newbie - a bit lost in the ipod jungle

[adihead]

hi. my new ipod is arriving saturday and meanwhile i have been trying to learn as much as possible about using it and using itunes, etc. so that when it finally gets here, i'll be prepared. mostly i have been reading posts here in ipodlounge.com.

i'm still confused though, about all these music orginizing programs (i think that's what they are. there's itunes, which at first i was sure would be the program to use. but then i saw there's anapod explorer, ephpod, media center 9, musicmatch jukebox...

what do these programs do that itunes can't?
is it that people orginize their music on these programs and then just sync the ipod with music collection using itunes?
i can't quite figure it out.

if someone could please explain what exactly these programs do, what each one's advantages are, and so on, i'd really appreciate it.

i use windows xp.
my ipod is an apple 4g 40GB.
i have about 30GB of mp3's on my hard drive. they are well orginized in files by Artist > Album (year) > Track. but their id3 tags are not fully orginized and complete.

thanks very much for any help.

[K1W1]

First off if you don't aleady have iTunes download it from Apple and install it then import wll your existing mp3's.
When you get your iPod put the CD into your PC and follow the instructions for installation (DO NOT connect the iPod to the PC until you are told to). Remember that the first charge is very important so realise that when you first plug the iPod in it's best to leave it connected to the PC for 4 - 5 hours at least so you won't be able to use it.
You will now have an iPod connected to a PC and recognised by iTunes so you can transfer some music.
Now just use your iPod for a while, see what features you like / don't like, want changed. If there is anything you don't like or want changed look at the various software packages available and see if they will do what you want otherwise don't worry about them. iTunes does 99.9% of what 99.9% of users want don't worry about other software until you learn iTunes.

[adihead]

ok. downloaded itunes. thanks.

[dordale]

adihead--

another point...you said that your id3 tags are not complete. It'd be a good idea to start working on this, because that's what the iPod uses to sort your music. I recommend downloading some good tagging software. I use tag 'n rename from softpointer (not free, but they do have a 30 day trial period see: www.softpointer.com). With tag 'n rename, you can create id3 tags from folder/file names fairly easily.

Happy 'podding!
dordale :)

[mdscriber3]

Originally posted by dordale
adihead--

another point...you said that your id3 tags are not complete. It'd be a good idea to start working on this, because that's what the iPod uses to sort your music. I recommend downloading some good tagging software. I use tag 'n rename from softpointer (not free, but they do have a 30 day trial period see: www.softpointer.com). With tag 'n rename, you can create id3 tags from folder/file names fairly easily.

Happy 'podding!
dordale :)

I wholeheartedly agree with Dordale's suggestion and recommendation on working on those ID3 tags and I also use Tag and Rename ... have been using it for about 3 years. Best purchase I made for my MP3's and DAPs I've used! Good luck and hope you enjoy your iPod as much as I do! Pam :)

[adihead]

my ipod has arrived.

when importing cd's and ripping the tracks with itunes, the CDDB is on the money everytime. it recognizes anything i throw in there.
the problem is with audo tracks which are not on cds but stored on my hard drive. for some reason CDDB is not available when importing audio from hard drive, only cd.
i downloaded MusicBrainz, as someone on this forum suggested. but it was a waste of time. very weak database. it would fully recognize albums only about 10% of the time, misidentifying tracks, strange error messages... i like the idea of a community providing free database, but it can't help me tag my music at the moment.
so is there better software for this? will i have to buy software that does the job?

i have managed to batch tag on itunes using allmusic.com as reference, but i was hoping i could somehow automatically identify and tag all my music and not do so manually. i have loads of music and this could take many days of intense work.

thanks.

[jhollington]

Originally posted by adihead
when importing cd's and ripping the tracks with itunes, the CDDB is on the money everytime. it recognizes anything i throw in there.
the problem is with audo tracks which are not on cds but stored on my hard drive. for some reason CDDB is not available when importing audio from hard drive, only cd.
As the name implies, CDDB is only a database of CDs, and cannot identify music once it's been taken off the CD.

Basically, CDDB uses an algorithm to identify the entire CD by looking it up in it's database. It cannot identify individual tracks, even on CD. For this reason, it won't work with mix CDs, or other CDs that you make yourself (unless they're track-for-track copies of commercial CDs).

As for tagging music, I went through this years ago before there were other options available, and I simply buckled down and did it manually. The good news is that iTunes will allow you to modify multiple tracks at once -- just select all of the tracks you want to affect, and choose "Get Info" from the File menu.

[adihead]

yeah, that's what i've been doing. thanks.

[sleepy_eyes56]

i keep trying to put notes on my iPod but they end up in some weird font or language...i just can't quite figure it out!! HELP ME!!
:S