December 03, 2005
Apple's Itunes Service Overrated?
I finally bought my first ipod a few weeks ago. Ironically, I also recently made reference to Apple's nauseatingly ubiquitous mp3 player on my other blog purely by conicidence. After using and fiddling around with it since then though, I have a few observations I have to get off my chest:
- Apple touts their itunes Autosync feature for sharing music between your ipod and computer as being a "seamless" and "easy" experience. I beg to differ though. Question: why can't you autosync to more than one computer? If you have itunes on both your work and home computers, why can't you exchange mp3's bought or downloaded to one of them to the other via your ipod? As best as I can tell, trying to Autosync with both computers means losing whatever files are already on your ipod dowloaded from the first computer when Autosyncing to the second one. As the Engadget website points out the one-way sync nature of the ipod is one of the Apple ipod's dirty little secrets. The only way to get music off your ipod is, as far as I can see, to take it out of your itunes libraray on your PC.
- I figured out one possible workaround for this problem which is Autosyncing to one computer while drag-and-dropping files you want from the other computer which needs to be set in manual update mode. Two problems with this solution though are: 1) that it's a pain in the ass when you have thousands of songs on your PC only a selection of which you may want to play on your ipod and 2) I am currently set up to Autosync on the wrong computer (the one with a lot less of my music library on it) and I can't figure out how to reset to the other one without losing all the files already on my ipod downloaded from the first computer. Can anyone help me figure out how to solve this problem? And in case you're wondering, I have tried to get that ephPod software mentioned in that Endgaget link above to work with no success so far.
- I also don't really think the itunes interface is as easy or user friendly as Apple probably thinks it is. If you're the type of cat who owns just a couple hundred songs or a few albums I'm sure it's fine but when you get into owning thousands of songs and hundreds of albums like I do, looking at that endless lists of songs in the itunes player gets difficult to work with. Am I missing something on how to change that without having to manually create folders for every album? My MusicMatch player seems to have managed this trick pretty easily, why can't itunes? Even on the ipod player itself, you can search by albums, why not in itunes or am i just missing something obvious here in how to change the view or settings?
- Finally, they have an "Add Files to Library" command but not a "Remove Files" one in itunes? WTF?! Yet again, is this is just bad design on the part of Apple's software engineers or am I again missing something here?
I won't totally bash Apple though. I did primarily buy the ipod because I was sick of buying and carrying around mulitple CD's to play when traveling when one little box could carry them all. On that tip, the ipod works great and I'm happy with it. Now if I could just figure a way around my problems above then maybe I'd be riding Steve Jobs' jock and singing the ipod's praises like all the Apple fanboys out there. Until then, I wish carrying vinyl records around was as simple and convenient as using an ipod because, and this goes out to all you fake "ipod DJ's" out there, it's STILL a helluva lot cooler to have legitimately bought and amassed a music collection though real sweat, and time spent looking and researching your music in record stores than lazily downloading it off P2P sites, message boards and mp3 blogs on your computer.
OK, rant over...
22:05 Posted in Music, Technology | Permalink | Comments (4) | Email this
Trackbacks
Beverly Garland
have spent some time converting and tagging all thee 42 hours into mp3. i was wondering if poeple here are interested in it, as I have already spent a lot of time making it IPOD compactable.
Trackback by: Beverly Garland | May 22, 2006
Lewis Carroll
have spent some time converting and tagging all thee 42 hours into mp3. i was wondering if poeple here are interested in it, as I have already spent a lot of time making it IPOD compactable.
Trackback by: Lewis Carroll | May 22, 2006
Demetria Guynes
To join songs, try the old DOS command COPY, like this: copy /b song1.mp3 + song2.mp3 + song3.mpg mysongs.mp3. That should work great.
Trackback by: Demetria Guynes | May 29, 2006
Red Buttons
recently wrote a guide explaining how to convert .ra files to mp3 using only open source software (mplayer and lame) on windows.
Trackback by: Red Buttons | May 29, 2006
Anna Eileen Heckart
Given the name of your weblog and the subject of this post, I’d like to introduce you to the First Crack Podcast (Coffee, Technology, and other Daily Grinds).
