Whats a cool MP4 player to buy a teenager ?

gus

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Ann McRae

Here in Canada, iPod is it - the only choice with coolness factor.

gus wrote:

Im heading to the shootout in a few weeks & have 2 looooooong stop overs in Taiwan.

I want to buy my daughter a 'cool' MP4 player but my idea of cool is watching ants build a little bridge over water to get some food. So as you can see ..i have no possible idea what to get her.

Whats in ?

Andy

gus wrote:

Im heading to the shootout in a few weeks & have 2 looooooong stop overs in Taiwan.

I want to buy my daughter a 'cool' MP4 player but my idea of cool is watching ants build a little bridge over water to get some food. So as you can see ..i have no possible idea what to get her.

Whats in ?

http://www.apple.com/ipod/ipod.html is there another kind?

pyrtek

I agree, but wait till Wednesday before getting an iPod. A new line will be
announced.

gus

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pyrtek

gus wrote:

ok ipod then. What this new one about ?

There's only speculation at this point. All will be revealed on Wednesday.

gus wrote:

Its no like you can easily load the movie onto your computer & then transfer them to the ipod...or is it

It pretty much is.

wxwax

gus wrote:

ok ipod then. What this new one about ?

So with an ipod MP4....how do you get the movies on it ?

Its no like you can easily load the movie onto your computer & then transfer them to the ipod...or is it

Drag and drop MP4, that's its native format. Movies in other formats need to be converted using software, like Videora.

I don't own an iPod, but I did stay at a fleabag hotel last night.

digismile

gus wrote:

ok ipod then. What this new one about ?

So with an ipod MP4....how do you get the movies on it ?

Its no like you can easily load the movie onto your computer & then transfer them to the ipod...or is it

Gus, my brother works a month in Russia, a month back home in Canada, and on each trip he takes his iPod with all the TV shows and the odd movie he misses while away. I know he needed some kind of software, but it couldn't have been that hard to find and use (I know this, because it's my brother!). I'm sure he just found it with Google ...

Buy the iPod. Resistance is futile ...

DoctorIt

Ipod is pretty much it.

Unfortunately, it's not that easy with video. Copyright and all that kind of stuff plays heavily here. She won't just be able to dump YouTube content on there. There are ways, but they require freeware/shareware, a heavy amount of conversion, and some trickery. If you just want movies/tv shows that are availble on iTunes, and if $ is not an issue, then yes, you're golden.

we can discuss live. remind me at some point. you can have a butcher's at T's, she's got the latest one w/video. slick little toy, for sure.

gus

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pyrtek

DoctorIt wrote:

Unfortunately, it's not that easy with video. Copyright and all that kind of stuff plays heavily here.

The iPod is completely unaware of issues of copyright. So is iTunes, unless
you're using the iTunes store. As long as you have a file on your harddrive
that is in a format supported by the iPod, you can transfer and watch it with
iTunes/iPod.

DoctorIt

pyrtek wrote:

The iPod is completely unaware of issues of copyright. So is iTunes, unless
you're using the iTunes store. As long as you have a file on your harddrive
that is in a format supported by the iPod, you can transfer and watch it with
iTunes/iPod.

Maybe so, but it's not quite as easy as drag-n-drop. I know gus and I'm just trying to help him out here. he wants to know if he can do it with one eye open whilst shaving the cat.

I do know one thing - not any video file type is supported by the ipod, you can't just drag an .avi on to it. I ended up upgrading to Quicktime Pro so I could convert .avi to .mp4 (not even normal .mp4, there's an actual "ipod .mp4", isn't there?)

rosselliot

don't buy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

wait till tomorrow

- Ross

DavidTO

DoctorIt wrote:

Maybe so, but it's not quite as easy as drag-n-drop. I know gus and I'm just trying to help him out here. he wants to know if he can do it with one eye open whilst shaving the cat.

I do know one thing - not any video file type is supported by the ipod, you can't just drag an .avi on to it. I ended up upgrading to Quicktime Pro so I could convert .avi to .mp4 (not even normal .mp4, there's an actual "ipod .mp4", isn't there?)

Doc, the app to get to help with conversions is VisualHub. Seriously great app, IMO. Costs the same as QT Pro (less, actually), with 10000000000x the functionality.

DoctorIt

DavidTO wrote:

Doc, the app to get to help with conversions is VisualHub. Seriously great app, IMO. Costs the same as QT Pro (less, actually), with 10000000000x the functionality.

