iPods and Windows

[Tom Storer]

I'm interested in getting an iPod one day, perhaps soon, and know little about them. I clicked lazily around the Web for a while, got confused, and decided this is a good place for one-stop information requests.

I have a Windows 98 machine. Some questions that come to mind are:

What do I need in the way of ports to connect an iPod to my computer?

Is the iPod just a plug-and-play kind of thing on Windows? Hook it up, it appears in the Windows Explorer, and you start transferring files?

Does the iPod play MP3s or some kind of proprietary format? If the latter, is conversion simple?

I heard the batteries weren't replaceable on the first version. Is that still true for current versions?

If the batteries are indeed now replaceable, do you have to replace them often? Are they expensive, or do they use normal, everyday batteries?

[moneyp]

Originally posted by Tom Storer
I'm interested in getting an iPod one day, perhaps soon, and know little about them. I clicked lazily around the Web for a while, got confused, and decided this is a good place for one-stop information requests.

I have a Windows 98 machine. Some questions that come to mind are:

What do I need in the way of ports to connect an iPod to my computer?

Is the iPod just a plug-and-play kind of thing on Windows? Hook it up, it appears in the Windows Explorer, and you start transferring files?

Does the iPod play MP3s or some kind of proprietary format? If the latter, is conversion simple?

I heard the batteries weren't replaceable on the first version. Is that still true for current versions?

If the batteries are indeed now replaceable, do you have to replace them often? Are they expensive, or do they use normal, everyday batteries?

1. You need USB ports to hook up an iPod.

2. No, there's a software called iTunes that you install to interface with your iPod.

3. Yeah, IPod plays MP3's (as well as many other audio types). No conversion necessary.

4. The batteries are replaceable (and they are replaceable in the old version... Apple changed their policy on that). The old battery lasted 18 months. The new one is supposed to last longer than that. I'll check on the price for new battery replacement. It's not normal, everyday batteries, though. You have to send the iPod back to Apple (the case isn't intended to be opened) or take it into a certified Mac repair store, and they'll replace the battery for you.

[Tom Storer]

Thanks, Mone! I think the two little rectangular ports underneath my round mouse and keyboard ports are the USB ones. Does that sound right? And is iTunes included with the iPod or is it a separate purchase?

I knew I could count on you!

[chuckyd4]

You can start using iTunes now, for free.... just head over here, and click on the "download" button.

I've actually started using it for all kinds of things (incidentally, I'm running Windows XP); I find it a great, no-hassle program for digital music organization, for burning CDs, and most importantly, for ripping tracks from CD to MP3... though make sure you go into preferences to make sure it rips them to MP3, instead of the default iTunes file type.


Also, it sounds like those two ports are indeed your USB ports.

And now I'll defer to more-knowledgeable souls.

[Sand]

Originally posted by Tom Storer
Thanks, Mone! I think the two little rectangular ports underneath my found mouse and keyboard ports are the USB ones. Does that sound right? And is iTunes included with the iPod or is it a separate purchase?

I knew I could count on you!

Itunes is free to download. I downloaded an upgraded version for my Powerbook yesterday. An Ipod would be fine. Send it to me, if you don't like it.

[moneyp]

Yep, them little rectangles are the USB ports, and as others have pointed out, iTunes be free.

But, uh, bad news. iPods don't work with Windows 98 (at least according to Apple's website). You need either Windows 2000 or XP for the latest version.

[Tom Storer]

Well, I'm planning to upgrade the 'puter later this spring. I'll wait until then to get an iPod.

Thanks for the tips, everyone.

[GA Russell]

Tom, it's not clear to me why you have decided upon the Apple brand of digital music player.

There are competing units with different issues. I believe that some work with flashlight batteries. Perhaps they work with Win98.

You may wish to consider one with flash memory rather than a hard drive. The flash memory holds much less, but as I understand it they are far less like to break, and they weigh less.

Perhaps someone who knows can explain the merits of the Ipod's competition.

