# ipod classic for a motorhome..



## peejay (May 10, 2005)

Thinking of getting an ipod classic for use in the van in conjunction with the vehicle radio/cd.

I have quite a few cd's with mp3 tracks/albums loaded onto them, is there any problems transferring all this onto an ipod or can you only download stuff from itunes?

Pete


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## AndrewandShirley (Oct 13, 2007)

We have an ipod classic and done the same.

Easiest way is to get a teanager to do it!!

But you do need to use itunes to transfer it over - thats what we have found.

After many failures we have now sussed it even to the point of creating our own play lists.

Go for it but get the max mg ipod classic you can afford. We have used the device to back up/copy our pics etc.

Any probs pm us.


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

Thanks Andy & Shirley;

I'm hoping to get the 160 gb version but no point unless I can transfer all my mp3 stuff to it.

Be prepared for lots of pm's if I do go ahead as I don't have access to any teenagers :lol: 

Pete


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## daichi (May 9, 2005)

Hi Pete !, we did the same after hauling nearly 4 kilo's of cd's around europe for 3 years, transferring them took a while but well worth it, really come's into it's own at barbie time !! 8)


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## JockandRita (Jun 1, 2005)

peejay said:


> Thinking of getting an ipod classic for use in the van in conjunction with the vehicle radio/cd.
> 
> I have quite a few cd's with mp3 tracks/albums loaded onto them, is there any problems transferring all this onto an ipod or can you only download stuff from itunes?
> 
> Pete


Go for it Pete.

We use ours especially when across the water via a Griffin iTrip FM transmitter, (no USB socket or line in on radio), or via the docking station if sat outside.

Regards,

Jock.

P.S. PM on it's way shortly.


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## Solwaybuggier (Mar 4, 2008)

It really is dead easy - even if it does take a while to rip a large CD collection into iTunes. 160GB is a hell of a lot of CDs!!

Only problem is that in some areas of Europe (eg Calais) it can be hard to find a spare FM frequency for an iTrip.


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## JockandRita (Jun 1, 2005)

Solwaybuggier said:


> Only problem is that in some areas of Europe (eg Calais) it can be hard to find a spare FM frequency for an iTrip.


Hi there,

I tend to use 107.9, usually without any problem. Where there has been another transmission, the signal has been too weak to interfere with the iTrip

When at Calais/Dunkerque, we retune to BBC Radio 2. :wink:

Regards,

Jock.


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## geraldandannie (Jun 4, 2006)

Hi Pete

We recently bought a Classic for use at home, and we've put about half of our CDs on it. We bought the 160GB version.

We use my MacBook as the source - we put the music CDs into the computer, run iTunes, and it asks if we want to store the music in our library. We say yes, and it rips the music into MP3s and stores them within iTunes.

We also have MP3s from other sources. We copy them into a folder called "Music" on the hard disk. Then, in iTunes, we "Add to Library ...", browse for the MP3 files, and they get added into the iTunes library. Sometimes, we need to change the data (e.g. artist, album title), and then sync to the iPod.

Seemples :wink:

Gerald


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## roger20 (Aug 14, 2006)

*iPod Classic*

We have a JVC head unit in our 2008 Autotrail which was a standard fit as part of the SE pack. This plays the usual radio/CDs but also acts as the sound/video system for DVDs and the TV monitor. Our model (I think it was a KD - DV4201) has probably been superceded now but was about £130.

The best bit by far is the (separately purchased) KS-PD100 interface for the iPod which displays track names, artists etc on the headunit. At the time the interface seemed to be suitable for all JVC head units but might be built in now.

I have an80Gb Classic which I think holds about 3000+ songs when recorded in Apple Lossles quality. The bit rate you choose to rip CDs to iTunes is important because once you have done it you won't want to do it again! Apple Lossless, whilst using a lot of space on the hard drive, means that to all intents and purpose you retain the original CD quality but of course you will hold far more at a lower bit rate.

For me 3000 songs is more than enough ( I just let it pick them at random on shuffle) and when I have played them I just delete them from the playlist and add some more. The beauty of iTunes is that you can see what you have downloaded, when, how many times you have played a tune and when as well as a host of other useful info.

A brilliant bit of kit.


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## SaddleTramp (Feb 15, 2007)

Just one more thing before you go and start extracting all songs.

