New iPod Classic 160GB + Windows (XP/Vista)=Can ANYONE help?

After years of handing out POS advice on PIC I'm now pleading for help here. I bought myself a new 160GB iPod Classic as my birthday present to myself. This atrocity is my FIRST Apple product since a IIIc in 1984, btw.

I love the relatively sleek size & styling, the decent battery capacity, the nice LCD and the HUGE HD capacity (the #1 reason I bought it).

However, I hate iTunes. And I've never seen a worse UI than that miserable static wheel finger spin thing. I wish I had some tactile feedback here! I'd give anything to just have a row of \"real\" buttons to click. I constantly overshoot what I am looking for! I hate the way the iPod's file structure \"organizes\" my albums. Did I mention that I detest iTunes with a passion? iTunes 7.5 under Windows (XP OR Vista) is simply the worst piece of modern software I've used.

I've never seen such an unstable resource hog from a MAJOR hardware/software company. And no, I am not going to buy a Mac just to use this iPod.

So what are my alternatives? Right now I'm thinking Elphod. Rockbox isn't happening with the new Classic iPods. Out of all of these buggy, poorly supported iPod alternatives for Windows users, which one is the most stable under Vista and will let me get songs on and off of my iPod as QUICKLY and EASILY as possible. Is there any way to hack an iPod in order to enable UMS support for audio files?

Since the entire industry has basically pulled a Palm and regressed to puny flash-based Mp3 players and/or thrown in the towel entirely, (Cowon, iRiver, Creative, Archos, you are all on my shiit list for not producing a quality, high capacity player w/ UMS support) I'm stuck with an iPod Classic. I must have a pocket-sized (not a widescreen PMP) player with good battery life and at least 100GB capacity. I previously had a Cowon X5 20GB and aside from the screen, battery life and capacity it was nearly perfect.

Thanks for any and all advice/suggestions/recommendations, guys!!!

I don't have an iPod Classic, but I do have a one-week-old iPod Nano, so I'm guessing we are using the same version of iTunes. Now I have to say that I'm not one of the Apple fanboyz and I think Steve Jobs is one of the great bullshit artists of all time (it always brings a smile to my face when I'm in a bookshop and I see his latest biography titled iCon as it is such an appropriate double-meaning).

But I like the click wheel interface of the iPod Nano -- and I'd bet it comes from the same parts bin as the one for the iPod Classic. You sure it's not just the \"newness\" of it? I also have my Nano in a silicone rubber skin, so feel is even further reduced, but I find it pretty good nevertheless. I know what you mean about overshooting, but I tend to overshoot with click-and-hold buttons anyway, so this interface is no worse and maybe a little better.

iTunes... well, I think it's an okay piece of software and I'm running it under the latest iteration of Windows Vista. Like most Apple software it is written for the chronically stupid so is quite easy to use. Could be worse, y'know, it might be Adobe bloatware! iTunes doesn't crash too often and does the job okay, although I admit it is very puzzling that the default settings for AAC do not rip with error correction, and encode with CBR rather than VBR. Go figure, eh?

I've also had excellent results with dBPowerAmp, which is the software I always use to put Oggs on my PDA. Not sure if it does AAC but I would guess so, since AAC is open source.

Well, anyway, good luck with your new toy and thank you for contributing to Mr Jobs' pension plan.

Hmm so basically you didn't like much about your last device either?!!

I was an early(ish) iPod adopter (on PC) and found it quite intuitive and easy to use (a 20GB 3G ipod) and I feel the revisions in the software have improved it enormously. I can't speak for the newer iPod classic, but I did find once you get used to the iPod interface it's very usable.

I've now gone the reverse direction to you though - due to budget constraints and the nedd to replace my aging iPod I've switched to an 8GB Sandisk Sansa - and whilst I think the players interface is straight forward enough, I HATE winodows media player! - Cannot for the life of me understand why it works the way it does or forgive how clunky its interface feels in comparison to iTunes..setting up playlists is a nightmare..

As a result I've just started dragging and dropping files onto the player rather than using any automated sort of syncing...

I guess it's a case of none of us liking change! I've starting pinching pennys (pennies?) to allow me upgrade to an iPod classic ASAP.. although I did play with an iPod touch and the interface is great.. pity about the storage capacities though...

It's pennies.

I had quite a play with the Samsung K3 before purchasing the iPod, and was very impressed. Samsung have almost hit the big league with this one. But it was only 4 GB (are 8 GB ones available in US or UK I wonder?). I don't have a particularly large collection of music -- 150 CDs or so -- but needed the 8 GB Nano to fit said collection comfortably.

Ah yes, Windows Media Player... baffling. Couldn't get my head around it. Competent enough at playing files, but the interface is appalling.

LOL, I've also got a Sandisk E-series in the house (for the wifey to use while exercising) and I absolutey love it! \"real\" buttons, UMS support, microSD slot, FM tuner...everything that I dislike about the iPod is on the Sandisk!
Of course, even a 16GB flash MP3 player with a 16GB SDHC card isn't enough for me (I won't have anything less than a 320kbps MP3). But IF Sandisk made a huge capacity hard drive-based player I'd be first in line to buy it.

Samsung's MP3 player line in the US is pretty bare bones, being limited (as far as retailers go) to discounters like Wal-Mart, Sam's Club and a unit or two in Best Buy. I had a cheap 256mb Sammy \"sport\" mp3 player waaaay back when and was quite underwhelmed by it.

It's just iTunes and the lack of UMS compliance that makes me fume.
I'll probably eventually adapt to the iPod scroll wheel (unless I sell or return the Classic before then, of course). I had just kinda/sorta gotten used to a friend's well-worn 4th gen wheel and am finding my new Classic to be much more sensitive. Do these things get desensitized over time?

Windows Media Player? LOL! IMO it's Microsoft's best product out there right now (version 11, that is)! It's a FAST CD ripper, rock solid stable, and while dumbed down, is at least easy enough for my relatives to figure out without having to call me for tech support!

I doubt it. Wrap it with a few layers of electrical tape and she'll be right.

I guess it's like any manufactured item and there are tolerances. Mine couldn't be better without the silicone skin; it's still very usable with the skin (a Belkin one) but I have to push it a tad harder, maybe that's what you need.

I think the Samsung K3 player is very new, released after the iPod Nano. Well that's in Australia; we only got flushing toilets a few years back.

Media Player... okay, maybe I should have persevered. It just didn't do it for me, but different strokes for different folks, and I could not attest to its stability. With these things, perhaps it is whatever we are used to and I'd been using dBPoweramp for years. But being a newb to this iPod I went for the iTunes no-brainer to encode AAC rather than MP3.