Sine Qua Non

That would indeed be a singularity. Never heard of such a thing. While it's not the thoughtless breeze that Jobs would have you believe, mine was no more difficult than a USB stick. I believe I did have itunes installed first, if that helps. If not, take the dumb thing back for an exchange.

I got the Zen Creative (5GB) player and I like it.
My daughter works at a Brookstone and I got a good deal on it.

Can you give us more detail? In what way don't they work?

Hmm..., where to start...

To be a little more specific, I think that maybe it works, but it is hard for me to tell. It does not work as I intuitively thought it would. Daughter's NanoPod allows her to drag and drop music directly onto the NanoPod from her iTunes library. When I start up iTunes and connect the iPod, my iPod "directories" are all grayed out. It looks as though they are there but I cannot access them or add to them. However, if I disconnect the iPod and then reconnect it, then it will load all the new music I put into the iTunes Library onto the iPod.

Is this the way it is supposed to work? Having to physically disconnect and reconnect seems, well, more like Gates than Jobs. Is there a problem with iTunes because I'm running an XP Home version with multiple users?

Also, I started up iTunes on my laptop and when I connected the iPod inadvertently wiped out everything I had previously stored on it. Say what you will about Microsoft, but they usually ask, "Are you sure you want to do this?", before you do something catastrophic. So, can I load songs onto my iPod from different computers without having to overwrite everything that is already on the iPod? If not, I would have just bought a NanoPod instead.

As with other technological items, I might break down and check the instruction manual, but hey, there isn't one!

Finally, is there a way to store a multi-disc opera and have it played in the correct sequence?

Thus far, I am also a little disappointed with the selection from the iTunes music store. As an example, query "Jethro Tull" and see and what comes up. I could care less about most of the crap that's published today. And why package long lists of songs unless they are going to give you some sort of price break for buying 25 or 75 at a time? Have we become so affluent that we just don't care what things cost any longer?

Man, I am getting old.

1. I seem to recall a preferences setting for what gets loaded on the ipod at connect time. Since I bought the biggun, I just set it to everything, since that's kind of the point of the ipod for me; everything with me when I want it. I think you definitely need to let itunes do the initial sync (while the library is grayed out), which could take some time. After that, I've seen all my purchases migrate over without any kind of action being required on my part.

Mr. Jobs expects everyone to have one computer, so sharing an iPod between two takes some creative hacking.

3. Set up your long opera as a playlist, and then turn off shuffle before you play it.

4. itms is...okay. Their selection is ragged outside of the mainstream. So I'm still ripping regularly. And no, nobody cares how much it costs, Charles. This is Apple we're talking about -- the best damn kom-pew-tor ever invented. You should count yourself lucky to even be able to transact commerce with them. No talk of price points, please, you prole.

5. Yes, old as in ancienter than dirt, pard.

Yes, that's the way it's supposed to work if you have your preferences set to automatically update the iPod. When you connect to your primary computer, it will automatically check to see if anything has changed since last time and make your iPod conform to whatever your iTunes says is current. However, if you go into iTunes preferences and tell it you want to manually update the iPod, your iPod directories will be accessible from iTunes and can drag and drop (I just did it myself this morning.) Just be sure to "eject" the iPod manually when you finish the update and wait for the iPod to tell you it's safe before you unplug it. As to playing the opera in sequence, see the guy above; you just have to turn the shuffle off under "settings" on the iPod menu.

You might want to note the fact that you cannot take items from the iPod to iTunes without using third party software. That's not the way they designed it.

I've never cared for Apple products because I don't find them intuitive like most people seem to, but I do dig the iPod. It's just a pity it doesn't come with a manual that tells you about the update features BEFORE you wipe out your entire collection, as has happened to most of the people I know who have one.

Charles, you'll want to download this to your iPod. I know I can't wait. Actually, I'm thinking of other lyrics right now: "I hope Neil Young will remember. . ."