Need help choosing ipods -

[MARY-IN-OH]

iAudio's prices are in line with iPod (they have to be) for the same general features. They support video and photos, though I suggest reading CNET's reviews on all of the devices you're considering to get the pros and cons. And, if the surprise factor isn't critical, have DS18 do most of the research. I'm sure he's highly motivated!

Surprise would be cool, but not critical. They fool easily. My DS does know a lot about this stuff thru his friends, and he is great on the computer. My kids wouldn't think I would buy two of these for Christmas for them. I'm not completly sure I can afford two of them either! But I am going to try! They won't get much more than that though, except those socks! I'll jot down notes from you guys, and we'll look at lots of different things so I can throw them off track and try to figure out what they want most.

 

[Laura]

Get an ipod and not some other brand. The ipod is the best.

Eh, they're fine, but they're really just the most prevalent. I have a Zune, and it's been great, hardware and software. Zune 2 is even better.

"Best" is subjective.

 

[DLBDS]

That is evil - genius, but evil !!
with two kids, I would prefer them to be different colors - the iPods, that is - not the kids.

Anyhow...I'm gonna have to look at MP3's and iPods, and figure somethin out. I am concerned about the "if it's not a real iPod, I ain't cool" factor. we'll see.
-mary

You can get them different colored protective cases/skins. You'll probably want to get these anyway just for protection alone. Check these out...

http://www.ipodoutfitter.com/site/684650/page/923557

 

[Shugardrawers]

I have a 4 gb nano and it's hot pink. Dh got it remanufactured and I'm perfectly happy with it. But then I don't have a need for video and tons of bells and whistles. 1000 songs is more than I need to begin with. For a starter that's probably fine and they are available at a good price right now. Maybe upgrade later if you want but I am really glad he didn't listen to me when I talked about the fancy schmancy ones.

Question for you guys, I'm thinking of getting Dh one now. Can music in my library be downloaded to his iPod or do we have to purchase everything seperately for each one?

 

[MARY-IN-OH]

Was shopping with the kids last night, and we were looking at a display with all the iPod accessories, and my DS said to my DD - "If you ever get an iPod, don't even take it to school - and never - EVER let it out of your sight!" He said that he sees kids showing off stolen iPod's to their friends all the time. Easy to steal especially cuzz they are so small. Hide your iPod!

Oh, and my question for the day, (my son said he wasn't too sure, which surprised me). So it costs money to use iTunes to download from? A membership or what exactly? Would like to see answer to Shugardrawers question too!
-mary

 

[jrmasm]

The Itunes software is free. Songs/movies cost money.

I believe you can share downloads between 5 Ipods.

 

[thptrek]

Correct, when you connect a new IPOD into your computer and iTunes you can "authorize" the new ipod to access the library of songs in your iTunes library.

 

[Barbossa]

The iPod Classic that I bought for DW arrived yesterday. Of course she wasn't going to wait until Christmas to open it. Got it set up and downloaded a bunch of tunes. Initial impressions:

1. It's awesome when playing songs uploaded from iTunes. All of the song's album information and cover-art are shown when you play or browse for a song. The screen resolution is very good.

2. Uploading and organizing generic MP3's is another story. I think the iPod organizes songs by each song's database (Artist, Album, Song Title etc.). If an song doesn't have this info associated with it, I haven't figured out how to cleanly organize it i.e. by artist or album etc. If anyone has any tips on this it'd be appreciated.

3. Sound: It's adequate, but the preset EQ is way too limiting for my tastes. My player is an iAudio X5 and it sounds waaaay better. The iPod can't drive my headphones as loud as I'd like either.

4. The user interface is slick and easy to navigate. And as I've mentioned before, the display rocks. That's where my X5 has serious shortcomings.

 

[Shugardrawers]

iTunes doesn't charge a membership, they charge per download and the cost varies by product. A single song can be .99 or $1.49 or you can purchase the entire CD, the cost of which usually depends in it's age and how many songs are on it. Around $10 to $13 is average for mine. You can buy iMixes, which are compilations of songs with a theme such Love Songs of the 90s or Female Rapper #1 Hits. Some songs can be purchased and downloaded as ringtones for your phone.

If your iPod has video, you can buy movies and tv to watch on it. A single tv episode is usually $1.99 and the entire season for a hit show is usually $34.99. Other shows depend on how many episodes are available. Movies run about the same as buying the DVD would. Pirates of the Caribbean is $9.99. I don't have the video on my iPod and while occasionally it sounds like a fun thing to have I don't think I would use it enough to justify the cost.

I mainly use mine when I walk my dog or clean house. I keep relaxation music on it for when I'm having trouble sleeping or am feeling sick or getting yucky treatments at the hospital. Other than that, I'm just not one of those who goes around with her iPod stuck in her ears all the time. Flame away if you want but I'm apalled at how often and how many places I see people wearing them. Walking home from school is fine (although you should be able to hear traffic around you so either one ear should be uncovered or the volume low which you know isn't happening) but a 15 year old is quite capable of going to the grocery store with his/her mother to help with the shopping without having to be continuously entertained. And if she's in the mall trying to buy you clothes, you really might want to show a little respect and pay attention for just a couple hours

Couple more things, first thing you want to do when you get an iPod is probably throw away the earphones and get more comfortable ones. The ones they come with SUCK!!! For regular in ear headphones that are really comfortable try these http://www.target.com/Skullcandy-Sm...e=1&index=tgt-mf-mv&rank=salesrank&rh=&page=1
For headphones that rest on the outside but don't enter the ear canal these are excellent http://www.target.com/Sony-Silver-S...TF8&coliid=&frombrowse=1&alt_view=custReviews
And I highly recommend a cord spool, which keeps your headphone cords out of the way. Mine looks like a little rubber thread spool. LOVE IT! And yep, taking them to school is a BAD idea But then, why would you want them to??

