Apple devices

stefano

buglawton wrote: »

Am I right in thinking you can only add the music to your iDevice library on the Authorized Computer and not from any other? I endlessly get issues here, where the option to Add to Library appears to exist, but when I do it nothing actually happens and no explanation, if I switch computers.

This alone is enough to drive me to to need a reliable Jailbreaking solution or rather have an Android device. PS I pay for all my music!

What if you have a log in for your itunes? Would the same issue exist? Surely they don't expect computers to last for ever.

Mikebellows

Have a look at this software - A Fantastic alternative to itunes...

http://www.copytrans.net/download.php

Literally drag and drop to your ipod etc.

Lifeforms

Apple wont care where your music comes from, as long as it's in a recognised format. if it's mp3 you don't need to go near any converter to get it to work.

BUT using itunes is quite annoying, and if you object to someone else coming in and "helpfully" reorganising your music, then you will need to select manage own music in the info pane of the product when it is connected to itunes. I can't say specifically where it is, as I don't have any products attached to itunes, but managing your own music means it doesn't move from where you place it originally. So if you're like me and anally organise music into A-Z folders, then Band/artist name folders, then album name folders... They stay that way! You then just drag and drop them into the product (ipod/touch/iphone/ipad) and they transfer. Next annoying thing is album art and grouping. It kills me every time because it just takes so damn long as sometimes it recognises album groupings, other times it doesn't.

Be aware that they all are non-expandable, so if you wish to buy one, buy the biggest you can afford. If you have a music collection to transfer over of 8GB you will need 16GB as the OS itself takes space. You will not get what is advertised. ie 8GB is 8GB, but not in space terms. Think ahead too, because you might want to add more music.

Frankly I kinda would say unless you're getting something for something else too, like an itouch to give you apps, and browsing/mail on top of music player, or iphone for use as phone plus the rest, go find a cheap small smart phone, go re-rom it, and use that just as a music player/app store etc, but make sure you can expand the size via external memory, ie 32/64GB micro sd cards.

This will also mean you don't have to suffer with authorised computers, itunes software, lockdown syndrome. Browse the mobile forums for a suitable cheap smartphone. Like the huawai phones, very cheap to buy, easy to replace the rom (OS) and get a nice clean unblemished with mobile provider junk on it, and will be able to work via wifi, and do the usual things, just don't bother with a sim on it.
That is of course if you don't mind having a player that isn't apple

Mikebellows

Android all the way for me - Just Drag and Drop!

stefano

Mikebellows wrote: »

Android all the way for me - Just Drag and Drop!

And what would be a good value Android?

Mikebellows

Depends on your budget.
Are you on contract - Are you prepared to go onto a contract?
What would be your budget for a contract?

There are some good phones out there at the moment.
I have a Sony Experia T - I Like it a lot.
My wife has a HTC ONE sv - Likewise.

In my opinion, these are both decent phones - Both cost £21 per month with Orange on 2 year contract - No outlay for handsets.

Mikebellows

You can also utilise Google Play Music for (Upto 20,000 Songs)...

This is the Android equivalent of iCloud - But it's free.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.music&feature=nav_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDNd

Access your music from anywhere and on any Android device that you have a Google account.

stefano

Mikebellows wrote: »

Are you on contract - Are you prepared to go onto a contract?

Currently on sim only bb contract, but looking to upgrade to touchscreen smartphone in October.

securityguy

Lifeforms wrote: »

So if you're like me and anally organise music into A-Z folders, then Band/artist name folders, then album name folders... They stay that way! You then just drag and drop them into the product

I managed my iPod for some years out of an SQL database, using software I wrote myself (I used GNUpod to do the heavy lifting of building the index file the iPod needs). But I came to the conclusion that life is too short, and you can actually do all of the organisation you want by tagging the files correctly. iTunes, plus a bit of Apple script to automate a few things, has enough flexibility exposed that I was able to get it do what I needed fairly easily.

The key facilitator is the "Sorting" pane in the Info dialogue, which allows you to say "even though the song is by X, file it with the stuff by Y". I then use the "Keep Library Organised" options to reflect that sorting back into the filesystem. It's just a matter of mindset: instead of either maintaining a separate database of metadata, or implicitly using the file structure you impose yourself as metadata, you just make sure that the actual iTunes database has the metadata you want, and let it sort the filesystem out for you.

Lifeforms

The other thing to remember, and it doesn't matter android windows, or apple, is that using it as an mp3 player for long periods will drop battery life if you use it on a phone. I'm not talking instantly drained, but if you can't always get to a charger in a day and use a smartphone a lot for texting or calling, adding in using it as mp3 player will make the battery run down faster.

Having experienced the Ascend G300 Huawei which is my dads phone, i'm considering looking at using that as a sole mp3/app player.