Moshkito
Hi,
 
Best solution?
 
No Apple for me! PERIOD!

Well, I like everything else about my iPhone, except it's cost. The Apps all work well, I use iBooks more than Kindle for now. It just works... except for iTunes and I absolutely refuse to use Apple Music. Maybe that is the problem. Maybe they are intentionally making iTunes a PITA to push people to Apple Music, it wouldn't surprise me one bit. I could look at a Windows phone or some Andriod something but everyone I know uses iPhones and I don't want to make some mistake where I all of a sudden can't get messages or something. The "law of unintended consequences" is ALWAYS at work.
J

jbow
@ Craig... what are those speakers?

 
They came from Sharper Image.  In fact, they were having a sale which included an additional 50% off if you bought a second set so I have two.  There's actually a subwoofer in the base of one and they work great!

The biggest issue that I have with the iPhone is hanging onto wall chargers and the Lightning chords. We have a family plan and there are 3 units using the Lightening Plug. I seem to be buying them constantly because the two women in my family are "misplacing" them all of the time.

Worse is that they have figured out my iPad charger actually charges their phones faster than a standard phone plug. Now I am having to replace that plug when it turns up missing.

Last weekend, while up at Lowes, I discovered that they make electrical outlets with built in USB slots for charging. I bought one with 2 USB slots, on the spot. Hopefully this weekend, I will have time to install that outlet, stretigically, some where at home and start testing it out. If it is successfully used, I may be installing more of these outlets around the house. My guess is that the are a permanent installation, so I may end up saving money, at least, on plugs....but maybe not chords.

Best reason to use iTunes: Smart Playlists.
 
I have not seen any other implementation that works as well as Apple's, and I have looked because I would love not to have my library be so dependent on Apple's whims.
 
I have playlists that auto-rotate music onto my iPhone whenever I sync using a complex set of smart playlists that take into account genre, ratings, play count, and last played date. Couldn't live without 'em (/hyperbole).
 
Dan
 
 

dcumpian
Best reason to use iTunes: Smart Playlists.
 
I have not seen any other implementation that works as well as Apple's, and I have looked because I would love not to have my library be so dependent on Apple's whims.
 
I have playlists that auto-rotate music onto my iPhone whenever I sync using a complex set of smart playlists that take into account genre, ratings, play count, and last played date. Couldn't live without 'em (/hyperbole).
 
Dan

 
Um, as mentioned above, MediaMonkey?  It's better at all iTunes features than Apple is, plus it has FAR more abilities if you need them and, if that's not enough, there are addons to cover just about anything else you may need. 
 

 
 
Does anyone else still sit and actually listen to an album anymore?
 
And if so, why would you then want to listen to an mp3?
 
I've only ever bought a handful of tracks in mp3 form, and that's only because there was no physical CD available. And I still like to set aside time to make listening to an album an 'event' - a bit like it used to be when going through the ritual of listening to an LP.
 
Don't get wrong, I'm not an audiophile snob by any stretch of the imagination, but playing a CD through my old Pioneer amplifier and TDK speakers seems eminently more rewarding and worthwhile than listening to lossy, compressed alternatives.
 
Surely it can't just be down to convenience, or to available 'space'. I'm guessing most of those here who are old enough had (or still have) large record collections? Agreed, a large 'physical' record collection isn't as portable or practical as an iPod stocked up with thousands of tracks, but that's sort of my point - if you listen to music on the go, then surely you're not really "listening"?
 
I may be way off here, but I can't understand why the sort of person who frequents an audio-related forums like here, and who more than likely has spent thousands on buying the best hardware and software to allow them to create high quality music, would then settle for poor quality compressed audio when CD (and CD quality or better) alternatives are easily available.
 
 

SteveStrummerUK
 
Does anyone else still sit and actually listen to an album anymore?
 
 

Not many it seems. But I do. ;)
 
I do prefer highest possible resolution, but there are times for me when compressed format is acceptable (192 kbps or higher).  To be honest, modern production values and loudness wars are a much bigger deterrent to me than compressed formats. 
 
Hence I can listen to a MP3 of an old Judas Priest bootleg but I can't bring myself to listen to more than a song or two of quite a few of the more recent CD's I've bought in the last years. 
 
That being said, when it's an option, I always go for the CD, and I sure wish we could buy high resolution files from within iTunes. I also dream they'd offer unmastered final mix versions, but that's another story. In the meantime, it's still my default music player.

