iPod Question

[faithful]

I am a Zune user who has a subscription to an audio broadcast that no longer supports Zune and is now strictly iTunes. I really don't have any experience with iPod outside of my son's iTouch which is really nice but a whole lot more than I need. I know iPod's come in a wide variety of models, what I would like is one that as cheap as possible can play and hold podcasts that are 20-30 minutes in length in sequential order and I prefer for it to hold a fair amount of them. My current Zune has over 8gigs of these podcasts which represents several hundred of them. Not sure I really need one that large though. New or used either way doesn't really matter to me and brand isnt an issue if there are other brands that will work. I don't plan to use this for music as I plan to continue to use my Zune for my music until it die's.

I appreciate any help as always!

 

[Towen7]

What format are the podcasts in? If it's in mp3 than you can use iTunes to get them but there is no reason that you can't sync them to your Zune.

If the podcast is only available in Apple's proprietary AAC format than you can switch to an iPod or use software like media monkey to transcode it to wma or mp3.

 

[faithful]

What format are the podcasts in?

Not sure. How can I find out the format?

If it's in mp3 than you can use iTunes to get them but there is no reason that you can't sync them to your Zune.

I didnt think that Zune (microsoft) would cooperate with Apple's iTunes?

If the podcast is only available in Apple's proprietary AAC format than you can switch to an iPod or use software like media monkey to transcode it to wma or mp3.

 

[yromj]

An .mp3 is an .mp3 and as such will play on any .mp3 player (such as a Zune). M$ won't play .aac files. That's where a transcoding program, such as Media Monkey comes into play.

John

 

[Towen7]

You can't use iTunes to sync a zune but you can copy the files into your zune library and use whatever syncing method you prefer.

 

[faithful]

You can't use iTunes to sync a zune but you can copy the files into your zune library and use whatever syncing method you prefer.

Ahhhh ok, I gotchya, thanks, I will have to download iTunes on my PC. I had it in my mind that I was going to use my Mac laptop for iTunes which clearly wont work.

I'll have to download iTunes then subscribe to the podcast and see what format it comes as.

 

[-B-]

You can't use iTunes to sync a zune but you can copy the files into your zune library and use whatever syncing method you prefer.

Ahhhh ok, I gotchya, thanks, I will have to download iTunes on my PC. I had it in my mind that I was going to use my Mac laptop for iTunes which clearly wont work.

I'll have to download iTunes then subscribe to the podcast and see what format it comes as.

and watch when you do it that it doesn't become the default media engine, iTunes (as most others will try) Try not to pull your hair out using iTunes :angry-banghead: Zune software is extremely more user friendly which is what i use, iTunes drives me crazy!

 

[Lone Stranger]

AAC is not an Apple proprietary format. It actually is not an Apple format at all but is part of the MPEG family of CODECS. Apple just make a lot of use of it in iTunes. There are other portable music players that support the AAC format.

 

[Kazaam]

AAC is not an Apple proprietary format. It actually is not an Apple format at all but is part of the MPEG family of CODECS. Apple just make a lot of use of it in iTunes. There are other portable music players that support the AAC format.

Very true. It's sad that in one of the recent issues of S&V magazine that the author referred to AAC as "Apple Audio Codec" in an article about ripping CDs. The magazine should know better, especially in the year 2011. But it's just kind of the perception of the format, I guess. And it's easy to see how we got to this point seeing as how Apple is perhaps the biggest user of AAC, plus they used to bastardize it by putting their own 'protection' on the files so they'd only play on Apple stuff.

Anyway...

itunes will transcode a non-protected AAC file to MP3 if you ask it to. Though, like was mentioned earlier, there is other software available to transcode the file format, too.

 

[-B-]

AAC is not an Apple proprietary format. It actually is not an Apple format at all but is part of the MPEG family of CODECS. Apple just make a lot of use of it in iTunes. There are other portable music players that support the AAC format.

Anyway...

itunes will transcode a non-protected AAC file to MP3 if you ask it to. Though, like was mentioned earlier, there is other software available to transcode the file format, too.

Please point the way as I'd be bald by the time I figured this trick out....

 

[Kazaam]

^^^
It's not the most intuitive, but it's pretty easy after you do it a few times:

Step 1: Make sure your "Import Settings" are set to MP3. You can confirm by going into Edit>Preferences and then under the 'General' tab there is a button labeled "Import Settings". Click on it and a window pops up showing whatever format it will rip CDs to, or in this case, what format you'll be transcoding the file to.

Step 2: Go back to your iTunes library and highlight the songs/podcasts that you'd transcode. (Note: For podcasts, be sure to click the little arrow so that you can see the actual episode files to convert, and not just the main line that has the 'subscribe' button.)

Step 3: Click "Advanced" from the pull-down menu and select "Create MP3 Version".

When it's finished, you should have two copies of the song/podcast----one original unprotected-AAC format and the other the transcoded MP3 formated file you just created. And, being that iTunes is a little weird at times, you'll probably find the newly created podcast file located under your 'music' now, and not under 'podcasts'. Not sure why, but just grab the new file and import it into Windows Media Player, etc and you should hopefully be good to go.