Anyone here listen to classical music on an iPod?

[Norman]

Of course I do when I am traveling. I have a selection of whole operas which I listen to. Quality? That's not what I am looking for when I am on an airplane but the share enjoyment of the music. Even siting in the opera house the quality is not always good, it the sound of people, of the stage etc. iPod is great, it enables me to bring my music with me. However I have invested in good earphones.

[JHC]

i own a creative mp3/wma player. never downloaded any tune cause never could install the software properly. anyway i'm used to recording music in real time, it implies that you still have time for music.

the sound on this little device is average but even for classical pieces with lots of dynamics it's ok. and i generally listen to it on the train.

Hi Mr Sun I have a Creative mp3 player as well, I gave up trying to load via the Creative soft ware so many things went wrong, I now load direct from Windows Media Player no mistakes and a lot easier, I tried various bit rates and in the end settled on 192kbps, I was amazed at the audio quality with the in ear [canal] phones, but keep the volume well down to 3 or 4 bars just to protect the hearing.

[tittualex]

I use i-pod to listen to classical music........ I cant find much difference in quality.......... but prolonged use of ear phones may have a negative effect on our hearing..............

[Contratrombone64]

prolonged use of ear phones DOES have a negative effect on one's hearing (especially when your music's up loud) ... think it's called tinitus.

I own noise reduction earphones ... which are marvellous as I can have the volume down to a civilised level.

Though I remember listening to the last movement of Mahler 6 recently and dozed off on the train right near the end ... and was awoken with a start as the last three fate chords scared the bejeepers out of me.

[Alistair]

Yeah i have it on my iPod

[Ntalikeris666]

Yeap, i used to listen to pipe organ music in my MP3, but 3 months ago, someone broke into my house, and along with all the other stuff he took, he also took my MP3 :-(

[SilverLuna]

I have nuthing BUT organ music on my iPod!! xP

[Montefalco]

I listen to lots of classical music on my iPod. Unfortunately it's only 8GB so I can only have a small amount on there.
iPods are much better for listening to in cars. I find that when music is playing through speakers the sounds of the car drown out the music, but through earphones it is pretty good.

[Soubasse]

So glad to see some iTunes-haters here, it completely drives me up the wall with their unreasonably draconian restrictions on file management. Why I can't use my iPod like a simple USB drive is beyond me. My iPod (once I get over the frustrations of loading tracks into it) has a very mixed bag. Current "artist/composer" list includes:

Berlioz
Holst
Bartok
Beethoven
Alain
Messiaen
Part
Copland
Vaughan Williams

and a liberal selection of Prog Rock / Electronic stuff including:

Yes
Vangelis
Tangerine Dream
Klaus Schulze
Kate Bush
Genesis
Spock's Beard
Rick Wakeman
Mike Oldfield
Marillion
Porcupine Tree
Muse
Jean Michel Jarre
Focus
etc etc etc

Still the most important thing in listening with this format is the type of earbuds. I prefer headphones as they tend to cover a broader frequency range which is much more important with the orchestral and organ tracks.

The single most important thing for anyone is not to overdo the listening duration or the volume level (and far too many of today's young 'uns overdo both!)

[Pat17]

I do have an iPod as well, which I'm using as a car audio system source actually - my whole music is available and I just can choose anything according to my mood. Having to drive quite a lot, this is a blessing.

What amazes me is -

- the sound quality. Using a 192 kbps setting, it doesn't make any difference over a CD played in the same car - which of course is not the optimal environment for an audio system.

- its reliability. Temperature in summer time is up to 50-55°C, even (much) more in the car when left outside during the day, and the iPod which remains all the time in the car is not affected at all...

As for iTunes, I do agree it's not the best ergonomics ever, but the beauty of the system is one can change the parameters manually, in a very easy way. I have created an "Organ" kind of music for instance...

[Povster]

I do have an iPod as well, which I'm using as a car audio system source actually - my whole music is available and I just can choose anything according to my mood. Having to drive quite a lot, this is a blessing.

What amazes me is -

- the sound quality. Using a 192 kbps setting, it doesn't make any difference over a CD played in the same car - which of course is not the optimal environment for an audio system.

- its reliability. Temperature in summer time is up to 50-55°C, even (much) more in the car when left outside during the day, and the iPod which remains all the time in the car is not affected at all...

As for iTunes, I do agree it's not the best ergonomics ever, but the beauty of the system is one can change the parameters manually, in a very easy way. I have created an "Organ" kind of music for instance...

I agree with Pat here. While I may use Itunes to make a few cds for my card, I usually just plug the ipod into the car's receiver And yes, certainly nit the ideal listening environment (unless you want to be the target of rubberneckers on the highway looking at the relics of you and your auto). But overall I am quite happy with the sound quality. Does it differ from CD? Obviously it depends on the source material. But to my ear even CDs are a bit inferior to analog. But I am not overly concerned. CDs and Ipods and even MP3s can still sound quite good.

[methodistgirl]

I have some classical, country, jazz, up beat, and pop on my ipod.
judy tooley

[JHC]

Pat,Povster.
192kbps is excellent for mp3, and if your car player is able to play mp3 CDs even better its only when played through a good HiFi set up that you will notice the difference compared to a CD