Is it faster than QT Pro? I don't care what's better, but all I remember is it took almost the full length of the 20 minute show I put on MrsIt's pod at one point to convert.

maybe i'm not doing it right, haven't done it all that much

DavidTO

DoctorIt wrote:

Is it faster than QT Pro? I don't care what's better, but all I remember is it took almost the full length of the 20 minute show I put on MrsIt's pod at one point to convert.

maybe i'm not doing it right, haven't done it all that much

I converted some DVDs (burned) directly from the DVDs (i.e. I didn't drag to the desktop first) and it seemed to me that it burned 2 or 3x. Easy, iPod, iPhone, even Final Cut Pro ready video straight from it.

rosselliot

with a mac, do it all with 'handbrake' it's an amazing program, and it's free.

seriously - don't buy it today or yesterday or anytime, because it's been over a year since they've updated their ipod line, and it's getting close to the holidays, I'm thinking the big meeting tomorrow with apple is to announce a new iPod as well as some new itunes features.

- Ross

DavidTO

rosselliot wrote:

with a mac, do it all with 'handbrake' it's an amazing program, and it's free.

seriously - don't buy it today or yesterday or anytime, because it's been over a year since they've updated their ipod line, and it's getting close to the holidays, I'm thinking the big meeting tomorrow with apple is to announce a new iPod as well as some new itunes features.

- Ross

I tried Handbrake before buying VisualHub. There is no comparison, IMO. I'll never use Handbrake again. VH is easier and MUCH faster.

DoctorIt

rosselliot wrote:

seriously - don't buy it today or yesterday or anytime, ... the big meeting tomorrow with apple is to announce a new iPod

but I'm in the future, and I still don't see anything

gus

DoctorIt wrote:

but I'm in the future, and I still don't see anything

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pyrtek

DoctorIt wrote:

Maybe so, but it's not quite as easy as drag-n-drop. I know gus and I'm just trying to help him out here.

So am I.

DoctorIt wrote:

I do know one thing - not any video file type is supported by the ipod, you can't just drag an .avi on to it.

I know. I said as much in my post.

I agree with everything you said except for "Copyright and all that kind of
stuff plays heavily here.", which is simply not true. I also don't think there's
any "trickery" involved in making video content iPod compatible. There are
free tools that will convert anything to anything else while you shave your
cat and they're very easy to use.

pyrtek

DoctorIt wrote:

I ended up upgrading to Quicktime Pro so I could convert .avi to .mp4 (not even normal .mp4, there's an actual "ipod .mp4", isn't there?)

Not really. An "iPod" mp4 is a regular ol' mp4 with the extension changed to
m4v. It's the same deal with audiobooks in AAC format. If you have a regular
AAC file and change its extension from .aac to .m4b it will still be an AAC file,
but the iPod (and iTunes) will "see" it as an audiobook, so it will remember
its playback position and file it under Audiobooks in the Music menu.

Invective

Hope I don't get shunned! My friend has a 'Zen', Microsofts attempt at keeping up with the iPod. I remember watching South Park on it with her on a trip once, and it was very good. I didn't like the scroll button they had, but the screen was very nice and as far as i know, this is a drag and drop with majority of file formats. Good luck!

pyrtek

pyrtek wrote:

I agree, but wait till Wednesday before getting an iPod. A new line will be announced.

Told ya.


http://www.apple.com/ipod

DoctorIt

pyrtek wrote:

Not really. An "iPod" mp4 is a regular ol' mp4 with the extension changed to
m4v. It's the same deal with audiobooks in AAC format. If you have a regular
AAC file and change its extension from .aac to .m4b it will still be an AAC file,
but the iPod (and iTunes) will "see" it as an audiobook, so it will remember
its playback position and file it under Audiobooks in the Music menu.

cool, now I'm learning something

DoctorIt

pyrtek wrote:

Told ya.


http://www.apple.com/ipod

Yeah, so my only question... why on earth wouldn't you just get an iPhone over the new ipod Touch?

DavidTO

You can get a 16GB iPod Touch.

I'll say this: the basic decision got a lot more complicated today. The Nano, the 160GB iPod Classic, the touch, etc. Too much information!

gus

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pyrtek

DoctorIt wrote:

Yeah, so my only question... why on earth wouldn't you just get an iPhone over the new ipod Touch?

8 gigs more storage, if that's important. I've got my sights on the 160 gig
classic. That's just insane value for money.

DavidTO

gus wrote:

Is this the big secret ? ...and this one.

Those and the iPod, (now classic) got a bump in storage. And the new paint jobs for the Shuffles.

gus

DavidTO wrote:

Those and the iPod, (now classic) got a bump in storage. And the new paint jobs for the Shuffles.

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