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Need to Move with the Times
Porcupine
18-08-2008
I need some help. I have a MAMMOTH hi fi in my lounge, and im thinking of getting an iPod or MP3 player with a docking station that i can use.

The trouble is, i really know nothing about them. I have never downloaded music. I have looked on line, but i would like a recommended system really.

So basically, can someone recommend a good system i can buy that can be used with a docking station. Something user friendly for a novice.

It has to have plenty of space on it too as i love music.

Plus, how do you know what music sites to use which are legal ? How much does it generally cost. Is it easy to transfer music from the web to the Ipod .... and how about from disc to Ipod ?
Cornucopia
18-08-2008
Hmm... Many questions.

There are a number of ways to go, and it depends to an extent on how much you want to spend.

If you want a very large capacity device, you have premium brands like iPod and Archos (both very good reputations). Both have docking stations available, and for the iPod there are a wide range of docking stations with speakers built-in.

At the cheaper end of the market, there are unbranded hard-drive devices that are very cheap, for what they do - hook them up to your TV, and away you go. There are also smaller, portable MP3/4 players of all brands.

A key question is whether you want something to use in conjunction with your TV and an external Amp/Speakers, or something more self-contained.

As for getting hold of MP3s... The easiest way is still to "rip" existing CDs, which is perfectly legal and easy to do, for example, with iTunes or Windows Media Player. If you go on-line and don't get involved in peer-to-peer set-ups, most of the rest is legal (and some is free).

Try here: http://www.mp3.com/free-music/ Lots of other sites are available.
sirpipe
18-08-2008
Porcupine,
I have CDs all over the place and getting really fed up with the clutter. 2 weeks ago I bought an iPod Classic 80GB and I have loaded over 40 CDs onto it. So far I have used under 7 GB. It is great to link into your hi-fi system provided you use an iPod to Phono adapter. I bought one from fleabay for under £5. It also links into my car via a personal audio interface.
Welcome to the new world.
prawn crackers
19-08-2008
I brought an iPod Classic at the duty free Gatwick for £135 in Feb this year. The selling point was if I had any problem with it I could take it back to any Currys and get it repaired.
Glad I brought it this way rather than cheeper online as in March the iPod froze up during synchronizing. (Copying music from my PC to the iPod).
My local Currys supplied a new one.
I have brought some Bose headphones to improve portable use sound quality. And I use the JBL Docking station at home.
This little system has totally replaced my HI FI. I can't remember the last time I turned the Hi Fi on.
It takes aprox ten minutes to read (rip) in a dvd into iTunes library.
If you happen to come across any MP3 files then it happily imports them in along with the album artwork that may have come with the download. WMA files can also be added to the iTunes library. iiTunes will automatically convert these files in it's importation process... takes a second or two longer that's all.
And if you have any music videos they can also be added to the iTunes library. However if they are AVI files you will need to convert these to a format iTunes recognises (Quicktime). I just downloaded a free bit of software (Jodix Free iPod Video Converter)
Final important thing is the iTunes has an easy back up.... Click on File and select Back Up To Disc.
So far I have about 30GB on my iPod and the back up takes about an hour and uses 4 DVD's.
Also would like to say you don't need to be a teenager to be qualified to use one as I am past 50 and I love my iPod.

PC
Jan4
19-08-2008
Hi Porcupine,

Thanks for starting this thread. I'm researching iPods and have never had one before too. Love Prawn Crackers' comment about not having to be a teenager to be qualified to use an iPod. I am seriously so not a teenager ! Am following this thread with interest. And now I'm not sure if the iPod I'm thinking of getting will have sufficient memory to hold all my CDs as it has only 32GB. Also, I'm flying from Heathrow soon and wonder if they have a Curry's there with iPods for me to explore....shall check it out.

Thanks again all!
Sue
prawn crackers
19-08-2008
"I'm flying from Heathrow soon and wonder if they have a Curry's there with iPods for me to explore....shall check it out".
At the Airport it was the Dixons Duty Free shop I brought mine from, yet Curry's on the high street were fine on replacing it. If you are considering buying just get that confirmed in case things have changed.
I was going to Tenerife and nearly decided not to buy my iPod at the Airport on the way out, just in case they were cheeper abroad. But they weren't..... £160 was about the cheepest over there, and then you risk getting a FAKE copy. The shopkepers over in Tenerife always say genuine Apple but they would say that wouldn't they.

