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General discussion

Non-Apple music player

Dec 28, 2005 2:43AM PST

My iPod has just gone toes up, and I recently bought an iMac G5. I want to buy a new MP3 player, but would far rather get the new Sony player, the NW A3000 because it's better looking and has a far better battery. I wass wondering if anyyone knows whether it's possible to transfer MP3s from my iMac to the Sony player. I would have thought the computer would recognise it as separate hard drive and allow tunes to be transferred manually, as I know iTunes and the Sony are not compatible. Can anyone help?

Discussion is locked

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Not a Sony Christmas?
Dec 28, 2005 2:56AM PST
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=no+christmas+for+sony only exposes the tip of the DRM fiasco that Sony started. While the rootkit is not verified on the Apple, any Sony product becomes suspect because Sony's replies were found to be untruthful.

Unless the product was free and even if then, I'd avoid Sony for as long as possible.

Bob
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What do Sony Say about compatibility
Dec 28, 2005 4:50AM PST

not that I would believe too much that Sony has to say. It "might" appear on the desktop as an HD and you "might" be abot to transfer MP3's to it.
Remember, it will not play any tracks purchased from the Apple Store

P

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I have a similar question:
Dec 30, 2005 10:02AM PST

my grandkids got mp3 players (not iPod's) and iTunes gift certificates. I'm the only one with dsl so you know where they headed. I was working on 3 laptops that night, all Windows, so I was really multi-tasking. I'm too old for that crap. Anyway, the PC Itunes do not see the players. What I wound up doing was burning a cd and importing that to Windows Media Player and then to one of the players. On the other player (a Toshiba), I wasn't able to download the music to it. In fact, the PC saw music in the player that the player didn't see! I doubt this would be a one-time occurence. Can my Mac see the player (in Finder?) and then drag/drop the music into it? (There is no sub for an iPod!)

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Here's the skinny
Dec 30, 2005 11:34AM PST

the iTunes music store is NOT .mac

Tracks downloaded from the music store are encoded with Fairplay Drm and can only be played in iTunes or on an iPod. They will NOT play on any other MP3 player.
However, you can burn them to a CD, reimport them and the DRM is no longer effective. Now, if they are converted to MP3, they can be put onto a non-Apple MP3 player
One wonders why they got non-ipods and iTunes gift certs.

P

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Aha!
Dec 30, 2005 10:38PM PST

Now thats the answer I was looking for. I knew there was a trick to it. And you're right...why do they sell iTune gift certificates and nothing else at the stores. Not everyone has iPods.

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They only sell iTunes gift certs
Dec 31, 2005 3:32AM PST

at the stores because the iPod has <>85% of the market, has the #1 on-line music store which downloads more tracks than all the other music stores put together and maybe the others don't have a gift certificate program.
But that was NOT my question. My question was "why did they receive iTunes Music Store certificates if they did not have an iPod" Although you don't need an iPod to buy from the Music store.

P

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Presumably because
Jan 1, 2006 8:43PM PST

those who bought the certificates may not know much about iPods and mp3 players in general and they might see the gift cards hanging on the racks at the grocery store. But they do see the price of iPods and mp3 players and if you don't have much consumer savvy on the subject you'll be going to the cheapest and/or the most readily available product. Especially at Christmas.

Isn't it a bit ironic, if your figures are correct, that the iPod holds 85% of the market from a company that holds about 5% of the market. Has this contributed any to the switchover to the Mac?

My only problem with the iPod is you can't change your own battery.

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iPod
Jan 1, 2006 9:51PM PST

I can see how that would happen.
Yes, it's a little ironic that it is Apple that have the majority market share in players but you cannot compare computers to MP3 players. Apple presented the whole widget, Player, Software & Music store available for both Windows and Mac, which was, and still is, something that none of the other players in this field have managed to do. Currently there is no Windows based Music store that works with a Mac! Sometimes I think that the fact that it is Apple who have the lead is the cause of some of the vitriol one sees in the MP3 forum when the iPod is mentioned.
The popularity of the iPod has certainly had a "Halo" effect with more people looking seriously at a Mac after having used an iPod, the iTunes software and the Music Store

P