We shared some information we might not recover from

Periodically, I get very into my MP3s. I'm into them. Again.

I have, as many of you know, a 40 gig Creative Nomad Jukebox 3 which is currently functioning as a paperweight due to its sudden schizophrenic demise last spring, but which I don't have the heart to get rid of, as well as a 6-gig-upgraded-to-20-gig Creative Nomad Jukebox 1 which, mostly for reasons of capacity and battery life, I have pseudo-loaned to Glen, and which neither of us use much anymore. So my current specimen of choice is a 40 gig iRiver iHP-140. It's an okay player, but I really liked the NJB3 interface and firmware a whole lot better. Four words: on the fly playlists.

Anyway... To support my habit, years ago I purchased Redchair's Notmad, and then upgraded the universal license to be a cross-product license to work with my iRiver too. This was all well and good except that for some incredibly frustrating reason, the software thinks my iRiver is a different device almost every time I plug it in. (And, for copyright reasons, each software license only works with one device.) So, most of the time, I can't use the stuff. However, tonight I got lucky, and it managed to identify my one and only iRiver as the one it likes. And I got even luckier in that I managed to get iRivium (the iRiver Notmad) to upload a playlist to my player, AND was actually able to access the playlist (this is a first!) later on. (Previous playlists seem to become invisible. Don't know why.) Hooray! So I will probably spend a few hours (after the grant is in, I promise) putting together playlists to upload the next iRivium chooses to like my player.* Meanwhile, I continue to debate whether to actually purchase MoodLogic. I really enjoyed my now expired demo version, but I store most of my MP3s on an external harddrive which mostly stays at work, and whines at a tremendously annoying pitch when it's powered on. I think I'm tending toward the purchase of not only MoodLogic but also an external harddrive that is 1) mine and 2) able to run silently!! If anyone else has had any experiences (good, bad, or otherwise) with MP3 management tools they would like to share, I would not be adverse!

*In defense of Redchair, let me say that I never had major problems with Notmad. It's just this iRivium (and I'm sure it's the player's fault really!) that's driving me nuts.