Ipod Nano?

[rabbidrabbit]

My wife just bought one for my birthday and I have not opened it yet.  My big question is...  Do I have to buy everything through Itunes or can I simply drag and drop stuff on to it?

[yankedudel]

If you have mp3's stored on your computer you should be able to import them into iTunes and download them to you iPod.
I have a Zune (microsoft version) and all of our music on computer and on CD could be ripped an put onto the Zune site and dropped onto the Zune.
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Yank

[sunfan1121]

u dont have to use itunes u can use  kazza or limewire

[rabbidrabbit]

So I can drop avi's or mpg's or mp3's on it like a usb device?

[68Dougal]

You don't need iTunes to get music, but you do need it (or an iTunes alternative) to transfer the mp3's onto the ipod.

If you really don't want itunes just google "itunes alternative" and you should get a bunch of results. I used to use yamipod (http://www.yamipod.com/main/modules/home/) when I had an ipod. It doesn't even require an install. I think it runs right from your player. There are others, though, like winamp, that have more features.

[indy007]

So I can drop avi's or mpg's or mp3's on it like a usb device?

Yes, if you have it set to function as a virtual harddrive, which can be set via the iTunes interface. It's also convenient to double as a usb keychain storage.

With the iTunes interface you can import whatever you want, provided they do not have DRM embedded in them. If they do have DRM embedded, then the file needs to be stripped with something like http://www.tunebite.com, which works very, very well.

No service has the complete catalogs of artists... for example Geto Boys - Still (from Office Space, the printer beat down scene)... very, very difficult to find. Only remixed (badly) versions are available through iTunes or Napster... so it helps to keep your options open... and Tunebite does that perfectly for me.

[yankedudel]

You don't need iTunes to get music, but you do need it (or an iTunes alternative) to transfer the mp3's onto the ipod.

What he said!

[Trell]

If you are trying to transfer video onto it you will need to convert it into something the nano can read.
As the others said you can get music from almost anywhere.  I buy mine from amazon, they sell mp3 downloads for about the same or less then itunes

[moot]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_iPod_managers

[Jackal1]

u dont have to use itunes u can use  kazza or limewire

<shudder>

[yankedudel]

<shudder>

Likewise!

[OOZ662]

There's a new open-source ripoff of LimeWire called FrostWire that looks promising. It also comes standard with the junk LimeWire tries to make you pay for. Still no way in hell it's getting on the gamer/sensitive stuff computer though.

[Reschke]

My oldest son has a Zune and it kicks the iPod's BUTT! You don't have to anything but sync it to your computer and it will look for any recently added tunes and ask you if you want to put them into the playlist. Makes adding things very efficient.