iTunes App?

[NKT]

You're comparing an Ipod to a smartphone. Would the iPhone be able to play music for 4 hours on a plane, then be functional without charging? I have numerous friends who complain about their iPhone. An iPod is not a fair comparison, imo.

Plus, say you drain your iPod/iPhone. Can you swap out for a new battery?

Nope!

Granted, they have those juice packs. But that's a weak workaround for something that should be standard on consumer devices.

 

[joshminton]

wait, people actually use the itunes store?


call me old fashioned but i prefer to NOT pay for music I download. who wants to pay for something non-physical anyway?


other than the stupid store, itunes is a great music player and organizer.

 

[joetarin]

You're comparing an Ipod to a smartphone. Would the iPhone be able to play music for 4 hours on a plane, then be functional without charging? I have numerous friends who complain about their iPhone. An iPod is not a fair comparison, imo.

I'm not comparing to an iphone. I'm specifically talking about my scenario. I use an iPod Video (30GB). I can listen to music on that for well over 4 hours. The argument I'm making is the Eris cannot be converted to a heavily used music player in my situation due to the battery not being able to handle it.

I love my droid, but at this time it isnt a solution that avoids me having to carry around 2 seperate devices (eris and ipod). Until it can, I will continue to use Ipod since IN MY APPLICATION it is a dominant device for playing music.

 

[joetarin]

wait, people actually use the itunes store?


call me old fashioned but i prefer to NOT pay for music I download. who wants to pay for something non-physical anyway?


other than the stupid store, itunes is a great music player and organizer.

I wont spend too much time arguing this point. You should pay for music. You dont walk into a record store and stick CD's in your jacket..why should you steal digital music?

Edit: I'm not one of those freaks who only buys all of my music..yes I have music i've illegally downloaded..I'm just saying that I do think music should be paid for.

 

[OfTheDamned]

I wont spend too much time arguing this point. You should pay for music. You dont walk into a record store and stick CD's in your jacket..why should you steal digital music?

Edit: I'm not one of those freaks who only buys all of my music..yes I have music i've illegally downloaded..I'm just saying that I do think music should be paid for.

I agree with you for the most part. I pay for the majority of my music and only use the music junk app for a quick download of a song or two that I find using Shazam. I don't use iTunes though, because I have hated every incarnation of the program I have ever seen or used. The main problem I always had with it was DRM. I have always felt that if I pay for something and feel like sharing it with a friend or two (not 20 million) then it is my right to do so. I remember making copies of tapes when I was kid and giving them to friends. I never had a guy in a suit show up at my door and try to take me to court for it.

 

[joetarin]

I agree with you for the most part. I pay for the majority of my music and only use the music junk app for a quick download of a song or two that I find using Shazam. I don't use iTunes though, because I have hated every incarnation of the program I have ever seen or used. The main problem I always had with it was DRM. I have always felt that if I pay for something and feel like sharing it with a friend or two (not 20 million) then it is my right to do so. I remember making copies of tapes when I was kid and giving them to friends. I never had a guy with a suit show up at my door and try to take me to court for it.

Agreed. I think Apple realized that and have since removed DRM from media you purchase from iTunes store. All is well in the world now

 

[NKT]

I remember making copies of tapes when I was kid and giving them to friends. I never had a guy in a suit show up at my door and try to take me to court for it.

In all fairness, I think the advent of p2p destroys that analogy. Unless you had a mega tap dubber, you weren't sharing those tapes with millions of people.

 

[OfTheDamned]

In all fairness, I think the advent of p2p destroys that analogy. Unless you had a mega tap dubber, you weren't sharing those tapes with millions of people.

I understand the problem with p2p and I can see why DRM came to be. However, just because some people are willing to file share everything they get doesn't mean the rest of us are. It reminds me of having them go through my cart and receipt at Sam's or Costco every time I shop there. I don't like being treated like a criminal when I have done nothing wrong. With the way the RIAA and MPAA view it we should all be walking around with house arrest bracelets on and paying restitution to the poor studios and labels out there.

 

[joetarin]

So back to the topic at hand..I just installed DoubleTwist and synced a playlist to my eris..Worked great with the exception of 8 songs that didnt sync due to DRM (these songs were purchased before Apple lifted the DRM off purchased music). Seems to work great and I will start using my Eris as a music player and see just how well it holds up.

This is great for me as I thought I could never play itunes music on my eris! Thanks NKT.

