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Another annoying ipod tech dilemma thread..

16:11 / 13.01.05

Hey all.

Basically: Should I buy a 20GB iPod off a friend (who's somehow ended up with two) for £120?

Drawback is that I only have a slightly clankly old PC with only a 2GB (so about 1GB available for messing about) hard drive and a slow-type USG (or ISG or USB or whatever the fuck it is) port, so I might not really be able to make the best of it.

I foresee a lot of frustration and manhours being involved in making much use of the thing, so....

should I or shouldn't I?

opinions and ill-considered diatribes welcomed.

20:32 / 13.01.05

Well, that's a pretty good bargain. Is it a new one?

If you're planning to fill all 20GB straight away then you would be in for a fairly dull and arduous time, what with the ripping and the deleting and the transfering with the slooow USB1... Otherwise, adding songs every now and then wouldn't be too bad. However, what version of Windows are you using? iTunes only works on 2000 or XP. But if you've got one of them, you could always buy the iPod now and get a better computer later. Might I suggest the Mac mini.....?

ONLY NICE THINGS

22:44 / 13.01.05

I was wondering about that - if you have working USB ports but only 2GB of memory, I imagine you're running Windows 98, yes?

00:13 / 14.01.05

I can't see you using 20GB anytime soon without the purchase of a new PC, as said you're looking at ripping, transferring and deleting. Rinse, wash, repeat, for a good couple of weeks.

I have an iPod Mini (4GB) and the most that that's gotten used is less than half capacity. (I'm not a music snob, just picky).

Bargain, £120 for a 20GB iPod? Yes, definitely, that's a bargain, but only if you want to plow through a bit of frustrated techno-arrghing.

ONLY NICE THINGS

07:21 / 14.01.05

Or, you know, sell it on eBay...

lonely as a cloud...

07:39 / 14.01.05

iPod for £120? I'd *definitely* go for it, despite my huge antipathy towards iTunes. Since your friend has an iPod, perhaps you could get some music off him? Also, yes, the new Mac Mini would be a great idea to go with your iPod, since you already have a monitor, keyboard and mouse. Give in to the fruit!

09:25 / 14.01.05

I'll tell you what, if don't want to buy it I will.
I'm deadly serious.

ONLY NICE THINGS

09:48 / 14.01.05

Yeah, me too.

13:18 / 14.01.05

Though not a nig iPod fan (I've got a Zen Jukebox), I think for that price I'd definitely get an iPod. Unless of course the "somehow" means receiving stolen goods. Though even then I'd probably still risk it.

14:18 / 14.01.05

Okay. I've got a 20GB iPod which I'm running with a clanky old Dell Latitude with a USB1 port, shit-all memory and Windows 98. It took me a week to sort out, but here's how:

Go here and download this guy's Windows 98 Driver for iPod. This will make sure your iPod will work with Windows 98 (that might sound obvious to a lot of people but to me it was a revelation).

Next you'll need an iTunes style programme, because the iTunes you'll get with the iPod will only load on Windows XP or ME.

I found this one: Ephpod, which is as good as iTunes, in my humble op.

What you will have to do, though, is find a friend with a computer that runs Windows XP, load up iTunes and format your iPod on it (a couple of minutes of a job), otherwise your old PC won't recognise iPod as being formatted for Windows.

And that's basically it. I rip CDs via Windows Media Player and convert them to mp3 and download on USB1. I also have iTunes loaded up at work and download on USB2 there, and to be honest I haven't noticed a marked speed difference.

Hope this helps.