Ipod Touch questions

[gizmo1990]

Right I'm almost about to do something I thought I never would. Buy an ipod. Blueghh, wash my mouth out with soap!

Dispite my dispising of all things Apple I can't ignore the fact that for once, Apple have built something head and shoulders above the competition. Fantastic touch based UI, WIFI, massive screen etc.

But before I take the plunge could any Touch owner out there confirm a few things for me?

1) My entire music collection is in mp3 format with all attendant album art. Will Itunes and the touch leave my collection alone and just copy and play my files straight? Ie NO conversion rubbish? NO altering of my album art by going off and searching for it?

2) What video files will the touch play?

Any advice appreciated.

[Lowkey]

1: yes
2: MP4's work well

[Richard.John]

The touch really is a marvel. No regrets, even with the 16GB max memory.

[gizmo1990]

OOOoooooohhhHHHHH! Hold everything.

I've just seen the Archos 605!

[Destrukticor]

you don't get the internet out of the box with the archos it's an optional (Pay) plugin my friend had one had had nothing good to say about it.
chunky too.
i had my ipod touch and it was a wonderful little device even better if you can jailbreak it and install all sorts of useful programs on it, for free.

[bignige]

OOOoooooohhhHHHHH! Hold everything.

I've just seen the Archos 605!

Blimey, what an ugly piece of **** that is! It's the sort of thing your dad pulls out to impress your mates whilst you crawl up your own arsehole with embarrassment!

[Kotatsu Neko]

The iPod Touch is an amazing gadget, but as an iPod in my experience it's really pretty weak. It's all down to the interface mainly, which has gone from being very quick to use on a regular iPod, to being slow and cumbersome.

For example, to pause music on an iPod, tap the play button. To pause music on an iPod Touch, you need to either double tap the home button, then tap the play button, or click the home button, slide the 'slide to unlock' slider across the screen, then click play. Plus with an iPod Classic or Nano you can do it all with one hand and without even looking at the device. The Touch requires a lot more attention... These kind of compromises run throughout the device's iPod functionality, so while it's an amazing gee-whizz futuristic gadget it's actually just not a very good iPod...

Still, as a video player or portable web browser it's absolutely outstanding, and the industrial design is of course wonderful. My recommendation would be to buy an iPhone if you want an all in one device, or if you just want a music player then buy a Nano or a Classic.

[Kotatsu Neko]

1) My entire music collection is in mp3 format with all attendant album art. Will Itunes and the touch leave my collection alone and just copy and play my files straight? Ie NO conversion rubbish? NO altering of my album art by going off and searching for it?

2) What video files will the touch play?

iTunes and the iPod organise by MP3 tags. If you don't have tags, or they're a mess, you're going to absolutely hate the way itunes/iPod work. Album art is again from the tag but iTunes can get any missing art for you if you ask it to.

As for video, MP4 enclosures with MPEG4 or H.264 video are all it supports. Resolution up to 640x480. (the actual screen res is 480x320) There are a lot of video converters available though so it's easy to transcode XVID, VOB etc to MP4.

[ChrisF]

iTunes and the iPod organise by MP3 tags. If you don't have tags, or they're a mess, you're going to absolutely hate the way itunes/iPod work. Album art is again from the tag but iTunes can get any missing art for you if you ask it to.

This was something I was blissfully ignorant of before getting a Touch. With my old Nano, I never used iTunes. Always used Anapod Explorer and always just Playlists.

If I have one gripe of the newer iPods is that they scuppered all these old programs and have forced you to use iTunes and ensure that your ID3 tags are all correct.

(That said, I don't know if this is all fixed in thenewest firmwares. I dont feel inclined to scupper my jailbreak to find out)

[mt50]

well I just got my touch(posting this on it now) I have to say it the best gadget I have had. Its even better when you jailbreak it

[gizmo1990]

Right well after MUCH deliberation, I've just bought a touch.

Some questions..

Can anyone recommend a good case?

What's the best method to Jailbreak my new toy?

Any advice much appreciated.

[ChrisF]

Cases... I use some rubber thingy off ebay, £1.99 or there abouts. Stops scratches on the back.

What version of the software is on your Touch? Highly recommend you take a read here: http://www.ipodtouchfans.com/forums/

[Richard.John]

Kotatsu Neko,

Do you own a touch just out of interest? I know from the other thread that you aren't so keen on it but I would disagree about it not being a good ipod. Yes, I admit that its not perfect if you want to quickly change songs on the go but if you look beyond that, I feel it's a superb music player.
From the GUI (searching standpoint) which makes the old pods feel like dinosaurs to things like the accelerometer and coverflow, which is superb. It just ticks all the right boxes for me. I have yet to meet a person who wouldn't like to buy one after playing with mine. Just my two pence anyway...

[Kotatsu Neko]

Kotatsu Neko,

Do you own a touch just out of interest? I know from the other thread that you aren't so keen on it but I would disagree about it not being a good ipod. Yes, I admit that its not perfect if you want to quickly change songs on the go but if you look beyond that, I feel it's a superb music player.
From the GUI (searching standpoint) which makes the old pods feel like dinosaurs to things like the accelerometer and coverflow, which is superb. It just ticks all the right boxes for me. I have yet to meet a person who wouldn't like to buy one after playing with mine. Just my two pence anyway...

Yes I own one. I bought it as I knew I would be travelling about and wanted to use it as a wi-fi browser and video player. (for which it is an excellent device)

I've been using it as a music/podcast/audiobook player since then I honestly think it's enormously inferior to a regular iPod. Everything takes much, much longer to accomplish than before, and that the interface requires so much attention (and both hands) to use is a serious flaw.

It's also ridiculously bulky for a device with so little storage. I think when the Nanos have enough space I'll pick one of those up and put the Touch in the cupboard, to be used only when I'm on the move again.

If it was a phone as well I'd probably be more willing to put up with the clunky interface, but as it isn't, and as it isn't likely to be until iPhones are locked up with comically expensive contracts then the Touch will for me remain a seriously flawed, if beautiful, design.

Just try selecting music and performing simple operations, such as fast forwarding, pausing, backtracking a few levels etc on a regular iPod and then on the Touch. Time how long it takes on each.

[Richard.John]

I agree that it has its downsides but then all touch interface devices do unless they add a hardware button for track skipping,etc. I wonder why Apple don't release a remote or add extra functionality to the home button via a firmware update. Maybe three taps of the button to skip track or something..