Q1. Do the newest iPods (preferrably 80GB & 160GB models with display) show album art off MP3/LAME VBR files?

Q2. Does the album art have to be embedded to be displayed or a "folder.jpg" on album directory can also be displayed? (Or does it display both ways?)

Q3. I have been hearing that the Apple software is rather buggy and unstable. Is this true or is it only applicable for people who messes with firmwares and installs other UIs like "RockBox".

Q4. I have been told that some iPods do not play MP3 at all. Is this true? What are such models? Do all the latest iPods play MP3 LAME VBR files?

Q5. How long does the battery last when playing MP3 LAME -V 0 files?

Q6. I heard that Apple is giving more attention to flash iPods instead of HDD iPods, is it true? What gives?

Thanks for the answers.

1.) Yes
2.) Imbedded
3.) It is very stable and I have never heard that rumor
4.) Never heard that rumor either. It plays mp3, aac, alac, without any problems. It doesn't support mp2 though.
5.) It depends on the model of the iPod but if you go to apple.com the battery life is listed in the product spec. The battery on my iPod classic 80 GB lasts for 16 hours of continuous mp3 playback. I only need to charge it once every week or so.
6.) Haven't heard this either. They sell both types and have regular updates and fixes for both types of players.
JXL

Well, the newest iPod Classic is actually only available in 120GB, but to answer your question, yes they do.

Album art must be embedded in the file being played back in order to be displayed.

I'm not sure who is saying that, and it would depend on what they mean by "buggy" and "unstable." I don't think they are either (at least, not any more than others).

If the encoded file isn't corrupt in some way (and IS, in fact, an MP3), then yes, current iPods will play it.

Couldn't tell you. I only have AACs. My guestimate would be somewhere in the area of ~15 hours, give or take. That's also not taking into consideration other factors, such as whether or not you have EQ enabled/disabled; If your backlight is set to being constantly on; etc.

They're certainly pushing them more in terms of sales. Flash storage isn't subject to the same "wear and tear" as HDD-based storage. They also (I believe--correct me if I'm wrong) consume less energy and have faster data-transfer rates. On top of that, the iPod touch is just much more user-friendly in terms of browsing, particularly with large libraries (personal opinion). And it's pretty.

I've bought the Nano 4G 8 GB 1 month ago so I'm going to try to answer your questions.


Yes, they do.
Clarification: The newest iPod Classic model has no 80/160 GB size anymore. Now it's 120 GB only.


AFAIK, it has to be embedded to be supported. I easily do it with mp3tag, it's no big deal.


It has been reported that the previous iPod Classic model was buggy (Cover Flow wasn't fluent, the scroll wheel wasn't sensitive enough, etc.) but this isn't true anymore and it has been fixed.


Yes they do, even the previous models.


With my V5.5 mp3s, my battery lasts an average of 15 hours. Since V0 are more power consuming, I'd say less.

For more info, check this site out.

Q3 - I've had a 1st and 2nd gen Shuffle and a 2nd gen Nano. I have no complaints with their firmware and integration with iTunes.

I've also had an 80gb and 120gb Classic both bought a few weeks after their launch. My experience with both is appalling.

The 80gb was extremely slow and unresponsive when updating with iTunes. Coverflow was slow but still useable. Performance improved with a few firmware updates. Then a firmware update introduced hissing while the iPod was paused or off. Then another update kept the HD spinning even when off which drained the battery fast. After several months, the firmware is now ok.

My new 120gb randomly resets and skips. Several other iPod users have reported this on the Apple support forums here and here.

My advice is to wait for 1 or 2 updates first with any iPod before buying one. The 80gb and 160gb are ok to buy now.

Actually, now that others have mentioned it, I definitely noticed that the last update to the iPod's firmware (the whole split screen thing & Cover Flow) was rather poorly implemented at launch (especially the click-wheel sensitivity). Since then, Apple has addressed what seems to be everything that I had issues with.

Q.3 I bought a second-gen Nano, and returned it because it would hang and need resetting pretty frequently. The exchange unit does the same, though not so badly. OTOH, with 3rd gen Nano and 160GB Classic, I have had no problems.

EDIT corrected generations of Nanos

If you let iTunes search for the album art (Advanced > Get Album Art), nothing needs to be embedded. It stores the images in some sort of database on the iPod.

