portable audio plus portable transfer?

[Dhar_2]

i know there has been much discussion about the whole ipod vs minidisc lark.

what i'm after are some basic facts. now before you all go off on the whole cant u use google lark. i have tried and got a lot of contradictory info.

basically i wanna get something to listen to music on and use to transfer files (mp3 and data) like a usb flash drive.

now i know that the ipod wont allow you to do this. apparently the hi md can, though it doesnt utilise mp3.

can anyone give me a straight answer as to what i can and cant do with each of these. and/or recommend anything that will do what i want.

or is the best option to get an mp3 player and buy a usb flash pen?

[Jibgolly]

the mp3 player is good for transporting music around (sets, tracks)
maybe you should consider an external harddrive. easy to hook up and easy to take with you.

[TomTom]

Re: portable audio plus portable transfer?

now i know that the ipod wont allow you to do this. apparently the hi md can, though it doesnt utilise mp3.

Where did you read that? You can use the Ipod as an external data storage disc and store anything on it. I used this option a few times in the past for data exchange.

[jdat]

you may be referring to DRM ( digital rights management ) which is integrated to mp3 players and that prevent you from taking the unit and copying the files ( mp3 ) to another cpu.

If you are speaking stricly about mp3s I don't think there's any way around that security feature, but do not quote me on that.

I don't know the specific to the items you mention ( well particurlaly the ipod ) ....

In regards to the MD well you are never putting actual mp3s on the unit.
You can upload mp3 to it that gets coded to atrac but to put it back on the computer ( clone, or upload a recording ) you have to do it with actual live sound, netmd is th3 suck.


Ipod, iriver, creative etc offer multiple options in HD based mp3 players and they can all be used as HD's

[TomTom]

In Itunes I checked the option to use my Ipod as an external hard drive and as soon as I plug my Ipod in any other PC with USB or Firewire I can see all the files (including mp3`s) on a virtual drive (1st free drive entry in the Explorer) where I can just drag and drop whatever I want to another PC be it data or MP3....

[ddr]

In Itunes I checked the option to use my Ipod as an external hard drive and as soon as I plug my Ipod in any other PC with USB or Firewire I can see all the files (including mp3`s) on a virtual drive (1st free drive entry in the Explorer) where I can just drag and drop whatever I want to another PC be it data or MP3....

ditto. it can be done with ipod. ive been doing it ever since the 1st generation. i currently have the 3rd generation with the 4 buttons on the top and the scroll wheel, and it still can be done. exactly waht tomtom is saying.

once you click the option in itunes this all can be done.
you have to learn the way that the ipod organizes the mp3s and most of the time it renames them so taht the filename isnt very long and so the end gets chopped off somewhat. but once you find what your looking for you just drag and drop pretty much.
to do HD, you just use it like the C: drive, my computer, and create folders and drag and drop from pc to mp3 and vice versa. ez peezy.

anyone who says differently is a moron or maybe me and tomtom have havent been doing what we say we've been doing????? conspiracy??? what?? mua??

-ddr

[Hos]

you don't even need to use iTunes. Winamp 5 has a plugin available that lets you transfer music to and from. Your O/S will recognise your iPod as an external "mass storage device" and you can treat is such, by creating your on folders and copying data to it, as you would any hard disk.

[Pataky P]

Yes,the Winamp5 is great!!I like it!! :wink:

[Dhar_2]

yeah i was on about digital rights management.

i heard that the ipod wont let u transfer music off onto another computer. well it will, but once the ipod is removed the music wont work.

basically everyone is saying minidisc is a bad idea. if its converting files then there will be some degridation. i am looking at primarily transporting music to and from work, but also photoshop and illustrator files.

otherwise what about sony's new network walkman with 20gb hard drive. or have we got the same problem with conversion to atrac.

cheers boys

[neoee]

Look into iriver's products. If you flash them with the UMS firmware the computer sees it as just another harddrive and you can transfer files back an forth all you want and still use it as a normal mp3 player. Also if you leave it with the manager version of the firmware all you have to do is change the extention from mp3 to rec. Then the DRM doesen't affect it since the player thinks its a file you recorded on it.

[Dhar_2]

firmware?

so is the i river affected by drm problems aswell?

[neoee]

firmware?

so is the i river affected by drm problems aswell?

iriver products are firmware upgradable (new software for the chip on the player). They continually add new features as well as correct bugs. With the default firmware (manager version) you need to use the iriver music manager that comes with it. DRM is a problem when using this firmware, however you can get around it by changing the file extention.

They also have the UMS firmware available for their players. By using the UMS version the computer just thinks you attached a usb harddrive. DRM is non-existant when using the UMS firmware. To the computer its just a normal drive and the player has not problem playing the mp3, Ogg, or WMA files you stick on it as well as being able to use it as a flash drive.