MP3 downloads - novice help needed - before dd gets really cross!!!

[Polgara2]

Right so dd1 has got a mp3 video walkman for Christmas - have downloaded some music from the Sony site but where can we download the music videos to go with them from? Would love you to suggest a free site but anything would do . Otherwise the video bit of her present will be wasted and she will be a crosspatch (as will I coz I paid for it!!!). Oh and is it better (or cheaper!) to download songs from anywhere else? Many thanks!

Anyone?

I know I'm talking to myself but........

ok, for free music videos, search in isohunt, but you will need to download utorrent first as thats were the videos will download.

also download peerguardian 2 that protects you from being spied on.

once downloaded, you can find files in document>downloads

oooh thank you - is that site and software 'safe' prettymum - as in I won't get virus' from it sort of thing? Sorry not very cognizant with downloading!

yes theyre both safe to use, when you download peerguardian, google first and make sure you download it from phoenix labs as from anywhere else it might be fake.

be careful with any 'torrent' or p2p software.. to say it is 100% safe is not really a good idea.... these environments are homes for porn, illegal software, music and or course viruses...

Very useful and powerful but be very careful... I would suggest using an old low spec PC for managing these downloads so as not to destroy your good working unit!!

Just my 2 cents

Oh now I've gone all dithery again opinionateddad! I can't afford my pc to get mucked up and I don't have another one to experiment with. Is there anything that is safe to use?

not really.,... unfortunetly downloading music from the www is illegal unless via the itunes store so of course it has risks...

I am not saying do not use it but just be very very careful... things will probably be ok but if you do happen to pull a bad file then it can cause big problems.. most people I know (some pretty switched on) have a some point or other come to me due to some spyware, virus or porn buster that they 'accidentally' downloaded from one of these tools..

I know it costs money and I know people are probably going to shout at me for this... but if you want to download safe and compatible music video files then use iTunes..

PS.. for my ipod and my sife's ipod I just use my PC and create the files using our existing DVD's.. this is also a really safe solution

Oh well I don't mind paying for them (as long as they are not too expensive) - I just am totally new to this and couldn't find anything on the sony site that her walkman connected up to. Can anyone use itunes then, not just compatible to ipods?

By existing DVD's do you mean music dvds? It's the videos to the songs she wants.

I have to appologise as on re reading I see you are using a Sony device so iTunes is now good..

You need to goto the Sony site which can be found via the Sonicstage application

I looked at the European site and found this section on free videos

store.connect-europe.com/showVideoIframe.do?iframeUrl=connectpopup.com/video hub/en/

I am not sure what there is but Sony never really give anything away for free

Creating video files from DVD's requires some software and knowledge.. how technical are you.. also I am not sure exactly the format the Sony device needs..

Ahah - might know the easiest route would never work - never does! Have looked at the sony site - as you say they're not giving anything away that's worth having! Am not a techy but can usually manage - used to work in IT but it was many, many moons ago and I have had 2 children since then you know! May have forgotten how to use the little grey cells. What do I need to do?

can you post the model number for the Sony device.. it would seem that Sony have made some big changes and the newer units are much more compatible with 'other' formats than the older units...

This will dtermine whether non-Sony format files will work on your device

It's the NWA850 Sony Video Walkman MP3 player.

ooh.. I assume you mean 805??... 2GB... you are lucky as this unit will support files other than the Sony ones

MPEG4 & AVC

soooo... if you download any file from the www that ends with mp4 or m4v then it should play so you do not need to goto the Sony site.

FYI - the m4v format is the same as the Appled quicktime format so ipod video files should work... also you should be able to copy over files from a digital camera set to video mode.

I am looking but cannot find any free stuff out there at the moment...

This software (if you are feeling adventurous) will let you turn DVD's (music ones also) into files to use on your device... you can do a 30 day trial to see if it works for you before you buy.. you will first need to run the AnyDVD to 'crack' the DVD by letting it just run in the background and then use the CloneDVDMobile tool to rip the DVD.

www.slysoft.com

just to clarify - you need 'AnyDVD' and 'CloneDVD Mobile'.. they are nice and easy to use... I use these all the time and the have worked for my Archos, iPods and PSP devices with no problems at all.. you can even use the files on a PC..

sorry cannot help with the free stuff... if you are going to explore p2p and torrent tools please be v careful

Oops sorry was burning the tea at the same time as typing .
Right that sounds good - will go and dip into the itunes site then. I was hoping to put piccies from her camera on there too but hadn't checked out how yet so thanks!
Will also investigate that software. You've made it sound easy enough .
Thanks again.

my wife says I make all this stuff sound easy

The slysoft tools are pretty easy to use and if you try one file from iTunes or another purchase website to test you should get a better idea of what will and wont work.

As for photos.. just copy those into a folder on the PC and use the Sony software to sync that folder... I think this part should be quite straght forward and there may even be instructions (not that the Japanese are that good at writing simple instructions)

Good luck