If you are intending on having 160gb of songs (a very large amount) you will need 160 gb of storage space on your computer as well.

What I do is change my storage location to an external drive, You can do this by changing the "preferences" there you will find an "Advanced" tab and then you will see "Itunes media folder location" and "change" or "Reset" press change and then find the external location and bingo, Job Done.

You then extract all your discs to that location and your list will be created automatically in itunes, If anything then happens to your computer you still have all your music safe.

You will need to tick the box "Copy to Itunes media folder when adding to library"
But I NEVER Tick the Box "Keep Itunes media folder organised" as this separates all singers into files on HDD


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## 94055 (May 1, 2005)

Pete
you do not need to use itunes, Pm sent


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## SaddleTramp (Feb 15, 2007)

As SandJ states you don't have to use Itunes you can use your ipod classic or any ipod as a drive and just transfer mp3's to it, BUT I used to do that and found it was harder to keep control of.


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## 127057 (Aug 18, 2009)

Yep I have an Ipod using an FM Transmitter mostly on 107.7 can't beat the concept 

I have got my music, my girlfriends (Chinese artists) music and my mothers as well then set up a playlist for Miya, my mom and I. 

Over a period of time I have now set up a playlist of all the tunes that we more or less all like so when all travelling together I put that playlist on to play at random. Satisfies everyone. In that playlist there are 1238 tunes so it just goes on and stays on without fiddling. 

Took me a while before I got an Ipod but would not be without it now. 

It does as suggested take time to put all your music on but I agree it is well worth it not to carry stacks of CD's and of course have to keep changing them. 

I am not ultra technical but if you want any help please feel free to give me a shout 

Enjoy


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## NicknClair (May 18, 2006)

160gb is the way forward. Got myself a radio with ipod direct connection and solved all the hassles with packing discs in the van. We also have a tv which accepts the ipod, so put on a load of movies............ hey presto no DVD's either  . We also have been using a 8gb touch, just in case the wife doesn't want to watch the film i'm watching, but have also used the WiFi on campsites to access the emails, no need for laptop either. 
Thank you apple for lightening my payload and de-cluttering the van


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## 94639 (May 1, 2005)

*We also have a tv which accepts the ipod,*

I have been looking for something like this, can you point me in the right direction, make, model etc.


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## NicknClair (May 18, 2006)

UMC, but the downside is that it is rather awkward to fit in a TV locker and you need a pure sine inverter if you wish to run it from the batteries (otherwise you will get lines arcoss the TV and a fuzz in the background).
Think I saw them on that well known internet auction site :wink: but got mine through a electrical wholeseller.


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## SaddleTramp (Feb 15, 2007)

brisey said:


> *We also have a tv which accepts the ipod,*
> 
> I have been looking for something like this, can you point me in the right direction, make, model etc.


What you need to look for is a "Venturer TV" they have built in ipod docking


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

Thanks everyone, theres some excellent tips there which I shall read and digest.
I've got an aux socket on the front of my radio so I think i'll go with that instead of the itrip thing, thats as long as they do an adaptor of course.

One more question, my mp3 files are all named by album and track, will this info transfer and display on the ipod or does it have to be re-entered, that would be a pain.

Pete


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## SaddleTramp (Feb 15, 2007)

The ipod will pick up the names of your files.


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

Thanks Les, thats a relief.  

Pete


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## SaddleTramp (Feb 15, 2007)

If it is original Cd's you are loading into Itunes it will also automatically download all info of CD into Itunes including the CD cover etc which in turn would also display in Itunes and on your Ipod.


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## wobby (May 1, 2005)

Before you buy take a look at the Ipod touch max is 60 gig but even that ill take a huge cd collection. The reason why is you can Email and skype or surf the net with it, It's a mind blowing piece of kit. Now when there is wifi available we can do all we want without hauling a laptop around with us. You can even download onto it an English/French translator that speak as well! I have all my cd collection plus my brothers and my friends, thats a lot of cds on it and there is still space.

The latest Itune is brilliant and is free.

Wobby


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

Thanks wobby, Certainly looks a fancy piece of kit but I only want it for music so the classic seems ideal for what I need.

Next question - I've just noticed that one of the system requirements is a usb2 socket, my lappy only has stadard usb's, can i use one of them?

