Official iPod Thread

[SoMiss2000]

Re: Official iPod Thread

still can't get my podcast to stop showing up under Albums when I update my iPod.

[Flyboy]

Re: Official iPod Thread

My Batman iPod cover came in today.



Only 2 weeks until I get my iPod video.. whoo.

[SoMiss2000]

Re: Official iPod Thread

Ipod teams up with the Rockies

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/06/16/i....ap/index.html

Video iPod cracks the Rockies lineup

Friday, June 16, 2006; Posted: 1:06 p.m. EDT (17:06 GMT)




Manage Alerts | What Is This? DENVER (AP) -- Three hours before a start against Florida, Colorado Rockies pitcher Jason Jennings sits in front of his locker, puts on his headphones and stares at his video iPod.

He isn't watching the latest Coldplay video or catching up on an episode of "Alias" as a way to relax before the game.

Jennings is doing some last-minute cramming: The Rockies' video staff has downloaded every Marlins hitter into his iPod, and Jennings is figuring out how to pitch to them. He watches frames of himself delivering the pitch, followed by the result of the play. Everything else is weeded out.

"It's a good way to refresh yourself on how you got guys out," Jennings said. "It's an amazing concept."

The Rockies have taken the iPod beyond entertainment. And the idea has caught on -- teams such as Florida and Seattle have called the Rockies to explore their innovative use of the iPod.

"It wasn't like we invented the wheel," said Rockies assistant video coordinator Brian Jones, who came up with the idea after the video iPod was released last November. "We're using Apple's technology as best we can. We figured if you can watch music videos by rock 'n' roll and by country, why can't you watch at-bats by San Francisco and pitches by Jason Schmidt?"

Over the past two decades, video has become common throughout the league, as it is with football. Teams have tons of film to help players study their opponents and their own quirks. In the last few years, players have been able to take home DVDs to watch on their laptops.

Now, all that information is in the palm of their hands.

"They can do it on their time, they don't have to be here or they don't have to be behind a desk watching a laptop. They can be at home, on the airplane or even in their locker," Rockies video coach Mike Hamilton said.

Red Sox reliever Mike Timlin said he isn't sure the trend is a good one.

"Improved the game for us pitchers? No," he said with a laugh. "There's only so much you can do to get the guys out. These guys have a better idea and a better understanding. You have to rely on your catchers. You had to before video."

New York Mets manager Willie Randolph doesn't have a problem with a player analyzing video, but it wouldn't have been for him. Randolph, a former All-Star, preferred extra batting practice to extra film sessions.

"I think it's overrated personally, but that's just me," Randolph said. "I'm from a different school."

The Rockies have downloaded video clips into the iPods of 14 players so far. For the hitters, they'll store every at-bat and download performances of upcoming pitchers. A 60-gigabyte iPod can hold roughly five seasons' worth of a player's at-bats. Pitchers can get all their performances, along with opponents' at-bats.

Jones has permission to take iPods from players' lockers to update them, and when the Rockies are on the road he compiles DVDs of their play and loads video onto the iPods when they return home.

"I take care of it all," Jones said. "It just takes a few minutes. It's like putting a song on from iTunes."

After seeing what the Rockies were doing, the Marlins left town with their own iPod ideas.

"I've never heard of that," Florida pitcher Dontrelle Willis said of storing starts on the iPod. "Oh man, that would be convenient."

Rockies second baseman Jamey Carroll overheard Hamilton talking about the concept at spring training and showed up the next day with his video iPod, ready for it to be stocked with footage.

"I don't put movies on it," Carroll said. "I want to save all the space for hitting."

The club doesn't buy the iPods for the players. It's a $399 investment for the 60-gigabyte model (the 30-gigabyte version costs $299). The Rockies have, however, purchased five iPods for general manager Dan O'Dowd and several scouts.

Colorado's minor league hitting coordinator, Jimmy Johnson, has an iPod filled with video of players in the farm system. If a player is struggling, Johnson can compare his swing from the past with his current swing, and fix it accordingly.

The iPods came in handy before June's baseball draft, too.

"That way the scouts could compare a prospective draft pick in North Carolina with one in California," Hamilton said. "You'd have a real good comparison. The game is so visual now. This helps."

The small screen size -- 2.5 inches -- hasn't been a problem, either.

"Six or seven guys can't sit around and watch it," Hamilton said. "But if you watch it yourself, it's not that much different from watching a large screen."

Boston slugger Trot Nixon said he watches standard video when he needs to, but doesn't obsess over analyzing his swing.

"If something doesn't feel right I'll look at the video or ask some of the teammates that have played with me for a long time," he said. "I've seen guys go back to the video after every at-bat. I was guilty of doing it at times, but I was only upsetting myself more and more: 'Look at that pitch the umpire called. Why did I do this, do that?' I've got to go out and play right field. I've got to leave it there."

Jones thinks his iPod idea soon will be used across college and professional sports.

"We're always trying to figure out the easiest way to help our players," he said. "In the old days, when you had a VCR, you had to go through so much tape. Now it's so much easier and portable. You don't have to search for two hours to find that one swing on that one day."

