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bowtieman55

bowtieman55

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 25, 2006
Location
Edenton, NC
The differences in those things that hold/upload a billion songs...what's better? I don't know ANYTHING about any of them, but am kinda interested in purchasing one. I've seen them priced from $50 to $100 and really don't know/understand the differences

:beer:
 
iPod is a brand of mp3 player. If your computer is a PC, then there are better things than an iPod. Creative makes some nice mp3 players that I would look into.
 
hmm...maybe I need to change the question in my first post
 
some mp3 players you can transfer data directly from the player. I notice with ipods you have to make a cd, download to the new computer and so on

also.. when I downloaded my ipod it erased everything on it. It is only allowed to transfer from one computer
 
iPods are EXTREMELY Proprietary especially when used with iTunes.

you can load different OS's on an iPod and there are several Music Management softwares out there for it.

for those that think iTunes is a good source for buying music and iTunes Giftcards are good ideas, think again. They only allow 5 computers for that purchased song, movie, album to be played on. Are you only ever going to work on 5 computers for the rest of your life?

hmm...maybe I need to change the question in my first post
Click to expand...
Oh, and what should your question be?
 
The differences in those things that hold/upload a billion songs...what's better? I don't know ANYTHING about any of them, but am kinda interested in purchasing one. I've seen them priced from $50 to $100 and really don't know/understand the differences

I don't even know what an OS is
 
ok I will break it down

with an Ipod you load the music from your computer... IF you plug an Ipod to another computer you can not transfer files / songs. that means if you go to a friends house and want a song off his computer, you will have to download it to a CD or data card, take it to your house and then transfer it to your Ipod

Some Mp3 players is not like this. Some mp3 players are just "USB drives" with earphones. That means if bubba Joe and a song you want on his computer, you can plug up your player.. transfer file and you have it (this also works visa versa, if he wants something off your mp3 player)

Take note. All are mp3 players, but some are transferable (which makes them more or less USB drives)
 
thanks everyone for the info, and just so everyone is aware, I'm not interested in downloading music illegally or anything like that, so please don't get the thread shutdown by throwing the info out there.

*I think I must want/need an MP3 player with a USB drive/hookup
 
What she means is, most of them you literally just plug into the USB port, and the computer will see it as a drive, liek your hard drive.
You can then just copy the songs (which are files) from your computer, and onto the deivce. This is incredibly convenient.
Some others require special programs to do the transfering, or restrict you to using only 1 computer or something. Avoid these.

As far as the differences, there are 2 areas they tend to be different.
(1) the amount of space you have on the device (in Gigabytes). This determines how many songs you can fit on it, more space = more tunes. Some moe complex models now (read - more $$) have a slot for a card so you can ungrade the space available).
(2) the number of features you get. The cheaper ones just play MP3s, may or may not have a radio, may or may not play other formats. I suggest you at least get one that will play at least play .wma files, if not otehr formats too. MP3 is the most common, but also takes up the most space and (per kB) does not have the best sound. More pricy ones wil lalso play videos, and are pretty complex regarding how you can search for a specific tune or whatever.

You best bet is to just to go Best buy or some place and pick up a bunch and look at them. Functionally, they all do the same thing - play music. However, the interface (how you select the tunes) is very different. it's wort hte htime to find one that YOU find intiuitive and easy to use.

Over christmas, I bought 2 different cheapy ($45) players. I returned both of them b/c I found them difficult to use - the text was small and hard to read (especially is sunlight), and it was really difficult to understand how the tunes were organized and to find exactly what I wanted.

Remember, since you will have "a billion" tunes, you need to be able to find the one you want easily!
 
A clarification of what I mean by "format".
When you take a song from a CD and "convert" it from CD to a file, that file has to be setup a special way. This is what we call the "format".
There are lots of different formats for song files. The MP3 format was designed many years ago, and is the most common, but not the best by any means. AC3 and WMA are other examples. The format is determined when te hsong is changed from a CD to a file... but can also be converted later too (you just lose a little quality).
The point of this is just that if your player can understand multiple formats, then you have more options for songs you can listen to, and how much space they will take up. A tune in WMA format will take up about 30% less space than an MP3 format file of the same sound quality. Thus, you can fit more WMA files on a player than MP3. make sense?
 
RatLabGuy said:
As far as the differences, there are 2 areas they tend to be different.
(1) the amount of space you have on the device (in Gigabytes). This determines how many songs you can fit on it, more space = more tunes. Some moe complex models now (read - more $$) have a slot for a card so you can ungrade the space available). A MEMORY CARD, CORRECT?

.
Remember, since you will have "a billion" tunes, you need to be able to find the one you want easily!
Click to expand...

:flipoff2:

THANKS!!!
 
RatLabGuy said:
A clarification of what I mean by "format".
When you take a song from a CD and "convert" it from CD to a file, that file has to be setup a special way. This is what we call the "format".
There are lots of different formats for song files. The MP3 format was designed many years ago, and is the most common, but not the best by any means. AC3 and WMA are other examples. The format is determined when te hsong is changed from a CD to a file... but can also be converted later too (you just lose a little quality).
The point of this is just that if your player can understand multiple formats, then you have more options for songs you can listen to, and how much space they will take up. A tune in WMA format will take up about 30% less space than an MP3 format file of the same sound quality. Thus, you can fit more WMA files on a player than MP3. make sense?
Click to expand...

it is certainly starting to...does the MP3 player than I choose need to be WMA specific?
 
I will not hold all your songs. You need a few gigs... (my experience)

but hey for being so cheap you might just buy it to learn it, or buy it to use while in the not so great part of towns
 
nevermind-just read the reviews...the IClick it is :D
 
bowtieman55 said:
it is certainly starting to...does the MP3 player than I choose need to be WMA specific?
Click to expand...

If it will play WMA, it will also play MP3.

By trade name, people call them "MP3 players" but in reality most play more than that.

I hinted at this above, but wish to reiterate. The small ones are very cool b/c you can stick 'em in your pocket, or a keychain.
However, this comes at a price - if you do not have great vision, and clumsy thumbs like me, it can be hard to read and use. That's why I suggest you go and hold them.
 
like I PMed Lauren...I think for less than $10, it'll be a good start. Thanks so much for your insight and info:beer:
 
94yotaslinger said:
go buy a zune, they allow you to download anything and they're fairly cheap
Click to expand...

Zunes are good, i havent used one personally but they are made by Microsoft and do do everything and more. I think it will be too complicated for your use as you wont be able to use it to its full potential. I work on computers and know them inside and out. I think Ipods are great if you like paying for music, but at 99 cents per song its cheaper to just buy the CD.

I got my folks an MP3 player, and they are computer illiterate. This was simple as they come (napster 256 MB player) and they can use that just fine. But it only holds 20 songs or so.

Ipods are no good due to you having to use ITunes, they dont have a removable battery so once that goes bad you have to send it in to apple, and they dont have removable media cards.

Overall, i use my cell phone as an MP3 player. I bought a 2 GB memory card (holds up to 1000 songs) and it works better than all those fancy Mp3 players. If you need anymore help in deciding and want to know what application would best suit your needs just PM me.

Also, if you know anyone who knows Jeep TJs in and out, send em my way!
 
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