Anyone have any app suggestions for music players that are better than stock? The stock app is pretty good as far as I can tell.

 

[pkopalek]

Apple is the master of UI's, whether or not you think iTunes is cream of the crop.

It's why iPhone is the smartphone for non-smartphone users. I'd give one to my Grandma.

It's why iTunes is used by millions of people who don't know what Windows Task Manager is, or what Mhz stands for.

They create EVERY standard feature that comes to Windows 3-5 years later on their OS, and they've had their UI for years, just as ours starts to come into play over the last year.

Apple is almost COMPLETELY responsible for every nice feature you like in your Windows UI, in your Android UI, and in your music players.

It's OK to like something else better. I like Android > iPhone. But I wouldn't give one to my grandma.

Other music programs (and other OS's, and UI's) might have more/better/more comprehensive features for people who are slightly technical. And some for people who aren't.

You don't have to be an Apple/iTunes/Mac OS/iPhone 'fanboy', but tribute needs to be paid. They revolutionized how we interface with computers and devices and how we manage our music. They blazed the trails that we now walk. We might walk them better, but we didn't walk them first.

And I wouldn't look for iTunes for Android anytime soon. I doubt that Apple wants to help Android compete with iPhone any more than it already is!

 

[OfTheDamned]

So back to the topic at hand..I just installed DoubleTwist and synced a playlist to my eris..Worked great with the exception of 8 songs that didnt sync due to DRM (these songs were purchased before Apple lifted the DRM off purchased music). Seems to work great and I will start using my Eris as a music player and see just how well it holds up.

This is great for me as I thought I could never play itunes music on my eris! Thanks NKT.

Anyone have any app suggestions for music players that are better than stock? The stock app is pretty good as far as I can tell.

I prefer the stock one, but others rave about Tunewiki.

 

[NKT]

So back to the topic at hand..I just installed DoubleTwist and synced a playlist to my eris..Worked great with the exception of 8 songs that didnt sync due to DRM (these songs were purchased before Apple lifted the DRM off purchased music). Seems to work great and I will start using my Eris as a music player and see just how well it holds up.

This is great for me as I thought I could never play itunes music on my eris! Thanks NKT.

Anyone have any app suggestions for music players that are better than stock? The stock app is pretty good as far as I can tell.

Happy to help!

If you only have 8 DRM songs, it would be very easy to do the burn-rip to remove DRM. Then you'd have all your music

As for players, just used the stock.

 

[joetarin]

Happy to help!

If you only have 8 DRM songs, it would be very easy to do the burn-rip to remove DRM. Then you'd have all your music

As for players, just used the stock.

It was only 8 in THAT playlist..I have 142 total songs in my library that have DRM. That includes 14 full length albums. They are saying it will cost $43.50 to upgrade them to plus. It's a small price to pay when I think about having to burn all that to CD and reimport. time is $$

 

[Bswartz95]

It was only 8 in THAT playlist..I have 142 total songs in my library that have DRM. That includes 14 full length albums. They are saying it will cost $43.50 to upgrade them to plus. It's a small price to pay when I think about having to burn all that to CD and reimport. time is $$

Like OTD said, in some instances, you shouldn't feel guilty about using the Music Junk app.

You've already paid for them, right? You shouldn't feel guilty at all in that case.

 

[OfTheDamned]

It was only 8 in THAT playlist..I have 142 total songs in my library that have DRM. That includes 14 full length albums. They are saying it will cost $43.50 to upgrade them to plus. It's a small price to pay when I think about having to burn all that to CD and reimport. time is $$

There are programs that will remove the DRM too. Most of them cost about half of what iTunes is planning to charge you.

 

[Bswartz95]

While we're talking about music on our Eris', does anyone have suggestions for decent ear buds? I'm not looking to spend a ton because I don't use them very often.

I just got a new stereo put into my car so I can make use of the aux input. I need to take full advantage of my phone!

 

[OfTheDamned]

While we're talking about music on our Eris', does anyone have suggestions for decent ear buds? I'm not looking to spend a ton because I don't use them very often.

I just got a new stereo put into my car so I can make use of the aux input. I need to take full advantage of my phone!

I'm using the ear buds that came with my BlackBerry and they work really well. I prefer them because they also have a mic for phone calls when I am listening on the treadmill. I also have a pair of Skull Candy ear buds that I use. The sound quality is a little better, but no mic.