Trackback by: Anna Eileen Heckart | May 29, 2006
Faroukh Bulsara
Wer Fuller selbst gerne einmal reden hören und sehen will, kann sich Aufnahmen seines legendären 42-stündigen Vortrags Everything I know streamen lassen (die Seite ist allerdings recht häufig nicht zu erreichen).
Trackback by: Faroukh Bulsara | May 29, 2006
Liden Chiles
To save you a step here are some mp3 stream from NPR affiliates. Now if only I could legaly provide these streams via Podcast
Trackback by: Liden Chiles | May 29, 2006
Sid Caesar
know garageband can do essentially what you're asking, maybe sound studio too. That old school classic app SoundApp was amazing and would probably work as well. I know it does work under classic.
Trackback by: Sid Caesar | May 29, 2006
Elliott Goldstein
I am so thrilled to find this being served for FREE. This is the greatest discovery I have ever made on the web.
Trackback by: Elliott Goldstein | May 29, 2006
Ray Charles Ray
might be worth a look -- or MP3 Trimmer, which does more than trim.
Trackback by: Ray Charles Ray | May 29, 2006
Vic Reeves
Wow!! I personally knew Bucky. I was the one who took him to Apple Computer and introduced him to Steve Jobs who gave him a tour of the Cupertino facility.
Trackback by: Vic Reeves | May 29, 2006
Stewart Granger
For instance, I typed "cat" in my Terminal, and dragged three files from my iTunes Music folder in to the Terminal window, and followed with the > pipe and specified ~/Desktop ("~/" is Unix shorthand for your "Home folder") and the file went to t...
Trackback by: Stewart Granger | May 29, 2006
Robert Peter Williams
had a similar problem a while back where i wanted to split large mp3s (live sets) into parts, while there are quite a number of apps out there that can do it, i found most of them to be bloated or they required you to buy it, so i ended up writing my o...
Trackback by: Robert Peter Williams | May 29, 2006
Peter Graves
I’m not aware of any mp3 sources for the lectures.
Trackback by: Peter Graves | May 29, 2006
Robert Widerman
the best way to turn the rm into mp3 is a piece of software called RM to mp3 converter, look for it on bit torrent.
Trackback by: Robert Widerman | May 29, 2006
Ray Charles Ray
Wer Fuller selbst gerne einmal reden hören und sehen will, kann sich Aufnahmen seines legendären 42-stündigen Vortrags Everything I know streamen lassen (die Seite ist allerdings recht häufig nicht zu erreichen).
Trackback by: Ray Charles Ray | May 29, 2006
Bernard Schwartz
Oops, in the "cat /Users/tangent/music/iTunes..." paste it took away the back slashes, so disregard the paste.
Trackback by: Bernard Schwartz | May 29, 2006
William Franklin Beedle, Jr
Replace mp3-*-name.mp3 with the names of your songs (using Terminal, you can just drag and drop the file/names to Terminal and it'll add the name/path). The ">" is the output pipe, and the "joined-songs.mp3" would be the resulting name. You can ch...
Trackback by: William Franklin Beedle, Jr | May 29, 2006
Chevy Chase
The instructions in the article are really easy to follow - in fact, they deserve to be inscribed in stone for the benefit of humankind (and the puzzlement of future archaeologists).
Trackback by: Chevy Chase | May 29, 2006
Gerald R. Ford
You need the files in the order you want them joined on a CD and on import there is an option to join.Works like a dream.
Trackback by: Gerald R. Ford | May 29, 2006
Nicholas Cage
recently wrote a guide explaining how to convert .ra files to mp3 using only open source software (mplayer and lame) on windows.
Trackback by: Nicholas Cage | May 29, 2006
Silverstein
Oops, in the "cat /Users/tangent/music/iTunes..." paste it took away the back slashes, so disregard the paste.
Trackback by: Silverstein | May 29, 2006
Cilla Black
Are there any mp3 sources for these lectures? It’d be great to be able to listen to them off-line.
Trackback by: Cilla Black | May 29, 2006
Charles Bronson
Have you tried TotalRecorder? I believe it can record pretty much anything you want and output it as MP3.