[Tom Storer]

I confess I haven't done much comparison shopping. I just like the idea of a great big hard disk in a little thingamajig - scores of albums in a small device, easy interface for transferring music between your iPod and your computer. Do competing devices have that combination of large capacity and easy interface?

Right now I'm using an audio/MP3 CD walkman, but it's gone kind of wonky on me and has become unreliable. I could just replace that and, with a CD of MP3 files, have the equivalent of ten or twelve albums as well as be able to play audio CDs on it. For me the real advantage of an iPod would be fitting a hell of a lot more music on it.

But I have no special faith in Apple over anybody else. If there's serious competition, I'm all ears.

[moneyp]

I'm not crazy about Apple products, but the iPod is pretty decent. It's very easy to use and iTunes is incredibly nifty when it comes to organising music, even if you don't use an iPod. I gotta disagree with Mr. Russell, flash memory isn't any more stable than a hard drive, it's more fragile, and doesn't hold as much. I think where the technology is going, it's going to be phased out.

The main competition is HP's iRiver, which is feature-rich, but $50 more on average than an iPod with similar hard drive space. iPod's newest model has 15GB, 20GB and 40GB models. HP only has a 10GB model, and a 20GB model is due out soon.

The iPod is smaller (more portable) if that's your thing, but the iRiver comes with a better dispay and an FM tuner. iRiver also has twice the battery life (16 hours as opposed to 8 hours). If you're upgrading to a new computer and it has firewire ports, I'd definitely recommend the iPod. iRiver doesn't work with firewire, which makes a huge difference in transfer time. iRiver has it's own MP3 encoding system, and also purports to be upgradeable.

All things considered, I'd still recommend the iPod.

[GA Russell]

Mone, I trust your judgment about the flash. I'm surprised to hear it, because I thought the likelihood of the hard drive breaking is fairly high. Which brings up Tom's point about holding more than the 12 mp3 albums that can fit on one CD. It's my understanding that when a hard drive breaks, you lose everything on it. So if you load up your iPod with all that it can hold, losing everything is a disaster if you don't have backups of everything.

What about the Dell product? Doesn't that work with Win98?

By the way, do any of these work with a car cassette player adapter?

[Tanager]

A hard drive has moving parts, and while it's often the first thing to go from sheer wear over time, the manufacturing tolerances are generally high enough that I wouldn't lose sleep over it - for comparison's sake, think of the hard drive in a laptop as a point of reference - I have only ever had one fail on me, and that was out of the probably 10 or 11 hard drives I've used in my laptops over the last, say, five years (I've upgraded for capacity and to keep multiple ones around with different OS builds on them, not because any of the others have died on me). As for having backups, if you're going to spend on an iPod to hold your tunes, you can afford a bigass hard drive on your main 'puter to hold the master copies of said tunes - disk is cheap, as we geeks like to say.

I have no particular knowledge of flash memory, so I can't pretend to offer any opinion on it worth hearing.

[moneyp]

Originally posted by GA Russell
Mone, I trust your judgment about the flash. I'm surprised to hear it, because I thought the likelihood of the hard drive breaking is fairly high. Which brings up Tom's point about holding more than the 12 mp3 albums that can fit on one CD. It's my understanding that when a hard drive breaks, you lose everything on it. So if you load up your iPod with all that it can hold, losing everything is a disaster if you don't have backups of everything.

What about the Dell product? Doesn't that work with Win98?

Hard drives today are fairly solvent. What more likely would happen is a glitch in the OS, and that can be repaired without losing your music.

I don't think there's any reason that iRiver and the Dell Digital Jukebox can't work on Windows 98 since they don't use proprietary software, but for chrissakes, if you have Windows 98, it's time to upgrade anyway! The DDJ is nice. Cheaper than the iPod, twice as long battery life (16 hours) w/ short recharge time (8 hours), better display. The cons are no firewire support (a biggie, IMO) and an unwieldy interface. You can't, say, play all the songs on your player because you have to go through and select all of the songs you want to play.

