Another Ipod ?

[danetter]

I have 2 Ipod touch on Layaway and want to go ahead and download a few apps for my teen and tween DD's for when they open them Christmas morning. What are some good apps that teens/tweens like? I know I will put the facebook app, netflix app, and the pandora app.

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

If they are into games, some they might like are: Glass Tower (1,2,3), Bubble Bust, Angry Birds, Words with Friends, Hanging with Friends, Jewel Quest, Bubble Birds, Solitaire, Skee Ball, etc.

A cool app is Flashlight (which uses the camera light to turn on and off for the flash light).

Edited to add - if they are in to music (probably so) another cool one is Shazam. Say there is a song playing and you want to know who it is - you open the app and press the button and it will tell you the name of the song and artist.

There are so many possibilities and I'm sure they'll love them!

Heather

 

[vicki_c]

Pretty much everyone likes Angry Birds.

My DD likes the Vevo app (music videos), of course YouTube but that will already be on there.

Twitter.
Weather Channel.

Mostly I'd just let them go to town on Christmas morning and pick their own, though (free and perhaps up to some certain dollar limit). The apps download in seconds.

If you want them to share between iPods, you will need to use the same account - like a family account, not each having an individual account.

 

[mrodgers]

A cool app is Flashlight (which uses the camera light to turn on and off for the flash light).

Only on the iPhone. The iPod Touch doesn't have flash for the camera. There are other flashlight apps though that are simply a white screen to use the display for light, or so I've heard.

Someone told me of a game that is free for limited time that I downloaded tonight on the computer, but haven't tried yet since the iPods are wrapped up waiting for Christmas. I wanted to get it downloaded since I think it is free for limited time. Clay Shooter Mania. That game will be right up my alley, can't wait for the novelty of the iPod to wear off on my youngest, LOL. The oldest I have no hope of getting hers to use, but the little one, there is hope.

A MUST HAVE app will be the Pittsburgh Penguin app. Obviously you will need to be a hockey fan, and specifically a Pittsburgh hockey fan, but I can't wait to check it out.

 

[MrsJackSparrow4Life]

Plants vs Zombies

 

[danetter]

Thanks everyone for your replies. What about charging? Sorry I am so clueless about these ipod's. I am definetely way behind time on electronics. Can I use the usb plug that the ipod comes with plugged to my laptop to charge it? How long does it take to charge using the usb plugged to the computer? I was debating whether to go ahead and take the ipods out of the cases and get them charged up before I wrapped them but then decided since we have church service the morning of Christmas my DD's wouldn't have time to download or do anything with them that morning so they can plug them up to charge while we were at church. I also thought about getting a charging docking station for them but since they share a room right now they really don't need 2 stations and if the usb plug works ok charging using the laptop then right now we can skip buying the docking station. What are some of your inputs on what I should do? Thanks

 

[zoemurr]

Yes, it will charge when you plug it in to the computer. Doesn't usually take very long. I believe they came charged already.

We have plugs that just go into the wall though, so the kids can do it in their rooms. If it runs out of power you can use it plugged in and not have to be by the computer.

If they are going to listen to a lot of music the dock is key. We have 2 portable ones and they are dragged all over the house. You can listen to music from the ipod but it's not great or very loud.

Look into getting them otterbox cases. Very durable. Then if you get a dock you need to make sure it works with the case still on. (Some panasonic models do, not sure about others, but most don't fit.)

Don't go crazy buying apps. Download "free app a day". We have had our ipods for over a year and have bought very few apps. Every day there are 3-4 free ones. Some are only fun for an hour or two..but free is free.

If you have time you might want to start loading some of their favorite CDs into itunes.

Have fun!

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

If they are going to listen to a lot of music the dock is key. We have 2 portable ones and they are dragged all over the house. You can listen to music from the ipod but it's not great or very loud.

Look into getting them otterbox cases. Very durable. Then if you get a dock you need to make sure it works with the case still on.

Have fun!

Or get a Bluetooth speaker.

 

[mountdew1]

Thanks everyone for your replies. What about charging? Sorry I am so clueless about these ipod's. I am definetely way behind time on electronics. Can I use the usb plug that the ipod comes with plugged to my laptop to charge it? How long does it take to charge using the usb plugged to the computer? I was debating whether to go ahead and take the ipods out of the cases and get them charged up before I wrapped them but then decided since we have church service the morning of Christmas my DD's wouldn't have time to download or do anything with them that morning so they can plug them up to charge while we were at church. I also thought about getting a charging docking station for them but since they share a room right now they really don't need 2 stations and if the usb plug works ok charging using the laptop then right now we can skip buying the docking station. What are some of your inputs on what I should do? Thanks

Most of the Apple products I have set up ship at least partially charged, normally in the 50-75% range. (And I set up a few iPhones/iPads a week for work) So out of the box you should have enough charge to fire them up and play for a bit before charging.

The USB cord does indeed charge the iPod. A full charge shouldn't take more than a few hours from completely dead. Just make sure that the USB port you are plugging into is powered. Not all are, especially if you use a USB hub that doesn't have a power cord.

I wouldn't get a dock until they get cases. As a PP said, many cases don't work with all docking stations. I'm inclined to say that your DDs will want to have a fun case for it and not care so much about what the dock looks like. And, its much cheaper to just buy the wall adapter for the USB cable if you are concerned about charging both at once.

You will need to think/look into how you are going to let them get apps/music. If you have one account for the whole family, then you would only need to purchase the app once. BUT, if your kids start getting gift cards then you will need to keep track of who has how much credit and what to do if one uses credit that isn't theirs. If they each have their own then you don't have to worry about one accidentally using credit that isn't theirs, but you will need to buy apps for each. Figure out if they will have the password, or need you to put in it each time to buy something. Remember that many of the popular games such as Farmville require in app purchases. The game itself is free, but many people buy extra items in app that add up quick to be expensive.

 

[mrodgers]

You will need to think/look into how you are going to let them get apps/music. If you have one account for the whole family, then you would only need to purchase the app once. BUT, if your kids start getting gift cards then you will need to keep track of who has how much credit and what to do if one uses credit that isn't theirs. If they each have their own then you don't have to worry about one accidentally using credit that isn't theirs, but you will need to buy apps for each. Figure out if they will have the password, or need you to put in it each time to buy something. Remember that many of the popular games such as Farmville require in app purchases. The game itself is free, but many people buy extra items in app that add up quick to be expensive.

I thought of something the other day that one must think about in the situation of having a family account....

What happens after a few years of the family sharing an account when the kids grow up and move on? I assume they are now out of luck with all their iTunes stuff they just collected over the course of years when they move on and get their own account, or own account for their family.

Probably doesn't matter for the younger kids, but by the later teenage years, they are probably going to have a collection of music that they will keep for the rest of their life. I know I don't enjoy a lick of any of the new music that has come out in the past 15 years and to this day, my favorite song is still the one a friend said, "You have to hear this..." back around 1987 or 88 when I heard Pink Floyd for the first time. I had thousands of dollars wrapped up in CD's from the time I was a teenager through college and would have hated to have to purchase everything again because they wouldn't work if I bought a CD player when I moved out of Mom and Dad's home.

That's one of only two things that I think is just down right thievery from Apple, the proprietary format of music and how it can't be transfered out and into another account and how they down right rip you off with charging an additional $100 just to have a $2 memory upgrade from 8gb to 32gb to 64gb.