iPod Rackmount

[David]

http://www.numark.com/fitforsound looks like it may do what you want!

[Dan Appleby]

See... I could have made millions!!

[gnomatron]

it is not acceptable for the sound company to turn up using Ipods as a professional sound source, irrespective of whether a digital licence is held or not. Apparently this is something to do with restrictions imposed by Apple.

Do we have anything in writing to back up that statement? If true it's a bit of a worry - you can't use an iPod as a sound source?? Since when did PPL restrictions apply to choice of playback hardware? B-)

 

I suspect it's more to do with itunes restrictions than ipod restrictions, that would make more sense, although I am jumping to conclusions here. Certainly I don't see why apple should be able to make any restrctions on professional use of their hardware. Not being allowed to use them "professionally" but being allowed to use a clients ipod doesn't make any sense really either, surely the client's ipod is even less likely to be kosher than your company's one. At least if it's your ipod you know where all the tunes on it were bought.

 

Mind you if you own it then you're better to get another mp3 player that's better and cheaper than an ipod.

[pattonaudio]

...or bring back a rackmount minidisc player?

Don't Tascam make an rackmount MD with balanced outs?

 

 

is this what the OP had in mind? Linky

[Rob_Beech]

Yes, I suspect something like that would be similar in SOME ways to what the OP was talking about. But of course, let's not forget that this product WASN'T available some 2 years ago when Dan first posted.

[pattonaudio]

Yes, I suspect something like that would be similar in SOME ways to what the OP was talking about. But of course, let's not forget that this product WASN'T available some 2 years ago when Dan first posted.

 

 

Rob forgive me I am half asleep today been a long weekend, had Preston Reid and the Eva Cassidy story.

[Mr_Jules]

I've been using The Numark Fit for Sound docking systems for some time now. Having attempted and failed to implement a no mp3 player rule where I work it proved to be the only viable alternative. It does exactly what it says on the box, but when push comes to shove, I still prefer a real mini disk or CD. Call me old fashioned, but I like proper sized buttons, and not being a iPod owner myself, I just hate the twiddly little controls, especially on some of the smaller models.

 

To go slightly OT here, I think that we have to be very careful if we allow such devices to become readily acceptable. What about other non-standard players such as those datasticks that have an inbuilt player with microjack connectors, or phones - I've been handed a couple this term already. God only knows what's going to be coming in the years ahead. Do we really want to be constantly playing catch-up with the latest gizmos and toys? Some of these may sound fine through cheap in-ear phones, but terrible through a full-sized PA, and the compression is often unacceptable for live playback - with the owner always insisting that it sounds fine thorough earphones. Rather than trying to find workable solutions to these players, shouldn't we be educating their owners that there are professional standards that they should conform to, and that expecting us to instantly adapt to the latest finger-sized bit of plastic that they throw at us is not acceptable.

[Andrew Edwards]

it is not acceptable for the sound company to turn up using Ipods as a professional sound source, irrespective of whether a digital licence is held or not. Apparently this is something to do with restrictions imposed by Apple.

Do we have anything in writing to back up that statement? If true it's a bit of a worry - you can't use an iPod as a sound source?? Since when did PPL restrictions apply to choice of playback hardware? :(

 

I haven't got one to hand to check but I am sure it is in the iPod End User Licence Agreement. It is my understanding that it is down to the codecs used in the device not the device itself. Apple would pay to be able to use certain codecs in its device. How these codecs are to be used is down to the agreement they have with the codec owner as it were. I suspect apple only paid for consumer use and not commercial for one of more codecs.

 

CD and DVD are exactly the same. Someone owns the physical disc technology and someone else owns the media digital encoding technology.

 

edit: grammar

[jamesperrett]

Rather than trying to find workable solutions to these players, shouldn't we be educating their owners that there are professional standards that they should conform to, and that expecting us to instantly adapt to the latest finger-sized bit of plastic that they throw at us is not acceptable.

 

I think you are fighting for a lost cause. I've seen plenty of professional and not so professional sound engineers use little mp3 players for playback and the ones I've used have been fine for the intended purpose. I've heard CD players that sound worse than the average mp3 player and are also less reliable - and don't even mention the old days of cassette backing tracks.

 

As has been already mentioned, a simple 3.5mm stereo plug to whatever connector your mising desk uses will handle just about any of these new devices.

 

 

Cheers

 

James.

[Mr_Jules]

a simple 3.5mm stereo plug to whatever connector your mising desk uses will handle just about any of these new devices.

 

True, and if you're using your own device that you're familiar with, then no problems, But they are really fiddly at times, and if you're trying to do something specific (rather than just FOH music), such a start a specific song at a specific time, then things can get a bit hairy. It just smacks of laziness on the part of the client - "I'll just hand over an MP3 player...." rather than burning to disk, or approaching the board op the day before hand to find out what is best for them. I've been handed half a dozen of the little bleeders before a gig, each with a different track ready to go - all of them with a varying amount of charge in them. Can I deal with it? Sure, Would I rather be treated with a little more respect? Absolutely!

 

J

[J Pearce]

I've been handed a phone and hands free kit (with stereo 3.5mm jack out) before...

[soundboynz]

...or bring back a rackmount minidisc player?

Don't Tascam make an rackmount MD with balanced outs?

 

Tascam do, a 2U unit, but I have to say I prefer the Sony 1U MDS E-12

 

http://aes.harmony-central.com/109AES/Content/Sony/PR/mdse12-sm.jpg

 

1U always better than 2!!!

[lite_lad]

wouldn't something like this be useful(but obviously not in a car!)

[ChazHS]

The Numark iDEC is a pretty good solution. Either that or the Cortex HDC-500, which is a 1U USB player. As the Cortex is a DJ player it has fully buffered memory so there's no cue/play lag, as well as playlist options balanced outs etc. As well as because its USB it will play from any mass storage MP3 player, not just the iPod! =)

 

If you wanted to go the whole hog use a CDJ-400, I've got a pair (got sent them by Pioneer to play with as I'm a DJ) and they have a USB port on them and the ability to play from iPods as well as any other hard drive/flash drive with USB.