The difference maker with the iPod is the firewire support, which allows you to transfer entire albums in a matter of seconds. And the interface is very sweet and easy to use. The drawback is battery life (only eight hours).

They should all work with cassette adapters.

[vibes]

For something similar to iPod in size and storage, I'd check out the Creative Nomad Zen. I believe there's even a 60gb model of that out now. I've never listened to one, but I have an older 20gb Nombad Jukebox and have always been very happy with it. I believe the Nomad Zen uses a USB 2.0 connection to transfer music, which is even faster than Firewire.

[vibes]

Here's something about the 60gb Zen Extra:

CREATIVE

At $400, I'd say it's extremely reasonably priced, compared to the iPod.

[moneyp]

Originally posted by vibes
For something similar to iPod in size and storage, I'd check out the Creative Nomad Zen. I believe there's even a 60gb model of that out now. I've never listened to one, but I have an older 20gb Nombad Jukebox and have always been very happy with it. I believe the Nomad Zen uses a USB 2.0 connection to transfer music, which is even faster than Firewire.

The interface is faster. The standard USB cable isn't, however, and in practice your average firewire device is much faster than any USB device.

EDIT: You're actually thinking of the Firewire 400 (which still is faster than USB 2.0 despite a lower-listed transfer rate). Firewire 800 is faster than all of them.

[Bill Ashline]

Well the Zen Xtra looks strikingly similar to an iPod.

I've had a five gig iPod for two years now. The first ones issued and I've loved mine. At one time there was a problem with the battery life, but it was easily solved with a software update. I've had no problems since. Lithium batteries don't hold charges for long, but if you don't mind plugging it in everyday after using it, it's not an issue. i"ve been converting language tapes to MP3 files as well and storing them on the iPod. I also much prefer the AAC encoding program over MP3, which Apple includes. Since I bought the iPod, I've uploaded my entire music library, which I store in a separate hard drive. I can then transfer files in and out to the iPod with ease, and in doing so have managed to back up my entire music library as well. I'm a big fan of iTunes. I've yet to find a better program for importing music.

[vibes]

Originally posted by mone peterson
The interface is faster. The standard USB cable isn't, however, and in practice your average firewire device is much faster than any USB device.

EDIT: You're actually thinking of the Firewire 400 (which still is faster than USB 2.0 despite a lower-listed transfer rate). Firewire 800 is faster than all of them.

Are the newest iPods using Firewire 800? If so, I hadn't heard that. I've never heard that USB 2.0 was slower than Firewire 400. It's always promoted as being somewhat faster (and yes, it's always listed as being faster).

Whatever the case, I'd love to have a device with either Firewire or USB 2.0 capabilities. My Nomad Jukebox is a couple years old now, and uses a USB 1.1 connection. When I want to transfer a lot of music, I just get the list of files ready, start the transfer and then go do something else for an hour or more. It's painfully slow.

[moneyp]

Originally posted by vibes
Are the newest iPods using Firewire 800? If so, I hadn't heard that. I've never heard that USB 2.0 was slower than Firewire 400. It's always promoted as being somewhat faster (and yes, it's always listed as being faster).

Whatever the case, I'd love to have a device with either Firewire or USB 2.0 capabilities. My Nomad Jukebox is a couple years old now, and uses a USB 1.1 connection. When I want to transfer a lot of music, I just get the list of files ready, start the transfer and then go do something else for an hour or more. It's painfully slow.

No, they're not using 800 yet.

As for USB vs. Firewire, check this out. They may say it's faster, but it has never been in my experience. In my job capacity, I occasionally have to clone someone's machine, it takes about twice as long on via USB than it does over a firewire cable. Of course, I've never really seen a good quality USB cable.

[vibes]

Thanks for that link, Mone. That was very interesting.

