[Sly Fox]

I am seriously behind the times on iPods (OK, open up the Old Hag cracks). I need some direction. Anyone who can lend a hand, PM me.

[TDDance234]

Whatcha' need to know?

[PeterParker]

Just reneged on my non-conformist ways and joined the iPodnation.

Freakin' Sweet.

It's like someone wrapping all of your cd collection (okay 8 tracks maybe for ya ) and giving them all back to you as one big Christmas present.

BTW, if you get a nano, get the iSkin case for it (just put it on and it's the perfect blend of functionality and protection.)

http://www.iskin.com/in2g/index.tpl?car ... 7155258763

[pbow]

I would suggest the 30 GB Video Ipod. It has the perfect amount of space for music and movies.

[Sly Fox]

OK, I bought Mrs. Sly a Nano for Christmas. It was not without a great deal of consternation. I gave serious consideration to the Zune. Yeah, I know. Its from the evil empire of Microsoft. But I really like the video aspects of it. But there were enough bad reviews that they scared me away. The video quality on the video iPod was very disappointing to me. I'll bet they have a widescreen video unit out soon. And I love the subscription service that Microsoft runs as opposed to the $1-a-pop song set up. But when I looked at how I expect she will utilize the player, I decided to go with the basic Nano unit.

She's not exactly what I'd call a Techno-geek and is going to be somewhat intimidated by the iTunes setup (she never got the hang of the Palm I bought her five years ago). But it appears once you get the good in the unit, its relatively easy to operate.

So basically I am looking for suggestions in getting her rolling.

[PeterParker]

I have found iTunes pretty straightforward. Just download the app, go to help and download the PDA and it's pretty much 1, 2, 3 from there...

I picked up the Nano as a bridge until the rumored 120+ Full Screen Video iPod comes out next year sometime, with the Nano to eventually be used for workout/utility purposes. I burned my entire cd collection (1600 and counting) into it and still have 3 GB left (8GB unit).

The Podcast function is cool...so many podcasts, so little time.

Also, you've got to get a wireless FM transmitter for the car...you'll never look at cd's the same again, especially if you already have a direct input auxiliary setup in your vehicle (much better sound than the FM tuner, although I bought an off-brand tuner and it works great with a really strong signal and I live in an area with a little over 1.5M people.)

[TDDance234]

I did the iTrip transmitter for awhile and it fizzled. So, I bought a tape deck adapter because my car is ancient and still has a tape deck and I love it.

[SuperJon]

I'm hoping to get an iPod for Christmas. I know that my cd player has a place to plug XM directly into it but I don't think it has an iPod one. I'll have to use the FM transmitter which I'm not a big fan of.

[Sly Fox]

I have old school tape decks in both of my vehicles that we use with an adapter for our dvd player. It works surprisingly well.

[qkslvrsrfrboy]

the thing with the FM transmitters is you get what you pay for, i bought one for 20 bucks that sucked, so then i biought a new one for like 90 and it works perfect in chicago and lyncburg( i threw the chicago in because here theres only like 2 frequencys that have only a little bit of signal

[phoenix]

I got the 2G Nano last year for Christmas and love it. I've got a pretty good amount of music on the computer (almost 7 gig), and close to 30 gig of podcasts, but I don't really need any more than 2 gig with me at any one time. A video iPod would be nice -- my wife used one not long ago and said watching the video on that small a screen isn't as bad as we had thought it would be. I just don't have that much video that I absolutely have to take with me.

The Zune had potential, but Microsoft messed it up. It doesn't work with their own DRM (major problem there), it doesn't work yet with their new OS (another big blunder). It's got Wi-Fi, but you can't access their music store straight from the Zune -- THAT would have been a major new feature that they could have capitalized on, and would have sold the things.

[qkslvrsrfrboy]

yeah the only thing i like about the zune is the wifi thing, but thats not even that big of a deal. I have to take my ipod in and get it fixed because the headphone jack broke, but its kinda my fault for the way i wrapper my headphones around it, but when i took it in last week it was a 3 hour wait in line for the service center.

[PAmedic]

the thing with the FM transmitters is you get what you pay for, i bought one for 20 bucks that sucked, so then i biought a new one for like 90 and it works perfect in chicago and lyncburg( i threw the chicago in because here theres only like 2 frequencys that have only a little bit of signal

that may be my problem then. Mine DOES suck and I DID pay 19.99 for it

other than that I love my Samsung (which is identical to the Nano) but cost a ton less.

and I love Limewire

[JDUB]

with certain brands of aftermarket cd players they sell adapters to hook an ipod up to it. it should be better quality than the fm transmitter.
jon, isn't your an alpine? i think they sell an ipod adapter thing for those.

[El Scorcho]

And I love the subscription service that Microsoft runs as opposed to the $1-a-pop song set up.

I don't like that at the end of the year I could have paid several hundred dollars to Microsoft and still not own a darned thing. I'll take the $1-a-pop model, please.

[SuperJon]

jon, isn't your an alpine? i think they sell an ipod adapter thing for those.

Yea, mine's an alpine, I'll hafta look into it.

[qkslvrsrfrboy]

yeah limewire is great but too many viruses. its easier to use mytunes redux if your on a network like at campus, or if not theres a way to take other peoples music off of aol instant messenger

[JDUB]

i tried mytunes redux and couldn't get it to connect to anyone. my roomate said he gets it to work on like 1out of 50 people. do you have the same problem?

[kel varson]

Maybe this is a stupid question but if someone can take me threw it step by step I would appreciate it.

Here's the deal: When I got my ipod, I originially downloaded my songs to my dad's laptop. I didn't have a computer at home at the time, so I loaded my music from his computer. Now, I have a computer, but how do I get the songs to my laptop without having them disappear from my ipod mini. In other words, when I tired loading songs from itunes on my laptop at my place the songs that were previously on my ipod mini, disappeared (like 150 songs) and all I had were the five new ones.

Please explain:

[qkslvrsrfrboy]

JDUB: i have the same problem with mytunes redux, thats why i started doing the aim thing, it works soo much better. you have to have the old version of aim(not triton) though, and then you go to file sharing on preferences and find where you keep your music, select share. This allows others to get your music. To get music you go to a screenname, right click it and go to get file and browse for whatever you want. My aim screenname is my name on here, and i have like 6000 songs if you want to steal my music.

Kel: you have to download a program to do it, theres like a million out there but cant remember any good ones. some only let you do a couple of songs at a time and others you have to pay for, but they should get the job done, just go on google. I had the same problem when i got my laptop earlier this year, only i lost 4500 songs and the computer i had them on was half way across the country.

[Purple Haize]

QK I was SMART because I realize my ignorance in this area. I just got a new 'puter. ALL my ipod stuff on the other. I downloaded iTunes to this one and bought a program that the Best Buy guy said would work. I downloaded the iPod songs to THAT program but not to the iTunes deck. When It ry to synch my iPod it gives me that "reformat?" screen. What can I do oh great puter wizard. Feel free to AIM respond

[qkslvrsrfrboy]

have you moved those files into your itunes library?

[Purple Haize]

I followed the directions and I still get that nasty window that pops up. I am POSITIVE I dont want to reformat my iPod, that would be bad ! I guess I will keep trying. Of course I havent tried to load anything on it either. APPLE makes its bones being "user" friendly. YOu would think they would have an easy process in place for this situation.

[qkslvrsrfrboy]

what do you mean by reformat?

[SuperJon]

I plugged mine up to the computer about 30 minutes ago and I keep getting a "Do not disconnect" flashing. I'm assuming it's charging or something.