SteveStrummerUK
 
Don't get wrong, I'm not an audiophile snob by any stretch of the imagination, but playing a CD through my old Pioneer amplifier and TDK speakers seems eminently more rewarding and worthwhile than listening to lossy, compressed alternatives.
 
Surely it can't just be down to convenience, or to available 'space'. I'm guessing most of those here who are old enough had (or still have) large record collections? Agreed, a large 'physical' record collection isn't as portable or practical as an iPod stocked up with thousands of tracks, but that's sort of my point - if you listen to music on the go, then surely you're not really "listening"?
 
I may be way off here, but I can't understand why the sort of person who frequents an audio-related forums like here, and who more than likely has spent thousands on buying the best hardware and software to allow them to create high quality music, would then settle for poor quality compressed audio when CD (and CD quality or better) alternatives are easily available. 

hi steve,
firstly,i dont have many mp3`s either-all my vinyl and cd library was imported using either Apple Lossless or FLAC with the occasional mp4.-not exactly "poor quality compressed audio" and with virtually unlimited storage now there is no excuse for low bitrate mp3`s-the junk food of audio.
 
it`s true i dont critically listen on the tractor or doing menial work but as i wear HD 280`s instead of earmuffs the sound quality is far from ideal but its definatelt horses for courses.
 
DanCumpian was on to it with playlists by genre-i have one for each occasion but mainly only as background music.
 
to be honest i am 61 and cannot tell the difference between lossless and the original so for convenience sake i will stick to the ipad.
cheers 
 
 
 
 

Even almost 50 years ago, I wasn't into the whole "album" experience (I didn't stare at the covers or really get too much into who the actual musicians were - I was all about the music!).  I probably ended up with one of the first turntables where you could stack records so you didn't have to get up every 20+ minutes to turn the dang thing over.  I was always the one who wanted the most non-stop music so I could enjoy it while doing other things (usually reading when I was young, then programming as I got older, now it's just sitting trying to remember what I'm supposed to be doing...).
 
I used to have well over 2,000 records.  Heavy suckers and even the newer, longer playing variety still suffered from the issues mentioned above.  Then I moved on to CD's and it didn't take long before I had thousands of those too.  I had two of these custom cabinets to hold the CD cases (this one also had an area for video - 2,000 at a time of the CD's themselves were in the Sony Jukeboxes mentioned before).  These cabinets were designed by me to fit along a dining room wall that only had about a 5" or 6" depth - the doors matched those in the kitchen making a nice flowing look (the other pics are not online):
 

 
Now my entire collection at 192 kbps can fit on a 3 TB external hard drive!  (I have other drives for saving the higher resolution files and other things like additional artwork or notes.)
 
So, to answer Steve's question, I love to listen to albums in their entirety and usually expect certain songs to follow others because of it.  That said, I ALSO love to shuffle-play some large playlist of related songs while I'm doing other things (like typing this post!). 

SteveStrummerUK
  
Does anyone else still sit and actually listen to an album anymore?

 
I often set things up to random play complete albums, from a library of I don't even know how many albums. 
 

 And if so, why would you then want to listen to an mp3?
 
I've only ever bought a handful of tracks in mp3 form, and that's only because there was no physical CD available. And I still like to set aside time to make listening to an album an 'event' - a bit like it used to be when going through the ritual of listening to an LP.
 
Don't get wrong, I'm not an audiophile snob by any stretch of the imagination, but playing a CD through my old Pioneer amplifier and TDK speakers seems eminently more rewarding and worthwhile than listening to lossy, compressed alternatives.
 
Surely it can't just be down to convenience, or to available 'space'. I'm guessing most of those here who are old enough had (or still have) large record collections? Agreed, a large 'physical' record collection isn't as portable or practical as an iPod stocked up with thousands of tracks, but that's sort of my point - if you listen to music on the go, then surely you're not really "listening"?
 
I may be way off here, but I can't understand why the sort of person who frequents an audio-related forums like here, and who more than likely has spent thousands on buying the best hardware and software to allow them to create high quality music, would then settle for poor quality compressed audio when CD (and CD quality or better) alternatives are easily available.
 

Some of us do care about audio quality, but only care about things that make a difference in the real world under real world listening conditions.
 
Of course one has to accept certain objective principles and invest some time if one wishes to only care about real things in the real world and have any hope of learning what those things are and are not.