Well, I finally did it

[Hobbit]

As a fan of online music downloads since the days of swapping mp3s over IRC channels, I knew this was inevitable, but I finally...signed up for iTunes.

It's a great service that provides quality music at low prices over the internet. They also have failsafes to ensure that an iffy connection and a failed download won't rip you off (all purchases and downloads are tracked through the service, and anything you didn't finish downloading can be downloaded later). You can also subscribe to regularly downloaded podcasts and they even offer TV shows for sale. I finally see why it's so successful, and I would recommend this service to anyone.

 

[The ClayTaurus]

As a fan of online music downloads since the days of swapping mp3s over IRC channels, I knew this was inevitable, but I finally...signed up for iTunes.

It's a great service that provides quality music at low prices over the internet. They also have failsafes to ensure that an iffy connection and a failed download won't rip you off (all purchases and downloads are tracked through the service, and anything you didn't finish downloading can be downloaded later). You can also subscribe to regularly downloaded podcasts and they even offer TV shows for sale. I finally see why it's so successful, and I would recommend this service to anyone.

I had to install the program awhile back to get quicktime to run. I've yet to buy anything, however. I still prefer to buy the actual cd after I've "sampled" it.

 

[5stringJeff]

Questions:

1. Do songs from itunes come in a format that any mp3 player will recognize?

2. Is there a limit as to how many times you can copy/transfer the files?

 

[Hobbit]

Questions:

1. Do songs from itunes come in a format that any mp3 player will recognize?

2. Is there a limit as to how many times you can copy/transfer the files?

1. No, but it's easy enough to convert the files, as you're allowed to change the format. The format is listed as "M4P," but if all else fails, you can burn the stuff on a CD (a few cents) and then re-rip as standard mp3s.

2. You can legally make 7 copies and play them on 5 devices simultaneously, but there's really no way to enforce it.

Edit: I just found out they can be converted to "AAC" files, which can be played by most mp3 players.

Er, re-edit. It wouldn't let me convert a file I'd purchased to AAC, saying you couldn't convert protect files. I'll post more later.

 

[Abbey Normal]

We have made lots of CD's from iTunes downloads. I wish I'd had this capability when I was a teenager. What's great is that I make a CD for my car, and then whenever I want to, I play the same songs on my computer from my iTunes purchase list while I am sitting here. No need to make a 2nd CD.

 

[Nienna]

I have iTunes... but I have no idea how to use it.

 

[jillian]

As a fan of online music downloads since the days of swapping mp3s over IRC channels, I knew this was inevitable, but I finally...signed up for iTunes.

It's a great service that provides quality music at low prices over the internet. They also have failsafes to ensure that an iffy connection and a failed download won't rip you off (all purchases and downloads are tracked through the service, and anything you didn't finish downloading can be downloaded later). You can also subscribe to regularly downloaded podcasts and they even offer TV shows for sale. I finally see why it's so successful, and I would recommend this service to anyone.

iTunes is great, but if you have songs on your IPod that you downloaded from a different service (e.g., RealPlayer or the like) then sometimes loading iTunes stuff onto it after will blank out the songs you already have and keep you from accessing them after. I'm not sure if there's a way to get around that, but I know someone who lost a whole bunch of stuff that way.

 

[Hobbit]

iTunes is great, but if you have songs on your IPod that you downloaded from a different service (e.g., RealPlayer or the like) then sometimes loading iTunes stuff onto it after will blank out the songs you already have and keep you from accessing them after. I'm not sure if there's a way to get around that, but I know someone who lost a whole bunch of stuff that way.

I don't use an iPod, and after the horror stories, I don't trust them that much. If I get an mp3 player, I'm doing file type conversions to mp3s to sort of 'clean the iTunes' off of them before using them. Most of my library is already regular mp3s anyway.

 

[Dan]

I have a Creative Labs MP3 player that works really well, though it's not very durable, I dropped it once and had to format it to get it to work. But, it works really well, does everything an IPod does, but cheaper.

 

[Hobbit]

I have a Creative Labs MP3 player that works really well, though it's not very durable, I dropped it once and had to format it to get it to work. But, it works really well, does everything an IPod does, but cheaper.

Yeah, I always thought Apple made really good stuff, but their hardware is usually overpriced and impossible to repair or upgrade. Software's easy as hell to use, though.

 

[Said1]

We have made lots of CD's from iTunes downloads. I wish I'd had this capability when I was a teenager. What's great is that I make a CD for my car, and then whenever I want to, I play the same songs on my computer from my iTunes purchase list while I am sitting here. No need to make a 2nd CD.

I don't use iTunes personally, but I would have killed for an MP3 player when I was a teenager or anything that allowed for cd burning.


I have a net md mini-diskman, it plays Mp3s and other formats. If anything happened to it, I think I would have a stroke. :gross2: