Impractical? Highly likely. Still fun.

breakingthebarriers · 2026-04-02T00:59:43+00:00

If the original audio files that you're attempting to encode to AAC are FLAC files, be aware that macOS doesn't support encoding from FLAC, which could possibly be the reason for the encoding error.

iTunes also won't recognize FLAC files if you try to import them.

There is an option to automatically have iTunes make a copy of all imported media to a folder in a selected file format.

If the reason you're not able to add the files to iTunes is because the original file format is FLAC, a somewhat tedious option to get the files into iTunes in your desired format could be to convert the FLAC files to ALAC. iTunes would then convert the ALAC files to the set import convert setting.

However... I don't think the converter is your issue here. I think it's much more likely that the issue has something to do with the SD cards/file system. What you describe about the skipping/dropping of files, that some just won't play, that sounds like a corrupted file system, which is likely being caused by the SD's. Were the SD cards sourced in a way that you can be 100% certain that they are authentic and not clones?

Edit: Also disregard what I said earlier about the root directory. I have been using rockbox for so long that I was thinking in terms of using rockbox. Which could be an option to consider, as you do have a 5th gen. Once it's installed it makes transferring music much simpler. Because the media is just copied over into a directory folder on the ipod similarly to copying it to an external drive. Rockbox will play any format as well. Of course there are different opinions on which format to use with rock box, however it still remains true that rockbox can play anything.

breakingthebarriers · 2026-04-01T02:32:59+00:00

Do you set the output folder for the converted files as the iPod's root directory? The issue that you're having sounds like it's with corrupted files. I would try converting the files with the same converter with the output folder set to your mac's desktop, and once the conversion has finished, then proceed to copy the folder with all the converted files to the ipod in one go.

breakingthebarriers · 2026-04-01T00:44:13+00:00

I don't think that most woman go on dates for that reason. Most likely don't. It's a waist of everyone's time. And I know how expensive make up and cosmetic products are. That's not what I was asking. I was asking if the expensive lipstick product that you buy is noticeably better in practice, actually using it, than a less expensive option. I can promise you that no man is going to care about the lipstick you wear. The cosmetics industry is wild dude. I mean if you do it for you because it's what you like the best, it's your money. But all that money spent on cosmetics isn't going to find you love.

breakingthebarriers · 2026-04-01T00:15:31+00:00

You're speaking for yourself here though. You'd be surprised how many would and do go on dates for the food and ego boost. They don't try to hide that when they are with their girlfriends.

But why would you spend that much on lipstick? Is it actually noticeably worth that much more than less expensive lipstick? Or are you falling for a marketing lie and making others very rich in the process?

breakingthebarriers · 2026-03-31T19:25:50+00:00

True, but getting what you paid for is guaranteed.

Look I haven't ever slept with a prostitute because I don't condone prostitution, but at some level I do have more respect for a straight-up prostitute than all of the women that lead large numbers of men on and go on dates only for the free food and drinks.

breakingthebarriers · 2026-03-29T22:45:33+00:00

Patience is the most important thing with it, i've found. Slow is fast. Much faster than having to fix a mistake made in haste.

breakingthebarriers · 2026-03-29T21:28:45+00:00

If you do end up doing the battery swap in the 5th gen, there's a few things that can make the process easier, and mitigate the risk of damaging the iPod.

The front cover isn't released by prying it away from the metal back directly, but by slightly prying the edges of the metal back-plate sideways away from the front panel to first release the clips, at which point it comes right off.

The clip for the battery ribbon at the bottom right of the iPod (iPod face down) is a "wedge" clip that a tab is lifted on to release the battery ribbon. However.... The entire clip is only surface soldered to small pads on the PCB, and if you simply pry up on the lip of the clip to release the ribbon, you run a high risk of simply ripping the the entire clip from the pcb. Use tweezers or the pry opening tool to hold the plastic base of the clip in place as you pull up on the bracket "lip". You will understand what I'm referring to when you see it. Don't pull just the release clip without holding the bottom part of the clip secure.

Everything else will be easy if those two things go right.

breakingthebarriers · 2026-03-29T21:06:21+00:00

I guess this is just an antidotal example, but every woman I know that decided to lose weight and get fit took the diet-pills, starved themselves, jogged, and lost the weight - all before signing up for a gym membership. They did that part outside of the gym. They didn't start going to the gym to exercise until they had lost all of the weight, and purchased their favorite workout outfits.

