With help from the EOC gang our iPod experience has improved. New question: can we use a friends' iPod(the BIG memory iPod) to download their stored audiobooks onto our computer (using the included Itunes software that came with our Mini-iPod), and then load those audiobooks onto our Mini? Naturally keeping track of the memory size on our Mini, and selecting only what will fit, and deleting when done to load more the next time. I'm very concerned about plugging their iPod into our computer and accidently erasing the stuff on their iPod. Any suggestions or experience in this matter???

With help from the EOC gang our iPod experience has improved. New question: can we use a friends' iPod(the BIG memory iPod) to download their stored audiobooks onto our computer (using the included Itunes software that came with our Mini-iPod), and then load those audiobooks onto our Mini? Naturally keeping track of the memory size on our Mini, and selecting only what will fit, and deleting when done to load more the next time. I'm very concerned about plugging their iPod into our computer and accidently erasing the stuff on their iPod. Any suggestions or experience in this matter???

iTunes will not allow you to download files from another iPod to your computer. I know there are 3rd party programs that will allow you to do this. Please be aware that if you do proceed with this, and you don't own any of the hard copy discs, this is considered copyright infringement.

When you plug your friend's iPod into your computer, you run the risk of deleting everything on the iPod and replacing it with what you have. I think you can get past this by removing the auto-sync functions.

but if you had a book, your friend could lend it to you.

i hate ipods.

Not to mention the fact that, if your friend purchased his audiobooks from iTunes, they're keyed to his iPod and his computer. They wouldn't work on yours, even if you did transfer them over.

(Of course, as always, there are sneaky, unofficial, third-party ways around this. Most of which are more trouble than they're worth... or so I've, um, been told.)

- Jeff

but if you had a book, your friend could lend it to you.
Yes. But he couldn't legally make a copy for you, retaining his original.

There are good arguments against DRM. But that's not one of them.

- Jeff

i see the falicy of my sarcastic argument :D

but if you had a book, your friend could lend it to you.

i hate ipods.


They do have their uses -I wouldn't recommend trying to read a book while driving.

They do have their uses -I wouldn't recommend trying to read a book while driving.

of course; i couldn't live without my mp3 player, i just don't care for ipods in particular.

of course; i couldn't live without my mp3 player, i just don't care for ipods in particular.

I thought the same thing until I picked up my first iPod. My wife kidnapped my 1st iPod, so I was forced to buy a 60GB video iPod. Not that I'm complaining.:roll:

i have an archos gmini402; mp3, video (including tv out, so i can watch 24 and lost episodes i recorded on my pc!), photo viewer, and the indispensable USB Host feature - transfer files directly from my digital camera when i'm on vacation so i don't have to spend a ton on memory cards; all that without having to spend an extra $100 on external adapters! only 20 gigs, but i never fill it up anyways, paid $240 for it.

The only problem I have with the iPod, is that they change too often and the chasis changes with them. I can understand wanting to slim down and get smaller, but I hate the fact that everytime they change something, all the corresponding accessories need to be changed as well.

I used to have a couple of RIOs and they were good, but the capacity wasn't quite what I wanted. My 60 GB contains almost at 40 GB of info, so I can just plug it into my E and go for for hours without hearing the same song over and over again. Smart Playlists are genius!!!

Everything said previously in this thread is true.
1. Be careful connecting another iPod to your system. You may overwrite songs.
2. Copying songs is illegal.

Backing up songs should not be illegal (in my opinion)

I back up my songs, podcasts, and audiobooks from my iPod to a NAS on my home network. In case of a disaster on my pc, I won't have to reinstall all of my stuff. (My 40GB iPod does hold everything in my iTunes)

You can also back them up to another folder on the same computer but if the hard drive crashes, both copies are toast.

To back them up, you just have to find where they are stored in your iTunes folder and copy them to another location.

Tip: Once they are copied, anyone on your network can hear them simply by installing iTunes and "pointing" to the NAS folder or a shared out folder on your pc. It works great. My kids can listen to what they want and I can listen to what I want all from a shared source.

I will not tell you how to share two iPod song sources on two different iPods but if you read between the lines, I pretty much did.:cool:

Anapod Explorer. Google that and check it out.

