Heartland

Can someone recommened some straight forward free pc software
(for Win XP Sp2) for transferring music to and from an 20Gb iPod?

I may be wrong, but I think the only thing that works is Itunes.

Yup... iTunes is pretty straight forward, it's free, it works for XP SP2... should be the one to get for you.

iTunes (spit) wont let you copy music from an ipod to PC though. Anapod Explorer will but it aint free. Worth the £20 though.

ah.. there was a "from" in the question...

then I'm lost...

I only copy TO the iPod, since I keep the files on my PC...

There must be free stuff that lets you copy the files from iPod to computer.

There is for Mac

http://www.google.com/search?q=itunes+alternatives

gives a few suggestions

http://www.tipmonkies.com/2005/04/28/ip ... lternatves

also there's a winamp plugin called ML_iPod that might do it?

http://www.tipmonkies.com/2005/05/27/us ... -your-ipod

also, ephod - http://www.ephpod.com/ - hooks into winamp5 & the ML_iPod plugin.

jo's got an ipod mini - you can view the harddrive in explorer and copy files off it that way... no itunes-esque gui and its not the user-friendliest of ways as quite often the files are all stored in the root folder, but they're there and perfectly accessible if you know the filenames of the mp3s you want to get to.

gosh, didnt realise it was so complicated.

so what do i tunes users do when they want to replace stuff?
delete it off the ipod using the menus, or delete using itunes?
(sorry, new to this lark)

another Q - its a 60Gb ipod - what are the must have accessories
for these ?

case?
docking station?
spare battery ? (can you change the batteries yourself?)

"the must have accessories"

headphones

Mine's a 60GB iPod too; I haven't needed to delete anything off it yet; still 25GB free...

However, one tip: don't set iTunes to automatically synch the iPod; that way if you delete something from iTunes it automatically deletes it from your iPod too. Not very handy when you've just backed up all your mp3s onto DVD-Rs and you decide "Oh hey, I don't need these on the hard drive any more"

As for accessories; I just have the charger and USB cable that came with it, and an iTrip for listening in the car.

And no, you can't change the batteries yourself

Quiff Boy wrote:"the must have accessories"

headphones

Yeah, good isolating ones, not the sh1t ones that come with it

like these, I can vouch for them

Install the penguin on your iPod instead of that nasty firmware.

Another must have is something like an iSkin, the bastard gets scratches way too quick... And this way it's even more fall proof (it fell down several times while I was running to catch a tram or something and it still looked perfect afterwards)

Docking station is cool and very handy, this way you can link it up to every telly to show pics quite simple, but my 30G photo does not fit in anymore when the skin is on

That's about it, I think, getting stuff off your iPod is way too complicated for me... And personally I did set it to auto update, this way you can just pull it out without having to disconnect is via software

Oh, is it the new 60G Video?

No-one can hate i-pods more than me

What did you eventually do to it then?

Obviousman wrote:What did you eventually do to it then?

erm I put it on ebay

Smart move

Better to make some money out of it instead of having to curse all day long because the bloody bastard won't work

Obviousman wrote: That's about it, I think, getting stuff off your iPod is way too complicated for me... And personally I did set it to auto update, this way you can just pull it out without having to disconnect is via software

Oh, is it the new 60G Video?

yes it is video.

y'know, I just don't get why moving stuff on and off it should be so hard?

why can't windows see it like a drive, as with a memory stick,
where you just copy stuff off and on?

Didn't you get a software cd with the i-pod?

Brideoffrankenstein wrote:Didn't you get a software cd with the i-pod?

iTunes. Nuff said. It sucketh Wouldn't let it near any of my PCs

Ocean Moves wrote:why can't windows see it like a drive, as with a memory stick, where you just copy stuff off and on?

Anapod Explorer does this. Lets you right click on a folder (or files) in windows explorer and "send to ipod", and vice versa. Job done!

so what sucks with itunes?

just started using it tonight- its ripped 2 cds to 192 kbps mp3
and copied them onto my ipod in about 1 minute, folder organised them too.
looks pretty good to me?

I hate the interface, I hate the way it insists on using a 'library', I hate the way it tries to takeover your PC, offering to 'manage' your files (no thanks), and makes itself your default player, (I'll decide, thanks). I hate the fact that it doesn't let you copy files from the ipod to your PC. In short, I hate it iTunes is banished forever from my house.

I never even tried to rip a CD with iTunes, it honestly wasn't on my PC long enough. I prefer to use EAC with Lame encoder integration for the highest quality mp3s (never, EVER rip to anything less than 192)

clicky for more info on Anapod Explorer

I had some software called "Musicmatch" or some such crap - it wouldn't even recognise that the i-pod was there most of the time

DerekR wrote:I hate the interface, I hate the way it insists on using a 'library', I hate the way it tries to takeover your PC, offering to 'manage' your files (no thanks), and makes itself your default player, (I'll decide, thanks). I hate the fact that it doesn't let you copy files from the ipod to your PC. In short, I hate it iTunes is banished forever from my house.

I never even tried to rip a CD with iTunes, it honestly wasn't on my PC long enough. I prefer to use EAC with Lame encoder integration for the highest quality mp3s (never, EVER rip to anything less than 192)

clicky for more info on Anapod Explorer

i'm beginning to see what you mean - the library thing is a pain,
and now suddenly all mpg's get played my quick time in IE6 (?)
your right, I didn't ask for that.

it strikes me a suprising that such a popular bit of kit is wholly at
the mercy of one bit of apple software (itunes), and ONE other
bit of software (anapod explorer) only!
hasn't anybody else developed software for this?