ipod touch

[tripletots]

I am getting ready to order an ipod touch 32gb for my daughter's 18th birthday.

We are not an Apple family, all our mp3 players are Zunes. What else do I need to order or do I? I assume headphones are included? Also, she is going away to college in the fall, I thought it might be a good idea to engrave her name on the back. Is that a good idea? I've heard some people say not to because you can't resell. I have a feeling it won't be sold, to many people to hand it down to. Do I need to take out extra insurance?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[pigletto]

I am getting ready to order an ipod touch 32gb for my daughter's 18th birthday.

We are not an Apple family, all our mp3 players are Zunes. What else do I need to order or do I? I assume headphones are included? Also, she is going away to college in the fall, I thought it might be a good idea to engrave her name on the back. Is that a good idea? I've heard some people say not to because you can't resell. I have a feeling it won't be sold, to many people to hand it down to. Do I need to take out extra insurance?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

I didn't bother with the extra insurance because it comes with a pretty good one year warranty. On dd's Touch the headphone jack came loose a few weeks before the end of her warranty. They shipped her a brand new one

I didn't bother with the engraving because it was extra money if only a little bit. If you don't plan to resell it then I don't see why not to do it.
It comes with everything it needs in the box as well so no need to buy head phones or chargers. There is a cord in the box to plug it in to a computer to charge it
Once she has it she'll figure it all out.. kids are so much better with this stuff than us

 

[pixiewings71]

I got DD14's and DBF's iTouches at Best Buy, I added the Black Tie protection. I'm glad I did, DBF has had his for over a year and we just had to take it to BB for replacement because it was not turning on at all...they replaced it 100% with a new iTouch, same generation (so Gen3) he had before but it was new.
I did not get either one engraved and have no plans to do so, just in case they are handed down or they decide to sell them.

 

[DisneyMom70]

I was fortunate enough to receive one for my 40th birthday. scared1 It comes with headphones and the USB cable. Engraving would be a nice touch. If you are willing, a cover and screen protector really are necessities. The touch scratches easily (especially the chrome backplate) and those will provide great protection. You can get those on Amazon or Target/Walmart for much cheaper than Apple would charge, and they work just as well. A car charger falls into the "would be nice" category as does the cable to play it in her car (if she has a car...and if it doesn't have a ipod hook up).

I don't know about extra insurance, but I activated the app "where's my ipod" (something like that, can't remember the name). Of course, that only helps if you are in range of a wireless connection.

This is a great gift. I LOVE mine (so to my kids). I had a nano which took me some time to save up for, and was lost at the beach last year . I was saving again for a replacement, and this was a great surprise.

 

[pigletto]

Oh I forgot that! Disneymom is right, you really do want to get her a case for it, or have her buy one. They will scratch easily. We never bothered with the screen protector though.
Lots of places make cases so look around.. they are everywhere. Those don't need to be from Apple.

 

[farmermr]

I was fortunate enough to receive one for my 40th birthday. scared1 It comes with headphones and the USB cable. Engraving would be a nice touch. If you are willing, a cover and screen protector really are necessities. The touch scratches easily (especially the chrome backplate) and those will provide great protection. You can get those on Amazon or Target/Walmart for much cheaper than Apple would charge, and they work just as well. A car charger falls into the "would be nice" category as does the cable to play it in her car (if she has a car...and if it doesn't have a ipod hook up).

I don't know about extra insurance, but I activated the app "where's my ipod" (something like that, can't remember the name). Of course, that only helps if you are in range of a wireless connection.

This is a great gift. I LOVE mine (so to my kids). I had a nano which took me some time to save up for, and was lost at the beach last year . I was saving again for a replacement, and this was a great surprise.

The cover and screen protector are an absolute must! I was able to get 2 screen protectors for $10 and 2 silicone covers (one black, one white) for $8 at RadioShack. My iPod touch was out of the package for less than 24 hours and the back of it was all kinds of scratched (8 of those hours I was asleep).

 

[deedeetoo]

I agree with the cases. You can buy them from lots of different on-line sites. I would just let you daughter pick her own. We have two Itouches in our house. One has a screen protector and the other doesn't (because I screwed up putting it on and it folded over on itself and I couln't unfold it) and I really haven't noticed a problem with the one that doesn't have the screen protector.

The other accessory we bought was a wall charger. This enables you to charge the itouch from a wall outlet instead of through the computer. It comes in very handy for traveling. I bought through a site called handhelditems.com and it was $5 instead of $20 through Apple. We've been using it for months and it works fine.

 

[briand1023]

Apple is offering free engraving right now(was lookng last night)...I would do as everyone else suggested, screen protector, case to protect it and engraving

 

[topolino]

Just a money saving tip that may already be aware of. Apple gives discounts to students, so if it's not a surprise, you can take her with you to the Apple Store and get her student discount. She'd only need to bring her acceptance letter as proof of being a student.