I can't stand IPods for all the reasons listed above, but I do wish the other mp3 manufactuers would take a lesson in usability/navigation. But the DRM management on IPods is rediculous. Yes, it's illegal. So is speeding but all of our cars can go faster than the speed limit. Personal responsibility should be left to the person, not the manufacturer.

I know I'll probably get a couple die hard IPod fans and/or DRM "experts" explaining to me why these limitations are put in place, but all that needs to be said is "personal responsibility". We can shoose to break the law or not, depending on if we feel the law is fair. You break it, you face the consequences. But as of right now, there is no way to enforce a friend giving another friend a song or a book in mp3 format unless it's done on a peer-to-peer network or bit torrent. So essentially, if you want the files, you don't face any consequences if you do because you'll be doing it all locally. It's illegal. But so was that rolling stop you made earlier today.

Anapod Explorer works great. Check it out.

I'm a pretty diehard iPod fan, but I agree, the whole thing is pretty ridiculous. Right now, the iPod is the hot ticket in town and nothing on the market can compete. I am curious to see what Microsoft has in development, but until then, my iPod is a fixture in my E.

I'm a pretty diehard iPod fan, but I agree, the whole thing is pretty ridiculous. Right now, the iPod is the hot ticket in town and nothing on the market can compete. I am curious to see what Microsoft has in development, but until then, my iPod is a fixture in my E.

Yeah, when it comes to everything else (excluding the mandatory use of ITunes and the DRM issues), IPod is hands down the best. Their interface and usability are incredible. Other mp3 manufacturers do a decent job emulating it, but it's still not as good as the real deal. I can completely understand why someone would choose an IPod over any other single mp3 player.

iTunes will not allow you to download files from another iPod to your computer.

Not quite true. Set the iPod to disc mode and emulate a HDD. Then drag and drop the songs/books as a file to your hard drive using Windows My Computer.

Not to mention the fact that, if your friend purchased his audiobooks from iTunes, they're keyed to his iPod and his computer. They wouldn't work on yours, even if you did transfer them over.



Actually, again... Not quite true. The DRM on the itunes songs allows you to download to five different devices. One of these can be a CD backup to your files in the CD format... From which you have the ability to convert the songs/books into MP3 files and upload them whereever you may wish in the future.

Backing up songs should not be illegal

Backing up your songs is not illegal. You paid for them. You can use the above mentioned ways LEGALLY to do so. It does not circumvent Apple's DRM, and indeed they publish how to do so if yopu know where to look.

Not quite true. Set the iPod to disc mode and emulate a HDD. Then drag and drop the songs/books as a file to your hard drive using Windows My Computer.

.....

Backing up your songs is not illegal. You paid for them. You can use the above mentioned ways LEGALLY to do so. It does not circumvent Apple's DRM, and indeed they publish how to do so if yopu know where to look.

But the songs are renamed and re-categorized, so if you have 60 gigs worth of music its damn near impossible to tell what mp3/aac is what without the use of a software package....Right? (I dont own an IPod, so I want to make sure).

And also, everyone keeps saying "if you know where to look" or a variation of that. If it's not illegal, why is everyone so secretive and unhelpful with details? It's not like we are trying to be the first car club on the internet to enter the nuclear arms race...

In the end, going somewhere like www.ilounge.com (http://www.ilounge.com) will give you every answer you need. Go there, browse the forums and how-to guides. They'll tell you how to hack prety much every aspect of the IPod.

OK, while I don't advocate this, you can remove songs from an iPod:

To copy songs from an iPod, you can use a 3rd party software (i.e. copypod) that will trump the iTunes autosynch when plugging in an iPod. At that point, the software reads what is on your iPod, you will then pick and choose what to remove to the computer. After you have done your "backing up" you will need to unplug the iPod, and restart your computer. When you restart your computer, you will open iTunes, and add the freshly backed up files into your iTunes listing. Once that is complete, you can attach the iPod and the new songs will be added. I only recommend this to people that have lost their music collections because of computer HD failure, and all their songs are on their iPod. This happened to me, and it was quite scary. I went a couple of weeks no plugging my iPod into my system, because I knew what the result would be.

