Okay, I did it.

[TheDreamer]

Last night, I took the leap and ordered an iPod. I got the 40GB model, personallized.

After hearing a friend had scratched her's....I started thinking that I would probably want to get a case if I ever did take the plunge and get an iPod. So, that made me wonder if I was in a hurry to take advantage of the free personalization offer that the Apple Store is currently offering.

I decided to go for it....and it should all be fine, since I opted to buy a clear case for it (flipstand).

I was surprised to find in my inbox this morning notification that my order had shipped already....I guess I was thinking that it would take them some time...but I guess the time zone difference between here and Shanghai, China meant that they had sufficient time to personalize my ipod and send it on its way.

So, now I'm waiting....though I might not get around to it right away...because I also have a new computer on order that I'm waiting for. Some hardware problems with my current system would prevent me from making proper use of an iPod on it (the front case I/O ports took a static zap last winter and have been kind of problematic...

Though my MP3 collection is on a shared drive hosted on my Linux server (so I could get a firewire card for this box if I lose patience).

My old player is a 20GB Archos Jukebox...which I accidently bounced in my cubicle a couple weeks ago. It was already full, so I was kind of in the market for a bigger device....

The timing is kind of bad though....I'm hunting around for add-ons for the new computer I haven't received yet...and now I've started looking for add-ons for my iPod.... Right now I guess I'm looking for add-ons to help me show it off when I travel with iPod this Xmas. :D

Though it could be a pain moving 80GB of files from my old computer to the new computer...good thing it has a 120G drive....at least my 120G firewire drive will (should) work better on the new machine.

To think when I used to run Windows 95/98....upgrading computers was easier, because it seemed like I was reinstalling everything every few months. But, now having a machine that just works....has gotten me out of practice. But, I've been wanting to reorganize things.....

The Dreamer

[TheDreamer]

My iPod arrived this morning....all I've done so far with it is charge it.

I guess I didn't really expect to get it so soon. I'm in the process of setting up a new computer and I'm tearing the place up looking for original CDs and trying to migrate all my data over.

After which I'll probably spend the time reripping my CD collection into 128k AAC.....even though I have about half of it ripped into 128k CBR MP3 files (about 17GB worth). Some of the earlier ripped files are of some what poor quality. Plus there's quite a variation in ID3 tagging....

I think UPS tried to deliver my USB2.0 cable, but looks like I didn't really need to order that...since found a firewire card while I was digging in my sock drawer last night. (I guess because I ordered my Dell with no speakers, they didn't bother to connect the DVD-ROM drive to my soundcard....so I had find an audio cable) Though I'm thinking I want to move the slot load DVD-ROM drive from my old machine over....except it isn't black....

Maybe I'll stick it into an external firewire case since I don't really need 3 CD burners on a single PC.

The Dreamer.

[TheDreamer]

Well, I still haven't really used my iPod much yet....still playing tunes on my old Archos Jukebox Recorder 20 at work....though I just bounced off the floor again today.

Note to self, get a longer headphone cord before I bring my iPod into work. Or perhaps I need to come up with a chair holder for it.

Meanwhile, I slowly reripping my entire CD collection into iTunes.

I hate that under artist it sorts albums by title....rather than year of release. Of course, I got around that by using MP3 Tag Studio and automatically processing all the ID3 tags to put the year into the album title.

Two problems have cropped up so far....

I'm using my DVD-burner for ripping...because it is on top of my desk rather than in the tower under my desk. It is attached by firewire to that unknown firewire card I found in my sock drawer....occasionally on insert, my machine will blue screen.

Perhaps I'll try a different firewire card.... I ordered another external firewire enclosure, though I don't know when I'll get around to moving a slot loading DVD rom drive into it. I want the one in my old computer because the ejector in my new slot loading drive is too stiff (or I need rubber feet under my enclosures). The old slot loading drive is only a 10x though, and the new one I got last night is a 16x.

Hmmm..

Anyways...the other problem I'm having is how do I disable autoplay of data CDs under XP, without disabling autoplay of Music CDs (and DVDs). The real problem, is when I insert the CD for iTunes to import....if it is an enhanced CD, it also tries to run the 'enhanced' part...which interfers with the import....I have iTunes set to "Import Songs and Eject" on CD insert.

The Dreamer.

[SpideyPod]

I had the same issue with the "enhanced CD's". With data CD's I have XP set to "do nothing" upon insertions. Where with music CD's I can have t set to open whatever music management program I am using and from there I start ripping.

[TheDreamer]

Is there somewhere special to set this? I set all the options under the Autoplay tab for one of my drives (my external DVD burner) to "Do Nothing", but it still loads the "enhanced CD" portion when I'm importing.

I start iTunes before I insert, so it gets the media change notifications still and will automatically import and then eject. iTunes doesn't seem to show up as an option for handling Music CDs.

I have another external drive on order...which I plan to set up as my import drive only....because I want to reserve my DVD burner for burning DVDs.... The machine has two internal drives...a DVD-ROM and a CD-RW drive. I want the autoplay to still handle the different media types automatically for these drives....

The Dreamer

[armless]

wow dreamer you sure do type alot ;) lol