Ipod

[Ylan Segal]

Matthew Nicholson wrote:
> I for a long time have used gtkpod to sync my ipod(s). IT works great
> and I have never had a problem. I do not use it for playing music, but
> simply for the task of syncing music to my ipod. 

I took a quick look at this... looks like it does all that I need!

> 
> Rhythmbox is getting support for syncing ipods (currently in dapper it
> can only play music from them). I've been playing with the cvs version
> of rhythmbox, and i must say it works great. simply drag and drop the
> tracks and watch them get written. Now I only used this app, for both
> syncing and playback.

Do you build it yourself? Install a deb package? I can handle the
building, but would rather avoid the hassle of not having automatic
dependency management and all that.

> 
> Bansheee works great as well, and ipod syncing should be completely
> working in it. I personally don't use it much, because I find that
> rhythmbox is faster, and the CVS version has all the same features
> (ipods, album art, etc)

Did you try the Banshee version from the Ubuntu repos? If so, this tips
it in favor of it, despite the speed (I don't copy new music to my iPod
_that_ often).

> 
> both of those players allow you to rips cds into their library, however
> it may take a bit of hackery to rips to mp3s, not the default, better,
> and free-er ogg format (which ipods, and most players, cannot play). For
> ripping cds, i use the command line program abcde, or "a better cd
> encoder" it works great, and can rip to any format. nice and quick as
> well. 

Hmmm... I will have to look into that, because I definitely want to keep
my collection in mp3s, but I don't think it will be much of an issue.

> 
> as for your purchased music, i simply do not know. I have never really
> bought any music from itunes, so i cannot say from personal experiance.
> however, i have been lead to believe, that you will be able to play
> those songs, or, at the very least, convert them to a more friendly,
> open format that apples drm'd format. 
> 
> I hope i was helpful. for a few years, syncing my ipod safely and easily
> was the only reason i had a dual boot going. i'm glad to say that is no
> longer the case, and i am yet to find an task i wish to accomplish, that
> i haven't been ab;e to get done in some way or another, on ubuntu.

Thanks Matthew, you *were* helpful. I still have some questions,
especially on copying the music currently on the iPod to the Linux box,
but now I know that I will definitely be able to use my iPod under Linux.

As it stands right now, I think I am pretty much convinced that I won't
need a dual boot machine for anything. I will probably install once
dapper is released as final.

-- 
Ylan

"The universe is not required to be in
perfect harmony with human ambition"
~ Carl Sagan