Something trrible might be in my near future

[prizrak]

Smib,
Get a head unit that support A2DP and get a Samsung player that has BT

Also GTK_Pod is basically the standard on Linux. I'm an iPod hater myself but after playing with the touch I really want one Although I have to say that I would prefer the iPhone just so that I can consolidate all of my stuff in one device

[smib]

Oh trust me, If I had the money I'd just get a head unit with a hard drive in it, and I would actually have the satellite radio installed. My head unit is satellite ready, but it's about $100 for the reciever and I'm way too lazy to install it myself, so I'd probably have to pay to get it done.

[Crazyjeeper]

Isn't the audio in jack a 1/8" connection? If so, then why not use one of these?

[prizrak]

Originally Posted by smib

Oh trust me, If I had the money I'd just get a head unit with a hard drive in it, and I would actually have the satellite radio installed. My head unit is satellite ready, but it's about $100 for the reciever and I'm way too lazy to install it myself, so I'd probably have to pay to get it done.

The only thing I can suggest is looking for an adapter that would convert the ipod connector to some other type of a connector. Though the remote interface wouldn't be the same.

[viilaaja@pt cruiser]

how about mp3 player to small fm-transmitter, and using the car's own radio for listening.

Like this one

[NooDle]

Originally Posted by viilaaja@pt cruiser

how about mp3 player to small fm-transmitter, and using the car's own radio for listening.

Like this one

i have something similar, bought it for 3€ and it works well, aslong as you don't cross a large area (say 250 kms in one direction)

Because theres a bajillion radio stations here, I only found 1 frequency that wasn't being used....so you may get some interference though

[matt2000]

What about this kind of gizmo?



http://www.gumtree.com/london/42/25213542.html

It plays through the radio, has an SD card slot and a handy remote. Nuff said.

I know what you mean about the Apple software, my sister has a Nano, and syncs from her laptop. But if she downloads any music on my PC, I can't sync it onto the iPod without clearing the damn thing.

Edit: US page

http://www.bizrate.com/mp3playeracce...__nwylf--.html

[smib]

FM transmitters are useless here, way to much noise all over the place. Besides that my Sirius is plugged into the cig lighter.

[katwalk]

Originally Posted by matt2000

I know what you mean about the Apple software, my sister has a Nano, and syncs from her laptop. But if she downloads any music on my PC, I can't sync it onto the iPod without clearing the damn thing.

There is a checkbox that you unclick and it shouldn't do that anymore :p
from what I've found almost EVERY thing that people say about ipods sucking I've already found a way around
I find it hilarious that people say apple hardware is for idiots and then turn around and complain about things that are changeable easily if you go into file> prefences (note this is not aimed at you, just a general statement)

[prizrak]

Originally Posted by katwalk

There is a checkbox that you unclick and it shouldn't do that anymore :p
from what I've found almost EVERY thing that people say about ipods sucking I've already found a way around
I find it hilarious that people say apple hardware is for idiots and then turn around and complain about things that are changeable easily if you go into file> prefences (note this is not aimed at you, just a general statement)

Yes there is an option to manually manage your library. It is in the completely wrong place and should be the default anyway.

Apple software/hardware tends to be very inconsistent when it comes to the design. There are a lot of small (and not small) things missing from it as well. For instance the manual option is not in the main preferences menu (unless I'm blind) where you would assume to find all the options you need. There is also no pop up of any sort when you try to click on any of the songs on the iPod.

Then there is the video... Apple wants iTunes to be your only media player, yet it cannot play any video that is not in the h.264 format. To make it worse when you try to play other videos it says absolutely nothing just sits there. Brings me nicely to the fact that iTunes lacks any kind of transcoding whatsoever. Of course that is there for one simple reason, to force those who don't know how to transcode to buy videos from Apple.

I've been playing with my g/f's iPod touch (I call it touchpod) and it also has some weird inconsistencies. For instance the screen rotating feature when you tilt it to the side only works in a few modes. To make it more "interesting" when you are trying to browse YouTube you have to hold it tallways when searching/browsing videos but you have to hold it on the side when watching the video. Gets pretty annoying pretty quickly.

Then there is the price of the things. I haven't been checking lately so this may have changed but when I was buying an MP3 player (Sandisk Sansa), the only comparable thing from iPod was the Nano (not the current square one the old rectangular one). The Nano cost the same for the 4GB version as my Sansa did for the 6GB. It also lacked voice recorder, radio w/ recording capability, expandable memory, video/pictures, and a user replaceable battery. Not to mention that software that came with it had a damn transcoder built in.

This is my biggest problem with Apple, they sell a device generally for more money than the competition and offer less features. I mean hell even the iPhone doesn't have A2DP when just about every phone on the market with mp3 player capability does. To add to that Sony, Samsung and Insignia (Best Buy brand) are offering mp3 players with such capability.

[matt2000]

Originally Posted by katwalk

There is a checkbox that you unclick and it shouldn't do that anymore :p
from what I've found almost EVERY thing that people say about ipods sucking I've already found a way around
I find it hilarious that people say apple hardware is for idiots and then turn around and complain about things that are changeable easily if you go into file> prefences (note this is not aimed at you, just a general statement)

I've never tried to find ways around it because it's not my iPod, but if it was I would probably start looking. I'll have a look around in the preferences next time I have to use iTunes.

[prizrak]

Smib,

Had an idea that *might* work for you. This hinges on your dock to be powered.
Get a used iPod off of Ebay, the only real problem with them is size and battery life, which is why a powered dock would be a must. This would ensure a much smaller price tag as it would be a couple of generations behind and would also mean that it would work perfectly with Linux based iPod managers as all of their quirks would already be worked out. This way you have no need for iTunes or *shudder* Windows, you wouldn't really be supporting Apple, and you wouldn't be paying out the ass for an inferior product.

[smib]

^ The dock is powered, and I will most likely end up going that route, except maybe even get an older HDD one and swap in a 16GB flash card to make seek times better. Although that would probably get too expensive. I'll have to look into how much older gen iPods cost. Thanks for the input everyone.

[Hidden_Hunter]

FM transmitters sound like shit usually, and like aux connectors are a pain in the ass if you want to change songs. I have have the dock connector for my alpine (a couple of years old now) and it works a treat... mostly

It has this wierd ass bug that if shuffle is on you can't bring up the song selection menu (you have to turn off shuffle before it lets you access it again) and randomally it locks up.

[smib]

So is anyone looking to get rid of a 2nd gen iPod nano?