Regarding storage space I have just checked my 80GB version iPod classic.
19.3 GB used
55..0 GB Free (spare space)

I have 3843 songs (293 Albums) on it and six music videos. Each video is approx 5mins long.
I thought I had used more space than the 19.3GB.
Anyhow I hope that has given a bit of an idea on what you can do with 20GB and you would still have some spare to fill.
Note you never get to use all the 32GB as the iPod reserves some of the space for it's own operating system software.
And it looks in my case that my 80GB has actually got 74GB that I can use .

PC
Porcupine
19-08-2008
Originally Posted by Cornucopia:
“Hmm... Many questions.

There are a number of ways to go, and it depends to an extent on how much you want to spend.

If you want a very large capacity device, you have premium brands like iPod and Archos (both very good reputations). Both have docking stations available, and for the iPod there are a wide range of docking stations with speakers built-in.

At the cheaper end of the market, there are unbranded hard-drive devices that are very cheap, for what they do - hook them up to your TV, and away you go. There are also smaller, portable MP3/4 players of all brands.

A key question is whether you want something to use in conjunction with your TV and an external Amp/Speakers, or something more self-contained.

As for getting hold of MP3s... The easiest way is still to "rip" existing CDs, which is perfectly legal and easy to do, for example, with iTunes or Windows Media Player. If you go on-line and don't get involved in peer-to-peer set-ups, most of the rest is legal (and some is free).

Try here: http://www.mp3.com/free-music/ Lots of other sites are available.”

Thank you for everyones responses, but i will pick one post (above) to reply too - but i appreciate everyones comments.

No, i dont need anything to work in conjunction with the TV - but i would like external speakers.

Price wise, i have about £200. Is that enough to cover the Ipod and docking station ? If not, i will have to save for another couple of months.

I do need to do this soon. My current stereo is the size of a small house, and takes up soooo much room. Im sick of the sight of it.
Jan4
19-08-2008
Dear Porcupine,

Sorry, hope you don't mind my replying to PC on your thread. Appreciate your starting it.


Dear PC,

At the Airport it was the Dixons Duty Free shop I brought mine from, yet Curry's on the high street were fine on replacing it. If you are considering buying just get that confirmed in case things have changed.
I was going to Tenerife and nearly decided not to buy my iPod at the Airport on the way out, just in case they were cheeper abroad. But they weren't..... £160 was about the cheepest over there, and then you risk getting a FAKE copy. The shopkepers over in Tenerife always say genuine Apple but they would say that wouldn't they.

Regarding storage space I have just checked my 80GB version iPod classic.
19.3 GB used
55..0 GB Free (spare space)

I have 3843 songs (293 Albums) on it and six music videos. Each video is approx 5mins long.
I thought I had used more space than the 19.3GB.
Anyhow I hope that has given a bit of an idea on what you can do with 20GB and you would still have some spare to fill.
Note you never get to use all the 32GB as the iPod reserves some of the space for it's own operating system software.
And it looks in my case that my 80GB has actually got 74GB that I can use .


Thanks for your info'. I will keep your advice in mind when I go through Heathrow. I just found out from my other thread (advice on iPods needed) that prices may go down in September as Apple is planning to launch their new iPods. Looking forward to it. Also your detail on storage space is immensely helpful. I think the 32GB iPod Touch will probably suit my needs as I don't have 293 albums..although I have quite a number of meditation CDs and self help stuff that runs into hours at a time... still it doesn't quite measure up to your numbers . Feel more reassured now as 32GB did sound a bit on the low side compared to 80 and 160GB.

Blessings
Sue
Cornucopia
19-08-2008
Originally Posted by Porcupine:
“Thank you for everyones responses, but i will pick one post (above) to reply too - but i appreciate everyones comments.

No, i dont need anything to work in conjunction with the TV - but i would like external speakers.

Price wise, i have about £200. Is that enough to cover the Ipod and docking station ? If not, i will have to save for another couple of months.

I do need to do this soon. My current stereo is the size of a small house, and takes up soooo much room. Im sick of the sight of it.”

Okay. Yes £200 for an 80GB iPod classic + docking station with speakers is possible.

