Looking at buying iPad2. Couple of questions...

[extendedforecast]

Hi. I purchased a Motorola Xoom tablet about a month ago and I can safely say it has replaced most of laptops day to day tasks like sitting in the living room and checking email, surfing the web, watching TV shows/movies etc. Now my husband is a bit jealous since he's still firing up the Windows 7 lappy whenever he wants to do any computing. He's not the most tech savvy individual however.

I don't think I want to get him a Xoom as I feel it wont be too friendly to a non power user. I'm pretty sure he can handle the easier iPad. I did get him an iPod touch a couple years ago and he can use everything on it except iTunes. He wont use iTunes to manage his music so the device has been pretty much rendered useless in our house. So on iPad2, what are the other options for adding music files? He loves his music. If he could easily select and copy music files (which we have all stored on the NAS) to the iPad2 it will be a hit. If not, it will become another expensive paperweight. So I'm curious what are the options (I suppose app wise) for syncing music.

On Xoom I have a file browser that opens the NAS and the local files (I just navigate to the music folder) and I just select all, Deselect the certain songs I don't want and just hit copy. This will overwrite the music folder wirelessly. The other option I can use is storing all my music in Amazons cloud and selecting from their app which songs to store locally. He likes both these options. Can I do this on iPad2 or is it stuck with the iTunes environment?

I know he's not going to deal well with Androids multitasking and foreground/background programs. Notification pop ups will just confuse him although he is ok with home screen push notifications on iOS (I have to hide all of his icons in the Windows OS.) And once he is presented with both a backing out and home screen button...he will just get dizzy. I know this because I made the mistake of getting him a Windows 7 phone because I thought it looked easy. iPad2 has a single be all end all button. This is what I'm dealing with. Lol. Please tell me there's an app that's an alternate iTunes that will sync wirelessly upon a manual selection and I will order this thing.

Thanks in advance for your help.

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[DontUnderstandMyIpad]

The way the tablet is intended to be used, you are probably looking for another Android tablet. iTunes is at the core of iOS device synchronization. In terms of management the iPod touch and iPad work exactly the same way, so considering the iPod isn't getting used, the Ipad won't be of much use either. There just is no way around iTunes, if you want to store music on the iPad.

If you just want to stream music from the NAS, then there are apps available, which let you access the NAS and play the songs, but you can't just save the music files from the NAS and add them to the iPod app.

Now, for most iPad restrictions, there are workarounds, storing music on the iPad does require iTunes. You can of course save music files on the iPad, but they won't be added to the standard iPod, making it fairly pointless.

So in conclusion, if iTunes is to be avoided at all cost, then an Android tablet will be the better choice.

 

[cypress]

Yeah I face the same dilemma in that sense I hate I-tunes for music. I truely love the Zune and how it works with my music. I would suggest in your case that maybe u move towards the Android if music is a big part of why you would be getting him a tablet.

 

[extendedforecast]

argh! How about when an iPad2 jailbreak comes out? Are there cydia apps that replace the itunes function. Streaming for the NAS is cool but there will be times he leaves the network (like on an airplane) he'll want local copies. I can set it up for him. Its really the operating environment that has to be very user friendly. The problem with Android is its always going to have more than one button and its always going to multi task. IPad2 is like the perfect tablet for his needs minus iTunes synching if I can get a work around. So sad. Must write to Apple corporation.

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[DontUnderstandMyIpad]

Once a jailbreak comes out, there are other means of storing music, but they are not user-friendly.

Just from reading your comments, it seems that the iPad seems to be the perfect device. So if your music library is not changing, then you could sync with iTunes to transfer the music and then never use iTunes again.

 

[jmorton10]

. So iff your music library is not changing, then you could sync with iTunes to transfer the music and then never use iTunes again.

I agree 100%

I absolutely HATE iTunes and how apple requires it to be used, but I took something like 800 songs from my DroidX phone memory card and copied them to a PC and synced them once to my ipad2 with iTunes.

I could easily leave it that way and never use iTunes again if I wanted.

 

[zipur]

Yeah I face the same dilemma in that sense I hate I-tunes for music. I truely love the Zune and how it works with my music. I would suggest in your case that maybe u move towards the Android if music is a big part of why you would be getting him a tablet.

What Zune! I hate the Zune interface they lock you down more than IoS.
It nice how you can look up artists bio and history but thats about it. The volume keys are a major pain, the EQ's suck and worst of all its MS so very poor battery life.

 

[iRuthlessPad]

If u want that kind of functionality then ur better off buying him an android tablet..

 

[Rudinater]

Simple fact is Itunes is the way to life on the Ipad just as it is on the Ipod Touch. Any time you want a new app you will have to deal with Itune's and it way of thinking.

Not a Itunes fan either, but I understand the driving force behind it. As a side note I even understand and work on the software that drives Itunes

 

[cypress]

Yeah I face the same dilemma in that sense I hate I-tunes for music. I truely love the Zune and how it works with my music. I would suggest in your case that maybe u move towards the Android if music is a big part of why you would be getting him a tablet.