Before I start – a quick defense of Rockbox – it is not a modification of the Apple firmware and in no way impacts the buggy or non buggy nature of the Apple firmware..


I buy and sell many used iPods, and from my experience with every model they (Apple) has made, it has been the Classics which have the most "quirks". (laggs and stalls)
That being said - I have been told that the latest firmware updates correct this.


I have also benchmarked many iPods, and have found Apple's battery life numbers to be conservative, if anything. Using V2 (not V0) MP3 files I consistently get 10% more runtime than Apple advertises WHEN benchmarking by their protocol. (NO backlight, NO track skipping).

In real life I have been consistently within 10% of Apple's claimed runtime, to the best of my measuring. It is much harder to accurately track runtime when you have the player on and off through the course of a couple of days.
Your mileage will greatly vary by how often you change playlists (hitting the HDD) and how often you use the backlight.

I know others have already piped in with good answers but I want to add my reply.

1. Yes they do. In fact, all iPods since 2005 (except the iPod shuffle) show album art. Just a little FYI though - the 80GB and 160GB iPod classics are not the latest models, they are last year's. The 120GB iPod classic is the latest hard drive based model.
2. The album art can be embedded or you can let iTunes look it up for you, you cannot use a folder.jpg file with iTunes (unless you embed the album art). Having iTunes look up the album art will not embed it into your files, it will instead add the album art to your library file and just reference it for each track that uses the album art. This is in essence Apple's way of using folder.jpg not embedding the art. I prefer to embed by art (most of the album art won't increase the size of your mp3s) as it allows all my iPods, my Zen, my Zune, and my PS3 to dispaly the album art.
3. Apple's software is buggy and it isn't, it all depends on the situation. I feel that iTunes 8 is buggier than iTunes 7.5 but I have yet to encounter any real problems. Many people are also saying that the iPod classic's firmware has come a long way since its debut in 2007. So their software isn't the most stable out there (most problems occur in Windows) but I have experienced a lot worse.
4. No, this is not true. People are just confused in that they think iPods will play music only purchased from the iTunes Store. They are nothing more than Apple/iPod bigots and are just hating on something that they don't understand. All of the latest iPods fully support VBR mp3 files. There were only some issues with the 1G iPod nano and VBR mp3 files way back in 2005 but they were fixed with firmware updates.
5. It all depends on the iPod model. The iPod classic's battery life will be slightly reduced when playing -V 0 files due to having the hard drives spin up more than usual. The good news is that Apple's battery estimates are below what the devices normally get. I had a 160GB iPod classic that was rated for 40 hours of audio playback on a single charge. I tested various files and would continually get about 45 when using -V 0, 46 when using -V 2, 50 when using -V 3/4/5 and 128kbps VBR AAC (iTunes). My 16GB iPod touch is rated for 22 hours of audio playback and I get about 26 when using -V 0/2/3/4/5 and 128kbps VBR AAC. This is due to the use of solid state memory over hard drives and any decrease in battery playback time (when playing audio) is due to an increase in processor usage when playing higher bitrate music. Luckily this increase is so small that it didn't really affect the battery playback time of my iPod touch.
6. Yes, this is true. All of Apple's iPods use solid state memory except the 120GB iPod classic. The reason for this is because solid state memory uses less power and takes up less space. Go look at a 2G 32GB iPod touch or a 4G 16GB iPod nano, they are both extremely thin. Those devices would be a lot thicker if they used hard drive based memory as the hard drive would take up more space and they would have to include a larger battery to accommodate for the increased power usage of the hard drive. Many people complained about the iPod touch going up to 32GB as they wanted a 160GB iPod touch that used a hard drive. The only problem with that is that a hard drive based iPod touch would be thicker than a 160GB iPod classic and that is just not "stylish" enough for Apple. Apple's main target for the iPod nano is teens and they want it to be as small as possible so they can throw it in their pockets, hide it in their backpacks, and do other things. The iPod touch is marketed more towards people who want everything in an iPod, most of these people migrate over from hard drive based iPods. Would they purchase an iPod touch if it was thicker than their older 40GB/60GB/80GB units? No they wouldn't. The 120GB iPod classic is still plenty thin but hard drive based memory just isn't right for the iPod nano anymore (many people buy nanos to exercise with and we all know that running and hard drives don't mix) and the iPod touch uses solid state memory so it can occupy less space and consume less power.

