What is an iPod?

[sweetnpetite]

Seriously, I'm that far in the past. I'm that hopeless about technology. I know that it's some type of mini-computer that plays music, but not much more. How do they work? Where do you get the music for them (do you have to pay for each song?) What else do you need for it to work? What's the spectrum of price and quality? What makes them so great? Are they better than sliced bread? [esp. in this day of low-carb ] do you have one? should I get them? what if I think they are too yuppieish for me Do they hook to headphones? do they have speakers? do you subscribe to a plan like a cell phone? Is iPod the brand or the product? Are there other similer or same products with different names?

so many questions.

Not only that, but i don't even know anyone who has one. Not a soul. Am I alone here in this?

Someone please tell me, what's the 4-1-1 on iPod.

 

[kendo1]

Seriously?
Basically they are mini hard drives.
They use 1 1/8 " Toshiba hard drives to store data, just like your computer does.
Cost is normally about £100+
Storage is from roughly 20Gb up to 80GB. They can therefore hold about 15000 songs.
Kind of old technology really. Personally I prefer MP3 players.

 

[Just-Legal]

iPod is a brand, like Nike is to sneakers

 

[sweetnpetite]

Seriously?
Basically they are mini hard drives.
They use 1 1/8 " Toshiba hard drives to store data, just like your computer does.
Cost is normally about £100+
Storage is from roughly 20Gb up to 80GB. They can therefore hold about 15000 songs.
Kind of old technology really. Personally I prefer MP3 players.

how much in US currency?

why are MP3 players better? are they both portable?

...yes... seriously.

it took me forever to update to CD. -like over 10 years.

 

[sweetnpetite]

iPod is a brand, like Nike is to sneakers

what other brands are there?

 

[kendo1]

£100 is about $200.
They are coming down in price all the time.
MP3 players are Flash memory ( computer chip memory), no moving parts.
Ipods use moving parts, that's why I reckon it's old technology.
The smaller Ipods also use Flash memory, but there is a limit to the size. Roughly 20GB.
As was said, an Ipod is a generic name now, just like Hoover or Walkman. Originals made by Apple though others make them now.
Battery life is typically around 20 hours- difficult to play 15000 songs in 20 hours!
They can also be used as portable storage, for video for instance.

 

[CharleyH]

Seriously, I'm that far in the past. I'm that hopeless about technology. I know that it's some type of mini-computer that plays music, but not much more. How do they work? Where do you get the music for them (do you have to pay for each song?) What else do you need for it to work? What's the spectrum of price and quality? What makes them so great? Are they better than sliced bread? [esp. in this day of low-carb ] do you have one? should I get them? what if I think they are too yuppieish for me Do they hook to headphones? do they have speakers? do you subscribe to a plan like a cell phone? Is iPod the brand or the product? Are there other similer or same products with different names?

so many questions.

Not only that, but i don't even know anyone who has one. Not a soul. Am I alone here in this?

Someone please tell me, what's the 4-1-1 on iPod.

Jesus, Sweet, you are to young to be in a twilight zone. It's the new porn venue! (seriously it is) it used to be about music? Kendo says it well.

 

[DemonOuterverse]

£100 is about $200.
They are coming down in price all the time.
MP3 players are Flash memory ( computer chip memory), no moving parts.
Ipods use moving parts, that's why I reckon it's old technology.
The smaller Ipods also use Flash memory, but there is a limit to the size. Roughly 20GB.
As was said, an Ipod is a generic name now, just like Hoover or Walkman. Originals made by Apple though others make them now.
Battery life is typically around 20 hours- difficult to play 15000 songs in 20 hours!
They can also be used as portable storage, for video for instance.

To add on to what Kendo1 said:

Actually there quite a few harddrive (HDD) MP3 players out, the Creative Zen 40GB comes to mind since I usually hear it follow anything iPod releated.

http://reviews.cnet.com/Music/4521-6532_7-5021434-3.html

Also, technically speaking newer iPods are ALSO MP3 players. They have supported AAC and MP3 both since I think the second version. What sets iPod apart is that the current ones (5th Generation) is they have music, photo, and video support.


The thing about Flash vs HDD:
Flash is better if you don't mind having only a few songs and are very active. Since there's no moving parts you don't have to worry about jarring a HDD when running, etc.

HDD ones are better for a person who want LOADS of songs for HOURS of play. They are hearty enough to be used in a car but are not built for lots of quick motion, like sports.