As for high-quality USB cables, maybe you'll see some soon. I met with a Monster Cable rep yesterday, and they pitched us a high-quality USB cable that they want us to carry in our audio section. I personally didn't think much of the idea, but it might happen one of these days.

Firewire is definitely the way to go, and Apple's iPod is the standard by which all these units should be rated. BTW, the rate of transfer via Firewire is simply amazing.

[Tom Storer]

Well, I'm learning a lot. I'd never heard of Firewire, for instance.

I'm going to be coming into a little cash at the end of April, so in May I replace my poor old Windows 98 warhorse with something current and get myself an iPod while I'm at it. I can hardly wait!

[moneyp]

Originally posted by vibes
Thanks for that link, Mone. That was very interesting.

As for high-quality USB cables, maybe you'll see some soon. I met with a Monster Cable rep yesterday, and they pitched us a high-quality USB cable that they want us to carry in our audio section. :rolleyes: I personally didn't think much of the idea, but it might happen one of these days.

It's not a bad idea, for all of the people who have USB 2.0 interfaces and don't get the full transfer rate. Of course, now that Firewire 800 is out, maybe you should wait for USB 3.0. :-)

Way to go, Tom.

[DWBass]

I don't know too much about Firewire but USB 2.0 is pretty fast. I routinely transfer files to and from a 256mb USB flash thumb drive and it takes literally seconds (1-2 seconds). I don't see how waiting a full minute to load up an 20gig iPod or similar unit warrants a 'must have' Firewire port. If you already have USB 2.0, it's sufficient! Don't get me wrong, Firewire is extremely desirable!

[james harrigan]

there's a detailed piece in today's NY Times that discusses iPod and alternatives. Very informative, but the bottom line is that iPod rules. Here's the link
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/12/te...ts/12stat.html

on a related issue, what about headphones for portable devices? I have contemplated plunking down $100 or so for a pair of high-end in-ear phones such as the Etymotic ER-6. how good are the iPod's phones? has anyone heard Etymotic or other high-end phones for portables?

[Bill Ashline]

I don't like the in-ear phones. I use a pair of Panasonic earphones that wrap around the ear but don't go into it. the quality of Apple's phones is quite good though although there seems to be a short or something with mine. I'd like to learn more about the ones you post. do you have a link on those? thanks.

[GA Russell]

James, the NY Times required registration. Could you please cut and paste the article?

[Tanager]

Originally posted by GA Russell
James, the NY Times required registration. Could you please cut and paste the article?

The registration is, FWIW, free, and there is no real obligation to use "real" personal info when registering, if that makes any difference.

[mke]

For iPod, 6 Flavors of Flattery
By DAVID POGUE

Published: February 12, 2004


EVEN this early in the campaign, the battle for the popular vote is really heating up; the incumbent is being challenged by lesser-known candidates from all over the country. The winner will be the candidate with the best balance of new ideas and appealing looks - and battery life.

I am referring, of course, to the battle for supremacy among portable music players.

So far, Apple's iPod is by far the best seller among high-capacity players. You can't stand in a public place without seeing a pair of those telltale white earbud cords pass by; for once in its life, Apple gets to find out what it's like to be Microsoft. The iPod's success has spawned an entire industry of iPod cases, iPod accessories, iPod software - and now, inevitably, iPod imitators.

The rivals come from electronics makers (Samsung) and from fellow computer makers (Dell, Gateway), as well as from veteran music-player makers (Rio, Creative Labs, iRiver).

Most have the familiar iPod ingredients: a screen, a tiny hard drive and a rechargeable battery, all packed into a rectangular case and accompanied by earbuds. Most come with jukebox software that loads your collection of music files - which you've either downloaded or "ripped" from music CD's - onto the player over a U.S.B. 2.0 cable.

The other notable feature of these competitors is a marketing message that's either "just like the iPod, only cheaper" or "just like the iPod, only better."

Now, you're a busy person, so here's the gist: most of these rivals are cheaper - usually $100 less. But "better" is another story. The iPod is still smaller, more attractive and more thoughtfully designed than any of the upstarts.

