Plugin For Winamp Allows Downloading From iPod

slicenglide writes "A newly released plugin for Winamp allows you to copy music from your iPod to your computer. Wired has picked up the story and includes a link to the WinAmp plugin page where you can grab yourself a copy. "

Re:Big Deal

[flamearrows]

But it isn't obvious to the common users, nor is it an easy or efficient method of doing so. The winamp plug-in solves both problems.

Re:Big Deal

[Trillan]

The real problem is that the story is in the mainstream media now.

Direct link to homepage

[Will Fisher]

Here is a direct link to the homepage [mlipod.com] for the winamp iPod plugin.

We have many other features than just copy to hard drive, mlipod provides fully fledged iPod management. Go check it out!

Will - Lead dev for mlipod

Re:Wow, news to me

[Jarlsberg]

I agree with you. If I had bought an Ipod, I would have assumed you could copy tracks back and forth, just like you can with any other MP3 player (that I've used, anyway). I don't really *get* the whole Ipod thing (why all the fuzz over a simple music player?), so I never bothered to buy one.

Plug-In Useless

[AlexTheBeast]

So you can move files off/on your iPod with this plug-in... you still can't play them any where else very easily!

Sure they are a few techniques out there [tech-recipes.com] that sometimes (depending on how quickly it is patched) allows you to copy the DRM protected files... but you are still locked in with evil DRM.

Copying the files around is not the problem, removing the DRM is the challenge.

When Will They Learn?

[gadlaw]

People want to be able to use their music and their devices as they see fit and they will find a way to make that happen when companies try to cripple their otherwise good products. I bought my iPod thinking that it was probably locked down and the ability to transfer songs and files would be limited but I knew you people out there would fix the problem. It is annoying when locked down proprietary design locks the features down of a device I would otherwise buy and so I will look elsewhere when that happens -I'm looking at you Sony. (take your memory sticks and shove them) The iPod is popular despite it's attempted lockdown and they would do well to not follow the Sony example.

You can take music off it

[simscitizen]

OP is referring to the fact that you CAN take music off it, and clearly you've not done your research well in the slightest. Just use a program like ephpod.

Re:Piracy tool?

[anime_layer]

Well here in Switzerland it is perfectly legal to hand your iPod to a close friend and let him copy your music off it. You can freely copy copyrighted works between family members and close friends.

Re:Wow, news to me

[callipygian-showsyst]

That's why I got a Sampod [robert.to].

It supports open, industry standards like OGG Vorbis. Also, the "DRM" is used by a wide number of vendors, giving me the choice of at least 8 on-line music stores to purchase or "lease" music from.

I simply plugged it into my Windows XP laptop and it worked--no software to install. Just press the "sync" button from Windows Media player 10.

Copying music off is as easy as copying music on.

Total Commander and Senuti could do this already.

[Domini]

Total Commander [ghisler.com] can see the files on the iPod using this [totalcmd.net] file system plugin. (link to download may be broken, but plugin can be found elsewhere...)

TC is all you really ever need, and can replace explorer quite effectively with loads of added bonuses.

I've also used a neat OS X util called Senuti (iTunes backward) to be able to copy from and to the iPod and do all sorts of other cool things.

(Next to zsh and vi, it's the cheese!) ;)

Re:Wow, news to me

[newend]

I am also surprised. Especially since the first time I tried to copy music off a friend's iPod onto my computer it worked. The only problem I noticed was that it truncated file names (a bitch and a half to go back and fix).

Re:Direct link to homepage

[PhotoBoy]

Great work! I've been using EphPod for ages as it supports Winamp playlists but obviously this is even better, especially since it doesn't crash all the time like EphPod... ;)

I'm glad there are more and more alternatives to iTunes, it's such a horrid program to use IMO.

Re:Bah

[sacrilicious]

I've tried two of the utilities you mention (G*) and in each case gave up on getting them to function. I'm sure with enough time and fiddling it would have happened, but getting them to work wasn't high-enough priority for me to warrant putting in lots of time. If this new winamp thing "just works", no compilation/configuring involved, I would consider that a big step forward.

But does it support Speex?

[cduffy]

No, I'm not joking. I occasionally want voice recorder functionality, and just about everyone seems to use some proprietary format or another for their hardware -- while Speex gets compression rates with the best of them, and works on all the platforms I use.

Once upon a time I might have bought a player with Vorbis support -- but my money's gotten tighter since then, so my requirements have gone up. Where's the dedicated hardware with Speex support?

Re:Wow, news to me

[Daytona955i]

First, I think iPod's intent to not allow you to download tracks from your iPod was to help their stance with the music industry. (namely RIAA) However it is really easy to find programs that will allow you to get songs off of your iPod. You can however, easily upload/download other files to your iPod without any external programs.

Pros and cons of an iPod:
First, an iPod has one of the best interfaces of any portable music player I've ever seen. However I think the most powerful aspect of the iPod is using it in conjunction with iTunes. Yes, it sucks that it's not available for Linux but I use a powerbook as my main personal desktop and Linux mainly for mythtv and my servers. I really love the smart playlists and the ratings that you have available to you in iTunes. I can easily create complicated filters to say include all songs that have a rating of 4 or higher but don't include any Christmas songs.

Also while I agree that DRM sucks, you can easily burn a cd and then rip the resulting CD back into mp3s with no DRM. I've also found that the iTunes store has a decent selection of music.

The iPod also has the ability to remember where you stopped playing audiobooks. I think this is really cool because I have a long commute and I don't have to fiddle with fast forwarding or anything.

There are a lot of car manufacturers who now offer easy ways of attaching your iPod to your cars stereo, you can also usually use the controls on the steering wheel if your car has them.

I will admit that the iPod also has some downsides... first if you use napster, you are out of luck. The only option I have seen to get napster songs onto your iPod is to use a program that records the output of your soundcard. This just takes forever. Personally I don't have a napster subscription but I know some people who do and I know that some colleges (like psu) have subscriptions for all their students.

It also won't play ogg formatted songs. For me this is a biggie. While most of my songs are already in mp3 format, I have been thinking of switching to ogg for my new songs but I guess I will have to wait on that.

I recently got a 60GB iPod photo and I think it rocks! I plan on getting one of the speaker docks to put in the nursery for our new baby and have a playlist of just children's music. I will also always have said music with me in the car and then when I go to work, I don't have to worry about having the car loaded with children's music, I just change the playlist to one of my own. My wife also has an iPod mini so she can use the speaker dock while I'm at work.

*SIGH* How quickly people forget...

[DLWormwood]

If it applies to your own MP3 collection, I'm shocked there has not been more outrage about this. What right does Apple have to restrict how you use YOUR music?!

I've already mentioned this before, and it looks like I'm going to have to mention it again. It was not Apple's original idea to "prevent" music uploading from MP3 players, but it was the natural result of two factors:

1. iTunes was originally a third-party sound player called SoundJam, which was originally made to work with players like the Diamond Rio. The original Rios, being very small capacity propretary flash devices, didn't have the circuitry and UI to handle uploading files back to a host computer.
2. The RIO was challenged in US court by the RIAA as encouraging piracy, but the court found in favor of Diamond partly because the RIAA's argument made no sense for a device that couldn't upload, only download.

Apple's continued "hiding" of the song files from the rest of the file system is simply legal cover to defend themselves from the RIAA. Do you really think Apple could have gotten the Music Store off the ground if the iPod more openly supported uploading?