as an mp3 or suchlike then just import into iTunes.

n one

iTrader: (5)

Go on then, tell me how I import tunes from another site into itunes, or infact how do I get my own CDs onto my ipod?

Yeah, I`m cluless

Neil.

Mark Miwurdz

Unless you unravel them with something like Hymn (doesn't apply to version 6.0 or later)

Cheers
Kav

Dracoro

Other Sites: Download song. Open iTunes and click on File>Add File To Library. Easy peasy.

CDs: Insert CD into drive. In iTunes click in Import. Also easy peasy.

gotmashed

open the song if its on your comp with itunes (right click open with ) then its on itunes then plug ipod in to comp update songs done

n one

iTrader: (5)

Ah, right, I`ll give it a go.


Thanks, Neil

Mark Miwurdz

Here's one for you:

How do you reconcile 2 seperate iTunes libraries on seperate PCs? I buy and download tracks onto both home and work PCs and when I update my nano, I get a dialogue box asking me if I want the library held on the ipod overwritten by the computer I'm connected to. The answer is 'no' and I'd like to sync the 2 libraries so they're the same.

Any ideas? I've tried using the nano as a jump drive and importing the contents of one library into the other. Looked OK to start with but when you try to play a newly imported track, an exclamantion mark appears next to that track and a message pops up saying the track can't be found and do you wnat to locate it manually.

Cheers in advance
Kav

Markus

I don't think you can do what you want when using the auto synch facitiliy of iTunes, it'll always make the iPod mirror the library you're syncing against.

Mark Miwurdz

Thanks Markus

Thought so. I've not exhausted every option but I'm struggling to see how you would do it.

Cheers
Kav