Apple ITouch – Darrenm

[cjr]

Darren thinking of getting one of these, manily as a MP3 player for my son, what are the “bonuses” of this device down the line, ie I have seen you say it can be used as a remote control device for ITunes) can you give me an idiots guide about the ITouch and how it can be used in a PC audio situation.



(Not interested in using it as a phone BTW, and have seen it for sale locally for £139. 8Gb version)

[darrenm]

I have an 8GB Touch at a similar price.

If you want to use it as a portable it's fine, albeit slightly larger than other things and it doesn't have physical buttons. It sounds good though.

If you're out and about and find a free WiFi network then you can check your email, stream Last.fm to it, surf the web, YouTube, Facebook, etc. It's an excellent tablet.

At home it is a superb touch screen remote for iTunes. If you are connected to the WiFi network at home then any computer connected to the same network with iTunes open can be controlled. The interface is lovely and you get cover art etc.

Google Apple Remote App and look at the official site.

Also Google Apple AirTunes.

[bigdur]

I've got the phone, the wife's got a touch. Fantastic toy just as Darren comments.

[darrenm]

CJR,

That first post was on my Touch, BTW.

I actually use my old Nano when out cycling because the battery life is better and I don't mind dropping it. The Touch is too precious to be purely a portable workhorse.

I'll also add that the iPhone doesn't interest me as I wouldn't like to text on the touch screen all of the time, and I prefer my tiny Sony phone.

Here are some links and reading for you...


Apple AirTunes is the branding they apply to streaming music to an Airport Express (AEX). From your Touch you can select an AEX to stream too: kitchen, dining room, lounge, etc, etc.
http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/.../airtunes.html

Here is the official site of Remote App, which is the name given to the piece of software you install to use a Touch as a remote:
http://www.apple.com/itunes/remote/

Sonos have written an official application to use the Touch as a remote, and here is their video:
http://www.sonos.com/demo/iphone/demo.html

Here's some YouTube video:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=sU-Un75DOU4

This is a quick video I made to show the simplicity:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=AtRy68Z0lv8

[jtt1888]

I got mines up and running a couple of weeks ago and use itas a remote control for itunes through my hifi. Its a great buy. I also find myself surfing the net more often as it hooks up within seconds, great for checking the classifieds, email etc.

Unlike the other guys i will probably make the iphone my next mobile. I dont want to carry two bits of kit when one will do. I also like the idea of the 3G connection which isnt available with the iTouch.

[cjr]

darrenm wrote:

CJR,

That first post was on my Touch, BTW.

I actually use my old Nano when out cycling because the battery life is better and I don't mind dropping it. The Touch is too precious to be purely a portable workhorse.

Cheers Darren glad I asked the info from you, I have a 8Gb 3G Nano that is loaded with my favourite electronic for exercise too. Thanks for the links.

[julian2002]

i never got on with the touch and have therefore sold mine and bought a new windows mobile phone. this does everything the touch did but for 1/3 the (up front) price and 10 times as easily.
my main gripes were i-tunes, the need to pay for apples omissions and mistakes in the form of firmware upgrades, the horrific obsolescence curve (new versions, non easily replaceable battery, no memory expansion, etc.) and itunes again as it really is that big a load of arseblankets.

if you are a designery type with a wispy little goatee or soul patch, wear black polo neck sweaters, john lennon glasses and exclusively use a mac then it'll probably be fine but if you are a normal human being who uses a pc then my advice is buy something else...

[Uncle Ants]

I've got a Touch and use it all the time ... but not really as a portable music thing (but I've never really got ion with portable music full stop, so I wouldn't read much into that.

Positives:

1) it's a lot more than just a music player. It's basically a handheld, touch controlled computer that will run all kinds of applications, including (if in Wifi range) web browsing, iPlayer, streaming audio, Youtube etc.

2) it's very slick

3) it makes for a really neat remote for various audio doohickies

negatives:

1) Purely as a portable audio player, the storage is small for the price compared to the competition.

2) Battery life is pretty poor if you start using any of the WiFi functionality

3) I don't think it's the best sounding device I've heard.

[cjr]

julian2002 wrote:

if you are a designery type with a wispy little goatee or soul patch, wear black polo neck sweaters, john lennon glasses and exclusively use a mac then it'll probably be fine but if you are a normal human being who uses a pc then my advice is buy something else...

Cheers Julian but my son has said he fancies an Ipod 4G 8Gb nano for xmas, these are £110, I can get him a ITouch for £139.00 I think his eyes will pop out of his sockets when he sees it on xmas day. Quite astonishing really when you consider what else it does for £40 odd more than a standard Nano. I also have a 3G Nano so I am partly tied to ITunes for better or for worse.

[darrenm]

julian2002 wrote:

i never got on with the touch and have therefore sold mine and bought a new windows mobile phone. this does everything the touch did but for 1/3 the (up front) price and 10 times as easily.
my main gripes were i-tunes, the need to pay for apples omissions and mistakes in the form of firmware upgrades, the horrific obsolescence curve (new versions, non easily replaceable battery, no memory expansion, etc.) and itunes again as it really is that big a load of arseblankets.

if you are a designery type with a wispy little goatee or soul patch, wear black polo neck sweaters, john lennon glasses and exclusively use a mac then it'll probably be fine but if you are a normal human being who uses a pc then my advice is buy something else...

