[nvkid909]

i wonder if these players will ever be OS specific? i had many probs ipod on XP, none with OS X (surprise?). should they be? i'm starting to think so. so much better when things are 'dedicated'.

i think people who slate ipods for not having 'simple' functions like drag & drop are barking up the wrong tree; that's more of a windows thing. ipods are a two-tier thing where drag & drop is for storage, itunes is for music etc... i think of an ipod as a car with a boot. two separate areas.

the whole ipod experience is a little bit like religion you have to accept it, go with the grain & it will 'feel' right. [/brainwashed]

 

[roebeet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pata2001 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Oh, I forgot another type of bash, the FLAC/Ogg fanboys. I tend to see this on engadget/hydrogenaudio. Again, the funny thing is none of them ever complaint about the Zune or Sony players, which don't support FLAC/Ogg either.

I can't speak for all the fanboys, but I treat all the non-Vorbis players with equal disdain.

As for drag and drop : I have a pretty large collection of music (25,000 tracks organized, with a lot more to do), and I have managed to keep my 120GB player up-to-date, so far. I started adding genres at the top level, which helped with management enormously. I don't agree that a large collection cannot be managed this way - you just need to plan it well.

I completely understand the other comments about letting the PC do all the work with synchronizing via your player's software, and I'll admit that it has its advantages. But I find the freedom to use whatever software player I want, or change it at will, more appealing.

 

[pata2001]

Quote:

Originally Posted by roebeet /img/forum/go_quote.gif As for drag and drop : I have a pretty large collection of music (25,000 tracks organized, with a lot more to do), and I have managed to keep my 120GB player up-to-date, so far. I started adding genres at the top level, which helped with management enormously. I don't agree that a large collection cannot be managed this way - you just need to plan it well.

I'm using iTunes, and I can still easily drag-n-drop to UMS players. You can drag-n-drop songs from iTunes to explorer/Finder, so using iTunes doesn't really inhibit the use of other players. I don't think people are arguing that you "cannot" manage large collection library yourself. It's just that the fact I have a computer, I rather have the computer do the dirty work of management for me as I rather spend my time listening to music than managing folders.

 

[DJGeorgeT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pata2001 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'll try. To be honest, I observed that most people prefer drag-n-drop, including all of my own family members and friends. Most people only listen to a few songs/whatever popular at the time. Most people just rip the CD they just bought, transfer it to their DAP, and then delete the songs from their PC. Most people only have a few GBs as their music "collection." Not many people have the concept of using their PC as a "jukebox" (usually because of having an old PC with inadequate storage space). Most people are more familiar with the file transfer procedure in Explorer. This also explains why there are so many people asking how to transfer songs from their iPods back to their PCs. This also relates to the funny thing of iPod bashing for "lacking" drag-n-drop, yet the Zune is hardly, if ever, criticized for the same lack of feature.

ipod bashing is a sport...

you yourself have explained why folks need drag and drop and then turn around and laugh at them...

The truth is that you can't imagine folks organizing music efficiently and not requiring music management programs to do all the job!

I am quite good with drag and drop, please don't tell me I need a program to 'help me'

 

[synaesthetic]

I'm ambivalent about drag-and-drop.

The convenience factor is nice, as is the ability to easily move files from PC to player to other PC. I sometimes used my A728 as a small USB hard drive until I picked up a 4GB flash drive for cheap.

But every single drag-and-drop player I've owned has had some problem with ID3 tagging. The Sansas and the A728 both will sometimes refuse to display tags, and I have to manually go in and retag the files with various different programs until I find a program that makes the tag stick. Winamp v2.95 is usually the one that manages to make the tags stick properly.

One thing I do miss about the iPod and iTunes was that once the tags were set appropriately, I didn't have to worry about transferring tagged files and having them show up on my iPod as "unknown."

 

[pata2001]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJGeorgeT /img/forum/go_quote.gif you yourself have explained why folks need drag and drop and then turn around and laugh at them... I am quite good with drag and drop, please don't tell me I need a program to 'help me'

Ok, first, nobody is laughing at anybody. Are you that offended by smilies to the point of making negative assumptions out of a discussion?

2nd, nobody is telling you that you need a program. You just keep assuming everybody is doing so. If you're good at drag-n-dropping, fine, but I see people bashing iPods for having to use iTunes telling other people that they don't/must not need a program. At the same time, I rarely see, if ever, the same complaint put on the Zune, which are not even UMS capable.

 

[roebeet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by synaesthetic /img/forum/go_quote.gif One thing I do miss about the iPod and iTunes was that once the tags were set appropriately, I didn't have to worry about transferring tagged files and having them show up on my iPod as "unknown."

Proper tagging is the one thing that really eats up more time than I'd like. I started using MusicBraniz Picard, as it supports FLAC, Vorbis and WMA (my three main codecs). I'm mainly a stickler for proper genre tagging, so it does take time. However, once it's done, I'm good for the long term.


Quote:

Originally Posted by pata2001 /img/forum/go_quote.gif ...nobody is telling you that you need a program. You just keep assuming everybody is doing so. If you're good at drag-n-dropping, fine, but I see people bashing iPods for having to use iTunes telling other people that they don't/must not need a program. At the same time, I rarely see, if ever, the same complaint put on the Zune, which are not even UMS capable.

Agreed that everyone's needs are different, and whatever works for them is great. I do enjoy reading these threads to gain little bits of information that I may not have known before. As for the Zune, there's a "why I dislike the Zune" thread going on, right now.