Trackback by: Charles Bronson | May 29, 2006
Jeffery Charles William Michael
I found more than I expected. thank you, esp. the conversion tip.
Trackback by: Jeffery Charles William Michael | May 29, 2006
Leslie Lynch King, Jr.
might be worth a look -- or MP3 Trimmer, which does more than trim.
Trackback by: Leslie Lynch King, Jr. | May 29, 2006
Truman Linden Chiles
Wow!! I personally knew Bucky. I was the one who took him to Apple Computer and introduced him to Steve Jobs who gave him a tour of the Cupertino facility.
Trackback by: Truman Linden Chiles | May 29, 2006
Frances Gumm
To join songs, try the old DOS command COPY, like this: copy /b song1.mp3 + song2.mp3 + song3.mpg mysongs.mp3. That should work great.
Trackback by: Frances Gumm | May 29, 2006
Don Budge
Hmm... Yeah I guess that might work. I'll have to try it out.
Trackback by: Don Budge | May 29, 2006
Morgan Brittany
For instance, I typed "cat" in my Terminal, and dragged three files from my iTunes Music folder in to the Terminal window, and followed with the > pipe and specified ~/Desktop ("~/" is Unix shorthand for your "Home folder") and the file went to t...
Trackback by: Morgan Brittany | May 29, 2006
Terry Jean Bollette
had a similar problem a while back where i wanted to split large mp3s (live sets) into parts, while there are quite a number of apps out there that can do it, i found most of them to be bloated or they required you to buy it, so i ended up writing my o...
Trackback by: Terry Jean Bollette | May 29, 2006
Gwyilyn Ford
Sounds like a shell script should be able to do it... I'd mpg123 them to .wav, concatenate the wavs (I bet there's some neat little app that does that), and convert them back.
Trackback by: Gwyilyn Ford | May 29, 2006
Harry Houdini
Wer Fuller selbst gerne einmal reden hören und sehen will, kann sich Aufnahmen seines legendären 42-stündigen Vortrags Everything I know streamen lassen (die Seite ist allerdings recht häufig nicht zu erreichen).
Trackback by: Harry Houdini | May 29, 2006
Walter Robert Ginty
might be worth a look -- or MP3 Trimmer, which does more than trim.
Trackback by: Walter Robert Ginty | May 29, 2006
Daniel Patrick Harrington
Oops, in the "cat /Users/tangent/music/iTunes..." paste it took away the back slashes, so disregard the paste.
Trackback by: Daniel Patrick Harrington | May 29, 2006
Rocky Graziano
Wer Fuller selbst gerne einmal reden hören und sehen will, kann sich Aufnahmen seines legendären 42-stündigen Vortrags Everything I know streamen lassen (die Seite ist allerdings recht häufig nicht zu erreichen).
Trackback by: Rocky Graziano | May 29, 2006
George Alan O'Dowd
I use a virtually unknown program called iTunes to merge MP3 files.
Trackback by: George Alan O'Dowd | May 29, 2006
Elroy Sanford
Maybe you should try Google for a change ;) Google Search: Join mp3s, check the 3rd en 7th result.
Trackback by: Elroy Sanford | May 29, 2006
Woody Allen Allen
Oops, in the "cat /Users/tangent/music/iTunes..." paste it took away the back slashes, so disregard the paste.
Trackback by: Woody Allen Allen | May 29, 2006
Kevin Joseph Connors
MP3's to PCM Wave and then encode them back into MP3 is never a good idea, you'd loose too much quality (compression x 2).
Trackback by: Kevin Joseph Connors | May 29, 2006
Eleanora Fagan
If not, can anyone recommend a good tool for turning RealAudio streams into mp3?
Trackback by: Eleanora Fagan | May 29, 2006
Caryn Johnson
Wer Fuller selbst gerne einmal reden hören und sehen will, kann sich Aufnahmen seines legendären 42-stündigen Vortrags Everything I know streamen lassen (die Seite ist allerdings recht häufig nicht zu erreichen).
Trackback by: Caryn Johnson | May 29, 2006
Buddy Holly
The instructions in the article are really easy to follow - in fact, they deserve to be inscribed in stone for the benefit of humankind (and the puzzlement of future archaeologists).