Julian,

I think it is possible for the two types to co-exist, without having to fall into the extreme camps of Apple or Windows.

I personally use my modest Dell XP Pro laptop when I'm out and about for working, mainly MS Office.

When I get home the Mac is there for music and media; it is small, neat and quiet, and provides simplicity and a nice interface. For audio, video and photo there isn't really much to do to get it up-and-running.

I like to think I benefit from the strengths of both OS, without falling into either camp.

[julian2002]

there you go being all reasonable about it.



i really did try to like the touch but every time i wanted to do something i-poons came along and hit me over the head with a 2x4 and either a) laughed and told me to piss off or b) laughed and nicked my wallet.

with my phone i can browse the interweb either via the phone or via wi-fi, it has gps, a touch screen, a proper keyboard, fits in my pocket, will charge from a normal usb cable, can transfer data, music, whatever without having my pc raped by bloatware. i can cut and paste, view all my work documents, get push e-mail, play loads of games and there are tons of apps that i can download without having to pay for a firmware upgrade to do so.

the only things it won;t do are
flip the screen sideways if i tilt it (which i actually found really annoying on the itouch as coverflow and the list view seemed to disagree with what music i had) - it flips if i pop the keyboard though.
it doesn;t do pinch zooming - i never used this anyway.
it won;t suddenly change the tempo of my music because i dared use something other than i-goons to rip my music to mp3.

if i do get wistful for that itouch interface then i can download a skin that mimics it. but to be honest the phones current interface is far superior for what i do with the device.

also i only need one thing to stay in contact, listen to music, and be entertained.

[darrenm]

I do agree that Apple try and force you to it their way.

I've conceded and do things the Apple way and subsequently it "just works".

However, I will be keeping my XP machine for other stuff.

They both have pro's and con's, although I'm unsure what the pro's of Vista might be.

[Jobbo]

I like the Touch - if I didn't have an iPhone (well, two now I've got one for my wife) then I'd get a Touch purely for the interface. It is really nice, to me. Your mileage may vary, etc etc.

As for usability, the apps are now being launched for controlling a Squeezebox. They're not free like the Sonos and Apple Remote apps, but at £5 or so they still work out much cheaper than the Squeezebox Controller.

A good fun device.

[Yomanze]

Let's not forget the games and stunning graphics as these are the "killer app" for a kid.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=PXY8ACJhCuM

[julian2002]

jobbo,
£5? total rip off - you don;t need an app to control the squeezebox just use safari to browse to the squeezecenter home page and do everything from there - there are numerous free skins available i-peng i think it's called is one that's supposed to be really good for touch use. personally i never had a problem with the standard skin.
once again 'apple' trying to make you pay for something you can (or should be able to) already do.

my problem with apple probably stems from my extensive collection of music in flac format and apples refusal to support that format. probably because if they did they wouldn;t be able to be the music industries gimp in a box and flog overpriced music to the heaving masses who don;t know any better.

[browellm]

julian

The £5 application is pippin's iPeng application in native format - check out the thread on slimdevices.com

Apparently it's amazing. Well worth the £5. Of course you can control it through the web interface, but I don't think it's a lot of cash for a lot more polish.

I'm no apple fan either, but I'd have to concede the iTouch is gadget pr0n.

[Uncle Ants]

julian2002 wrote:

jobbo,
£5? total rip off - you don;t need an app to control the squeezebox just use safari to browse to the squeezecenter home page and do everything from there - there are numerous free skins available i-peng i think it's called is one that's supposed to be really good for touch use. personally i never had a problem with the standard skin.
once again 'apple' trying to make you pay for something you can (or should be able to) already do.

Well to be fair, it isn't Apple that's making you pay is it. It's the developers of the app, who aren't Apple.

£5 seems not unreasonable for a native app, which if it's done properly should work a whole lot more smoothly than a cludge of a browser based thing ever will. It only seems unreasonable when you consider that the Remote app for iTunes (which was developed by Apple) ... is free.

[darrenm]

Indeed.

Also there is no incentive for Apple to support FLAC as they have their own format.

It would be like Sky giving away Freeview boxes!

If you want to upgrade to iTunes simply convert all your FLACs; that's what I did as the interface of Foobar is below par.

[julian2002]

UA, that's why i put apple in quotes as most will see it that way. i don;t regard the browser interface as a kludge either as that's how it was designed to work since even before the days of logitech stewardship.

darren,
sorry, why should i spend time transcoding my entire library when apple refuse to support what is rapidly becoming a standard? and all for the privilage of DOWNGRADING to that piece of shit i-tunes.

[Uncle Ants]

julian2002 wrote:

UA, that's why i put apple in quotes as most will see it that way. i don;t regard the browser interface as a kludge either as that's how it was designed to work since even before the days of logitech stewardship.

But I've tried it and it isn't as smooth and quick as the apple Remote (which is a native app), nor I suspect this newnative appfor the SB - I mean £5, it's hardly bank breaking.