Need IPOD advice

[NHdisneylover]

Hello,
Please forgive me for being lazy and asking here rather than sifting through consumer sights
My almost 10 year old DS loves music. He uses the MP-3 player in his phone all the time. So, I am thinking of getting him an IPOD or some other brand MP-3 player as his Christmas or birthday gift.
This is what I want for features, please tell me what you suggest I buy:
Holds lots of music
can put a movie on it for long plane rides (hopefully for not a fortune!)
can put some games on it (he's not picky!)
can put music he already owns on CD on it at no charge
easy to buy more music and download that
a battery that will last several hours on a train/plane
simple enough for a computer savvy 10 year old to operate
can listen with earphones but can also put on a speaker at home
will last!

THANK YOU in advance for all of the great advice I am anticipating getting.

 

[Mom2Nick]

I would go with an Ipod Nano or iPod Classic.

 

[RitaE]

well, what's your budget?

If you want games in addition to music and movies, I think you are looking at the iPOD touch.

If you just want music and moves, probably a Nano.

 

[JCJRSmith]

30 GB or 120 GB Microsoft Zune.

 

[raysnkaysmom]

keeping an eye on this thread too... but please include approx prices

 

[Mom2Nick]

well, what's your budget?

If you want games in addition to music and movies, I think you are looking at the iPOD touch.

If you just want music and moves, probably a Nano.

You can play games on the Nano and the Classic as well.

 

[lovesmurfs]

iPod Classic, 80GB or 120GB. 80GB is $199, 120GB is $231 on Amazon.

There are a couple of pretty good games, it's very easy to use, and you can get movies and TV shows reasonably ($1.99 per episode, around $9.99 for a movie). All CDs he has can be uploaded as well.

You can watch 2-3 full length movies on a single battery charge (maybe more, I've never really paid attention). Runs 24 hours without video.

 

[disneyfanforever]

I would say iPod Classic or Nano. My DS got a 80GB iPod Classic for his 11th bday. He loves it. It is definitely easy to use, and he has all kinds of music and movies on it. You can definitely add any CDs you already have onto ITunes so you can put them on your iPod and there is no charge. At the iTunes store, you can buy all sorts of music, music videos, tv episodes and movies. You can get him Ipod gift cards so there is a fixed amount of money he can spend. My son loves getting these gift cards (as do DH and I). I am not sure about games because he doesn't use it for any games.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Thanks for the great advice so far. Okay, the IPOD classic is pricier than the Nano. What am I really getting for the extra money??
As far as games, I would just like him to have some little something to pass time while traveling. He loves jawbreakers on DHs Blackberry. Any one game would be fine so long as one can be loaded on it.
Other advice?
What accessories should we have?
Someone asked my budget. I do not have one per se. I do not want to spend money just for the sake of spending it, but I do want to get something really worthwhile (I would rather spend more now for something that he will use for years than go for a cheaper model which will not hold up).

JCJRSmith: can you tell me a bit more about the Microsoft Zune? What do you like about it? Where do you purchase songs for it? Can we put his own stuff on it? How about movies? THANKS.

 

[robinb]

A refurb 3rd gen Nano is on sale on the apple website for $99 with free shipping.

 

[SueM in MN]

here's a link to the apple page about ipod games. The ipod Nano and Classic come with 2 games loaded (I think 2) and you can buy more.
As for holding up, my oldest DD still has her original ipod that she got the first year they came out. She still uses it every day and it still works great.
My DH, other DD and I all have ipod minis. DD has cerebral palsy and is a bit clumsy because of that. As a result, her ipod has gotten dropped many times (often on our hard wood kitchen floor). The ipod still works after all that dropping, which I am impressed with.

I got an ipod touch a little over a year ago (my old ipod still works, but I wanted to leave it at work and I really wanted a shiny new toy). I love my ipod touch and have it loaded with lots of songs, a movie or 2 and about 80 'aps' (games and other fun or useful things).

