Apple
An Apple in my life
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@shekharg
Yesterday I bought my first ever Apple hardware – iPod Shuffle Silver, 1 GB, about Rs. 2,700/-
iPod Shuffle (Silver)
My first Apple software product was Quicktime (when I desperately wanted to play .mov files) followed by iTunes which was for testing the Podcast feed on a Website which I was involved in.
iPod Shuffle is not a new/latest device. Hence would refrain from writing a review. In a nutshell, I found it nifty and compact – in fact, it is the nirvana of compactness. The sound quality is amazing even at higher volume. The volume in turn was high enough, at its maximum.
I don’t regret it not having a display. I’m the sorts who can do away with looking at songs if I can hear them 
It clips on my belt tightly and I don’t fear it falling off (unlike my PDA).
Shuffle with Linux
Next, came the tricky part. How do I sync it with my laptop running Linux? I had some answers before I bought it. But obviously they were not tried and tested by me. What worked for me nicely was gtkpod. Installation was simple on my Fedora 9 desktop – “yum install gtkpod”.
I plugged in the Shuffle via the small(est) USB docking station. Fedora detected it and created a mountpoint and an icon for it on the desktop. But copying MP3 files straight to the mount point (or the device) did not play them.
Hence I fired gtkpod from Applications>Sound & Video>GtkPod. Gtkpod, very cryptically, started asking about my iPod model. Well, I know it is an iPod Shuffle but had no clue about its generation!. It gave me the option to select from first, second and third generation, along with the capacity (storage) and the color. After referring to this Wikipedia article, I decided that, mine was definitely not the first generation which was a USB dongle shaped device.
Googling convinced me that the difference between the second and the third generation was some color options. I, finally, opted for Shuffle (3rd. Gen) > 1 GB Shuffle (Silver) (xB225).
The device started showing on the left pane of gtkpod. I selected the device and clicked on the menu File>Add Folder. Selected the directory which had my MP3s and then clicked on Save Changes (on the top). Right clicked on the device and selected Eject device. Warning Warning: This, though expected, did not unmount the iPod Shuffle. Also the Orange light on the Shuffle kept blinking in the same way as it have been, ever since I plugged it to the USB. The Shuffle’s manual clearly says not to disconnect the device when the Orange light is blinking.
Hence, I right clicked on the desktop icon (mount point) and selected Eject. The blinking Orange light turned Green to tell me that now I can unplug the Shuffle and start listening to the MP3s.
I repeat again, the sound quality is amazing!
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Tags: 1 GB, Apple, Fedora, Fedora 9, generation, gtkpod, iPod, Linux, MP3, PDA, Rs, shuffle, silver, software product, USB docking station, xB225, Yesterday I
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8 comments for “An Apple in my life”
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Great,
So you now have some music in your life…other than Fedora startup sound!
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Congratulations. You may want to read this too…
http://www.junauza.com/2008/09/5-great-itunes-replacements-for.html
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Let me explain to the readers what Sharat is referring to.
1. I don’t have a music system in my car (installed but don’t use it)
2. Don’t have a music system at home (never bothered the repair the old system or buy a new one)
3. I don’t play music on my laptop. But my Linux laptop does play the start up sound when I log in
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Thanks Aseem. Nice compilation of apps. But when I got my Shuffle, I wanted to load it up with some MP3s asap. Wanted to hear the sound quality and confirm that the device is working
I wanted a quick install on Fedora. Hence, did a “yum search ipod” and selected gtkpod based on its description and installed it.
Now is the time to explore more and this list will help, for sure.
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You did buy a Zune last year which I know you gave to your brother.
You should have picked up one of the new Zunes. Nothing like watching a movie in HD on a flight or attaching the Zune to a FM transmitter and listening to it in the car radio!
+ Wi-fi sharing and syncing!!! no more cables!
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Cost ? You yourself bought me the Zune from US @ about 11K INR. Hey, Vinod thanks (again) indeed.
When I call my brother (occasionally), he never fails to say that, “Shekhar, I have upgraded the Zune to the latest firmware.” or “Is there a new firmware upgrade which I missed?”
Seems he is scared to tell me (his techie brother) that he did not upgrade, while I would have called him just to say “hello”.
I can clearly make out that he is enjoying the Zune. It is filled with music when he comes home on a vacation, when I get to snatch it from it.
I could have bought a Zune/iPod/iPod/Windws Mobile/iPhone/Chinese to listen to music and interop with my car radio. But as I said (in one of the comments), I’m lazy to get the latter fixed.
All said and done, Shuffle fitted my pocket, in size, as well as money @ that microsecond of time when I decided to buy it.
Its like:
(in Hindi) – “aadmi (ya aurat) MP3 player, music sunne aur sath lay jaane kay liye leta hai”
(in English) A man (or woman) buys MP3 players to listen to music and carry it along.
Shuffle is indeed a PORTABLE device and it plays well.
Under the hood, Apple Shuffle is a new entrant in my interop environment:
1. MS Windows Mobile (my phone)
2. Google apps/Gmail (my mail. calendar , documents etc.)
3. Windows (experimental desktop,is my development platform and virtualized guest)
4. Linux (on my laptop, desktop, servers, development platform)
5. XBox (gaming)
6. Apple iPod Shuffle (my MP3 player)
Would need yours and others help to achieve the interop nirvana (by hook or crook). Lets play
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you also need these:
1. Cray SuperComputer
2. SunSPARC servers
3. Symbian navigator
to make up a true interop scenario.
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4. Atleast a farm house for me to live amongst these.
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