Trackback by: Buddy Holly | May 29, 2006
Truman Streckfus Persons
recently wrote a guide explaining how to convert .ra files to mp3 using only open source software (mplayer and lame) on windows.
Trackback by: Truman Streckfus Persons | May 29, 2006
Winona Ryder
You need the files in the order you want them joined on a CD and on import there is an option to join.Works like a dream.
Trackback by: Winona Ryder | May 29, 2006
JoAnn Castle
I use a virtually unknown program called iTunes to merge MP3 files.
Trackback by: JoAnn Castle | May 29, 2006
William Franklin Beedle, Jr
Maybe you should try Google for a change ;) Google Search: Join mp3s, check the 3rd en 7th result.
Trackback by: William Franklin Beedle, Jr | May 29, 2006
Clay Andrew
For instance, I typed "cat" in my Terminal, and dragged three files from my iTunes Music folder in to the Terminal window, and followed with the > pipe and specified ~/Desktop ("~/" is Unix shorthand for your "Home folder") and the file went to t...
Trackback by: Clay Andrew | May 29, 2006
Brenda Webb
Have you tried TotalRecorder? I believe it can record pretty much anything you want and output it as MP3.
Trackback by: Brenda Webb | May 29, 2006
Anna Eileen Heckart
Given the name of your weblog and the subject of this post, I’d like to introduce you to the First Crack Podcast (Coffee, Technology, and other Daily Grinds).
Trackback by: Anna Eileen Heckart | May 29, 2006
Robert Clary
I’m not aware of any mp3 sources for the lectures.
Trackback by: Robert Clary | May 29, 2006
Bobbie Gentry
let me know here and we can figure out a way of getting this to you.
Trackback by: Bobbie Gentry | May 29, 2006
Huntz Hall
know garageband can do essentially what you're asking, maybe sound studio too. That old school classic app SoundApp was amazing and would probably work as well. I know it does work under classic.
Trackback by: Huntz Hall | May 29, 2006
Redd Foxx John
I use a virtually unknown program called iTunes to merge MP3 files.
Trackback by: Redd Foxx John | May 29, 2006
Susan Hayward
How to download Real Audio streams and convert Real Audio to MP3.
Trackback by: Susan Hayward | May 29, 2006
Ernie Gonzales
Replace mp3-*-name.mp3 with the names of your songs (using Terminal, you can just drag and drop the file/names to Terminal and it'll add the name/path). The ">" is the output pipe, and the "joined-songs.mp3" would be the resulting name. You can ch...
Trackback by: Ernie Gonzales | May 29, 2006
Roy Scherer
this is what I wanted to find!
Trackback by: Roy Scherer | May 29, 2006
Vincent Damon
Wow!! I personally knew Bucky. I was the one who took him to Apple Computer and introduced him to Steve Jobs who gave him a tour of the Cupertino facility.
Trackback by: Vincent Damon | May 29, 2006
Virginia Patterson Hensley
recently wrote a guide explaining how to convert .ra files to mp3 using only open source software (mplayer and lame) on windows.
Trackback by: Virginia Patterson Hensley | May 29, 2006
Dr. Joyce
Given the name of your weblog and the subject of this post, I’d like to introduce you to the First Crack Podcast (Coffee, Technology, and other Daily Grinds).
Trackback by: Dr. Joyce | May 29, 2006
Krekor "Kirk" Ohanian
Have you tried TotalRecorder? I believe it can record pretty much anything you want and output it as MP3.
Trackback by: Krekor "Kirk" Ohanian | May 29, 2006
Claudette Colbert
To join songs, try the old DOS command COPY, like this: copy /b song1.mp3 + song2.mp3 + song3.mpg mysongs.mp3. That should work great.
Trackback by: Claudette Colbert | May 29, 2006
Albert Einstein
If you're not afraid of the Unix command line, you could do this with the Cat command. Just type cat mp3-1-name.mp3 mp3-2-name.mp3 mp3-3-name.mp3 > joined-songs.mp3.