 

[browneyes106]

I would go with the iPod Classic if you plan to add a lot of movies, tv shows and music. The iPod Nano is really compact and small but at most holds 16 gb.

 

[rcraw45425]

Something I just discovered this past week is if you pay extra when purchasing a new DVD that says it has a digital copy included, it give syou a disc to upload to both iTunes and Windows Media Player and a code to unlock a copy of the movie for your iPod or mp3 player. What I like about this as opposed to buying the movie from itunes is you can load it on more than once device at a time. Ibought HEllboy 2 and it include the digital copy. FYI though, the one for Wall E is $35 at WalMart!

 

[Barb D]

A refurb 3rd gen Nano is on sale on the apple website for $99 with free shipping.

All of our iPods are refurbished. We've only had a problem with one, and we took it in to the Apple store where they replaced it.

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/ipod?cid=OAS-US-KWG-iPodDiscount/Refurb-US

 

[NHdisneylover]

Thank you all for so much great information. I knew this was the place to come I am leaning towards the Nano I think (for movies I just want him to be able to put one on there at a time to watch on plane rides so I think the Nano works--music is the major thing he will wnat lots of and often). It is great to know about the refurbished ones on the website--we may go that route. Oh, to the pp who told me about buying the DVDs with the extra version in there for the IPOD--thanks--I would have never realized I could do that

 

[Laura]

JCJRSmith: can you tell me a bit more about the Microsoft Zune? What do you like about it? Where do you purchase songs for it? Can we put his own stuff on it? How about movies? THANKS.

I have a Zune. You can purchase songs online, put your own CDs on it, as well as movies. They also have wireless ability. You can listen to the radio, flag a song you like and download it--with an iPod you have to buy an extra $50 widget JUST to listen to the radio.

There are other brands to look at, too. Creative makes great players as well.

Learn more about the Zune here: http://www.zune.net/en-US/mp3players/default.htm
Creative players here: http://www.creative.com/products/mp3/

 

[robinb]

Oh, to the pp who told me about buying the DVDs with the extra version in there for the IPOD--thanks--I would have never realized I could do that

Huh? Can you explain what you're talking about? I'll be buying a Nano for my DD this week as we'll need it loaded up and ready to go for our late December trip.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Huh? Can you explain what you're talking about? I'll be buying a Nano for my DD this week as we'll need it loaded up and ready to go for our late December trip.

I was refering (not vey clearly--I haven't had my Coke yet this morning ) to this post:

Something I just discovered this past week is if you pay extra when purchasing a new DVD that says it has a digital copy included, it give syou a disc to upload to both iTunes and Windows Media Player and a code to unlock a copy of the movie for your iPod or mp3 player. What I like about this as opposed to buying the movie from itunes is you can load it on more than once device at a time. Ibought HEllboy 2 and it include the digital copy. FYI though, the one for Wall E is $35 at WalMart!

I have a Zune. You can purchase songs online, put your own CDs on it, as well as movies. They also have wireless ability. You can listen to the radio, flag a song you like and download it--with an iPod you have to buy an extra $50 widget JUST to listen to the radio.

There are other brands to look at, too. Creative makes great players as well.

Learn more about the Zune here: http://www.zune.net/en-US/mp3players/default.htm
Creative players here: http://www.creative.com/products/mp3/

Thanks. I'll look into that also. I don't think the radio feature will work for us anyway though as we will most likely not be living in the U.S.

 

[Laura]

Thanks. I'll look into that also. I don't think the radio feature will work for us anyway though as we will most likely not be living in the U.S.

Yes, that should still work in other countries. FM is FM, wifi is wifi, and the Zune uses RDS to get the info on the song.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Data_System

 

[RadioNate]

I'd really consider the Classic over the Nano. The Nano just doesn't hold much. I think 16 GB is the max. I'm lazy and didn't look for sure.

If he really is huge into music that isn't a ton of space. I have nearly 28 gigs. I have a really old 30 gb iPod that with all the preloaded stuff is out of room.