Author |
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Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Sunday, October 24, 2004 - 12:27 pm
We are thinking about getting our son an iPod for Christmas, but I have a few questions. How PC compatible is it? do you have to have XP or can you just use USP port? Is it also a PDA or just an MP3 Player? Is there such a thing as a PDA/MP3 player combined? anyone heard of the Dell DJ20?
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Yankee_in_ca
Member
08-01-2000
| Sunday, October 24, 2004 - 12:41 pm
I use an iPod with my PC and LOVE IT. It's very PC compatible. You need a USB 2.0 or Firewire port. My iPod 40GB requires either Windows 2000 or Windows XP Home or Professional -- you can likely check the iPod website to see what all the models need. You can store contacts and calendar items in my iPod (my dh has a Mini iPod and he can, too). My dh is an avowed PC (versus Mac) user, and resisted getting an Apple product -- but got his Mini iPod a few weeks ago, after me raving about mine. And he agrees that it's far superior to the other MP3 players he's had (including Creative, RCA, and Dell). Feel free to ask any other questions. I LOVE my iPod, if you can't tell 
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Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Sunday, October 24, 2004 - 1:04 pm
We have ME..had a bad experience with XP so not sure how much I want to change operating systems. Tell me more..it's mainly music but can store the contacts ect???? We are also thinking about the palm one palm zire 72 cause he mentioned that he might want a PDA. He has a little RIO MP3 player already.........so confused!!!
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Julieboo
Member
02-05-2002
| Sunday, October 24, 2004 - 1:05 pm
I have a few huge music fan relatives. They LOVE LOVE LOVE their ipods!
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Yankee_in_ca
Member
08-01-2000
| Sunday, October 24, 2004 - 1:16 pm
I don't think the iPod is compatible with ME. The iPod is mainly for music, though you can store contacts on it. If you're looking for a music player, you can't go wrong with the iPod in my opinion. If your son is mainly looking for a PDA, I'd maybe consider a different machine.
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Landi
Member
07-29-2002
| Sunday, October 24, 2004 - 2:00 pm
i have a palm as my PDA and holly uses an ipod for music. by having the ipod, she doesn't have to have the cd's with her, she can hold tons and tons of music. it's great for long trips, her swim meets, etc. we looked at all the different brands, and nothing beats the ipod. it is the industry standard.
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Jan
Member
08-01-2000
| Sunday, October 24, 2004 - 2:22 pm
Excuse my entry level questions here please but I am really uniformed about this stuff. All of my CD's are saved on my PC but not in MP3 format.(at least I don't think so. I just save them and sometimes copy them to other CD's) If I were to buy an MP3 player, would I have to resave all my CD's in MP3 format? I only have WIndows 98. Are any IPOD versions or other MP3 player compatible with that?
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Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Sunday, October 24, 2004 - 2:47 pm
I didnt think the iPod was ME compatible. I guess I just need to find out which he wants more..lots of music or organization. The Zire 72 does look really cool with the digital camera and MP3 capabilities.
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Mak1
Member
08-12-2002
| Sunday, October 24, 2004 - 4:45 pm
Like Jan, I have entry level questions, too. I have music saved on my PC in MP3 format. I have Windows 98. A friend explained to me that she connects her MP3 player to the PC to download the music to the player. Is the iPod used in the same way? Do you need to purchase some kind of disc to record onto? (These are the questions I would feel too uninformed, or out of touch, to ask a store clerk! Some of them have a way of just confusing me.)
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Yankee_in_ca
Member
08-01-2000
| Sunday, October 24, 2004 - 5:13 pm
Mak1, the iPod connects to your PC, and as long as you tell it WHERE your music is (i.e., what file), it will automatically transfer from the PC to the iPod. Does that answer your question? Jan, do you know what format your music files are saved as? iPod and other MP3 players do recognize several formats... And as far as the iPod goes, it looks like it only works with the latest operating systems (2000 or XP).
