[NJRonbo]

With my recent purchase of a Mac Pro I decided to go ahead and buy
a 80gb iPod that will replace my Creative Zen MP3 player.

I have a few questions....

1. All my Creative Zen MP3 files are backed up to an external drive. It
should be relatively easy to transfer them to the iPod.....or will it?

All my music is arranged in FOLDERS such as: Rock, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, Alternative, etc.

How easy/difficult will it be, through iTunes, to transfer the music according
to the categories/folders I already have my music arranged by.

Can someone get me started by giving me a brief instructions how I can
start importing in this manner via iTunes? I will be importing from an external
hard drive through iTunes to my iPod. Folder/Category structure must be
maintained.

2. With regular use, how quickly does the battery need to be replaced? In the
old days I used to read horror stories about battery replacement. With these
new iPods is it relatively easy/difficult to replace batteries on your own? Where
do you guys find replacement batteries?

That should do it for now. Thank You for your assistance!

[gooser]

with itunes it is better to keep all of your music files in one place. i transfer stuff from an external drive all the time. in itunes set up playlists to mask whatever folders you want to keep. then select the playlist when you want to import and drag the folders into that playlist. very simple. an extra way to keep track of your music is after you have imported them is to list the comment field under options under the edit button. mass change the comment to whatever category you want . you'll never lose your designation this way. i would recommend naming something unique to name your music. for example 60's music i might name "z-60's". as far as your second question who knows? some last longer than others. however if you don't feel up to replacing the battery yourself you should be able to find someone else to do it.

[C.A.T.S. CEO]

Originally Posted by NJRonbo 

<snip>
2. With regular use, how quickly does the battery need to be replaced? In the
old days I used to read horror stories about battery replacement. With these
new iPods is it relatively easy/difficult to replace batteries on your own? Where
do you guys find replacement batteries?

You most likely won't need to change the battery. They last a good long while.

[Chaoticjoe]

Originally Posted by C.A.T.S. CEO 

You most likely won't need to change the battery. They last a good long while.

Well there was that youtube video about someone whose iPod battery died after 18 months and Apple support couldn't help. But then again. 18 months is a while.

Anyway, transferring your music is easy. open the folders and click on the song files. If iTunes is your default player they'll automatically be copied to it, and then you can put the songs in playlists of the same names as the folders.

[shifuimam]

Originally Posted by NJRonbo 

1. All my Creative Zen MP3 files are backed up to an external drive. It
should be relatively easy to transfer them to the iPod.....or will it?

All my music is arranged in FOLDERS such as: Rock, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, Alternative, etc....Folder/Category structure must be
maintained.

I understand exactly where you're coming from. My music is all sorted by artist [album] directories. I've never been a fan of how iTunes chooses to organize your music "for you" - I like to know what's going on in the back end.

You have no choice when copying stuff to your iPod. The iPod uses a nifty little way of storing your music by making everything hidden, renaming your music with random file names, and storing it scattered across a ton of folders, with songs from the same album rarely being in the same folder. It then uses its proprietary "database" to manage how you access your music. It's pretty similar to how the Zen jukebox handles stuff, from what I've read.

If I were you, and you want to keep your music sorted the way you want it sorted, go to the iTunes preferences and uncheck the box that says "Keep iTunes Music folder organized", as shown here:



Then, when you add your music to iTunes, it will build its database file and playlist details based on how you choose to organize your music. If you choose to use iTunes to play music (I avoid it like the plague), this will probably work better for your needs (from what you've said already).

[DigitalEl]

I like to know what's going on in the back end.

I used to be that way. Life's much easier now that I let iTunes manage the storage.

You have no choice when copying stuff to your iPod. The iPod uses a nifty little way of storing your music by making everything hidden, renaming your music with random file names, and storing it scattered across a ton of folders, with songs from the same album rarely being in the same folder. It then uses its proprietary "database" to manage how you access your music.

Is that true? I've never bothered to look.

[abbaZaba]

Originally Posted by gooser 

with itunes it is better to keep all of your music files in one place. i transfer stuff from an external drive all the time. in itunes set up playlists to mask whatever folders you want to keep. then select the playlist when you want to import and drag the folders into that playlist. very simple. an extra way to keep track of your music is after you have imported them is to list the comment field under options under the edit button. mass change the comment to whatever category you want . you'll never lose your designation this way. i would recommend naming something unique to name your music. for example 60's music i might name "z-60's". as far as your second question who knows? some last longer than others. however if you don't feel up to replacing the battery yourself you should be able to find someone else to do it.

why would you tell him to change his ways? he doesn't have to and frankly, I hate the way iTunes organizes music and I make it organize the way I want. why you would essentially tell him to "suck it up" when all you have to do is uncheck a checkbox is beyond me.

[shifuimam]

Originally Posted by DigitalEl 

I used to be that way. Life's much easier now that I let iTunes manage the storage.

Well, to each his own. I use multiple computers running multiple OSes and using different security settings (my work laptop is pretty locked down), so I'd rather have a straightforward file management system that gives me complete control over where my files are, how they're named, and what applications access them by default.

Is that true? I've never bothered to look.

Yes. If you plug a FAT32-formatted iPod into a computer running Windows XP, and select to view hidden files and folders in Windows Explorer/My Computer, you will find out that your iPod has a hidden folder called "iPod_control" in the root of the iPod. In that directory are many folders named F00, F01, F02, etc. Inside those folders is your music, named things like 62345.mp3 or 80233.m4a. If you select the Details view in Windows Explorer and display the columns for Artist and Album, the files in each F0x directory are placed there arbitrarily. A single album will generally have each song in a different directory. Usually they're in consecutive directories (e.g. Track 01 is in F11, Track 02 is in F12, etc).

It's rather unfortunate, because I'm nearly positive that the iPod's system software/firmware would be capable of still using the database/id3 tag system that it uses now, while still allowing users to decide how they want their files stored on their iPod.

Then again, to do so would make it too easy for users to copy their purchased songs back off their iPod, which Apple is adamant against allowing in iTunes.