On Sun, 2010-01-10 at 20:22 +0000, Rob Malpass wrote: > Hi all
>
> Do any of us have ipods? If so, has anyone found any decent music
> library software for them?
> I migrated from a 20Gb IRiver to an 80Gb Apple ipod last year and in
> that time my 8500 40 odd Gb library has caused me no end of problems
> with itunes running under windows. This gives me 2 options:
>
> 1) The baby and the bathwater - get a new mp3 player and say farewell
> to apple and M$. In theory (cash permitting) I have no problem with
> this but...
> 2) I quite like the ipod itself (touch wood) I've had very little
> trouble with it. It's the software that's the problem. For
> example, you would think "import library" would be a pretty simple
> thing. In my case, for no apparent reason, it stops at 3300 songs.
>
> So if anyone knows of any better software - open source, bleeding
> edge, Linux or Windows - I'm not too worried - I just want it to do
> what itunes is supposed to do (which might be a pipe dream as I
> suspect the ipod is close source under the bonnet) - I'd love to hear
> from you.
>
>
> Cheers
> Rob
In my dim distant days on Windows I ditched Itunes (how bad is that
piece of software???!!!) and went with Anapod Explorer - which did what
I wanted.
Me and the iPod had a six month relationship before I ditched it and
went with a Sony instead, and I've never looked back. Whilst the storage
is just under a third of the Ipod, the sound quality, software and
general operation via real tactile buttons just blows that horrible
Apple thing out of the water. The battery life laughs in the face of it
and it really is an ugly brick if you put it side by side with the Sony.
I've had mixed issues with the Software on the IPod itself. Locking up,
duplicating whole folders, filling folders with the same track, loosing
tracks transfered etc. Ditching Itunes resolved some of that, but the
locking up was still randomly occuring at the point it was parked in the
junk box.
To stop at this point would make this reply strong on opinion, but short
of facts. Given this is a Linux group it was only right that I dug it
out of the said junk box and plugged it into a box running Ubuntu 8.10.
It found it in a few seconds and launched Rhythm Box Music Player. I can
browse it and add tracks to it but I've not tried 3300+ this morning :-)
Downside: It is bitching 'Do not disconnect' as it commonly does when
not attached to Itunes, but yep - it's working here on free software.
I'm not anti-apple or anything, it's just my ears, eyes and hands told
me all I needed to know about the IPod a couple of years ago.
