I just bought an iPod mini
Tuesday, December 28th, 2004 - 3:23am
And wow, this thing sucks.
Well, not the machine itself. I guess I should direct my hate at iTunes. I've only used it for a few hours and it's already driven me crazy. Why the f*ck does it want to organize my music the way it wants? Can't I just drag and drop mp3 files to my iPod, and browse them as folders? jeez. Then it doesn't seem to have an actual "synchronize" button. I selected the "synchronize manually" option, but it just seems to copy and or erase files from the iPod anytime it wants.
Also, I put an audiobook that had no id3 info, and it just messes up the order of the files. If it looked at the filenames, it'd be in the correct order. But nooo...
And in my iPod, I can't see the full title of a song, because the damn thing never scrolls the filename. It just shows things like "The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi..." and since all the files are named that, I can't tell which goddamn song I want to play.
In conclusion, the machine looks very neat, but I see no evidence of this "Apple ease of use" mantra that Apple fans keep bothering me about.
The man wears a bucket of KFC on his head. I wouldn't expect anything less. - Pred
Go buy an Iriver.
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I''d have to sell my other kidney.
The man wears a bucket of KFC on his head. I wouldn't expect anything less. - Pred
With iTunes, you put all your songs into a Library. Then you add playlists and divide them like so.
Because you have it so that the entire name of the song is ""The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi..."" rather than having the song, artist, album, etc. name in their proper catagories. If you were to see it all, it would probably say the song name is ""The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi[whatever].mp3""
If ""Shuffling"" is selected, then you will be unable to rearrange songs.
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I understand the concept, I just don''t see why it doesn''t let me just organize things by folders, like I already have. Also, I erased the audiobook from my PC, because I thought it''d keep it in the iPod... But for some reason, it was also erased from the iPod, through iTunes(I erased it from the library, but not from the iPod).
Also, I copied a song through the windows explorer to the Music folder in the iPod, and it just doesn''t see it. I have to go through iTunes.
I don''t know, this seems to want to create a mess.
Also, I can''t seem to erase songs directly from my iPod. I mean, if I don''t like a song, why can''t I just erase it?
Apple fans keep saying their interfaces are great/intuitive, but they''re just as flawed as windows.
But DAMN the little machine looks so good.
The man wears a bucket of KFC on his head. I wouldn't expect anything less. - Pred
Because you''re not understanding how it works.
You''re thinking in terms of arranging things into a file hierarchy to browse, which is a very limiting way of doing things.
Instead, iTunes/iPod don''t place importance on the physical arrangement of the files. There are no subdirectories. If you want a ""folder"" of music, you create a playlist. A single song file can appear in multiple playlists. Consider the fact that, to do this when browsing by physical file hierarchy, you would need a separate copy of each song that appears in each folder. The advantages to the iTunes approach should become quickly clear.
Right-click on the iPod in iTunes, and select iPod Options.
There are entries about Automatically updating, and Manually updating. Choose what you prefer.
What ""order""? You want a certain order? That''s what playlists are for. Total control of order.
ID3 tags. Learn them. Love them. Most modern MP3 devices display based on ID3 data instead of filenames. With good reason. It''s far far far far from being an ""Apple"" thing. There are tons of free utilities for filling in ID3 data from filenames. Grab one.
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www.ephpod.com Dump iTunes.
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People who are used to a ""windows"" way of thinking have a harder time dealing with how good the interface can be. OS 10 is the best operating system out there, Period. It is intuitive. Of coarse it is worse to learn for people used to another system. I find people have the same kind of issue with iApps like iTunes and iPhoto as well.
Windows makes people adapt to the way the computer is setup to work, instead of having the OS adapt to the posibilities of the computer. That is how the apples work. OS 10 has had 4 major updates in 4 years. They have all added features and made it very, very good.
Now if only it was release on an intel/amd architecture.
Oh and my main computer is a windows machine, I mainly use the apples at work. I''m not a fanatical Mac user. I just do tech support for them
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I didn''t get an IPod mini myself but acted as the on hand family tech support when my sister got one. And I gotta agree that it isn''t quite as transparently user friendly as one would assume.
Dumb problems like the software installation hanging while displaying a message like ""Waiting for IPod"" or ITunes not detecting the plugged in IPod, only to find it when it was disconnected/reconnected. These are the sort of minor hassles that Apple were meant to have sorted out.
As for the inability of the ITunes software to recognise that the folder heirarchy might actually mean something surprises me. I got a Zen jukebox and the software associated with that gives you the option to
1) use existing ID tags
2) construct new tags based on the file system
But that being said the IPod is very sexy and my Zen jukebox, despite being cheaper and having 50% larger capacity, just dosn''t get the chicks all hot and bothered.
Oh and hi again after my long abscence, merry christmas and a happy new years etc...
When it asks to rearrange, tell it no. Also uder Preferences/Advanced uncheck ""Keep Itunes music folder organized""
I have all my music seperated by genre in folders with no issues.
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The point is that he understands the playlist mechanism, it''s just that he doesn''t like it. Apple should have a ""generate playlists from directory structure"" feature, only name it something fruity like iImport.
I agree with Edwin, it sounds like you don''t like the iTunes way of doing things. Dump it like a rock.
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I''m this close (puts forefinger and thumb microns apart) to getting a Neuros. Much cheaper than iPod, and the interface is supposed to be fantastic. It''s open-source so other interfaces are available as well if you don''t like it. The only problem with it is that it''s butt-hideous. But, I''ve *got* to let function over form win in this race.