The problem with switching your iPod to HDD, you will need to plug it into your computer to make that change, by doing so, your iTunes will recognize you have plugged the iPod in and it will begin to systematically add/remove the songs that are currently on your computer.

Clarification: We don't ever use the iPod for music - strictly for audiobooks on CDs that we buy or get from the public library, copied to the computer, then loaded onto the Mini. After each book is copied on the Mini, the book is deleted from the computer before another book is downloaded...mainly to prevent screwups or crashes. So, if we have an empty mini-iPod, the iTunes library on our computer also empty ( and someone wrote there is a way to disable the auto-sync feature), and a friend's 60G iPod containing NPR news programs, as well as audiobooks from a personal collection of CDs ......if we plug that iPod into our computer to download those programs and audiobooks, what will happen????? Will we cause the iPod stuff to be erased? Will it just not work? Will it copy to the computer, but not download to our Mini? Not wanting to waste the EOC Forum's time and space for a topic not totally E related is there possibly a website where contributors might have posted this kind of situation? Obviously a LOT of E people are quite experienced with iPods and the like - I just don't want to step on toes. Thanks for all the replys so far.

Clarification: We don't ever use the iPod for music - strictly for audiobooks on CDs that we buy or get from the public library, copied to the computer, then loaded onto the Mini. After each book is copied on the Mini, the book is deleted from the computer before another book is downloaded...mainly to prevent screwups or crashes. So, if we have an empty mini-iPod, the iTunes library on our computer also empty ( and someone wrote there is a way to disable the auto-sync feature), and a friend's 60G iPod containing NPR news programs, as well as audiobooks from a personal collection of CDs ......if we plug that iPod into our computer to download those programs and audiobooks, what will happen????? Will we cause the iPod stuff to be erased? Will it just not work? Will it copy to the computer, but not download to our Mini? Not wanting to waste the EOC Forum's time and space for a topic not totally E related is there possibly a website where contributors might have posted this kind of situation? Obviously a LOT of E people are quite experienced with iPods and the like - I just don't want to step on toes. Thanks for all the replys so far.

Yes, when you plug in the full iPod, you will lose all the data, unless you can stop an auto-synch. Go to ilounge.com for more details, there really is quite a lot of info out there. Also, you can ask your friend to burn a disc with those files and you can transfer them that way...

An easy way of downloading files from your iPod to your PC is to go to My Computer and double-click on the iPod. Then, click on the "Tools" from the top menu, and go to "Folder Options". Click on the "View" tab and then select the option that says "Show hidden files and folders". Click "Accept" and then "Ok". Now a new folder should appear that says "iPod_Control". Click on the "Music" folder and then click on the folders and copy and paste your music to your computer.

Another way to quickly find a specific song to copy to your PC is this. First, go to the Start menu and then go to "Search" and then go to "Find Files or folders". Click on "All Files and Folders". Then, select the iPod in the "Look In" field. Now, click on the "Advanced Options Arrow" and check the "Search hidden files and folders". Now, type in the artist or song title and then copy and paste the song to your computer.

I also found this:
http://forums.ipodlounge.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=71349

Which tells you how to backup/restor files on your IPod without losing anything on it. ILounge has a TON of articles...Just try search them and reading for a day or two and you should grasp what to do.

Thanks sier ; Thanks ShotOnce.....iPodlounge seems to be the site with all the info. I'll experiment with the Mini and my computer to make sure everything is working correctly before trying the big iPod. If it doesn't work I won't use it and risk deleting all the files. Don't want to risk deleting a friend. Thanks again for everyone's input.

Thanks sier ; Thanks ShotOnce.....iPodlounge seems to be the site with all the info. I'll experiment with the Mini and my computer to make sure everything is working correctly before trying the big iPod. If it doesn't work I won't use it and risk deleting all the files. Don't want to risk deleting a friend. Thanks again for everyone's input.

Your friend should have everything on his iPod, so in theory you will not really be putting them out, although before you experiment, check with them. ilounge.com really has a wealth of information, and every Thursday, they have an ask ilounge.com section, there is a boatload of info there.