portable hard drive question

[jtp]

JTP
'00 Bright Red II, Black, Black 2.3

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[cb4]

<i>I was just noting that it is oversimplified to say that iTunes has a hard time with MP3s on a removable drive. It doesn't, <b>as long as you aren't trying to move that library from computer to computer</b>.</i>

What would be the advantage in using a USB drive if you can't move it to another computer? Be it a hard drive, thumb drive or network drive. I'm just saying this is a complication of iTunes and not of the stored music or music players in general.

[B_TopleZZ]

when you plug an external drive into a computer does the drive care which one you plug in to?

if i only want the itunes library on the hd, and not on either computer, where does the ipod/itunes confusion for the system occur? is it that the ipod "recognizes" each computer uniquely, despite the fact that the drive is the same one, just hooked up on a different computer?

[B_TopleZZ]

so i can buy something for my desktop PC that will give me 2.0 ports instead of 1.1 ports?

[B_TopleZZ]

Thank you for the detailed explanation.

It sounds like, if I don't try to use my music on 2 computers that this will work for me.

I wonder... if I get my music from my laptop, get it loaded on my home pc, get it all working from home...if I can then delete the I Tunes part of it, and use WMP as CB suggested, and have the files compressed so I don't take as much room up on my laptop's hard drive?

I don't really need to manage my I Pod/I Tunes on my laptop, it is just nice to have it on there for times when I travel and use my I Pod while travelling.

[rustyh]

days and what I discovered made me less than a fan of it.

My particular complaint has to do with using it to rip a CD and then burn a copy. It doesn't matter what format the source CD is in, Itunes wants to burn everything as AAC format. And there's not really a good way around it, using Itunes anyway.

I found this interesting:

http://askbobrankin.com/convert_itun...p3_format.html

I finally ended up saying to he_ll with Itunes and re-ripped the CD's using Media Player and then burned from there. Media Player is just much easier, must more straight forward for this type of thing IMHO.(these were DAT recordings of a few old concerts I was copying for someone if you're wondering why I was ripping and then turning around and burning)

Itunes is Ok, but honestly there are cheaper places to buy music, and I'm starting to feel like Itunes is a little too much Apple fetish for me. I may buy a few things from them from time to time, but it will probably be rare now that I know better (cheaper) places to go. And yea, Itunes has a lot of bells and whistles, but I don't really care about all that. And since I don't use Ipod's, etc, there's really no reason for me to use Itunes much at all.

Rusty
'05 330i ZHP in Imola

[jtp]

Anticipating your question, I explained "So what's the point of having something on an external harddrive if it's not going to be portable? Well, if someone has a computer with a small internal harddrive, and they simply want to add capacity so that they can use their iPod, then an external harddrive would be a perfectly fine solution."

Especially with a laptop, where adding an internal harddrive would be problematic at best, an external harddrive can be a good solution for someone with a small harddrive but a big iPod. For THEM, iTunes will have no problem using a removable media to store their music.

Portability is the problem, not external versus internal.

I've already acknowledged that WMP is more flexible. I'm just clarifying that iTunes doesn't have an intrinsic issue with removable media.

JTP
'00 Bright Red II, Black, Black 2.3

<b>PERFORMANCE: </b>Dinan Stage II suspension, Dinan strut tower brace, Porterfield R4S brake pads, Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 tires, UNGO MS8300 alarm, Doug Whalen Seat Bushings, Sylvania Silverstar headlights and fog lights. <b>MAINTENANCE: </b>Peake Research R5/fcx-II and SRS Reset Tools, Mity-Vac oil evacuator w/ brake bleeder, BMW Battery Tender. <b>COSMETICS: </b>Dinan Badge, OEM chrome exhaust tips, Magnetic stone guards, Roundel valve stem caps, Trunk-mounted Dragon sticker, WI plates: RES IPSA. <b>COMFORT: </b>Premium Package, Heated sport seats, “Z3 Roadster” heated vest (for GF), In-dash CD, LeatherZ MarkII armrest, OEM mesh windscreen. <b>CAR CARE: </b>Porter Cable random orbit buffer, Meguiars car care products, NOAH car cover, Plexus, Raggtop. <b>EXTRAS: </b>Z3Solutions warning triangle.

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[B_TopleZZ]

It sounds like, if I don't try to use my music on 2 computers that this will work for me.

I wonder... if I get my music from my laptop, get it loaded on my home pc, get it all working from home...if I can then delete the I Tunes part of it, and use WMP as CB suggested, and have the files compressed so I don't take as much room up on my laptop's hard drive?

