OT: learn from my mistake

I use a SanDisk and could not be more pleased with it - a fraction of the price of an IPod, think I paid about $80 when the others were going for $200 +

.I completely understand the desire to load rights-protected work, but I have a question: Why is it OK to do this and pass it along (esp. if you checked it out of the library and therefore didn't pay for it), but not to copy a chart?

Ya know, I see this ipod thing and for the life of me I cannot justify why it is so expensive. All Apple products are out of this world expensive. I'd love to switch to a Mac because I'm very tired of the poor graphics of a PC and the ability to be artful. Also, the Mac laptops weigh nothing and I prefer the laptop to the desktop. I mean we have both, actually four computers (geeky husband and all) and I'm done buying Dell anything. Sorry for the tangent.

I have a cheapo Craig mp3 player and it works perfectly fine. Why anyone would need an 80 gig mp3 player is beyond me. Victoria

I've been trying to find a good MP3 player for quite awhile now. The biggest problem seems to be so many of the models require you to use a Windows (or Mac) proprietary application in order to actually load stuff onto the device and use the thing.

I use Linux, not Mac or Windows.

I need to find a player that will allow you to access the device as a USB drive or use a non-proprietary music manager (there are a few open-source ones available for Linux).

Any suggestions? I'd prefer 4GB or more storage, but would settle for a 2GB device if I could be certain it would work.

All I wanna do is be able to listen to some tunes whilst I do yard work or stitching or whatever, and they've got to make it difficult if you're not tied to a Windows platform.

Nyssa, Linux user and proud of it At River's End

My Sandisk shows up on my computer as a USB drive and seems prepared to store any files I want to put on it. I have no idea what that means about playing music back after I've put the files over there, though, since I run Windows.

Elizabeth

Could you please tell me the model information? There are tons of Sandisk MP3 players out there, but so far, I've only found one type that

TIA

Nyssa, who wishes the *&#! companies would put more complete information about their products on their websites

This is a slippery topic, but I'll weigh in with only my opinion and no emotions attached to it. If I borrow a copy of a CD from the library and like it, I will rip it to my computer without buying it.

I have no idea what the difference is, but I also can buy used cross stitch designs at Half Price Books, a notoriously large used book chain in Texas. The designer doesn't get a dime from the resale, so how is this different than buying or borrowing a used CD? No idea, but to say the musicians do not make it based on record sales any more, or so it seems. Many musicians are tolerating the downloading because where they make their money is in touring so they benefit by the exposure downloading provides.

Taking my opinion further, many times, more often than not there will be a few singles on a CD which are given attention on the radio and the rest of the thing stinks with filler, empty music. Rarely do you find the perfect or entirely well written CD.

For arguments sake I'll use Fiona Apple as an example. She was 19 years old when her first CD was released. IMO it was one of those rare perfect CDs. Every song made sense, was delicious to hear and I bought it. Nora Jones may be another example as well as John Legend or in the old days, Barbra Streisand. However, more often than not the bulk of a CD sucks and will have one good song. I refuse to pay the record companies (who rip the artists off) a dime for that whole CD when there is one good song on it.

Another example of this is Missy Elliott. She is a rapper and is nowhere to be found, but back when she was popular the music was great dance beat, but the lyrics were things like, "...if I knew you wuh commin ovuh, I would have shaved my cho yuh..." you get my drift. So when Air America radio was still on the air locally I called in to the Rachel Maddow show when her co-host was Chuckie D (an R&B artist) I asked, why does Missy Elliott have CHILDREN in her video's when she is singing about the dunk a dunk dunk, and shavin her cho ya, etc? His reply was, and I quote, "...it is the pressure of the record companies..." THAT'S why I have no problem copying what I want and leaving the rest. The artists do not get paid what they earn for the record industry. It's a sham. I support my favorite artists by going to see them when they arrive in Austin.

Does this make sense? Victoria

I am afraid I can't help you with that, but I am sure you could ask Staples or FUShop and warn them that were it not to work, you would be bringing it back !

I download to mine using WinMedia on XP and/or Vista - so you see where I am ! Have to say, it could not be more simple, it would actually be more trouble to use a USB drive.

Mine is a SanDisk Sansa - only 1.0 gb - I just download radio podcasts and wipe and put a new lot on it weekly, so did not need more, in fact I don't think more were available when I got mine. HTH

For the most part the technology of mp3 players are all the same. There are many out there which have the storage you want using a USB drive. I don't like Creative Zen because there are too many settings and it is very, very sensitive to the touch and difficult to operate. We've never had problems with Sandisk. Right now Circuit City has a one gig, USB key for 17 dollars. I'm sure you can find similar, but if it's any more than 10 dollars a gig it's probably not worth it. You can fit a ton of music on a one gig player. I have a 256k from several years ago and it has enough music on it to get me 400 miles! Victoria

.=A0THAT'S why I have no problem copying what I want and

So essentially, they get paid for the first copy - the first one sold. I fail to see the difference between being paid the first time for a CD , and then making coipes for everyone else and the designer being paid once for a chart and then the buyer copying it.

Linda

I'm going to add, since I was in the mp3 discussion and can't see to whom you are addressing your remark, that I am not doing anything I should not be doing.

I download radio items that are put up by the various radio stations as podcasts, for that very purpose, for the likes of me to come along and download it and hear what they have to say !

The one you have is probably like the early model I found that may let me load it as a USB drive.

Just to explain a bit more for the non-techies out there, yes, the underlying technology is pretty much the same for the players, but the firmware and interface aren't. It varies widely from vendor to vendor.

For example, the Apple iPods will seem to allow you to load 'em as a USB drive, but when you try to play what you loaded, it won't "find" what you loaded. You have to use one of their approved media managers. None exist for Linux.

Ditto Zune. And most of the other models. I've found *one* model from Samsung that on one hand claims you can load it as a USB device, but several reviewers on amazon say they've found otherwise. For a gadget costing over $50, I'm not willing to gamble my money (and time, for that matter).

Sorry to be a bit of a pedantic noodge, but it's very frustrating to want a bit of a toy and finding so little helpful information supplied by the manufacturers.

Now back to stitching....

Nyssa, who wishes that MicroSloth didn't have such a overwhelming hold on just about everything techie

Technically there is no difference. But I gave my reason for why I believed it was okay to copy music. Then I added that a design can be sold over and over and over. In copying music, nobody is paying over and over. It's different with charts. They can be resold. Music can be copied or downloaded so there is no middle reseller. Victoria

With Apple that is because their files are compressed differently. The are not .mp3; they are .aiff and if your OS doesn't recognize a .aiff it won't load it. You can convert them into .mp3 files and then upload them, but most of the players I'm seeing out there which aren't Apple all either come with software or in my case though it came with software, the USB sees my player as a memory like it recognizes my portable hard drive and I can load and delete without using the idiotic software they give out.

Victoria

iTunes, for one, offers legal downloading of single tunes; if I remember correctly, the charge is 99 cents per song. This seems to me to be a legitimate way of getting the songs you like when the rest of a release isn't to your taste.

I don't know if this would help with Linux but take a look here

It isn't.

Elizabeth