Rockies slugger Todd Helton has every hit since 1998 stored by month on his iPod, which he uses to help him find his stroke whenever things start to go bad at the plate.

"When the swing doesn't feel right, I look at it to capture how I was feeling or which one of my 300 stances I was in at that point," Helton said. "Baseball is such a messed up sport and it's so hard, sometimes you need to go back and look at the good things."

Helton frequently checks out his August 2000 file, when he had 50 hits and batted .476 for the month.

"If you look at my swing then, it didn't look like I was swinging too hard, and it didn't look like I was trying to do too much," Helton said. "I was putting the head of the bat on the ball, and that's what you're trying to do."

Helton was leery about showing too much enthusiasm for the Rockies' cool new toys.

"We're trying to get all the advantages we can," he said. "We don't want anybody else to get this."

Too late.

Willis left Coors Field excited about all the possibilities of this new application of technology.

"Anything you can do to help yourself get ready for (games) is a good idea," he said.

[Beantown]

Re: Official iPod Thread

Damn...that's a good idea.

[davehughes14]

Re: Official iPod Thread

Has anyone had any problems with the ipod shutting itself down? This mostly happens to mine when I'm using the "menu" key to back out of something? Is my ipod messed up or am I doing something wrong? Thanks!

[Perceptor]

Re: Official iPod Thread

Has anyone had any problems with the ipod shutting itself down? This mostly happens to mine when I'm using the "menu" key to back out of something? Is my ipod messed up or am I doing something wrong? Thanks!

Try resetting the iPod - that's what I did when I couldn't shut it down and it worked fine...

As for my 60 GB, I love mine and use it for some videos and movies....I ripped Star Wars: A New Hope into it last night and it was great. I'm planning on transferring my Thundercats DVD's onto there down the road when I have some time

I'm subscribed to these podcasts: IGN, EA, PTI, Mike and Mike, Marvel Comics, and ESPN World Cup. I'll likely subscribe to some others that have been mentioned

[VanCitySportsGuy]

Re: Official iPod Thread

Has anyone had any problems with the ipod shutting itself down? This mostly happens to mine when I'm using the "menu" key to back out of something? Is my ipod messed up or am I doing something wrong? Thanks!

I had that happen 3 times last week. I was backing out of the menu's and the IPod just shut off by itself. I resetted the IPod and haven't had any problems since. I wonder if there's a battery issue.

[davehughes14]

Re: Official iPod Thread

I had that happen 3 times last week. I was backing out of the menu's and the IPod just shut off by itself. I resetted the IPod and haven't had any problems since. I wonder if there's a battery issue.

Do you reset it by pressing the "menu" key and "center" button. I tried that and it still shuts down. Do you think I should take it back to Best Buy?

[VanCitySportsGuy]

Re: Official iPod Thread

Do you reset it by pressing the "menu" key and "center" button. I tried that and it still shuts down. Do you think I should take it back to Best Buy?

Yeah you press those 2 buttons and hold it down for a few secs until you see the Apple logo.

[davehughes14]

Re: Official iPod Thread

Yeah you press those 2 buttons and hold it down for a few secs until you see the Apple logo.

Thanks for the help man. Still didn't solve the problem though. I wonder if it's broke or a battery issue?

[maxpower430]

Re: Official iPod Thread

so i got a new comp, and i want to transfer my songs from my ipod to the new comp. all my old cd's got stolen, so re-burning them isn't an option, so is there any software that lets me do this(preferably free)? or any other options for getting the music from the ipod/old comp to the new one?

[luv_mist]

Re: Official iPod Thread

Have a router?? If you have a router, you can just put both computers on the same network and just take each individual file from one and put into the other. That's what I'm going to end up doing myself. Then with the iTunes, you take it off of the first computer and then reauthorize it on the new one.

[BGarrett7]

Re: Official iPod Thread

so i got a new comp, and i want to transfer my songs from my ipod to the new comp. all my old cd's got stolen, so re-burning them isn't an option, so is there any software that lets me do this(preferably free)?

Check out iLounge.com, their software section is loaded with free apps that allow you to move files from your iPod and put them on another computer.

[elicoleman]

Re: Official iPod Thread

Alright, well I'm the newest owner of an Ipod, and so far I'm absolutely loving it. I've been having a TON of problems with my CDs, because of scratches, so it was constantly skipping. Thank goodness that is no longer an issue.

But I do have one problem...

I've got all my songs in Windows Media Player, so I'm having to convert them over, and for the most part, I'm having no problems doing so. However, if I'm converting an entire CD, it won't let me convert song #10 on any CD. #1-9 and anything after 10 are fine.

Here is the message that pops up when I try to convert #10...

"The file "10...." cannot be imported because it does not appear to be a valid exported file."

Can anyone help me?

[xrob]

Re: Official iPod Thread

I found a 6gig mini ipod and I have nothing else no software cd or anything. I erased all the music and its blank. I tried adding music to it using Windows Media player where my collection is stored. So my questions are

What do I do with it?

Will WMP let me add songs without itunes?

How do I install ITunes without the disk?