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Draheid
Moderator
09-09-2001
| Sunday, October 24, 2004 - 5:30 pm
There are many reasons for converting files to .mp3 format, the biggest being the resulting file size. A 3 minute song in .wav format is a little over 38 Megabytes where the same song in .mp3 format is less then 3MB. Roughly an average of 10 to 1 compression, therefore you could get up to 10 times as much music in the same amount of space. Devices such as the iPod have micro-sized hard drives inside them with capacities up to 40GB. These will hold well over 10,000 songs in the compressed format. Plus they usually have much better interfaces for selecting the music to be played in the preferred order of play. Another option that has been popular is the MP3/CD player where you can simply copy copy approximately 10 CDs worth of music in .mp3 format onto one recordable CD. Plus you can still play regular CDs as well. Although they aren't as small, or fancy in most cases, as an iPod type device, they are usually much less expensive too. To transfer music files into a portable such as the iPod, requires a connection to your computer. The newer iPods, probably because of the amount of storage, connect with the newer fast USB 2.0 or Firewire ports on newer computers. According to the Apple iPod support site, these are the only compatible type of ports. The site also indicates the software and interfaces have only been tested and work on Windows/XP. There are many other types of devices similar to the iPod available, ranging from entry-level units with only small memory, some expandable and others not, up to newer units with built-in hard drivers as well. Here at Walmart you can see the range from CD/MP3 players starting at < $30 up to $500 for a 40GB MP3/MP4 video playing device, with lots of choices in between. I would recommend looking at some of these and see if any look like they would be suitable. If you have specific questions, post here with the brand and model number and see if anyone has any personal experience with them. Hope this helps.
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Mak1
Member
08-12-2002
| Sunday, October 24, 2004 - 5:36 pm
Thanks, Yankee and Dra. Your answers definitely helped. I have a CD discman and am looking for something smaller to carry when I'm out walking.
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Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Sunday, October 24, 2004 - 5:42 pm
Dra..are you familiar with the Zire 72 that I asked about?
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Yankee_in_ca
Member
08-01-2000
| Sunday, October 24, 2004 - 6:04 pm
Texannie, I am not familiar with the Zire 72, but my mom does have a Zire (and I had a Palm Tungsten before I switched over to Blackberry). Her Zire is used by her primarily as a PDA. From looking at the PalmOne site, it looks as though the Zire 72 is an all-in-one machine -- does lots of things. Which can be cool. It depends on what your son would prefer, I think. If you're looking to store & play music on the Zire, though, you will have to buy expansion cards -- which can get expensive if you want to store a lot of music. (For instance, a 256 megabyte card is $80 on the Palm site.) But, if your son is NOT looking to store a lot of music, and would appreciate the PDA components as much or more than the music side (and doesn't need to store his whole CD collection in his pocket), it could be interesting. I still think if you're looking for a device to play primarily music, the iPod is the way to go. (As I mentioned before, I have had MP3 players for years, including versions by Creative, Rio, Sony and Dell. And I prefer the iPod hands down) Again, I think it comes down to what your son would prefer to get out of it. I hope this helps just a little. I'm by no means a tech expert, but I have used these things for years. 
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Draheid
Moderator
09-09-2001
| Sunday, October 24, 2004 - 7:20 pm
Texannie: No, I'm not familiar with the Zier 72 at all. I looked at the specifications briefly on the PalmOne website, and only found that it does have a 1GB memory card that should work in it, for $180 at the Palm Store. That should give you around the same amount of storage as a CD recorded with .mp3 files, just not as convenient when you want to change music collections for the portable device.
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Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Monday, October 25, 2004 - 4:42 am
His dad thought it might be a neat present for him, but he's really not all that into downloading music. He did try with the Rio but said it was frustrating, so he just listens to his radio. We asked him if he wanted some new CD's and he said no. So, now we aren't sure that if he just got disinterested cause he was frustrated and if he had the iPod he would really use it or he just doesn't really care all that much. In addition, was do I do about the whole operating system conflict with the iPod.....i really don't want to spend the $300 plus have to pay to get a new OS, so the iPod won't work for me, right? He did mention that he could use a PDA but we aren't sure if he was just joking. Usually kids are telling you want the want and it's too much, this year he is being really low key. To top it off, his birthday is next week and he hasn't even said what he wants for that!!!! Glad he's not being greedy, but it is a little frustrating! LOL
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Jan
Member
08-01-2000
| Monday, October 25, 2004 - 12:12 pm
Thanks Dra and Yankee. I think my stuff is all in wav format...I assume so as, when I used to be able to burn a CD (back before all my resource problems) the resultant CD's were playable on my CD player. Q1) That is Wav, isn't it ??????? Q2) Since I no longer have the hard copy CD's for a lot of this music on my computer, can I somehow convert the wav files into MP3 mode? Q3) Since I only have CD players right now, if I convert to MP3 I assume my music would then only be compatible with any MP3 player I might buy??
