iPod Question

Is it possible to put songs onto an iPod without downloading iTunes? Just wanted to know.

Jason.

Yeah, WinAmp will do it these days.

Can you not just drag mp3`s over to the iPod drive, (F) I think. Will this work?

Jason.

Nope. You can't see where the music files are stored. You can only see Calendar, Contacts and Notes, plus any other folders you want to put on there if you want to use it as a a mini portable storage device. Well, that's on my iPod Nano, at least.

Music is stored in F:\iPod_Control\Music\ in folders beginning, with F00 then F01, so on and so forth.

What`s iTunes like to use? It seems pretty big at around 35mb. Seems like I`m going to have to install it anyway despite not wanting to do anything other than simply putting my mp3`s on.

Jason.

i thought the ipod was just a big harddisk with an interface...

obviously not. If you cannot simply plug it in and use it as a drive (like you can with my £20 creative 1gb) then its off my wishlist.

I know this kind of annoys me too. So how do I go about using Winamp to transfer my tunes as I cannot find any docs regarding this feature?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Jason.

Anapod Explorer is (for me) the best software to use with an iPod. It costs money (between $25 and $35) but it really is worth it.

You can copy music back off your iPod to your PC (iTunes may be capable of this now, but I'm not sure). It also doesn't take up a lot of resources and doesn't insist on QuickTime being installed to work.

I keep all my music in lossless format on my PC. Anapod copies it to my iPod as 192kbps mp3. Perfect.

http://www.redchairsoftware.com/anapod/

OK Thanks, I`ll have a look.

Jason.

This is exactly why I avoided an Ipod and went with a cheap knockoff.
It's set up for no-questions-asked file transfering. I just
drag MP3s on to it and play. Not to mention it can use
rechargeable AAA batteries!

Cheap knockoffs ftw!

Well, if it's any consolation, just be glad you don't have to use Sony's "SonicStage" software to transfer music to your MP3 player. ;)

You might want to use a different piece of software for ripping as the free version of WinAmp will only rip to AAC and only at 2x (dbPowerAmp is my ripper of choice). However, once you have your ripped tracks, it's case of highlighting them in WinAmp's Local Media library, right-clicking and selecting Send To>>My iPod. Simple.

The track display is pretty cool too, with everything set out according to album, artist, genre etc. Personally I like to drag 'n' drop so I have a generic mp3 player (the iPod is the other half's) but WinAmp makes me think twice - it'll even play your iPod music right off the unit.

Sounds simple enough I`ll go try it now.

Jason.

[Edit: OK that worked fine just one final question, is it possible to update an iPod (firmware) without using iTunes if I need to in the future?]

The iPod firmware upgrades used to be a separate distribution, but nowerdays you have to update it using iTunes. And this really annoys me. If it wasn't for this I would _never_ have to use iTunes, which is a dreadful piece of software.

For everything else i use the afore mentioned Anapod Explorer. A great product! I've actually been using Red Chair Softwares products for my mp3 players for years: Notmad explorer with my jurassic 20 GB Creative Zen and now Anapod with my new 8GB Nano.

/PetBom

I have an 8GB Sandisk Sansa e280 and it is great. It beats the nano in almost every way and is cheaper to boot.

That is cool about winamp, I had no idea. Having to use iTunes is one of the reasons I never got an ipod. I don't like itunes or aac.