itunes, ITMS, ipod and ipodmini (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter maxmc
- Start date
It isn't. You can use it as a mass storage device, and its quite easy. However you can't drag and drop music on the player and be able to listen to it. The songs are database driven and need to be added by a program so the software knows it is there. But you can plug it in and use at as any other drive to store files on, if you just need them for backup/transfer purposes.
(In fact with an Apple, you can boot the system off the iPod drive I think. I know people who have their entire system backed up on their iPod, people who obviously don't have a lot of music or data for that matter).
(In fact with an Apple, you can boot the system off the iPod drive I think. I know people who have their entire system backed up on their iPod, people who obviously don't have a lot of music or data for that matter).
Yes, you should be able to do that.
The thing is you can't easily take songs off an iPod because the record companies don't want people being able to swap songs so easily. That is the reason. But you can put files on it as a portable hard drive, download them to your computer, then upload them through the software. What you can't (easily) do is go to your friends house, plug your iPod into his computer and give him all (or any of) your songs.
The thing is you can't easily take songs off an iPod because the record companies don't want people being able to swap songs so easily. That is the reason. But you can put files on it as a portable hard drive, download them to your computer, then upload them through the software. What you can't (easily) do is go to your friends house, plug your iPod into his computer and give him all (or any of) your songs.
I loved that one. HP's advertising slogan now is "HP - invent". Invent what? Buying a bunch of iPods and throwing your logo on it? Would you believe that was HP's big product unveiling of the summer? Pathetic...
But for everyone worried about iPods and PCs vs. Macs, you all do know there are great, competitive, and often better options than the iPod out there, right???
I swear, there's nothing that says "sheep" to me more these days than seeing someone with those white ear buds...
Just because someone else has an iPod doesn't mean that's the best choice for you, OK?
But for everyone worried about iPods and PCs vs. Macs, you all do know there are great, competitive, and often better options than the iPod out there, right???
I swear, there's nothing that says "sheep" to me more these days than seeing someone with those white ear buds...
Just because someone else has an iPod doesn't mean that's the best choice for you, OK?
No you can't. The belief is record companies wouldn't have been happy if you were easily able to take songs off an iPod, so they have made it so you can't (easily) do it. To get technical, all of the songs on the iPod are put in one of 19 hidden folders and named in such a way you can't identify the songs. The iPod uses a database to identify and play these songs. You could in theory take the songs off from Windows Explorer, but they would be pretty meaningless because they aren't tagged and you wouldn't have any idea what is what. A few people have made software that can do this as well, but I don't think any of the good ones are free.
Now, there is a workaround for your problem. Since you can use the iPod as a removable hard drive, you can open it in My Computer, copy the physical mp3 files in Windows Explorer from the folder they are on in your computer. It will take a couple of minutes. Then you can take the iPod to your other computer, open it the same way in My Computer and simply copy the files from the iPod drive to the other computer. (The Ipod won't be able to play these files though, because they aren't a part of the database. The software won't recgonize them and you can in fact do these sort of transfers with any files because the iPod works like a hard drive. Probably a good idea to delete them once you transfer them so they aren't taking up space on the iPod for no reason).
You could do what I do, if your computers are networked. iTunes makes playing songs across a network very easy. I don't think you can burn CDs across a network though, so this might not be a solution for you.
And Swag is right, there are other good options besides the iPod that might be better for some peoples needs. (I hate the white ear buds myself, I have a nice pair of Sennhiser buds myself. In fact I never show my iPod off to anyone, try to be as inconspicious as possible with it and probably like 10 people even know I have one. I never understood the point in showing off something like that. The onyl reason I have an iPod is because I think it is the best mp3 player, at least for me, and it was a gift.)
Now, there is a workaround for your problem. Since you can use the iPod as a removable hard drive, you can open it in My Computer, copy the physical mp3 files in Windows Explorer from the folder they are on in your computer. It will take a couple of minutes. Then you can take the iPod to your other computer, open it the same way in My Computer and simply copy the files from the iPod drive to the other computer. (The Ipod won't be able to play these files though, because they aren't a part of the database. The software won't recgonize them and you can in fact do these sort of transfers with any files because the iPod works like a hard drive. Probably a good idea to delete them once you transfer them so they aren't taking up space on the iPod for no reason).
You could do what I do, if your computers are networked. iTunes makes playing songs across a network very easy. I don't think you can burn CDs across a network though, so this might not be a solution for you.
And Swag is right, there are other good options besides the iPod that might be better for some peoples needs. (I hate the white ear buds myself, I have a nice pair of Sennhiser buds myself. In fact I never show my iPod off to anyone, try to be as inconspicious as possible with it and probably like 10 people even know I have one. I never understood the point in showing off something like that. The onyl reason I have an iPod is because I think it is the best mp3 player, at least for me, and it was a gift.)
I saw that you said that before I bought mine, so I looked around and saw what my options were, and a lot of the stuff mentioned on American sites were brands I hadn´t heard of, and things I couldn´t find here. Here the other alternatives I found were mostly those flash-kind of players, and therefore not what I was looking for at all. For many people outside the US I think it could be a problem that the iPod´s biggest competitors are low-profile (and small?) companies like Rio, Cowon and iRiver. It will probably take something like Microsoft´s new player to really threaten the iPod´s status some places.