itunes?

Blarneystone · #1 11-26-2003, 10:57 AM

I was wondering if anyone uses itunes to get music for their ppc? I downloaded the software yesterday and it looks fun, but I never signed up or paid. Will wmp play itunes? what encoding do they use?

bkbroil · #2 11-26-2003, 12:27 PM

Okay...Here's what I've found..
I installed the iTunes player and I signed up for an account. I just purchased Soul Asylum "Let Your Dim Light Shine" (Love Soul Asylum)..
Anyway, iTunes downloads the songs in m4p format which is specific to iTunes and what controls their Digital Rights Management. (Your only allowed to burn CDs with the songs 10 times.
Windows Media Player does not recognize m4p format, so I am now burning an audio CD from iTunes (only two clicks to burn a CD). I will then use Music match to burn the cd back onto my harddrive in either mp3 or WMA format (Haven't decided yet) and then I will be able to listen on my Ipaq 3835...
It will probably take another 30 minutes to burn and convert. I imagine it should go pretty smooth (I'll post after the process)...
My opinion, alot of work to get it to work with WMP...I may look into MusicMatch.

bkbroil · #3 11-26-2003, 12:54 PM

I have sucessfully burned it onto a cd and the cd plays fine..but...when I want to burn it back to the hard drive..I have to manually type in the title of each song.....they're copied to the cd as Track1....Track2....
I know...minor detail...but annoying

bkbroil · #4 11-26-2003, 12:59 PM

Oh....and BTW I forgot to mention the album cost $11.99.....(Not the greatest deal)
Brad -- where should I send the expense report? :P

bkbroil · #5 11-26-2003, 01:13 PM

Woops...ma bad...WMP allows me to type in the Album name and creates the song names for me.... Doh

bkbroil · #6 11-26-2003, 01:30 PM

All finished and I am now listening to the my new Soul Asylum album in WMA format on my Bose Quiet Comfort II headphones (which is a must have for anyone who travels or listens to music on your PPC)
Finally ...whew!

Brad Isaac · #7 11-26-2003, 03:07 PM

Wow! Talk about going the extra mile!
What is the itunes sound quality like? Is it worth the expense?
Expense reports? hmmm. When you find out where to submit your reports, please tell me!

bkbroil · #8 11-26-2003, 10:31 PM

The sound quality is fine.

Quote:

What is the itunes sound quality like? Is it worth the expense?

...I think I had to do alot of work to listen to one album on Windows Media....
Although, if I had an IPod....It would be great... selecting the tunes and buying them is simple..

Brad Isaac · #9 11-26-2003, 11:16 PM

Yeah, that is a lot of work. :? So are you in the market for an iPOD? It's a great gadget I agree. But I'm hooked on XM radio myself - Not quite the portability of an IPOD but lots of variety

Wonder what the bitrate is for those itunes are though...

bkbroil · #10 11-26-2003, 11:55 PM

XM Radio is the most awesome thing ever invented...I started out listenting to Ethel and The Boneyard (lots of Grateful Dead

) ...then switched to talk "The Buzz" with Phil Hendrie...(very funny) and now after seeing the Matrix I'm listening to BPM and The Move..
(Long trips, I'll switch around to the comedy channels which are great cause they're uncensored)
Anyhoo, I'm not interested in the Ipod...my IPaq is fine (with (3) 256mb Sandisk SD cards) and the download bitrate is 198kbps ?? ... but I ripped to 92kbps in WMA format so that can put them on the removable cards

Brad Isaac · #11 11-27-2003, 01:15 PM

XM is great. I listen to Ethel too. I thought boneyard was a Speed Metal station

So I've never listened to it. I may have to give it a try.
XM Cafe is my most played station.
I'll agree with you, those comedy stations make excellent travel companions. I took the wife and kids to Disney in the spring (trip from h*ll) and XM comedy was the highlight of the whole week for the Missus and me!
What hardware are you running?

bkbroil · #12 11-27-2003, 01:53 PM

Delphi Skyfi ....it allows me to switch cars at a moments notice...(I use the cassette adapter)...I have yet to buy the boombox so that I can bring it inside...
Ya know, it would be great if they could make it like a walkman where you could carry it around with you...then again, I would have to wear a metal hat to stick the antenna on my head. :P

Blarneystone · #13 11-29-2003, 03:10 PM

Thank you bkbroil for the help. It does seem like too much work to play stuff on your PPC from itunes.