 

[joetarin]

I'm using the ear buds that came with my BlackBerry and they work really well. I prefer them because they also have a mic for phone calls when I am listening on the treadmill. I also have a pair of Skull Candy ear buds that I use. The sound quality is a little better, but no mic.

I was just going to say the same thing. I use the earbuds from my old BB curve..They work really well and the button will play/pause the music player too. Sound quality is good. I wish Eris had a standard headphone jack

 

[aleis]

Imusic Tao and tunewiki for the win!

 

[OfTheDamned]

I was just going to say the same thing. I use the earbuds from my old BB curve..They work really well and the button will play/pause the music player too. Sound quality is good. I wish Eris had a standard headphone jack

It has a standard 3.5mm headphone jack. The same as the iPod.

 

[doogald]

What am I missing? Wouldn't Apple make a bundle by selling an iTUnes app? I would gladly pay a few bucks for the app as I sure every non-iphone user would. I mean I got it for my PC, so that horse is already out of the barn. 95% of my music is AAC protected and I can't play it anywhere except my ipod. Is there hope out there?

Apple makes bundles selling iPods and iPhones, not as much of a bundle selling actual music. They provide the music store to people who have bought their products, not competitors' products. They would rather you buy songs from the Amazon MP3 store for your iPod than buy songs from the iTunes Music Store for your Eris (though they'll take the money if you really want to bother.)

As others have mentioned, the entire iTunes Store catalog is now DRM free. For almost every DRM protected song or album that you purchased in the past, Apple offers a DRM free version at a higher bitrate for a (I think) 30 cent premium. I buy so few songs online - most of my catalog comes from those shiny, circular things - that I think I paid a couple of dollars for the songs that I repurchased.

To answer the question about why I use iTunes; well, that's easy:

1. I use a Nano to listen to music. I do not use my Eris. First, the music player is pretty bad; second, I want my phone to have enough battery life to do those things that I really need it to do: make and receive calls and texts; get emails, occasionally browse the web.

2. I have a iPod interface in my car. I could get it to work with the Eris - I have cables hat could connect to the earplug adapter - but the steering wheel controls in the car can control which playlist I listen to, can skip backwards and forwards through playlists, play and pause music, all without touching or even looking at the iPod while I am driving. I could definitely not do that with the Eris.

3. I have a number of smart playlists in iTunes that manage random music mixes on my iPod, in part based on play counts, song ratings, and last time the song was played. They sync with the Nano, and, more importantly, as I play songs on the Nano, the smart playlists change as I listen to more music.

4. (As for the genre item listed above, I can do exactly that by setting the iPod to random play and just playing after selecting the genre. Just go to one of the songs in the list at random and it will go through the songs in random order.)

5. Carrying the Nano as a second device is hardly taxing - it's far smaller than the Eris, for example. I can easily fit both in one pocket.

6. I actually use Nike+, so having iTunes and an iPod is rather helpful/necessary.

7. I like iTunes as a podcatcher.

I realize that these are my reasons, and I'm not suggesting that everyone should do so for these reasons, but I prefer iTunes to anything else that I have tried to manage music, and I have a pretty high equity in iTunes right now. (Not equity in DRM music - equity in play counts of music, ratings of songs, ability to play music from iTunes easily from Front Row on our Mac Mini throughout the house, etc.)

Oh, and to answer an earlier question: yes, indeed. iTunes Music Store purchases in AAC format that are not DRM protected can by synced to the Eris by doubleTwist and they play just fine.

 

[Bswartz95]

It has a standard 3.5mm headphone jack. The same as the iPod.

Ebay is flooded with iPod ear buds. Will the microphone and switch with those ear buds work with the Eris?

 

[W4LLY]

wait, who actually buys things from iTunes? I just love it as a music organizer on my computer. I use double twist to mimic it on my phone, and my touch just chills with iTunes. It's simple, hence why i use it

 

[aleis]

i got all u itune people beat i think
i download a song from imusic tao for free (drm free also) it automatically gets categorized in tunewiki by artist, song, album etc and off i go!
plug my eris into the 3.5mm jack in my car and life is good.
i mean its much more simple than itunes
the only thing i have to worry about is, apparently you are not supposed to keep the music on the phone with imusic tao (for legal reasons, i mean it is free music), so i always have to worry about the feds or that music (feds) people tracing my phones mac address and follow my app selection (which most of them dont come from the market anyway ha!) and waste tons of money on lil o`l me

 

[W4LLY]

Bittorent > imusic toa what ever..