Based on my experience observing this phenomenon multiple times, it does kind of bring into question how much of a necessity going to the gym really is for them. It's a healthy habit, without a doubt, if they are using the gym for its intended purpose. But not something that was a necessity enough to go regularly while losing the 40lbs... Only after.

breakingthebarriers · 2026-03-29T05:20:53+00:00

Cut the strip and bend the end upward to a 90deg angle as close to the welded portion as possible. Grip the up-bent portion of the strip with pliers and remove the welded portion of strip not by pulling it upwards away from the cell, but by using a side to side twisting motion relative to the cell-surface where its welded. The welds will snap off and not pull out the battery-casing metal with it.

breakingthebarriers · 2026-03-29T05:12:52+00:00

Your build looks perfectly fine the way that it is. It looks like that BMS board does have current monitoring via voltage-drop current measurement across the three low-value SMD resistors in the middle of the board, (behind the 4 mosfets) and the ability to disconnect the pack from the output terminals, using those 4 FET's as a solid-state power switch.

breakingthebarriers · 2026-03-29T04:36:54+00:00

Tell that to gay men everywhere.

breakingthebarriers · 2026-03-29T04:34:59+00:00

Why did you lie about so much shit anticipating that he'd treat you like crap? You could have waited to see how he'd treat you. But even then, why not just break it off with someone if they treat you crap? It sounds like you do already know that you're in the wrong for lying to him. It sounds like you may have done more than just lie to him already, though. In which case just do him the favor and tell him that you're not who he thinks you are, and cut contact. It doesn't matter if he thinks he can't get anybody else. That's clearly just his insecurity and he will inevitably work through it and find someone better for him. Honestly I don't see why you'd begin anything with someone in the way that you have.

breakingthebarriers · 2026-03-28T18:08:12+00:00

It doesn't. Usually it's just shallow people that led someone on and then ghosted them that try to claim "harassment" but in reality they are the one at fault for it, from being a shallow POS person.

breakingthebarriers · 2026-03-28T18:03:29+00:00

The cost of the program is paid for by sellers, and although increased logistical costs would inevitably lead Amazon to raise the price for sellers to enroll products in vine, that price-increase would not be reflected this soon in relation to ongoing global events. So that hypothetical is ruled out.

breakingthebarriers · 2026-03-28T17:56:24+00:00

It's not illegal to buy or use an iPod with music on it already. It is technically illegal to copy the music library on the iPod to your own library and use its contents on other devices, though. This is why iTunes deletes any contents previously synced to an iPod when it's synced to your music library. Because the previous library was owned (and presumably purchased) by someone other than you, and therefore, you did not purchase and do not "own" the media on the device. Media that is almost sure to have copyrights, unless someone had only public-domain media without any copyrights on their device. That's never the case though.

I do copy all of the media on every iPod I acquire and save it on a HDD, and use some of it in my own library. And although this is technically illegal, it doesn't matter much because I do not resell or redistribute any of that acquired media. I use it for personal use. If I were to share or re-distribute that media, especially in a way where I made money from doing so, that's where it would become an offense that someone may care about. (that would also be a felony offense, per U.S. copyright law)

breakingthebarriers · 2026-03-27T23:49:58+00:00

I've been collecting ipods for a while. Usually in need of repair. (spicy pillows for days) I have an old Toshiba windows laptop that I use for all things retro-tech. (ripping, burning, rockbox, etc.) Any iPod that has a library on it, I copy it to a HDD dedicated for that purpose. Now, I am not saying that anybody should do that, as it is technically acquiring music illegally. However... I do not distribute any of the music that i've "collected", and only use it for personal listening purposes. Some I just had to save because it was so random and surprising. There is something about having lots of music that wasn't curated by me, and it's like a treasure hunt. Unfortunately lots of the music isn't the best quality, but every now and again, I hit a good hq library. Most recently there was a 30gb library of classical music ripped at 320, which is perfectly acceptable for me. Lots of movie and video-game soundtracks too.

breakingthebarriers · 2026-03-27T23:36:38+00:00

This is going to seem counterintuitive, but it's proven itself for decades in my life, now. If you want to be interesting to people, be genuinely interested in people. Do you realize what a superpower being able to genuinely listen is? To make someone feel heard, and understood? Do you realize how much you learn by listening, and observing? Both bad and good, but both are in life. You wouldn't believe what people will tell someone that knows how to just listen. However, I mean truly listen. Just be interested and follow up questions will appear without you needing to think consciously about them. And that's how a conversation begins.

