greggblue
11-15-2003, 02:21 PM
This note is to detail my experiences with the iTunes/iPod experience so far...I think you'll find it interesting...
I have an extensive (1500+ song) MP3 collection from a combination of my CD and album collections (and maybe one or two ?downloaded? songs). I wanted to get into the legitimate downloaded music experience, but all of the services available at the time (i.e. Pressplay, Rhaposody, etc.) required too many limitations of machines/burns/downloads. My brother, a rabid Mac fan, had been bragging about iTunes on the Mac, and after reading up on it, I was impressed. Song downloads for 99 cents, unlimited burns, multiple machines, sharing on my home network, what's not to like?
So when iTunes for Windows was finally released, I was first in line with the download. And it was awesome! I was running XP Pro, and all I did was point the iTunes to my MP3 folder, and all of my songs were there! Unfortunately, the ID3 tags were all wrong, so I got a program called Tag & Rename and redid virtually every tag of every song in my collection. I then cleared the iTunes list, and re-imported the songs. Much better!
After looking closely at the song list in iTunes, I noticed that the ID3 tags on many of the songs were not exactly to my liking, so I used Tag and Rename to fix them individually. I cleared the library on iTunes, and re-pointed it to the MP3 folder several times to get the songs to appear as I like them. I don't know if there's an easier way to refresh the lists, but it works fine doing it like this, and only takes a minute or so.
I then wanted to download several songs to see how easy it was, and what I could do with the songs. I chose a couple of Beyonce songs and some Springsteen songs (unlikely combination!). The signup process was easy, and I was searching the Song List in a moment. The downloads went smoothly, and audio quality was good. iTunes was putting the bought songs in the My Documents/My Music folder, and my MP3 collection was on a networked drive. My MP3 collection was not organized very well, so I decided to let iTunes see if it could do better. I changed my preferences to point to the networked drive, and chose Consolidate Library with Organize. It then chugged for a bit, and when I looked at my MP3 directory, I was pleasantly surprised. It was organized by artist/album/song, and all of the music was in one location. So far, so good.
I then wanted to copy the MP3's to my laptop and have the songs on an extra drive for the road. I copied all of the MP3's onto the drive. I installed iTunes, and added the folder to my Library. All of the songs showed up with no issues. I was curious about the songs I bought, so I double-clicked one of them. iTunes told me the computer had to be "authorized", so I entered my name and password, and the song began playing. Now all of the songs I get can be played on both computers without problems. I have to copy the new songs I buy manually to the laptop, but I was expecting to fix this problem with a hardware acquisition explained in a moment.
I then enabled iTunes for sharing, and installed the iTunes application on my wife's computer hooked up to the home network. The shared songs showed up automatically! I did the same for my son, and same effect! Nice feature, Apple!
Finally, on my birthday, my wife bought me a 40 GB iPod. Now came the tricky part. Knowing that I was using iTunes for Windows, I ignored the Musicmatch software and the CD in the package. I downloaded the iPod Updater v2.1 from Apple's site, and installed it on my computer. I already had a Firewire card in the system.
After rebooting the system, I inserted my iPod. The software began formatting the iPod, and then asked for another reboot. Then I pulled up iTunes. The system asked me if I wanted to download all the songs to the iPod, and I said yes. After about 10-15 minutes, all of my MP3's and AAC's were on the iPod!
I then got a standard RCA-to-miniplug adapter, hooked it up to my home receiver, and played a song from the iPod. It sounded awesome!
I then had an AUX RCA input on the back of my car stereo installed (there was an option to add one, may not work with every radio). I then bought the Belkin Auto Charger w/Audio for iPod, and plugged the RCA-to-miniplug into the port on the charger. I then plugged the iPod into the docking connector on the Auto Charger. I changed the radio to the AUX input, and hit the big button in the middle of the iPod. Music came out, crystal-clear and as good as a CD! I now had all of my songs in one place, no more burning CD's and losing them or scratching them!
For my wife's car, I got the iTrip FM adapter. After reading the excellent forums here, I decided to skip the install process and copy the FM MP3's into my library. I created a playlist for iTrip, and synched my iPod. Voila! The files were on the iPod. I went into my wife's car, found an unused FM station (hard to do in the DC area), and followed the instructions to get the channels synched. I played a song, and, although not as good as my car, it was certainly acceptable.
