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iPod on Linux... with GPLed software
Anonymous Coward writes "gnuPod 0.2 has just been released.
It's the first GPLed program that allows you to use your iPod under Linux.
It has support for playlists and stores information in a XML file, so it's very easy to edit the data or write a frontend.
Still a bit 'beta' but its ready for every-day-use and it works well together with iTunes.
A mac-ipod2win-ipod howto is also included."
There's a great review of the iPod on Jesusgeeks.net from the founder (gregday). He uses the iPod under linux and has a list of the programs he used, how he used them, and how it all worked out. To see the iPod review/howto, go here.
Personally, I can't wait to get an iPod. For a while I've been dealing with a crappy mp3-cd player, but after reading so much about the iPod, I'm ready to make the switch as soon as I have the cash. 299 doesn't sound too bad for 5 gigs of mp3 storage. And it runs under linux! woohoo.
The anti-salmon
Apple won't include ogg support in iPod.. because:
u ctBrief.pdf
.. no ogg support..
It's impossible..
http://neuron.com/~jason/PP5002Prod
the iPod uses this chip to decode mp3's
but maybe iPod2 will have ogg support?
Still no good for me, as I use both Mac and PC. So I guess I'd be stuck with using one of those Mac-to-PC iPod programs. However, I'm holding off on getting an iPod until I can find such a program that has most, if not all of the features I want (iTunes notwithstanding).
From http://www.apple.com/ipod/specs.html:
Audio
What was that again?
Buying a WinPod (or getting a MacPod and using the WinniePod Updater to make it a WinPod) allows you to use it on both Mac's and Wintel machines.
It's well documented at Ipoding, IpodHacks, IpodLounge, and the EphPod Forums that a Mac can read a WinPod. Thus, it works on both, and utilities are available to get your calendars and contacts on.
The only thing you give up with this arrangement is the ability to use "smart playlists"- at this time, the EphPod folks are trying to figure out why a FAT32 Ipod doesn't seem to write back how many times you played a specific song.
If you check Apple's web site, you'll see that 5GB iPod's start at US $299.
Some might think 300 bucks is expensive for an MP3 player, but my iPod also doubles as an external hard drive for data backup.
I bring mine to work, where I can connect it to my G4 and play songs through iTunes. If I have some work to bring home, why email it or burn a CD-RW? Just drag my projects to my iPod, I leave an extra gig of space just for such a reason.
I like big butts and I cannot lie.
You need a FAT32 iPod, Linux, Firewire support and Perl5 to run the software. License: GPL V2.
Form the SyncPOD homepage:
This script syncs a local directory with your iPod. If the directory is larger than the space on your iPod you can sync this larger directory with a master playlist.
Features:
* Syncronisation with a local directory or a master playlist
* Optional playlists
* On the fly created playlists
* Mp3 info from mp3 tags or filenames
* Creation of iTunesDB file from all files on your iPod
Perhaps you're not understanding that this isn't a "hardware mp3 decoder" chip - it's a general purpose CPU with approximately the processing power of an Intel 486 66-100MHz (depending on what you're doing). Provided the codec you want isn't too MIPS (or memory) hungry, you could software upgrade to support it.
You can shake the c**p out of an iPod and it will just keep playing fine. I run over three-five miles with mine--no problem.
Has anyone else been underwhelmed by the sound quality of the iPod?
.wav file -> load .wav onto iPod and play back. Result: perfect. .wav file. Use lame to encode to MP3 at 320kbps. Load MP3 onto iPod. Result: very disappointing. .wav. Load this wav onto the iPod. Result: As good as (1).
I've found that at 320 kbps, classical music sounds *dreadful* in the quiet parts - as if it is being played by a Jamaican steel band! It has the characteristic "gargling" / "underwater" sound of low bitrate MP3 (perhaps only 128k).
I've done an experiment which proves the point:
1)CD -> rip to
2)CD -> rip to
3)Take MP3 from step 2. Descode on pc back to a
This only shows up in the softer parts of the track (there is a very large dynamic range), and it is far more obvious on classical music. I'm ripping/encoding on linux and syncing using XPlay on WinXP with a 20GB Mac iPod.
Let me know what you think?
Am I guessing correctly that the decoder is short on CPU power, and discards some of the data?
There was and still is no non-proprietary software that can read and write to the ipod's HFS+ filesystem for windows and linux. I don't think apple did this to lock non-mac users out, it just happens to be the native mac filesystem and what apples engineers know best. The fat32 filesystem on the windows version of the ipod is also well supported by linux and the *bsd. At the time it was released, I thought that it was a pretty cool piece of engineering but not likely to be well supported on the computers and operating systems that I use. Now all I need is the money.
I still would like vorbis support, which should be easy for apple now that tremor is free.