A bit of technophile crap:
AAC = Advanced Audio Coding (MPEG-4)
MP3 = MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3
WMA = Windows Media Audio (usually refers to versions 8 thru 10)
WAV = Wave Audio (usually considered to be "uncompressed audio", but it is compressed usually in PCM)


A short rant:
IMO, only the technologically challeneged or the complete idiot calls ALL players iPod. It's like calling ALL shoes Nikes.

 

[sweetnpetite]

To add on to what Kendo1 said:

Actually there quite a few harddrive (HDD) MP3 players out, the Creative Zen 40GB comes to mind since I usually hear it follow anything iPod releated.

http://reviews.cnet.com/Music/4521-6532_7-5021434-3.html

Also, technically speaking newer iPods are ALSO MP3 players. They have supported AAC and MP3 both since I think the second version. What sets iPod apart is that the current ones (5th Generation) is they have music, photo, and video support.


The thing about Flash vs HDD:
Flash is better if you don't mind having only a few songs and are very active. Since there's no moving parts you don't have to worry about jarring a HDD when running, etc.

HDD ones are better for a person who want LOADS of songs for HOURS of play. They are hearty enough to be used in a car but are not built for lots of quick motion, like sports.


A bit of technophile crap:
AAC = Advanced Audio Coding (MPEG-4)
MP3 = MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3
WMA = Windows Media Audio (usually refers to versions 8 thru 10)
WAV = Wave Audio (usually considered to be "uncompressed audio", but it is compressed usually in PCM)


A short rant:
IMO, only the technologically challeneged or the complete idiot calls ALL players iPod. It's like calling ALL shoes Nikes.

I'm just confused now.

I am not... how you say... computer literate

I don't even know what "music, photo, and video support." means!

Look people, I took a computer class in 8th grade. We learned programing for BASIC. Everything else I know I've learned from just being online, and from some help from a friendly librairian. And most of that is like, how to hyperlink and use Works.

I really, really don't know anything!

 

[sweetnpetite]

Jesus, Sweet, you are to young to be in a twilight zone. It's the new porn venue! (seriously it is) it used to be about music? Kendo says it well.

I took a computer class in 8th grade. We learned programing for BASIC. That fulfilled my computer requirement for school, and that's the last formal computer training I ever had. Now, I might as well be 80 because I am completely intimidated by all things computer. I know nothing!

 

[Liar]

I took a computer class in 8th grade. We learned programing for BASIC. That fulfilled my computer requirement for school, and that's the last formal computer training I ever had. Now, I might as well be 80 because I am completely intimidated by all things computer. I know nothing!

And still, you use one every day.

I don't even know what "music, photo, and video support." means!

That it can play music like all mp3 players, but also show pictures and play video on the screen.


Ok. a summary of iPods:

1. An MP3 player is a portable device that you can play your digital music on.

2. There are other music formats than MP3, but that's the most common one, so they are called "MP3 players".

3. There are many brands of MP3 players. iPod, made by Apple, is te most famous of those brands. They are stylish but pretty expensive.

4. MP3 players come in different memory sizes (housing diffferent amounts of songs). The small ones are based on Flash memory and the big ones have small hard drives in them.

5. If you don't even know the most basic things about your computer, I would reccomend you learn that first before you buy an MP3 player. Because you hook it up to the computer and will have to know how to connect it, how to install it's software if it has any, how to transfer files to it, and so on.

 

[MechaBlade]

Seriously, I'm that far in the past. I'm that hopeless about technology. I know that it's some type of mini-computer that plays music, but not much more. How do they work? Where do you get the music for them (do you have to pay for each song?) What else do you need for it to work? What's the spectrum of price and quality? What makes them so great? Are they better than sliced bread? [esp. in this day of low-carb ] do you have one? should I get them? what if I think they are too yuppieish for me Do they hook to headphones? do they have speakers? do you subscribe to a plan like a cell phone? Is iPod the brand or the product? Are there other similer or same products with different names?

so many questions.

Not only that, but i don't even know anyone who has one. Not a soul. Am I alone here in this?

Someone please tell me, what's the 4-1-1 on iPod.

You are more adorable than a basketful of puppies.

70% of the people I see on the street are listening iPods when I see them (college). Seriously, about 70%.

 

[elsol]

*burp*

Imagine your entire music collection... albums, cassettes, cds, concert recordings...

Now imagine being able to take it with you, everywhere you go.

That's an IPod, (and other music devices of its ilk).


Sincerely,
ElSol

 

[sweetnpetite]

*burp*

Imagine your entire music collection... albums, cassettes, cds, concert recordings...

Now imagine being able to take it with you, everywhere you go.

That's an IPod, (and other music devices of its ilk).


Sincerely,
ElSol

but isn't the music you put on an ipod... impermenant?