I don't really need to manage my I Pod/I Tunes on my laptop, it is just nice to have it on there for times when I travel and use my I Pod while travelling.

[cb4]

You can add USB 2.0 ports to a desktop really cheap. I did a USB 2.0 with firewire card and front panel access a few years ago. Check out newegg.

[cb4]

That's a trick question because you've argued both sides. First removable drives kinda-sorta work except for idiosyncracies of itunes. Then of course iTunes has no problem with removable hard drives. Well, that last one is like saying a Z3 has no problem with a plastic window provided you never put the top down.

I've spent/wasted time with iTunes before and didn't find any value for me. Perhaps there is added value specifically for iPod owners. Limitations it imposes for (let's just call it) removable/sharable music folders is enough to convince me that I made a wise decision when I removed the software from my machine.

[B_TopleZZ]

[cb4]

The computer doesn't care which USB port you use but it will have to load a new driver the first time it connects to each port as it views them independently.

You can change the drive letter associated with the device once it establishes a connection and Windows will remember that. This is if you connect both your USB-HD and your camera flash memory at the same time but in a different order. It allows you to have consistent drive letters for each. When you change the port, you may need to reconfigure the drive letter again.

Note, if you use photoshop or some other camera software to autostart and search for photos when it detects a USB drive, you should disable as it will read the entire file allocation table every time you connect it.

As for the iTunes weirdness, I'll let JTP comment but I suspect it's just the music catalog stored locally and probably something that you can get around once the problem is understood.

[jtp]

You said iTunes has a difficult time with removable harddrives. That isn't entirely true. It has no difficulty with removabable media, as long as you don't try to make that media portable. I have given you a perfectly reasonable scenario in which that might arise. You reject that scenario for some reason. Do you really find it that difficult to conceive that someone, especially someone with a laptop, would rely on an external harddrive but not need that external harddrive to be portable to other computers? I certainly don't. In fact, I was almost to the point at one time.

I just clarified your comment. Much like you gave clarification regarding back-grading Vista to XP. And you won't accept my clarification any more than Giznaz would accept yours. Is it really that difficult?

JTP
'00 Bright Red II, Black, Black 2.3

<b>PERFORMANCE: </b>Dinan Stage II suspension, Dinan strut tower brace, Porterfield R4S brake pads, Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 tires, UNGO MS8300 alarm, Doug Whalen Seat Bushings, Sylvania Silverstar headlights and fog lights. <b>MAINTENANCE: </b>Peake Research R5/fcx-II and SRS Reset Tools, Mity-Vac oil evacuator w/ brake bleeder, BMW Battery Tender. <b>COSMETICS: </b>Dinan Badge, OEM chrome exhaust tips, Magnetic stone guards, Roundel valve stem caps, Trunk-mounted Dragon sticker, WI plates: RES IPSA. <b>COMFORT: </b>Premium Package, Heated sport seats, “Z3 Roadster” heated vest (for GF), In-dash CD, LeatherZ MarkII armrest, OEM mesh windscreen. <b>CAR CARE: </b>Porter Cable random orbit buffer, Meguiars car care products, NOAH car cover, Plexus, Raggtop. <b>EXTRAS: </b>Z3Solutions warning triangle.

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[jtp]

The confusion occurs because iTunes doesn't use one discrete location. The iTunes library can be stored one place, but the iTunes files I have previously identified will always be on the C drive of the host computer. In other words, you can have the iTunes library on the d, e, f, g, h, etc., drive, but the two formatting files will ALWAYS be on the c drive.

So now lets say you have iTunes installed on your computer. And lets say you have the music library assigned to the external drive. The format files will still be on the C drive. So when you disconnect the external harddrive, you will take the music files with you, but any new computer won't know what songs are in your songlist, or what playlists you have created, because when it looks to ITS C drive, it won't find the proper formatting files. You would need to make those formatting files portable somehow and, apart from simply copying them every time you move the harddrive, and then pasting them every time you hook it up (which would be a major inconvenience) I just don't know of any way to do that.

