iPod - how do you typically use it?

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 24 Feb 2008 9:49 am

I've resisted getting an iPod because it seems like an impractical device. It dawns on me that maybe I'm missing something. Here's how I imagine it works:

1. Hook the iPod up to your computer
2. Put your CDs into the computer's CD-R drive
3. Use iTunes to copy the songs you want from the CD to the iPod
4. Connect the iPod to a sound system when you want to listen to the music

I understand that iPods can hold a lot of songs. How do you manage all of those songs on that little screen? Do you connect it to the computer and use iTunes to organize the collections?

I'm not really an "earbuds" kind of guy. I command my own space, and like to hear music in the air, bouncing off the walls. It seems to me that the main advantage of the iPod is being able to carry a large collection of music and leave my CDs at home. Still, finding what I want via that little screen seems impractical.

Am I missing something here?

Bo Borland · Post by **Bo Borland** » 24 Feb 2008 11:07 am

b0b, The answer is a simple yes, you are missing something.
The ipod is very easy to use and very practical. You have a pretty good idea of how to use it. I put all my cds in my computer Itunes pgm and save them to an external hd. I import whatever I want to the ipod where they save under various menus , by the title, artist, album, alphabetical, etc. Sub folders under an artist name has album titles, song titles etc. You can group them by genre, lessons, backing trax and play lists etc. The ipod has a very user friendly menu system complete with a ton of pre set EQ choices and other features I don't use, like contact lists, video, alarm clock, audio books and more.. you just turn them off at the main menu..

I don't use ear buds or headphones very much, I prefer to use an FM transmitter device that sends the ipod signal to my car radio, many newer vehicles have a usb port you plug directly into that routes it to your radio. At home you can run it into your stereo, a boom box, a pair of powered computer speakers, or the back of your psg amp (the N112 has a media input)with a mini stereo plug to a 1/4" stereo cable. You can them play along with all the sound coming from your psg amp. Before I got my N112, I used a small mixer in front my steel and the ipod and a cd player.
While you can't slow down the tempo, you can fast fwd and reverse to go over particular passages.

I have an IPOD NANO 4 gig first generation currently holding 800+ tunes, accessible in any order I choose that is only 1" wide and 4" long. That would be about 80 cd's or more !!

I plan to upgrade as soon as I decide what size memory to get , I am thinking overkill here and going for the 160 gig Touch screen version that will do everything the Iphone does except for being a phone..including going online.
Another upside it that if you want to learn or hear a new song and don't want to buy the entire CD, you can download it thru ITUNES for $1.00, keep it in your computer, load onto your ipod within minutes.

Just yesterday I wanted to learn Ray Wylie Hubbards' "Screw you, I'm from Texas" ..it took about a minute to get it into my ipod.

I am sure there other ipod like media players out there that will do the same thing but it seems that Apple has the best support system around.

I hope this is the info you wanted. Bo

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 24 Feb 2008 11:27 am

More questions:

What about us old guys that can't see little things very well? The screen seems to be really small.

Also, isn't there a version that connects directly to the internet via WiFi, so that you can download directly instead of via your computer?

I have about 1000 CDs. How much memory would I need?

Is it a hassle keeping it charged?

Cal Sharp · Post by **Cal Sharp** » 24 Feb 2008 1:11 pm

The new 80GB iPod classic holds 20,000 songs. It also comes in a 160GB version. I have an old set of Walkman speakers that I use with it when I'm in the kitchen or the bathroom. Works great. Also have a plug for it in my car stereo. The charge last about 3-4 hours, I just plug it in every night or so to recharge it.

I have 2, a video and a shuffle. The shuffle goes to the gym with me, and I use them both all the time. The video is also a handy way to carry my calendar and contacts around with me.

Never tried the Wi-Fi thing.

The screen is small, but on the shuffle you don't have a screen, anyway, you just load a song list from your computer that you know you're gonna want to listen to. ie A Jake Hooker album to listen to on the way to a gig.

