iPod and docking station

RichyRich

So the wife keeps nagging me about getting shot of all my CDs as they clutter up the flat and you can never find the one you want anyway. Solution seems to be to buy an iPod and docking station to replace both the CDs and the stereo.

I have a *lot* of CDs and will look to expand my music collection in the future. The iPod Classic 160 Gb seems the obvious choice. But what about the docking station? These seen to range from £30 to the hundreds. This would be to replace the stereo, but we've only got a small front room and live in a block of flats. Mega volume's not necessary. Radio would be nice, but I guess I can use tune in radio on my iPhone and plug that into it?

The music itself - once you put it onto the iPod (via iTunes?) is it backed up anywhere? For instance, if I lost the iPod, could I get my songs back? What if my PC corrupted too?

No loft and we need the space - the CDs will go once transferred to the pod. Music magpie or eBay for the best return?

So - I guess my questions are:


Is the Classic 160 Gb the right option?
Where can I get it cheapest?
Which docking station and where from?
What's the deal with backing up?
How to dispose of my CDs to my financial advantage?

As you can tell, I'm a bit of a dinosaur when it comes to digital music! I'm 26! Any help gratefully received.

Cheers,
Rich

Cisco001

You can't compare sound quality of CD with mp3.
I recommend get an external HDD and convert CD to lossless format like FLAC/ APE. This would take 25MB for each songs.

I have no idea if ipod suitable to you as I never an apple fan as they have too many restrictions. i think you could go to avforum or headfi to ask the question.

A_Couple_In_Love

The iPod classic seems to be the right choice for you, I personally prefer the nano's due to the design, but it will not be enough memory for you.

You don't really need to get a iPod dock, a lot of uptodate stereos are compatible for iPods, and if not, most of them will at least have a AUX slot to connect your iPod up via cable, that's what I do.

About loosing your music if you loose your iPod, I am pretty sure, iTunes has a "Backing Up" feature in iTunes, but don't worry, it will not use all of your memory up on your computer, it stores them in a small memory format.

jayme1

You can rip the CDs to your computer in order to put them on an iPod, I would recommend you only rip the CDs to a lossless format, since you want to use an iPod Apple Lossless would be the best solution.
How many CDs do you have? an average CD in Lossless would be about 344MB and the same album in MP3 320kbs would be about 130MB

When you put the music on the iPod there will be a copy kept on the computer so if you loose your iPod you would not loose all your music, to protect the music from your computer breaking, you should also have a copy of your music backed up to an external hard drive (something you should be doing with your files right now anyway)

For the dock it depends on what quality you want from the music (if you want it to be good this only reinforces the need to rip in Lossless), but you could also just use an Apple Universal dock for a line in to your stereo you have already.

Also if you get rid of or sell the CDs you are obligated to delete the ripped files because you no longer own them, to save space you can buy a CD folder and recycle the jewel cases (which would sort of negate the whole iPod solution anyway)

diable

You can rip the CD's to your PC and run a cable from the PC to a Hi Fi as well.

jenniewb

Don't forget the new ipod will have a different connector/usb and this means new docks will need to have a re-designed dock connector, this means older docks will drop in price as fewer people will need them (you will apparently be able to buy a special part to change an old dock to fit a new ipod but it will cost around £25).

It may be worth waiting a bit longer for the newer docks to be out in time for Christmas meaning older docks will be reduced as a result in a mad attempt for stores to get back shop floor and warehouse space.