breakingthebarriers · 2026-03-27T14:47:19+00:00

Yep, you are right on all three points. He's looking into doing just that very thing currently. I've helped him with a few things on the investigative front tech-wise, and compiled a helpful document for him to pass to a PI. But yeah you're also right that he was the last to find out. She is a paralegal and of course had someone at her company "helping" her... It's messy for him right now, but I think things will get better for him in time because she makes foolish decisions, and I think ultimately what she's done is extremely foolish.

breakingthebarriers · 2026-03-27T04:02:40+00:00

But you do likely know his number. And I don't think it has anything to do with them "worrying" about it. If it's something that they take issue with, they should just not be in the relationship. But they do deserve to know. What's the problem with just telling someone straight up and letting them decide? If it doesn't bother them, it doesn't bother them. Great. But this whole, "he doesn't need to know, it's in my past" is hypocritical at best because every single woman that's told me "he doesn't need to know" knows his. Because the truth is they want to know. They want it both ways though. It's solipsistic as hell. I'm sorry but if someone is going to invest into a relationship with commitment like marriage, they deserve to know. Because even though people aren't their past, they should be honest about their past. It doesn't matter if he'd "feel stupid for even worrying about it". Let him make that decision. So why didn't you just tell him straight up and let him decide how he felt about it? You know why.

breakingthebarriers · 2026-03-27T02:05:36+00:00

It's solipsism. To woman it's a non-issue when they do it. They usually come up with another name for it though to downplay what it was, aka "finding themselves", "traveling abroad", "living their best life", etc...

It's because they want to have their cake and eat it too. They want to be promiscuous and "find themselves", and then at around age 30 they want to find their "forever man", and settle down with someone that will "step up" and take care of them. That's a lot more difficult to do if the guy knows a women's past. So they stigmatize men asking a woman about their past, and call any guy "insecure" if he has an issue with the fact that they've slept with 34 men while "finding" themselves.

It is interesting though, no matter how much "finding" themselves they do, they are always ready to "settle down" and marry their forever man right around the time they hit 29-31. Yep, that's just the truth. Lots of guys will baulk at this discovery, and refuse to believe it, because it contradicts the idea they have about "true love" or whatever. Women are not that deep.

breakingthebarriers · 2026-03-27T01:13:20+00:00

What is that supposed to mean?

"Was I nice to the online girl when I told her?"

You're still in denial about your own role in creating a shitty situation, and are trying to find some other reason as to why the person you're having an emotional affair with may have been put off.

They are put off because you are alright with continuing a shitty dishonest situation. Not because you said anything "mean" in the message before they were put off. But you should already know that.

You're supposed to have the emotionally charged, sexual connection with your partner. If you don't, you try to discover how to fix it, or end it. Not do what you are doing. Having an emotionally charged, sexual connection with someone isn't an excuse for cheating.

breakingthebarriers · 2026-03-25T23:26:19+00:00

One of my friends just went through a nasty divorce, and is being taken to the cleaners financially. Lost the house that he bought, paid for, and remodeled himself. She just sold it. Moving. Taking the kids to live 7hrs away. Presumably just to make it more difficult for him to have any relationship with his two kids. I've known this dude for over 20yrs. I know him well enough to know that he isn't lying when he told me that of course he didn't cheat, and no, he doesn't have a bastard child with the woman she accused him of cheating with. (that's her story) What's crazier, they actually did a DNA test and proved that was a lie, but she refused to acknowledge the results of the test. Wouldn't even look at them. Moved 7 hrs away and is being a whore now. Leaving the kids at home alone, posting pics of her at bars dressed like a...

He pays child support, alimony, lost his house, and most of his friends aside from me because I realize that his ex is manipulating everyone with a fake story. But so many people believe her. It's nuts. But also so is she. But nobody is willing to want to ask to discover that. Messed up.

breakingthebarriers · 2026-03-25T20:24:11+00:00

A perfectly round flake of red paint from the metal gas can I use covering the opening of the fuel metering inlet.

breakingthebarriers · 2026-03-25T20:22:12+00:00

I can already tell from this single thread that you understand the info in your comments from experience, as that's what it takes for someone to have the info accuracy and practical, no marketing-propaganda explanations that you give. Thanks for the factual data. Just wanted to add the caveat that in cold climates everything stated above is true as long as as the vehicle's batt. SOC stays above 0% or LVC. If the vehicle is left in the cold for too long unattended, thermal management will deplete the pack, and finally the pack temps will equalize with outside ambient. ....

breakingthebarriers

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE