Re: [ARSCLIST] Recommended software to make an iPod dump its library to iTunes on a second computer

[Tom Fine <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Mike:

I'm no fan of Apple either, but I have to say the iPod is far and away the best of these devices. 
And iTunes software has improved steadily. But I can't understand why it would have a basic function 
like sync. Both copies of iTunes, on both computers, have to be registered to me anyway or I can't 
play whatever I've got from the iTunes store. So I can't see how this violates any fair-use or any 
other theory of personal property and copyrights. How is my collection of MP3 files any less mine 
than my Outlook address book, which readily syncs between computers or even via a secure website?

Anyway, looks like there's plenty of 3rd party software to choose from. I just need to find one 
least likely to be buggy or toxic.

As for Quicktime, it's definitely toxic in some situations -- but not as toxic as Real software. 
Apple has, a little to their credit, been less aggressive in recent versions about how QT installs, 
but you still need to watch it like a hawk and manually select what it's allowed to co-opt. The web 
browser plugin is much less toxic than in the past, in my experience, and again less toxic than 
Real.

I've been using and keeping tabs on MP3 players since the first Diamond Rio device. The reason the 
door was open and Apple walked in is that all the other ones seem to have been designed and executed 
by computer geeks and electrical engineers instead of people who actually love music, own and buy a 
lot of it and want a simple way to have their music, all of it, available to them anytime and 
anywhere. Apple got closer to that ability and thus cornered the market. But this whole lack of sync 
convenience may be part of their deal with the devil (Big Music) which enabled their true profit 
center (or so they thought), the iTunes store. As I understand it, what's turned out is that they've 
made more money and sold more iPods than they ever projected but it turns out iTunes purchases per 
iPod owner are much lower than expected.

Again, I'm no fan of Apple, so I was a very late adopter. What finally did it for me was when 
Podcasting became mainstream and I could get all the Sunday political shows and a bunch of radio 
stuff on my little iPod shuffle, along with my audiobooks (either ripped from CD's or thru Audible) 
and time-shift when I listen to them. Then iTunes software got much better in V6 and now V7, lots of 
stupid things fixed and better integration with Windows. Still bloated, but lots of good features 
and podcast management, etc. Then one of my colleagues gave me his old 20gig unit about a year ago 
and I made a concerted effort to organize and load up an iTunes library. Once it all got organized 
and habit-instilled, suddenly I was using the iPod all the time, including for background music at 
work. End of story, it's a great gadget. And just to be clear, I'm a guy who hates cellphones (and 
doesn't even own a color-screen model yet), never bought into PDA's and barely uses his laptop 
except as a computer to do e-mail and non-audio apps in the studio while the main computer is doing 
audio.

-- Tom Fine

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Richter" <mrichter@xxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2006 9:35 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Recommended software to make an iPod dump its library to iTunes on a second 
computer


> Steven C. Barr(x) wrote:
> > ----- Original Message ----- 
> > From: "Tom Fine" <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > > OK, now here's the question at hand. There seem to be several programs out
> > there that will let me
> > > connect up my iPod to second computer and dump its music library into that
> > computer's iTunes
> > > library, rather than over-write the iPod with music from what's already on
> > that computer. What I'd
> > > like to do is sync up the iTunes at both work and home with the iPod being the
> > sync'ing medium.
> > If all else fails...simply rename the existing folder that contains the
> > music as sound files, so the software can't find it to overwrite. Then,
> > you can use standard Windows Explorer (the XXI-Jahrhundert version of
> > "File Manager") commands and mouse manipulations to get all the sound
> > files into one folder. Then, another "iaaf" answer...burn that folder
> > onto a CD-R or DVD-R (or more) and use that to put all the sound files
> > on both machines...
>
> I believe there's a basic struggle here which Steven rightly tries to circumvent. While the iPod 
> is a serviceable memory, its interface makes it all but useless for conventional memory functions. 
> Such a function is synchronizing.
>
> Any portable memory will serve the purpose: optical drive, flash drive and removable hard drive 
> are all candidates depending on the volume of audio files involved. You can even use a spare 
> iPod - if you keep it from treating the files as audio.
>
> Use Windows software to sync the files on your HDD with those of the portable device, then let 
> iTunes find them and do its thing.
>
> OTOH, you may want to ignore my input as prejudiced. I've spent far too much time unscrewing the 
> damage done to my system by QuickTime ever to let another Apple program on it. My paradigm for 
> audio mamagement is not Apple's and the last time I looked, I owned my computer. My MP3 players 
> may not be as snazzy as the iPod, but they're less demanding and less costly.
>
> Mike
> --
> mrichter@xxxxxxx
> http://www.mrichter.com/