[nickrobotron]

I just bought my first iPod off of eBay a couple days ago. I have a lot of questions. I don't even know how to put songs on it.

I want it to sound really good, obviously, but I also want to take advantage of its small size. What's the happy medium? Sounds great, but also not too large. I want to fit as many GREAT SOUNDING albums on this 4 gig as I can. I've heard that lossless isn't noticeable enough to be worth it. I would especially feel this way with a 4 gig.

Also, if someone has the patience and time, could you please walk me through the process of putting these songs on my iPod?

Thanks head-fi!

 

[frozncore]

You need iTunes to transfer the songs. 320kbps is the best quality for mp3 files. You can use rockbox if you have a 1G nano.

 

[rxc]

Open iTunes, connect Nano, drag songs/playlist to Nano icon.

 

[nickrobotron]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rxc /img/forum/go_quote.gif Open iTunes, connect Nano, drag songs/playlist to Nano icon.

Oh.

 

[nickrobotron]

So I should just use the 320 option in iTunes? How much worse is that than lossless? Would some say that it's not noticeable?

 

[soloz2]

ues EAC to rip your music

 

[nickrobotron]

EAC? Man, I don't know what these things mean. Is that something in iTunes?

 

[kugino]

Quote:

Originally Posted by soloz2 /img/forum/go_quote.gif ues EAC to rip your music

yeah, nice job. this guy doesn't even know how to get music onto his nano and you're recommending EAC

my advice would be to rip your CDs at something around 192-256 VBR (you can change the options in the advanced section of the itunes preferences). this will give you very good quality while still maintaining a relatively small file size so you can fit more tunes onto the nano. while some purport to be able to distinguish between 320mp3/aac and lossless, it usually requires good headphones and often a good amp as well (and many times a good dose of BS)

there's a lot of information around here so just try the "search" function and you'll learn a lot...

 

[jonnywolfet]

a tip for prolonging battery life: dont let the battery fully discharge between charge cycles.

 

[soloz2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kugino /img/forum/go_quote.gif yeah, nice job. this guy doesn't even know how to get music onto his nano and you're recommending EAC my advice would be to rip your CDs at something around 192-256 VBR (you can change the options in the advanced section of the itunes preferences). this will give you very good quality while still maintaining a relatively small file size so you can fit more tunes onto the nano. while some purport to be able to distinguish between 320mp3/aac and lossless, it usually requires good headphones and often a good amp as well (and many times a good dose of BS) there's a lot of information around here so just try the "search" function and you'll learn a lot...

sorry but google is your friend. there are lots of step-by-step guides that make using EAC easier than your avg ripping software

 

[nc8000]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nickrobotron /img/forum/go_quote.gif So I should just use the 320 option in iTunes? How much worse is that than lossless? Would some say that it's not noticeable?

I keep my whole library in 320 aac and even with good equipment I can not reliably tell the difference between this and losless. Going from 196 to 320 I could most of the time tell the difference but again not all the time, especially not on the road nor on the Nano.

 

[tnmike1]

one more thing: go to Apple's website and join the Ilounge. It's a huge fact-based forum where all kindsa people are answering all kindsa questions. and Kugino is right: if you're not messing with amps and hi-end headphones, keep the files as small as possible so you can store more tunes.

 

[aluren]

why don't u rip your cd into lossless, 320k, 256k, 192k, 128k, etc. and try it out for yourself instead of wasting time asking here... it's not like it'll cost u anything....

 

[pata2001]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nickrobotron /img/forum/go_quote.gif I just bought my first iPod off of eBay a couple days ago. I have a lot of questions. I don't even know how to put songs on it. I want it to sound really good, obviously, but I also want to take advantage of its small size. What's the happy medium? Sounds great, but also not too large. I want to fit as many GREAT SOUNDING albums on this 4 gig as I can. I've heard that lossless isn't noticeable enough to be worth it. I would especially feel this way with a 4 gig. Also, if someone has the patience and time, could you please walk me through the process of putting these songs on my iPod? Thanks head-fi!

Easiest:
1. Install iTunes on your PC
2. Rip CD with iTunes (the default setting 128kbps AAC is transparent for most people, so unless you know how to do ABX, go easy and enjoy your music).
3. Connect the nano
4. iTunes will ask if you want to sync the nano or not. If you have a larger library than 4GB, don't sync everything.
5. There are 2 ways to transfer music. If you go to the nano setting, there is an option for "Manually manage my music." This will allow you to drag-n-drop what you want to the nano within iTunes. However, dragging-n-dropping 4GB of stuff IMO is a waste of time.
6. The second way is to sync your nano to a playlist. In iTunes, create a playlist/smart-playlist for your favorite tracks, and have your nano sync to that specific playlist. This way, all you need to do is update the playlist, and anytime your connect your nano, it will automatically update itself.

Don't like iTunes? Download winamp (the full free version). The latest winamp has an iPod plugin, allowing you to drag-n-drop music form your winamp library to your iPod.

Hope these will get you started.

 

[tjohnusa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonnywolfet /img/forum/go_quote.gif a tip for prolonging battery life: dont let the battery fully discharge between charge cycles.

Actually its the other way around. If you recharge the battery without discharging it as much as possible the battery will get a memory that will show a low charge after a shorter time than it should. I use 320k with VBR(variable bit rate) and feel that gives very good sound in a smaller than lossless file. The way it works is that on quit passages it will lower the bit rate so the bits it will need are smaller than if you kept the bitrate at a consistant 320k