Trackback by: Albert Einstein | May 29, 2006
Harlean Carpentier
Hmm... Yeah I guess that might work. I'll have to try it out.
Trackback by: Harlean Carpentier | May 29, 2006
John Lincoln Freund
Given the name of your weblog and the subject of this post, I’d like to introduce you to the First Crack Podcast (Coffee, Technology, and other Daily Grinds).
Trackback by: John Lincoln Freund | May 29, 2006
Robert Widerman
Once again I am in your debt, Dr Grey. I raise my cap to you sir!
Trackback by: Robert Widerman | May 29, 2006
Red Buttons
I am so thrilled to find this being served for FREE. This is the greatest discovery I have ever made on the web.
Trackback by: Red Buttons | May 29, 2006
Susan Hayward
Wer Fuller selbst gerne einmal reden hören und sehen will, kann sich Aufnahmen seines legendären 42-stündigen Vortrags Everything I know streamen lassen (die Seite ist allerdings recht häufig nicht zu erreichen).
Trackback by: Susan Hayward | May 29, 2006
John Garfield
If not, can anyone recommend a good tool for turning RealAudio streams into mp3?
Trackback by: John Garfield | May 29, 2006
Sean O'Fearna
Oops, in the "cat /Users/tangent/music/iTunes..." paste it took away the back slashes, so disregard the paste.
Trackback by: Sean O'Fearna | May 29, 2006
Suzanne Cupito
the best way to turn the rm into mp3 is a piece of software called RM to mp3 converter, look for it on bit torrent.
Trackback by: Suzanne Cupito | May 29, 2006
Cilla Black
Replace mp3-*-name.mp3 with the names of your songs (using Terminal, you can just drag and drop the file/names to Terminal and it'll add the name/path). The ">" is the output pipe, and the "joined-songs.mp3" would be the resulting name. You can ch...
Trackback by: Cilla Black | May 29, 2006
Elliott Gould
The instructions in the article are really easy to follow - in fact, they deserve to be inscribed in stone for the benefit of humankind (and the puzzlement of future archaeologists).
Trackback by: Elliott Gould | May 29, 2006
Stewart Granger
For instance, I typed "cat" in my Terminal, and dragged three files from my iTunes Music folder in to the Terminal window, and followed with the > pipe and specified ~/Desktop ("~/" is Unix shorthand for your "Home folder") and the file went to t...
Trackback by: Stewart Granger | May 29, 2006
Comments
1. The workaround on moving files from computer to computer is to set up your ipod as a hard drive (an option available in the itunes ipod controls) and copying the files onto the ipod and then importing them to the new one from your ipod. It is partially a DRM issue with them but it is also a function of the system. iPod autosyncs with the xml file that itunes uses to track all the data about your music and it gets confused when it is attempting to do that with two itunes libraries.
2. if all your songs are tagged correctly, it is really easy to search and manage your music. I'm a smart playlist freak so I can easily find everything I'm looking for but the search features of itunes are pretty solid. If your tracks aren't tagged properly, get up on some musicbrainz - musicbrainz.com I think. There are also some decent third arty plugins and scripts for itunes that will attempt to correct your tags for you.
iTunes isn't perfect but I've never been happier with any other music player software. All the others seemed to be missing key features that iTunes provides natively.
Posted by: Jason | December 04, 2005
Jason, thanks for the rapid response. Question for you though: will my "Drag-and-drop files from computer #2" theory work or will computer #1 be confused the next time I Autosync to it when it sees files on the ipod that aren't already in its itunes library?
Posted by: ian | December 04, 2005
I've never attempted the drag and drop thing so I'm not sure. I know when I had to move a bunch of files from one system to the other this past summer, I just copied all the files onto my ipod and then copied them over to the new system and imported them into itunes without doing any autosyncing from the ipod. Then if I bought or downloaded new tracks, I would use my ipod to bring music files from home or work and dropped them into the itunes that was missing the files that way.
It worked very well for me.
Posted by: Jason | December 04, 2005
Someone else was mentioning that issue too...if you think ipod is bad try the Creative Zen...ugh!!! That thing is just frustrating.
Posted by: ms. b | December 26, 2005
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