MP3 Player / Hard Disk

[Bob Winkler]

I've been looking at the current generation of IPOD-like devices. I thought it would be great to rip all my CDs and have them contained for use in the car, or wherever I want them.

Since you guys have never been short on opinions, I thought I'd see what you think is the best setup out there. I'm partial to the Ipod Generation 4, the latest 20/40 Gig drives. I like their menu software, and the look and feel is high quality. Their price seems a little steep, but maybe I'm just cheap.

The main use will be in my MINI, plugged into the aux input. So does anyone out there have any comments/suggestions?

Bob

[Rob Russell]

What I didn't realize is that the MP3 conversion causes a degradation in sound. For a car that may be fine because of road noise, but as a replacement for a CD jukebox, MP3 has some issues.

The 4th generation iPod has a new Apple "lossless" compression, that will supposedly allow you to put 1000+ songs on the 40 gig with no quality loss. That's still 100 CDs.

The idea certainly sounds great. Of course, it's another hard drive to backup. Yoy want to re-rip 100+ CDs if the drive dies?

[JayStPeter]

I haven't seen (or read a review on) anything that I'd replace my iPod with. The only downside I can say is that it is expensive. Since all the connections (other than headphone) are proprietary, you also have to buy expensive accessories (i.e. $50 charger). Go for the 40G so you get the extra disk space and dock.

Jay

[Bruce Page]

Bob, I have the 4G 20gig iPod and absolutely love it! I regret not getting the 40gig so I could load more audio books. Regarding the audio quality of MP3, I’m certainly no audiofool, but I load all my music at 128/160 kbps and I can’t tell much, if any difference from CD when I play the iPod through the home system.

For some interesting iPod info check out this site:http://www.ipodlounge.com

[David Weiser]

I love my 10GB 3rd Gen iPod, No loss in sound. Also the 40 gig will take 1000 CD's and 10,000 songs.

[Glenn Clabo]

Bob...I recently took the plunge and bought the 40GB...and I can't tell you how cool it is. I have all the CD's in the house loaded, (just look at the volume of all yours and think about putting them in your shirt pocket), my contacts will be loaded today, and I'll have room for the digi photo files trip if I run out of compact flash room.

One of the attachments I found...imho...is the best part. I don't like riding around with plugs in my ears so I bought the ITrip attachment. It lets me play everything over any FM radio (car and office)...wireless without sound loss. I have all my stuff anywhere where I go both by wire and by wireless. And the battery lasts at least 9 hours so far...I think it may get 12. One of the more impressive gadgets I've bought in a long time. Next buy will be a noise reducing set of earbuds for the shop and weedwacking. VERY awesome.

[Glenn Clabo]

The idea certainly sounds great. Of course, it's another hard drive to backup. Yoy want to re-rip 100+ CDs if the drive dies?
Bob...The files start on your computer hard drive. The IPod is actually your backup. Of course if your like me...I back up my hard drive which means I now have 3 copies of my stuff.

Also...If there is any loss...I sure can't hear it.

[Stefan Antwarg]

I don't want to hi-jack the thread. But I thought someone could give me a quick explanation of how you set this up for car use. My wife was mentioning one the other day and I told her it was worthless to us because we don't have a high speed internet connection. But if I can load all my cd's on it and play it in the car - that may be worth it. Do I have to load the music on my computer's hard drive first? How do you get the music in the ipod? Does it work on PC? How do you play it in your car?

Stefan

[Glenn Clabo]

Stefen...It's one of the simplest processes I've used. Here's the Apple site http://www.apple.com/ipod/ to see all the info.

Simply load the program (Windows included) that comes with the IPod into your computer, load your cd into the cd reader, import...it then copies (rips) the cd to your computer. If you are online the program goes online and gets the cd infomation which is a huge time saver. The program then files (it's simply a database program on a hard drive) them according to song/artist/gendre. When you're done...plug the IPod into the computer via firewire or USB 2 and it downloads everything. More details at http://www.ipodlounge.com/articles_more.php?id=5029_0_8_0_M


The connection to the car can be hardwire by <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=680 border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top align=left><TD width=20>http://images.apple.com/main/elements/spacer.gif</TD><TD width=210>http://images.apple.com/ipod/images/access_cassette_10102003.jpg (http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?productLearnMore=T4332LL/A)



Sony Car Cassette Adapter (http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?productLearnMore=T4332LL/A)

or wireless (my choice)
http://images.apple.com/ipod/images/access_itrip_10102003.jpg (http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?productLearnMore=T7194LL/A)

Griffin iTrip FM Transmitter (http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?productLearnMore=T7194LL/A)




</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

[Stefan Antwarg]

So you have to have all that extra space on your computer hard drive :(

Stefan

[Bruce Page]

Bob, loading your CD’s into your PC is the most painful part of the process and yes, you do need HD space – I have about 15gig tied up. I use Musicmatch Jukebox to load and keep track of my library ($30). Musicmatch Jukebox is a great deal better than the freebee iTunes but it still takes about 5 min. at 10X to load each CD into the PC. With Itunes, you’re lucky to get 4X, which equates to about a 10 / 15 min load time per CD.
As far as connecting to your vehicle’s system, I use the cassette adapter but I’ve read that the transmitter type (Belkin) works great too.

Anyway, once you grt past the hurdle of loading your music collection into the PC, it's clear sailing. ;)

[JayStPeter]

So you have to have all that extra space on your computer hard drive :(

Stefan

It's not much different than switching from film to digital photos. Suddenly, your hard drive requirements go up. It's not just the iPod, any portable digital music player requires your hard drive space.