The TV solution is actually cheaper, especially since you seem not to actually need something portable. (c. £75 for 80GB solution, including your external speakers).

These are excellent, if your budget stretches.
prawn crackers
20-08-2008
I agree with Cornucopia. He said "These are excellent, if your budget stretches".
From my earlier post the JBL links to where I brought my JBL on Stage. "And I use the JBL Docking station at home"

You will see cheaper " JBL On Stage" but I recommend getting the JBL On Stage II, as the II has the remote control. A very useful tool.

PC
Scrolllock
21-08-2008
Originally Posted by Porcupine:
“I need some help. I have a MAMMOTH hi fi in my lounge, and im thinking of getting an iPod or MP3 player with a docking station that i can use.

The trouble is, i really know nothing about them. I have never downloaded music. I have looked on line, but i would like a recommended system really.

So basically, can someone recommend a good system i can buy that can be used with a docking station. Something user friendly for a novice.

It has to have plenty of space on it too as i love music.”

That's easy, a 160gig iPod.

Originally Posted by Porcupine:
“Plus, how do you know what music sites to use which are legal ? How much does it generally cost. Is it easy to transfer music from the web to the Ipod .... and how about from disc to Ipod ?”

Stick to the known sites like Apple's iTunes or Amazon.

It is very easy to transfer your music to an iPod.
Golgarth
21-08-2008
You can buy varying size of docking stations for the Ipod that include speakers. Please stay well clear of unbranded crappy cheap ones, they sound awful and are no use.

I have a JBL sound station mini, which is perfect 95% of the time as it delivers clear music, so long as I don't want absolute bass (basic rule that size demands bass)

I personally believe an ipod would be best for you. You buy it and it almost does the rest for you. Itunes will sort out your existing collection for you too. The only hassle is sitting there transfering all the music from CD to you PC ready to be sent to your Ipod.

The genius of Apple with the Ipod has been that they have brought out a product that just works, no hassle, no arguing, just works. They are intuitive to use, even my grandad got up to speed in about 10 mins.

I would only suggest the Archos etc to those willing to "investigate" more.
Porcupine
22-08-2008
Thank you very much for all your replies. Im on holiday next week, so i will be checking into your recommendations and buying myself a pressie

Thanks again.
steveOooo
22-08-2008
Originally Posted by prawn crackers:
“I brought an iPod Classic at the duty free Gatwick for £135 in Feb this year. The selling point was if I had any problem with it I could take it back to any Currys and get it repaired.
Glad I brought it this way rather than cheeper online as in March the iPod froze up during synchronizing. (Copying music from my PC to the iPod).
My local Currys supplied a new one.”

did u try holding the centre and menu button for 3-5seconds? that resets the ipod incase it freezes...

anyhoo.... to OP - just buy a 80/160gb ipod classic, a phono to av (3.5 mini jack to the red and white phono audio leads) for a couple of quid, and you can have the music stored on your ipod play thru to the hi fi.

I have used loads of mp3 type devices before and i must say the ipod so far has been the best - easy to use, intuitive, quick, responsive, itunes eis asy to use and just syncs with ipod so its a fairly painless process - no dragging / dropping files in explorer.

if u have loads of cds, its easy , open itunes, open prefrences, go to advance, set what u want it to do when u insert and audio cd, set it to compress the songs on the files to mp3 or aac (aac is reccomended as it makes the files smaller than mp3 whilst sounding good - i reccomend 112-96kbps at 44or48khz sample rate)

when u insert a audio cd, itunes will auto compress and save the songs on your hdd as a aac/mp3 or wav file (dont do wavs - HUGE)

apple/com/support - loads of info on working with ipod/itunes on tehre.
dslrocks
23-08-2008
Quote:
“when u insert a audio cd, itunes will auto compress and save the songs on your hdd as a aac/mp3 or wav file (dont do wavs - HUGE)”

Wavs = good sound quality (true CD quality)
AAC/MP3 = not so good sound quality (fine for listening through tinny earphones etc)

Also, if you have lots of CDs, then buy a bigger device, rather than trying to cram on lots and reducing the audio quality. Or keep some as CDs.

Quote:
“WMA files can also be added to the iTunes library. iiTunes will automatically convert these files in it's importation process... takes a second or two longer that's all.”

Thus making the sound quality worse!

