mp3 software on a memory stick?

[keineahnung]

is it possible to have Creative Zen software and music files on a memory stick, rather than on your laptop?

If so, how would I do it?

Likewise with iTunes?

iTunes can run with it's music held on an external drive (be that a memory stick or an external disk drive).

Are you on a Mac or a PC?

thanks for your reply

I'm on a PC (well, laptop), not a Mac.

bump - can anyone help?

In that case have a look at this:
support.apple.com/kb/HT1364

I'm not sure if iTunes itself will run off an external disk though.

Are you safter a portable MP3 player, or something which specifically plays Creative Zen files (assuming they are converted from MP3) ?

If the former (ie you would have a pile of MP3s on the memory stick) then unless the C Zen s/w is doing something special, many other MP3 players may be able to simply play the tracks, or play from a playlist.

I don't remember seeing any "portable" (ie to go on a stick) versions of any players though - all the ones I've come across need to be installed.

Is there anything special you are after, eg cross-fades, or simply to play tracks randomly or in some specific order ?

Or is it some office laptop so you cannot install software ?

for the Zen - it's my daughter's mp3 player. She has a mini-notebook doofer, very little memory on it and no new software can be installed on it. I'd thought I'd be able to shift her duff music off my laptop and onto her own, but I can't. I'd still like it off my laptop, though, if possible.

my music is on iTunes and the question is there more out of seeing if it was possible. I'm quite happy for my music to sit on the laptop!

Can the mini-notebook play MP3 files?

Try just copying the music files out of iTunes and onto the stick and seeing what the mini-notebook makes of it. Quite literally plug the stick into your PC, find it with Windows Explorer and drag a song straight from iTunes to the stick.

Then take the stick to the mini-notebook and see what it makes of it.

Well, so long as they are MP3s and not in some other format only for the Zen (various players convert from MP3 etc to their own), it should be possible to play the music off the memory stick.

It sounds as if the family could do with buying an external drive such as a 500 GB unit for say 50 quid (that was a sale price at Maplin, but they're not the cheapest anyway, and it may be worth checking dabs.com ebuyer.com play.com and even Argos Asda and Tesco)

An external drive would mean you could switch it on, connect it to your laptop, copy (archive or backup) your files onto it and then close down the PC and unplug and store the drive away safely, so there would be all your family snaps, music, and so on, stored away 'just in case'. If you want to do it properly, take the drive to a relative's home, or perhaps a friend, so even if there was a fire and damage to your laptop, the external drive would be out of harms way. You'd only plug it in a few times a year to store any photos etc that were "new" since last copy was taken.

"Well, so long as they are MP3s and not in some other format only for the Zen (various players convert from MP3 etc to their own), it should be possible to play the music off the memory stick."

Well they're in iTunes so they shouldn't be in too strange a format.

Well worth a go anyway.

Ummmm, I could be wrong but I thought

a) daughter's music is played on Creative Zen (and from what I read before posting a comment, it may convert to a different format before the file is saved to the music player device) and

b) OP's music (not DD's) is known to iTunes. Two separate sets of music, and lack of space on laptop being reason to explore storing music on memory stick(s).

I assumed that the wish was to move the DD's music off the laptop onto memory stick, but those tracks would be played on DD's mini-notebook as well as from the Zen player.

However, if the tracks have been altered from MP3 format, and/or the MP3 originals misplaced (after all, one might think that once in the Zen player, no need to keep them, if space was getting low on the OP's laptop) then there could be a problem trying to play what was available, on anything other than the Zen unit, unless there's suitable player software for the mini-notebook...

That was how I was reading it, anyway.

Webdude has it right - DD's music is on Zen and mine is on iTunes. I'd hoped to get her stuff off the laptop and onto the notebook, but those plans were scuppered when I found out that the notebook can't have more s/w installed on it.

I'm going to look into getting an external drive for storage. And back her music up to a disc before I hit the wrong button and lose the lot! I'd be accused of sabotage.

Ah got it now....

I used to have a Zen and it used MP3 files with no funny conversion going on as files were moved back and forth.

It's still worth trying to copy the files from what ever software the Zen now uses to manage it's music on to a USB memory stick and see if they do play on the netbook.

It's also worth plugging the Zen into the netbook to see if it sees it. Some players just appear as a big USB stick onto which you can copy music without needing any special software. However my Zen didn't work that way, so it's by no means certain.

If the Zen does appear as just a big external disk then your DD might be able to manage the music on it from her netbook and use your laptop only once to "rip" CDs after which the resulting files are copied to the player and then deleted from the laptop.