Pete


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## SaddleTramp (Feb 15, 2007)

Yes you can Pete It will be much slower though, What you could do is if your lappy has PCMCIA slots get a USB2 card and use that It is about 7 times faster.


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

SaddleTramp said:


> Yes you can Pete It will be much slower though, What you could do is if your lappy has PCMCIA slots get a USB2 card and use that It is about 7 times faster.


Ta Les;

Is that like a credit card sized slot that slides out from the side? If so i've got one :wink: 

Pete


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## SaddleTramp (Feb 15, 2007)

It is about as wide as a credit card but thicker (about 1/8") the cards are cheap mate and very worth it.


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## 2escapees (Nov 28, 2008)

Don't stop at copying your CDs download podcast from the BBC and then you can listen to all you favourites where every you are. Just heard the terry Wogan weekly podcast here in Austria. Sad I know!


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## SaddleTramp (Feb 15, 2007)

Terry Who ?


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

Thanks Les, thats another thing to put on the list.

Podcasts? Thanks, I'll check that out later, still getting to grips with usb2's and pcmcia slots for now. :lol: 

pete


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## JockandRita (Jun 1, 2005)

peejay said:


> Is that like a credit card sized slot that slides out from the side? If so i've got one :wink:
> 
> Pete


Hi Pete,

I think that this is what Les was referring to USB 2.0 PCMCIA Card

Many modern laptops only have the Express card slot, which takes a credit sized card.

HTH,

Jock.


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

Well, its Wobby's fault :lol: 

Went and had a look at the ipod touch, what a brill bit of kit, I just had to have one, it does so much more than the classic, so I now have an early Xmas pressie in the guise of a 64gb ipod touch.

Still getting to grips with it and so far so good apart from one thing, managed to set it up to sync and load albums no probs but I'm tight on space on the laptop, only about 20 gb space left. I have a remote hard drive (Maxtor) where I store all my piccies etc and want to use this as storage for the music but itunes also stores it on file on the laptop as well, is there any way to get it all to work with all the music stored on the remote hard drive only?

Pete


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## JockandRita (Jun 1, 2005)

peejay said:


> Well, its Wobby's fault :lol:
> 
> Went and had a look at the ipod touch, what a brill bit of kit, I just had to have one, it does so much more than the classic, so I now have an early Xmas pressie in the guise of a 64gb ipod touch.
> 
> ...


Hi Pete,

Having the same problem, I moved all my music over to the external HD, un-installed iTunes from the PC, and reinstalled it to onto the external HD (drive D or E). Once installed, (but if not showing on the screen), you can then create a short cut for iTunes to your desktop screen.

It gave me back much needed memory.

HTH,

Jock.

P. S. I cannot be held responsible, should it all go t##s up during the process. :wink:


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## SaddleTramp (Feb 15, 2007)

Yes There is a way, Run Itunes, On Edit select preferences, Select advanced, You will then see a box with "Select media location" change it (By selecting change) to your external drive and ensure that your laptop drive displayed is removed, Also ensure that the boxes "Keep Itunes media folder organised" and "copy files to itunes media folder when adding to library" are BOTH unchecked.

This should stop itunes copying to your laptop and it will only use your external drive for storage.

Just as an afterthought if you want itunes to copy discs ti mp3's and not aac under the general tab select "import settings" and then under "import using" select mp3 encoder and all future discs will be copied into mp3's.

You do not need to uninstall itunes or reinstall it anywhere else what you are doing is instructing itunes to use the external drive for storage.


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## JockandRita (Jun 1, 2005)

SaddleTramp said:


> Yes There is a way, Run Itunes, On Edit select preferences, Select advanced, You will then see a box with "Select media location" change it (By selecting change) to your external drive and ensure that your laptop drive displayed is removed, Also ensure that the boxes "Keep Itunes media folder organised" and "copy files to itunes media folder when adding to library" are BOTH unchecked.
> 
> This should stop itunes copying to your laptop and it will only use your external drive for storage.
> 
> ...


Thanks for that Les,

Both Pete and I will find that useful. 
I wasn't aware of that option myself. I am not on iTunes that much these days, as my 30Gb iPod came preloaded with 16Gb of my type of music. :wink:

Regards,

Jock.


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## Penquin (Oct 15, 2007)

The technique that SaddleTramp suggested is exactly what we did with our (elderly) desktop, which had a pitifully small hard disc to which we had added a massive Maxtor external drive. 

