Viewing Thread:
"New iPod"

(Couldn't think of where to dump this topic... here seems as good a place as any)

Now slimmer (and only 158g), bigger storage, and cheaper. Amazing, going to have to replace my old 5 giger with a tasty, teeny 15 GB monster.

Seriously, not a single portable music device can now come anywhere near the amazing iPod. I've always been a huge fan of them (as is anyone who has ever used one/has any sense), but now... whole new ball game. Gimme gimme gimme.

www.apple.com/ipod

It says $300, so it's cheaper than y'all think.

I entered a compo for one a while back ....
*Prays*
I think I'd probably explode if I won.

Wow Dr Gonzo, that is a lot of kit. But I only know a very few people who would or could spend that much money on that amount of equipment. I suppose the average is some where in between.

Oh, and Dr. Gonzo, do you have a Mac or PC version? If you have the PC version, do you use Musicmatch or Ephpod (www.ephpod.com) as your ripping software?

I have been searching eBay for the past week- and I finally decided to opt for a 10Gb iPod. But then I searched today and realised the amount of iPods has risen dramatically- so I checked apple.com, and what do you know? A new, funkier iPod!

I'll still get the 10Gb version, just the newer model. And since it doesn't come with a docking station 9The 15Gb and 30Gb models do) I'll get one of those to.

I'm going to USA in the summer. I can get a 15Gb iPod for £250 ($400) or a 10Gb one for even less!

Result!

Oh, and you'll find A LOT of people willing to shell out £300 on a portable player on top of their home/car/anything else system. Espically now - I wouldn't consider myself any sort of hi-fi nut, but with the current shape of things just to enjoy my pass-times there's:

5.1 system for DVD player in main lounge
5.1 system for gaming/DVD in bedroom
Hi-Fi for general listening
PA system connected through to decks
2 amps for guitars
Numerous portable devices

More than ever now a lot of people will have a home cinema set-up as well as their usual hi-fi and a portable devise or two - add in a musical instrument and you've got a lot of kit. People are spending more and more on entertainment equiment as the benefits aren't as costly as they used to be.

Not trying to be Billy Flash or anything, this is just the way things are going. I've visited numerous student houses who will have beans on toast for tea while sitting watching their widescreen TV and enjoying 5.1 surround. You go back to places after a night out now and the door will be falling off the hinges but there'll be a set of 1200s connected to a monster PA system.

Sennheiser - I have a set of them I use with my decks, pretty good. New iPod comes with a docking station to link it to your hi-fi, not sure what connections come with it. I'll tell you in 8-10 days when mine ships :)

Stereo jack and a pair of phonos have no disernable difference - both use the same number of discrete channels, you can bridge them with some wire splicing. It's not a true adapter that takes you from one to the other - the signal is the same, its just the hardware that alters. Only thing that's different is the connector so it really just comes down to the quality of the wires/ports you're using.

There's no doubt quality costs. I have some mid-range Seenhouser headphones and they are very good. But most people won't own anything like that due to cost, which is the same problem as with the ipod. The only time most people would hand over £300 for a portable player is when they intend to use that as their only hifi. Everyone else will not part with that sort of money for a portable they don't use all the time.

BTW, I bet the ipod connects via a 2.5mm Stereo jack. That's far from ideal, and you need an adaptor to plug into RCA phono's. Proper RCA phono's are much better.

ps, forgot how to spell the name of those headphones!

Of course you can connect it directly to a hi-fi, just use the line out for the headphone like on anything else.

CD quality is equivaltent to 192kbps. You rip your MP3s at 192kbps and you're laughing - rip them at 160kbps and the difference is almost undetectable to the ear. The only time MP3 is of lower quality to CD is when poor ripping software is used (silly as you can get top quality freeware) or when ripped at the wrong rate. Some of the newer formats have even better quality to size ratios than this.

Most people really don't understand the various ripping options. You'll frequently see people sharing ripped radio feeds recorded at 256bps+, despite the fact a radio broadcast will be of around 64kbps quality. In other words, you're making the file four times larger than needs and getting zero benefit.

Then you'll also see people moaning about the quality of their portable players using £5 head phones - what do you expect! It's not the player's fault! That's why I use a set of the noise cancelling Sony jobbies - cost over £100 (and I got a good deal on mine by buying from Japan via eBay) but every penney is there to hear.

It would be easy to slate the ipod, but I would really like one. It's just the price. I think that would be the sticking point for many people.

Ok, so a £300 Dolby digital surround sound system with in build CD/DVD/FM is fairly basic and low powered, but the iPod will not produce top quality if use MP3 format (lower quality than CD or DVD music).

Can you even connect an ipod to a hifi directly for playback?

You're comparing apples with oranges (says the guy who used cars in is analogy). Plus, it's top of the range portable music players versus cruddy, low spec 5.1 system.