Itunes

[Rogue Wave]

I don't get on with this program very well when it comes to editing info on MP3 TAGS. Anybody use any thing else with their ipod

[Bigmuz7]

I agree it aint clever sometimes... DRM .. doncha love it ?

But this works .. Anapod explorer

clicky

[codprawn]

Just use your mobile phone and download proper MP3s - much easier.

Why do so many people buy Ipods when a phone will do the same job???

I hate I things with a passion!!!

[Rogue Wave]

Cos, I've got 200 albums 70 Audiobooks and an awful lot of comedy, and I go to see for months at a time. It would cost me a lot in phone memory.

It's just I tunes thats a wind up fo me

[tinker]

Originally Posted by codprawn

Why do so many people buy Ip**s when a phone will do the same job???

I have often thought the same, why? Expensive to buy, Expensive to buy tunes for and the rumored reliability issues. Most phones and mp3 players now have removable memory meaning expansion is possible at a relatively cheap price. Mind you if I was away for a few months I think one those netbooks would be my ideal companion.

[Rogue Wave]

What I'm asking does anybody have any ideas for a software alternative to I tunes. What particularly vexes me is I can't change MP3 tags. So I've got a load of audiobooks which are classed as Blues and I don't know how to change them.


Any help is appreciated.

[J S]

Im not sure about audio books but iv got over 15,000 songs in itunes and regularly change the names just by highlighting the ones i need and right clicking get info then you can change all the properties in there.

Or are you saying the files wont let you change the name.

James

[Poly]

Originally Posted by Rogue Wave

What I'm asking does anybody have any ideas for a software alternative to I tunes. What particularly vexes me is I can't change MP3 tags. So I've got a load of audiobooks which are classed as Blues and I don't know how to change them.


Any help is appreciated.

Rogue, I'm no expert - and don't own an iPod (not for any of the reasons above). I think Amarok can do what you want. It can certainly edit the tags on files etc - but not tried it with anything purchased via itunes. I believe (but obviously haven't tested) that it can then manage transfer to/from your iPOD. I believe there is a windows version of Amarok - but I have only used it in Linux. Some Linux stuff ported to windows works well and installs easily others require an unhealthy knowledge of program compiling, and have a user interface (file dialogue layouts in particular) that is not intuitive to windows user etc - no idea which way this one is... http://amarok.kde.org/

[Rogue Wave]

Originally Posted by J S

Im not sure about audio books but iv got over 15,000 songs in itunes and regularly change the names just by highlighting the ones i need and right clicking get info then you can change all the properties in there.

Or are you saying the files wont let you change the name.

James

no doh That's that sorted then! I'll have a look at the others to see if I prefer the file transfer

[Bigmuz7]

Originally Posted by Rogue Wave

no doh That's that sorted then! I'll have a look at the others to see if I prefer the file transfer

So are you sorted or not ? Anapod Explorer allows you to chop and change the names, categories etc, because it doesnt work like itunes, its more like windows explorer, and more importantly resolves the Digital Rights Management issues, and allows you to move/copy tracks between devices and/or computers,.. I tunes wont let you do that !

From what you say, your audio books are getting classed as the Genre 'Blues', why that is I dont know but have a look here and see if your question is answered, to me it looks like it is , although I have never used audio books. But this page tells you what you can do with tag editing.

under this section :

Library Management

• Full support for iPod tag-based organization.
• View all tracks or by artist, album, or genre.
• View albums under their artists or alphabetically.
• Create playlists from artist, album, genre folders.
• Edit tags information on-board the iPod.
• Batch edit multiple tags at once.
• Change artist, album or genre by drag and drop.
• Rename whole artists, albums, and genres.
• Customize track display format using templates.
• Delete tracks by artist, album, or genre.

If it works with music and video, I dont see why it wont with audio books. It supports drag and drop functionality and is pretty easy to use, ok its not free, but being free of the DRM crap that itunes ties you too makes it worth it. Like any software it takes a bit to know your way around, but IMO once youve got used to it it really makes moving files on your ipod a sinch.

[Rogue Wave]

I'm gonna buy a netbook! only joking! I've seen far too many of them fail offshore and they ae quite cumbersome when strapped to your arm.

I'm gonna Give anapod an Igo. DRM isn't my problem I transferred the Audiobooks from my cassetes and I messed things up with Audacity

[Bigmuz7]

Well DRM avoidance, was the big factor for me, but it will be for you too now, as for a start you should copy all the stuff off your ipod to a safe directory that has nothing to do with itunes, where you can treat it as a storage vault, so that if anything goes wrong, youve got something to go back to as a safe backup, it'll take a while if you've got a few gigs of stuff on there, but its worth it. The software just treats your ipod like an external hard drive, the clever bit is where it interfaces with apples ipod structure.

I've found there are protocols you need to follow, like having the manager started first in the systray before connecting, and asking the software first to disconnect, before unplugging, so that all changes can be saved.

I'd suggest if you go for it too, that you kick itunes into touch in that, it may not let you reload stuff from itunes, if you deleted with anapod for example, this is where the DRM crap fecks things up, so your better using wholly one system or the other. I cant remember the full story, but I think you lose some features such as the delete duplicates feature of itunes, and of course Anapod is not a player which itunes is, just a file organiser, but then you can sync another working directory (not your backup one)with the ipod using Anapod, and just use your normal media player on your pc to play the stuff from that directory and get shuffle functionality etc from your pc if thats where you want to play the stuff from. Where you are just using your ipod away from the pc, it functions perfectly normally as it always did on its own

But read all the FAQ's on the Anapod site first and be sure that its not too techy for you although it should'nt be, as most people have used explorer, since you might consider that whilst itunes can be awkward sometimes and doesnt give you the results you want, it is reasonably simple, although a buggeration when managing your files due to DRM etc