Another cool thing is you can "Enable disk use" and copy files (other than music) to it to transfer to another computer, so it's like a portable hard drive.

Bent Romnes · Post by **Bent Romnes** » 24 Feb 2008 2:00 pm

Cal,
When you say that you use speakers on occasion...
What drives the speakers? is there built in power in them or do you drive them with the Ipod? If so, it wouldn't take long to run down the battery.

As for using it for a portable hard drive...Normally you will have it loaded full of songs. To use it as a hard drive you would have to delete some of your songs to make room.

Cal Sharp · Post by **Cal Sharp** » 24 Feb 2008 2:28 pm

The iPod drives the speakers. I suppose it would shorten the battery life. I plug them into the headphone jack. There's all kinds of external speakers, some with their own power, available for iPod, but I'm just using these for now.

It's 30GB and I've got hundreds of songs and several movies on it, also my iCal and Address Book data and some podcasts and I've still got 22GB free. I don't put <B> all</B> my music on it, just selected playlists.

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 24 Feb 2008 10:16 pm

Do iPod-based sound systems typically recharge the battery in the iPod?

Bill Moore · Post by **Bill Moore** » 25 Feb 2008 5:02 am

b0b, if you want to experiment with this stuff, you can buy other mp3 players much cheaper. I bought a Sansa 2gb player from buy.com for 40 bucks. This will hold as many as 500 songs. I just used it to store songs I want to practice with and a few favorites. It works very well. It charges up from the usb power while connected to the computer. I use the Mediamonkey program to organize all the music.

Cal Sharp · Post by **Cal Sharp** » 25 Feb 2008 5:44 am

b0b, Griffin, for one, makes several models that recharge iPod. Available at Radio Shack and other places.

Jonathan Cullifer · Post by **Jonathan Cullifer** » 25 Feb 2008 6:39 am

b0b wrote:Do iPod-based sound systems typically recharge the battery in the iPod?

Yes...all of the ipod docks I've seen do. I use mine primarily in my car; it allows me to take all my music with me wherever I go. I don't have a problem finding stuff and the screen size is acceptable for me.

Will Holtz · Post by **Will Holtz** » 25 Feb 2008 6:54 am

The user interface on the iPods is well designed. If you are able to read newspaper size text, then you should have no problem with the current generation of iPods. The screens have a very high contrast ratio.

You can construct playlists either on the iPod or in iTunes. Or you can shuffle the whole iPod or a specific genre (based on metadata tags).

The biggest annoyance in moving to an iPod is transferring your CDs to the computer. If you have a substantial music collection, there can easily be tens of hours spent just loading CDs into your computer and waiting for them to copy and compress.

For me the best part of getting an iPod was the great integration with podcasts. In iTunes you can subscribe to a podcast and tell it to keep the N most recent episodes on your iPod. It will then automatically check for new episodes each day, download them, and transfer them to your iPod the next time you connect it to your computer. There are lots of great podcasts out there devoted to very specific topics, that have too small of an audience to get a chunk of the radio spectrum. I've discovered tons of music from podcasts that I otherwise never would have found.

Wayne Carver · Post by **Wayne Carver** » 25 Feb 2008 10:56 am

I have a Sansa mp3 player. I use it mostly on trips and I screwed a couple of powered computer speakers together and use it as a portable unit. I've heard an Ipod docked into a JBL donut speaker that sounded awesome.They are handy to use at a party plugged into the home stereo.
Media Monkey is a good program if you don't like I-tunes. I was able to get songs off a friends Ipod using Media Monkey and put them on my Mp3 player. It is a pain and takes a long time to burn songs off cd's to the computer though. If I had a large mp3 collection I would definitely back them up to another hard drive or an external hard drive in case the PC crashes or someone steals your Ipod.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 25 Feb 2008 11:23 am

Backing Tracks

Besides 1000's of songs, you can put BIAB WAV files on your iPod. I have over 400 practice tracks on my iPod and it's very handy for playing/practicing your steel guitar when you are away from your usual practice room. For example, I make the tracks on my home computer, transfer them to iPod, and take the iPod with me every day to the music store where I teach, and to the prep school where I teach. I have a small pair of Roland powered monitors in my teaching room and I patch the iPod into those stereo speakers.

