i-Pod #**$%%

Buick6

too punk to drunk
I just got a 30gig Zen Vision:M...because I tried I-Tunes/Ipod and didn't like it's locked-down format.

But they all go on about this PodCast revolution, and I still can't find some killer mixes, since to me a DJ mix seems the perfect thing to podcast.
 

dsp13

GAMEBWOY
does it have to be a podcast? can't you just download a good dj mix from somewhere? Anyone know why so many people's podcasts are so short? surely if anything mp3 players offer the opportunity for mixes longer than 74/80 minutes (although 60 minutes is usually long enough for a good set) Anyway, I highly recommend www.blentwell.com for mixes & dj sets.
 

bassnation

the abyss
dsp13 said:
does it have to be a podcast? can't you just download a good dj mix from somewhere? Anyone know why so many people's podcasts are so short? surely if anything mp3 players offer the opportunity for mixes longer than 74/80 minutes (although 60 minutes is usually long enough for a good set) Anyway, I highly recommend www.blentwell.com for mixes & dj sets.

i thought podcasts are mp3s - its just an annoying rebranding of a long-established audio format for people who think digital music begins and ends with the age of the ipod.
 

Ness Rowlah

Norwegian Wood
bassnation said:
i thought podcasts are mp3s - its just an annoying rebranding of a long-established audio format for people who think digital music begins and ends with the age of the ipod.

That's rather like saying RSS-feeds are nothing more than text rebranded.
An RSS-feed IS text, but it's a hell of a better way to read and follow blogs than to
check 50-60 websites for new content.

I agree that the name is unfortunate
(the pod part has nothing to do with Apple apart from that they produce
the dominant MP3 player and the podcasting term was chosen almost a year before Apple got involved).

The innovation is not in the MP3-format, but the use of enclosures (ie MP3s for sound)
within an RSS-feed (subscription). So as podcast-episodes are updated (as new MP3s),
they are delivered directly to your MP3-player (without you ever having to go to a
website to check for new MP3s). The wikipedia entry is now overlong - but as usual a good place to start.
 

bassnation

the abyss
Ness Rowlah said:
The innovation is not in the MP3-format, but the use of enclosures (ie MP3s for sound) within an RSS-feed (subscription). So as podcast-episodes are updated (as new MP3s), they are delivered directly to your MP3-player (without you ever having to go to a website to check for new MP3s). The wikipedia entry is now overlong - but as usual a good place to start.

ah, ok i stand corrected - thanks for explaining that.

i guess part of the problem is that a lot of sites have regular mp3s without the syndication labelled as podcasts - becoming more of a catch-all term for digital audio.

i might sign up for some and see if its good.
 

gabriel

The Heatwave
i would unreservedly recommend the iAudio mp3 player (successor the now discontinued iRiver). no need for any software at all - like the iriver, it functions just like an external hard drive - you drag and drop eitehr onto or off it. what's more, you can record a line out directly into it as mp3 and it's got a built in mic which is wicked for dictaphone type use.
 

sufi

lala
grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

i strongly suspect itoons of sabotaging winamp by hijacking relevant drivers
winampvsitunes.jpg

or something.......... :mad:
 

bassnation

the abyss
sufi said:
i strongly suspect itoons of sabotaging winamp by hijacking relevant drivers

i agree - if you install i-tunes after winamp, it totally screws winamp up, steals file associations - its very difficult to get it back the right way again because the next time you run i-tunes it does the same thing again without asking.

also the fact its bundled with the abortion that is quicktime is enough to make me avoid it forever. luckily i don't use an ipod otherwise i'd be stuck with it.

having said all that, there are things i like about i-tunes, but its a peeve of mine when companies release agressive invasive software like this.
 

johanek

Member
bassnation said:
having said all that, there are things i like about i-tunes, but its a peeve of mine when companies release agressive invasive software like this.

Thats windows software for you... Most of these media players give options about file associations when you install them. iTunes should also have an option to turn off the checking of file associations when you startup. But as always there's too much fiddling to get something simple like this the way you want
 
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bassnation

the abyss
johanek said:
Thats windows software for you... Most of these media players give options about file associations when you install them. iTunes should also have an option to turn off the checking of file associations when you startup. But as always there's too much fiddling to get something simple like this the way you want

you can reset, but the bastard thing keeps reclaiming them every time you use it on the sly. its well known for doing this - its a "feature". quicktime is even worse.

i think mac users would be more likely to use the apple formats as a default, so maybe it never comes up as an issue?
 
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johanek

Member
bassnation said:
you can reset, but the bastard thing keeps reclaiming them every time you use it on the sly.

in itunes ... edit - preferences - advanced - uncheck "Use iTunes as the default player for audio files"
 

jenks

thread death
maybe i'm being dumb, but what does anybody use quicktime for?

itunes, yes i can understand - it's good, it works but every problem i have with new updates involves quicktime.

surely someone out there can defend it?
 
D

droid

Guest
jenks said:
maybe i'm being dumb, but what does anybody use quicktime for?

itunes, yes i can understand - it's good, it works but every problem i have with new updates involves quicktime.

surely someone out there can defend it?


Its the Macintosh's native video format. Comes in very useful when editing and re-codecing video bits.

Its a shit 'media player' though...
 

bassnation

the abyss
johanek said:
in itunes ... edit - preferences - advanced - uncheck "Use iTunes as the default player for audio files"

this didn't work for me. in the end had to uninstall both i-tunes and winamp, and then reinstall winamp only.
 

michael

Bring out the vacuum
gabriel said:
i would unreservedly recommend the iAudio mp3 player (successor the now discontinued iRiver). no need for any software at all - like the iriver, it functions just like an external hard drive - you drag and drop eitehr onto or off it. what's more, you can record a line out directly into it as mp3 and it's got a built in mic which is wicked for dictaphone type use.
Do you mean iriver is over or just their big memory players? My wife bought a really nice little 1gb thing last week. I was helping with the selections and we were looking at a 2gb iAudio that was even tinier, but it was twice the price...

I've had the chunky H-340 for a few years and it does look like that's being discontinued. Which is a pity. Despite its bulk, the fact that iPods are only just catching up to what I can do on a 3 year old machine is kinda lame. The Mac nerrrds at my work are like "yeah, got rid of my older iPod and bought a new one cos I wanted to be able to play movies".. I only had to download a free update from iriver's site!?
 

michael

Bring out the vacuum
I guess one of the big things with Apple is that it's set up to work really, really easily out of the box. But as an IT nerd I want flexibility and opportunities to do things the way I would like over that stuff... I can deal with having to hack a bit and try things out.

But I guess for iPod users this is where those alternative OSes (goddamn plurals of acronyms!) come in. All hail Rockbox for the iriver! I can now record uncompressed WAV files... nice cheap hard disk recorder. :D
 

gabriel

The Heatwave
michael said:
Do you mean iriver is over or just their big memory players?

i dunno really, i guess maybe it's just some models that they've discontinued... when i was buying my iaudio the dealer bloke gave me the impression that iriver had become iaudio, but then again i guess he was just blagging me innit :D
 
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