Should I get a new MP3 Player? Plus, question about iTunes/iPods.

[Jeffreybar]

Howdy all...i've been away from head-fi for a while, but I know I can get some responses here from all the different camps (or at least inadvertantly start a brand flame-war

)...so here's the deal.

My iHP-140 was starting to exhibit signs of imminent hard drive failure, so I got an RMA and sent it off today to iRiver for repair. Since I've owned iRiver products in the past which had to be RMA'd, I know that they usually send completely new units as replacements (packaging and all). So if I want to, I can sell my replacement on eBay and get a new mp3 player.

I really liked my iHP-140, and for that reason, I may just stick with the replacement unit that iRiver sends me. But I've had it for a while, and boredom sets in, and I'm curious to try something else. We'll see.

If I were to replace it, I was considering a 4th gen ipod, but I would be open to other suggestions. I would need at least a 40gb drive in a 1.8"-size player, not costing significantly more than the 40gb iPod. I would also *prefer* a player which uses file-tree organization (i know the ipod does not do this), because I just like organizing my music that way. I make very little use out of either the FM tuner or the recording capabilities of my iHP, so these aren't really a big deal. Any suggestions on players that I haven't considered?

My iPod/iTunes question is this: is there a barebones way to transfer music to the iPod? I mean, do you have to *sync* your computer with the iPod using iTunes or Anapod or whatever? This would be a problem for me...my only computer now is a laptop with a 40gb hard drive. Obviously, after operating and other software is counted, there is much less than 40gb worth of space on this hard drive, so I wouldn't even be able to fill up the iPod from my computer if I just synced it straight-up. I use a 80gb external drive to back my music collection up, but I don't want to have to connect this drive and plug it in every time I add music to the iPod.

Additionally, can the iPod be used as a normal external hard drive like my iHP 140? This is a really great feature which I have used several times...I'd hate to give it up.

 

[ipoddy]

To my knowledge, the only way to transfer music to the iPod is with a PC. I do not beleive there is a direct method.

Yes, the iPod can be used as a hard drive. I use iPod agent to download Outlook contacts and notes to my iPod.

Jim

 

[Oddball]

If I understand your question correctly, then yes, there is a barebones way to transfer music. I never used the sync when I had my iPod. I simply selected which files I wanted to transfer and transferred them. You don't need the external hard drive all the time then.

 

[Jeffreybar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oddball If I understand your question correctly, then yes, there is a barebones way to transfer music. I never used the sync when I had my iPod. I simply selected which files I wanted to transfer and transferred them. You don't need the external hard drive all the time then.

Great...that answers my question if I made it clear.

Just to clarify, here is what the situation is:

I have a large collection of mp3s on an external hard drive. The external hard drive is not normally connected to my computer. When I buy a new cd, I usually do not transfer it to my external hard drive immediately...I just rip it to my laptop's hard drive, then copy those particular mp3s over to my iHP.

I guess my concern was, since I don't usually have that hard drive connected when I transfer files, I thought that the iPod might decide I had deleted all those files from my HD and try to do the same on itself when I went to transfer over just one or two new CDs worth of mp3s.

I hope that's a bit clearer...unfortunately it's kind of a convoluted process, so it's difficult to explain clearly.

 

[blessingx]

You don't have to sync your iTunes and iPod. Just connect your drive and manually transfer. I have a similar setup to you (external 160GB drive for music) and only occasionally connect.

Besides iTunes there are others (as you mentioned) for transferring. Anapod is a great alternative.

And yes you can make your iPod mount as a drive. Some in the past have even run OS X off it. There is also a Linux on iPod group.

The iRiver and iPod are very different players though from a user interface perspective. The iRiver has a ton of extra features as you already know, but one thing the iPod does have is great third party support. I often run .aa audiobooks through it to an attached iTrip for my car stereo as I'm charging through a Sik to my cig lighter.

EDIT: We were typing at the same time. The only downside of your method is if you use iTunes to transfer, it keeps a database file of your music collection (on your computer). Although it will reassign to a local drive if the external isn't connected (so you can rip, etc.), but once you reconnect your external you'll have to reimport your files (if indeed iTunes pointed to another driver). This only takes a minute, but its an irritation. All this is true if you allow iTunes to keep things organized, but if you don't you shouldn't have to worry about it (in theory as I keep things organized). Hope this helps.

 

[Jeffreybar]

another itunes/ipod question. i was just reading over the manual for the ipod, and it says that you have to set the ipod in iTunes to be used as an external hard drive. Does this mean that any machine you connect it to which you want to transfer non-music files onto or off of the iPod has to have iTunes installed?

For example, say I store some pictures on my iPod. Can I then hook the iPod up to a random computer which does not have iTunes installed and access the pictures from it?