 

[briar_rose_59]

And yep, taking them to school is a BAD idea But then, why would you want them to??

Actually, funny story. I had a teacher in high school that was going to start letting us listen to our mp3 players during tests (which I liked because it would help block out the people that need to constantly move their chairs around, flip pages, cough, clear their throat and then repeat all of those ) but then someone piped up and said "but what if someone recorded test answers onto their iPod?". So of course the teacher changed their mind. To be honest, I don't even think I could figure out how to record answers onto my iPod lol.

 

[dcentity2000]

OT, but...

briar_rose_59, I LOVE your avatar!



Rich::

 

[legalsea]

iTunes doesn't charge a membership, they charge per download and the cost varies by product. A single song can be .99 or $1.49 or you can purchase the entire CD, the cost of which usually depends in it's age and how many songs are on it. Around $10 to $13 is average for mine. You can buy iMixes, which are compilations of songs with a theme such Love Songs of the 90s or Female Rapper #1 Hits. Some songs can be purchased and downloaded as ringtones for your phone.

If your iPod has video, you can buy movies and tv to watch on it. A single tv episode is usually $1.99 and the entire season for a hit show is usually $34.99. Other shows depend on how many episodes are available. Movies run about the same as buying the DVD would. Pirates of the Caribbean is $9.99. I don't have the video on my iPod and while occasionally it sounds like a fun thing to have I don't think I would use it enough to justify the cost.

I mainly use mine when I walk my dog or clean house. I keep relaxation music on it for when I'm having trouble sleeping or am feeling sick or getting yucky treatments at the hospital. Other than that, I'm just not one of those who goes around with her iPod stuck in her ears all the time. Flame away if you want but I'm apalled at how often and how many places I see people wearing them. Walking home from school is fine (although you should be able to hear traffic around you so either one ear should be uncovered or the volume low which you know isn't happening) but a 15 year old is quite capable of going to the grocery store with his/her mother to help with the shopping without having to be continuously entertained. And if she's in the mall trying to buy you clothes, you really might want to show a little respect and pay attention for just a couple hours

Couple more things, first thing you want to do when you get an iPod is probably throw away the earphones and get more comfortable ones. The ones they come with SUCK!!! For regular in ear headphones that are really comfortable try these http://www.target.com/Skullcandy-Sm...e=1&index=tgt-mf-mv&rank=salesrank&rh=&page=1
For headphones that rest on the outside but don't enter the ear canal these are excellent http://www.target.com/Sony-Silver-S...TF8&coliid=&frombrowse=1&alt_view=custReviews
And I highly recommend a cord spool, which keeps your headphone cords out of the way. Mine looks like a little rubber thread spool. LOVE IT! And yep, taking them to school is a BAD idea But then, why would you want them to??

Interesting thread, since I had no idea what an ipod really was. It seems to be a small music playing device. I used to have a transistor radio; it could almost fit in my front shirt pocket.

Anyway, I guess the ipod (or MP3) does not come with music already loaded. One must go to itunes and purchase songs, all through your computer.

What is surprising to me is how some posters mentioned that an ipod will 'only' hold 1,000 songs or so. Are these people really going onto itunes and purchasing 1000 songs at 99 cents each? Is that what young people are doing, competing to see who has the most music on their device?

I have been listening to music since 1964 (I was nine during the Beatles invasion), and I doubt I would be able to name 1,000 songs, much less spend almost $1,000.00 to install music on a small ipod.

Can you use regular headphones with an ipod? My transistor radio had a small ear bud that you screwed into your ear; most uncomfortable.

 

[Wonderlandmom]

IWhat is surprising to me is how some posters mentioned that an ipod will 'only' hold 1,000 songs or so. Are these people really going onto itunes and purchasing 1000 songs at 99 cents each? Is that what young people are doing, competing to see who has the most music on their device?

No, you can put your entire CD collection onto your Ipod for FREE. You don't have to spend a dime.

 

[Barbossa]

No, you can put your entire CD collection onto your Ipod for FREE. You don't have to spend a dime.

My MP3 player currently has about 1400 songs on it, they're mostly favorites from my CD collection. If you've been collecting CD's for a number of years, it'll be fairly easy to start filling your player up.

 

[legalsea]

Putting your CDs on it makes more sense. I guess you place the CD inside your computer, and then transfer to the ipod?

 

[briar_rose_59]

OT, but...

briar_rose_59, I LOVE your avatar!



Rich::

Why, thank you!

 

[golfgal]

Does anyone use download sites other then I-tunes? My boss said she uses one that is a Russian site but has an English area, it is something like allMP3.com or something like that-I have it written down at work. She said the album downloads are a dollar, individual songs are 15-20 cents. She has been using it for a long time and hasn't had any problems. She said the only drawback is that it takes a while for new albums to show up. Thoughts?

 

[golfgal]

Anyone?? The site is AllofMP3.com .