On Sat, 2008-01-12 at 13:07 -0800, Dean S. Messing wrote: > Richard Shaw wrote: > > Dean S. Messing wrote: > > > I am thinking about buying a 160 GB iPod for my daughter for her > > > approaching golden birthday (she's turning 18). > <snip> > > > Are there tools in Fedora 6 or 7 that allow this? As I say, I'm a > > > genuine n00b here. What are the linux/iPod limitations, if any? If > > > you are using a 160 GB iPod with Fedora, I'd like to hear about it. > > > > I've had good luck using Amarok (which I believe uses kpod internally?) > > but I also installed Rockbox to replace the normal iPod software. It > > doesn't overwrite the iPod software and I can still boot to it if I want > > to. My main reason is for OGG support which my whole library is encoded in. > > >From my reading, the Generation 6 devices (of which the new 160 GB > iPod is one) doesn't allow firmware replacements. Something about > encrypting their firmware. On this link: > > <http://ipodlinux.org/Project_Status> > > It appears that the Generation 6 hardware does not and will not allow > software support by IpodLinux. That's my (possibly ignorant) > interpretation. I must confess I don't understand much of what they > are talking about on that page. There does seem to be some sort of > Ogg support (further down) but, again, I'm not sure of what I'm > seeing. > > How does Ogg's compression quality compare with MP3 and ACC at the > same bitrate? Is Ogg compatible with Apple software? I ask the latter > because I intend to buy an Apple machine for my daughter when she goes > off to college (her choice). > > (My Ogg questions am _not_ asked to start an audio flame war. I'm > just trying to learn. Also, please note that I am not an open source > purist, so the advantages in that direction are irrelevant to me. I > love OSS, I've personally never used M$ or Apple systems, only Unix > and Linux, but I'm not a fanatic, at least in this arena). ---- Ogg, like aac enjoys the benefit of not being the first methodology and learning what the early birds (mp3) did wrong. Ogg is definitely a preferred format in that it doesn't infringe on anyone's patents (at least, not that I am aware), and the sound quality is excellent (but so is AAC at 128 bits and MP3 at 192 bits, WMA probably is pretty good too.) but the issue is always the devices that support the formats you intend to use. Craig