 

[sophia jane]

I'm not going to explain because I'm tired. but I can tell you that when I was in Chicago this summer, iPods were everywhere.

I want a pink mini iPod personally.

 

[Weird Harold]

How do they work?

In short, they work just like Windows Media Player or whatever media player you use tolistento audio files on your computer -- They're like a PDA or Cell-phone except they are specialized for playing audio files instead of storing notes or ring tones. They're like a portable CD player without the CD's and the physical size required to contain a CD.

Where do you get the music for them (do you have to pay for each song?)

do you subscribe to a plan like a cell phone?

You get the music -- or audio books or video clips (for the newer ones) the same place you get them for your computer: you download them from the web, rip them from CD, or copy them from casettes.

iPods, as opposed to generic MP3 Players, can play some proprietary formats that protect copyrights -- those formats usually require a fee or subscription to download. Google "iTunes" to find out more about subscribing to services to download files for iPods.

What else do you need for it to work? What's the spectrum of price and quality?

Like a PDA, you need a computer that is capable of connecting to the portable device via USB or Firewire and running the "Sychronization" software. You download the audio files to your computer and then "synchronise" your WinMP or iTunes playlist with your portable music player.

What makes them so great?

The main advantage is that they allow you to take a huge amount of music every where with you -- no mor ebeing limited to the one CD you have in the player or carrying a backpack full of CD's with you for when you feel like listiening to something else.

The second advantage is that they aren't subject to "Skip" as CD players are -- especially the ones with no moving parts.

Third, they're very small -- some nearly as small as a (thick) credit card or a marker pen.

Do they hook to headphones? do they have speakers?

All I've seen are strictly headphones -- although you can get mini-speakers to plug into any headphone jack or use amplified speakers like most computers use. Anything that will work on a standard headset signal will work with an iPod/MP3 Player

If you have a casette player in your car, you can use an adapter to play the sound through your car's speakers. Many newer car radios have a "CD Player" or "Aux" input to connect a headphone jack to the car's speakers.

Radio Shack sells (or at least used to) an adapter that will convert the headset output from any device to into a low powered FM Stereo signal that can be received by any FM Radio -- i.e. boom-box, car stereo, house-hold stereo system, or several friend's "walkmans."

 

[Alex756]

They have really come down in price. If you think you need the greatest and biggest they are pricy, but small ones can be dound for 30-40 bucks, Target has small mpg players for like 80. Depending on what software comes with them you can move your music from CDs to the device. Also any mp3s on your computer can be moved onto it.
Basically it's another way for my friend to torture me with kids music at 5AM on road trips.

The COOL thing, there are deviced that transfer the output from the player to something that can be picked up on that 88.3 or whatever frequency it is on the car radio. So if you have an old car no CD player, OR music not on CD, or hate paging through CDs it's great.

Amazon has good comparison tool as does walking into a best buy when they aren't busy and bothering the nearest 17 year old that works there.

The price is variable, my friend's husband blew 600 on his and accesories. I'm looking at spending like 40 plus whatever the thing to transfer it to the radio is.

~Alex

The newest thing BTW is the video ipods, and those are freakishly expensive and nothign I'd be interested in. iPods themselves here are considered 'old' the micro is still quasi cool, but with soo many 'old' people having iPods the 'cool' factor is wearing off.

 

[sweetnpetite]

They have really come down in price. If you think you need the greatest and biggest they are pricy, but small ones can be dound for 30-40 bucks.

That's good, because now I really want one. And my idea of an expensive Christas gift is 20bucks. I can't believe the things some people get for holidays. Not in my world, sorry.

The newest thing BTW is the video ipods, and those are freakishly expensive and nothign I'd be interested in. iPods themselves here are considered 'old' the micro is still quasi cool, but with soo many 'old' people having iPods the 'cool' factor is wearing off.

Great- and now you've solved my yuppy problem too

 

[elsol]

but isn't the music you put on an ipod... impermenant?

It's as permenant as the hard drive in the Ipod... they crap out eventually but I've been playing with mine for two years.

That's two years of carrying 1 ipod rather than 100 cds.

Sincerely,
Fredd

 

[3113]

but isn't the music you put on an ipod... impermenant?

Hey, SnP! I'm an "Apple Cultist"--that means that I'm part of an annoying group that loves Apple. We love their computers. We love their products. So I'm going to cover a few things that haven't quite been touched on.