Don't be afraid of Apple's transition to solid state memory as the entire portable DAP market is heading that way. Creative stopped using hard drives a long time ago, I don't think SanDisk ever used hard drives, Apple uses them in one iPod model, all of Sony's units now use solid state memory, Philips switched their entire line to solid state, Samsung switched their entire line to solid state, and Archos still uses hard drives but they also have many solid state memory devices. People want smaller units that can last for days on a single charge and do more than just playback music. Solid state memory allows for these players to take up the space of 4 credit cards (that is about the size of my 4GB Creative Zen and it has a 16GB SDHC memory card in it). The only trade offs with solid state memory are the prices and capacities. A 16GB player will cost just as much as a 120GB iPod classic (the iPod classics really are inexpensive) but the 16GB player will be extremely smaller than the iPod classic. So this is a trend that the entire portable DAP market is experiencing. The notebook market is even beginning the transition to solid state drives (SSD) with capacities of 64GB (but they are expensive). Hard drives will continue to have a place in desktop computers/servers as power consumption doesn't really matter with desktops and neither does space. However, the portable market has long been using solid state memory with the DAP market almost fully transitioned to using nothing but that and the notebook market just beginning the transition. Additionally, most netbooks use solid state memory as well with a handful of models still offering 80GB hard drives.

Edit: spelling

What is the largest flash storage in an iPod available? Don't we have this thing about flash storage can sometimes be blanked out of nowhere just by disconnecting one cable in wrong way? I know HDD wears but isn't safer for data as long as it doesn't break down by impact?

32GB - but now we're just repeating what is on the Apple website for you.


I have never heard of, nor experienced such an issue.

Hard disk drives can fail even if they are never impacted.

I think the whole "SSD can be blanked" thing was a myth. It is true that you can ruin SSD by simply unplugging it instead of properly ejecting the hardware but the same goes for hard drive based media as well. I had an Archos 30GB portable player back in 2002 and never properly ejected it, I would simply unplug the portable after syncing (dumb, I know). The hard drive eventually failed and I returned it for a 3G 40GB iPod.

So hard drives can suffer from the same affect when not properly ejecting the hardware before unplugging it after syncing. Additionally, SSD is much better for people who exercise as HDs can suffer from continued jolts. That is why the iPod nano was made and Apple did away with the hard drive model of the iPod mini.

There is a difference between damaging the filesystem and damaging the drive.
Improperly unplugging a drive, of any sort, while there are cached writes or active writes can damage the filesystem, but not the media.
The USB spec was designed with ground being the first and last connector to contact. You would have a very hard time causing electrical (physical) damage through improper (un)plugging.

1.

The iPod Classic ranges from 80gb - 120 gb, but if your lucky you can find a 160gb model.

2.

All modern iPods do display artwork from embeded tags of MP3 and AAC files. If your planning to use iTunes to transfer your music onto your iPod, you will need to have your artwork embeded onto your Mp3s. A quick to add your onto a tag, is to mp3tag and write a action script to Cover from file e.g Folder.jpg or Cover.jpg. Also if got ReplayGain info on your mp3s you can use mp3tag to convert the Album Gain vaule into Apple's Soundcheck vaule.

3.

Yeah iTunes is sorta buggy, but the major problem with iTunes is, that its a bloated and badly optimized for music player. Also yes there was bugs on the iPod Classics last year, but my problems with firmware has been fixed with the latest firmware.

4.

My 2g 4gb iPod Nano and 80gb iPod Classic, plays V2 and APS mp3s flawlessly and with gapless playback.

5.

About 20 - 30 hours if your playing albums, but when on shuffle it drains quicker.

6.

IMO I think Apple has lost alot of attention on HD based iPods. The iPod Classic feels like a rushed product in compared to the older HD based iPods.

True, but considering how most of their competition has abandoned harddrives altogether I'm still happy to have my iPod classic.

how can that be done? using mp3tag?

Can be done with mp3tag by writing a script. Example Format Vaule would be: COMMENT ITUNNORM and the format string will be: $if($eql(%_extension%,mp3),$rg2sc(%REPLAYGAIN_ALBUM_GAIN%),).

Some info here:

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....=24620&st=0

It's been answered in this thread.
(besides you were in it!)