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So my wife bought me an iPod Nano for our wedding anniversary (tomorrow).
I have very little (no) experience with such a device. I still buy records (yes, vinyl). I recently bought a stereo amplifier which has vacuum tubes. (Really, and it sounds pretty damn good too!)
It looks like I have to install the worst software in the world (barring my own of course), iTunes. Is that the only way to get the thing working or does Windows Media Player know what an iPod is?
I am also trying to figure out what formats it supports and how to copy stuff onto it (from CD, I'm not totally backward!).
I could spend the next 2 hours looking it up but there must be an expert on here...
Oh and it seems to have the new Buzz Lightyear connector that doesn't plug into anything else - not that that really matters.
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It's iTunes only AFAIK. It will take mp3s, but it probably prefers the format that iTunes rips to.
Christian Graus
Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista.
Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
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Oh well, I guess I will go to the Dark Side then. It is teeny tiny and looks pretty neat, but I refuse to stick things in my ear so I will use some lightweight Sennheiser headphones I have.
I may have to admit defeat and get the wife to help me get iTunes set up - she has Apple stuff - but that just seems so wrong...
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I do think you're in danger of losing man points...
It's not hard to use, you should be fine.
Christian Graus
Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista.
Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
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That's OK, I don't have that many left to lose...
Thanks for the help!
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:cough: eBay :cough:
My wife has an iPod Shuffle and I was unable to copy MP3s of my old vinyl thereto. Copying files to a storage device shouldn't require such horrible self-updating crapware. I just use a cheap MP3 player and call it good.
I did write my own application to select and copy a random subset of my files to the device because it's only a 1GB.
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I have done the unthinkable and downloaded (shudder) iTunes!
It has decided my iPod needs a software update.
It is predicting completion of the download in 13 minutes. These are obviously Apple Minutes, as they appear to bear no resemblance to the 60 second minutes to which I am accustomed.
If wifey wasn't in bed and working tomorrow I'd put a record on and crank it up a little bit...
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Since when has a progress bar and estimated time left ever been accurate? My favorite has always been the last 5 seconds left that lasts a minute or more.
Now if I can get that to happen when I’m having fun…
It was broke, so I fixed it.
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I guess it's your choice, but personally, I find hard copies of music and big music playing devices a waste of space, so MP3s and iPods are good.
My hearing is probably not up to telling the difference between vacuum tubes and transistors.
And what have you got living in your ears that forbids you so strongly from putting earphones in them?
As for iTunes, I can't see what's so horribly wrong with it. So far it has always done what I've asked it to do and not much of what I've not asked it to do. There are far worse creations in the world... I'd have thought Widows Media Player is on the same level if not worse.
Also, you loose brain points for resorting to ask your wife how to set up iTunes. Or shall I say, what set up? Judging from the fact that you're lurking in CP you are a programmer of some description. I'm sure you deal with much harder problems every day...
Good luck anyway...
Almost, but not quite, entirely unlike... me...
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Yes, it would be hard to haul 100 lbs of gear to work every day! For this, the iPod will be a good thing, but at home I like to be able to rattle the windows a bit. 
I've always had external headphones in the past and sticking things in my ear just seems wrong...!
So far, iTunes has not destroyed my computer and it all seems to be working like it should. Thanks for the encouragement!
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There seems to be a bunch of stuff out there: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_iPod_managers[^]
From the link: iTunes is the official manager of all iPods, but other software has been created that can be used to update iPods with different content, often to work around restrictions in iTunes. For example, if a user transfers music to an iPod using iTunes they cannot transfer the music from the iPod to another computer (or even the same computer after re-installing the operating system).
"Real men drive manual transmission" - Rajesh.
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Very interesting. Thanks!
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I don't know why people have issues with iTunes, I've been using it on PC and Mac since as long as it was released on PC; I have tons of music and it does not have major issues and works flawlessly with all iDevices.
Anyway, ripping vinyl is not hard, just plug everything to your computer and use Audacity[^] to record as WAV, make sure your record and needle are as clean as possible to reduce the snap crackle and pop.
After that, just import and convert the WAV to the highest quality mp3 in iTunes, some people suggest using LAME with Audaciry, but in years of experience, I've not heard any difference.
M.
Nihil obstat
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I will have to try that. Looks like I need to ga and make up a cable.
Thanks!
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I use Audacity to do that. I record a full side of a record or tape into an Audacity project. Then, perhaps at a later time, I select each track, set the ID3 tags, and export directly to MP3.
I believe I'm using a copy of LAME that came with some other free audio software.
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Do yourself a favor and pretend it's an oven thermometer.*
Apple designed it for use as a thermometer of 'a different sort for a different orifice'.
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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Aha, it all makes sense now!
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After reading through your responses...
It seems to me your wife bought you a present that she wants, rather than something you want...
You should give her something you want (that she doesn't) on your wedding anniversary (tomorrow), and then you can trade the iPod for that and you will both be happy (or she might get angry).
Good Luck!
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She already has her own iStuff, and I'd look a bit silly wearing the necklace I got her...!
The iPod will be good at work. I think I've almost got it figured out!
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My daughter got a SanDisk Clip for less than a third the price of a Nano. Just plug it in and drag & drop since it acts like a USB drive.
My other daughter got a Galaxy S3 (early Christmas present) and despite being fairly computer savvy is still struggling to get the thing to talk to her PC. As she put it; the iPhone is simpler and the software just works (even if annoying.)
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Sell it and buy a dozen MP3 players; they're much easier to live with.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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I discovered it has a built in FM radio - which works really well. Pretty good for the size of it. That feature may just get used more often than the music library...
It is very tiny and sleek - I may be starting to like an Apple product. 
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