iPod questions

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iPod questions

June 21, 2009, 01:12:16 PM

I'm thinking about an iPod Touch and plan on using it in my DD instead of constantly shuffling through 6 CD's at a time.
I’m looking at a 16 gig, but wondering if a 32 would be necessary or just overkill.

I plan on loading songs at 256k instead of 128k so the amount of advertised song capacity would be about 1/2.
That, plus various apps, and figured when on a family trip we would download 2-3 movies for my son to watch.
So I’m starting to wonder if even a 16 would be large enough.

Anybody have one that can give some real life experience?

Brent

iPod questions

Reply #1 – June 21, 2009, 03:34:34 PM

I'm kinda in the same boat.

I have a 30GB Zune (don't laugh... haha) that I use for such but I am thinking about switching over to the iPhone to consolidate the number of devices in my pocket. Plus I want to take advantage of the numerous car adapters and accessories that are out there. I like the Zune, but the aftermarket is pathetic. I'd like to use my steering wheel controls for my MP3 player and keep my eyes on the road.

As far as capacity goes, I think the 16GB model may be too small for your needs. But it could be sufficient if you plan on actively managing your device. At one point in time I had my Zune filled to capacity (192k rate) with my entire library of music. I may of listened to 5% of it at that time. At first I thought it was great to have all of my music in my pocket, even thought about upgrading to the 120GB model, but all that music was almost a burden (for lack of a better word). I spent most of my time just browsing through a sea of artist/albums or using the same old playlists. Everything kinda looks the same when browsing on a tiny little device.

Between music, tv shows, podcasts, pictures and games I am currently using around 22GB. I could probably knock it down to half by removing old podcasts, tv shows and music that I don't listen to as much. But since I have the space I just hit sync all (minus music) and go on my merry way. I think with movies you will probably be happier with the 32GB of storage. Or be willing to sacrifice some music space on those road trips.

It's kinda like getting a bigger house because you are running out of room instead of getting rid of the junk you don't use.

iPod questions

Reply #2 – June 21, 2009, 09:27:37 PM

Wife has an 8gb one(too small for your needs)but what an awesome little thing.
Does pretty much everything an iphone does but dial and recieve calls.
Go with the biggest one you can afford.
Wife has approx 150 songs on hers and has lots of memory left.

iPod questions

Reply #3 – June 21, 2009, 11:11:31 PM

The program I use to rip movies from DVD to the iPod format (.m4v) can whittle a 2-hour movie down to approximately 1GB (320x240 resolution). I don't feel that's too bad. Keep in mind that different programs may yield different results, but this gives you an idea of how much space a movie will take up. You kind of have to worry about those more than the music.

For the music, expect a 4-minute song to be ~8MB at 256kb. If you go with the Apple lossless format, it's around 1/3 more space.

So I guess for raw numbers, figure on those and you'll be pretty close. I would have to agree that more capacity is always going to be better, though.

iPod questions

Reply #4 – June 21, 2009, 11:22:44 PM

right now i have 186 songs on my i-pod using 1.4 gigs of space

iPod questions

Reply #5 – June 22, 2009, 03:09:23 PM

Thanks for the responses.

After much deliberation between a 16 and a 32, (I was leaning heavily towards the 16) my wife bought me the 32gig today. She said I was over-buttstuffyzing it and she is probably right.
$100.00 more now is much better than running out of room later and having to decide what I need to delete in order to make room I suppose.

I planned on loading my entire CD collection into it, but Ether947 made a good point about it being a bit overwhelming so I will may be more selective or at the very least, break them up into several playlist.

Eric,

Do you have any recommendations for an easy to use PC friendly program to rip DVD’s to the iPod format?

Brent

iPod questions

Reply #6 – June 22, 2009, 08:25:54 PM

Well cool deal on getting the larger capacity one.

I'll PM you on Tuesday with the name of the program I have on the PC at work. Can't remember it offhand...it is free and seems to do a pretty good job. Actually it's saved my bacon a few times LOL.

iPod questions

Reply #7 – June 24, 2009, 11:26:56 PM

i have a 8 gig ipod touch, love it cuz it stays in my car and is linked to my cd player. I love not having cds in my car. I currently have 600+ songs and still have a load of room left on it. Its a process loading all my cds onto my computer so i can sync it to the touch.

iPod questions

Reply #8 – June 26, 2009, 05:03:10 PM

I have an 80g Zune and an 8g iPhone. I love the Zune but haven't come close to filling even half of it. As earlier posted having all that music on hand is a waste if it's not easy to play. I make up different play lists of different types of music for different moods. I rotate those lists to my iPhone. I set iTunes to delete podcasts that I've already viewed so I save space. I would think 32g would be plenty. The iPhone takes a little getting used to but once you realize it's performance potential as much more than a phone or mp3/mp4 player you'll be hooked. I visit this forum and many other websites on it often. It's great that when a thought hits me I can research it right at that moment ( or soon as possible). Enjoy.