External hard drive?

[SasyBabe]

I was wondering... I have a Powerbook G4... the first generation of the 17" one... and I just got an iPod Photo! I wanted to know the pros and cons to getting an external hard drive and using that to put all my MP3s on.. and then transfering it to my new iPod Photo!! ?????

BTW... iPod Photo is reallllllllllly nice!

 

[superbovine]

I was wondering... I have a Powerbook G4... the first generation of the 17" one... and I just got an iPod Photo! I wanted to know the pros and cons to getting an external hard drive and using that to put all my MP3s on.. and then transfering it to my new iPod Photo!! ?????

BTW... iPod Photo is reallllllllllly nice!

PRO:
Its fairly cheap and easy.
Frees hard drive space on your PB

CON:
Have to have the drive plugged in to listen to music when listening on your laptop. this kinda makes a difference if you are using Airport Express hooked to your stereo. can't walk around the room with the laptop and be playing music from your external hard drive from your couch and your desk without a lot a bit of hassel.

Music probably won't travel with your laptop, but you have an ipod so it isn't that big a deal.

drive could fail, and you loose all your music. (quality of external hard drives varies)

 

[parrothead]

I was wondering... I have a Powerbook G4... the first generation of the 17" one... and I just got an iPod Photo! I wanted to know the pros and cons to getting an external hard drive and using that to put all my MP3s on.. and then transfering it to my new iPod Photo!! ?????

BTW... iPod Photo is reallllllllllly nice!

I used to do just this with my old Tibook and iPod. Yes, it is nice to free up the HD space, but it can be a real pain when you are not hooked into the ext. drive. As the other poster said you must have the drive hooked up in order to listen to music and it must be hooked up to update the iPod. The biggest hassle is when you rip a CD you have to grab the files and move them to the ext. disc, delete them off your int. disc, then either delete them or remap them in iTunes. Realistically this will only be a good option for you if you have a pretty small HD in your computer/dont have any room for 60GB of music.

That being said, I reccomend getting an external disc anyway, they are great for following the golden rule of computing; backup backup backup.

 

[SasyBabe]

ok... let me see if I have this correct...
when you rip a CD it only goes to your internal hard drive... you can not direct it to your external drive and then rip it?

 

[parrothead]

ok... let me see if I have this correct...
when you rip a CD it only goes to your internal hard drive... you can not direct it to your external drive and then rip it?

As far as I know that is correct. There may be some workaround, but I haven't been motivated to find it since getting my Albook with a larger HD. I just keep all my music on the internal disk now. The external is now merely a backup.

 

[Mechcozmo]

Can't you just tell iTunes to make the Library on an external drive? Whenever you launch iTunes or plug in the iPod you would need the drive plugged it, though...

 

[realityisterror]

Can't you just tell iTunes to make the Library on an external drive? Whenever you launch iTunes or plug in the iPod you would need the drive plugged it, though...

yes.... just move your music folder to the other drive (with itunes closed).. then launch itunes it'll tell you "hey bozo!! your library is missing!!! tell me where it is...." you tell it where the library is located....

this could be a bit awkward though since you can't use itunes without that external drive...

reality