It's also much more than just a music player. The iPod can also display your calendar and address book, serve as a text reader and alarm clock, help you pass the time with a suite of games, and so on. And that's before you tap into the universe of add-on shareware programs. (One intriguing example is iSpeak It for the Mac, which converts any text file, Web page or Microsoft Word document into a spoken-word soundtrack, using synthesized voices.)

Even so, certain audiences will prefer the iPod alternatives. For many people these days, "cheaper" is better than "better." Maybe you crave this bell or that whistle that the iPod lacks - a built-in FM radio, say, or a built-in microphone. Or maybe your Windows PC doesn't have Windows 2000 or XP - a requirement for iTunes, the iPod's companion software. (The iPod works with both Mac and Windows; most of the rivals are Windows-only.)

Furthermore, if you want to shop at one of those $1-a-song music Web sites, buying an iPod pretty much limits you to Apple's iTunes music store. (The Apple store's AAC files play only on the iPod. The other stores, like Napster and Musicmatch, deliver WMA files that work on any player except the iPod.) Of course, that's like being "forced" to drive a Lexus or "limited" to staying at the Beverly Hills Four Seasons, but you get the point.

Finally, most of the iPods-in-training can run 13 to 16 hours per charge (manufacturers' estimates), compared with the iPod's eight. That may be important if you routinely commute from, say, New York to Tokyo, although bigger batteries add bulk.

If cost is your main concern, you'll find that the standout feature of Dell's cleanly designed, very easy-to-use DJ 15 player is its price: $250 for the 15-gigabyte model, $300 for the 20. For now, Dell is even offering an additional 10 percent off at dell.com. (The corresponding iPods cost $300 and $400.)

Unfortunately, the Dell feels half-baked, especially in comparison with the highly polished iPod. For example, it's the only player that falls silent when you try to fast-forward or rewind through a song. Incredibly, you can't make it play your entire music collection, beginning to end. And although it has a microphone for low-quality voice notes, the Dell offers no way to copy such recordings back to your PC for transcription or sending to friends. It's a feature in search of a purpose. (Dell says it will fix the latter two glitches later in a revamped player this March.)

Like the Dell, Gateway's 20-gigabyte DMP X20 ($300) is bigger and heavier than the iPod. It features the industry's biggest screen (2.5 inches diagonally); a microphone like the Dell's; and an FM radio, which is a logical and welcome enhancement to a music player. ("Yes, yes, I know 5,000 songs fit on here - but what am I supposed to listen to after that?")

The Gateway and the iPod are also the only players in this derby that can play digital "books on tape" from Audible.com.

But here again, some of these improvements over the iPod seem to have been designed more for the brochure than for the customer. Why on earth, for example, can't you record songs off the radio? (You can on the Samsung YP-910 GS player, and it's a great way to expand your music collection legally.) And to load up the Gateway, it's too bad you have to use plain old Windows Media Player, a clunky program not particularly suited to the task - and one with no integrated online music store.

The Samsung ($300), by contrast, was designed to sync with the Napster 2.0 $1-a-song service. Unfortunately, the Napster jukebox software is no iTunes; it offers, for example, no way to "rip" your CD's into audio files for loading onto your player.

When it comes to bonus features, the Samsung gets an A for effort. It can memorize 44 FM stations as presets; record from the radio; and, when you attach the included antenna stick, it can even "broadcast'' its music to an unused FM frequency on your home or car stereo. (Alas, interference prevents this kind of transmitter from working very well, regardless of the player.)

Ultimately, though, the Samsung is just too eccentric. Its button layout is random and illogical, its plastic case feels cheap, and the large neon-blue lights that surround its control pad are just as tacky as those light-up frames people install on their license plates.