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Draheid
Moderator
09-09-2001
| Monday, October 25, 2004 - 9:23 pm
Jan: A1) Yes, those sound like Wav files. A2) You should consider making CDs out of the wav files for archiving and playback on regular CD players. A3) You can find utilities, such as the 'encoder' included with Nero, to "copy" the files to .mp3 format without losing the originals. You can also convert back to .wav for making CDs later if you want. The only consideration is the quality you select for the mp3 files. 128kbps is considered comparable to CD quality in some opinions, while 160kbps is considered the same by others. I have personally even seen much higher (320kbps in some instances) and honestly cannot tell the difference. In any case, what quality you choose for your MP3s can be determined by the player you want to use. Keeping in mind that the lower rate (128kbps) will give you smaller files. This would allow more songs to be stored on a disc. Hope this helps (but I'm afraid it might cause more confusion. lol)
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Jan
Member
08-01-2000
| Tuesday, October 26, 2004 - 1:27 pm
No it does help, Dra! THanks again for your great help  
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Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Sunday, November 21, 2004 - 7:47 am
some more questions....One of the things my ds said that he didn't like about his Rio was that it was so slow downloading. I am assuming it was the Rio that was slow but he sounded like it was dealing with Windows Player that was a pain..does any of that make sense? LOL Is the iPod faster at downloading? What is iTunes? Does it cost to download? Are you just copying cd's?
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Julieboo
Member
02-05-2002
| Sunday, November 21, 2004 - 10:50 am
All I can say is get the ipod. You will be happy. Well, at least your son will be. itunes is also fantastic. My dh uses it all the time. You find individual songs, not just whole CDs.... I don't know how much itunes is, it might be $99 a year, but I might be totally wrong on that. I will ask dh when he gets home.
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Julieboo
Member
02-05-2002
| Sunday, November 21, 2004 - 11:34 am
OK, I was wrong with itunes, it is 99¢ per song. And he thinks its $10 per album..
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Yankee_in_ca
Member
08-01-2000
| Sunday, November 21, 2004 - 12:03 pm
With iTunes, you can do both -- 1) Transfer files you have copied from your CDs, and 2) Go to the iTunes music store and purchase individual songs or albums for download. Individual songs are 99 cents, as Julieboo said, and most albums are $10. (It's a great resource if there's that ONE song you're looking for, but don't really want to buy the whole album.) In terms of transferring to the iPod, yes, iTunes makes it fast and easy. I have used Windows Media Player and MusicMatch and Creative software in the past (with previous MP3 players), and in my opinion iTunes is the easiest, fastest interface for transferring songs and playlists. BUT, regarding the speed, as was noted before -- you really need a USB2 connection on your computer if you want the transfer to be fast. I'm unsure whether you have one or not, but you can buy a USB2 card for $25-75. I hope this helps.
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Draheid
Moderator
09-09-2001
| Sunday, November 21, 2004 - 12:12 pm
The issue of downloading is completely dependent on two things. 1). The type of interface being used to connect the player to the computer and 2) the type of encoding (file format such as mp3/wma/etc.) used to store the songs. 1) USB 1.0/1.1: is the slowest of all at 12 mbps (megabits per second) maximum but is very common on most older computers and therefore compatible with devices. Firewire/1394: is rated at 100 - 400 mbps however this is usually an optional interface and is used more often for digital video (connecting to digital camcorders, external hard drives for video storage, etc.) USB 2.0: is rated up to 480 mbps and is becoming the more standard interface. This is usually also backward compatible to USB 1.0/1.1 specification as well. 2) Most encoding formats (mp3, wma, ogg, etc) have comparable compression abilities, depending on the 'rate' of encoding used. The standard 128kbps will compress a 5 minute song into about 4.75 MB, higher rates (somewhat better quality sound) will result in larger files. Different download services offer different encoding format, usually depending on the player you choose. Some offer multiple formats to their customers. The average price per song is under $1.00 (iTunes=.99, Wal-Mart .88, etc). There are also some issues of what is available from each source, depending on which recording studios they have contracts with or are affiliated with if that applies. You can always 'rip' (decode from CD) your own music and load that into your player also. Again, all of the above affects this as well. Hope this helps.
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Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Sunday, November 21, 2004 - 12:54 pm
I guess I need to also figure out what USB connection I have.
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