JTP
'00 Bright Red II, Black, Black 2.3

<b>PERFORMANCE: </b>Dinan Stage II suspension, Dinan strut tower brace, Porterfield R4S brake pads, Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 tires, UNGO MS8300 alarm, Doug Whalen Seat Bushings, Sylvania Silverstar headlights and fog lights. <b>MAINTENANCE: </b>Peake Research R5/fcx-II and SRS Reset Tools, Mity-Vac oil evacuator w/ brake bleeder, BMW Battery Tender. <b>COSMETICS: </b>Dinan Badge, OEM chrome exhaust tips, Magnetic stone guards, Roundel valve stem caps, Trunk-mounted Dragon sticker, WI plates: RES IPSA. <b>COMFORT: </b>Premium Package, Heated sport seats, “Z3 Roadster” heated vest (for GF), In-dash CD, LeatherZ MarkII armrest, OEM mesh windscreen. <b>CAR CARE: </b>Porter Cable random orbit buffer, Meguiars car care products, NOAH car cover, Plexus, Raggtop. <b>EXTRAS: </b>Z3Solutions warning triangle.

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[jtp]

You make it sound like your iPod stays the same once you have it set up. If that's the case, you shouldn't have ANY problem. All you need to do then is:

1) Install iTunes on both machines.
2) Tell both iTunes that the music is on whatever drive letter corresponds with the external harddrive
3) Copy the two files I mentioned to the proper file on the C drive of each machine.
4) Play music to your heart's content.

if you want to make changes to the library, though, then this system won't work nearly as smoothly.

JTP
'00 Bright Red II, Black, Black 2.3

<b>PERFORMANCE: </b>Dinan Stage II suspension, Dinan strut tower brace, Porterfield R4S brake pads, Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 tires, UNGO MS8300 alarm, Doug Whalen Seat Bushings, Sylvania Silverstar headlights and fog lights. <b>MAINTENANCE: </b>Peake Research R5/fcx-II and SRS Reset Tools, Mity-Vac oil evacuator w/ brake bleeder, BMW Battery Tender. <b>COSMETICS: </b>Dinan Badge, OEM chrome exhaust tips, Magnetic stone guards, Roundel valve stem caps, Trunk-mounted Dragon sticker, WI plates: RES IPSA. <b>COMFORT: </b>Premium Package, Heated sport seats, “Z3 Roadster” heated vest (for GF), In-dash CD, LeatherZ MarkII armrest, OEM mesh windscreen. <b>CAR CARE: </b>Porter Cable random orbit buffer, Meguiars car care products, NOAH car cover, Plexus, Raggtop. <b>EXTRAS: </b>Z3Solutions warning triangle.

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[cb4]

Regarding the files that you say are ALWAYS on the C drive.

1) Their location is more than likely controlled by a Windows registry entry. I'll bet you can change their location if you wanted to.

2) Point 1) is probably moot as the content of these files are more than likely just a music catalog in which case both computers can have their own independent music catalogs and still use the same external USB connected HD media files.

[jtp]

As I previously mentioned:

1) those two files are always on the C drive.
2) I personally know of no way to move them
3) That being said, there may be a way to do so of which I am unaware.

I never said it couldn't be done. To the contrary, I suggested that it might be possible. I just said I don't know any way of doing so.

JTP
'00 Bright Red II, Black, Black 2.3

<b>PERFORMANCE: </b>Dinan Stage II suspension, Dinan strut tower brace, Porterfield R4S brake pads, Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 tires, UNGO MS8300 alarm, Doug Whalen Seat Bushings, Sylvania Silverstar headlights and fog lights. <b>MAINTENANCE: </b>Peake Research R5/fcx-II and SRS Reset Tools, Mity-Vac oil evacuator w/ brake bleeder, BMW Battery Tender. <b>COSMETICS: </b>Dinan Badge, OEM chrome exhaust tips, Magnetic stone guards, Roundel valve stem caps, Trunk-mounted Dragon sticker, WI plates: RES IPSA. <b>COMFORT: </b>Premium Package, Heated sport seats, “Z3 Roadster” heated vest (for GF), In-dash CD, LeatherZ MarkII armrest, OEM mesh windscreen. <b>CAR CARE: </b>Porter Cable random orbit buffer, Meguiars car care products, NOAH car cover, Plexus, Raggtop. <b>EXTRAS: </b>Z3Solutions warning triangle.

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[cb4]

You are tempting me to install iTunes just to prove that the sorta-kinda post wasn't exactly accurate. I suspect it's more of a misunderstanding of the software.

iTunes, WMP, Creative Labs organizer, (any media organizer) has to maintain a catalog somewhere. None that I know of need to store any information in the media files themselves although I know WMP can embed star ratings.

Just try it. Move the USB to the other computer, let iTunes discover the media and build a catalog on that computer. Then you will have catalogs on both computers.

[B_TopleZZ]

[cb4]

iTunes was probably designed to share media files on the network that can be populated by another computer. That's how WMP works. For this very reason I'm challenging the kinda-sorta bit that says it might not work with iTunes. I'm thinking it probably will work just fine.