iPod shuffle is now only $49

[gxsaurav]

Suppose you have five thousand songs in your library and you copy them all onto your music player. It takes several hours and it's done. Great. No iTunes required, simply copy-paste. You're very happy.

One month from now, you want to update your music player but you realise that you've deleted several songs from your player that you want again and you've added or deleted several songs from your computer too and basically, you want your music player to have all the same songs as your computer.

What do you do now, dude? Sort out all the different songs and copy them over and delete all the ones that you've deleted from your computer? It can take ages and can be very frustrating, specially given the fact that since you don't use any media management application, your collection is probably full of songs named "Track 01" and "Track 02", etc. and don't have the proper ID3 tags.

Or you'll just have to empty the whole player and copy the whole collection again, which again takes several hours. And what if those songs are spread all over the drive?

You see what I'm getting at? You see how a mediator like iTunes helps?

Winamp, WMP11, J River media center, Amarok all do it too. iTunes isn't the only one which can do this.

For example, all my songs have artwork associated with them, only because iTunes has Cover Flow. Why would I bother with it if I didn't have any incentive to?

WMP11 has no cover flow, still all my songs are 100% tagged. What's your point here, can only iTunes tag properly ???/

 

[krazzy]

I completely understood what you were saying. But thing is, I usually don't transfer music the way you explained. If I had a player, i'd first transfer all the songs I have (if it can hold them all). Then later on if a new song comes, i'd just connect the player again and copy the song again. If I had to remove a song, I'll delete. If I want it back i'll copy it back again. I don't prefer to maintain a library or sync the player with it or anything. I just prefer simple copy-paste. Thats it.

About iTunes in Windows, then i'm sure you'll find very few people here who actually use iTunes for music playback. A windows user mostly has iTunes on his pc only because he has an iPod. For playback people mostly prefer Winamp, WMP, etc. You can have a poll if you like. For playback on a Windows pc I find Winamp to be miles better than the Windows version of iTunes.

 

[ring_wraith]

I won't comment on that because:
(1) I don't and have never owned an iPod;
(2) I cannot discern between good and bad audio quality unless there's a major difference and I'm sure that, even if the iPod has poorer audio quality, it's not that major; and
(3) Most iPod owners and reviewers I know have always been very appreciative of the sound quality, but it is a subjective issue, so there's no point banking on other people's opinions.

It feels kind of nice to see the fanboyism ecking away!

Agreed SQ is purely subjective, but I do have rather sensitive ears, and the iPod's SQ is muddy and lacks detail, which is not really subjective and is a definite negative.

 

[aryayush]

It feels kind of nice to see the fanboyism ecking away!

Well, it wasn't ever there in the first place. If you ask me the same questions, I'll give the same answers that I used to a year ago. If you ask me which one is the best operating system, I'll still say that it is Mac OS X and by a margin as wide as the river Nile. Apple still makes the best products in the industry. You will still say that those are fanboyish opinions, no matter how logical my justifications are. Nothing has changed; it's just that we're having a peaceful conversation today as opposed to the heated exchanges that generally happen around these parts.

And for what it's worth, there's no such word as "ecking".

About iTunes in Windows, then i'm sure you'll find very few people here who actually use iTunes for music playback. A windows user mostly has iTunes on his pc only because he has an iPod. For playback people mostly prefer Winamp, WMP, etc.

Now you're talking sense. Compare this to your previous statements:

Also for Windows users iTunes is only used for their iPods. I'm sure no Windows user uses iTunes to play their music.

You see the difference?

 

[goobimama]

I hope u know that u can even use WMP11 to sync non-DRM mp3 & mp4 with iPod with some additional plugins available.

You can also use third party iPod softwares like Senuti, Yamipod and whatnot. So why the cribbing?

Lolz...I hope u know MS has the best after market supprt,

Sure it has. But why would MS want to fix a bug relating to the iPod? That bug might not be affecting Zune users in the least. (All these are hypothetical scenarios of course)

WMP11 has no cover flow, still all my songs are 100% tagged. What's your point here, can only iTunes tag properly ???

I think his point is that you need a good media management application to keep your library organised. WMP could be a good management app. Winamp could be a good management app. But Apple has chosen iTunes as their mangement app.

 

[aryayush]

Exactly.

WMP11 has no cover flow, still all my songs are 100% tagged.

They may be but I credited my having the artwork for each album to Cover Flow in iTunes. I can bet you thousand bucks right here that you don't have the artwork for all your albums. Prove it and the money is yours.

The point being that people only take the effort to do something when they're offered an incentive to do so. Have iTunes and the iPod/iPhone not had Cover Flow, most people in the world would never have bothered with the artwork.

 

[napster007]

^^y do u want to loose 1k??

 

[gxsaurav]

I can bet you thousand bucks right here that you don't have the artwork for all your albums. Prove it and the money is yours.

Windows Media Player Library.



Windows Media Center Library.



Oh & I m writing an article about WMC right now, something front row of Mac was ripped from.

Yah...it's very bad to extort money from an Apple fanboy, which account do u require??? SBI or PnB or ICICI . It should be transfered by evening, I got a dinner date tonight

What makes u think only iTunes can get the cover art automatically when connected online? WMP has this since WMP8 (2001). All you have to do is to right click on the song & Select "Get album info". My Library is all tagged & managed & this when I m a certified non-Audiophile.

