iPods vs. MP3 players

[Anne34]

The Dell DJ comes with a cable that you plug into the computer to update your music, etc. and the other side of the cable has a plug for your outlet to charge the battery. Much cheaper than my daughter's ipod where we had to buy a $30 accessory to charge the darn thing.(unless you want to hook it up to the computer)

 

[Cindy B]

The Dell DJ comes with a cable that you plug into the computer to update your music, etc. and the other side of the cable has a plug for your outlet to charge the battery. Much cheaper than my daughter's ipod where we had to buy a $30 accessory to charge the darn thing.(unless you want to hook it up to the computer)

My Ipod came with a charger included. Its a separate cable which isn't set up on the PC.

 

[nsmith]

In June my son was all set to buy a Shuffle and the kid at the store (best buy) told us we could not download music onto it using windows 98. True??

That stopped us dead in our tracks. Both kids want one now for Christmas but I am not prepared to buy a new computer or fool around with the one we have for fear I might mess something up.

Is this information correct??????????

 

[Cindy B]

In June my son was all set to buy a Shuffle and the kid at the store (best buy) told us we could not download music onto it using windows 98. True??

That stopped us dead in our tracks. Both kids want one now for Christmas but I am not prepared to buy a new computer or fool around with the one we have for fear I might mess something up.

Is this information correct??????????

I don't trust the idiots at Best Buy. They have given us wrong information all the time. I'm not sure if we run 98 or 2000 but Itunes runs fine for us.

 

[nsmith]

anybody out there use itunes with windows 98

 

[kilee]

I have been interested in reading this thread. I want to buy an Ipod or another version of an MP3 player for DS for Christmas too. Do all of them pretty much accept music from Itunes even if it's not he IPOD? I personally figured we'd start in the $75-100 range and go from there. I don't think he'd like the shuffle. He's not the best at keeping track of things. So, I'm just not up to spending hundreds of dollars to have him lose it like that.

 

[Mom to 2]

Does the Dell DJ contain batteries that you buy at the store, or does it take special batteries??

 

[kfeuer]

I have an RCA Lyra that I picked up at Sam's Club on clearance. I got it to use at the gym, and it's been fantastic for that. It's incredibly easy to pull songs off of CD's and transfer them over. It came with an armstrap and it's very lightweight. I like the fact that I didn't have to buy any pricey accessories for it.

I guess I agree with what others have said, if the "cool factor" doesn't matter then a non-iPod MP3 player will work just fine.

(OT aside--my 2-year old just walked up and said "it's a clue, it's a clue" because he saw aw: --gotta love Blue's Clues )

 

[maggiew]

Both of my DDs have an iRiver MP3 player. They are 512 MB. My older DD listens continually to iTunes on her COMPUTER, but NEVER uses her MP3 player. I guess the iRiver isn't "cool" enough and her friends all have iPods.

Maybe my DD (13 y.o.) is just spoiled, but I would try to clandestinely ask your kids how they feel about an MP3 player vs. the iPod. I don't care how much cheaper the MP3 players are, if they won't use it, it is a waste of money.

I am probably going to get my 13 y.o. DD an iPod for Christmas. OK. Maybe she is spoiled, but if she will use it I will buy it. I will either use the MP3 player myself or put it on eBay. I bought my 10 y.o. DD the iPod shuffle from the Aldis $59.99 deal.

Just my 2cents.

Maggie

 

[Anne34]

My Ipod came with a charger included. Its a separate cable which isn't set up on the PC.

We got a charger that you can plug into the computer, but it isn't very convenient. That is all we got and we bout the mini from apple. We paid $30 ifor one that plugs into the wall. The mini is all about the extras.

 

[Anne34]

Does the Dell DJ contain batteries that you buy at the store, or does it take special batteries??

The Dell DJ does not use regular batteries. It has a lithium polymer battery. You need to change the whole battery when it needs to be replaced.

 

[buzz2400]

My ds wanted to buy the ipod nano so I went to the store and talked to the guy. He stated that you charge the battery through the computer and if your computer is not available you have to buy a electric cord for $30 to charge it. I then went to Walmart and looked at the MP3's. A guy who works there told me he loved his mp3 player however they were carrying a new one, Siren, for only $69. This is a one shot deal he said. They might carry them in the future if they sold well. I bought one and love it. It runs on one AAA battery and can put on more music with a memory card. He also told me that you can download music from walmart. com for only 88 cents per song. The only thing that I don't like about it is that it plays in alphabetical order but you get used to it.

so basically the difference between an ipod and mp3 players, PRICE.

