First question why can't I just use somthing like everyone else?

Second question,

Thinking about an ipod for a few reasons, one of which is to hold mp3's and take them in the car and alike.

Now I have a pc in the boot of the car for this task, but it's in the boot. Part of the plan was to get a pocket drive to act as the music repository, thus enabling me to use next to laptop, desktop or in car etc.

Now the little old pod miser has me musing. Could I plug it into my laptop and playmusic via the laptop and winamp?

If yes, then I can do the same in the car, plug into the usb hub in seat and use the winamp / application to play from the ipod.

Does that make sense?

I know I should as k this on an ipod forum, but I need the posts here

Doesn't the I-pod use it's own generic format which can't be played on Winamp? And surely it's quite an expesive alternative to a mobile storage device (USB 120Gb disk is what, less than

Rob,

Speaking to a chap here who has one, but does not know the above or tried..he's playing his mp3's..apparantly if they are already done it will paly them But if you do a new cd, it has to be appleinc's ormat...or somthing like that.

Using it away from a pc was an idea aswell Rob, eg walking, biking, erm planes etc etc.

Does it have to be winamp? Won't iTunes on the car PC stand a better chance of playing stuff back? (Although it will probably 'protect' anything you rip using it)

IIRC iTunes will play stuff stored on an iPod. Did it once with SWMBO's.

Hmm...maybe it was iTunes which encodes things into a generic format which will *only* work on the iPod, but the iPod itself can play several formats?

Guess the real question is how does the PC see the iPod - if it's as a removable drive, it should work like a charm...USB should be plenty fast enough for the streaming.

Which means all you'd have to do is figure out where to fit a USB hub...

Rob.

You need to use itunes to play the files, I dont think the ipod shows in device manager as an extra removeable drive.

Does your car PC have bluetooth?

I know of an app for the P900 that will control winamp via BT on your PC, and you could transfer 128mb at a time's worth this way, or with a card reader on the PC?

Other option (not using sony sticks) is a 1GB SD card, with card readers as required in machines you want to use?

Can we not include some sort of wi-fi link at the same time?

Point of device is too use one store of data...i.e. the ipod.

HD on pc is 40gb and just load it with dvd...the ipod in car is just potentially replacing an aspect of the car pc :(

Itunes, umm maybe I could use that...I say winamp as the touchscreen application I use is based on winamp.

USB hub is next to the drivers seat, so via usb would be ideal...thanks thus far

Would this here thing possibly be worth a look then?

Rob.

Colin,

Why not scale things back a bit and go for something like this? I'm sure it's portable...

You need to use itunes to play the files, I dont think the ipod shows in device manager as an extra removeable drive.

not 100% true there, My ipod is formatted in mac format main reason is that I used to use my mac to transfer the music to it.

I've installed xplay to read mac files, when I connect my ipod it appears as a removable drive. Giving you access to all .mp3 files so you can then open them up in winamp.

Not sure what happens when you connect a windows formatted one.

HD on pc is 40gb and just load it with dvd...the ipod in car is just potentially replacing an aspect of the car pc :(

would it not be cheaper to get a usb harddrive? Well unless your going to use the ipod out of the car, otherwise it seems a bit overkill to buy an ipod and use it as harddrive.

Doesn't the I-pod use it's own generic format which can't be played on Winamp?

SNIP

I just found a plugin for Winamp which allows it to use aac (iPod format)

To clear up any confusion iTunes can rip cd's to the following formats

AAC,AIFF,Apple Lossless,MP3 and WAV and the iPod support them all.

Also it is possible for a windows formatted iPod to be used as a removable drive.

To clear up any confusion iTunes can rip cd's to the following formats

AAC' date='AIFF,Apple Lossless,MP3 and WAV and the iPod support them all.

Also it is possible for a windows formatted iPod to be used as a removable drive.[/quote']

I always use MP3 that way I know its going to work with any computer.

So the windows fomatted ipod can you get access to the mp3 folder through my computer? You cannot do this on the mac, it only gives you access to the folders that contain 'contacts,calendar etc'.

I always use MP3 that way I know its going to work with any computer.

So the windows fomatted ipod can you get access to the mp3 folder through my computer? You cannot do this on the mac' date=' it only gives you access to the folders that contain 'contacts,calendar etc'.[/quote']

Not to the mp3 folder but you can use it to store any files you want as a regular HDD.There is a piece of software listed on this page which claims to be able to play music from an iPod on any pc without iTunes etc called Pod Player 1.2 but the link seems to be dead.There are also some pieces of software on this page

which give you acces to the mp3 folder (i assume) for backup purposes but you have to pay for them.