BeBop Posted March 1, 2008 Report Share Posted March 1, 2008 I know, the iPod is the de facto standard. I'm living off-the-grid. No Apple. No Starbucks. No TV. Looking for: 1. Minimum 30GB. 40GB would be more good. (My old player, a Creative, was 40GB and full all the time.) 2. Tough - I travel 24/7/365 3. Small - I don't need a video player/screen Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeBop Posted March 1, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2008 An hour of shopping, and I realize I'm looking for a buggy whip. Big capacity devices are all video-oriented. Music-only is so thoroughly dominated by Apple that... Well, there is the Zune. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claude Posted March 1, 2008 Report Share Posted March 1, 2008 An hour of shopping, and I realize I'm looking for a buggy whip. Big capacity devices are all video-oriented. Probably because high capacity players include a hard drive and therefore have a certain size, so the manufacturer makes use of this size to include a large display and video playback. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjzee Posted March 1, 2008 Report Share Posted March 1, 2008 Displays are nice - you can look at the album cover, and if you have mucho time on your hands, you can enter personnel info into iTunes (as "lyrics") for handy reference on your iPod. I love my 30gb iPod. Stick to the "classic" models (small screens) and you'll do fine. And you never know when you'll want to download a concert video to watch (and listen to) on your travels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster_Ties Posted March 2, 2008 Report Share Posted March 2, 2008 I travel 24/7/365 Stay at home yesterday, did ya?? (29-FEB-2008) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted March 2, 2008 Report Share Posted March 2, 2008 I have one of the early nanos and it is more than enough for me. I am a 20th century guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Bresnahan Posted March 2, 2008 Report Share Posted March 2, 2008 Why do you need 30 GB minimum? I know so many people who have these huge 40 GB iPods and they have about 5 GB of music on there. And of that 5 GB of music, they listen to about 2 GB of it repeatedly. You should look at the Sandisk Sansa player. Sure, it tops out at 16 GB, but it is a very easy thing to add/remove stuff. Just rip all the music you want to your PC and hook the unit up and swap a few folders every 6 or 7 months. It will take you that long to go through 16 GB of music mp3s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregK Posted March 2, 2008 Report Share Posted March 2, 2008 Why do you need 30 GB minimum? I know so many people who have these huge 40 GB iPods and they have about 5 GB of music on there. And of that 5 GB of music, they listen to about 2 GB of it repeatedly. You should look at the Sandisk Sansa player. Sure, it tops out at 16 GB, but it is a very easy thing to add/remove stuff. Just rip all the music you want to your PC and hook the unit up and swap a few folders every 6 or 7 months. It will take you that long to go through 16 GB of music mp3s. I filled my 30GB iPod within a month of getting it and am constantly switching out albums. 30GB is not that big if you choose to import at a higher bit-rate than the default. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claude Posted March 2, 2008 Report Share Posted March 2, 2008 (edited) I currently have an old 20GB iRiver which is quite bulky. I'll probably replace it with a slim 8GB flash-memory player (Samsung). 20GB is nice, but I don't really need it, as I replace the albums I listened to at least once a week. Having space for 80-100 CDs (at 192kbs MP3 quality) is enough. Even if I travelled constantly, I would prefer to keep the music collection on the laptop hard drive and use a small MP3 player rather than having a 60GB or bigger MP3 player. Edited March 2, 2008 by Claude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeBop Posted March 2, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2008 Why do you need 30 GB minimum? I know so many people who have these huge 40 GB iPods and they have about 5 GB of music on there. And of that 5 GB of music, they listen to about 2 GB of it repeatedly. I travel for many months on end. I may see my LPs/CDs once a year. I cannot download over a Sudanese dial-up line. Much of the time, I don't even have a laptop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Bresnahan Posted March 2, 2008 Report Share Posted March 2, 2008 Why do you need 30 GB minimum? I know so many people who have these huge 40 GB iPods and they have about 5 GB of music on there. And of that 5 GB of music, they listen to about 2 GB of it repeatedly. I travel for many months on end. I may see my LPs/CDs once a year. I cannot download over a Sudanese dial-up line. Much of the time, I don't even have a laptop. I rip all my mp3s at VBR Q2, which is pretty much indistinguishable from CD. I don't need FLAC for portable listening when VBR Q2 works as well as it does. A typical 75 minute CD will rip to about 85 MB at this VBR bitrate. Since many of my Blue Note CDs are more like 42 minutes each, they take about 45 MB. A 16 GB Sandisk player would hold ~355 "typical" Blue Note CDs or if you rip all 75 minute discs, ~188 will fit. That's alotta music! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riverrat Posted March 17, 2008 Report Share Posted March 17, 2008 Along these lines, do any of you folks know of a player that will play FLAC files natively? From what I understand (which isn't much) there is software available that allows FLAC playback on an iPod. But I want to explore non-Apple options too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockefeller center Posted March 17, 2008 Report Share Posted March 17, 2008 (edited) Along these lines, do any of you folks know of a player that will play FLAC files natively? Cowon players. http://www.cowonamerica.com/ iAudio X5: http://www.cowonamerica.com/products/iaudi...