Personally, I wouldn't move for the sake of moving. And what happens if the ipod breaks? You lose your entire music collection.
prawn crackers
24-08-2008
steveOooo asked.-

did u try holding the centre and menu button for 3-5seconds? that resets the ipod incase it freezes...

My iPod had frozen when synchronising.
I did try that sequence of key presses and was very relieved when it did reset..... but only to now show the Apple Logo.
So took it in to Currys where they asked me to leave it with them for an hour so they could do some tests. Upon my return they aplologised that they had not been able to bring it back to life. And I received a replacement in a week.

dslrocks asks.-

And what happens if the ipod breaks? You lose your entire music collection.

Thankfully as your Music is held in your iTunes on your Laptop/PC. when you change an iPod it is just a simple case of connecting the new iPod and it synchronises/copies all your music back on to the iPod.

Also as mentioned in my earlier post to protect yourself you can easily back up your iTunes onto DVD.
Therefore if your laptop/PC was to fail or you brought a newer one, then all you need do is start iTunes on your new PC/repared PC, and load your Back UP DVD and your library is then recovered.

Of course you must have made a back up DVD in the first place.

Unfortunately I have had to do both procedures.....

The first was out of my hands caused by my iPod failure.

The second procedure of re-installing my Library back in to my iTunes was my own fault.
Like a fool I thought I could save some space on my laptop's HDD and empty the massive 20GB ""MY MUSIC" folder as I thought everything was now held in my iTunes and didn't think I needed to duplicate ......
And quickly found out that this was not the case.
All that iTunes does is link itself to the files held in My Music.

Even though my iPod was fully loaded, my iTunes was now mostly empty. That meant as soon as I connected the iPod it would be emptied.
It is a shame you cannot download from the iPod back to iTunes.
(Apparently there are ways with free software on places like download.com).
Anyhow all I had to do was to open Itunes and insert the series of my 4 Back Up dvd's, and this re-built my iTunes library. Eventually I was back to my original situation before I started my cleaning up/save space housework.
I went thru an anxious process but was very very relieved when it all worked.
I know all you computer buffs have had a laugh about me doing somethings as silly as I did with the "My Music" folder, but if I have helped anyone by saying don't delete or move music files around in My Music it may save them having a worrying time..... especially if they haven't quite got around to making a Back Up DVD yet.

Hope you have a nice holiday Porcupine, and good luck in making your decision.

PC
Scrolllock
25-08-2008
Originally Posted by Golgarth:
“You can buy varying size of docking stations for the Ipod that include speakers. Please stay well clear of unbranded crappy cheap ones, they sound awful and are no use.

I have a JBL sound station mini, which is perfect 95% of the time as it delivers clear music, so long as I don't want absolute bass (basic rule that size demands bass)

I personally believe an ipod would be best for you. You buy it and it almost does the rest for you. Itunes will sort out your existing collection for you too. The only hassle is sitting there transfering all the music from CD to you PC ready to be sent to your Ipod.

The genius of Apple with the Ipod has been that they have brought out a product that just works, no hassle, no arguing, just works. They are intuitive to use, even my grandad got up to speed in about 10 mins.

I would only suggest the Archos etc to those willing to "investigate" more.”

That is their strength but I also think their hardware, the actual device, is the best, overall, out there. I mean just use the Touch, for example, for a little while and you have to admit it is quite an amazing device with excellent sound quality.

Apple's philosophy is to tell you the least as possible on how the device works but just enough for you to use it properly and its basic functions. Another company that does the same, and in fact also has a very easy to use interface, is Garmin, the American satellite navigation company. Next to my iPod my Garmin sat nav is my most useful device.
Scrolllock
25-08-2008
Originally Posted by steveOooo:
“did u try holding the centre and menu button for 3-5seconds? that resets the ipod incase it freezes...

anyhoo.... to OP - just buy a 80/160gb ipod classic, a phono to av (3.5 mini jack to the red and white phono audio leads) for a couple of quid, and you can have the music stored on your ipod play thru to the hi fi.”

Much better yet is to not use the headphone out to the hi fi but to get yourself a docking base and route your sound to the hi fi that way. The sound from the headphone jack sounds great but the output from the docking connection sounds so unbelievably crystal clear in comparison. I use such a setup in my car http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/autopilot the difference has been quite noticeable.
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