You can set up Playlists in iTunes (which transfer to iPod). You could create some Playlists called Slow Country Tracks, Swing Tracks, Scales Practice Tracks, etc.

Solo Gigs

If you play solo steel guitar gigs... you could have your entire set of backing tracks in a playlist, or in a couple of different playlists. Patch your iPod into a set of powered speakers and that's it.

Teaching - Lessons

When I'm teaching guitar lessons and I need to reference a certain pop song for a student... a Beatles song, a Hendrix song, etc., I have over 4000 songs at my fingertips. A few years ago I would have to search through piles of CDs to find a song, or worse yet, cassette tapes!

Band Breaks

When my band takes a break I patch the iPod into the board and play music, Playlists of classic country, top-40 country, etc.

Mark Butcher · Post by **Mark Butcher** » 25 Feb 2008 12:42 pm

Bob you amaze me I thought you were a computer guy and an Apple user. Its not the iPod, its iTunes the software. Get it on your computer and you can find any track in seconds or just have you own radio station with no annoying DJ. I've used nothing else this century. Throw out your TV, radio, music centre and get a 24inch iMac!

Mark

Bo Borland · Post by **Bo Borland** » 25 Feb 2008 2:36 pm

I bought a small hi tech boom box at WalMart for my daughters room that has am-fm, cd, ipod, usb, and aux inputs plus headphone out. It also recharges the ipod and comes with inserts for all the current Ipod footprint styles. It comes with a remote too all for way less than $100

I keep my ipod plugged into the wall or my pc usb hub to keep charged and when hooked up to transmit in the car it charges too.

Having the ability to carry your entire music collection in your shirt pocket as well as BIAB files too is just too cool.

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 25 Feb 2008 5:00 pm

Mark Butcher wrote:Bob you amaze me I thought you were a computer guy and an Apple user. Its not the iPod, its iTunes the software. Get it on your computer and you can find any track in seconds or just have you own radio station with no annoying DJ. I've used nothing else this century. Throw out your TV, radio, music centre and get a 24inch iMac!

Mark

I have a Mac Powerbook G4 at home and I use a MacPro at work. I also have iTunes on my Windows 2000 box at home. I actually use iTunes fairly often for listening to MP3s, but to me nothing beats the convenience of popping a CD into a home stereo system. I have a CD player in my car, and one in each room of my house.

Bill Leff · Post by **Bill Leff** » 25 Feb 2008 9:25 pm

"... but to me nothing beats the convenience of popping a CD into a home stereo system. I have a CD player in my car, and one in each room of my house."

Bob, the iPod is WAY more convenient that finding that CD somewhere on your shelf, in another room, or in the car etc.

Just connect the iPod to a mini stereo jack/dual RCAs from your iPOD's earphone jack to the receiver's aux in. Leave the cable in the receiver and use as needed. Now you have access through your receiver to all the songs on your iPOD. I do this and it works great.

Then I get in my car and listen to the iPod through my car's sound system via an "MP3" input (2006 Honda Civic Hybrid) but if you have a tape player in the car, just use one of those $20 deals that is sold to connect portable CD players to car stereos (they look like a cable attached to a dummy casette tape). That works great too (but quite is hi-fi due to the limited frequency response of the tape deck).

Then go to the gym or take a walk and listen to your iPod through headphones. Makes the time speed by while you get your exercise.

I'm a total podcast junkie and listen to all my favorite NPR shows (Fresh Air, This American Life, Jazz Profiles) etc that automatically download when I bring up iTunes on my computer. Then I just connect the iPOD and it transfers the podcasts from hard drive to the iPOD.

The iPod is a truly wonderful device. The iTunes integration is pretty seamless and an essential part of the equation.

Go find a buddy that has one and let him give you a demo.

Then buy one!