#specifications MP3, OGG, WMA, ASF, FLAC, WAV, Moving Picture Playback, FM Radio Receiver and Recording, Voice Recording, Line-In Recording Cowon iAudio X5 review: http://www.anythingbutipod.com/archives/20...o-x5-review.php Edited March 17, 2008 by rockefeller center Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjzee Posted March 21, 2008 Report Share Posted March 21, 2008 Why do you need 30 GB minimum? I know so many people who have these huge 40 GB iPods and they have about 5 GB of music on there. And of that 5 GB of music, they listen to about 2 GB of it repeatedly. I travel for many months on end. I may see my LPs/CDs once a year. I cannot download over a Sudanese dial-up line. Much of the time, I don't even have a laptop. I rip all my mp3s at VBR Q2, which is pretty much indistinguishable from CD. I don't need FLAC for portable listening when VBR Q2 works as well as it does. A typical 75 minute CD will rip to about 85 MB at this VBR bitrate. Since many of my Blue Note CDs are more like 42 minutes each, they take about 45 MB. A 16 GB Sandisk player would hold ~355 "typical" Blue Note CDs or if you rip all 75 minute discs, ~188 will fit. That's alotta music! Kevin, which program do you use to rip your CDs? I'm also looking for a good program to use while transferring my vinyl to digital. I record each side of vinyl as one track onto a CD, and want to split the side into individual tracks on my Mac. I started using Final Vinyl, but it's too buggy. I wouldn't mind paying for a program, as long as it will do what I need. If it had an equalizer, that would be fun, too. I tried Audacity, but it doesn't seem to do the track-separating thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockefeller center Posted March 21, 2008 Report Share Posted March 21, 2008 I tried Audacity, but it doesn't seem to do the track-separating thing. * Highlight track * File -> Export Selection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregK Posted March 21, 2008 Report Share Posted March 21, 2008 I'm also looking for a good program to use while transferring my vinyl to digital. I record each side of vinyl as one track onto a CD, and want to split the side into individual tracks on my Mac. I started using Final Vinyl, but it's too buggy. I wouldn't mind paying for a program, as long as it will do what I need. If it had an equalizer, that would be fun, too. I tried Audacity, but it doesn't seem to do the track-separating thing. I use Sonic Stage Mastering Studio on my Sony PC. It does the track separation, with EQ, and other effects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjzee Posted March 22, 2008 Report Share Posted March 22, 2008 I tried Audacity, but it doesn't seem to do the track-separating thing. * Highlight track * File -> Export Selection. Is this correct? Wouldn't I have to separate the tracks first before exporting them? Also, it doesn't give options to export in either aiff or mp3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjzee Posted March 22, 2008 Report Share Posted March 22, 2008 This thread gave me the impetus to do a thorough search of this type of software for the Mac. I've spent a few hours playing with Amadeus Pro, and I like it, partly because it has a well-written help file. It also saves files as mp3 VBR (in Final Vinyl, I had to save the results as .aiff files, then convert each to mp3 in iTunes). I might go for it; a license costs either $36 or $40, depending on the website. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockefeller center Posted March 22, 2008 Report Share Posted March 22, 2008 (edited) I tried Audacity, but it doesn't seem to do the track-separating thing. * Highlight track * File -> Export Selection. Is this correct? Wouldn't I have to separate the tracks first before exporting them? Also, it doesn't give options to export in either aiff or mp3. O.K., to be more clear here's a walkthrough: 1. Highlight song/piece 2. Select Tracks | Add Label At Selection: A label track appears; type the name of the song/piece in text-box. Later, in the export-process, this text info can be used for tagging. Adjoining songs can be selected easily: selection snaps-in when entering a label-track's region. 3. Reapeat steps 1&2 until all songs/pieces labeled Click to enlarge. Exporting the labeled tracks: 1. Select File | Export Multiple The next steps should be self-explanatory (file format, destination, ...). Your label names will be used as song names unless you choose file names to be "numbered consecutively". Edited March 22, 2008 by rockefeller center Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockefeller center Posted March 22, 2008 Report Share Posted March 22, 2008 (edited) Also, it doesn't give options to export in either aiff or mp3. Explained here: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/faq?s...&i=lame-mp3 I guess virtually all file-formats are supported; it depends on the libraries available on your machine. Audacity documentation (online, HTML- and PDF-downloads): http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/documentation Edited March 22, 2008 by rockefeller center Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockefeller center Posted March 22, 2008 Report Share Posted March 22, 2008 This thread gave me the impetus to do a thorough search of this type of software for the Mac. I've spent a few hours playing with Amadeus Pro, and I like it, partly because it has a well-written help file. It also saves files as mp3 VBR (in Final Vinyl, I had to save the results as .aiff files, then convert each to mp3 in iTunes). I might go for it; a license costs either $36 or $40, depending on the website. For the use-cases you've described in this thread I'd go with Audacity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Bresnahan Posted March 22, 2008 Report Share Posted March 22, 2008 This thread gave me the impetus to do a thorough search of this type of software for the Mac. I've spent a few hours playing with Amadeus Pro, and I like it, partly because it has a well-written help file. It also saves files as mp3 VBR (in Final Vinyl, I had to save the results as .aiff files, then convert each to mp3 in iTunes). I might go for it; a license costs either $36 or $40, depending on the website. For the use-cases you've described in this thread I'd go with Audacity. Plus, it's free. Before Audacity, I always used Groove Mechanic, but I doubt the free version is still around. It was hard to find a few years ago. I only used Groove Mechanic to separate tracks, not clean up the ticks & pops. As for ripping mp3s, I've pretty much switched over to Exact Audio Copy but in a pinch, I'll use CDex. Both use an external LAME compressor and support passing variables to the compressor. I pass a pretty long command line: -V 2 --vbr-new --add-id3v2 --ignore-tag-errors --ta "%a" --tt "%t" --tg "%m" --tl "%g" --ty "%y" --tn "%n" %s %d For FLAC, I still use EAC but I have an add-on called AutoFLAC. It works very nicely with EAC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WD45 Posted March 22, 2008 Report Share Posted March 22, 2008 I tried Audacity, but it doesn't seem to do the track-separating thing. * Highlight track * File -> Export Selection. Is this correct? Wouldn't I have to separate the tracks first before exporting them? Also, it doesn't give options to export in either aiff or mp3. Audacity exports mp3 if you have the LAME .dll file. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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