Managing large number of iPod/MP3 players...

December 16, 2008 7:37 AM

My job's communication directors want to manage a group of iPods to disseminate podcasts to the suits. Problem is, they want one person to handle all the downloads. Is an iPod the best way to go about this?

First assumption: The suits are a bunch of old men who can barely use their cell phones, let alone manage podcast subscriptions and such.

2nd assumption: the co-coordinator will be gathering podcasts and mp3 files from a variety of sources and will be loading up a number (10-20) mp3 players and will be handing those out to the suits.

3rd assumption: I do not, nor have I ever had an iPod.

The problem I see is that iTunes is not very friendly to syncing to multiple devices. I know that it may support 2-3 devices before getting into DRM issues with protected media, which we will not be dealing with; I just don't think it's feasible that it could sync a dozen or more devices without getting screwy.

My alternate plan that I will be presenting to my colleagues later this week will be to use a number of MP3 players that allow you drag and drop access to the music library. This will allow the coordinator to manually move the MP3s to the devices like a disk drive. I have a SanDisk player that works like this and can be bought for half the price of an iPod shuffle or whatnot.

I'm asking here because I've used iTunes a bit in the past and have used iPods very little. I set a Shuffle up for a customer years ago and what I do know is that Apple does not allow access to the media library on the device and that the only way to get music on the device is through a 3rd party application. I need confirmation or alternate ideas so I know what I'm talking about during this meeting.

Thanks in advance,

posted by daHIFI to technology (5 comments total)

Do you mean syncing a dozen at a time? If not, then I think you should be okay. Ipods are not convenient to sync to multiple computers. However, one computer with one iTunes should be able to handle of many ipods syncing non-DRM podcasts. I personally had a computer with as many as 3 different iPods syncing to it on a regular basis, I had no problems. But I wasn't syncing them at the same time.

Also, at least on my nano and old ipod photo, if you checked a certain box on iTunes, it would read as a USB drive when attached to a non-home computer. Not saying the ipod is the way to go, but I don't think this aspect of it should be a problem.
posted by bluejayk at 8:10 AM on December 16, 2008

You should have no problems syncing multiple devices. Podcasts generally are not DRM'ed, and Apple's DRM will let you copy to unlimited portable players (the restriction is on desktops, since you "officially" can't copy files off the iPod).

Is this a one-time-only deal? If not, I'd suggest configuring the iPods to all auto-sync on connect, and having one station set up just for those, which has all the podcast subscriptions. They walk in, put their iPod in the dock, and pick it up a minute or so later.
posted by mkultra at 8:12 AM on December 16, 2008 [1 favorite]

I set a Shuffle up for a customer years ago and what I do know is that Apple does not allow access to the media library on the device and that the only way to get music on the device is through a 3rd party application.

If what you mean is "though it is simple to copy music from a computer to an ipod using itunes, it is difficult to copy music back from the ipod to the computer" that is correct.

Assuming you don't want to use third party software, you can manage an iPod from several different computers, but each iPod can only be tied to one iTunes account at a time, which is tied to any DRMed purchases. So your suits aren't going to be able to buy music on their home computer then have someone at the office copy their podcasts onto the same ipod, without that someone having access to the suit's personal itunes account. That said, if the suits are loading up their ipods at home, they can probably take care of their own podcasts - just set up an RSS feed of what you want them to load.

The problem I see is that iTunes is not very friendly to syncing to multiple devices. I know that it may support 2-3 devices before getting into DRM issues with protected media, which we will not be dealing with; I just don't think it's feasible that it could sync a dozen or more devices without getting screwy.

I googled "ipods per computer" and learned according to the documentation one iTunes account can sync to up to 5 computers at a time, and those computers can load an unlimited number of iPods with music. I'm not sure how many iPods you could connect simultaneously though.

Perhaps this sounds cynical, but the objective might be to give the directors free ipods on the company's dime, rather than to achieve anything in particular. If this is the aim they might want you to select the showiest solution, not the best one.
posted by Mike1024 at 8:20 AM on December 16, 2008

... what I do know is that Apple does not allow access to the media library on the device and that the only way to get music on the device is through a 3rd party application.

If you want drag-to-the-hard-drive-and-listen ability, then this is correct. The iPod stores music files in machine-named, hidden directories, and uses a central database to "remember" which song/audio file is which.

The suits are a bunch of old men who can barely use their cell phones, let alone manage podcast subscriptions and such.

Is it possible to rethink this? iTunes podcasting can be made incredibly transparent, in the sense that you can set things up so that podcasts are automatically downloaded to a computer just by starting up iTunes, and all new podcasts are transferred to the iPod just by plugging it in. You could then set up an in-house RSS feed that the suits' computers would be set up to automatically download from, to which you (or whoever the "single person" is) would add podcasts as necessary; this would eliminate the need for managing subscriptions beyond an initial setup.

Of course, whether a setup like this would be effective might depend on how often the podcasts are going to be updated. Your question kinda implies that they're not going to be updated all that often, since it's hard to imagine collecting and redistributing 10-20 iPods from and to the suits every day.
posted by Johnny Assay at 8:20 AM on December 16, 2008

Thanks everyone. I confirmed with a coworker that we'll be able to copy non-DRMed podcasts to an unlimited number of devices, which is what we want to do. I'm not worried about DRM or iTunes store purchases.

I saw that Microsoft has some kind of podcasting solution they're that's in beta for Sharepoint. We might publish the podcasts thru a SP RSS feed and sync through iTunes that way for people with more technical know-how.

Thanks for the confirmation everyone. AskMe to the rescue again!
posted by daHIFI at 8:59 AM on December 16, 2008