What Zune! I hate the Zune interface they lock you down more than IoS.
It nice how you can look up artists bio and history but thats about it. The volume keys are a major pain, the EQ's suck and worst of all its MS so very poor battery life.

The Zune Pass is all i have ever needed. It's paid for itself many times I can stream the music I want and just keep 10 of them each month. The software is nice. I am not soo much into the EQ's cuz I'm not a huge audiophile but it still does a heck of job. As far as the battery life I get alot out of my Zune HD. I owned a ipod before the Zune and I never really liked it at all. Super Happy with my purchase.

 

[reddead]

Get him a samsung galaxy tab 10.1,excellent replacement for the ipad2....the only problem would be the lack of apps....

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[extendedforecast]

I actually pulled the trigger on ipad2. I really can't go Android with him as much as I'd like to. I really would like android like functions for the music in this case. Someone here reminded me I can just initially sync once and be done with it. I agreed to manage his iTunes when he needs local copies and he knows how to use the Amazon cloud. I think it will be ok. Since its a good kindle reader and more of a laptop replacement he'll use it a lot more than Touch. The touch is just too small for him to do anything on...particulalry virtual keyboard...to use it for more than an iPod.


I really can't work with iTunes with a tablet. So I really can't use IOS. I have a few field offices where I have to add files to and take files from certain folders in Network storage. There is just no easy way to do this in iOs it seems without a jailbreak. I wonder if Apple recognizes the enterprise usage limitations iTunes syncing imposes on their product. Well I'm sure they do. But man a real file browser and samba support would be killer. Although honestly I'd probably stick with an Android tablet. I really love the Xoom.

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[jsh1120]

I actually pulled the trigger on ipad2. I really can't go Android with him as much as I'd like to. I really would like android like functions for the music in this case. Someone here reminded me I can just initially sync once and be done with it. I agreed to manage his iTunes when he needs local copies and he knows how to use the Amazon cloud. I think it will be ok. Since its a good kindle reader and more of a laptop replacement he'll use it a lot more than Touch. The touch is just too small for him to do anything on...particulalry virtual keyboard...to use it for more than an iPod.


I really can't work with iTunes with a tablet. So I really can't use IOS. I have a few field offices where I have to add files to and take files from certain folders in Network storage. There is just no easy way to do this in iOs it seems without a jailbreak. I wonder if Apple recognizes the enterprise usage limitations iTunes syncing imposes on their product. Well I'm sure they do. But man a real file browser and samba support would be killer. Although honestly I'd probably stick with an Android tablet. I really love the Xoom.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

Interesting perspective. Your husband and my wife sound like siblings. Coming from a Unix/Linux/Windows/Android background myself, I found adjustment to the iPad to be at least puzzling, if not painful.

I knew, of course, that I'd face some issues in moving into the Apple environment, but what I didn't fully appreciate was that the iPad really isn't a small computer; it's a giant iTouch. And as one of the mods here put it, it's an "app-centric," not a "file-centric" device. Once I got my head around that concept, I realized why I was so puzzled by much of the philosophy that seems to drive the iPad.

You're right, of course, that the tight integration with iTunes is a royal pain. Not only because, as you noted, it undermines any sort of corporate integration for the iPad, but because it provides such lousy search and browse functionality for apps. I spent about three hours last night looking for a few apps in different categories and must have re-entered my search criteria at least 50 times and paged time and again through apps I'd already examined. Argghhh....

All in all, the effort to use a system designed primarily to market songs as an application marketplace and a central file management system for millions of users strikes me as insane. Oh well. The device itself is marvelous. I'm used to putting up with bizarre corporate decisions by hardware and software firms. I live in Redmond, Washington.

 

[extendedforecast]

Ha ha. That's funny. I know how you feel. Our laptops are Windows 7. But I run a dedicated Linux desktop output to a Sony Bravia TV. (Its on like a month and a half of up time right now!) Just navitage to the right input on the TV and bam all unrestricted media content. I use the Xoom as (among other things) a giant remote. The media server software I have running is so much better than Microsoft's (which is a total CPU hog.) But ultimately I need to manage the media from the giant remote so iTunes is just one giant stumbling block. The media server will still pick up iOS devices for the purposes of displaying centralized content but i'm still having trouble pushing media to and from them. You HAVE to use iTunes for that. No other way around as it seems Apple will never approve an app that can (godforbid) copy one file from NAS to the device without the syncing rigamarole. So now Im really stuck between deciding on keeping iTunes on his laptop or the Linux server box (although realistically I'll have to duplicate some content on both.) This is really a pain as it defeats the purpose of a dedicated Linux box with a NAS mounted as its external drive.