FWIW, I have over 120 CDs loaded up and am using less than 9G (I have a 15G iPod). With 100+G hard drives selling for less than $100, I don't see the issue with 9G.

Yes, I occasionally hear some MP3 artifacts when I play on my higher quality equipment. But, it's worth it to have the majority of my CD collection in my pocket. The biggest problem I have with sound quality is the adapters to get it to play in my car. The tape adapter, iTrip, and the belkin car adapter apple sells introduce much more distortion into my car system than the MP3. Using the line out to my home stereo is much better. I'm pretty sure that most of the stuff I hear on the home system is the MP3 conversion software. Not the inherent loss in MP3. My iPod is a little older, so I use MusicMatch instead of the newer PC version of iTunes.

Another requirment of the iPod specifically is firewire. If you don't have it, you'll need to buy a card (~$30).

Jay

[JayStPeter]

Bob, loading your CD’s into your PC is the most painful part of the process and yes, you do need HD space – I have about 15gig tied up. I use Musicmatch Jukebox to load and keep track of my library ($30). Musicmatch Jukebox is a great deal better than the freebee iTunes but it still takes about 5 min. at 10X to load each CD into the PC. With Itunes, you’re lucky to get 4X, which equates to about a 10 / 15 min load time per CD.
As far as connecting to your vehicle’s system, I use the cassette adapter but I’ve read that the transmitter type (Belkin) works great too.

Anyway, once you grt past the hurdle of loading your music collection into the PC, it's clear sailing. ;)

Bruce,

Don't bother with the FM adapter made by Belkin. The Griffin iTrip works well. The iTrip is gets its power out of the iPod. So, you still need a cigarette adapter for longer trips. But, the Belkin eats its batteries in just a couple hours of providing barely audible sound.
I also dislike the Belkin car adapter Apple sells. It has an added "feature" of a volume knob attached to the line-out. The junky circuitry in that induces tons of nasty clipping distortion in louder passages. So, the problem becomes that theres a plug for power in the bottom, and the iTrip on top. Makes it very difficult to put the thing anywhere it is nicely supported. I really wish Apple would come up with a decent quality setup for the car.
Thus, my earlier comments about having to use the proprietary connector on the Apple.

Jay

[Bruce Page]

Another requirment of the iPod specifically is firewire. If you don't have it, you'll need to buy a card (~$30).

Jay
Jay, I don't know about the earlier iPods, but the 4<SUP>th</SUP> generation connects to the PC with a standard USB cable. I’ve heard of the “firewire” but don’t really know what it is.
As far as mobile sounds, the simple cassette unit works fine for me.

[JayStPeter]

Jay, I don't know about the earlier iPods, but the 4<SUP>th</SUP> generation connects to the PC with a standard USB cable. I’ve heard of the “firewire” but don’t really know what it is.
As far as mobile sounds, the simple cassette unit works fine for me.

Bruce,
The first iPods, you had to buy a different version that had USB instead of firewire. Mine expects that you have firewire. Firewire is faster, but USB would be easier, especially with some of the older hardware I have around here.
I have some high end amps and speakers in my truck. So, the sound quality is pretty noticeable. Especially at higher volume levels to hear over open windows in the summer. But, I've also settled in on the cassette unit until I get a head unit that handles an aux input.
BTW, I talked to a technogeek friend the other day and he mentioned that he had a Belkin FM adapter that worked well. It has to be plugged in via cigarette lighter power, useless under battery power. But, the white one they sell as an iPod accessory only comes with batteries.

Jay

[Bruce Page]

Thanks for the info Jay. I spent too many years working in machine shops & shooting skeet/trap so my ears aren't working as good as they use to :cool: .

I do have one of the white Belkin transmitters that transmits in the 88.1 - 88.7 freq. but we happen to have a radio station that is in the same freq. so it was a waste of money. Belkin also makes one that you can tune to any freq. that might work better.

[JayStPeter]

I do have one of the white Belkin transmitters that transmits in the 88.1 - 88.7 freq. but we happen to have a radio station that is in the same freq. so it was a waste of money. Belkin also makes one that you can tune to any freq. that might work better.

Unfortunately, if that station was gone it would be only slightly better. :mad:
The Griffin iTrip is cool. You can tune it to different stations by downloading files to the iPod that cause it to tune. So, if you're on a long trip, you can change which station it broadcasts on if you get interference. You just select the "song" that corresponds to the frequency you'd like.

Jay

[Bob Winkler]

Thanks for all the comments guys. I sounds like those who have one,love their iPods.

I'm now debating the 20 or 40 gb option. I guess you can't go wrong with more storage, and the audio book concept is preety attractive to me for long trips in the car. I'm not worried about FM transmitter quality since I will be using the line out in the car (the MINI has an aux input). Plus the 40 gb unit includes the docking station.

I appreciate all the feedback.

Bob

[Glenn Clabo]

You're right Bob...you end up paying $100 more for a docking station and twice the storage. If you can afford it...it's a good deal.

[Ian Barley]

I have just invested in a 60GB Creative Jukebox player - kinda same technology as the IPOD at about half the price. The main reason I went that way was that it has a removable battery so no visit to the service tech when the battery goes phut.

My main use is audiobooks. I listen to them in the shop while I am working and get to "read" all the classics that I otherwise don't get time for.

I have found Audible.com to be a great source for all who are interested in this way of passing the time. No affiliation etc...

[Glenn Clabo]

Thanks Ian...awesome site!