bkbroil · #14 12-03-2003, 08:55 PM

I know it's been a couple of days but I had to let you know. I downloaded MusicMatch and it's a breeze. Two clicks and I was downloading "Collective Soul - 7even" (Album $9.99) and it was in .WMA format at 196kps..
They will start getting my business 8)

Brad Isaac · #15 12-03-2003, 09:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bkbroil

I know it's been a couple of days but I had to let you know. I downloaded MusicMatch and it's a breeze. Two clicks and I was downloading "Collective Soul - 7even" (Album $9.99) and it was in .WMA format at 196kps..
They will start getting my business 8)

Whoaa! I didn't even know MusicMatch had a music database for download. I may have to get in on that action! Got a nice trip coming up soon

bkbroil · #16 12-03-2003, 09:45 PM

Hold on a moment...I'm having problems copying the music to my Ipaq...I'll let you know as soon as I figure it out

Brad Isaac · #17 12-03-2003, 09:49 PM

Thanks...I'm downloading Musicmatch now
it says that compatible devices include the ipaq 1940/45 models. Why not all?

There must be a way though...I'm gonna research it too

bkbroil · #18 12-03-2003, 10:02 PM

Yup...I'm right with ya...I couldn't find anything about an Ipaq 3800 ...I'm going to have to burn it to a CD and then rip it back.....just like iTunes...

Brad Isaac · #19 12-03-2003, 10:13 PM

wait!
I was able to copy a song to my ipaq. It was a song that I had already put on my computer, not a bought one...but I'll try the buy method too.
Once it was in my library, I clicked "Send to portable"
Then two options popped up. current playlist and my library.
Under current playlist, I highlighted a song. Then I clicked my library. Another screen appeared "Musicmatch portable management". From there, I could highlight my SD card and "sync" by hitting the sync button.
Does that not work with a paid for song?

bkbroil · #20 12-03-2003, 10:49 PM

I just sent you a screen shot (email) of the error/warning I'm getting while trying to copy to my Ipaq (with purchased music)....this time though...I clicked through and it seems to be copying some of them...I don't understand it....The album is only 67mb but the card is 118mb and it says it can't fit all the files...
still going

bkbroil · #21 12-03-2003, 10:58 PM

Nope..I couldn't copy the purchased music...it started copying music from my library (not purchased from MusicMatch)...so now I'm using WMP to copy it to my hardrive and try that route..

Brad Isaac · #22 12-03-2003, 11:07 PM

Bk,
It looks like you can only copy purchased music to your device itself, not a memory card :roll: That's not very helpful if you ask me, with my onboard memory I can fit a whopping 3 or 4 songs before I'm out of memory.

Back to XM Radio for me....

bkbroil · #23 12-03-2003, 11:14 PM

I used to not care about the whole Digital Rights Management issue but now I'm ticked

I can buy a CD (alot cheaper in most cases) and do anything I want with it...but I purchase an album online and I have to jump through hoops to get it onto my SD card..
What I didn't mention was that I burned the music onto a CD but three of the songs wouldn't copy due to some problem with the files..so now I'm sitting here copying the music to an SD card, that I purchased this afternoon, had to burn it to a CD...and it's not even everything that I paid for..

All I wanted to do....is get a new album and take the dog for a walk and listen to it...so much for technology making things easier..

Brad Isaac · #24 12-04-2003, 09:02 AM

What I don't get is this. If your Windows media player has been authenticated and approved through musicmatch, why not let you copy the songs to your storage card. They aren't supposed to play on anyone else's player right? In other words, if I take my songs - put them on a storage card and put them in YOUR ipaq...the songs aren't supposed to play - true?
If so, what difference does it make where I have the songs? As long as MY player is playing them there shouldn't be a problem.

Brad Isaac · #25 12-04-2003, 10:09 AM

PS. did you notice MM's slogan? "Freedom to take it with you"
By it, I think they mean the ONE song that will fit in your onboard memory.

nigeljedi · #26 02-15-2004, 11:55 PM

If you buy albums from the iTunes store, then you will have to go that extra mile to get them in a useable format for your PPC. However, I usually buy the CD (so I can get all those "extra" videos and such), rip it to MP3 format in iTunes, then just copy it to the device. I've always liked iTunes, from my Mac days, and still keep that little bit of Mac on my Windows machine.