But you are right the iOS devices are just big app launchers. This is good for the hubby in that I can give him the 5 apps he needs and if he needs to start over he can just hit home button. He is restricted to what the app does and that's a good thing. Tap an icon and.it just works. But for me it also means lots of workarounds for managing files.

The hardware of the iPad is nice. Although not fully as good as the xoom. But my real hang up is its entire iTunes philosophy of total control of local content/file management. It seems to fly in the face of the quicking trend of using cloud based solutions particularly for collaborative content in the enterprise setting. I mean...who wants to use a group Dropbox? Lol. I guess companies could design proprietary apps with Apple's blessing.

Still it's too hard for me to not be in control of the file management. It's too hard for me to learn how to not multitask. As much visual pop as the iPad hardware has (it really is light and gorgeous and colorful) I don't think I could ever learn how to use an app launcher. As more average users set up more home networks with the help of services like media center and twonky and more businesses move to cloud file management it'll be interesting to.see how long Apple holds on to its iTunes philosophy. I mean, it seems so 2002 right? The draw used to be one iOS based device that does everything. That gap has closed. It will always have its market but I'm guessing in 10 years it will look just like apple/Microsoft did in the pc market just on mobile devices.

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[iDevice.mobi]

Hi. I purchased a Motorola Xoom tablet about a month ago and I can safely say it has replaced most of laptops day to day tasks like sitting in the living room and checking email, surfing the web, watching TV shows/movies etc. Now my husband is a bit jealous since he's still firing up the Windows 7 lappy whenever he wants to do any computing. He's not the most tech savvy individual however.

I don't think I want to get him a Xoom as I feel it wont be too friendly to a non power user. I'm pretty sure he can handle the easier iPad. I did get him an iPod touch a couple years ago and he can use everything on it except iTunes. He wont use iTunes to manage his music so the device has been pretty much rendered useless in our house. So on iPad2, what are the other options for adding music files? He loves his music. If he could easily select and copy music files (which we have all stored on the NAS) to the iPad2 it will be a hit. If not, it will become another expensive paperweight. So I'm curious what are the options (I suppose app wise) for syncing music.

On Xoom I have a file browser that opens the NAS and the local files (I just navigate to the music folder) and I just select all, Deselect the certain songs I don't want and just hit copy. This will overwrite the music folder wirelessly. The other option I can use is storing all my music in Amazons cloud and selecting from their app which songs to store locally. He likes both these options. Can I do this on iPad2 or is it stuck with the iTunes environment?

I know he's not going to deal well with Androids multitasking and foreground/background programs. Notification pop ups will just confuse him although he is ok with home screen push notifications on iOS (I have to hide all of his icons in the Windows OS.) And once he is presented with both a backing out and home screen button...he will just get dizzy. I know this because I made the mistake of getting him a Windows 7 phone because I thought it looked easy. iPad2 has a single be all end all button. This is what I'm dealing with. Lol. Please tell me there's an app that's an alternate iTunes that will sync wirelessly upon a manual selection and I will order this thing.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

Great, you are are one of very few XOOM buyers because Xoom is the biggest flop of the year. Stuck with iTunes or blessed with iTunes ?
We have thousands of amazingly useful lectures from reputed and learned professors from Harvard, Stanford universities.
Ok Xoom users hardly care about those, research shows what kind of people use Samsung Galaxy or Xoom.lol
They care about cloud music which is available on every device that is connected to Internet. There is nothing new about that, technology deprived people can just be exited to see tacky Xoom commercial.

Have you ever heard of WebDAV server? Just upload music there from iPad and then stream, what's the big deal. You can copy ,move the song, make playlist,email to friend,share on Facebook,Twitter.You can skip the song, watch full length movies too.

I have AirVideo on my iPad and also AirPlay, I can access server from iPad and listen to any song,watch any movie, I can convert the movie format wirelessly and then add them to WebDAV server or iTunes again wirelessly. I can control media from any corner of the house, while having beer in my swimming pool , I can change the music on my home theater system wirelessly.

While lying on bed, I can watch any movie on my 1080 P TV or on my projector. And you are stuck on cheesy cloud music which have been there for ever. Every person who have little knowledge about tech knows cloud based music management is so simple and old.

Shoot a video ,edit on iPad and add effects then stream directly to HD TV in seconds without any cable or hook ups.

Its fun to see how tech bankrupt people go crazy about a technology which has been there forever. Companies like Motorola,Samsung just change the term little bit and these ordinary people go crazy.
iPad still holds 75% and many hospital,airlines, corporate offices and Universities have incorporated iPad into their operation. None did that for tacky Xoom that has hardly any apps which makes it totally useless. Xoom plays FLASH, who cares? iPad can play HBO without flash. iPad can stream live TV,can play video from every site plus plays every TV show from abc for free.Not only that iPad has the maximum magazines available.

Many medical and business student have made iPad as their primary reading device because many major books are available on it. Xoom is just a poor and incapable cousin of iPad.