Wayne Carver · Post by **Wayne Carver** » 26 Feb 2008 6:03 am

Like bOb has said on another post about mp3's, nothing beats popping in a CD and having the CD case/info with you. You can read the liner notes, check out who wrote the song, and see who plays Dobro on the song you are listening to. I don't even like cd players that can load more than one cd at a time. I only listen to one at a time then I can put that one back on the shelf and decide at that moment which one I want to listen to next. My brother says he puts his CD's in one of those notebooks and throws the cases and booklets away.

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 26 Feb 2008 7:56 am

Are there remote controls for iPod docking stations, so that you don't have to get up from your chair to switch songs? I do most of my "serious" listening on the home entertainment system in the living room. I usually sit back with the CD liner notes and the remote control.

I guess I'd need one of those FM broadcaster things, right?

Will Holtz · Post by **Will Holtz** » 26 Feb 2008 8:31 am

The iPod dock comes with a remote control. The dock connects to your stereo system with a pair of RCA plugs.

The FM broadcast attachments are mainly used in cars. I personally have a difficult time getting a clean signal from the FM broadcast attachments, and I wasn't using a cheap one either.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 26 Feb 2008 8:51 am

nothing beats the convenience of popping a CD into a home stereo system

...hmmm. Sorting through stacks of CDs to find what you're looking for? I haven't owned a CD player in three years, other than the one in my computer. All music goes onto my computer and iPod now. CDs are So "1990s"!

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 1 Mar 2008 7:44 am

Doug Beaumier wrote:...hmmm. Sorting through stacks of CDs to find what you're looking for? I haven't owned a CD player in three years, other than the one in my computer. All music goes onto my computer and iPod now. CDs are So "1990s"!

Stacks? No, I have a wall full of shelves, properly alphabetized. Putting all of it into an iPod is a daunting task. I imagine it will take a few months.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 1 Mar 2008 1:50 pm

I use a Creative Zen. I use it to play YouTube videos, songs I have on CD and especially songs I download from Napster that I don't have CD's of. Just an example, I play every Sunday with a band that is combo country/rock (not country rock). This is a jam session gig and mostly country. But they are recording some demos for other gigs. They sent me a song list and I ended up having to download over 50 songs that I did not have or never even heard of. If I had to buy these CD's, it would have cost hundreds of dollars (if I could even find some of them). This in itself payed for the Zen.

I also use it to let others listen to a song for reference. I use it to learn songs. I even have an adapter that plugs into the cassette player (I have a dual CD/Cassete player in my car with no Mp3 jack)
of my car. I carry a cheap pair of headphones with my musical equipment in case I (or someone else) want to hea a song. I don't like the ear pods either. I have little ears and have a problem keeping them in. I'm going to get another cheap pair of phones to keep in my car for those trips where you have no way to plug speakers into the player (like the park, hotel rooms).

So, b0b, the moral of my story is, you need to get an Mp3 player (iPod or other). You won't be sorry.

Stacks? No, I have a wall full of shelves, properly alphabetized. Putting all of it into an iPod is a daunting task. I imagine it will take a few months.

The advantge is that you can select song off the CD and not have to carry songs you don't want to listen too. Space is a consideration. To play all the songs that will fit into my Mp3 player, I would have to fill the back of my PT Cruiser with CD's. My Mp3 is smaller than a pack of smokes and fits in my pocket. Try that with hundreds of CD's. You can also seperate tracks into playlists so you don't have to scroll through hundreds or thousands of songs to find the one you want.

Plug it into your PA at break time and be able to have good music playing and not have to listen to the cr@p on the juke box.

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 3 Mar 2008 2:19 pm

What about the space between tracks on a CD? Is it preserved when you copy a CD to an iPod?

Michael Haselman · Post by **Michael Haselman** » 3 Mar 2008 4:10 pm

Spaces are the same as CD. I've been using them for about 8 years now, and they've become an essential piece of equipment for me. As I said on a previous post, audio books are what I use them for every day. You can download them free from Netlibrary.com, just like borrowing from your neighborhood library.