iPod

[Framer]

Yeah, my first Apple product. Please don't hurt me.
It's just a 30 gig model, does video, I bought it used. My question is, short of dragging 300 cd's up the stairs out of the basement, what's the easiest way to get music to populate it with? Movies, I have, but I really just want music on it. I don't have any music on any computer. Just a couple hundred gigs of movies.

[rogue]

that depends on if you want to pay for that music or not.
if you want to pay for it, there's iTunes, if not, there are, um, other ways that i'd probably rather not explain in a public forum.

[Framer]

Right. I could probably find a place to download music from that I already own on disc, strictly for backup purposes.
Why didn't I think of that?
I'll drag the hundreds of cd's up from the basement before I pay money twice for music. I already paid, so fuck off Lars Ulrich.

[Hawky]

that depends on if you want to pay for that music or not.
if you want to pay for it, there's iTunes, if not, there are, um, other ways that i'd probably rather not explain in a public forum.

It doesnt have to be music you paid for on iTunes.
Any mp3 you have on your computer, can be put on your ipod through itunes.

[rogue]

that depends on if you want to pay for that music or not.
if you want to pay for it, there's iTunes, if not, there are, um, other ways that i'd probably rather not explain in a public forum.

It doesnt have to be music you paid for on iTunes.
Any mp3 you have on your computer, can be put on your ipod through itunes.

I don't have any music on any computer. Just a couple hundred gigs of movies.

[Hawky]

Yea i read it. it's called downloading, through anything, torrents, emule, whatever you like. If you have the original cd, it's not illegal.

[Preacher]

That entirely depends on what circus court (see what I did there?) the RIAA wants to prosecute you in. They have sued businesses for ripping CD's to a central machine that played music in the lobby - the reason for this was the businesses weren't playing the Muzak fees.

On Topic -

I like CDEX - http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/ - free, works decently, can rip to any myriad of settings.

But I find myself more and more using Windows Media Player to rip things with.

I use MediaMonkey - http://www.mediamonkey.com/ - to manage music, change tags, add album artwork, etc. It's better than iTunes in that it doesn't install Apple-bloat (be careful installing Apple software, as it tends to put Safari on there, which is garbage for anything other than getting to firefox/opera), and it works. Including syncing. You will still have to install iTunes once, at least, to make sure your iPod has the latest firmware; after that I'd heavily recommend using MediaMonkey.

[Framer]

Hm. I thought I just had to pop a cd into the drive, and transfer the files to the iPod via the usb port.....looks like I have some learning to do. The thing has maybe 10 gigs of movies and music already on it, and I was told I could delete the crap/manage the content using the pc, kinda like with the digital camera, plugged into a usb port......

Well, I guess I have to learn this crap sooner or later
Thanks for the help guys.

[Preacher]

AFAIK, most ipods don't support direct file transfer. I could be wrong, as most of my experience with ipods has been replacing hard drives or showing the owner that the control board/screen is bad and it's cheaper to buy a new one.

Good luck.

[Angelus]

It works with the iPod nano (3 I think).

[Preacher]

I can get it to work on a shuffle for it, but you can't set flags for audio books that way (so the chapters aren't screwy).

My one experience with a Nano involved it having been crushed by textbooks, in a backpack, on a bus. Not the sturdiest device ever, or so I've seen. YMMV.

[Ilkimys]

Good choice Framer, I've got the same model as you. Bought it new through eBay from some far eastern country in the summer of 2007. Been working solid so far. The only minus side is that I have to delete old music every time I add new since its capacity is so small. A friend of mine has the new 80 gig model. I envy him.

Yes, you can use it as a portable drive, no problem. Tick the option in the piece of shit software they ship with it. iTunes or something it's called.