Ipod,mp3?

[Tunnel Vision]

Can some one educate me what the difference is between an Ipod and a mp3 player? I don't need the movie thing, so maybe the Ipod is not for me?
I just want the music and maybe FM in my Prowler.
Can I copy all of my cd's to this thing?
Sorry I'm way old school, but these sound like the way to go.
I would like to use this between my boat and my Arctic cat Prowler because of the skipping thing.
Doe's it just plug in to my Sony head unit in my boat? do I need any adapters or anything?
I would have to install an amp and speakers in the Arctic cat, but what about volume control?
TV

[ROZ]

MP3 is just a compression file format. In a nutshell, unrecognizeably the program removes bits of music information in order to make a song shorter. That's why you can burn 30+ songs on a single mp3 encoded disc from your computer.
IPOD is ht the name of a compression music storage/player. There are others, but IPOD is by Apple. There are Creative labs and Hewlett Packard models of player/storage units as well as many others. IPOD is just the most recognizeable.
Other formats will play on the Aple as well. WMA, MP3, AAA, etc...
You download all of your cd's into your computer's hard drive. You can set a default to automatically ut them into the Itunes program. Since I use computer to play throughout my house, I download them to "my music" then transfer a copy to itunes.
Once you have all of your discs downloaded, you creat playlists with the program, hookup your ipod via the usb cable provided. The IPOD will appear in itunes. From there all you do is drag and click your playlist into the IPOD line... click disconnect, disconnect the unit from your computer, and you're all set to play via earphones or via sometype of carkit or hardwire system in your vehicle.
You will have to get an adaptor for your headunit, but that's all you'll need.
The reason models get more expensive is due to storage. Costco has the IPOD Video 30GB for 289.00...I'm on my way to buy one now :D That will hold the 8000 songs and pictures I have on my computer! Hell, my last computer was had only a 20gig hard drive!
Hope this helps...
<---- on my way to get the new ipod :D

[Tunnel Vision]

So if I understand you right, I can get a cable or adapter to plug into my boat head unit, probably were the disk changer hooks up and that will take care of the boat.
Now with my Prowler I will need a amp and speakers? is that all? what about vol. control?

[buzzaro]

So if I understand you right, I can get a cable or adapter to plug into my boat head unit, probably were the disk changer hooks up and that will take care of the boat.
Now with my Prowler I will need a amp and speakers? is that all? what about vol. control?
There are a couple ways to hook an ipod to a receiver, theyve got AV cables that will plug into an auxillary input on the receiver, or there are also the deals that plug into the output on the ipod and then transmits on an FM frequency, theyve got them that will transmit on any fequency you choose.

[ROZ]

Just as a point of clarification, you can burn ~100 mp3 songs on a single CD. ;)
lol... I've heard that ;) but ya never know how many 30 house trance tracks someone tries to put on a disc :D

[mbrown2]

Just as a point of clarification, you can burn ~100 mp3 songs on a single CD. ;)
I can normally get more then 200 songs on my 800MB CDs...:)

[buzzaro]

Can I copy all of my cd's to this thing?
TV
Ive got the 30gb ipod, right now ive got 253 albums on it and that amounts to 12gb. Itll play for almost 9 days straight without repeating a song. Theyve got a 60gb model too if you need even more.

[Tunnel Vision]

What about sound quality? is there any differance between a cd and a mp3? or do they sound the same.
For my Prowler do I need to buy a special amp? What about amp size? 50 or 100 watts or more?
TV

[buzzaro]

Everytime a song file is copied you lose quality(there is .flac and "lossless" formats but they dont apply here), so you will notice some difference on songs downloaded, copied to cd, and then back to the computer and then to the ipod. But to go straight from cd into itunes, you wont notice the difference at all. As far as power goes for the prowler, you would power it as you normally power a sound system for whatever sound level you desire.

[Phat Matt]

What about sound quality? is there any differance between a cd and a mp3? or do they sound the same.
For my Prowler do I need to buy a special amp? What about amp size? 50 or 100 watts or more?
TV
It all depends on how it is encoded. Mp3's encoded at 320 will sound better than 192. If space isn't an issue, encode them at 320.

[mbrown2]

If you do songs at 128, I'm not surprised. All my music is 192, 256 and 320 and I'm usually tapped out at about 105.
My ears are probably screwed up, but I don't really notice much difference listening to the stuff in the boat....all are 128/160 or 192.

[Tunnel Vision]

Thank all of you for enlightening me!
At least I have something to go on now.
Thanks again.....and have a safe spring break.
TV :)