n00b questions about ipods and linux (fedora 6 and 7)

[Rick Stevens]

On Fri, 2008-01-11 at 18:25 -0700, Craig White wrote:
> On Fri, 2008-01-11 at 17:08 -0800, Dean S. Messing wrote:
> > I am thinking about buying a 160 GB iPod for my daughter for her
> > approaching golden birthday (she's turning 18).
> > 
> > I know _zero_ about iPods (or any other external device toys).
> > 
> > My daughter is a budding classical concert pianist getting ready to go
> > off to Music Conservatory.  She wants to use the iPod for studying the
> > various pieces of music she's working on.
> > 
> > We have a large classical music library.  Until now, I've ripped the
> > individual pieces she's working on from the CDs onto our home
> > computer.  Then she uses Xmms to listen. With Xmms she can move back
> > in a piece by small amounts, &c, for musical and stylistic analysis.
> > 
> > I now want to get her an iPod and be able to _easily_ put this music
> > onto it via Linux (we have only Linux machines.)
> > 
> > Are there tools in Fedora 6 or 7 that allow this?  As I say, I'm a
> > genuine n00b here.  What are the linux/iPod limitations, if any?  If
> > you are using a 160 GB iPod with Fedora, I'd like to hear about it.
> ----
> There are a number of programs that can interact with an iPod BUT Apple
> doesn't supply firmware updates for any OS other than Windows or
> Macintosh.
> 
> The 160 Gb is very new model (6 weeks or so), I have an 80 and can use
> it with Linux.
> 
> gtkpod, amarok both work with an iPod and I'm sure that there is other
> software that can work with an iPod too.
> 
> The bigger issue is that I very much prefer the 'AAC' format over the
> mp3 format and that's been a two step process on Linux - rip first to
> 'wav' and then convert to 'm4a'
> 
> Apple's iTunes software handles that a bit more elegantly than anything
> that I've been able to accomplish with Linux.
> 
> Also, I have a lot of CD's (600+) including boxed sets and I still have
> only filled my iPod with under 30 Gb of music so 160 Gb seems extreme
> unless...you were going to do something like this (which seems ideal for
> any musician)...
> 
> http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/gadgets/belkin-makes-ipod-into-recording-studio-226614.php
> 

Amarok works very well with iPods.  I use it with a 30GB video iPod and
an iPod Touch.  Try to get a Windows-compatible iPod.  If you get a
Mac-formatted iPod, you need a friend with a Mac to turn off the HFS+
journal or Amarok won't be able to read or write the playlists or sync
it to the Amarok collections.

You will probably also need the amarok-extras-nonfree RPM from livna to
get MP4 and AAC playbacks from the iPod.

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- Rick Stevens, Principal Engineer             rstevens at internap.com -
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