Ok, after getting the Ipod last night, I stayed up for a couple of hours learning how to use it, but ran up against a brick wall when trying to move songs from my computer hard drive to the Ipod. Sticky loaded about 150 songs on it, but I've got about 500 more on my computer, plus a shiatload of cd's I've never ripped yet, and I'd like to get it all on the Ipod. According to the directions, I *must* have I-tunes in order to put music on the device. Dragging and dropping from 'C' drive to the new 'G' drive just doesn't work.
Hmmm... Sounds kinda fishy to me. There are millions of people out there using Ipods, and I highly doubt that they're all ponying up a buck a song to get their music through I-tunes. Besides, my POS computer still runs on Windows Millenium, and I-tunes is not compatible with it. In other words, unless I get a new computer and/or operating system, I cannot use I-tunes.
Luckily the world is populated by lots of computer and software hackers, and most of them are *not* employed by Microsoft or Apple, and some smart people out there have designed a workaround. A few minutes on Google using the words 'millenium ipod mp3' and I was directed to the website of a company by the name of Mediafour and their X-play software.
Not only did they give me a free two-week trial of their software (more than enough time to get all of my music organized and transferred to the Ipod), but the software is completely easy to use and very powerful. And their FAQ's in the technical support section shows how to avoid all of the pitfalls of using I-tunes, such as that whole 'automatic synchronization' thing that will erase everything once I use I-tunes for the first time. Screw that. With this software, I have no use whatsoever for I-tunes. So yeah, I'll use the trial version for a couple of weeks, but then I'll most likely spend the $30 for the licensed version. And I-tunes will never get a dime of my money.
It's so easy to use, a simpleton like me could master it in just a few minutes, and I've already created and uploaded a playlist of about 100 good party songs that will serve as great background music in case of say, I dunno, a party in a hotel suite during March Madness... Oh, and did I mention that the stereo in my pickup truck has an auxiliary outlet for electronic mp3 devices? All I need is a $5 patch cord, available just about anywhere, and I can listen to the Ipod through the truck speakers. Pretty nifty.
Hey, I haven't bought any type of gadget outside of a cellphone in at least four years, so this is all pretty damn cool to me.
I guess the point of all this is that I'm really digging my new toy. So far, it's a lot of fun.
Mikey
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