Any laptop with a PC card slot can be fit with Firewire.

tbsstunta is 100% correct. It certainly costs less than getting a completely new machine.

Like a lot of the others I use 128 AAC when I rip from a CD. I still have some MP3s mixed in with the AACs. Typically I don't bother with less than 192 for the MP3s.

all you need for an endless jukebox is an old PC runing a decent os that will playback audio and a sound card with line out.
fill the PC's hdd with audio files of your choice and a playlist.
connect line out from pc to line in on reciever
start playlist on pc ( I prefer a wintel box cause theyre cheap but my sun pizza box will work just as well)
go to the input you plugged line out into, ( I use tape2 casue it's a 'monitor' input/output) make it active
crank up the volume and enjoy a month of clear music with no stinkin satellite and no stinkin djs or commercials
I sitll like the MP3 format cause all my expensive software supports it (like adobe audition 1.0, premere 6.0, etc)

Firewire is a tad slower than USB2; it's only 400mbps compared to USB2's 480mbps.

having seen this...why or even how is firewire faster? USB 2.0 seems to eek out a tad more transfer speed.

repoe3

I'm gonna echo/reiterate this. If you want to keep flexibility, stay with mp3.

VBR -- Forget about hand wringing over 128/196/etc., use a variable bit rate encoder to rip it, will still be compatible with most stuff you'll want to play it on.

You will absolutely strain to hear differences b/t AAC, MP3, OGG, whatever, at comparable quality settings, and file sizes will not be much different, either. Stay flexible. When you have to change that ipod battery, you're going to smash it against a wall somewhere in disgust. You'll be glad you had your tunes in a widely-compatible file format :)

Firewire and USB are in an arms-escalation thingy. Now there is Firewire 400 and Firewire 800, USB 2.0 and who knows what else.

At those speeds you really won't notice much difference unless you are completely filling a 40GB iPod on the first load. In that case it will take some time, no matter what.

I finally bought an MP3 player. I KISSED it..I bought a tiny sled that takes 1GB memory sticks...1/5 the size of an ipod mini...and if it breaks, i'm out a whole $149.00 for both parts (and you can add an unlimited amount of sticks).
So take that stevie jobs baby...stuff that overpriced, overhyped i-thingie next to the overpriced, overhyped bmw motorsikkle thingie..oops, strike that last...I OWN one of those overprived, overhyped bmw thingies...but not an ipod..

and i wont be coming close to doing that. in fact, i will be lucky to dump 5gigs on it at first.

repoe3

If your player can support it, 96k WMAs sound just as good as 128k MP3s and take up around 1/2-3/4 of the space. :)

That said, I use MusicMatch to rip my CDs at 160k and then let iTunes be the actual player so my iPod can get it's updates. Sort of hoping my 5GB drive (REAL SCROLL WHEEL!) will die so I can upgrade to a 10GB and a real battery. :D

Although Firewire at 400 *looks* like it's slower than USB2 at 480Mb/s, in real life it ain't that way. Really.

Take 2 iPods, FW and USB2. Load 1000 new songs each way. See the difference. Pretty much any published benchmark also shows FW as faster, especially for external hard drives.

Oh yeah, and MP3 is obsolete. ;-)

Mike

i ended up getting a PCMCIA card with two firewire ports for my laptop, $30, anticipating getting an external HDD for serious backups and data transport...well, with the influx of USB2.0, there arent nearly as many options out there for a firewire external drive...in fact, i might just build my own with an Ultra enclosure. it would still be cheaper than buying one in a box.

repoe3
12 gigs and rolling so far on the iPod

repoe:
always cheaper to roll your own
go buy a standard laptop form factor enclosure that takes 2.5" harddrives (try tigerdirect.com)
buy the biggest 2.5" ff drive out there (I think 100Gb currently)
live happily ever after
I boot redhat 9 off my 2.5" external hdd with my work IBM laptop; works like a charm
i really like my 1GB memory stick-that-plugs-into-a-mp3 headunit player I got from tigerdirect...$140.00, small enough to fit into the palm of my hand, iuses as many 1GB sticks as I want to buy if it falls into the ocean I'm out 140.00, not 399.00at last count I'm up to 22GB of 256KBS 44100KHZ mp3 files...and after dsp'en 'em thru adobe audition, they sound better than when they came off my spendy denon turntable...ain't digital great?