I just want to hear a straightforward review from someone with a non-Apple perspective (not that I’m anti-Apple, since I’ve only owned iMacs for the last 5 years), so an ‘unbiased’ review is welcome.

Originally posted by Julie
[B]TheDreamer:
Thankfully, I have a friend who is going to buy the extra iPod from me

All:
I have a about 1/3rd of the review still to write along with taking pictures. It’s already 11pm here, and I’m beat. It’s been a long day for many reasons… Sorry to disappoint, but I’m going to post tomorrow night. [/B]

No problem for us – I think we all have iPods.

All:
I have a about 1/3rd of the review still to write along with taking pictures. It’s already 11pm here, and I’m beat. It’s been a long day for many reasons… Sorry to disappoint, but I’m going to post tomorrow night.

http://www.cdex.n3.net/

It’s much better than music match and it’s free. Unlike Julie, I rip my stuff at an insanely high VBR (160-320 bit rate). The downside is that it takes about 30 minutes to encode a CD on my 2ghz P4, so what I do instead is to rip several CDs to wav files, which takes only a few minutes, and then encode to mp3 overnight. It takes a lot of disk space, but the results are worth it.

Right now I keep a backup of everything on my Archos Jukebox on my harddrive at home (and then once every couple of months it gets picked up when I backup the computer)…..but I’m running out of space, so I’m thinking of getting a firewire drive to move the music off to (since it is a slim pc, so there is only one harddrive bay….though I was a bit annoyed to find that there are only front firewire ports on the machine)

Well, you could use the other iPod as permanent extra storage….a little expensive though

I suppose I could add space to my Linux box, except that machine doesn’t get backed up….and the last one went up in smoke (it just sits in the back corner where I hardly notice it….there was an extended poweroutage and it came back on without any fans running.) The linux box used to just provide DNS/NTP for my home network (though it has grown to be temporary storage and DHCP, next project is ReplayScheduler so I can access the scheduling on my RTVs in real time over the web….instead of the 24 hour blackout period that the my.replaytv.com has.)

Last weekend a deskfan smoked….the one I use to keep my modems/routers/switches cool.

The Dreamer

Originally posted by Julie
Can one of you Mac 30gb iPod owners do me a quick fave? Check the Settings > About screen and let me know the size that the 30gb drive formatted to. With my Windows iPod, I have 27.84gb.

27.9 GB. I guess Mac users get that extra 0.06 GB!

Originally posted by ExtremeSIMS
I think the money a PC user would drop on a USB cable would be better spent on a PCI Firewire card, or an Audigy sound card (which comes with firewire).

Indeed, but the Audigy card has been known to be faulty with the iPod. Check out iPodlounge forums.

Originally posted by Julie
My plan is to post my iPod review Thursday. I decided NOT to spring for the USB cable after all. So, I hope no one will really care that I won’t be comparing Firewire to USB in the review.

I think the money a PC user would drop on a USB cable would be better spent on a PCI Firewire card, or an Audigy sound card (which comes with firewire).

The a8s are definately better than stock buds, but here are some other gadgety good-sounding suggestions:

Sennheiser px100, px200 (100 is open, 200 is closed, I have the 200 and it’s a good match for the ipod) The Headroom

Koss-ksc-35, this legendary clip-on has been brought back from the dead by Koss on a limited basis. It’s not as sexy as the a8, but sounds about 200x better. It’s for sale online at Koss

Audio-Technica em7 – definately look the business, but while the sound is clear and good, it’s a bit lean on the bass. (ipod bass boost eq isn’t very good) Audiocubes

Sony d66 Eggo – short cord, foldable, but might be big for someone used to a8s. These phones sound great with everything though Audiocubes

Shure e2c – a canalphone, but doesn’t go in nearly as far as the etymotic er6 which I don’t think you like. It’s said to be a great match to the ipod, and I believe it was also said in this very thread.Shure

And if you wanna join some of this headphone craziness, then welcome to Head-fi , sorry about your wallet.

Can’t complain too loudly – w/ a couple of coupon deals, I got a 30GB 3rd gen unit for $404 w/ free shipping. Just wish they would ship the silly thing.

Next step – getting Julie to buy a Mac. Nice shiny white gadget….

Shhhh!!! I already went down that path with the TiBook.

Like I said, use the little charmer for a bit, then have a friend show you iTunes 4 and the Apple Music Store.

Here’s an example, I took my daughters to their piano lesson last night. My oldest is getting some jazz training and her teacher asked me if I had a copy of “Watermelon Man”. I said, “Nope, but I can get one.”

Went home, launched iTunes and typed in the name – a second later there were 7 versions, including Coleman Hawkins, Herbie Hancok and the popular Les McCann version. 99 cents and one click later, she’s listening to it and can burn it to take in for her next lesson.

Way cool, amazingly powerful.

Originally posted by Julie
[B]Hey folks!

I’m sitting here listening to Norah Jones

I love this thing already!

I went ahead and installed MusicMatch on my old PC. Installation and the transfer of all my music was a snap. [/B]

Pretty soon you’ll wonder how you went anywhere without all of your music with you.

Next step – getting Julie to buy a Mac. Nice shiny white gadget….

I’m sitting here listening to Norah Jones

I love this thing already!

I went ahead and installed MusicMatch on my old PC. Installation and the transfer of all my music was a snap.

Honda Auxiliary Input Converter

The device shows up as cd 1 on the head unit. I’ll be trying this out when Uncle Sam starts mailing out checks.

BTW, they also have converters for other factory stereos.

Auxiliary Converters

–
Manny

I use the ear buds when I want to travel lite, but they hurt after a very short time. Don’t look quite so dorky, though!:D

I got the latter today, and have had a chance to spend about an hour listening to them. The quality is nice, and the earbud case is a nice touch. The sound isolation is great, based on my tests here at home. I would have liked checking them at the mall, but I forgot the iPod in my office at home! The sound is much better than the earbuds Apple gives you, and stay fit.

Some people have said the Etymotics sounds better than the Shures, but I don’t have a set to compare against. They do sound better than the bass heavy Fontopia MDR EX70/71s, IMO.

Originally posted by Julie
[B]ACK! I just got an email that my iPod is in the mail room! :wow:

Off I go!!! [/B]

Hey, great! I’m excited for you!

The first thing you’re bound to notice – the packaging is EXQUISITE. You’ll feel like you’re unwrapping an Omega wristwatch instead of a $499 MP3 player :p