ipod v's MP3 v's iphone

newmee

Yes OK i have been living in a cave and am just catching up!! I have got easy music envy when i visit my sister, who 'docks' her iphone into a stereo and has massive amounts of tunes on there. Quick, neat convenient.....or is it?

As far as i can see you can only purchase music for an ipod / phone from itunes...is this correct (Question no 1!!) if so i presume I cannot transfer my CD collection to an apple product or buy/download from elsewhere i.e. tunetribe, tesco etc.

Question 2 - if i upgraded my BB on contract to an iphone, apart from a potential price increase, would it be niaive to do so for the lure of the music facility as a big reason, i.e. when phone goes so does all my music?

Question 3 - is there anything else you can 'dock' or is it just apple stuff?

Thanks in anticipation

Dreamnine

If you have an iPod or iPhone, you don't have to buy any music from iTunes..all your music on your PC (your own CDs or music you've acquired elsewhere) can be imported into iTunes.

I've got a Touch64Gb, a Nano and a Shuffle yet I've never bought music from iTunes

newmee

Dreamnine wrote: »

If you have an iPod or iPhone, you don't have to buy any music from iTunes..all your music on your PC (your own CDs or music you've acquired elsewhere) can be imported into iTunes.

I've got a Touch64Gb, a Nano and a Shuffle yet I've never bought music from iTunes

Now that is non itune music to my ears :rotfl:Thank you so much for that info. it's made me smile

Dreamnine do you have an iphone too or not interested? See at this point in time I think i'd sooner keep my blackberry which suits my basic needs and get a seperate i-whatever for the music (and sell all those CD's to musicmagpie!)

googler

You can import mp3s into iTunes if you have your music already stored in that format.

You can import CDs directly into iTunes but this may be laborious and time-consuming, depending on the size of your collection.

If you have music in other file formats, you can convert it to mp3 and then import into iTunes

iPods are typically the only portables that have docking stations with the standardised Apple connector.

Whether or not docking is the crucial factor is down to you. As you point out, with the iPhone, if one part goes AWOL, it takes the other with it - if you have a separate iPod, you can use it independently of the phone.

googler

newmee wrote: »

...... get a seperate i-whatever for the music (and sell all those CD's to musicmagpie!)

Someone will be along in a minute to point out the illegality of keeping the rips and selling the CDs.

Besides which, if you keep the mp3s and dispose of the CDs, you'll never be able to listen to your music again in CD quality. mp3s are a data-reduced approximation of the original CD; downsample it to mp3, and you'll never get the quality back if/when you upsample it back.

Dreamnine

newmee wrote: »

Now that is non itune music to my ears :rotfl:Thank you so much for that info. it's made me smile

Dreamnine do you have an iphone too or not interested? See at this point in time I think i'd sooner keep my blackberry which suits my basic needs and get a seperate i-whatever for the music (and sell all those CD's to musicmagpie!)

Keep your blackberry if that's what works best for your phone needs.

I'm put off by the price of the iPhone.. I have an android phone which is quite basic by today's standards.

If you get an iPod Touch you'll find that they can do almost everything an iPhone can, just minus the telephony.

newmee

googler wrote: »

Someone will be along in a minute to point out the illegality of keeping the rips and selling the CDs.

Besides which, if you keep the mp3s and dispose of the CDs, you'll never be able to listen to your music again in CD quality. mp3s are a data-reduced approximation of the original CD; downsample it to mp3, and you'll never get the quality back if/when you upsample it back.

WOW! 2 very good points that I had no idea about! I had no idea that would be acting illegally :eek: I thought as I had purchased the music and only transferring it for my own listening, not broadcasting or selling it just recycling the original.

Dreamnine

If you encode your CDs at 320kbps mp3, you won't notice any difference in sound quality than listening to the CD itself.

I can't - and that's using really good iems, and most people couldn't using a double blind test. You may want to archive them in FLAC, though - this is what I do.

I stopped keeping things like CDs, books, dvds etc. when I realised I didn't have to any more.

swvillafan

Dont forget to try the MSE TuneChecker website, search for the album or song you want it it trawls popular download sites to find the cheapest!

googler

Dreamnine wrote: »

If you encode your CDs at 320kbps mp3, you won't notice any difference in sound quality than listening to the CD itself.

I can't - and that's using really good iems, and most people couldn't using a double blind test.

Well, that proves it, then. You've tested it with 'really good iems', so nobody else will notice a difference, eh?

How many are these 'most' people that form your sample group?

Lifeforms

newmee wrote: »

WOW! 2 very good points that I had no idea about! I had no idea that would be acting illegally :eek: I thought as I had purchased the music and only transferring it for my own listening, not broadcasting or selling it just recycling the original.

BEfore this thread goes off on a iHear better than uHear thread (besides which, most who use ipod/itouch don't really care that they don't hear the best; those who do go for flac, or higher bitrate)

Thus said!

Ever record off the radio? share tapes with friends? borrow that DVD off your mate to watch? Record some music at any point? All Illegal. But hey no one really cares cept most of the people who are able to lose a few pounds (my opinion :P)

If you transfer your own cd's onto mp3 and put them on an iphone or itouch you will not have the police dragging you away in handcuffs to the shame of your town of being the only one who has done it. Don't worry about it. As long as you have the CD you can reasonably argue that you're keeping a copy for safety sake. If you then share online, different story :P

If you like the Blackberry, go for the iTouch. Think carefully on size, and I'd recommend you to look at the 32gb or 64gb model (if you want every bit of music on your device . Costs more, but they are not exapandable (iphone, or itouch) If you go for the itouch, you will also probably want to use it for other things, like apps, films, tv progs etc. so work on a size that includes those too, not just music. Itouch is much thinner than the iphone, and as has been said is the iphone, cept the telephony part. This means that if you're out and about and want to do something "online" you will need to provide it with some form of internet, either through a tethered connection via mobile phone/mifi, or through free wifi. You dont have that problem with the iphone.

I would suggest if you think you might go for an iphone, see if you can borrow someones for a few days (if they're really kind, or have an older model kicking around) because iphone and blackberry use really are quite different. If you're unsure on the itouch, go into carphonewarehouse, or other phone shops and play with the iphone (just ignore phone parts, and weight/size/thickness), a lot of places don't seem to do the itouch for demo, unless you have an apple store, or giant supermarket.

4th Gen models, iphone left, itouch right:


As an aside, iphone batteries don't last long, same as smartphones pretty much. may require charging at least once a day, maybe more (docked on desk perhaps?) So yeah whilst an iphone can cover two pieces of equipment, phone and mp3 player, you suffer with the battery, and I'd always be concerned about running down it, and being a) stuck with out music when desired, or b) stuck without a phone when really needed.
I'd always recommend an extra mp3 player for that last reason alone. The size of it, usually can be thrown into a case if wanted (thought they're pretty tough with a gel back, and protective front sheet) with a phone together, or just on it's own.