It works superbly, no problems and very quick access etc.

Much better than filling up local memory, you do not of course, have to leave the external drive connected so can connect it only when you want to use iTunes etc.

We also backed up all our pics onto it so we have two copies of pics "just in case".

Dave


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

Thanks gents, thats brilliant  .

One more thing before I take the plunge, do I have to change any settings on the maxtor hard drive?


Pete


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## SaddleTramp (Feb 15, 2007)

peejay said:


> Thanks gents, thats brilliant  .
> 
> One more thing before I take the plunge, do I have to change any settings on the maxtor hard drive?
> 
> Pete


No None at all.


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

Les;

Another big thank you for all your advice, i've just spent several hours downloading albums and your settings work a treat.  

Beers all round if we ever meet. ccasion5: 


I've found that on a few of the albums itunes can't find the album artwork from its files. On media player you could copy your own image into the file but it doesn't appear to be possible on itunes, does anyone know of any 'get arounds' for this?

Pete


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## SaddleTramp (Feb 15, 2007)

Yes you can put your own artwork on, Select the song, Album that you want to add artwork to, then right click and a box comes up, select artwork (tick box) then double click the box at the side of it, select your location of pic and then select artwork, click open, then Ok and artwork is saved and displayed.

easy init


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## navman (May 10, 2005)

SaddleTramp said:


> Just one more thing before you go and start extracting all songs.
> 
> But I NEVER Tick the Box "Keep Itunes media folder organised" as this separates all singers into files on HDD


Agree totally... ITunes is a love hate relationship... I hate it but with my IPhone and the same as the touch, ITunes will keep the OS up to date too...

I have taken off all the automatic options as it has caused me a problem in the past. The Touch is a great bit of kit as is the IPhone... Both can run TomTom albeit you have to buy en expensive docking station ( about £100) to use it on the Touch....


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

SaddleTramp said:


> Yes you can put your own artwork on, Select the song, Album that you want to add artwork to, then right click and a box comes up, select artwork (tick box) then double click the box at the side of it, select your location of pic and then select artwork, click open, then Ok and artwork is saved and displayed.
> 
> easy init


Thanks, I tried that but for some reason your way doesn't work for me. 
I have however found another way. Right click on the album cover photo box and select the 'get info' tab and you can paste an image into the artwork box there, it even seems to resize the image to fit.

It really is a fantastic bit of kit. I've got about 20 albums and loads of photo's on it so far and its hardly used any space, loads more to put on but I certainly wouldn't have needed the 160gb that the classic has. 

Pete


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## SaddleTramp (Feb 15, 2007)

Hi Pete, I knew it could be done but my problem is I now have the Mac computers so I have to try and remember how it is done with PC's.

Glad you got it sorted any way.

:lol:

I think they are brilliant,


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

"I think they are brilliant"

Too right. Getting quite good at this.  

I'm now getting my head around podcasts, how cool are they.  

We're off to Berlin over Xmas/new year, I've just downloaded some Guardian podcasts all about the city and the wall, we'll take them with us and watch while we're there.
Next is to download some Apps, apparently you can get lonely planet stuff like city maps and travel info etc, saves taking loads of books and maps. 

Amazing such a small thing can do so much.

Pete


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## SaddleTramp (Feb 15, 2007)

peejay said:


> Amazing such a small thing can do so much.
> 
> Pete


Do you know my missus said EXACTLY the same thing.
 :lol:


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## SaddleTramp (Feb 15, 2007)

Nah Seriously, you also want to look at the "Apple TV" it is a small box that connects to your network at home and also to your TV, It connects to itunes and you can put all your photos on it, all your music and movies and so on, It will do "Picture shows", Play all your music through TV and lots more stuff.

:lol:

Look Here :- http://www.apple.com/appletv/what-is.html


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

SaddleTramp said:


> Nah Seriously, you also want to look at the "Apple TV" it is a small box that connects to your network at home and also to your TV, It connects to itunes and you can put all your photos on it, all your music and movies and so on, It will do "Picture shows", Play all your music through TV and lots more stuff.
> 
> :lol:


Now don't tempt me, sounds good but what with solar panels, sterling b2b and the ipod we're already well over budget for 2009.

Maybe next year :roll: :lol:

Pete


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