 

[gottaluvdis]

I own the iPod mini - got it last year for Christmas and love it. I charge the battery by plugging it into an adaptor that plugs into any outlet (came with the mini). I have not had trouble recharging the battery, but I have found that the battery doesn't last the full amount of time they say it does between chargings (8-10 hrs). It's probably closer to 6-7 hours before I need to charge it again. I do not charge it through the computer (although it came with a computer cable that allows you to do so) because it takes so long to do and I never have the patience. I run Windows 2000 and have never had a problem downloading songs either from iTunes, Yahoo, or from my own CDs. iTunes now downloads in M4P format, and the songs are protected, so you can't do as much with this format as you could with MP3 format, but there are ways around it. You can definitely put M4P songs onto CDs (using iTunes ripper) and directly into the iPod with no problems. A lot of online music sources are going to protected formats and next generation formats (beyond MP3), so be aware that you may be limited with what you can do with a song once it's downloaded, and I'm not sure how other brands of MP3 players are dealing with this issue. I couldn't rip a song I paid for at Yahoo to to a CD for my daughter because it was protected in a new format, but I have not had problems doing this with iTunes M4P format.

 

[mamalle]

I like my little mp3 player- its great to run with. very simple to download off the computer too.

 

[ktbugsmom]

I am not too knowledgeable, but I own a 20GB iPod (which we love...) and just bought the iPod nano- which is amazing! So small and light weight. iTunes is easy to use. I put a ton of my CDs on it but have yet to purchase a single song.

I just love having access to so much music on such a little player. We also bought the Bose speakers for the 20GB iPod and it has become our stereo. It sounds just as good as our stereo ever did. The Bose charges the iPod - which is great and very convenient. The nano did not come with the wall charger, but you can charge it through the USB cable to the computer. Not as convenient as the 20GB iPod... but still not bad.

My 5 year old figured out how to use the nano (just got it yesterday) and loves it. (no - she is not getting one!) I got the nano for working out. Yes, the regular iPod is small, but it still felt a bit bouncy... I ran with my nano this morning, could barely tell it was there. I am hooked on the iPods- but in fairness, never tried any other brand.

 

[ladysoleil]

The Dell DJ has an internal battery, like the iPod does.

I have had my DJ for about a year and a half now and have not noticed any decline in the battery quality, though. I think it'll last a good long time- I charge it about once a week and use it about 2 hours per day.

Don't stress the battery life too much. Think about it like the battery for your cellphone- they last a while even though you use them a lot, and they're not terribly expensive to replace when they do die. Much like your phone, by the time the battery dies, there will probably be something better and cheaper out there to replace your player anyway. Technology moves really fast these days.

If the battery does go down, they'll replace it, if it's inside of warranty I don't think you get charged, and I want to say it's about $50 if it's out of warranty, but don't quote me on that, it's been a while since I looked that up.

It will not play anything from the iTunes music store, not directly, anyway. There's a way to get around it, but I'm not going to get into it, google will give you better instructions than I could anyway. It will play songs in MP3 and Windows Media Player format, which you can get from most places that sell music other than iTunes. Musicmatch is the preferred music store but I think you can use Napster and Yahoo Music, also.

Finally, to confuse you just a bit more if you are looking for kids who are kind of rough on their toys, they are less likely to break a flash drive based player like the Shuffle or anything that uses memory cards, sticks, etc. The Shuffle and other similar players don't have as many moving parts or a hard drive inside that doesn't like to be bounced around, and $99 or less on sale is a lot easier to stomach if something goes wrong or gets lost.

I'm actually thinking of buying the Dell Ditty as a backup for my DJ, I like that it has an FM radio and a screen, which the Shuffle doesn't have, and the Susan Komen Breast Cancer benefit one with the pink case and pink earbuds is really very cute. You guys are enablers. LOL.

 

[Mom to 2]

What is the talk about 'fomat accepted' or somthing like OGG, WMA, etc.???
Does the iRiver, Dell DJ, or Apple all allow you to get all music from different places? I guess I am saying I want to be able to download music EASILY, FAST, and from as many places as posssible.
They all look good but really want to make sure i buy the right one! My daughter will want to use it to "impress friends" but also to use on long drives in the car!!
We need something that allows us to download EASY, we get frustrated fast and it doesn't help when you dont know what you are doing!!

Thanks so much,

Lory

 

[Cindy B]

What is the talk about 'fomat accepted' or somthing like OGG, WMA, etc.???
Does the iRiver, Dell DJ, or Apple all allow you to get all music from different places? I guess I am saying I want to be able to download music EASILY, FAST, and from as many places as posssible.
They all look good but really want to make sure i buy the right one! My daughter will want to use it to "impress friends" but also to use on long drives in the car!!
We need something that allows us to download EASY, we get frustrated fast and it doesn't help when you dont know what you are doing!!

Thanks so much,

Lory

Ipod ! Easy to use, cool factor, and fun. My then 7 year old could figure out how to use the Ipod.

Now, you can't use the Yahoo music sites or such, but there are others out there that work well with an Ipod. www.allofmp3.com is one of those sites.

 

[mamalle]

my Iriver downloads really quick..

 

[wenbel]

Didn't read everything here but we have the Creative muvo. Mine is 256 and my son's is 128. We love them. My nephew lost his recently in a rain storm and a friend found it. It still works great! The 256 is about $65 and it will take songs from cd and we download from walmart which is cheaper than itunes.