 

[MM_Bound]

Instead of a case check out zagg.com and view the ZAGGskins . They are really great, nice and thin, easy to apply and remove if you resale and have a perfect texture for not sliding out your hand, slippery enough to slide into pants pockets, not sticky like a silicone skin. There are coupons always floating around for them as well.
If you do decide to get engraving and want it for tracking/ownership you could do "if found email: a_custom_email@whoever.com". That way of you sell it just give them the email account. I would recommend gmail, yahoo or hotmail.

 

[Bren's Mom]

I would get the free engraving, but just your last name. That solves the 'passing down' problem.

I agree that a case (I have a silicone one) and a screen protector are a must.

As well as a wall charger, we use ours constantly.

These things can all be purchased VERY inexpensively on Amazon.

I also think it's best to buy an iTunes gc and load that on, I got a $50 one with mine so we loaded that on. Now I don't have to worry about my little guy accidentally buying $200 worth of games or my credit card # being stolen or whatever.

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

Dh bought mine at Best Buy and they had a special package deal if you bought the case, a pair of Sony headphones, and the wall/car charger units, he also had them put on the screen saver, which was one of the best things to have done. And he bought the Black Tie Protection. I will get either double or triple points on top of the ones I got when he purchased it, if I don't have to use it and so far so good.

It does come with headphones and I love the quality of sound, but I hate the shape, they hurt my ears, but I love the Sony ones.

No option to engrave at BB, but I probably wouldn't have anyway.

Tripletots, all we have ever had were Zune's and I had to have DH do all my downloads, but since he bought me the iPod Touch, I can do all the downloading myself, including my pictures. I love it, I have so many more options with it than the Zune. If you didn't know, she can even watch Netflix from her iPod Touch, that is if you have a subscription.

Suzanne

 

[U.P. North]

Buy it from here:

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/ipod

This is the Apple iStore refubs. I have bought 3 from them. They are like brand new, but usually a generation behind. I believe they also offer the free engraving. I just bought my oldest daughter the 32GB iTouch for Xmas and paid $199 including shipping. The refubs come with a 1 year warranty direct from apple which is what the new ones have. since I am buying it from Apple, I feel 100% comfortable. All 3 units that I have ordered, I have received in less then a week (usually 2 or 3 days) and I just connect to the computer using the supplied USB cable (it also includes head phones - ear buds) and I do any software up dates available and that put them on the same software as the current generation. Saves a ton of money and I an extremely happy with the product!!

 

[njsweetP]

I would purchase a warranty, but from Squaretrade www.squaretrade.com

I have the iPod Touch, iPhone, Kindle all under squaretrade warranties.

 

[megthewonderful]

So glad I read this post. I have been debating buying a refurbished iPod Touch, but I was worried that it would be all scratched up or the battery would need immediate replacement, in which case I would have preferred to have just bought a new one. Sounds like a refurbished one is almost as good as new!

Buy it from here:

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/ipod

This is the Apple iStore refubs. I have bought 3 from them. They are like brand new, but usually a generation behind. I believe they also offer the free engraving. I just bought my oldest daughter the 32GB iTouch for Xmas and paid $199 including shipping. The refubs come with a 1 year warranty direct from apple which is what the new ones have. since I am buying it from Apple, I feel 100% comfortable. All 3 units that I have ordered, I have received in less then a week (usually 2 or 3 days) and I just connect to the computer using the supplied USB cable (it also includes head phones - ear buds) and I do any software up dates available and that put them on the same software as the current generation. Saves a ton of money and I an extremely happy with the product!!

 

[zoemurr]

but the ones you can buy now are from last year and don't have a camera.. (which is terrible anyway) but wanted to make sure you knew.

 

[auralia]

two words OTTER BOX google it

 

[tripletots]

Hey Guys, OP here, thanks for all your wonderful information. Some I wish I had seen before I ordered yesterday evening. I ordered her the 32 GB with her name engraved. I also got the screen protector, case and wall plug. She is going to be sooooo surprised! I can't wait.

Oh, and it's already shipped from.................CHINA. It should arrive on the 29th.

AND....this is the most I've ever spent on one birthday gift (including for the triplets together, but they are after Christmas and by then I'm broke).

Next, she gets a laptop for graduation!

 

[tripletots]

two words OTTER BOX google it

Those are nice looking cases! I may have to get her the pink. Reviews say they are great when dropped.

 

[tripletots]

Tripletots, all we have ever had were Zune's and I had to have DH do all my downloads, but since he bought me the iPod Touch, I can do all the downloading myself, including my pictures. I love it, I have so many more options with it than the Zune. If you didn't know, she can even watch Netflix from her iPod Touch, that is if you have a subscription.

Suzanne

She is going to have to figure out how to transfer her music from Zune to itunes. Although I don't know if that's even doable. I just hope she doesn't have to start over again with her music collection. Thanks for letting me know about Netflix, we do have a subscription.

I've also heard you can text and put apps on the itouch. It all confuses me because it sounds like an iphone but not.