Speaking of vehicles, the Creative Labs Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra is the sport-utility truck of MP3 players. At this moment, it's the only player available in a 60-gigabyte model ($400). That's enough to hold 900 hours of WMA-encoded music - an important point if you're selected for the first manned mission to Mars. (To make that prospect even more realistic, Creative Labs blessed this model with a removable battery, so you can pack a bunch of spares in your astro-luggage.)

Unfortunately, the Zen Xtra is truck-like in a bad way, too. At 4.4 by 3.0 by 0.9 inches and nearly half a pound, it fits in your hand like a romance novel dipped in lead. Yet for all that mass, it has no microphone, radio or Record button. And there's no Hold switch; to prevent the player from getting powered on accidentally in your purse or pocket, you have to burrow into a menu command.

Now, most of these machines fall short because their designers have tried to mimic the iPod without fully understanding its appeal. Two of the players, however, exhibit personalities and fresh approaches all their own.

One is the black metal-clad iPod-size iRiver iHP-i20. The price is the same as the iPod's ($400 for 20 gigabytes; a 40-gigabyte model costs $500). But you also get an FM radio, a superb built-in voice recorder (with a choice of recording quality and format), an external tie-clip-style mike and two line inputs for recording directly from, say, a CD player or tape deck. Like Apple, Dell, Gateway and Samsung, iRiver provides a wired remote that controls the player in your purse or pocket - but iRiver's remote has a little backlighted screen of its own that identifies the current song.

Any hard-drive-based player can double as an external hard drive for carrying everyday computer data around with you (photos, movies, e-mail, and so on), which gives it a huge advantage over other kinds of music players. The beauty of the iRiver (and the models from Apple, Samsung and Gateway) is that it shows up as a disk icon immediately when plugged into any PC. The other players require you to install special driver software first. Too bad if you've just arrived at the boardroom PC expecting to plug and play, say, your PowerPoint presentation.

The iRiver's crushing disappointment is that it was evidently designed by engineers, for engineers; its menus make the cockpit of a 767 look spartan. More alarming still, it comes with no jukebox software at all; you're expected to drag your music files onto it manually, in Windows Explorer. Techies will love this thing; mere mortals will be aghast.

Although the Rio Karma ($300 for 20 gigabytes) looks nothing like the iPod - it's a thick, brownie-like square - it comes the closest to recreating the iPod's magic. For example, Rio and Creative Labs are the only companies that bothered to duplicate what may be the single most defining and important feature of the iPod: auto-synching. When you connect the player to your PC, it updates itself to mirror the playlists and songs on your PC. That Dell, Gateway, Samsung and iRiver expect you to manage your music collection manually shows just how little they grasp the larger iPod concept.

To charge and load the Karma, you place it in an included docking station; like the iPod's dock, this one can also hook up to your home stereo when you're not on the go. The dock's Ethernet jack even lets you manage the Karma's contents from anywhere on your home or office network. There's no radio, microphone or other gadgetry-not even a remote. But as a dedicated music player, it's pure good Karma.

Apple could have been some character from Greek mythology: blessed with ingenious, culture-changing innovation yet cursed with seeing its ideas co-opted by rivals who wind up making all the money. In the iPod's case, though, none of the companies who lust for some of Apple's pie can deliver the elegance and convenience of Apple's music trinity: iPod, the iTunes software and the iTunes music store.

But if an iPod isn't for you, you could do worse than buying the Dell for its simplicity and economy, the iRiver for its super-geeky feature list or the Rio Karma for its excellent design and compact dimensions. In this election, at least, there can be more than one victor.

[james harrigan]

Originally posted by Bill Ashline
I don't like the in-ear phones. I use a pair of Panasonic earphones that wrap around the ear but don't go into it. the quality of Apple's phones is quite good though although there seems to be a short or something with mine. I'd like to learn more about the ones you post. do you have a link on those? thanks.

hi, Bill. As requested,
http://headroom.headphone.com/layout...&subTopicID=64

The ER4-S they talk about in the link is pretty pricey, $250. The ER6 discussed elsewhere on the site are "only" $130, while the Shure E2C are available for $100.