The other day my friend bought his new SE K850i to my home to copy my songs as I have the most managed Library. I plugged the Phone via USB, started Media transfer mode in the phone & then WMP11. WMP Automatically gave me the option to sync with the phone, yes a freakin phone....I just dragged & dropped WMA files to the sync section & WMP automatically converted them & copied to the Phone will all tags & album art intact.

Tell me if iTunes can do anything other then being an iPod management app. Now don't say this is what it is made for, I don't want 5 media players for 5 devices. In Windows, WMP11 is all you need for anything related to your media management.

Apple has restricted ipod to itunes due to which they were able to market iTMS. How many users were using iPod before iTunes came for Windows arya??? Go read some history.

Have iTunes and the iPod/iPhone not had Cover Flow, most people in the world would never have bothered with the artwork.

Means Cover art is requied only if u have Cover flow....what a gr8 twisted logic.

^^y do u want to loose 1k??

Because he is a Macboy.

Arya, I hope u remember the comparison of WMP11 vs iTunes in which u yourself accepted that WMP11 is better then iTunes

 

[krazzy]

Now you're talking sense.

So atleast you agree with me that for most Windows users iTunes is an unnecessary extra that they've to put up with only because they've bought the iPod.

 

[gxsaurav]

Yup, while in case of Mac, iTunes is a necessary evil as there is nothing as good as Winamp, Media JukeBox, J River media center on Mac.

Mac users r restricted to using mp3 & mp4 only becaue Apple wants them to. They cannot use FLAC/OGG cos it plays in VLC but VLC has no library management. WMA, again...no good media player. Windows is better option to manage media, cos you can manage any number of dive with any number of format. Doesn't matter which PMP U got, you can manage it's library with Windows easily using WMP, winamp or whatever.

 

[aryayush]

So atleast you agree with me that for most Windows users iTunes is an unnecessary extra that they've to put up with only because they've bought the iPod.

I agree that a lot of Windows users have to "put up" with it because from what I hear, it is quite slow on Windows.

However, it is a necessary and valuable addition, not an unnecessary extra. If it was as good on Windows as it is on Mac OS X (and it absolute rocks on this side of the fence), there would be no reason to not use it.

@gx_saurav,
There are probably two Mac users in this world who own a media player that is not an iPod and I'm sure they've figured out ways to manage it.

Send me your bank account details via PM.

 

[gxsaurav]

However, it is a necessary and valuable addition, not an unnecessary extra.

Why???? We already have WMP11 as a gr8 media player & manager in Windows. iPod works fine with WMP11 too as far as library management is considered, just that iTunes music store doesn't work. WMA & Playforsure can also work in iPod, just that Apple disabled this in hardware, so yeah...Apple is restricting iTunes to iPod only & vice versa

Bank account Details sent, thanx for paying for my Date

 

[krazzy]

No way! You really gonna pay him 1000 bucks?!

 

[aryayush]

Why???? We already have WMP11 as a gr8 media player & manager in Windows. iPod works fine with WMP11 too as far as library management is considered, just that iTunes music store doesn't work.

Yeah, so use it. Apple isn't forcing iTunes down your throat. It's the best option. If you choose to use WMP11 instead, nothing's stopping you.

WMA & Playforsure can also work in iPod, just that Apple disabled this in hardware, so yeah...Apple is restricting iTunes to iPod only & vice versa

"Apple Lossless & FairPlay can also work in Zune, just that Microsoft disabled this in hardware, so yeah...Microsoft is restricting Zune to WMP11 only."

I've never seen a person more clueless about technology in general and DRM in particular (at least in this case) than you. Congratulations!

No way! You really gonna pay him 1000 bucks?!

Well, if he expects me to and accepts it...

 

[gxsaurav]

^^^^ Why not, I wouldn't mind Rs 1,000 won by a bet

Check your PM Arya

 

[goobimama]

I did the Windows "Get Album Info" thing. It checks out awright. And you don't need an iTunes account to do so. Still, the interface is way too cluttered for my liking.

It is much faster than iTunes on Windows though.

 

[gxsaurav]

Yeah, so use it. Apple isn't forcing iTunes down your throat. It's the best option. If you choose to use WMP11 instead, nothing's stopping you.

The point is that WMP 11 is a better option.

"Apple Lossless & FairPlay can also work in Zune, just that Microsoft disabled this in hardware, so yeah...Microsoft is restricting Zune to WMP11 only."

Apple loseless, non-DRM works in Zune. Just that if MS starts supporting Fairplay in Zune, Apple will sue them & neither Apple will give anyone else the license to play Fairplay content. Again, Apple's fault.

This just in, Arya has said he will transfer me the money by March 15. I m waiting....was expecting it to spend on my dinner date tonight

 

[ring_wraith]

^^hmm... thought this was an iPod shuffle thread

So to that effect, I need to buy a basic MP3 player for a complete techno-phobe. Obviously, the shuffle comes to mind. Any better option? Not that particluar about SQ or features, just simplicity.

 

[gxsaurav]

Zen stone, Zen V etc

 

[iamtheone]

hey saurav if arya pays u that money....don't forget ur fellow lkoyte brother