IPOD question

[makpjazz57]

Wow! This is all great info. My 20GB iPOD (R.I.P.) was very good at doing random. I purchased an interim solution 'til I can get the 80GB, a SanDisk 2 GB player and I love it for now, but maybe because it holds less tunes, the SanDisk is not doing very good at random (or perhaps it is my lack of knowledge of programming this model).

I appreciate all the input regarding features, protective cases, where to go for a good deal on an iPOD, etc.

Marla

[makpjazz57]

Thanks for the clarification, Rod. I'm looking forward to buying the 80GB two weeks from today, if all goes well. Believe it or not, the first order of business will be to see if I can add some of my jazz videos. to the iPOD. I know I may need to get some kind of conversion software. I tried it on my little SanDisk player and it worked - in fact, the SanDisk player software had converter software and I was able to see my videos on the Sandisk player. Of course, with only 2 GBs to work with, I immediately deleted! Hopefully, the iPOD will have an easy video converter interface, but somehow I doubt it!

I am looking forward to being able to load lots more of my jazz collection on the 80GB. With about 1,000 jazz CDs now doubtful I'll be able to do load all of them!

Marla

[.:.impossible]

I'm still rocking the 3G 20GB ipod. It is scratched to hell and has a sticker on the back from when I sent it in to have the battery replaced in 2004 under warranty. I just had the battery replaced again under the class action suit and have retired it to the car. I installed a USA Spec that my wife gave me for Christmas. I'm thinking this ipod will last a long time now that I am never using the battery anymore.

Honestly, I wasn't much of a walkman type of person anyway. I have always wanted to be able to use this thing in the car and FM transmitters just weren't worth a damn.

As the 3G 20GB ipod reaches 'classic' status, I am using it more than ever before.

My other new toy is the Squeezebox. Man, this thing is great. Rod, how can I find your rodcasts???

[mjzee]

For a while now, I've suspected that the "random" feature on my iPod wasn't really random.

Thanks for sharing this, but as a guy who's devoted his life to

randomness and statistics I can tell you that the iPod random feature

is as close to random as can be without using physics or astronomical methods.

Hmmm. For now, I respectfully disagree. Remember, I'm referring here to the iPod, not iTunes (which is very satisfying from a random selection perspective). Although I had suspected the iPod's limited randomness for some time (why does it always play Louis Armstrong/Fred Astaire/Sil Austin, but some other artists almost never?), what really ticked me off was that I purchased from iTunes "The Bob Dylan Collection"...literally every song Bob recorded and released, almost 800 songs. I did a wipe of the iPod's hard drive and reloaded using iTunes to select the songs at random, and not a single Dylan song from the Collection loaded. That's when I reviewed what did load, and noticed that it transferred whole albums only.

[.:.impossible]

Tell me about this "USA Spec" thing? Been using a cassette adapter (which is better than the FM transmitter which I use in rentals).

For one week in my old car, I had a direct link that was great! (but I sold the car soon afterwards).

USA Spec

Rod, I think USA Spec and direct link are synonymous. I just couldn't deal with the FM transmitter. Constantly looking for a clean frequency to use. I hated it.

My wife found the USA Spec parts on ebay for half price. Definitely look there.

[.:.impossible]

Alright. Back to the random feature. Last night I hit shuffle, then play in itunes and got to work. First song, "Baby's Home" The Lemonheads.

Tonight I hit shuffle, then play in itunes and got to work. First song, "Baby's Home" The Lemonheads.

Smart Shuffle is set right down the middle. I have 99.58GB in itunes all ripped 256k vbr. What are the odds Rod??? Nuts.