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Ephpod does that
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For that price, it looks interesting...anyone out there have one? I''m tempted to pick one up as well.
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Let''s not bash Mex on the Apple/Windows flame war. My first 3 computers were Macs, partially because I bought into the ""great UI"" thing, and partially because my university supported Macs. So I came ""untainted"" by previous windows experience.
When I eventually got sick of buying computers that had limited software and cost about 4 times what they should for the power they delivered, I bit the bullet and bought a PC, fearing the horrors of the crashes, kludgy interface, etc.
About 2 months after I got it, I was kicking myself for ever having bought a Mac, as I could find absolutely nothing that the Mac UI brought me that the Windows interface did not. I just assumed, having drunk the Mac koolaid, that its interface was somehow just magically letting me do tonds of things so easily that Windows would not. In fact, I learned to enjoy things like the ability to right click, etc., that Windows offered at the time.
I''m not saying the Mac interface is crap or anything, just that I want to throw up when I hear people talking about it as if it were the second coming.
Seconded. It''s a great program, and... well... it''s just a great program. And free!
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Thanks for the EphPod recommendation. Downloading it right now.
My next purchase is a Neuros too. This mini is pretty cool for exercise(and, never thought I''d say this about a computer device, but chicks dig it), but it doesn''t have recording capabilities, you have to buy extra accessories for it to do anything besides playing music, etc.
Interestingly, now that I own an apple product, I feel an incredible need to don a beret, drink a chocolate shaken strawberry moka and speak of the inadequacies of the human hands as they relate to dystopian design.
Thanks for the recommendation guys
The man wears a bucket of KFC on his head. I wouldn't expect anything less. - Pred
Yes, the pain of first getting an iPod and converting all your music to the iTunes/iPod structure of ID3 tags is VERY tedious, but once you get over the initial hump it''s so easy you''ll never go back to directories again. It is worth it in the end Mex.
I have used EphPod as well. Yes, it is good for low level stuff like if you needed to copy something from your iPod to your harddrive, but I look of it as more of a utility, a supplement to iTunes, not a replacement. They have two different goals.
I, myself, have problems with iTunes running on my system and recognizing my iPod. All this business with ''mounting'' and whatnot. Whereas ephPod just looks at it like a removable hard drive.
I DO like iTunes, and would like to use it, but a) I don''t want to put the effort forward to make it work easily and b) I don''t like that it''s so invasive. I don''t WANT iTunes to run when I start my computer. I don''t WANT it to run whenever I plug my iPod in. I want it to run when I want it to run.
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I bought an iPod mini for my wife (then fiance), and she took to it very quickly, and is rarely without it now. She tried using my Creative Zen, and it was a confusing mess (even for me at times, horribly unintuitive). I liked the interface of her mini so much I finally caved and bought the newer ipod with the scroll/click wheel. Best UI invention for the mp3 players ever. All you have to do is move your thumb, and click the top button to do almost anything.
iTunes has taken some getting used to, as I was also one of the people who managed my music according to folder heierarchy, I just sorta gave up and let iTunes do it''s thing. I haven''t thought about it since, and I don''t have to worry about my wife messing it up when she adds her music, because she can''t. All in all, not perfect, but good enough.
That''s what I think too. iTunes wants to run like it wants to, unless you click a bunch of options. Then I still don''t get how to know if I''m erasing songs from my iPod or from a playlist or what. I select the mini, and I erase something, but it still shows up on my ipod.
I see the potential for the playlists, but I don''t have so much time to edit all the mess I''ve made over the years. Yeah, blame the user, but if I could see my filenames, I''d be happy.
Anyway, I''ll get around it. EphPod seems more to my liking. If you have a few hundred dollars to spare (it cost me 420 dollars, thanks NAFTA!), it''s a nice gadget.
The man wears a bucket of KFC on his head. I wouldn't expect anything less. - Pred
Sorry to do 2 posts in a row, you can set all that stuff up in the options menu, and the ipod options menu (the little snowflake looking thing in the bottom right corner when you plug your ipod in).
Ok, it''s been a few days since I got this thing, and I''m getting used to it. I can deal with the database-driven playlists, it''s nice that if you feel like listening to ""all metal"", you can do so on the fly. Although it was a nightmare editing all my songs for the id3 tags. Some are not finished yet, but it''s a start.
I''m still annoyed that I can''t browse by filename, but eh.
Besides those gripes, I''d recommend one if you got 300 bucks around. No complaints at all, really.
iTunes is still crap tho.
The man wears a bucket of KFC on his head. I wouldn't expect anything less. - Pred
yea if you do not have all your songs properly tagged ipod is a nightmare. Once you cross that using the ipod is great cause you run it using the database and see you music by many different cuts, aritist, album, play list, etc.
Now itunes itself, that interface sucks. makes it way too difficult to do anything out of the ordinary just like Macs.
This is why Longhorn and its database driven file system scares me so. If MS turns XP into a crappy clone of apples crappy GUI I may really have to look at other options.
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I am debating between the Ipod mini and the Creative Labs Zen Touch mini 5GB.
The thing holding me back is that ust about every company makes something extra (speakers, cases etc etc) for the Ipod.
The Zen mini holds more data, is cheaper, has a, FM tuner that you can record from and ain''t half bad looking in say Black or Silver.
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