Here's how the iPod works. It uses a program (iTunes) to do a lot of amazing things. iTunes is one of the perks and reasons for the iPod's popularity. It's a really EXCELLENT music program for your computer (you can download it free, right now, if you like!). Think of iTunes as a jutebox. It holds all your records, and you can flip through and see all the songs, press a button and listen to them (no quarters required). You can also pause, skip ahead to another song, shuffle songs, or repeat songs. All you have to do is put your music on your computer--like putting the records into a jutebox.

Let's say you have the Beatle's *Hard Day's Night* on CD. You load the CD into your computer disk drive. If you're online (connected to the internet), iTunes will go to an amazing music data base and retrieve the song titles for that album. You will see all the songs on the album listed in iTunes. You tell it which songs you want. It downloads them. They are now on your harddrive. You tell iTunes, "add them to my library" (put them in the jutebox) and it does. Now, if you go to your library, there they are. You can pick a song, press play and your computer will play the song. If you have a lot of music, iTunes can easily find whatever you're looking for--it has a great search engine. So you type in "Hard..." and suddenly all songs, albums, bands with "hard" in them are listed.

Here's the kicker: you can create playlists. Do you remember making up tapes of different music for your friends back in the day? Only all you have to do is click "Create playlist". You name the playlist. Like "Dance Party." Now you use your mouse to click and drag songs from your music library into that playlist. Arrange the songs as you like. It's very much like being your own DJ. You can hook speakers up to your computer, hit the "dance party" playlist in itunes, and your party is supplied with all-night dance music that you arranged--easy songs first, wild songs through the middle, slow dancing at the end.... Burn them onto a CD and give them to your friends, just like the old tapes you use to make.

Getting the idea? Think of how iTunes will provide you for holiday music for your holiday party.

Here's where the iPod comes in. You've seen pictures of iPods, yes? There are other music players. What makes the iPod the "winner" as it were is it's design. See that wheel there? Imagine your thumb spinning it around. As you spin the wheel, you see in that window names of songs or albums or artists. This is what people like. If you have a lot of music, I mean a LOT, the ipod allows you to find what you want very fast. Press the middle button and the song is chosen and plays. While it plays, the window shows you the song title, artist and how much time the tune has left. So if someone wants to know "What's that song? Who's singing it?" they can find out just by glancing at the window. Newer ipods even feature album covers.

Now, remember those playlists? You connect your iPod to your computer and you use iTunes to transfer music off the computer onto your iPod--those playlists, for example. Or your entire library if you've got an iPod with enough room. So, you go to the gym. You have a playlist called "weight-lifting." You scroll that wheel around, find it, press the button, and now that music is playing and you're weight-lifting to it. Hours of it, if you like. You have another playlist named "marathon," which you play when you run in a marathon (there are armbands so you can wear the ipod on your arm while running or doing other activities). You can also put data on the ipod, photos, and books on tape. So you can sit on the bus listening to *Lord of the Rings*--yes, it will remember where you left off.

The music on your iPod is indeed temporary. It's like those tapes you made way back when. It's not meant as a permanent storage of music--just as a portable jutebox. There are 3 types of ipod out now. One is $99, the shuffle. It very minimalist. No window for you to see song titles. Flash technology. It holds, relatively speaking, very little music. You put on a few playlists. Hit play, forward or back, that's all it does. Good for the gym when all you want to do is hit play and get to work.

Second is the Nano--it's very thin and light. It has a window and a scroll-wheel. It runs $200. It's an all-purpose ipod. It probably won't hold your whole library, but it's holds plenty for the gym, for those long bus or car or airplane rides, or just when your sitting out in the park, watching the birds and the sunset. Small enough to slip in a pocket and forget about. You can store photos on it to show to friends--portable jutebox and photo album.

Third is the "hold everything" iPod. That'll run you $300, unless you want a LOT of storage, than's $400. This is for real music lovers who want to take their entire music library with them. This ipod will not only play music, it'll play videos. TV shows in fact--although the ones avalible are limited for now. But imagine...you're going on a flight. You want to watch the whole first season of *Desperate Housewives* Well, you can download it from the iTunes music store and now you get on the plane, put in your headphones, and watch the show on your iPod. Get bored with that, and you can switch to music. Or books on tape.

Does this help you understand what it is, how it works, and it's popularity? The above ipods, by the way, are the lastest and newest. Older iPods, which do less (no album covers, may or may not hold photos), used or discounted can be found for far less on e-bay or at any electronics retailer.

 

[~photoguy~]

thats "jukebox"

for more on iPod's go here:

http://www.apple.com/ipod/

the newest is the nano model ... so tiny and cute, and color screen too

 

[3113]

thats "jukebox"

Quite right. Sometimes my fingers and brain aren't quite connected