So far I have been mightily impressed by the whole iTunes/iPod experience. Apple, you did good!
Gregg
I have an extensive (1500+ song) MP3 collection from a combination of my CD and album collections (and maybe one or two ?downloaded? songs). I wanted to get into the legitimate downloaded music experience, but all of the services available at the time (i.e. Pressplay, Rhaposody, etc.) required too many limitations of machines/burns/downloads. My brother, a rabid Mac fan, had been bragging about iTunes on the Mac, and after reading up on it, I was impressed. Song downloads for 99 cents, unlimited burns, multiple machines, sharing on my home network, what's not to like?
So when iTunes for Windows was finally released, I was first in line with the download. And it was awesome! I was running XP Pro, and all I did was point the iTunes to my MP3 folder, and all of my songs were there! Unfortunately, the ID3 tags were all wrong, so I got a program called Tag & Rename and redid virtually every tag of every song in my collection. I then cleared the iTunes list, and re-imported the songs. Much better!
After looking closely at the song list in iTunes, I noticed that the ID3 tags on many of the songs were not exactly to my liking, so I used Tag and Rename to fix them individually. I cleared the library on iTunes, and re-pointed it to the MP3 folder several times to get the songs to appear as I like them. I don't know if there's an easier way to refresh the lists, but it works fine doing it like this, and only takes a minute or so.
I then wanted to download several songs to see how easy it was, and what I could do with the songs. I chose a couple of Beyonce songs and some Springsteen songs (unlikely combination!). The signup process was easy, and I was searching the Song List in a moment. The downloads went smoothly, and audio quality was good. iTunes was putting the bought songs in the My Documents/My Music folder, and my MP3 collection was on a networked drive. My MP3 collection was not organized very well, so I decided to let iTunes see if it could do better. I changed my preferences to point to the networked drive, and chose Consolidate Library with Organize. It then chugged for a bit, and when I looked at my MP3 directory, I was pleasantly surprised. It was organized by artist/album/song, and all of the music was in one location. So far, so good.
I then wanted to copy the MP3's to my laptop and have the songs on an extra drive for the road. I copied all of the MP3's onto the drive. I installed iTunes, and added the folder to my Library. All of the songs showed up with no issues. I was curious about the songs I bought, so I double-clicked one of them. iTunes told me the computer had to be "authorized", so I entered my name and password, and the song began playing. Now all of the songs I get can be played on both computers without problems. I have to copy the new songs I buy manually to the laptop, but I was expecting to fix this problem with a hardware acquisition explained in a moment.
I then enabled iTunes for sharing, and installed the iTunes application on my wife's computer hooked up to the home network. The shared songs showed up automatically! I did the same for my son, and same effect! Nice feature, Apple!
Finally, on my birthday, my wife bought me a 40 GB iPod. Now came the tricky part. Knowing that I was using iTunes for Windows, I ignored the Musicmatch software and the CD in the package. I downloaded the iPod Updater v2.1 from Apple's site, and installed it on my computer. I already had a Firewire card in the system.
After rebooting the system, I inserted my iPod. The software began formatting the iPod, and then asked for another reboot. Then I pulled up iTunes. The system asked me if I wanted to download all the songs to the iPod, and I said yes. After about 10-15 minutes, all of my MP3's and AAC's were on the iPod!
I then got a standard RCA-to-miniplug adapter, hooked it up to my home receiver, and played a song from the iPod. It sounded awesome!
I then had an AUX RCA input on the back of my car stereo installed (there was an option to add one, may not work with every radio). I then bought the Belkin Auto Charger w/Audio for iPod, and plugged the RCA-to-miniplug into the port on the charger. I then plugged the iPod into the docking connector on the Auto Charger. I changed the radio to the AUX input, and hit the big button in the middle of the iPod. Music came out, crystal-clear and as good as a CD! I now had all of my songs in one place, no more burning CD's and losing them or scratching them!
For my wife's car, I got the iTrip FM adapter. After reading the excellent forums here, I decided to skip the install process and copy the FM MP3's into my library. I created a playlist for iTrip, and synched my iPod. Voila! The files were on the iPod. I went into my wife's car, found an unused FM station (hard to do in the DC area), and followed the instructions to get the channels synched. I played a song, and, although not as good as my car, it was certainly acceptable.
So far I have been mightily impressed by the whole iTunes/iPod experience. Apple, you did good!
Gregg